Gustavus Adolphus College will host its second Hispanic Film Festival over the course of six weeks during February and March. Screenings will take place at 7 p.m. in Wallenberg Auditorium on six successive Mondays beginning on Feb. 16 and concluding on March 23.
All six screenings are free and open to the public. The schedule for the film festival, which held its inaugural event in 2013, is as follows:
February 16 – “7 cajas” (Seven Boxes)
Victor, a porter working in Asuncion’s Market Four, receives a mysterious proposal: to deliver seven boxes of unknown contents—they must arrive intact to their destination. If he manages to do it, he will receive a good sum of money, but nothing is that simple at Market Four.
February 23 – “Un cuento chino” (Chinese Take-Out)
Roberto, the grouchy owner of a hardware store in Buenos Aires, leads a lonely and quiet life. One day, he meets by chance a Chinese man named Jun who has just arrived in the city to look for his only living relative. Robert speaks no Chinese; Jun speaks no Spanish. And yet, they need to understand each other.
March 2 – “Aquí y allá” (Here and There)
Pedro returns to his hometown in the state of Guerrero after years of working in the United States. His family is happy, but things have changed since he left. He tries to organize a folk band with a few friends and at the same time he keeps providing for his family. However, managing a life torn between here and there proves to be quite a task. *This screening will include an appearance by director Antonio Méndez Esparza.
March 9 – “Pelo malo” (Bad Hair)
Junior is a 9-year-old boy who lives in a tough slum in Caracas that is no home for the weak. His obsession with straightening his naturally curly hair for a school photoshoot raises alarm in his family—so does his way of looking to a handsome teen who works at a newsstand in the neighborhood. Growing up was never easy.
March 16 – “La sombra azul” (Blue Shadow)
Javier Rodriguez is a policeman who has suffered torture during the brutal 1976 Argentinian military regime after being accused of belonging to a left-wing guerrilla group. When he returns to his country in 1994, democracy has been restored, but he is granted no justice and needs to leave again.
March 23 – “Wilaya” (Tears of Sand)
Set in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, Wilaya tells the story of Fatimetu, the daughter of Sahrawi refugee parents. They sent her to live with a foster family in Spain, and when her mother dies, Fatimetu comes back for a few days and needs to make major decisions: will she go back to her comfortable life in Europe or will she take root in her native country, still plagued by decades of conflict and lack of international recognition?
The Gustavus Hispanic Film Festival is made possible by financial support from PRAGDA, a film distribution company funded by Spain’s Ministry of Culture. The Film Festival is also supported by several academic departments and programs on campus including Modern Languages, Literature, and Cultures, LALACS, Scandinavian Studies, Geology, Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies, English, Education, Art & Art History, Theatre & Dance, Peace Studies, and Communication Studies, as well as the Diversity Center and the Kendall Center.
For more information about the Gustavus Hispanic Film Festival at Gustavus, contact Assistant Professor in Spanish and Modern Languages, Literature, and Cultures Darío Sánchez-González at dsanchez@gustavus.edu.
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