Americas

Tiempo de Vals

Rebecca Savage, 2006, 22 mins

The 'Quinceañera' celebration is a lived illusion. A day dream shared by the whole community of Tetlanohcan, a rapidly urbanising agricultural town in Tlaxcala, Central Mexico. The dream is shared even by those living and working in the USA. 'Tiempo de Vals' mixes observational footage and testimonials from three generations of women to analyse the meaning of the celebration in the context of the massive social and economic changes in this part of Mexico over the last 40 years.

11a Mostra, Rio de Janeiro 2006

Mangrove Music

Carlo Cubero, 2006, 49 mins

The Caribbean island of Culebra is located between Spanish speaking Puerto Rico and English speaking Virgin Islands. Musicians from the island are inspired from a variety of regional, national and global influences when composing and producing their distinct island music. This film follows two music groups from the island of Culebra and specifically looks into the processes and relationships that constitute an island musical identity.

This film was shot in the course of doctoral fieldwork
11a Mostra, Rio de Janeiro 2006

The Internet Bride

Eleanor Ford, 2004, 29 mins

Cali in Colombia is celebrated for salsa music and beautiful women and is also the base of the Internet Bride agency, 'Latin Best' with 900 women on its files. Accompanying the British and American men who arrive at the agency, the film-maker meets the potential brides and discovers their motivations for leaving the past behind and following the dream of a life elsewhere.

Exposures. Manchester 2004; Beeld, Amsterdam 2005; RAI, Oxford 2005.

Message from a Saint

Andrew Tucker , 2003, 27 mins

During the celebration of the Feast of San Juan Bautista in the village of Chuao, on the Caribbean coast of Venezuela, an image of Jesus appeared on a drinks tray. The community is trying to find out whether this is a miracle and what it could mean. Whilst some believe it is a message from San Juan himself, others think is it is just a series of stains. This film is about the foundations of popular religious belief and the development of cults.

Mostra, Rio de Janeiro 2003; Göttingen 2004; Münster Ethno 2004; Beeld, Amsterdam 2004.

Healer on the Street

Joceny Pinheiro, 2003, 28 mins

During the day, Isnar is a community paramedic who works in the local clinic and runs an arts and drugs rehabilitation centre for young people in Fortaleza on the coast of Northeast Brazil. But by night, he is a priest of the Umbanda Afro-Brazilian religious cult. Then he comes flying over the trees and the streets, down to the beach. When the spells are strong, only he can break them.

Mostra, Rio de Janeiro 2003; Bilan, Paris 2004; Commended, Göttingen 2004; Münster Ethno 2004; Beeld, Amsterdam 2004; Associação Brasileira de Antropologia, Recife 2004; Visual Culture Festival, Joensuu 2004; DocuDays, Beirut 2004. Cinema of Tomorrow, Augsburg 2005. Travelling GIFF, Sofia Bulgaria 2005.

Vivir la Chicha

Sharis Coppens, 2003, 28 mins

Chicha music evokes the experiences of the many Peruvians who migrate from the high Andes down to the cities. This film tells the story of Aurora Ramos, a cobbler and market saleswoman, and the role that chicha plays in her life.

Mostra, Rio de Janeiro 2003; Beeld, Amsterdam 2004; Document 2 - International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Glasgow 2004.

Bailarinas

Heidi Lipsanen, 2003, 31 mins

Majê Molê is an Afro-Brazilian dance group which offers girls and young women in Olinda, Northeast Brazil, the opportunity to rise above the poverty, drug addiction and crime that scars their community. For teenager Simone it is the central focus of life, but for Leda it is something she must leave behind as she confronts prospective responsibilities as a mother. This is a film about miserable childhoods, sorrow and loss but also about joy, hope found through dance and, eventually, the happiness of motherhood.

Supported by the One World Broadcasting Trust.
Mostra, Rio de Janeiro, 2003; Helsinki Documentary FF 2004; NAFA, Tartu 2004; Göttingen 2004, Moscow Int FF of Visual Anthropology 2004.

Business As Usual

Lucy Pardee, 2002, 27 mins

Everyone knows about Ground Zero iin New York but have you bought into the memory? Big Mike, Tyrone and the other street vendors will sell you part of the disaster whilst offering you their views on life, the universe and everything - for free.

Self-Defence

Maria Elena Planas, 2002, xx mins

With the Shining Path guerilla movement in decline, the Peruvian government set up a Commission for Peace and Reconciliation to hear the testimonies of those who had suffered in the war. Framed by the Commission's hearings in Ayacucho, this film follows one of the witnesses back to her village in the mountains and hears of the terrible atrocities that were committed there.

Long Time No See

Johannes Sjöberg, 2001, 33 mins

In 1992 the film-maker worked at an orphanage in Guatemala. Nine years later he returns to find out what has happened to the children that he once looked after. A personal testimony, the film faces up to some painful truths about the work of foreign volunteers.

Supported by the One World Broadcasting Trust.
NAFA and Visicult, Finland 2002; RAI in 2003.

Dreamland

Gema Juarez-Allen, 2001, 30 mins

This film explores the dreams and frustrations of camp squatters in Rio de Janeiro State, as, supported by the MST (Landless People's Movement), they wait for permission to settle on unused land close by.

Supported by the One World Broadcasting Trust.

We're From Yoakum, Texas

Lucy Neiland, 2001, 25 mins

In 1996, 'American Western' magazine chose the Machart Family for a portrait piece and so they posed, proud and polished, Father with bootlace tie and silver buckle, Ladies to the fore with set hair, big shoulders and big jewelry. This film provides a less formal portrait.

Not available: consents still pending

Bradford Film Festival, 2003.

Scenes of Resistance

Alejandra Navarro-Smith, 2000, 30 mins

A series of portraits of life in a Zapatista indigenous community in Chiapas, Southern Mexico. This film invites us into the people's everyday lives, and presents their own views of the fight against misrepresentation and oppression.

Festival de Video, San Cristóbal de las Casas 2001, Margaret Mead, New York 2001; Göttingen 2002, Festival de Video contra el Silencio, México 2002, Festival Presence Authocthone, Montreal 2002.

The Legacy of Antonio Lorenzano

Paul Henley, 2000, 46 mins

Antonio Lorenzano was an acclaimed musician, shamanic healer and canoe-builder, and the leader of a Warao community in the Orinoco Delta, Venezuela. This film follows anthropologist Dieter Heinen, who knew Lorenzano well, as he returns to the community six months after his death. The testimonies of his children, grandchildren and others who knew him demonstrate the continuing strength of the cultural legacy that Lorenzano left to them. But this legacy turns out to be a hybrid of the old and the new and, as such, a metaphor for the Warao as whole. For despite major cultural changes, the Warao retain a strong sense of their identity and with a population of 30,000, remain one of the largest indigenous groups in Lowland South America.

RAI, London 2000; Bilan, Paris 2001; Margaret Mead 2001; AAA, Washington 2001.
The film-maker is the Director of the Granada Centre.

Rub'el Kurus (Beneath the Cross)

Carlos Flores, 1998, 43 mins, (Hi-8)

During the 1980s the Guatemalan army launched ruthless counter-insurgency campaigns against indigenous communities, killing or displacing thousands. This film was made in collaboration with indigenous film-maker Mainor Pacay and documents the struggle of a group of Maya Q'eqchi' villages to reconstruct their communities and thereby come to terms with their violent past.

This film was shot in the course of doctoral fieldwork.
Présence Autochtone, Montréal 1998; RAI, London 1998; Festival Americano de Cine y Video de los Pueblos Indígenas, Guatemala 1999; Non-professionals Prize, Festival Icaro, Antigua 1999; Commendation, Encuentro Hispanoamericano del Milenio de Video Documental Independiente, México 2000.

Uncle Poison

Ricardo Leizaola, 1998, 45 mins

Benito Reyes is known as 'Uncle Poison' on account of his work as a traditional healer in a small barrio in central Caracas. He uses both medicinal plants and blessings in practice based on a syncretic blend of Catholicism and local lore. So before harvesting the medicinal plants or seeking to effect a cure, Benito must seek the permission both of the plants themselves and of a variety of Catholic Saints. Framed by his community's elaborate celebration of Easter Week, in both its sacred and profane aspects, this documentary looks at the healer's role as a mediator between social, natural and spiritual worlds.

Göttingen 2000; Tel Aviv Documentary 2000; NAFA Aarhus 2000; Mostra, Rio de Janeiro 2000; AAA, Chicago 2000; RAI, London 2000; Bilan, Paris 2001; Festival de Video contra el Silencio, México 2001.

This film was made when the director was a Research Associate of the Granada Centre.

Distributed in the USA by Documentary Educational Resources, see www.der.org

The Head Cornerstone

Ruth Hamill, 1998, 30 mins, (Hi-8)

Griffiths takes his responsibilities seriously and works very hard as a taxi driver in Negril, Jamaica to support his family. His sense of obligation extends to his siblings, his ageing father and even his deceased mother. As he recalls a decision made long ago which led his entire family to become squatters, this film examines the tensions that continue to affect his life and his relationships.

Writing Panare

Paul Henley, 1996, 29 mins, (SVHS)

Marie-Claude Muller is a linguist who has worked for many years with the Panare, an Amerindian people of Venezuelan Amazonia. She has now been commissioned by the government literacy programme to prepare reading primers in Panare. Writing Panare shows her gathering a range of materials for the primers, from zoological taxonomies to myths. She is also shown working with Panare schoolteachers on an alphabet to accommodate local dialectical variations.

These scenes are intercut with an interview in which she describes the principles underlying the literacy programme and considers its role in helping the Panare confront the consequences of contact with the national society. The film also features three myths told at length by a senior Panare man as well as scenes of everyday life in a number of different Panare communities.

Paul Henley is the Director of the Granada Centre

Cinema Pedregal

Ricardo Leizaola, 1994, 27 mins (SVHS)

For forty years Alejandro Farfán has been making and showing films in El Pedregal. Now located in the heart of Caracas, this community was a small village when Alejandro first went to the cinema. This is a portrait of a local film-maker and of El Pedregal itself, exploring the place and its memories.

Exposures, Manchester 1995; Göttingen 1996.