· December, 2011

Stories about Film from December, 2011

Cuba: Dance Flash Mob in Plaza Vieja

  24 December 2011

To celebrate the end of the year long activities around the 20 years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Unicef, ballet and dance students worked together to produce a colorful flash mob in the Old Square of La Habana as seen in this video.

Japan: New Video Footage of Tsunami Tidal Surge

  23 December 2011

Devastating tsunami tidal surges are quiet and quick, as a recently uploaded video shows. The video was recorded from inside a truck which got stuck in the rising waters more than 1 mile from the coast 1 hour after the March 11 earthquake. The driver was able to swim to...

Brazil: Titan Kids and Surfing as Hope

  22 December 2011

‘Titan Kids’ is a documentary about the kids of Titanzinho, a slum in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil. Birthplace of professional surfers, surfing is perceived as hope in face of “drugs, prostitution, and extreme violence”. Directors Lee-Ann Curren and André Silva (himself a surfer and former resident) released a teaser...

Cuba: thinking about the film festival

  21 December 2011

Havana Times asks whether the Havana Film Festival has strayed from its original ideals — “Much has happened since its inception in 1978, since which time its revolutionary and emancipatory ideals have faded considerably” — and wonders if the festival could once more “encourage revolutionary and popular cinema (in the...

Mexico: The Results of a Racism Experiment with Children

  20 December 2011

The video by 11.11 Social Change is simple: Mexican children sit in front of two dolls identical save for two things: one is light skinned and blue-eyed and the other is dark skinned and brown eyed. Then they are asked to pick which one of the dolls is ugly, nice,...

Brazil: How Many Lives Does the Guarani-Kaiowá's Land Cost?

  20 December 2011

Last November, 42 gunmen attacked an indigenous reserve in Mato Grosso do Sul, executing Nísio Gomes, 59, chief of the Guaraní Kaiowá and several other villagers. These attacks take place at the same time as Brazil consolidates its position as one of the leading exporters of agricultural goods and biofuels in the world, and Mato Grosso do Sul one of its most productive states.

Cuba: The Living Dead

  16 December 2011

Generation Y sees parallels between the film “Juan of the Dead” and life in Cuba: “More than gazing on a story of beings taken from our worst nightmares, the public wants to decipher the second reading contained in the film…such that, between laughter and shrieks, the metaphor crumbles, it is...

Uruguayan Cinema

  15 December 2011

Alvaro Fagalde blogs [es] about Uruguayan cinema. He says “Whisky” is without a doubt the best Uruguayan film, but criticizes that some believe all films have to follow that style. He argues that Uruguayan films don't need a lot of money, advertising, or a foreign cast; Uruguayan cinema, in his...

Brazil: Documentary on Belo Monte Seeks Funds from the Crowd

  2 December 2011

Belo Monte: Announcement of a War is the title of a Brazilian independent video production about the hydroelectric plant's impact, which has made its way to the top of the most expensive crowdfunding campaigns in the Catarse platform. The short documentary had tried crowdfunding before without success.