Latin American Human Rights Film Festival at Eckerd College

On behalf of my students in Latin America: Literature of Human Rights, and Zeta Mu, Eckerd College’s chapter of Sigma Delta Pi (The National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society), I am delighted to invite you to EC’s first Latin American Human Rights Film Festival. The festival opens this week: Wednesday, April 11 – Friday, April 13, 2012. All screenings are free and open to the public.

April 11th, 7:00pm, Miller Auditorium: Voices from Mariel
On April 1, 1980, five individuals seeking political asylum crashed a bus through the gates of the Peruvian embassy in Havana, Cuba. Over the next several days up to 10,000 people also sought refuge in that embassy. Fearing that continued civil unrest might cause further violence and additional damage to his regime’s reputation, Fidel Castro proclaimed that any Cuban who wished to immigrate to the United States could board a boat at the nearby port of Mariel. Thus began the “Marielito” story in the United States.
Told through the previously unheard narratives of ten Cuban-American families, Voices from Mariel brings an updated look into the lives of some of the 125,000 Cuban refugees who came to the United States thirty-two years ago as part of the “Mariel Boatlift.” Voices from Mariel explores the legacy of the brave and committed people who risked their lives in the short but dangerous 90-mile sail across the Straits of Florida seeking freedom in the United States.

Q&A segment to follow, featuring the film’s script writer, Dr. José García, Florida Southern College and Eckerd College’s own resident “Marielita,” Prof. Yani Angulo-Cano.

April 12th, 7:00pm, Miller Auditorium: Granito: How to Nail a Dictator
Often a film not just documents, but makes history. So it is with Granito: How to Nail a Dictator, the astonishing new film by Pamela Yates. Part political thriller, part memoir, Yates transports us back in time through a riveting, haunting tale of genocide in Guatemala and returns to the present with a cast of characters joined by destiny and the quest to bring a malevolent dictator to justice.
As if a watchful Maya god were weaving back together threads of a story unraveled by the passage of time, forgotten by most, our characters become integral to the overarching narrative of wrongs done and justice sought that they have pieced together, each adding their granito, their tiny grain of sand, to the epic tale. This award winning production opened at the 2011 NYC Human Rights Watch International Film Festival.

April 13th, 7:00pm, Miller Auditorium: Chico and Rita
Note: This film is presented jointly with the International Cinema Series.

The setting: Cuba, 1948. Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites them, but their journey –in the tradition of the Cuban ballad, the bolero– brings heartache and torment. From Havana to New York, Paris, Hollywood and Las Vegas, two passionate individuals battle impossible odds to unite in music and love. 2012 Oscar Nominated for Best Animated Feature Film.