Please check back soon for award-winning and alternative films coming to Cobourg over the cold winter months!
Please note, if you missed the 2009 festival, many of the films are now available in larger video stores.
The breathtaking and heart-breaking documentary, Which Way Home , is scheduled to air on HBO in the Fall.
This year Horizons of Friendship screened two documentaries and two feature films at Cobourg’s only Latin Summer Film Festival and Speakers Series. As in previous years, the first documentary shown was to commemorate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People celebrated on August 9th. The following three screenings looked at migration from a variety of perspectives, from those wishing to reach the US, those in the US with family in the South, and those in the US trying to illegally cross over to Mexico. Intertwining the social and political issues of migration with the undeniable elements of human emotions involved, these three award-winning films revealed the isolation, discrimination, violence and tremendous risks undertaken by individuals in search of a better life, and at the core, the true love of friends and family.
Below you will find each film with a synopsis and a link to You Tube to view a short trailer.
August 6th~Muffins for Granny
Click below to see the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6ziYYLL4Dw
Documentary 2008. Not rated.
Canada, 88 minutes. Original Version English.
Director: Nadia McLaren
Guest speaker: Alderville Chief James Marden
Synopsis (from Nadia McLaren’s MySpace): In the late 1880’s and for the following 100 years, the government of Canada imposed a policy of assimilation that required every First Nation’s child be placed in Residential Schools. Parents who refuted these laws were placed in jails and their children as young as five years old, left in the hands of strangers. “Muffins For Granny,” will take you deep into the Canadian Shield, North of the great Lake Superior on a journey to reawaken the ancient ghosts of the Anishnawbe (people of this land), who carry a sadness left unresolved for 100 years. As a little girl, Nadia McLaren witnessed many tears fall from her Granny’s (Theresa McCraw of the Heron Bay Pic River reservation) eyes. In 2004, she traveled home to speak with Elders and family members in search of a better understanding to her life-long confusions about her Granny’s pain. A sacred tobacco offering was given to each of the 35 Elders interviewed, and for many it was for the first time they spoke of the abuses they suffered within Residential Schools. “Muffins for Granny,” takes you through the personal stories of seven Elders who have lived through one of the darkest chapters in Canada’s History. Mixing stark animated moments with human faces and home movie footage, this is a beautifully presented raw and honest documentary about a difficult chapter in Canadian history — a chapter that, for some, is not over.
August 13th~The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Click the link to see the trailer here on You Tube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3k1iBYa5Z4
Feature film 2005. Rated 14A
USA/ France, 121 minutes. Original Version Spanish and English, subtitled in both languages.
Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Please note: this film will begin at 7pm sharp!
Synopsis (Rotten Tomatoes): Tommy Lee Jones takes his second turn in the director’s chair with The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, the follow-up to his 1995 western The Good Old Boys. Loosely based on a 1997 tragic fatal shooting of Esequiel Hernandez, an 18 year-old Mexican American who was shot by a Marine while tending to his goats (the marine was there to patrol the Texas-Rio Grande border as part of the ‘War on Drugs’ and mistook the teen for a drug smuggler), this film is a fictional account of a documentary titled, The Ballad of Esequiel Hernandez. The action takes place on the border between West Texas and Northern Chihuahua in Mexico, which is a hot spot for illegal crossings. But Jones’s movie ingeniously flips this dangerous yet all-too-common practice on its head, with a tale of a man hell-bent on crossing the border in the opposite direction. The journey to Mexico begins when Pete Perkins (Jones) uncovers the identity of a Border Patrolman, Mike Norton (Barry Pepper), who has shot and killed his best friend, Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cedillo). Kidnapping Norton and forcing him to dig up Estrada’s body, Perkins straps the corpse to a horse, and informs Norton that he will be traveling with them to Mexico. Once there, they will bury Estrada according to instructions he gave Perkins prior to his death. Jones paints Norton as a mean-spirited individual; caught up in a loveless relationship with his wife, Lou Ann (January Jones) and a day job which frequently involves him exploding in a violent rage. The two men don’t exactly bond on their journey, the wedge that’s been forced between them being far too great for them to reconcile their differences. But Jones coerces a riveting tale from Guillermo Arriaga script, with a choppy chronology reminiscent of Arriaga’s own 21 GRAMS. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is one of the most absorbing pieces of cinema to emerge in 2005.
August 20th~Which Way Home
Click below to see a short trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhFW48UMUHY&feature=fvsr
Documentary 2009. Rated PG 13
USA, 82 minutes. Original Version Spanish, subtitled in English.
Director: Rebecca Cammisa
Guest speaker: Rone Donefer
Synopsis (from Hotdocs website): Each year, thousands of people in Latin America risk their lives to make the long journey north through Mexico in search of a better life in the United States. Many are forced to leave their families behind, hoping that one day they can either return with new-found wealth or bring their families to join them. Rebecca Cammisa’s enlightening and heart-wrenching film follows three unaccompanied children as they make the dangerous and demanding trek through Latin America to the US. As the children meet all manner of challenges along the way, they are awaited by their anxious parents who themselves have faced an arduous journey in establishing a new life for their families in the land of opportunity. Award-winning director Cammisa brings a compassionate eye to this thoughtful portrait of the journey to achieve the American dream.
When Ms. Cammissa was asked in an interview, “how do you define success as a filmmaker, and what are your personal goals as a filmmaker”, she responded;
“I think I’ve achieved some success as a filmmaker when the work touches people and makes them aware of the world around them. Documentary film is a powerful form of communication. It can educate and hopefully be a catalyst for deeper understanding and social/political action. That is what I want my films to accomplish; make people think and hopefully bring about positive change in this world”.
August 27th~Under the Same Moon
View the trailer here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jCZgUiPixE&feature=fvw
Feature Film 2008. Rated PG
Mexico/USA, 106 minutes. Original Version Spanish and English, subtitled in both languages.
Director : Patricia Riggen
Synopsis (Rotten Tomatoes): The debut feature from director Patricia Riggen, this drama centers on a young boy’s journey across the US/Mexico border to be reunited with his mother, an illegal Mexican immigrant struggling to support her family in Mexico while living illegally in Los Angeles. Adrian Alonso stars as Carlitos, a Mexican adolescent living with his grandmother while his mother works as a maid, hoping someday to send for her child. But when the grandmother dies unexpectedly, Carlitos embarks on a colorful and arduous journey across the border in search of his mother, with little information on where to find her in LA. The script has Carlitos narrowly escaping kidnapping, drug addicts, and Border Patrol workers, aided by the unlikely friendships he forges along the way. As we watch Rosario grapple with life as an illegal immigrant in Los Angeles, Carlitos’s optimism and strength of spirit gain him a migrant worker (Eugenio Derbez) as a traveling companion. Riggen keeps a potentially depressing topic surprisingly light by including frequent musical interludes, and cinematographer Checco Varese takes care to create a visual journey that’s stunning throughout. Featuring a supporting performance by America Ferrara of ABC’s Ugly Betty, and one of Mexican’s best known actors (and comedians) Eugenio Derbez. While this film directly addresses issues concerning immigration and discrimination, the film, which won a standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival, highlights the loving relationship between a mother and her son and ultimately, the heart-wrenching reality of many parents and children separated by the Mexican/US border.
Every summer, Horizons organizes a film and discussion series in Cobourg that offers an alternative video experience.
The Latin Film Festival aims to present innovative films from Mexico, and Central and South America to local audiences that love film of high artistic caliber with content focused on highlighting social issues that have a universal appeal.
This is the only Latin Film Festival in the region which offers award winning documentaries and full length features with expert guest speakers (and often the directors or producers themselves) which are invited to expand on the universal social themes presented in the plot of each film.
The objective of the series is to motivate all Canadians, and newcomers to Canada to have a greater understanding of issues affecting populations beyond their own borders through alternative and thought provoking Latin films. All films are subtitled in English.
Horizons of Friendship Latin Film Festival attracts community members of all ages that have a love for international cinema, Latin culture, social justice issues, literature, music and the arts. In 2008 the festival was attended by individuals from Ottawa, Toronto, Kingston, Peterborough, Brighton and the surrounding area of Northumberland. Horizons’ celebrates diversity in all forms and encourages open dialogue and discussions during the speaker series portion of the evening.
Please see below a description of all films shown in 2008, and keep in mind, all of these films (and more!) are available from Horizons Resource Library located upstairs at 50 Covert. St. All films are rented FREE of charge.
The 2008 Latin Summer Film Festival was made possible by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
On August 7, in homage to World Indigenous Day, two films will be shown. The first is a 17 minute documentary entitled, Land and Life, produced by Kathy Price for Amnesty International Canada in 2007. Filmed in the rainforest of Colombia’s Caribbean coast, this video examines the devastating impact of a hydroelectric project on the Embera Katío Indigenous people and raises disturbing questions about a Canadian crown corporation that provided financing. Kathy will join us as our guest speaker this evening, and will be available for questions and comments at the end of the evening.
Kathy Price is a former producer of current affairs programs for CBC TV, who has dedicated the last 15 years to solidarity with struggles for social justice in Latin America. Kathy is currently a campaigner with Amnesty International Canada, where she mobilizes activism on Colombia and Mexico.
On August 14, the the award-winning film El Violin will be presented, touted by famed filmmakers as “one of the most amazing Mexican films in many a year” and as “filmmaking in its purest form.” Taking place in an unidentified Latin county, El Violin portrays three generations of musicians who support the guerrilla movement against the authoritarian state and how the oldest uses his violin in his struggle against oppression.
On August 21 the film Bordertown will be showcased. Starring Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas, this controversial political thriller was not released to theatres due to its criticism of the US and Mexican governments, as well as the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Lopez plays the role of an American reporter who tries to tell the story of the systematic violence against women and impunity given to aggressors in Juarez, Mexico. Her character struggles against the powerful parties on both sides of the border that want to keep her quiet. Jennifer Lopez was awarded the Artists for Amnesty prize at the Berlin Film Festival for her role, an honour which is given by the human rights organization Amnesty International to an artist whose work brings light to a social justice issue.
August 28 marks the Festival’s closing night.
We are sorry to say that Alsino y el Cóndor was not shown this year. Machuca (2004), a Chilean film written and directed by Andres Wood was shown instead.
Alsino y el Cóndor is an Oscar-nominated Mexican-Cuban-Nicaraguan co-production by Chilean director Miguel Littin. A hard-to-find film, Alsino tells the story of a young boy growing up during the Sandinista rebellion against the Somoza regime of 1970s Nicaragua. Heavy imagery denoting freedom and justice juxtapose the film’s realistic portrayal of American aggression and state-violence. Showing this rare gem in Cobourg is an exciting conclusion to this summer’s Latin Film Festival.
