JULY 10 11 SAT 7 PM, SUN 7 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
BAJO CALIFORNIA: THE LIMIT OF TIME
(EL LIMITE DEL TIEMPO)
MEXICO 1998
DIRECTOR: CARLOS BOLADO Crossing the Mexico-California border, Damian, a successful environmental artist, accidentally kills a pregnant woman and flees—leaving behind his own pregnant wife. Inconsolable in his grief, Damian journeys to his ancestral homeland in Baja, California, where he discovers a revived passion for existence. A spiritual odyssey/road movie, this visually stunning film contains the first footage ever shot of the wondrous ancient murals in the Sierras, the largest cave paintings in the world. Winner of seven Mexican Academy Awards, including Best Film.
(96 mins)

JULY 16 17 FRI 7 PM, SAT 7 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
A CAB FOR THREE (TAXI PARA TRES)
CHILE 2001
DIRECTOR: ORLANDO LÜBBERT Ulises' beat-up taxi breaks down in a slum district of Santiago de Chile and is commandeered by two bandits, who force him to drive them around and become an accomplice in their crimes. Ulises, who can't make the payments on this car, makes more in a few hours than he's made in months. With the lure of easy money, it isn't long before victim becomes the perpetrator. A box office hit in Chile, and winner of the top prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival, TAXI PARA TRES is a sharp, black comedy that explores the margins of contemporary Chilean society. "Intelligent, funny and revealing of the Chilean reality today, I loved the movie."—Claude Chabrol. (90 mins.)

JULY 23 24 FRI 7 PM, SAT 7 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
A RED BEAR (UN OSO ROJO)
ARGENTINA 2002
DIRECTOR: ISRAEL ADRIÁN CAETÁNO Although Bear is the only one counting, seven years have gone by since he was sent to prison for robbery and murder on the day of his daughter Alicia’s first birthday. Now that he is paroled, Bear wants to start anew with his family—but his wife Natalia lives with another man and Alicia barely remembers her father at all. Like a disenchanted urban western, A RED BEAR draws out the destiny of a justice-seeking avenger, outlawed by the raw truth of life in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. Acclaimed at the Cannes, Havana and Sundance Film Festivals, “Its combination of toughness and smooth, understated style makes it touching and absorbing”—A.O. Scott, New York Times. (94 mins.)

JULY 30 31 FRI 7 PM, SAT 7 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
MAIDS
(DOMESTICAS)
BRAZIL 2001
DIRECTOR: FERNANDO MEIRELLES, NANDO OLIVAL Based on two years of interviews and an acclaimed theater production, MAIDS is a colorful, spirited look at the lives of five indefatigable maids in Saõ Paolo. Meirelles (CITY OF GOD) and screenwriter Olival weave the women's stories of hope, heartbreak and resiliency with a warmly comic touch. Brought together on the bus they ride and the "invisible" work they do, each has their story. Quiteria is a maid, like her mother before her, and is looked after by her friend Cida. Roxanne dreams of being an actress, Raimunda longs to be married, and Roxanne simply wishes that maybe she wasn't. All the while, Creo agonizes over the disappearance of her grown daughter. Not a movie about maids as much as a maid's movie, MAIDS is a fast and funny portrait set to the rhythm of a samba beat.
(90 mins.)

AUG 6 7 FRI 7 PM, SAT 7 PM
WHITSELL AUDITROIUM
BOLIVIA
ARGENTINA 2001
DIRECTOR: ADRIÁN ISRAEL CAETÁNO A moving story of xenophobia and homesickness, BOLIVIA charts the demise of an illegal immigrant in Buenos Aires with riveting precision. Freddy has left in Bolivia what he loves most, his family. He has come to Buenos Aires with no papers, aiming to find a good job and a place for his family to join him. He gets a job cooking in a bar thanks to Enrique, the owner, who tries to lend him a hand. The clientele, largely coarse beer-drinking drivers, view the new cook with suspicion and disgust: why did the owner take on a foreigner when there are so many unemployed Argentineans? “The most important Argentine film of the last twenty years. A work with an unusual narrative force.” —Rolling Stone. (75 mins.)

AUG 13 14 FRI 7 PM, SAT 7 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
25 WATTS
URUGUAY 2001
DIRECTORS: JUAN PABLO REBELLA, PABLO STOLL As low-key as its subluminous title, 25 WATTS follows three dough-headed high-school slackers on a lazy Saturday in Montevideo. First-time directors Rebella and Stoll slyly capture the specific rhythms of their home and the general anomie of amusingly eccentric youths headed nowhere slowly. Three friends, Leche, Javi and Seba, have been up all Friday night. Javi is the leader; Leche, in love with his older Italian tutor, is the one who’s picked on; and Seba, well, Seba seems kinda brain dead. An argument starts, as there’s nothing better to do: is stepping in dog shit a harbinger of bad or good luck? 25 WATTS shows how the answer may be no luck at all. Tiger Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival (94 mins.)

AUG 20 21 FRI 7 PM, SAT 7 PM
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
I’M LOOKING FOR YOU
(TE BUSCO)
COLOMBIA 2002
DIRECTOR: RICARDO CORAL DORADO As a precocious five-year-old boy, William lived with his wildly imaginative uncle Gustavo. TE BUSCO reconstructs William's memories of the time when he becomes an accomplice in Gustavo's intricate mission to seduce Jazmín, a gorgeous singer that performs in a shopping mall in Bogotá. To pull this off, Gustavo hatches a plan to assemble his musician friends and forms a band for the sole purpose of inviting Jazmín to be the lead singer. The group has its moments of glory, and as William goes along with the dreams of his uncle, he discovers the meaning of love, friendship and betrayal. This hilarious film, filled with infectious salsa music, was the highest grossing Colombia film when it opened in 2002. (90 mins.)

SEPT 10 11 FRI 7 PM, SAT 7 PM
GUILD THEATRE
A LUCKY DAY (UN DIA DE SUERTE)
ARGENTINA 2002
DIRECTOR: SANDRA GUGLIOTTA
In the midst of a city shaken by social unrest, unemployment and political turmoil, 25-year-old Elsa barely makes a living via odd jobs and petty crimes. She hopes to find a decent job but the reality that surrounds her is bleak. The desire for a better life and the memory of a fleeting Italian boyfriend draw her to Rome and later to Sicily to find him, in a trip that is the reverse of the journey that her anarchist grandfather took decades earlier when he left Italy escaping poverty. Shot in Buenos Aires during the riots of 2000, Gugliotta effectively expresses the state of mind of a generation and a country. Calagari Prize winner at the Berlin International Film Festival. (94 mins.)