The ninth annual edition of the Chicago Latino Film Festival, produced by Chicago Latino Cinema and Columbia College, continues from Friday, October 1, through Thursday, October 7. Film and video screenings will be held at Pipers Alley, 1608 N. Wells; at Facets Multimedia Center, 1517 W. Fullerton; at the University of Chicago’s Noyes Hall, 1212 E. 59th St.; at the University of Chicago’s Cobb Hall, 5811 S. Ellis; at the Chicago Historical Society, Clark at North; at Loyola University, 820 N. Michigan; and on an outdoor video screen at the Spanish Coalition for Jobs, 2011 W. Pershing. Ticket prices per program (apart from free screenings and The Frontier, which costs $10) are $6; $4 for students, senior citizens, and disabled persons; and $3 for Chicago Latino Cinema members. Festival passes, good for all screenings except closing night, are $60, $40 for members. For more information call 431-1330.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1
The Electoral Fiesta
A video documentary by Francis Kandel and Maria-Luisa Santoni about the recent elections in the Dominican Republic (1992). On the same program, two shorter videos: Lourdes Portillo’s Columbus on Trial (1992) from the U.S. and Julia Vargas-Weise’s Bolivian At Tatala’s Feet (1992). (Chicago Historical Society, 2:00)
Cuba Va: The Challenge
of the Next Generation
Cuban youths of different persuasions discuss their country in this video documentary by Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco. On the same progam, two Cuban video shorts: Ortiz de Zarate’s The Illustrated Man & When You Close Your Eyes (1992), about painter Manuel Mendive’s work with dancers, based on a Ray Bradbury story; and Pablo Basulto’s Red for the Lips (1992). (Facets Multimedia, 6:00)
A Dream in the Abyss
In this Venezuelan feature by Oscar Lucien two teenagers try to attract national support so they can realize their dream of climbing Mount Everest, and one of them turns in desperation to smuggling drugs to Puerto Rico (1991). (Facets Multimedia, 7:00)
Excessive Baggage
Director Gabriel Retes stars in this Mexican feature as a man emerging from a 20-year coma to discover the changes in his family and in Mexico; Retes’s own son and daughter play the hero’s children (1991). (Spanish Coalition for Jobs, 7:00)
Nothing to Lose
A young couple who have spend too much and have been hit by inflation resort to insurance scams and blackmail in this Argentinean feature by Alberto Lecchi. (Pipers Alley, 7:00)
The Electoral Fiesta
See above. (Facets Multimedia, 8:00)
-A
A U.S. feature by Orlando Jimenez-Leal (1992) using docudrama methods to examine the case of four Cuban war heroes who were executed by a firing squad for drug trafficking and related crimes. (Pipers Alley, 9:00)
Cold Land
A Portuguese feature by Antonio Campos (1991) involving a fur trader, his wife, her exploitative boss, and murder. (Facets Multimedia, 9:00)
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2
Habeas Corpus
An experimental Argentinean feature by Jorge Acha about torture at a clandestine detention center in the late 70s and early 80s (1989). To be shown with a U.S. short on a related subject by Stefan Ferreira Cluver, Observations on Certain Sensations at 37¡ 45′ N, 122¡ 23′ W (1992). (Facets Multimedia, 3:00)
Transnational Fiesta
A Peruvian video documentary by Wilton Martinez about a family reunion and patron-saint fiesta (1992). On the same program, Andrea Leland’s short video documentary from and about Guatemala The Long Road Home. (Facets Multimedia, 6:00)
Savage Capitalism
A Brazilian soap opera by Andre Klotzel about an Indian woman reporter who falls in love with a mining executive after discovering that he’s Indian as well. A national scandal erupts when the executive’s wife, long presumed dead, takes over the company and plans to destroy a forest to extract gold from the area. (Pipers Alley, 6:30)
A Life of Sin
Raul Julia and Jose Ferrer star in this Puerto Rican feature by Efrain Lopez Neri (1979) involving the murder of a wealthy bordello owner. (Facets Multimedia, 7:00)
Cold Land
See listing under Friday, October 1. (Univ. of Chicago Noyes Hall, 7:00)
Short Films #3
Nancy de los Santos’s Breaking Pan With Sol, Norberto Barba’s Chavez Ravine, and Bob Morones’s Who Will Sing the Songs? (1990), all from the U.S. (Spanish Coalition for Jobs, 7:00)
Short Videos
From the U.S., Maria Rodriguez and Madhavi Rangachar’s (Un)named (1992), Joan Harve’s New World Order (1992), and Dalida Maria Benfield’s Canal Zone; from Cuba, Arturo Arias-Polo’s The Peanut Vendor (1989); from Argentina, Dolly Pussi’s We Can See (1991); and from Colombia, Diego Garcia-Moreno’s Corn Bread (1992). (Facets Multimedia, 8:00)
Bride to Be
Two Jewish girls growing up in Mexico City during the 60s is the subject of Guita Schyfter’s Mexican feature. (Pipers Alley, 8:30)
Films by and With Eliana Fonseca
Five shorts directed by or starring Eliana Fonseca, a young Brazilian who’s also a writer: Epic Actions (1991), Hide and Seek (1988), Frankenstein Punk (1986), Chubby to Chubby (1991), and Dove Meneghetti (1986). (Facets Multimedia, 9:00)
Archipelago
Pablo Perelman’s Chilean feature about an architect in Santiago, the lone survivor of a police massacre at an underground student meeting, who escapes to an island and has troubled fantasies about both the past and his work restoring a church (1992). (Univ. of Chicago Noyes Hall, 9:00)
The Journey
Fernando E. Solanas’s fanciful Argentinean feature about a man in search of his father through much of Latin America was initially banned from Buenos Aires for ridiculing Argentina’s president (1991). (Pipers Alley, 10:30)
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3
Films by and With Eliana Fonseca
See listing under Saturday, October 2. (Facets Multimedia, 3:00)
Gift From Paquito
Luis Avalo’s U.S. video about a little boy who runs away from home (1992). On the same program, two shorter videos: Carlos Nader’s Beijoqueiro: Portrait of a Serial Kisser (1992) from Brazil and Isaac Artenstein’s Son of Border Crisis (1990) from the U.S. (Facets Multimedia, 6:00)
Gynecological Chronicles
Three stories about Venezuelan women during the 30s and 40s is the subject of Monica Henriquez’s documentary (1992). On the same program, Laura Bua and Silvia Chanvillard’s Argentinean short, Cannot Stop Loving You (1992). (Univ. of Chicago Cobb Hall, 6:00)
Secuestro: A Story of a Kidnapping
A Colombian documentary employing docudrama techniques by Camila Motta (1992). (Facets Multimedia, 6:30)
Let’s Trash the Poor
Santiago San Miguel’s Spanish feature (1992) focuses on the pathetic residents of a boarding house, including a singer, a cocaine addict, and a couple of strippers. (Pipers Alley, 6:30)
Cuba Va: The Challenge
of the Next Generation
See listing under Friday, October 1. (Facets Multimedia, 8:00)
Nothing to Lose
See listing under Friday, October 1. (Pipers Alley, 8:30)
-A
See listing under Friday, October 1. (Facets Multimedia, 8:30)
MONDAY, OCTOBER 4
Savage Capitalism
See listing under Saturday, October 2. (Facets Multimedia, 7:00)
The Frontier
Voted most popular film at the 1992 Chicago Latino Film Festival and best first feature at the Berlin film festival, this Chilean feature by Ricardo Larrain (1991) is about a man banished by the military dictatorship in Chile to a desolate region of the country. (Pipers Alley, 7:00)
A Life of Sin
See listing under Saturday, October 2. (Facets Multimedia, 9:00)
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5
Latin Nights
A Canadian documentary by Anthony Azzopardi about Latin American music in Toronto (1991). On the same program, John Kovacevich’s U.S. short Portrait of an Artist: Victor Hugo Zayas. (Loyola Univ. 6:00)
Secuestro: A Story of a Kidnapping
See listing under Sunday, October 3. (Facets Multimedia, 7:00)
Bride to Be
See listing under Saturday, October 2. (Pipers Alley, 9:00)
Let’s Trash the Poor
See listing under Sunday, October 3. (Facets Multimedia, 9:00)
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6
Nothing to Lose
See listing under Friday, October 1. (Pipers Alley, 7:00)
Wild Blue Moon
A new U.S. feature by Francesca Fisher and Taggert Siegel about an American painter and draft dodger in Mexico in 1968 who becomes involved with both a flamenco dancer and her daughter. (Facets Multimedia, 7:00)
The Fencing Master
A swashbuckler from Spain by Pedro Olea, set in the 1860s; with Omero Antonutti, Assumpta Serna, and Joaquim de Almeida (1992). (Pipers Alley, 9:00)
Short Films #5
Five short films from Brazil–Cristina Leal’s Aurora Station (1992), Ricardo Dantas’s Time (1992), Arnaldo Galvao’s A Political Way Out (1990), Arnaldo Santos’s Dial B For Birth, and Flavio del Carlo’s Squich (1992)–one from Spain, Antonio Conesa’s Kudzu (1992), and one that’s a U.S.-Portuguese production, Valter Neto’s Hope. (Facets Multimedia, 9:00)
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7
The Southern Cross
A Spanish feature by Patricio Guzman that sounds like a historical pageant with music, restaging religious ceremonies in scenic Inca and Mayan ruins, and re-creating encounters between Spanish conquistadores and Indians in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil (1992). (Pipers Alley, 7:00)
Latin Nights
See listing under Tuesday, October 5. (Facets Multimedia, 7:00)
Married Life
A pretty good Mexican revenge comedy by Carlos Carrera about an abused wife (Socorro Bonilla) who has to wait most of her life to dispose of her philandering husband (Alonso Echanove); you’ve seen it all before, but the direction and performances give it some flavor and bite (1992). (Pipers Alley, 9:00)
Short Films #5
See listing under Wednesday, October 6. (Facets Multimedia, 9:00)