Because we Were Born / Puisque Nous Sommes Nes

Directors: Jean Pierre Duret & Andrea Santana
Country: France/ Brazil
86 min ./ Color / DVD
Genre: Documentary
Year: 2008
Language: French, English, Spanish w/ English Subtitles

In North-East Brazil a large service station stands in the middle of the desert, crossed by an endless road. There, two children, Cocada and Nego are 14 and 13 years old, watch the ongoing movement of the trucks and travellers passing by. Everything seems to remind them of their big country they know nothing about. With this unique maturity acquired too early in adversity, they wonder about their identity and their future.

Calypso at Dirty Jim’s

Director: Pascale O’Bolo
Country: Trinidad
85 mins / Color / DVD
Genre: World
Year: 2004
Original Language: English

This compelling and edifying documentary tells the history of calypso during the existence of Dirty Jim’s Club. For the past three centuries the storytellers of the Creole world have been improvising music and poetry that tell stories of slavery, freedom, war and everyday life... emphasising love, with a high dose of humour and sex of course. Captivating melodies and timeless hits, their rhythms free the bodies of the audience who sing along with them. This documentary showcases performances and commentaries by infamous Calypso artists: Superior, Relator, Bomber, Calypso Rose, Mighty Terror, and Sparrow.

Chino’s Story

Director: Michael Flores
Country: Belize
107 mins / Color / DVD
Genre: Documentary
Year: 2010
Language: English

The harsh reality of life is visible every day on the streets of Belize City. This documentary, however, showcases one man’s unusual struggle, including his court trial, wrongful imprisonment, and subsequent release. His tragic ordeal has now become an inspirational muse for his musical talent.

Contract

Director: Guenny K. Pires
Country: US, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe
81 mins / Mixed / DVD
Genre: Docudrama
Year: 2010
Original Language: Creole, Portuguese, English with English Subtitles

Contract tells the compelling story of two African countries Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, forever linked by a history of poverty, slavery and two people forever linked by the unbreakable bonds of family and love. It follows a story decades in the making, a bond that cane never be broken, and a steadfast belief that hope truly never dies.

Home

Director: Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Country: France
120 mins / Color / DVD
Genre: Documentary
Year: 2009
Original Language: French, Spanish, English with English Subtitles

With aerial footage from 54 countries, Home is a depiction of how the Earth’s problems are all interlinked, but with only one thing responsible: the human. It starts with the creation and the evolution of the animal species on Earth including the human, who starts living peacefully with nature. But the accelerating growth of population in the last 60 years and the discovery of oil changed everything.

Ida’s Daughter

Director: Amon Saba Saakana
Country: Trinidad and Tobago
75 min / Color / DVD
Genre: Documentary
Year: 2010
Original Language: English

This feature documentary is about the life & work of Poet Laureate Eintou Springer, the Black Power events of 1970 in which her cousin Theodore Guerra was a prosecutor and she an activist, and about moving away from the influence of the Euro-Christian church and the gravitation to African religion. Laureate’s many life experiences have helped her evolve as an accomplished writer.

Interior Landscapes / Paisajes Interiores

Director: Gabriel Fulgado
Country: Spain
80 mins / Color / DVD
Genre: Documentary
Year: 2009
Original Language: Spanish with English Subtitles

Interior Landscapes tells the story of mining industry in El Bierzo an area located in the Spanish province of Leon. Three generations of miners from the same family unfold the secrets of what its means to be a miner and live in a mining community. Through their memories, experiences and impressions we glimpse the reality of a group of people who share not only a job, but also a special way of life.

La Isla: Archives of a Tragedy / La Isla: Archive einer Tragodie

Director: Uli Stelzner
Country: Guatemala & Germany
85 mins / Color / DVD
Genre: Documentary
Year: 2009
Original Language: Spanish with English Subtitles

In July 2005 a huge explosion in the Guatemalan capital leads to the discovery of the historic archive of Guatemala’s national police. The grounds of today’s police academy used to be an island that housed the secret prisons of notorious policia nacional squads. Here, millions of documents appeared aided by an extraordinary visual and emotional interaction. The film traces the story of a tragedy and finds proof for inconceivable atrocities committed and the young generation of archive workers willing to free their society from the stranglehold of its own history.

MRS . . .what’s his name? / Señora De

Director: Patricia Ferreira
Country: Spain
80 mins / Color / DVD
Genre: Documentary
Year: 2009
Language: Galician & Spanish with English Subtitles

“Mrs. What’s- His-Name” shows the testimonies of several generations of women whom history did not even allow them to dream. The only thing they could do was to resign themselves and accept the fact they were born and brought up in those times when their voices, their desires and even their thoughts were silenced.

To Play and To Fight / Tocar y Luchar

Director: Patricia Ferreira
Country: Venezuela
80 mins / Color / DVD
Genre: Documentary
Year: 2008
Original Language: Spanish with English Subtitles

To Play and To Fight presents the captivating story of the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra System - an incredible network of hundreds of orchestras formed within most of Venezuela’s towns and villages. Once a modest program designed to expose rural children to the wonders of music, the system has become one of the most important and beautiful social phenomena in modern history. The documentary portrays the inspirational stories of world class musicians trained by the Venezuelan system, including the Berlin Philharmonic’s youngest player Edicson Ruiz and world renowned conductor Gustavo Dudamel.

Los Últimos Héroes de la Península / Los Últimos Héroes de la Península

Director: J.M. Cravioto
Country: Mexico
94 min / Color / DVD
Genre: Documentrary
Year: 2010
Language: Spanish w/ English Subtitles

When former boxing world champions Gustavo Guty Espadas, Miguel Canto, Freddie Chato Castillo, Lupe Madera, and Juan Herrera stepped into the boxing ring, their hardscrabble childhoods were forgotten. They were warriors, stars, and above all they were international heroes who proudly came from Mérida, Yucatán.
Mérida, Yucatán, rose to boxing capital status because of the champions who put them on the map one after the other. These Mérida men all rose out of poverty and became known as “the last Mayan warriors.”