Filmographies - films at UST by Country: Argentina

For three decades, Argentina's courageous Grandmothers, or 'Abuelas', have been searching for their grandchildren: the children of their sons and daughters who disappeared during Argentina's 'dirty war.' The women in this documentary are seeking answers about their children that nobody else will give, answers about a generation that survived, but were kidnapped and relocated to families linked with the regime that murdered their parents. This film documents the grandmothers' painstaking work and its results - dramatic, inspiring and sometimes controversial, as the women make contact with grandchildren who have grown up living lies created by their adoptive parents. Their tireless work continues today: the justice they are seeking for their children's murder, their drive to find their grandchildren, and their international status speaking out for family reunification.

In the late seventies, Argentina was still in the grips of dictatorship. It was a society governed by secrets and fear. After the accidental death of his mother, Andres (8) has to move in with his grandmother, Olga, and his estranged father Raul. Andres, who doesn't like to take a nap, wanders curiously through the neighborhood, where a secret detention center is hidden, something everyone knows, but no one dares mention. The boy's curiosity ultimately places him in harms way. He will come to appreciate his grandmother's strengths and understand his father's weaknesses during a single summer where his courage and fears will be tested with lasting consequences for all.

Sixteen-year-old Martín has a crush on his adult swimming coach Sebastian. After Martín tells Sebastian of his feelings and is rejected, a tragedy occurs, and one of the two is left in a crippling world of 'what-ifs' and 'might-have-beens'.

Luis, a homosexual, and Valentin, a political prisoner, are mismatched cell mates in a South American prison. To escape reality Luis invents romantic movies, while Valentin tries to keep his mind on the situation he's in. Eventually, the two men come to understand and respect one another.

A man must work as an illegal alien in Argentina in order to support his family in Bolivia. The film paints a portrait of struggle in the modern economy of Argentina and the mistreatment of illegal workers.

Life has not been a bed of roses for 52-year-old Juan 'Coco' Villegas. Juan has been a gas station attendant for twenty years in Patagonia and finds himself jobless overnight. He first tries to survive by selling knives of his own making. But business is bad and he can't find real work. One day though, after fixing a vehicle on a farm, he gets paid, not with money, but with a beautiful Argentinian watch-dog. From this day on, things start looking up.

Nené, a married woman with two children, receives news that her childhood sweetheart, Juan Carlos, has died. She gradually pieces together a complex mosaic of his life. What emerges is a portrait of a man driven by fear into a life of self-deception--and the lies, double personalities, and the pettiness of life in a small Argentinian town in the 1930s.

After his family decides to emigrate to Spain, Hernan, a twenty-four-year-old messenger, finds himself living alone. When he discovers that Pato, the gas station attendant he's in love with, needs a place to stay, he offers her a room for rent. The arrangement works just fine until her family comes to visit, for though they planned to stay just one night, Pato's father decides Hernan's living room would be the perfect place to start a pastry business.

In a town 100 kilometers from Buenos Aires, five friends approaching thirteen years begin to understand that life is not simply about riding bikes, winning football matchs, or enjoying the summer as is their custom. The boys all yearn to grow older faster, dreaming about better places. However realising that this may be their last summer together, the consequences of adolescence and growing older come flooding in.

Follows the interconnected lives of several characters who are affected by the building of the Rosario-Victoria Bridge in Argentina -- a gargantuan, modern undertaking that links two Argentine cities. Building the bridge takes years, transforming live son both sides of the river. A photographer discovers a key to his past when he meets an unlikely pair: a thief with a curvaceous partner in crime. Two sisters experience a sexual re-awakening after they take on a boarder -- a German bridge engineer who enjoys clandestine trysts with a transvestite chanteuse across the river. A pair of adventurous boys grow into young men as the bridge is constructed above them.

In Spanish with English subtitles
Set in Buenos Aires. Beba, a sophisticated older woman whose recent divorce has left her in a precarious financial position. Despite her attempts to keep up appearances, she is finally forced to do the unthinkable, discharge her live-in maid. Dora has worked for Beba for thirty years and is dutiful, but distant and reserved. When both women finally face life without the other, they soon discover that their relationship is more different than either had ever imagined.

Recounts the true story of a young Catholic socialite from Buenos Aires, Camila O'Gorman, who falls in love and runs away with a young Jesuit priest, Ladislao Gutierrez, in 1847. Eventually they are found and executed by the repressive government. The film also makes a statement about the affect of dictatorship on personal and political freedom.

Sosa is an ambulance-chasing personal injury attorney with questionable ethics. Lujan is a young, idealistic country doctor new to the city. After Lujan and Sosa's paths repeatedly cross, the two form an unlikely romance that is threatened by Sosa's turbulent past.

Cristina's life is thrown into turmoil when she is suddenly escorted from her strict Catholic school and told that she is really Sofía Lombardi, the daughter of activists who disappeared in the '70s. Questioning everything she once thought true, Cristina embarks on a journey to find her true identity. Meeting others like herself, the young girl soon discovers the real-life horrors of Argentina's relatively recent past and the nightmare that claimed tens of thousands of lives during the country's 'Dirty War.'

This biopic film presents Che Guevara, the young Latin American idealist and revolutionary who fought for the poor and oppressed in the 1950s-60s. The film specifically focuses on Che's fearless life as he helped lead a bloody socialist revolt that would be known around the world.

Revolves around the lives of four neighbors in a building in Buenos Aires, four persons in a profound solitude and fighting to give paths to their dreams--sometimes for their most basic necessities--in a worn upslope because of their economic, social, religious and moral crises.

Nico works in a veterinary clinic run by domineering brother Fran, their parents having died in a plane crash. When Nico sees gardening student Luchi making a phone call, he becomes obsessed, and when she comes to have her pet rabbit operated on, he awkwardly attempts to try to win her over. Just when things seem about to take off, Luchi delivers the bad news that she's leaving for Switzerland. Nico's buddy Santi offers Nico advice about how to make it work with Luchi, while Santi himself steals CDs and pills from his mother.

On March 24, 1976, the Argentine Armed Forces organized a coup d'etat. In 1985 the military, who ruled for seven years, were taken to court for human rights violations: the first such trial in Latin America. Soccer goalie Claudio Tamburrini is captured during a soccer game. He is blindfolded, and taken to a house of detention as a suspected revolutionary. Claudio is beaten, interrogated, starved, and blindfolded along with other detainees, until after four months of being imprisoned the group of men decide to escape.

Set during the 1950s fascist ruled government in Argentina. Polin, a boy abandoned by his family and sent to live in a state run orphanage, is forced to endure constant physical and psychological abuse from the staff, as well as the tension of his own adolescent development. To keep his hopes up, Polin and the other children at the orphanage, talk of the freedom outside the walls, eventually leading them to plan an escape to Buenos Aires in hopes of a better life.

Set during the 1950s fascist ruled government in Argentina. Polin, a boy abandoned by his family and sent to live in a state run orphanage, is forced to endure constant physical and psychological abuse from the staff, as well as the tension of his own adolescent development. To keep his hopes up, Polin and the other children at the orphanage, talk of the freedom outside the walls, eventually leading them to plan an escape to Buenos Aires in hopes of a better life.

An inspirational adventure, based on the true story of two young men whose thrilling and dangerous road trip across Latin America becomes a life-changing journey of self-discovery.

The film centers on Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and the last survivor of his people, and the two scientists who over the course of 40 years build a friendship with him. The film was inspired by the real-life journals of two explorers (Theodor Koch-Grünberg and Richard Evans Schultes) who traveled through the Colombian Amazon during the last century in search of the sacred and difficult-to-find psychedelic Yakruna plant.

Ariel is a young man who lives in a Jewish working-class section of Buenos Aires. Since his father went missing in the war, his mother Sonia and brother Joseph work in the shopping and business district. With no interest in school or work, Ariel just ends up hanging out. He finally gets motivated by the idea of moving to Poland, so asks his grandmother, an ex-girlfriend, and Rabbi Benderson for help.

Espinoza is a taxidermist marked with strange qualities--a photographic memory and random fits of epilepsy. To escape his lonely everyday life, he spends his time lost in fantasy about the perfect heist. When a fatal hunting accident presents a golden opportunity, he hakes the chance to put his plot into action. But living in a world of real violence might bring a lethal dose of reality to Espinoza--and the beautiful young woman he's brought into his plan. Now he must decide if criminal perfection is worth the ultimate price.

Zapa, a locksmith in a small town in Argentina, is jailed for a robbery after he helps someone open a safe. He leaves his town for Buenos Aires and becomes a police officer in a corrupt police force. After striking up a sexual relationship with one of his female instructors, Zapa finds himself slowly but surely sucked into an unforgiving environment governed only by violence and corruption.

After Ramón loses his job as a restaurant cook during Argentina's economic crisis, his wife Lili suffers a nervous breakdown; they will lose their house unless something drastic is done. Desperate, Ramón accepts a job in Lili's name, and clothes, to serve as a maid to a rich family.

Two childhood friends reunite as adults after embarking on different journeys. Joaquin is a man that has been depressed for 8 years now, and his life makes a twist when Mara, his childhood friend, comes home. She has been gone the whole time that Joaquin has been depressed.

In a shantytown in the slums of Buenos Aires, Julian and Nicolas work tirelessly to help the local people. Nicolas joins Julian in overseeing the construction of a hospital following the failure of a project he was leading in which paramilitary forces assassinated members of the community. Deeply troubled by his actions, Nicolas finds solace in Luciana. As Nicolas' beliefs wane, work on the hospital is halted, and the faith of the entire community is put to the test.

Two sisters survive a car crash that kills their parents and siblings. Only having each other, they face the uncertain future that awaits them.

Rafael is a 42-year-old divorced father and restaurant owner who is overwhelmed with life. He feels guilty that he doesn't visit his mother, who is stricken with Alzheimer's disease; he lives in his father's shadow; he doesn't spend enough time with his daughter and he can't commit to his girlfriend. When a series of unexpected events happen, Rafael re-evaluates his life.

How far is a corporate drone willing to go to land a high-level position at a multinational corporation? This question is explored in Argentinian director Marcelo Piñeyro's film that takes its name from a mysterious human-resources strategy imported from the United States as a means of choosing the best man for the job. As the time for a decision draws near, the streets of Madrid are awash with anti-globalization protesters; and the tension between job applicants Carlos, Nieves, Fernando, Ana, and Enrique comes to a head. As the corporate lackeys engage in an increasingly dehumanizing series of psychological games and scorching betrayals, the choice of who will ultimately take the reigns of the coveted position will ultimately depend on which applicant is willing to employ the most diabolical techniques of manipulation.

Chronicles the initial romance, breakup and subsequent encounters between Jorge, a would-be serious writer turned hack, and Laura, an idealistic actress, over a period of almost twenty years, against a backdrop of Argentina's changing political situation.

Santiago and Eugenio are best friends who run a thriving electronics store together. One day, Eugenio doesn't come to work, and Santiago delays telling anyone about the disappearance while trying to figure out why. Then Laura, Eugenio's wife, shows up to say that Eugenio has vanished. Perplexed at the missing husband and friend, the two embark on a journey to find him, only to discover that true happiness can sometimes mean losing everything.

Buenos Aires, 1912. A series of brutal murders perpetrated on children is sweeping through the city. A ten-year-old boy hides a secret: sometimes his mind leads him to a dark place in his memory where he witnesses these crimes. Upon discovering his secret, many believe the boy is the murderer. His mother, with support from the forensic police, tries to find a rational explanation for her son's visions. But the murders continue to occur ... And chaos will eventually take over the situation.

Lala, a teenager from a suburban neighborhood in Argentina, is in love with Guayi, the family's 20-year-old maid. They hatch a plan to rob Lala's family to fund their dream of living together in Paraguay at the shores of Lake Ypoa. Unexpectedly, however, Guayi is arrested and put in a minors institute near Buenos Aires. Desperate to be with her girlfriend, Lala hatches a dangerous rescue plan to get her back.

Based on a true story. At age 13, a street kid known as "El Polaquito" makes his living mostly by singing tangos at the Buenos Aires Central Station. He meets and falls in love with a 16 year old prostitute and tries to rescue her from the mafia that is exploiting both of them. But to do so, he must confront the ruthless adult gang leaders.

17-year-old Martin sets out an odyssey through Latin America to find his father, last heard of working as an anthropologist in Brazil. He hopes his journey will serve as an important rite of passage to resolve his search for his identity. He sets out by bicycle, wending his way from Tierra del Fuego to Peru, the Andes highlands, and then on to the Amazon, finally reaching the Brazilian gold mine where his father now works as a prospector. Along the epic journey, Martin experiences Latin American reality and myth, and witness the absurdities and contradictions which the director, Fernando Solanas, believes represent modern-day Argentina.

A coming-of-age story. Her parents separated and her older sister at the cusp of adolescence, Jorgelina is facing a vacation at the beach where she knows she'll be painfully left aside. Instead, she decides to go to the country with her father and Mario, the son of a farmhand and her "country" playmate. In this bucolic setting, a secret is accidentally revealed when Jorgelina notices on Mario's pants the bloodstains he can't explain.

A dramatization of the short story by Jorge Luis Borges. Beneath the timid personality of 19-year-old Emma Zunz there lurks a thirst for vengeance. In this tale, Emma's father, wrongly accused of a crime, commits suicide, sending her on a search for the real culprit.

The mysterious ramblings of a dying old man hide a terrible secret that could scar his family forever.

Ahmed, trained since childhood as an Islamic terrorist, is assigned to execute a suicide bombing at a synagogue. David is an Israeli special agent who will stop at nothing to prevent the attack. But neither man is defined solely by their extremist views. Ahmed, posing as a doctor, lives happily with his wife and young son; though David's marriage is on the rocks, he remains devoted to his wife and daughter. With time running out before the attack, David zeros in on Ahmed. Based on the actual events of a 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Set in the Jewish community of Buenos Aires. Ariel is a young man who lives with his father. He is clumsy and always questioning his own identity. He becomes acquainted with Santamara, a laid-off banker who has become a sort of vagabond, gathering documents from the trash. In spite of the collapse of their families and projects, their relationship introduces new strategies for dealing with life's existential crises.

Set in the Jewish community of Buenos Aires. Ariel is a young man who lives with his father. He is clumsy and always questioning his own identity. He becomes acquainted with Santamara, a laid-off banker who has become a sort of vagabond, gathering documents from the trash. In spite of the collapse of their families and projects, their relationship introduces new strategies for dealing with life's existential crises.

No woman, before or since, has possessed as much magnetism and influence as Eva "Evita" Peron. During the 1950's, she was the most powerful woman in the Americas - capturing the heart and soul of the poor, whose causes she championed until her tragic death at age 33. Her stormy and passionate life brought so much hope to Argentina in an age of political power struggles, bloody coups, military oppression and economic depression.

When a teenager in Buenos Aires quietly discovered his religious calling, little did he know that this was the first step that would eventually lead him to the Vatican. It would carry him to become the leader of the Catholic Church, the man who the world knows today as Pope Francis. Young Spanish journalist Ana met Jorge Mario Bergoglio at the Papal conclave of 2005. It is here that they began a friendship which would be imbued with the same warmth, good mood, and wisdom with which the future Pope will be known for. It is through Ana's eyes that we begin to follow the long and hard journey of Jorge Bergoglio. Father Jorge, as he has always wished to be called, used his position as the archbishop of Buenos Aires as a means to challenge the corruption and abuse of the government dictatorship. Ana was there to see his toughest battles when he gave voice to those who had none; the victims of prostitution, slavery, and drug trafficking within the many shantytowns. Their story comes full circle at the conclave of 2013 when a Jesuit priest from South America is elected on the fifth Papal ballot as Pope.

Lucas is a bored and restless fifteen-year-old living in a sleepy town in Patagonia. Things have hardly been happy at home since Lucas's parent's split up over his fathe''s constant infidelity, and matters are hardly any more comfortable elsewhere. Lucas is obsessed with the changes in his body, he's trying to get the band he formed with his buddies off the ground. Lucas's best friend is a similarly confused adolescent, Nacho; together they pass the time by hanging out and playing pranks on others, though Lucas tries not to think about his growing attraction to Nacho. Lucas's sexual confusion rises to a new level when he and Nacho strike up a friendship with Andrea, the slightly geeky new girl at school. Lucas still his dad keys of his apartment for a weekend, he invites Nacho and Andrea over for the evening, which leads to a long night of sniffing glue and rudimentary making out.

Gay couple Ho Po-Wing and Lai Yiu-Fai travel from Hong Kong to Argentina for a holiday to try to mend their dissolving relationship. They separate for a time, but when Po-Wing shows up at Yiu-Fai's door beaten up, Yiu-Fai takes him in. While Yiu-Fai begins a new relationship with another man, Po-Wing's life spins out of control.

Two sisters separated for the duration of the Argentine dictatorship spanning from 1976 to 1983 reconnect to confront the tragedy of their past. It was 1975 when Natalia Levin's militant boyfriend Martin disappeared from Buenos Aires without a trace. Natalia was also separated from her sister Elena that same year, but the two are once again drawn together when--after the dictatorship crumbles--Natalia travels to Austin, TX, to visit her sister and inquire about an unpublished novel written by her late father. Discovering that the novel is a fact-based account of their family's struggle during the dictatorship, Natalia and her sister are forced to confront the painful memories of the past before they can begin the healing process that will free them of the lingering guilt that accompanies their survival.

Don Justo used to run a market in a small community in Southern Argentina, but failing eyesight and the loss of his driver's license has led him to retire. However, when he learns that the dog he lost several years ago was seen in San Julian, the closest significantly larger city, Don Justo sets out to find his dog, determined to travel to San Julian on foot if no other transportation is available. Roberto is a traveling salesman who is infatuated with a woman whose husband, one of his clients, has recently passed on. Hoping to win her heart, Roberto decided to bring a birthday cake to her child's birthday party in San Julian; however, his search for the ideal cake is complicated when he realizes he isn't sure if the child is a boy or a girl. Maria is a wife and mother who has been struggling to hold her family together after her husband lost his job. Maria is invited to appear on a television game show, and hopes to win the grand prize of a new food processor.

Today and Tomorrow centers around Paula, a 24-year-old aspiring actress trapped in a cycle of unpaid bills and debts. Like most people, Paula tries to get by with the work she can find, but the play she's rehearsing may never open and her father has grown tired of supporting her marginal lifestyle. When the director of the play offers to help with Paula's bills if she sleeps with him, Paula turns him down, refusing to risk her independence just to lighten her debt. The proposition does give her an idea, though of another role she can play that just might pay off. Paula calls her friend Claudia, a prostitute, who agrees to take Paula along "on her rounds" for the night. The two set out and meet a variety of clients in quick succession, but Paula's bargains with men grow more and more dangerous as the night passes.

"After learning of a former infantry mate's attempted suicide, journalist Esteban returns to the Falkland Islands (or as they are known in Argentina, the Malvinas) to confront the horrors he experienced as an eighteen-year-old soldier."--Container.

Argentina, 1979. After years of exile, 12-year-old Juan and his family return to Argentina under fake identities. Juan's parents are Montoneros guerillas who are being tracked down relentlessly by the Military Junta that rules the country. However, Juan's daily life is also full of warmth and humor. His friends at school and the girl he has a big crush on, Maria, know him as Ernesto, a name he must not forget, since his family's survival is at stake. Juan follows all his parents' rules until one day he is told that they need to leave immediately with no explanation.

Danish Captain Dinesen takes a job with the Argentine Army and brings his fifteen-year-old daughter, Ingeborg, along. Being the only female in the area, she causes quite a stir among the men. She falls in love with a young soldier, and one night they run away together. When Dinesen realizes what happened, he decides to venture into enemy territory to find them.

Tells the legend of Juan Moreira, an Argentine folk hero. Although actual police records of the 1860s depict him as a criminal, this film depicts him as a decent man who became an outlaw after he was wrongly sent to prison, and was then used by warring political elements until his murder.

In 1976, during the time of the "disappeared ones" in Argentina, two boys are moved to the countryside by their parents in an effort to keep the family together as long as possible.

Mecha, her husband Gregorio and their friends are spending another stifling day drinking and lounging around the filthy swimming pool of their crumbling summer estate when Mecha stumbles and is badly cut on her broken wine glass. On hearing the news, her less affluent cousin Tali marshals her own large family for a visit. The long, hot summer and crowded situation strain everyone's nerves and repressed family conflicts surface. An atmosphere of oppressive humidity and constant foreboding fill this commentary on the decadence, malaise and racism of Argentina's decaying elite.

On September 11, 1973, a military coup in Chile brought Augusto Pinochet to power, and over the next 17 years, thousands of men were taken from their homes never to return. Since that time, Chilean women have danced the country's traditional courtship dance alone, and 'La Cueca Sola' has become a symbol of women's struggle against the dictatorship. After 30 years in exile, critically acclaimed filmmaker Marilu Mallet returns to Santiago to meet with five Chilean women from three generations who suffered under the dictatorship and have emerged as heroes under democracy

The wife of an Argentinean businessman faces the ultimate challenge when she begins to suspect that her own daughter, adopted at birth, may have been stolen from a family of los desaparecidos.

Set against the backdrop of Argentina's military regime of the 1980s, Diego Lerman's exploration of the totalitarian urge opens with a portrait of María Teresa, a lonely and deeply repressed assistant teacher at an elite Buenos Aires private school. Obedient and willing, she accepts unquestioningly the school's rigid code of conduct and proud identification with the nation state. But her head professor's words about the "cancer of subversion" and need for total surveillance soon feed an unhealthy obsession with one of her students, leading to an ensuing spiral of degradation and breakdown in discipline that parallels a popular rebellion beyond the school's ivy-covered walls.

A dramatization of the short story by Jorge Luis Borges. This mystery revolves around a series of three identical assassinations, each committed on the third day of the month, for three consecutive months, in three different locations. Following the clues, a clever detective stumbles into the perfect trap.

A woman driving on the highway takes her eyes off the road to answer her cell phone and runs over something but doesn't stop to see what (or who). On the days following this, she fails to recognize the feelings that bond her to things and people. Finally she tells her husband that she killed someone on the highway. They go back to the road only to find a dead dog. Friends close to the police confirm that there were no accident reports. Everything returns to normal and the bad moment seems to be over until the news of a gruesome discovery.

In the town of Patagonia, an elder leader of the Mapuches sets on fire a tourist complex which is being constructed on sacred Mapuche ground. This fire causes the death of the developer's son. Accused of murder, the chief refuses to defend himself; he has the hope of a magic event that only the Mapuches know about--the arrival of Caleuche: the ship of the insane. A lawyer defends the chief, and in her study of the Mapuche community, discovers that the chief has behaved according to his (Mapuche) law, defending and protecting a sacred cemetery.

The Holy Girl poignantly captures the lives of two teenager girls, Amalia, daughter to the owner of the hotel, and the girl's best friend Josefina, as they adjust to their growing sexuality and religious passion.

54-year-old Teresa ... has worked for decades as a maid in Buenos Aires. When her job abruptly ends, she is forced to take a job in the distant town of San Juan. Although feeling uncomfortable with traveling, she embarks on a journey through the desert. At her first stop, in the land of the miraculous 'Saint Correa', she loses her bag with all her belongings. This unexpected incident leads her to cross paths with El Gringo, a traveling salesman who allows her to discover the romantic world she long left behind.

Ruben is a lonely truck driver who has been taking the motorway from Asunción, Paraguay, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for years, carrying wood. However, today's journey is different because of Jacinta, who accompanies him as his passenger all the way to Buenos Aires. Her 8-month-old daughter, Anahí, travels with them. As kilometres go by, the relationship between Ruben and Jacinta will grow. Neither of them talks much about their lives or asks much either. It's a journey of few words, but it is not a silent one.

During Argentina's economic crisis, 9-year-old Eugenia and her mother Florencia live a seemingly colorful life surrounded by eclectic neighbors and an offbeat collection of family. But Eugenia has to grow up fast to take care of her drug-addicted mother, now pregnant by an unknown father.

After her husband mysteriously disappears during a business trip to Patagonia, Clara embarks on a desperate mission to find him. During her search, she makes a startling discovery: a man with an uncanny resemblance to her spouse, but with another name and a wife. Convinced that the stranger may be her husband, she ignores entreaties to quit her search, just as police discover a body that may be the real man she seeks.

Narrated by Laura's daughter Muriel, this movie is the story of two women, Laura and Mirta, and their daughters as they try to find happiness in their lives. The two women are thrown together by circumstances and despite the great differences in their approaches to life, work at transforming disappointments and misfortunes of life into personal victories.

Julia gives birth to a son after she is sent to the penitentiary for the murder of her lover. Fellow inmate Marta becomes her ally, while her mother Sofia is her opponent. As Marta attempts to teach Julia how to be a mother in the least appropriate place, her mother attempts to gain custody so the child can grow up outside of prison. The duel between Julia and her mother expresses the dilemma of what is better for the child, life with his mother in prison, or without her, but in freedom.

A tacky Portuguese traveling salesman gives a lift to a woman who is mysterious, sexy, possibly insane and filled with one surprise after another. She wishes to run away to Lisboa with him and initially he accommodates her. Then her maliciously psychotic family shows up to make matters worse. More confused by the mile, the matter turns darker when her unpleasant husband catches up with them.

A convicted killer is freed after serving a lengthy prison sentence. Released into Argentina, the ex-convict sets off on a journey of redemption and self-discovery in the Jungle, which leads him on a path from guilt to absolution.

Fernando, a respected university professor, and Lili, his devoted wife, have lived happily together in Buenos Aires for many years. Without warning, they find their comfortable life threatened when Fernando is forced into early retirement as a result of Argentina's economic crisis. Facing an uncertain future, the couple relocates to the countryside where they bravely set out on a new chapter of their lives.

A Buenos Aires sports and social club is in danger of closing and the neighborhood pulls together to save it.

Martin is a film director who lives in Madrid and cannot reconnect with his past or his son, Martin (Hache), who was named for his distant father. They meet after five years when an accident lands Hache at death's door.

Paying homage to the city of Buenos Aires, the film reflects on how urban chaos, as well as new technologies, can alternately unite and alienate people. Reveals how the isolation and anxiety that come with modern life in a bustling city can inadvertently lead two hearts destined for each other to find themselves despite all odds.

Rulo, a one-time rock star, is trying to support his aging mother and musician son. As his efforts go increasingly awry, it is the love of family and friends that keeps him hopeful.

Lorenzo is a quiet teenager living with his family at the edge of the world in beautiful Patagonia. One day, Lorenzo's father decides to host the son of a friend from Buenos Aires named Caito, who had to go to hospital for a long stay. At first, Caito appears shy, tough, and hardly ever speaks, but over time the two boys become friends. However, Caito quickly wears out his welcome with Lorenzo's parents. Before he is forced to relocate again, Caito reveals to Lorenzo the real reason why he was forced to leave home. With a secret to hold, a new responsibility to take, and a troublesome partner by his side, Lorenzo will begin to experience things he never imagined...

In 1988, Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet is forced to call a plebiscite on his presidency. The country will vote Yes or No to Pinochet extending his rule for another eight years. Opposition leaders of the No vote persuade an advertising executive, Rene Saavedra, to spearhead their campaign. Against all odds, with scant resources and under scrutiny by the despot's minions, Saavedra and his team devise an audacious plan to win the election and set Chile free.

A political difference erupts into a civil war in a small town in Argentina as Peronists clash with leftists in 1974. The film begins with slapstick-like violence that grows into deadly confrontations by the end of the film.

Leopoldo, a lonely film projectionist has invented a machine to record his dreams. Through a series of odd events, he discovers that he is the reincarnation of one of the inventors of cinema, and it also records a woman from his past.

Two small-time grifters team up to pull off a big-time score involving a set of valuable counterfeit stamps knows as the Nine Queens.

A masked killer has gunned down the owner and editor of a famous political magazine in the print magnate's own home, but who would have the motivation to commit such a high-profile crime? As the police begin the dogged task of interviewing potential suspects and witnesses, they soon discover that everyone from the victim's lover to his brother seems to have his or her own take on the events. The more information the police get, the more tangled the web of intrigue gets leading to a tense, pulse-pounding climax.

A gang of teenagers roam the slums until Sandra decides that she's had enough. Pregnant with El Cordobes' child, Sandra threatens to leave him if he doesn't straighten up. He decides to pull one more heist, but his plans go terribly wrong.

Six short stories involving people out for vengeance. Vulnerable in the face of a reality that shifts and suddenly turns unpredictable, the characters cross the thin line that divides civilization and barbarism. In "Pasternak," a model and a music critic meet on a plane and realise they have a common acquaintance called Pasternak. Soon they discover that every passenger and crew member on board know Pasternak. Is this coincidence? In "The rats," a waitress recognizes her client--the loan shark who caused a tragedy in her family. The cook suggests mixing rat poison with his food, but the waitress refuses. The stubborn cook, however, decides to proceed with her plan. In "The strongest," two drivers on a lone highway have an argument with tragic consequences. In "Little bomb," a demolition engineer has his car towed by a truck for parking in a wrong place, and he has an argument with the employee of the towing company. This event destroys his private and professional life, and he plots revenge against the corrupt towing company and the city hall. In "The proposal," a reckless son of a wealthy family has an overnight hit-and-run accident, in which a pregnant woman gets killed. He wakes his parents up and his father calls a lawyer. The parents propose to pay the groundkeeper to take the blame for the boy. Soon the father discovers that he is a victim of extortion by his lawyer and the detective in charge of the investigation. What will he do? And in "Until death do us apart," a bride discovers during the wedding party that her newlywed husband has been cheating on her with one of the guests, and she decides to pay him back.

Victor is a young hustler on the streets of Buenos Aires, with a calm demeanor that masks a temper. When a series of external threats -- including an attempted homicide and a broken affair -- rob Victor of his bearings, he must suddenly reassess his values and priorities by taking a long, difficult journey into his own soul.

Set in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Martin and Natalia are in mid-argument when Martin accidentally runs into another car. The other car was being driven by actor Gaston Pauls. Gaston and his girlfriend, Andrea, were on their way to an interview with a journalist, Camila. Martin tries to sort things out with Gaston, but after Andrea decides she's tired of listening to them, she takes off, and before long Gaston does the same to make his appointment with Camila. Camila, however, is looking for more than a story. She's grown tired of her boyfriend, Leopoldo, and is considering an affair with Gaston. Meanwhile, Martin still has not settled the matter concerning the accident, and Leopoldo happens to make the acquaintance of Natalia.

On a hot summer night in Buenos Aires, a hit-and-run accident will link the lives of three men and their families. After running over a young man, the guilty driver leaves the scene of the crime without leaving a trace. The deceased young man's father, with the support of the media, demands that the person responsible for his son's death be hunted down and sent to jail. Entangled in a mesh of chance and despair, the families must face guilt, responsibility, and the intimate need for redemption--as one man is accused of the crime that he did not commit.

Floreal, a political prisoner in Argentina, is liberated at the end of the dictatorship in 1983. His wife Rosi waits for him with their son, while she wrestles with the guilt of having had an affair with a family friend. As Floreal wanders the empty streets on his way home, he is confronted with the ghosts of his and his country's past.

A family in Buenos Aires lives on the 7th floor of a building. The parents are having marital difficulties, but the father does not want to divorce. One day the father and his two children decide to go out, and the father takes the elevator while the children take the stairs. But the children disappear, and it appears that they never even left the building. Where are they?

Marcia, a lonely lingerie salesclerk in Buenos Aires, lives a life of dreary routine after having been dumped by her boyfriend. But her dreams of romance are unexpectedly answered when a pair of feisty leather-jacketed, crop-haired lesbian punks, Lenin and Mao, accost her on the street.

Set in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the film tells the story of director Mario Suarez's quest to make the ultimate tango film. Lonely after his wife (one of the film's stars) has left him; Mario must find the themes that will hold the film together, while simultaneously permitting his musicians and dancers the freedom of expression that is necessary to satisfy the tango-hungry Argentine audience. Things become complicated when Mario falls in love with Elena, a beautiful and talented young dancer who is the girlfriend of the powerful and dangerous Angelo Larroca, an investor in the picture. And Mario's creative vision is challenged by his investors when he plans a scene that recreates Argentina's dark years of political suppression and "disappearances".

Some Argentinians, exiled in Paris, decide to put on a tango-ballet, dedicated to Carlos Gardel, a legendary Argentinian tango star.

Roberto Bermudez, a retired lawyer and a professor of criminal law, is convinced that one of his students, an enigmatic young man named Gonzalo, committed a brutal murder. Roberto becomes obsessed to prove that Gonzalo is behind the crime.

Carlos, a young drummer in a punk rock band, receives news of the death of his adoptive father. After the burial he travels to Los Angeles, the town of his birth, lost in the midst of the Argentine pampas. But the specter of his stepfather won't leave him alone until he solves the riddle of his life. Fabiana, a hooker he meets on his way, guides him in the search of his origin. It is the appearance of a Los Angeles priest that unexpectedly triggers a turn of events for Carlos.

Julián, miserable over his wife's recent death, flies to a remote area of Argentina to scatter his wife's ashes. While there he encounters a lonely flight stewardess, Teresa, and together they discover a new passion for life.

A nameless washed-up computer programmer walks off into the endless pampas after the train he is on breaks down in the middle of nowhere. We follow him as he wanders through forgotten towns, deserted hotels, abandoned highways and broken dreams, encountering along the road a succession of equally lost souls, including a globe-trotting gambler, a circus owner whose performers left him "because the whole country was a circus" and a tarot reader with large gaps in her knowledge of the future.

A Buenos Aires hardware store owner reluctantly winds up taking in a naive Chinese visitor searching for a local relative. Meanwhile, he collects news stories about absurd events and thwarts the efforts of an old flame to rekindle their romance.

Unemployment among the young in Buenos Aires is the focus of this docudrama. Elsa, a young woman dreams of fleeing her impoverished corner of Argentina for Italy, where an erstwhile boyfriend may or may not be waiting for her. Much as her friends try to persuade her to stay, Elsa feels the crushing legacy of her Italian ancestors on her shoulders.

Early one morning Ramon finds the dead body of his secret teenage love, Adela, in the oat fields of Carranco. He covers the naked body with his shirt. Of course the gossip in town is that Ramon's girlfriend has been found murdered and the prime murder suspect, the Gitano (the gypsy) has left town. Later at the local bar, where Justino, the town sheriff and other regular customers discuss what should be done, La Amistad, pointing his flashlight to them shouts "el gitano murdered the girl". Marcelino, a bitter old man pushes Ramon to avenge his girlfriend's murder. Now Ramon will have to prove to the people in his town that he is now a man or leave the town in shame.

"Ernesto returns for one day to a small town in the mountains of Argentina to recall events which happened there when he was a boy. He remembers Luciana, his first love, daughter of the foreman of the biggest landowner in the area. While the two hid away from her father, Ernesto taught her to read and began learning for himself some of life's greatest lessons. Surrounded by a family that banded together with other political activists, Ernesto comes to understand that taking a stand can change the world. Under the turbulent dictatorship of Peron and with the vision of a utopian world leading their cause, he recalls the most important lesson of his upbringing..."A man who betrays his ideals cannot face a mirror"--Container.

Set in Argentina in 2000, a woman reunites with her husband who had been presumed to be among the many disappeared persons massacred by the military dictatorship of the 1970s. The woman brings along their twenty-year-old daughter, who has never met her father.

Seven years have passed since Bear was sent to prison for robbery and murder. The day of the robbery was his daughter Alicia's first birthday and his ex-wife Natalia has never forgiven him. Now paroled, Bear thinks he might be able to start fresh--but Natalia now lives with Sergio, and Alicia barely remembers her father at all. Bear is determined to get them back or at least repair the damage. Caught between the depressed economy and the double-dealing underworld, the only way he can survive is to return to his criminal past.

Valentin is a nine-year-old boy whose feuding parents have left him to be raised by his eccentric grandmother. With his father visiting only occasionally, Valentin is left to look to the other men in the neighborhood for father figures, and to replace his absent mother, he warms to Leticia, one of his father's many short-term girlfriends. When he tells her personal secrets about his father, however, Valentin jeopardizes their relationship. One of Valentin dreams is of being an astronaut one day. He sets out to discover the harsh realities about his parents, while bringing joy to those around him.

A former torture victim under the Argentinian dictatorship, Carmen Uranga now lives a fast-paced life in Madrid, taking comfort only with hired sex partners who aren't allowed to touch her. However, when her aging father has a stroke, Carmen returns to Argentina to be with her family. Now, Carmen must grapple with her memories, and eventually learn to love again. But when more about the past comes to light ... the truth is far more shocking than anyone expected.

Cecilia is an actress who spends her days rehearsing. Viola, meanwhile, spends her time on a bike delivering pirated DVDs throughout the city. The film tells the story of a single day among the youth of Buenos Aires; Cecilia and Viola's stories are brought together by a coup de theatre which transforms their lives.

Patagonia, 1960. A German doctor meets an Argentine family and follows them to a small town where the family will be starting a new life. The family welcomes the doctor into their home and entrusts their daughter to his care, unaware that he is the notorious war criminal Josef Mengele. At the same time, Israeli agents are desperately looking to bring "the German doctor" to justice.

It is a significant day for 80-year-old Antonio. His estranged son is coming to visit and all must be perfect. There will be a special champagne toast; an embrace; warm words that may finally bridge the gap between them. But first, Antonio must wait. Bedridden, he looks out his window at the Patagonian landscape and sees the past and present, while sensing the future. He escapes the eyes of his faithful caretakers and leaves the house for what might be a last walk in his fields, inhaling the scent of the land that has been his life.

Alex is a 15-year-old teenager with a dark secret. Soon after her birth, her parents decide to leave Buenos Aires to settle in an isolated wooden house tucked away in the dunes of the Uruguayan shoreline. As Alex begins to explore her sexuality, her mother invites friends from Buenos Aires to come for a visit with their 16-year-old son Álvaro. Álvaro's father is a plastic surgeon who accepted the invitation because of his medical concern for Alex. The inevitable attraction between the teenagers forces both families to face their worst fears. As rumors begin to spread, the town's fascination with Alex becomes dangerous.

This historical drama tells the story of Juana Ines de la Cruz, one of the greatest poets of the Spanish Siglo de Oro. In order to pursue her passion for writing, Juana enters the convent. There, she develops an intimate relationship with the vicereine, who inspires her poetry. But when the forces of the Inquisition invade the convent, the women have only each other to turn to.

Zama, an officer of the Spanish Crown born in South America, waits for a letter from the King granting him a transfer from the town [in Asunción, Paraguay] in which he is stagnating, to a better place. His situation is delicate. He must ensure that nothing overshadows his transfer. He is forced to accept submissively every task entrusted to him by successive Governors who come and go as he stays behind. The years go by and the letter from the King never arrives. When Zama notices everything is lost, he joins a party of soldiers that go after a dangerous bandit.

Unearths the hidden history of black people in Argentina and their contributions to Argentine culture and society, from the slaves who fought in the revolutionary wars against Spain, to the contemporary struggles of black Argentines against racism and marginalization. The film provides a counternarrative to the national myth of Argentina's exclusively European heritage.

Aleida Guevara discusses Che Guevara, her father, and their family. She recounts anecdotes from her childhood and describes coming to terms with her father's decision to go to Bolivia as well as her own decision to follow in his footsteps as a doctor and social activist.

Visit the incredible Iguazu Falls; Catch the Train to the Stars, one of the most spectacular railway journeys in Latin America; Learn the Tango and party in Buenos Aires: Visit the San Moreno Glacier at the tip of Latin America.

Years ago Argentina had a high standard of living; the unemployment rates were low due to support from government programs, social services and education. This situation changed drastically with pressure from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization, forcing Argentina to adopt new economic policies and globalization.

A general overview of Argentinean life. Includes visits to places such as Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Cordoba, Mar del Plata, Andes Mountains and others.

This film takes an in-depth look at Astor Piazzolla, the king of the tango and one of the most important musical artists in the history of Argentina. Piazzolla has inspired virtuoso performers from all areas of music, from Yo-Yo Ma to Scottish accordionist James Crabb. The film also covers information about Piazzolla's personal life and the way that it has affected his relationship with music.

What is democracy? Freedom, equality, participation? Everyone has his or her own definition. Across the world, 120 countries now have at least the minimum trappings of democracy, the freedom to vote for all citizens. But for many, this is just the beginning not the end. Following decades of US-backed dictatorships, civil wars and devastating structural adjustment policies in the South, and corporate control, electoral corruption, and fraud in the North, representative politics in the Americas is in crisis. Citizens are now choosing to redefine democracy under their own terms: local, direct, and participatory. In 1989, the Brazilian Worker's Party altered the concept of local government when they installed participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre, allowing residents to participate directly in the allocation of city funds. Ten years later, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was swept into power with the promise of granting direct participation to the Venezuelan people; who have now formed tens of thousands of self-organized communal councils. In the Southern Cone, cooperative and recuperated factory numbers have grown, and across the Americas social movements and constitutional assemblies are taking authority away from the ruling elites and putting power into the hands of their members and citizens. Featuring interviews with: Eduardo Galeano, Amy Goodman, Emir Sader, Martha Harnecker, Ward Churchill, and Leonardo Avritzer as well as cooperative and community members, elected representatives, academics, and activists from Brazil, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina, United States, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, and more. Beyond Elections is a journey that takes us across the Americas to attempt to answer one of the most important questions of our time: What is Democracy?

Presentation weaves together dramatized sequences from Borges' stories with an interview of the author at his home in Buenos Aires. Relates his stories to his personal experience and attempts to reconcile the public and private images of this major 20th century writer.

Documentary filmmaker David Blaustein focuses on the legacy of Argentina's 'dirty war' of 1976-83, during which thousands of citizens were kidnapped, tortured, and killed by the military government. Their children were taken and scattered into right-wing foster homes. But the preserving grandmothers did not give up, instead marching fearlessly against the authorities in Buenos Aires Plaza de Mayo. After democracy was restored, they established a comprehensive DNA bank to identify the children.

This film recounts the first 100 years of the tango. It traces the dance's origins from Buenos Aires with composers Martín Fierro to contemporary musician Piazzolla. Songs interpreted are La Morocha, Mi Noche Triste, El Caminito, El Carretero, Por una Cabeza, El Choclo, Cambalache, A Media Luz, La Cumparsita, Libertango, and Mi Buenos Aires Querido.

This documentary looks at Guevara's trials and tribulations evoked by old friends and comrades unveil a unique Che, not so divine yet irreplaceable. The documentary was entirely shot in Cuba while the remains of the guerrilla fighter were being airlifted from Vallegrande, Bolivia, thirty years after his execution. Dr. Alberto Granados, Che's motorcycle companion, joins three surviving members of Guevara's Iron Guard to bring about a chilling testimony of one of the greatest legends of the twentieth century.

Spanish with English subtitles
Ernesto Che Guevara was only 39 years old when he was executed in the Bolivian mountains in 1967. Through archival footage and photos this film tells the story of Che's short life: his childhood in Argentina, his early interests in the Spanish Civil War, and the motorcycle trip through Latin America in 1951 with his friend Alberto Granado.

Honors the working women of Argentina. Includes interviews with Magdalena, a 72-year-old farmer; Karina, a single mother and subway conductor; Regina, who supports her family by collecting and selling cardboard; and Nina, a former nurse and revolutionary.

Exposes the irresponsible lending to brutal dictators by multinational financial institutions. Revealing the widespread impoverishment resulting from these debts, the film transports viewers to Argentina, South Africa, and the Philippines, where essential services have been sacrificed in order to repay these illegitimate loans. In each of the cases, the government pays more in servicing the foreign debts than it does on all essential social services combined... Makes a compelling case for the forgiveness of foreign loans accrued by some of history's worst dictators, debts that exacerbate the suffering of the victims of both the dictators and the institutions that profited from their rule.

"The Disappeared" relates Argentina's Dirty War (1976-83) through the experience of Horacio Pietragalla (aka Cesar Castillo), a young man raised by the maid of the officer who kidnapped him after the murder of his parents by the military. The film follows Horacio as he reconstructs the cause for which his real parents gave their lives, and, through this search, reclaims his true identity. The film personalizes the tragedy that ravaged the country for seven years and exposes polarized views on state-driven terrorism in interviews with top officials and military figures.

Examines the myth and reality of Che Guevara including his friendship with Castro, his world travels, his days as guerilla leader and his death at age 39.

Featuring rare film materials and interviews with Eva's personal acquaintances, critics and historians, a balanced and finally complete picture emerges of Evita's life, death, and the history of postwar Argentina. Interspersed with this fascinating portrait of an ambitious woman's rise to power is the bizarre story of her embalmed corpse, illustrating, decades after her death in 1952, the continuing power of her life.

This program examines the effects of national and international financial policies on the Argentinian economy, focusing on the collapse of December 2001 and its effect on ordinary citizens. Segments include background on the banking crisis, one woman's attempts to get access to her family's savings, street protests, barter clubs and a reality TV show that offers a position as a sales assistant in a clothing store as the grand prize. This film also includes an interview with Former World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz.

This documentary, featuring extensive historic footage, tells the story of one of the 20th Century's most controversial, yet charismatic icons, Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, better known as Che Guevara. A true revolutionary who traveled throughout Latin America observing impoverished conditions of the people, stood side-by-side with Fidel Castro in Cuba, and formed revolutions in the Congo and Bolivia (where he was executed).

To some, she was a hero. To others, she was a symbol of naked ambition. To the world, she remains a legend. Eva Duarte de Peron, Evita, is one of the most controversial figures in history. Rare photographs and films tell Evita's real story, from her humble birth to her tragic death from cancer at 33.

It is twenty five years since Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands. Within three days, a British task force had been mobilised and was on its way to the South Atlantic on a mission to restore the islands to British control. Soon, harrowing images that demonstrated the terrible realities of war were being beamed back to the United Kingdom. This programme is a ... record of a war that cost more than a thousand lives. It features ... archive footage of the fight for the Falkland Islands, atmospheric battle reconstructions and 3D animated graphics that provide a unique perspective on famous battles such as Goose Green, Tumbledown Mountain and Wireless Ridge. 'The Falklands War' also features the memories and recollections of British and Argentine servicemen who went to war in the South Atlantic twenty-five years ago.

This documentary focuses on the poor and dispossessed of Argentina and their recent increasingly successful battles against neo-liberalism and globalization, as well as the continuing severe problems with repossessed farms, enormous poverty, widespread joblessness, and a socialized health care system in chaos.

La Hora de los Hornos combines new and old film footage to explain the history of Argentina and the wave of revolutionary fervor that swept many countries in Latin America. From the Spanish invaders to modern military concerns financed by foreign powers, this feature examines racism, social upheaval, native massacres and the precarious political situations that could change in the wake of revolutionary rebellion. In a noted sequence, director Solanas juxtaposed images of American commericalism and scenes from a slaughterhouse with snatches of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band playing over top. The scene climaxes with a rapid staccato montage of starving children, bleeding cows and Coca-Cola signs matched with the sound of machine gun fire.

The life and political career of Eva Peron is explored through interviews with political associates and friends.

In 1977, the darkest year of the military dictatorship in Argentina, fourteen ordinary women defied the law prohibiting public meetings and began to march in the Plaza dy Mayo before the Presidential palace in Buenos Aires, demanding to know the whereabouts of their missing children. This film documents how these middle-aged and elderly women, without formal political education, sparked both an Argentinian national movement and an international campaign for the release of 30,000 "disappeared" sons and daughters.

The Mapuche defeated the Spanish Crown invaders, and do not recognize the border that Chile and Argentina have tried to impose. Presently, the struggle is focused on maintaining the identity as a people, and stopping the encroachment of multinational corporations in Mapuche ancestral territory. In an effort to increase profits, logging, hydroelectric, oil, mining, and tourist companies- among others- cause destruction and pollution on both sides of the Andes Mountains. The legal, political, and military structures of Chile and Argentina favor the interests of big business. The rights of a people whose spirituality is directly linked to Nature are constantly violated. The search for living in harmony with the environment, a horizontal way of organizing, and a resilience that has never been broken, have allowed the Mapuche to resist for over five centuries and assert: We still exist. In a journey through different communities of Puelmapu (the land where the Sun rises) and Gulumapu (the land where the Sun sets), the documentary takes the viewer across rivers, lakes, forests, and mountains. It registers the words and wisdom of Mapuche women, men, children, youth, and elders. The film breaks through the official news blackout, when it enters the prisons where the defenders of Mapuche rights are serving their sentences. Additionally, it covers a hunger strike that went on for over 100 days and gave rise to a wave of demonstrations.

In August 1889, the steamship Wesser docked in Argentina, carrying the country's first group of Jewish immigrants who were fleeing the Tsarist regime in Russia. They bought agricultural land, built schools, synagogues, and became the "Jewish gauchos." The granddaughter of one of those immigrants describes the struggles of her ancestors in the new world. This documentary recounts the story of those pioneers, based on interviews with the oldest members of today's Jewish community.

Using a combination of fiction and documentary, Albertina Carri traces her parents' disappearance in 1977 during the regime of the Argentine junta.

In the 1970s Argentina was a rich country with competitive industries, modern agriculture, and a prosperous middle class. By 2001, 21 out of 36 million people were living below the poverty level, and diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy reemerged. This film goes into the poorest neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, tracing the roots of the crisis in detail, back to the irresponsible policies of the international lending financial institutions. Due to the violent riots in 2001 new social organizations and neighborhood groups were formed, demanding that justice be served. Several community groups have charged the state's politicians involved with financial malfeasance, citing fraud, association with criminals, a betrayal of civil duty, and economic subversion. This film reveals that the Argentine population has not stood idly by throughout the devastation of their country's economy.

After the fall of the military dictatorship in 1983, successive democratic governments launched a series of reforms purporting to turn Argentina into the world's most liberal and prosperous economy. Less than twenty years later, the Argentinians have lost literally everything: major national companies have been sold well below value to foreign corporations; the proceeds of privatizations have been diverted into the pockets of corrupt officials; revised labour laws have taken away all rights from employees; in a country that is traditionally an important exporter of foodstuffs, malnutrition is widespread; millions of people are unemployed and sinking into poverty; and their savings have disappeared in a final banking collapse. The film highlights numerous political, financial, social and judicial aspects that mark out Argentina's road to ruin.

With a career that spanned 50 years, Mercedes Sosa sold millions of records, performed thousands of concerts all over the world, and left behind a legacy as an artist who went beyond the borders of music to become one of the most influential and loved personalities of the twentieth century. This documentary reveals her early life and her rise to worldwide stardom, and explores the impact she had on the musical and political heritage of Latin America and the world.

In rural northwest Argentina (Jujuy and Salta provinces), the Kolla's land and quality of life is threatened after the government permits a Canadian company, Standard Silver, to open an open-pit silver mine in the region of Mina Pirquitas. The residents, mostly llama, goat, and chinchilla farmers, become understandably inflamed that the government would allow this use of land without offering any sort of compensation for long-term environmental damage and share of the profits of the non-renewable resources. The residents feel that they are being bamboozled with promises of mining jobs that will enable them to stay in the area.

Deep in the heart of Chile's Patagonia region flow two of the world's purest rivers, the Baker and Pascua. Fed by vast glacial systems, these untouched rivers drive biodiversity in rainforests, estuaries and marine ecosystems. They are also the life source for Patagonia's Gauchos, the iconic South American cowboys who endure relentless winds and long winters on remote ranches in these river valleys. Now, five huge hydroelectric dams are planned for the two rivers. Over the past century more than 45,000 large dams have altered the health of the planet's rivers with disastrous impacts that continue to unfold.

A classic story of David and Goliath made international headlines in 2002, when "David," a Mapuche Indian, dared confront a multinational "Goliath," Luciano Benetton of United Colors of Benetton, by reclaiming ancestral land that was part of the vast Benetton estates in Patagonia. United Colors of Benetton is known for its provocative political ads that promote racial harmony and is one of the largest landowners in Argentina. The case went to court after the family refused a Benetton offer to settle in another area, and the litigation has continued to attract attention. This is because of the global recognition of the Benetton brand-name, and because the case highlights the challenges of reconciling traditional indigenous concepts of land ownership and use with private property laws that are constitutionally enshrined in all the countries of the region. The film retraces the course of this history and radiates from a place where "men of the earth," the Mapuche, have decided to return, not to get rich but just to live in a place they feel that they belong.

For three decades, the Plaza de Mayo Grandmothers have been searching for their 500 stolen grandchildren, the children of their own children who disappeared in Argentina's Dirty War (1976-83). To date, 88 of these missing children have been found and have recovered their true identity.

This documentary explores the history and modern reality of candombe, the drum music of Uruguay's black parade bands. It is a way of life that was born in the musical gatherings of slaves in urban marketplaces and plazas. Despite persistent racism, past and present, the 200,000 Uruguayans of African descent experience candombe as a way of life, as part of the cast of characters that inhabit the tenements of Montevideo's Reus and Ansina neighborhoods, where parents rock cradles with drummed lullabies, and children learn to play drums on oil cans. Moving from riveting musical performances to detailed discussions of the history of slavery and the historical development of candombe, Ritual Rhythms is an exciting and informative introduction to candombe, the music of Afro-Uruguay.

This program is set in the impoverished mountain villages of northern Argentina where the music reflects the harsh living conditions of the inhabitants. To alleviate the desperation of their lives, the people stage dramatic celebrations that culminate in the momentary joy of carnaval.

Explores how Argentina's 2001 economic collapse, where a prosperous middle-class economy was destroyed during 10 years of IMF policies, impacted the lives of ordinary workers. Follows 30 unemployed auto-parts workers, who stage a protest against their bosses and economic globalization by occupying their closed factory and refusing to leave.

A documentary on the changing sound of tango music in Argentina. It keys in on Julian Peralta, the driving force behind the creation of a whole movement of young tango musicians called "la máquina tanguera," the film looks at the sacrifices and determination of these young artists as they struggle to survive in Buenos Aires, a city given over to "souvenir tango." Features music and commentary by members of the bands Astillero, Vice Versa, Amores Tangos, and Orquesta Típica Andariega.

Director Jorge Zanada spent years researching and recording the tango's place in Argentine culture and exploring the machismo that drives the dance. Most riveting are the milongueros-the amateur dancers who preserve the pure, traditional steps. Their intimate stories about their personal experiences reveal the intensity that feed their individual tango styles.

Ada Falcon's singing reputation was known throughout the world. But in 1942, she vanished from the public eye at the height of her career. Sixty years after Falcon's disappearance, filmmakers Lorena Munoz and Sergio Wolf set out to examine the enigmatic performer's fascinating life and finally locate the reclusive superstar, sequestered away as a Franciscan nun.