NewFilmmakers & NewLatino Filmmakers
 Edwin Pagan, Series Director / Curator


6:00PM DOCUMENTARIES


THE GUARANI MBYA NOMADS OF THE ATLANTIC RAINFOREST (2006. 21 Minutes, Digital)
 Marcia/Norbert Gomes deOliveira Suchanek,
Writer, Directors

A look at the indigenous people of the Guarani Mbya (from North Argentine, Paraguay, Uruguay to the Northeast of Brazil), who have lived there for thousands of years in the region of the Atlantic Rainforest of South America, and the issues faced by the Guarani villages closest to two nuclear power plants built by the Brazilian Government on the traditional Land of the Guarani.


MEXICO: CHASING THE AMERICAN DREAM
(2007, 12 Minutes, Digital)
 Isabelle Carbonell, Director, Producer

An exploration of the border migration issues between the U.S. and Mexico. This short-form documentary focuses on Mexican immigrants and the arid Mexican landscape, the impressionistic scenes invite the viewer to raise the fundamental issues at the heart of immigration.

 
SHIKASHIKA
(2008, 10:20 Minutes, Super 8/16MM)
 Stephen Hyde, Director

Filmed in Peru, this rhythmic portrait illuminates the process of making a colorful shaved ice called shikashika. To make it one family must make a journey afoot into the Andes mountains where cut enormous blocks of ice with an ax and bare hands and risk the their lives via the steep granite canyon in order to sell their product the following day at the steps of the cathedral in the valley below.


7:00 SHORT FILMS


RED PRINCESS BLUES: THE ANIMATED PREQUEL:
(2008, animation)
Alex Ferrari, Creator, Writer, Director / Dean Cregan, Director, Producer RPB:

The Book of Violence is an animated short film prequel to the forthcoming feature film of the same name. In this tale we meet a 12-year old little girl who finds herself in a strange country looking for her father. She is taken in by a unique looking man who goes by Nino. The film is completely from the perspective of the Princess and what she is going through. She soon discovers the Book of Violence and slowly begins her journey that one day will to vengeance. A Latino produced Japanese-style Anime!


COOKIE (2008, 12 Minutes, 16mm)
 Francisco Ordonez, Writer, Director

Three boys from Queens. A missing wallet. And a prostitute named Cookie. Three boys on a fun night play a game on Cookie, a prostitute that works under the Bridge where the object is to see who can successfully convince one of the girls to flash some skin or offer a free sample. After the joke, one of the pranksters realizes something is wrong: his wallet is missing! Convinced Cookie has stolen his money, they return and this once innocent-seeming encounter quickly spins out of control leading to a night that will change the boys' lives forever.


OUTLOOK (2008, 14:17 Minutes, Digital)
  Derek Velez Partridge, Writer - Director

A soul-searching experimental discovery meets a narrative told in real life. Derek is a writer/director who finds himself in the midst of writers block and unable to clearly see his story. With mid-life approaching, and his father pushing for financial security, Dereks frustrations begin to get the better of him as he begins to have visions of his past, present and a possible future. Portrayed in actual home movies, we bare witnesses to real life-defining moment as this writer struggles with his grandest subject matter: himself.


8:00PM FIRST FEATURE


BUSCANDO A MIGUEL (2007, 90 Minutes, 35MM) Juan Fisher, Writer, Director

Miguel is a young Colombian politician blinded by his own privilege. Victim of a violent attack, he loses his memory and finds himself living in a very different world, a world inhabited precisely by the kind of people he had once despiseda cast of colorful indigents, garbage-pickers, petty thieves and a pious and promiscuous drag queen who falls madly in love with him. These people provide him with their own form of warmth and solidarity, but Miguel is haunted by fragments of his past. So, eventually, he finds out not who he was, but rather who he is a man struggling for redemption.


9:45PM SECOND FEATURE


SALSA LESSONS (2007, 90 Minutes, Digital)
 Antonio de la Cruz, Director

Two people meet by chance in New York City. Pedro is a salsa instructor and Rosa wants to learn how to dance. Through the power of salsa dancing they find each other and also discover that their painful past is very much still in their present. Letting go of the past is not as easy as they think. Can they move on?