My hometown movies

The Andes's Odyssey

A documentary revolving around the 1972 crash of the plane carrying an Uruguayan rugby team; interviews with survivors and the families of victims.

The River of the Painted Birds

A north to south canoe trip along quiet bodies of water of Uruguay, exploring the fauna and flora amidst the wilderness.

The Champion of the World

Ten years after winning a world title in bodybuilding in Russia and becoming a star of said discipline in Mexico, Antonio Osta (43) leads a life of austerity in the Uruguayan rural town where he grew up. He resides there with his son Juanjo (17), a sensitive teenager who keeps him company and confronts him openly. Suffering from acute kidney disease which keeps him from competing professionally, Antonio is stuck in limbo, halfway between his glorious past and the impossibility of being who he once was. However, he is unwilling to give up his lifestyle, even if it kills him. In an attempt to reinvent himself, and seeking a better future for his son, Antonio plans a comeback to the Mexico bodybuilding scene, where he may relive his glory days.

Experimentos con gaseosa

The Fearless Freaks

Equal parts punk and psychedelia, the Flaming Lips emerged from Oklahoma City as one of the most bracing bands of the late 1980s. The Fearless Freaks documents their rise from Butthole Surfers-imitating noisemakers to grand poobahs of orchestral pop masterpieces. Filmmaker Bradley Beesely had the good fortune of living in the same neighborhood as lead Lip Wayne Coyne, who quickly enlisted his buddy to document his band's many concerts and assorted exploits. The early footage is a riot, with tragic hair styles on proud display as the boys attempt to cover up their lack of natural talent with sheer volume. During one show, they even have a friend bring a motorcycle on stage, which is then miked for sound and revved throughout the performance, clearing the club with toxic levels of carbon monoxide. Great punk rock stuff. Interspersed among the live bits are interviews with the band's family and friends, revealing the often tragic circumstances of their childhoods and early career.

Unbekanntes Uruguay: Fußball, Tango und Gelassenheit

Only Noise - Las 65:45 horas de gloria de Les Renards

ONLY NOISE is a documentary that tries to rescue from oblivion a tale with Les Renards as protagonists, one of the many bands from the 60s that was a key witness and pioneer in the first big explosion of Uruguayan Rock. It might look like a tale from an ordinary band, but in 1968 this band managed to break a world record.

El Maracanazo del 50

DV China

A documentary following Zhou Yuanquiang, a cultural worker in Jingdezhen, China who makes movies with untrained local actors.

On Remembering

After the coup in Uruguay in 1973, thousands of intellectuals and artists fled the country. The filmmaker’s father was among them and left for Europe. After his passing, she came upon some Super 8 movies and audio files he had recorded. Through this archive, she started building a new family story trying to reveal and understand the silent pain of exile.

La Otra Pelota

A Media Agua

A Media Agua is a documentary filmed in 16mm, made up of a series of short films that review the history of the last century through the eyes of an Anglo-Uruguayan family and their perception of Uruguayan culture, World War II and technological advances of the time. Based on found and salvaged film reels, the team attempts to piece together the history of this fragmented family and its subsequent three generations, with the goal of understanding their beliefs and secrets as part of the Secret Service in South America.

Women's Memoirs

The Punta de Rieles prison was where most female political prisoners were incarcerated during the dictatorship in Uruguay. The way up to the building led through “the meadow” where there were animals grazing, and the prison itself was surrounded with flowers. The place seemed eminently liveable, almost comfortable, and at first sight there was no sign of the silent struggle going on behind those walls. This documentary is an attempt to reconstruct life at the prison through the testimony of some of the hundreds of women who were there and who resisted the military regime's attempts to grind them down and destroy them.

Corporate Accountability

Images of Argentinian companies and factories in the first light of day, seen from the inside of a car, while the director reads out documents in voiceover that reveals the collusion of the same concerns in the military dictatorship’s terror.

One or Two Questions

In 1986, the Uruguayan Parliament passed a law granting amnesty for all crimes and human rights violations committed by the military and police during the dictatorship (1973-85). This law of impunity prevented the clarification demanded by the relatives of those who had disappeared and been murdered by the former regime. A public initiative arose calling for a referendum in which the law be subject to the vote of the people. Unas preguntas uses U-matic footage, mostly of interviews recorded on the streets of Uruguay between 1987 and 1989, to present a time capsule of the period.

Uruguay, le pays de la simplicité

Step by Step

Candomberos: de dos orillas

Documentary about the birth and development of candombe in Uruguay. It is built through testimonies, audiovisual files and animations. It also covers the actuality of the candombe on the shores of the Río de la Plata.

Maidens In Distress

This delightful short film documents a trip by ferryboat to the Maidens lighthouse on the little island of Magee, Co. Antrim, to deliver essential supplies to the lighthouse crew. Shortly after this movie was shot, the lighthouse became fully automated and the need for this service disappeared.

Mahatma Gandhi Noa Khali March

Remarkable amateur footage of Mahatma Gandhi shot by his great nephew in 1947.