Latin American Films
at the Margaret Mead Film Festival
Co-presented by Cinema Tropical
October 18 - 21
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History's Margaret Mead Film Festival, occurring October 18–21, 2018, screens documentaries that increase our understanding of the complexity and diversity of the peoples and cultures that populate our planet. The festival has evolved with the times while maintaining its important history and has grown steadily to reflect the ever-evolving incarnations of storytelling, technology and growing access to communities near and far. The Mead presents the best in documentary, experimental films, animation, hybrid works, and more.
This year's festival reflects stories of resilience–portraits of strength and action by people who are rising up, breaking new ground, and pushing their communities forward. Collectively, our new centerpiece, highlights work from community organizations that train and support Indigenous and other filmmakers in telling their own stories.
OBSCURO BARROCO
(Evangelia Kranioti, France/Greece/Brazil, 2018, 59 min.)
U.S. Premiere / Buy Tickets
What is the essence of a city that is constantly changing? In the months surrounding Carnival, Rio de Janeiro pulses with sound, color, and fluidity. Queer Brazilian icon Luana Muniz leads us through her stream of consciousness—from underground dance parties to the deep Brazilian forest to local political uprisings—into the very heart of Rio during Carnival.
Friday, October 19, 9:30pm
THE SOUNDS OF BELLS / O SOM DOS SINOS
(Marcia Mansur and Marina Thomé, Brazil, 2016, 70 min.)
U.S. Premiere / Buy Tickets
Church bells announce the time for work, rest, prayer, and celebration. But for the people of Minas Gerais, Brazil, the sound of bells transcends the everyday. As a group of young bell ringers develop a sense of pride in making their own sound reverberate through their town, we see how religious experience connects the community to something larger than themselves.
Saturday, October 20, 11:30am
AMANECER
(Carmen Torres, Spain/Colombia, 2018, 78 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
US Premiere / Director in Attendance / Buy Tickets
Carmen Torres never had a chance to ask about her birthmother because her adoptive mother died when Carmen was just 13. As an adult she is confronted with the impersonal nature of a bureaucratic adoption agency. When she decides to trace her biological roots to a rural community in Colombia, one question remains: why was she given up for adoption?
Saturday, October 20, 2pm
THE GUARDIANS
(Ben Crosbie, Tessa Moran, USA/Mexico, 2018, 70 min.)
New York Premiere / Directors in Attendance / Buy Tickets
A quiet meditation on the migration of the monarch butterfly becomes a political melodrama. A Mexican Indigenous community goes to battle to protect their land, which is also the migratory home of the butterflies. Facing marauding loggers and diminishing crop returns, how far will the farmers of Donaciano Ojeda go to provide a sustainable future for their children?
Saturday, October 20, 6:30pm
MAMACITA
(José Pablo Estrada Torrescano, Mexico/Germany, 2018, 75 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
New York Premiere / Buy Tickets
An eccentric Mexican beauty tycoon invites her estranged grandson to make a film celebrating her rags-to-riches success story. But when the young filmmaker arrives at the extravagant castle-like compound that his 95-year old Mamacita calls home, he finds a story that is much darker, and much richer, than he imagined.
Sunday, October 21, 5:30pm
A BOLD PEACE
(Matthew Eddy, USA/Costa Rica, 2016, 89 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Buy Tickets
Costa Rica disbanded its military 60 years ago and directed its resources toward education, health, and the environment. Since then it has earned the number one spot in the Happy Planet Index, a ranking of countries based on measures of environmental protection and the happiness and health of its citizens. Surrounded by war in the Americas, how has the government of Costa Rica managed to put the happiness of its people first?
Sunday, October 21, 5:30pm
