Imagen de Caracas

Hugo Chávez: Itinéraire d'un révolutionnaire

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Hugo Chavez was a colourful, unpredictable folk hero who was beloved by his nation’s working class. He was elected president of Venezuela in 1998, and proved to be a tough, quixotic opponent to the power structure that wanted to depose him. When he was forcibly removed from office on 11 April 2002, two independent filmmakers were inside the presidential palace.

La autonomía ha muerto

In 1969, the Renovación Universitaria movement and the subsequent raid on the Central University of Venezuela by the government of Rafael Caldera, triggered a strong wave of protest in the Institutes of Higher Education in Venezuela. This documentary collects part of the events that took place in the city of Mérida, Mérida State, where the University of the Andes is located.

We Keep on Looking for You

A machine-voice makes a "sad film of his homeland" for a dying patient to ease its passing: footage from Kennedy's visit to Venezuela in 61' creeps through montage errors, and a seemingly endless poem comes alive one last time.

Testimonio de un obrero petrolero

Through the testimony of Manuel Taborda, a pioneer of labor organizing in Venezuela’s oil fields, this documentary revisits the experiences of oil workers between 1920 and 1936. Their memories reveal a world marked by corporal punishment, exploitation, racial segregation, and disease, alongside the emergence of collective resistance against the American and British oil companies that controlled the industry and the government that enabled them.

Mayami nuestro

Mayami Nuestro goes beyond the slogan "tá barato, dame dos" (“it’s cheap, give me two”) to force a rethinking of Venezuela’s relationship with oil and national identity. Produced at the height of the oil boom, this 34-minute documentary examines Venezuelan lifestyles in the 1970s and early 1980s, questioning the consumerist fantasies fueled by petro-wealth. Through interviews with merchants, bankers, U.S. academics, and the testimonies of Venezuelans themselves, the film maps the era’s version of the “American Dream” as lived—and projected—abroad. Winner of national and international awards and directed by Carlos Oteyza, Mayami nuestro offers a sharp, historically grounded critique and an open invitation for new generations to reflect on the legacy of oil and its cultural consequences.

El rey del bandolín

Cruz Quinal, "the mandolin king," lives near Cumana in a mountain valley surrounded by sugarcane fields. Perpetuating 16th century Spanish traditions of guitar-making, Cruz fashions such musical instruments as cuatros, marimba, escarpandola, and his own creation, a mandolin with two fretboards. He is an accomplished musician as well. In this moving portrait, Cruz compares himself to a decaying colonial church across the street: revered yet neglected, the village altar stands, paint peeling, under the open sky.

Campoma

Short that tells the history of Campoma, a small Venezuelan town founded by black slaves.

La Memoria es un Caracol

Documentary about the life of Luis Mariano Rivera.

Azu

1780, a group of slaves flee from a sugar cane hacienda. As they are pursued by Don Manuel Aguirre, obsessed landowner who has fixed his eyes on Azu, the beautiful slave with an ancestral destiny.

Black River

The struggle of two men, Osuna and Funes, hungry for power and wealth in a small town in Venezuela, during the dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gómez.

Railway Station

Warsaw's Central Railway Station. 'Someone has fallen asleep, someone's waiting for somebody else. Maybe they'll come, maybe they won't. The film is about people looking for something.

Miss María, Skirting the Mountain

María Luisa is a transgender woman living in a staunchly catholic town. The horrors of rural life in Colombia with all its morality have done nothing but increase the power of this solitary soul. Shunned from birth, from the womb, she has found in the secrets she holds, in her love of animals, in the labyrinth of her faith, a way of dealing with a world that has done nothing but despite her for reasons beyond her control, reasons that have victimized her from the start. But our Miss is as mighty as a stalk of wheat, impervious even to earthquakes, and although she has known much sorrow, there is none powerful enough to exhaust her tears or wipe away her smile.

Forever's Gonna Start Tonight

The film tells the astounding life story of San Francisco living legend Vicki Marlane, America's oldest professional transgender drag entertainer. It explores the theme that creative expression is a transformative experience that allows one to overcome virtually insurmountable obstacles -- social, biological, economic and personal.

Germany: A Summer's Fairytale

A documentary of the German national soccer team’s 2006 World Cup experience that changed the face of modern Germany.

Wall Piano

‘Wall Piano’ takes us into a daydream of a child who lives under the shadow of a separation wall. Artists Asma Ghanem (Palestine), Christopher Marianetti (USA), and Alexia Webster (South Africa) worked with a group of children living near the Qalandia checkpoint in Ramallah, Palestine, a frontline of the West Bank conflict. The idea for this short film came from 12 year-old ‘Nada’, featured in the film, and is scored by Christopher Marianetti.