Five films, five different glimpses of Latin American culture

Starting October 5, members of the Princeton community will have the opportunity to experience Hispanic culture from a less commercialized perspective than the one generally presented in Hollywood movies.

From October 5 to October 9, the Princeton Documentary Festival will be running in the Frist Theater. The festival, initiated by Professor Ricardo Piglia of the University's Spanish and Portuguese Department, will feature a series of contemporary documentaries from Spain and Latin America.

The theme of the festival is "Crossing Borders," and this theme, according to Program Coordinator Dr. Lucía Melgar, another professor in the Spanish and Portuguese Department, addresses not only the crossing of geographical borders but also "the interplay between fiction and experience, information and imagination, that is a rising feature of current documentary production."

One film will be shown each night of the festival. Monday, October 7 will feature "La Television y yo" ("Television and Me"), an Argentinean film directed by Andrés di Tella, who is also the Festival Director. Using television as a symbolic and unifying device, the film deals with the growth of di Tella and his family as it parallels the growth of Argentina as a nation.

Other films on the program include "En Construcción" ("Work in Progress"), a Spanish film directed by José Luis Guerín that won the Special Jury Prize at last year's San Sebastián Film Festival, and "Un Passaporte Hungaro" ("A Hungarian Passport"), directed by Brazilian filmmaker Sandra Kogut. Both films address the idea of an evolutionary journey and the discovery of the past.

In "En Construcción," Guerín traces the demolition of a section of the Barrio Chino, a working class neighborhood in Barcelona. He looks at the way knowledge of the past and the future is gained simultaneously through his obsession with the work's progress.

Kogut's film, "Un Passaporte Hungaro," on the other hand, traces an actual journey through Hungary, France and Brazil. This film focuses on a more existential theme: the crisis of dual identities and the meaning of one's heritage and nationality.

These films, as well as "La Batalla de Chile" ("The Battle of Chile") and "Viva São João" ("Hooray Saint John"), exhibit an "obsession with authenticity," says di Tella.

"Filmmakers have begun to dare to speak for themselves," he said. "This is why the 'personal investigation' is perhaps one of the most significant expressions of the new Latin American documentary and why we have decided to place it at the center of this year's festival."

By presenting this vivid selection of Spanish and Latin American documentaries, the organizers of the festival hope to broaden the community's conception of Hispanic art and culture.

"To me, this is an exceptional means to foster a better understanding of regions that are much more rich, lively and complex than the often stereotypical images that are more commonly presented to the American public," said Melgar.

The festival is geared toward members of the University community, but it has also been publicized in the New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia areas. Melgar reports that she has received many positive comments from surrounding intellectual communities in relation to the film festival.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Melgar hopes that the festival will continue to have a positive impact on campus even after the initial screenings of the films.

"Some colleagues [within the University] have integrated some or all of the films into their courses," reported Melgar. "Students will hopefully discuss the films in class or write reviews. The concept of the festival includes its serving as a complement to courses offered by [various departments of the University]."

Directors di Tella and Kogut will both attend the Documentary Festival, and on October 5, di Tella will lead a workshop for graduate students called "Uses of the Documentary."

The festival has been planned as an annual event, and there are hopes that it will become a major cultural attraction as well as a nationally recognized documentary festival.

"This may sound quite ambitious," said Melgar, "but the potential is there –documentary production is on the rise in Latin America and Spain . . . and film is a very powerful means to cross all kinds of borders and work with many different themes."

Ultimately, the Princeton Documentary Festival will strive to both entertain and educate its audience, but its main goal is introducing the community to the diverse aspects of Spanish and Latin American culture.

"Personally," said Melgar, "I hope the audience's 'last word' – its presence in the theater – will give a long life to the Princeton Documentary Festival."