They’re adding a slew of documentaries from Spain, Latin America, and across Latinx communities to OVID!
These include GOYA: THE SECRET OF THE SHADOWS, a meditation on the art market, and THE METAL STORK on Salvadorian civil war survivors and their attempts to reconcile their pasts and bring peace to the present.
We also recommend INNER BORDERLINES, which follows writer and professor Alejandro Morales, in his journey around Southern California as he tries to understand many issues concerning the Latino population in California and the U.S. society.
On another note, inspired by bookstores, we’re adding a new “Staff Picks“ section to the newsletter. If you have a film you love on OVID, tell us which film it is and what makes it special… you might just featured next week!
Read on for more details on this week’s releases and be sure to check-out the Staff Picks section where we recommend our favorite titles:
The Eternauta’s Wife
Directed by Adan Aliaga; Pragda, Documentary
Some time in 1957, Argentine writer Héctor Germán Oesterheld created a highly metaphorical and political graphic novel, El Eternauta.
THE ETERNAUTA’S WIFE follows Elsa Sánchez, Oesterheld’s widow. The daughter of immigrants from Galicia, her life is evidence of the cruelty of Argentina’s repressive dictatorship, which took the lives of her husband, their four daughters and their respective husbands.
Goya: The Secret of the Shadows
Directed by David Mauas; Pragda, Documentary
A photographer purchases an anonymous 19th-century portrait in Barcelona. He believes that it is an original Goya painting but is it real or fake? The acquisition of the portrait is the starting point of a journey d’auteur, a look into the authorship of his canvases and a reflection on art as a business.
Inner Borderlines
Directed by Luis Mancha; Pragda, Documentary
The film follows Alejandro Morales around Southern California as he explores a variety of topics that concern the Chicano/Latino community including: history, immigration, race relations, ethnicity, family, labor, education, religion, memory, gender, power, border, borderlands, and the fantastic.
The German Neighbor
Directed by Rosario Cervio, Martin Liji; Pragda, Documentary
Integrating impressive archival material, THE GERMAN NEIGHBOR follows the steps of Adolf Eichmann’s highly unusual life in Argentina after his escape from Nazi Germany, and his defense, which sparked international interest, at the Nuremberg trial in Jerusalem.
The Metal Stork
Directed by Joan Lòpez Lloret; Pragda, Documentary
During El Salvador’s civil war, rural kids Ana Lilian, Ricardo, and Blanca witnessed the murder of their families and grieved as a military helicopter determined their fate. Now, they try to reconnect with their long-lost families, hoping to reconcile their pasts and bring peace to the present.
Return to Cuba
Directed by David Fabrega; Pragda, Documentary
After 18 years living in Italy, Barbara Ramos returns to live in Cuba, her homeland. In the town of Santa Clara and through the projects of family and friends, she discovers what has changed, what hasn’t, and what will likely never change in her country.
Shot over a period of three years – the time it took Barbara to build her dream house – RETURN TO CUBA chronicles her life after Fidel Castro’s era, in the wake of Raul Castro’s liberal reforms and the reconciliation with the United States of America.
Official Selection at the San Francisco Latino Film Festival.
The Offended
Directed by Marcela Zamora; Pragda, Documentary
An award-winning documentary on the legacy of the internal armed conflict in El Salvador, THE OFFENDED features the director’s charismatic father, Ruben Zamora, a key political leader and current Salvadorian Ambassador before the UN, who was captured and tortured by the National Police during the country’s civil war.
Illustrated with shocking archival footage, Zamora’s testimony, as well as that of others who suffered a similar fate, the film provides insight into the scope of this horrific war during which tens of thousands of people were murdered in shadowy circumstances.
Winner of a Jury Mention at the Havana Film Festival and an Audience Award at the Costa Rica Film Festival.
