Spain

Little is known of the childhood and youth of the great 19th-century Cuban liberator, José Martí. This robust biopic imagines his early years. The son of a magistrate, the precocious Martí — “Pepe” to family and friends — takes an early interest in justice. Gradually he enters the nascent independence movement and, not yet 18, is arrested for sedition. Respectful, yet not worshipful, this is a portrait of the revolutionary as a young man, and a stirring historical drama besides.

Eighty-eight-year-old Grandma Mari is draining the life out of her daughter Maritxu. Joxemari, Maritxu’s husband, decides he must take charge of Grandma Mari and get her into a home without his wife getting wind of the situation, and to do this he enlists the help of his son-in-law Kintxo. This may seem a simple task, but Grandma Mari’s stubborn and crafty character causes unexpected mayhem.

Celebrating the literary legacy and love of cinema of Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, the Consulate General of Colombia in Vancouver and the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival are proud to present No One Writes to the Colonel, a film which many consider to be the finest cinematic adaptation of a García Márquez novel.

When the car accident happens, Bianca is just starting to smoke and Tomas is still a virgin. The two siblings are left alone, two orphans adrift in the faded splendor of Rome. Life loses its shape as they get lost in the back alleys of adulthood, until Bianca encounters Maciste, a retired Mr. Universe, and enters his dark mansion in search of a future. This exquisitely photographed film captures all the rich colours of grief and the uncertainty of youth.

Chile, 1973. Gonzalo Infante and Pedro Machuca are two eleven-year-old boys living in the capital city of Santiago. Gonzalo comes from a well-to-do family, while Pedro lives in a shantytown on the outskirts of Gonzalo's neighbourhood. Father McEnroe, the principal of St. Patrick’s, enrolls a group of boys from low-income families at the elite private school with the conviction that the students will learn to respect one another.

In the remote village of Greytown, Nicaragua, surrounded by the jungle and the ocean, Maicol and Bryan are nearing adolescence. Soon, instead of swimming in the river and making slingshots to kill birds, they will be shark hunting in the sea with the older men of the village. The Shark’s Eye captures their daily lives and quietly leads the viewer into the local reality, partly masked by the humour and innocence of late childhood.

Cuba 1993: eunice, no longer able to tolerate her father’s abuse, flees her small town. She falls in with the “freakies,” a gang of hard-living street kids, who embrace her as one of their own. However, eunice once again finds herself at a crossroads when the group finds out that the local AIDS facility offers food, clothing, and shelter, and they decide they want in—whatever the cost. Boleto al paraíso presents a harsh and highly compelling chronicle of disaffected youth culture in Cuba.

When hungry, flesh-eating zombies begin to take over the island of Cuba on the anniversary of the revolution, the official media refers to the reports as isolated incidents provoked by dissidents paid by the US government. Fortunately for the future of the nation and before widespread panic fully sets in, Juan and his friends come to the rescue. Once they figure out that the only way to beat the zombies is to destroy their brains, Juan realizes there is an upside to this situation: they can confront the zombies and make some money out of it at the same time.

I remember the night when the history of my family changed. They called us from Peru to inform us that my Aunt Sibila was in prison, accused of being a member of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path). I was seven-years-old at the time and because of my parents’ silence about her, she became a great mystery in my life. Director