Latin America and Political Prisoners Film Series.
October 27: Cocalero 2007 86 min Cocalero shows Bolivian President Evo Morales and his rise to prominence. The story follows the presidential campaign of Morales as he moves from union meetings in the Andes and Amazon to formal fund-raising dinners and mass rallies in cities. The rise of Evo, an outspoken critic of the United States, whose political power base is in the coca-growing areas of central Bolivia, dates to his work with farmers resisting a coca eradication drive prompted by the US-backed war on drugs. In 2005 Morales, of Aymara Indian heritage, was elected as Bolivia's first-ever indigenous president, winning the election by the largest majority in the country's history.
November 10: Mumia, Long Distance Revolutionary 2012 120 min This documentary on the U.S.'s most famous political prisoner features contributions from Cornel West, Alice Walker, Angela Davis, Rubin Hurricane Carter, Dick Gregory, Ruby Dee, Robin Alexander, Tariq Ali, Michael Parenti, Ramsay Clark and Amy Goodman. The film focuses on Abu-Jamal's career as a prolific writer, journalist and political activist before and since his 1981 imprisonment. It follows Mumia’s early career in journalism as a writer for the Black Panther newspaper (at age 15), to a reporter for NPR. The story then exposes his battles with the American legal system to continue his revolutionary journalism and radio broadcasts from Death Row – a battle he continues to wage to this very day. Included is Manufacturing Guilt, which details the efforts of the Philadelphia Police Department and District Attorney's office to frame Mumia Abu-Jamal.
November 17: Ecuador: Rain forest vs. Globalization 2011 72 min In 2006 Rafael Correa was elected president of Ecuador. An economist, he came to politics with a mission to transform a country struggling under poverty and debt into a self-sufficient, social, independent, ecological and participative democracy. From the Yasuni Initiative, where the country would no longer rely on exploiting and their natural oil resources, to analyzing the IMF debt plans, he has given Ecuadorians genuine reason to believe that a new type of government and economy is possible. Correa began to implement a new form of government, one pragmatic and humanistic, so that for the first time, ordinary Ecuadorians began to feel that their voices mattered and would be heard. This documentary travels inside of Correa's groundbreaking project to evaluate its success and suggest a new structural model for Latin American governments of the future.
December 1: The End of Poverty 2008 104 min This thought-provoking documentary revealing that global poverty is not an accident. It began with military conquest, slavery and colonization that resulted in the seizure of land, minerals and forced labor. Today, the problem persists because of unfair debt, trade and tax policies -- in other words, wealthy countries keeping poor countries trapped in that condition, exploiting the weaknesses of poor, developing countries. The film asks why today 20% of the planet's population uses 80% of its resources and consumes 30% more than the planet can regenerate. Includes Nobel prize winners in Economics, Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz; authors Susan George, Eric Toussaint, John Perkins, Chalmers Johnson; government ministers such as Bolivia's Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera. The film was selected to over 25 international film festivals.
December 8: Aristide and the Endless Revolution 2005 82min Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the first democratically elected president of Haiti, former Catholic priest and friend of the poor, was removed from office by U.S.-backed coup d'etats. The film investigates the events that led to the coups, the economic alliances between the Haitian and U.S. elite, the armed criminals posing as freedom fighters and other factors that have consistently threatened this country. The film reveals the foreign domination and deceit and political violence that has brought the world's first black republic to its knees. Interviews with President Aristide, Danny Glover, Noam Chomsky, Roger Noriega (Assistant Secretary of State under Bush), Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and many Haitian voices. Won best feature documentary award at the Los Angeles Pan-African Film Festival.
December 15: The Colombia Connection 2012 75 min. This documentary program reveals the ugly face of U.S. military aid to Colombia and of the American government's interference in the affairs of Latin American nations. The director, Pablo Navarrete, who made Inside the Revolution, explains, "In Colombia, left-wing guerrillas (mainly the FARC) have been fighting the Colombian state for nearly 50 years in a brutal armed and social conflict, whose victims run into the millions. Human rights violations have been committed by all sides, but the vast majority of these have been attributed to the Colombian army, security services and right wing paramilitary death squads closely aligned to them. The Colombia Connection refers to the key role of the US government in this conflict, primarily through its funding of the Colombian security services. Colombia has had traditionally strong ties with the US, which have been deepened, particularly in the military sphere, under righting presidents Alvaro Uribe and now his successor Juan Manuel Santos. Colombia is the biggest recipient of US military aid in Latin America and one of the largest recipients of US military aid in the world, having received around $8 billion since the year 2000."
Sponsors: Loyola University Department of Sociology, Loyola Latin America Studies Program, Loyola Film and Digital Media Program, Chicago Committee to Free the Cuban 5, Venezuela Solidarity Committee
For more information: uscubachi@yahoo.com, 773-376-752\
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October 27: Cocalero 2007 86 min Cocalero shows Bolivian President Evo Morales and his rise to prominence. The story follows the presidential campaign of Morales as he moves from union meetings in the Andes and Amazon to formal fund-raising dinners and mass rallies in cities. The rise of Evo, an outspoken critic of the United States, whose political power base is in the coca-growing areas of central Bolivia, dates to his work with farmers resisting a coca eradication drive prompted by the US-backed war on drugs. In 2005 Morales, of Aymara Indian heritage, was elected as Bolivia's first-ever indigenous president, winning the election by the largest majority in the country's history.
November 10: Mumia, Long Distance Revolutionary 2012 120 min This documentary on the U.S.'s most famous political prisoner features contributions from Cornel West, Alice Walker, Angela Davis, Rubin Hurricane Carter, Dick Gregory, Ruby Dee, Robin Alexander, Tariq Ali, Michael Parenti, Ramsay Clark and Amy Goodman. The film focuses on Abu-Jamal's career as a prolific writer, journalist and political activist before and since his 1981 imprisonment. It follows Mumia’s early career in journalism as a writer for the Black Panther newspaper (at age 15), to a reporter for NPR. The story then exposes his battles with the American legal system to continue his revolutionary journalism and radio broadcasts from Death Row – a battle he continues to wage to this very day. Included is Manufacturing Guilt, which details the efforts of the Philadelphia Police Department and District Attorney's office to frame Mumia Abu-Jamal.
November 17: Ecuador: Rain forest vs. Globalization 2011 72 min In 2006 Rafael Correa was elected president of Ecuador. An economist, he came to politics with a mission to transform a country struggling under poverty and debt into a self-sufficient, social, independent, ecological and participative democracy. From the Yasuni Initiative, where the country would no longer rely on exploiting and their natural oil resources, to analyzing the IMF debt plans, he has given Ecuadorians genuine reason to believe that a new type of government and economy is possible. Correa began to implement a new form of government, one pragmatic and humanistic, so that for the first time, ordinary Ecuadorians began to feel that their voices mattered and would be heard. This documentary travels inside of Correa's groundbreaking project to evaluate its success and suggest a new structural model for Latin American governments of the future.
December 1: The End of Poverty 2008 104 min This thought-provoking documentary revealing that global poverty is not an accident. It began with military conquest, slavery and colonization that resulted in the seizure of land, minerals and forced labor. Today, the problem persists because of unfair debt, trade and tax policies -- in other words, wealthy countries keeping poor countries trapped in that condition, exploiting the weaknesses of poor, developing countries. The film asks why today 20% of the planet's population uses 80% of its resources and consumes 30% more than the planet can regenerate. Includes Nobel prize winners in Economics, Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz; authors Susan George, Eric Toussaint, John Perkins, Chalmers Johnson; government ministers such as Bolivia's Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera. The film was selected to over 25 international film festivals.
December 8: Aristide and the Endless Revolution 2005 82min Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the first democratically elected president of Haiti, former Catholic priest and friend of the poor, was removed from office by U.S.-backed coup d'etats. The film investigates the events that led to the coups, the economic alliances between the Haitian and U.S. elite, the armed criminals posing as freedom fighters and other factors that have consistently threatened this country. The film reveals the foreign domination and deceit and political violence that has brought the world's first black republic to its knees. Interviews with President Aristide, Danny Glover, Noam Chomsky, Roger Noriega (Assistant Secretary of State under Bush), Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and many Haitian voices. Won best feature documentary award at the Los Angeles Pan-African Film Festival.
December 15: The Colombia Connection 2012 75 min. This documentary program reveals the ugly face of U.S. military aid to Colombia and of the American government's interference in the affairs of Latin American nations. The director, Pablo Navarrete, who made Inside the Revolution, explains, "In Colombia, left-wing guerrillas (mainly the FARC) have been fighting the Colombian state for nearly 50 years in a brutal armed and social conflict, whose victims run into the millions. Human rights violations have been committed by all sides, but the vast majority of these have been attributed to the Colombian army, security services and right wing paramilitary death squads closely aligned to them. The Colombia Connection refers to the key role of the US government in this conflict, primarily through its funding of the Colombian security services. Colombia has had traditionally strong ties with the US, which have been deepened, particularly in the military sphere, under righting presidents Alvaro Uribe and now his successor Juan Manuel Santos. Colombia is the biggest recipient of US military aid in Latin America and one of the largest recipients of US military aid in the world, having received around $8 billion since the year 2000."
Sponsors: Loyola University Department of Sociology, Loyola Latin America Studies Program, Loyola Film and Digital Media Program, Chicago Committee to Free the Cuban 5, Venezuela Solidarity Committee
For more information: uscubachi@yahoo.com, 773-376-752\
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