Colombian artists reflect on rural violence and memory in short film
The short film is intended as an expression of solidarity with the current strike and its title, Desolvido, translates as ‘unforgetting’; evoking a desire not to forget past moments of beauty even in the face of a violent present.
‘Argentina, 1985’
Argentina, 1985 (dir. Santiago Mitre, 2022) recreates the most significant court case in Argentine history – the Trial of the Juntas – which aimed to bring Argentina’s military dictatorship to justice following the country’s return to democracy in 1983.
Venezuela: youth orchestra resist adversity through music
Filmed over nine years, this documentary follows the lives of three teenagers from the barrio as they struggle to become professional musicians in a country on the verge of collapse.
Rio: film festival highlights nuclear perils
LAB's Karoline Pelikan interviews the organizers of the Rio International Uranium Film Festival which highlights the dangers of nuclear weapons, uranium mining and nuclear waste.
Abortion rights at the Texas/Mexico border
Shot in McAllen, Texas, the home of Whole Woman’s Health, the last open abortion clinic in the region, Leah Galant and Maya Cueva’s insightful and humane documentary chronicles the lives of three individuals existing at the heart of the tensions that surround abortion rights towards the end of the Trump administration
Mining: On the track of dirty gold
Through one character's journey meeting everyday heroes of resistance and telling their stories, Luis Manuel Claps documents the wave of organised resistance to large-scale industrial mining that spread from from the south of Patagonia as far as the Amazon.
Venezuela: Trochas de la Información
Emily Gregg reviews a video film which brings together journalists trying to report on the Covid-19 pandemic in Venezuela and the repression they have experienced in trying to tell the truth.
Los Reyes Del Mundo: an epic tale of modern Colombia
Los reyes del mundo (The Kings of the World dir. Laura Mora, 2022), charismatically dances the line where hate for the world and love for life meet. It is full of action, poetry, wild cinematography, and transmits a pertinent social message.
Río Turbio: women marginalised by the mine
Shady River (Río Turbio), named after the mining town in northwest Argentina in which it is set, explores the gendered space of the mine, giving voice to a collective of marginalised women and shedding light on the tragedies that haunt the town of Río Turbio.
Latin America’s Oscar Contenders
In recent years, this highest award in the filmmaking business has been kind to Latin American filmmakers, especially Mexican directors: Since 2014 five directing awards were won by Alfonso Cuarón (for Gravity in 2014 and Roma in 2019), Alejandro González Iñárritu (for Birdman in 2015 and The Revenant in 2016), and Guillermo del Toro (for The Shape of Water in 2018). The Oscars 2021 submissions from Latin America are: