The Rice Thresher, Vol. 91, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, October 10, 2003 Page: 10 of 20
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THE RICE THRESHER
ARTS * ENTERTAINMENT FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10,2003
Building communities
& V A*,:'
by Jonathan
Schumann
Latin American film festival
Be transported to an unknown
place and foreign culture. Find your-
self at home, at peace with customs.
Experience challenges you have
never known. Find yourself amidst
familiar hardships. At the Rice Me-
dia Center's Latin American Film
Festival, one can encounter all this,
regardless of cultural background.
The festival, which runs from yes-
terday until the 26th, highlights five
films from the region.
Rice Cinema Director Charles
Dove organized the festival because it
allows films with little mainstream ex-
posure to be sen among the diverse
Rice and Houston population. "The
main reason [for having the festival]
is to try to build a bridge between the
Rice community and the Latin Ameri-
can community, which are varied in
Houston," Dove said.
When selecting films for the fes-
tival — which the Media Center is
hosting in conjunction with the Mu-
seum of Fine Arts, Houston, who
will be showing several other
films — Dove said he tried to con-
centrate on certain countries within
Latin America. "This is something,
trying to focus on a single coun-
try, ... the various countries are very
different, not everyone is the same
by any means," said Dove. For this
reason, Dove chose to focus on films
about two countries in part-
icular — Cuba and Chile. Repre-
senting Chile are the films of Patricio
Guzman: Robinson Crusoe Island and
Madrid. The former explores the
island described in Daniel Defoe's
adventure novel and the effect it had
on Guzman in his childhood. Later
in life, he discovers the island is off
the Chilean coast, and explores the
island while re-discovering his sense
of childhood adventure. The latter
looks at colonialism in Chile and the
disparity between Old and New
World values. Dove finds these films
to be "more meditative, more popu-
lar" than the filmmaker's other fea-
tures which are about Chile, The
Obstinate Memory and Battle of Chile
(Batalla de Chile). In addition Dove
said by showing these films, the
Media Center is continuing its com-
mitment to showing documentaries.
The three films on Cuba, Goodbye
Dear Love (Adio Kerida), Cuba Feliz
and Cuban Rafters (Balseros) "show
inside and outside Cuba itself," Dove
said. Cuban Rafters is a stirring docu-
mentary by Carlos Bosch and Jose
Maria Domenech that follows Cuban
immigrants in the United States over
five years. This is the Houston pre-
miere for this film, which will air on
HBO next year. Dove said that the
film is one of the festival's highlights.
Goodbye Dear lj)ve (Adio Kerida),
a documentary by Ruth Behar,
shows the struggle Judaism has had
in Fidel Castro's Cuba. Cuba Feliz, a
film by Karim Dridi, chronicles the
musical journey of Miguel del Mo-
rales, a man who makes his way
across the country with only his
guitar in hand.
When discussing the Latin
American film community, it is im-
portant to consider Dove's aforemen-
tioned comments: I^atin America is
a region of many countries and cul-
COURTESY MFAH
The Three Marias directed by Aluisio Abranches, is showing at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, which partnered
with the Rice Media Center to host the Latin American Film Festival. The festival runs through Oct. 26.
tures, which present a challenge for
a cross-culture festival.
"It is very hard to get non-Chil-
eans to go to Chilean films, why
would Uruguayans go to Chileans
films?" said Dove adding that, "We
are trying to unite an entire conti-
nent, and it is hard to do, but it is
interesting to see the responses."
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He also said that many latinos enjoy
seeing films in their own language,
without the hassle of subtitles.
While discussing Spanish-
language films, it is impossible to not
mention the mainstream, crossover
successesof several Mexican features,
including Alejandro Gonazlez
Inarritu's Amores Perros (2000) and
Alonso Cuaron's Y tu mama tambien
(2001), which comprise what many
critics have called The Mexican Ex-
plosion or Hie Mexican New Wave.
When planning a festival that
highlights a region. Dove said "We
wouldn't show those films because
they have had a great exposure.
the Mexican cinema has done well,
beginning with Alfonso Arau's
Como agua para chocolate Hike
Water for Chocolate] in 1992, which
crossed over to the Anglo commu-
nity." When speaking about
Inarritu and Cuaron's burgeoning
Hollywood careers (Inarritu's first
English-language film, 21 Grams
starring Sean Penn and Naomi
Watts comes out later this year
and Cuaron will be helming the
next Harry Potter film), Dove hopes
that the filmmakers will continue
to support their national cin-ema.
"Hollywood tends to poach on
these new waves," he said.
Film Schedule (for MFAH)
m fi .. ■ | . . '
Suddenly: Oct. 17 and 18 at 7 p.m.
The Three Marias: Oct. 12 and 19 at 7 p.m.
w.
schedule (for rlce media center)
ove: Oct. 12 at 8 p.m.
Oct. 10 and 11 at 8 p.m.
drid with Robinson Crusoe Island: Oct. 24 at 8 p.m.
: Oct. 25 and 26 at 8 p.m.
Oct. 36 at 3 p.m.
y - y.
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Berenson, Mark. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 91, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, October 10, 2003, newspaper, October 10, 2003; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398490/m1/10/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.