La Gente de la Universal Wednesday, October 11, La Carpa, Calzada de la Aurora 80 pesos with dinner/10 pesos film only

Wednesday nights at 8:30pm, La Carpa hosts a series of films from Colombia, accompanied by a special menu from La Carpa’s Fellini restaurant. The screening schedule for the rest of October is as follows:

October 11: La Gente de la Universal (1993), directed by Felipe Aljure (112 minutes)

Black comedy set in a lawless urban jungle in which everyone must fend for him- or herself.

October 18: La Estrategía del Caracol (1994), directed by Sergio Cabrera (107 minutes)

Neighbors in one of Bogotá’s poorest areas fight to prevent the demolition of the house they live in, the property of an unscrupulous millionaire.

October 25: Rodrigo D No Futuro (1988), directed by Victor Gaviria (90 minutes)

Rodrigo, not yet 20 years old, is perched in a top-floor window in Medellín, intent on jumping to end his suffering. Time stops, and we see what has happened to him in his life so far.

Entrance is free for those who dine at La Carpa, which will provide a different menu each Wednesday. Cost for dinner is 80 pesos (not including drinks). Entrance to the film is 10 pesos for those who come for the film only.



Film reruns to benefit family
By Betse Davies

Benefit film screening, Letters from the Other Side Monday, October 9, 5pm, Teatro Santa Ana, Insurgentes 25, 50 pesos

Another chapter has been added to the story of María Yañez in Letters from the Other Side, a new documentary film by Heather Courtney, who worked for almost a year on a Fulbright scholarship to tell María’s story. Yet another tragic death of a young local Mexican immigrant—María’s son Ángel—has led many of us who saw the film in August to request a rerun through The Center for Global Justice, which has agreed to show it again. Proceeds from the ticket sales and donations will be given to María and her family.

In the September 23 issue of Atención, the article “A Sad Return Home” reported on the death of Ángel Yañez. Following a visit to his parents’ home near La Cuadrilla, near Atotonilco, he was returning to his job in the United States in August. He barely got into the US when he was robbed by bandits and was left to die of dehydration. His companions left his body at the entrance of a ranch, and the sheriff in Zavala, Texas, identified him though his electoral ID card. A month later, Ángel’s body was returned to his parents’ home, where he was buried.

The film tells us that the youngest son is still in school. María and her husband are pinning their hopes on him to take over the farm one day, instead of going north in search of work. 

In addition to the emotional trauma the family is experiencing, they have incurred many expenses related to Ángel’s funeral. The parents barely eke out a living from their tiny parcel of land. Cheap imports of subsidized corn from the US have resulted in the loss of a market for their main crop. María works the fields with her husband and embroiders cushions for sale at the Mujeres Productoras cooperative store located next to the Center for Global Justice office on Calzada de la Luz 42, between Loreto and Animas streets.

In addition to the 50-peso ticket price for the second showing of the film, donations by cash or check will be gratefully accepted to the Center for Global Justice (and on the memo line write “María Yañez”) or call the Center at 150-0025 and someone will be happy to pick up your contribution.



Global Justice film: Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11

Global Justice Film Series, Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11

Thursday, October 12, 3pm, Teatro Santa Ana, Insurgentes 25, 50 pesos

Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear, and the Selling of Empire marks the second entry in the Center for Global Justice’s “October Surprise” film series. This documentary examines how the radical fringe of the Republican Party used the trauma of the 9/11 terror attacks its advance a pre-existing agenda to radically transform American’s foreign policy while rolling back civil liberties and social programs at home. It places the Bush administration’s false justifications for war in Iraq within the larger context of a two-decade struggle by neoconservatives to dramatically increase military spending in the wake of the Cold War and to expand American power globally by means of military force.

Narrated by Julian Bond, this sobering and provocative documentary includes interviews with Noam Chomsky, Medea Benjamin, Daniel Ellsberg, Chalmers Johnson, Mark Crispin Miller, Norman Mailer, Benjamin Barber, Scott Ritter, Immanuel Wallerstein and others.

The film has a running time of 64 minutes, and a discussion will follow.