Filmographies - films at UST by Country: Uruguay

Jacob Van Oppen, the former strongest man on Earth, and his crafty manager, Orsini, make a good living by traveling around small South American towns, organizing bogus wrestling exhibitions in run-down theaters. Once this oddball pair disembarks at the village of Santa Maria, business really kicks off: the local newspaper sponsors the fight and helping hands place posters announcing an open call for a worthy adversary.

It's 1988, and Melo, a Uruguayan town on the Brazilian border, awaits the visit of Pope John Paul II. 50,000 people are expected to attend, and the most humble locals believe that selling food and drink to the multitude will them rich. Petty smuggler Beto thinks he has the best idea of all -- to build a WC in front of his house and charge for its use. His efforts bring about unexpected consequences, and the final results will surprise everyone.

In the heart of Montevideo, the Leo wraps himself in the comfort of his small rented room, unmotivated to finish his college thesis or find a job, and content with infrequent visits from his girlfriend. After their six-month relationship ends, Leo begins to break out of his shell by cruising the Internet for a new companion, enlisting the aid of a sympathetic therapist along the way. However, it isn't until he has a chance reunion with a classmate that he is forced to consider the true meaning of his reclusive lifestyle, and a future outside the metaphoric safety of his room.

Tells the tale of five villagers, who embark on a journey to see the ocean for the first time. They depart in a broken down freight truck. Their point of departure is a local bar, and at the last minute, an unknown man from the bar joins their adventure.

Jara is a shy and lonely 35-year-old security guard at a supermarket on the outskirts of Montevideo. He works the night shift, monitoring the surveillance cameras of the entire building. One night Jara discovers Julia, a 25-year-old cleaning woman, through one of the cameras and is immediately attracted to her. Night after night, he watches her on the cameras while she works. Soon he starts following her after work: to the cinema, the beach and even to a date with another man. Jara's life becomes a series of routines and rituals around Julia, but eventually he finds himself at a crossroad and must decide whether to give up his obsession or confront it.

The story of three intertwined characters: a mother, her daughter, and their neighbor. Their dependent coexistence is driven by loneliness and a yearning for genuine affection, but the happiness they pursue cannot be obtained.

When the struggling art-house movie theater where he works faces foreclosure, Jorge must face life in the outside world after years of squirreling himself away in the theater's comforting darkness. Unpracticed in romance but now determined to take charge of his fate, he begins to woo university professor Paola, whom he spied in the theater one day.

Alberto, a divorced father, takes his two children for a vacation at a thermal resort in Salto. Things don't turn out as planned as the non-stop rain forces them to stay indoors, away from the pools and with no TV. Alberto's efforts to entertain his children are met with indifference by Federico, his youngest son, and Lucía, his teenage daughter.

In 1963, a group of young men raided the Swiss Gun Club in Uruguay. This armed action signaled the birth of Latin America's most famous urban guerrilla group, the Tupamaros. Their military successes and their popular Robin Hood-type actions made them well-known. They came to serve as a role model for European urban guerrillas. The early 1970s brought disintegration, and during the military dictatorship, the group survived prison and torture.Today, the Tupamaros is one of the few Latin American resistance movements that have made the transition to a legal political force. Since spring 1995, it has been represented in the Uruguayan parliament by the 62 year old Pepe Mujica. In this film, he reflects on the Tupamaros' development over the last 30 years. A founding member of the movement, he was one of the nine hostages held for 13 years by the military government in absolute isolation in abandoned cisterns and decaying prisons. For the first time former leaders of the MLN-Tupamaros are prepared to tell the story of their movement in front of a camera. The film is based on a visual concept that sheds light on the past by showing images of the present. Despite their destruction or hasty conversion, the buildings of Montevideo and elsewhere in the country, still bear witness to past horrors. Among the buildings is a modern shopping center, which until only recently was used as a prison, and the grandiose government palace, where former victims and henchmen now sit opposite each other in an atmosphere of unease and suspicion.

Three young men in Montevideo drink beer, avoid responsibility, talk nonsense, encounter weird characters from the neighborhood and drift in a state of chronic boredom.

Lonely Jacobo Koller is the owner of a struggling sock company. His brother is coming to visit, and he doesn't want him to know that he isn't married, so he asks Marta to pretend that she is his wife and surprisingly she says yes.

Eduardo Galeano reads from Walking Words, The Book of Embraces, and from Memory of Fire.

Holly Morris discovers two South American countries that share a similar name but couldn't be more different, Uruguay and Paraguay. In Uruguay's capital Montevideo, Holly discovers its colonial Spanish history and charm and tries the local cuisine. She travels down to the beach to get a taste of the annual carnival festivities. On to Paraguay, Holly heads to its capital Asuncion to learn about its colonial and political past, before going to the Jesuit mission ruins in Trinidad.

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 segmentof the World Atlas series includes animated maps from Rand McNally and in-depth cultural and historical information about Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. It covers physical geography, political geography, popular locations, and thematic maps of the region.