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Friday, October 19 Howard Thurman Center at Boston University 775 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA (All Screenings Free) 3:00 PM "Operación Patakón" / Tito Nekerman / 98 mins / Narrative Feature / Dominican Republic / 2007 Co-presented by Boston Area Spanish Exchange - BASE www.spanishclassesboston.com
"Hispaniola" / Freddy Vargas / Short / 11 mins / Dominican Republic, US / 2007 Hispaniola is the endearing story of two boys from different worlds, one Haitian, the other Dominican, who form a bond through baseball. It is through their eyes that we witness first hand the conflicts and misunderstandings between two people who share the same island, the island of Hispaniola. 5:00 PM "Esperando" / Michael Flores / 7 mins / Short / US / 2007 An expectant mother illegally crosses the US-Mexico border, only to find that life on the other side isn't what she had hoped for.
"Made in L.A." / Almudena Carracedo / 70 mins / US / 2007 Made in L.A. follows the remarkable journey of three Latina immigrants working in L.A.s garment factories and their struggle for self-empowerment as they wage a three-year battle to bring a major clothing retailer to the negotiating table. http://madeinla.com/
6:30 PM "Tracks of Color" / Federico Castellucio / 12 mins / Short / US / 2007 Tracks of Color is a coming-of-age story about a Hispanic boy and his family set in the gritty urban world of the South Bronx, New York against the backdrop of a group of celebrated graffiti artists known as the Tats Crew. As his art becomes the focus of his life, he challenges his father Luis Martinez, Sr. and rejects the life that his parents have laid out for him. Luis is talented and determined. Even when his father forbids him to continue with his graffiti and artistic talent he fights for it and in the end wins his father over, memorializing his father's talent and strength in his art.
"Bragging Rights: Stickball Stories" Dir. Sonia Gonzalez / 57 mins / Doc. / US / 2006 Co-presented by the Latino Public Broadcasting www.lpbp.org
8:00 PM "Lost and Found in Mexico" Dir. Caren Cross / 53 mins / Doc. / Mexico / 2006
2007 Boston Film Festival, Best Documentary
Saturday, October 20 Howard Thurman Center at Boston University 775 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA (All Screenings Are Free)
2:00 PM Panel Discussion: "Estereotipos en el cine" (in Spanish) Co-presented by Boston Area Spanish Exchange - BASE www.spanishclassesboston.com
4:00 PM Selection of Contemporary US-Latino Shorts / 73 mins
"Where is Estel?" / Jared Katsiane / 3 mins "Perros sin amor" / Christina Soto / 5 mins "I'm not Mexican" / Salvadore Huerta / 1 min "Airport pick-me-up" / Benjamin Brown & Jessica Weisberg / 5 mins "The Unheard" / Tania Cervantes / 6 mins "Stay" / Xavier Coronado / 4 mins "My Familia" / Ruben Ruiz / 5 mins "CYN" / Alex Ferrari / 5 mins "IT!" / Julio Ponce Palmieri / 5 mins "El día menos pensado" / Myritza Castillo-Irizarry / 5 mins "Equal Opportunity" / Howard Duy Vu / 5 mins "La Chiva" / Akiva Penaloza / 5 mins "Birth of a Teatro" / Patrick Wilkinson / 9 mins "La Cecilia" / Ari Carrillo / 5 mins / ANIMATION "City of Gold" / Jeanne McKinney / 4 mins / ANIMATION
5:30 PM "Camión de carga" / Juan Sebastian Jacome / 9 mins
"Immigrant Reflections: Three Boston College Service Workers Share their Stories" / Susan Legere / 50 mins / Documentary / US / 2007 Through the voices of Manny, Vicky and Jorge, we hear three very personal tales of immigration and upward mobility in America. Emigrating from Cape Verde, Guatemala and Peru at different points in their lives, each now serves the predominantly white, affluent student body at a suburban Jesuit university. Manny coordinates shuttle buses, Vicky operates a dining hall cash register, and Jorge maintains campus grounds. Their stories offer a brief "back stage" glimpse at the well-oiled machine quietly and unobtrusively running a large and esteemed institution of higher education. More importantly, their reflections on leaving home and establishing a new life in America tell a broader story about the price of opportunity, and the means to -- and meaning of -- success for some immigrants in the United States today. Q/A after the screening with director Legere and a member of the documentary cast
7:00 PM "Mario" and "New Bedford Stories" / Jenny Alexander / 40 mins / Documentary / US / 2007 Mario: A year after graduating with honors from Chelsea High School, Mario was arrested in an immigration raid. Immigration agents (ICE) came to his house looking for a criminal who didnt live there, arresting Mario instead and initiating deportation proceedings. Marios dream is to go to college, but instead he must fight to stay in the country he considers home. Mario is one of many individuals without criminal records who have been caught in sweeps ICE agents describe as targeting criminals.
Q/A after the screening with director Alexander
8:00 PM International Short Selection Co-presented by Boston Area Spanish Exchange - BASE www.spanishclassesboston.com
"Chance" / Javier Alvarez / 15 mins / Colombia / 2007 "Insulted and Injured" / Esther Cross / 8 mins / Argentina / 2007 "Breve cuento sobre la aparición espontáanea de un arbol imaginario" / Pepe Avila del Pino / 15 mins / Mexico / 2007
8:45 PM "Brujería" (Voodoo Woman) / Carolina Valencia / 35 mins / Documentary / Canada, Cuba / 2006 "Voodoo Woman" is a powerful first-person account of the director's own gender transformation and the bizarre journey that leads her to accept a complex destiny. It is a tale of the unseen forces that often have profound influence in our lives, if only we choose to believe in them.
Sunday, October 21 Howard Thurman Center at Boston University 775 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA (All Screenings Are Free)
1:30 PM "Democracy in Action: Venezuelan Elections 2006" / Selene Acosta / 50 mins / US, Venezuela / 2006 Selene Acosta's unique documentary, based on three days of filming the Venezuelan presidential elections, captures the enthusiasm, energy and even patience of the Venezuelan people, making us witnesses of their electrifying sense of history. Ms. Acosta gives us the only record of its kind of the election that has changed the direction of Venezuela and the future of Latin America. Q/A with director Acosta after the screening
2:30 PM "I Believe in America" / Michael J. Narvaez / 95 mins / Feature Narrative / US / 2007 I Believe in America is a modern-day epic about three generations of a family who are on opposing sides of the issue concerning the independence movement for Puerto Rico. Reynaldo Pedro Ferrer, a former activist now living as Ronald Peter, must confront his past after the murder of his eldest son Rodney. His father, Popo, a high level member of the clandestine organization, is posing as a double agent, working with FBI Agent Glenn in order to protect his family and still preserve the group's quest for freedom. Still active within the movement is Pedro, a political prisoner who is willing to die for the cause. He secretly assigns a key operative, Cesar, to Reynaldo's son, in an effort to lure Reynaldo back into the movement. Reynaldo must utilize reason, intelligence, and incorporate non-violence in order to avenge his son's death, save his family from ruin and come to peace with his past. I Believe in America is a pilgrimage of this family's journey and an entire culture. Q/A with director Narvaez after the screening
4:00 PM Selection of International Shorts / 98 mins "The Day Pinochet Died" / Nicole Senerman / 10 mins / Chile / 2006 "Encuentro Ausente" / Nejemye Tenenbaum / 13 mins / Mexico / 2006 "Broken" / Alex Ferrari / 20 mins / US / 2006 "¿Qué le pasa a Tedy?" / Achille Milone / 13 mins / Argentina / 2007 "Death of an Ally" / Julio Quintana / 15 mins / US / 2007
"La historia de Liz Rojas" / Eduardo Guillot / 30 mins / Docu-drama / Peru / 2007
5:45 PM "Choropampa: The Price of Gold" / Stephanie Boyd and Ernesto Cabellos / 70 mins / Documentary / Peru / 2004
2003 Barcelona Human Rights Film Festival, Audience Prize
7:45 8:45 PM Reception and Awards Ceremony
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A comedy where two con artists are
involved in cheating an important casino in the Dominican Republic. They are
confused with a group of international terrorists who are planning an attack
in Spain. When the Spanish government discovers the plot the intelligence
agency sends over their agents to track the suspects down before they arrive
in Spain.
Played on the streets of New York since
the 1920s and known as the poor man's baseball, stickball is much more than
an urban pastime. This uplifting documentary tells personal stories, revealing
how the game has helped to promote healthier lifestyles and even break down
racial barriers. It focuses on players in the Bronx, including Steve Mercado,
who died on September 11, 2001. 
Have you had dreams of taking a break
and living in Mexico? Or dreams of retiring in Mexico? After a one-week
vacation, Caren Cross and her husband were so enamored with San Miguel de
Allende that they returned home, ended their careers in the U.S. and
impulsively decided on early retirement. What motivated them to do this? What
attracted them to life in Mexico? Why would they give up their comfortable
lives and leave all of their family and friends? In moving to Mexico, Caren
discovered parts of herself that had been dormant for many years. She felt
alive in a way that she hadn't felt for a long time. Moving to Mexico was the
beginning of an awakening. 
"Fernando's First Snow" / Jared
Katsiane / 4 mins
An ill Central American single mother
risks her life in order to give her son a better future in the United
States.
New Bedford Stories: On March 6,
2007, workers at a New Bedford factory producing vests for the U.S. military
were arrested in a raid conducted by Immigration, Customs and Enforcement
(ICE) officers. Of the 361 undocumented immigrants arrested that day, the
majority were women, many with small children. New Bedford Stories follows
families affected by the immigration raid.
The last two decades of the twentieth
century were a time of armed conflict in Peru that brought horror and dishonor
to the Peruvian government and society. The civilian population, mainly the
rural indigenous, were trapped between the brutal attacks of terrorist
organizations and the reaction of the government armed forces, which were as
fierce and indiscriminative as these organizations. The final report shows
this huge national tragedy: 69,280 victims, including dead, tortured and
missing people. Liz Rojas is one of those anonymous victims and a model of
courage and dignity that often appears during difficult and adverse
circumstances. This is a story about her long journey her perseverance and
courage to find her mother who has been unjustly taken apart from her. It is
also a story about her friendship with Lieutenant Aguila, a policeman
traumatized by violence but who does not want to lose his compassion and
humanity; a man suffering the terror of war, but who is still able to give
refuge an comfort to victims. The story of Liz and Aguila is the symbol of
love and hope over hatred and anguish and the struggle of life over
death.
This is the story of an Andean paradise
lost -- lost after a devastating mercury spill. On June 2, 2000 at the
Yanacocha goldmine in the Peruvian Andes, 151 kilograms of liquid mercury
spilled over a 25-mile long area, contaminating three mountain villages,
including Choropampa. The environmental catastrophe turned this quiet village
into a hotbed of civil resistance. The mine, jointly owned by a Peruvian
company, the World Bank, and the Newmont Mining Corp of Colorado, insists the
problem was quickly resolved, while villagers tell a starkly different story.
Choropampa: The Price of Gold follows their valiant struggle for health
care and justice over a two-year period. "A powerful film. Hopefully it will
serve as a wake-up call to mining companies worldwide that people come first." --
Lucien Chauvin, Washington Post correspondent, Peru
©
.2006 BLIFF. All Rights Reserved.
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