company in 2000. In this masterful film-within-a-film, between the operation and maintenance of the green which is anchored in the philosophies of historian economy of the Amazon ecosystem. Howard Zínn, as well as the stories of 16th century priests, Fathers Bartolomé de las Casas and Antonio Montesinos, Bollaín raises questions about exploitation in , blurring the lines between past and present, fiction and reality. With an airtight script by Paul Aquí y allá USA, Spain, Mexico Laverty (long-time Ken Loach collaborator) and stellar th performances from cast , Gael García Bernal, Thursday, September 4 , 7:00 pm Carlos Adurivi and Karra Elejalde, Even the Rain was 110 minutes Director: Antonio Méndez Esparza / 2012 Spain’s submission for the 2011 Academy® Awards. Viajo porque preciso, volto porque te Winner of the top prize at the Critics’ Week section of the amo Brazil Cannes Film Festival, Antonio Méndez Esparza’s th directorial debut radiantly captures the complex Thursday, September 25 , 7:00 pm homecoming of a loving father. In an unexpected take on 71 minutes Director: Marcelo Gomes & Darim Ainouz / 2011 the traditional immigrant story, Pedro returns home to a In this hauntingly melancholy film, geologist José Renato, small mountain village in Guerrero, Mexico, after years of travels to Sertão, an isolated region in Northeastern working in New York. He finds his daughters older and Brazil. His goal is to assess possible routes for a water more distant than he imagined; his wife still has the same canal from the region’s only river. For many of the smile. The villagers think this year’s crop will be bountiful region’s inhabitants, the canal will be a lifeline, the and there is work in a growing city nearby. But the locals Eternal Amazon Brazil chance of a future and source of hope. But for those are wise to a life of insecurity, and their thoughts are th living on the canal’s direct course, it means only often of family members or opportunities far away, north Thursday, Sept 18 , 7:00 pm requisitions, departure and loss. As the journey of the border. Antonio Méndez Esparza has made a most 88 minutes Director: Belisario Franca / 2013 progresses through impressionistic landscapes, we remarkable debut. Using non-professional actors, The Amazon rainforest is a vast laboratory for sense that José Renato has something in common with Méndez Esparza gets remarkable performances that sustainable experiments that are unveiling new the places he visits: emptiness, a sense of isolation. Little provide a richness of nuance and detail to each of his relationships among human beings, corporations and this by little we discover that he too has been abandoned in characters going far beyond cliché and stereotype. natural heritage that is crucial for life on the planet. This his life. The desolation of the surroundings seems to Rarely has a film about US/Mexican border experience is where the guidelines are being drawn up for a new echo in José Renato, making the trip increasingly felt so fresh or authentic. global economic model: the green economy. But how difficult. His geological research is slowly pervaded by a much are the services really worth, rendered to sensation of groundlessness, an incessant pining for his humankind by this invisible commodity? And who should ex-wife and a yearning to go home. But he decides to profit from this? press ahead, to continue the trip, in the hope that the With astonishing cinematography and soundtrack by crossing can somehow transmute his feelings. Like an international acclaimed musician Berni Krause, Eternal astronaut who has travelled in outer space, or a sailor Amazon is a lyrical, poetic documentary that presents a who has crossed the oceans, for José Renato, nothing critical analysis of how the world’s largest tropical will ever be the same again. rainforest is understood and utilized. Exploring the Amazon’s five million square kilometers – which are También la lluvia Spain, Mexico th home to countless plant and animal species, and 20% of Thursday, September 11 , 7:00 pm the world’s freshwater reserves – the film asks whether it 104 minutes Director Icíar Bollaín / 2011 is possible for humans to make sustainable use of the In Even the Rain by Icíar Bollaín, filmmaker Sebastian rainforest. (Gael García Bernal) and his cynical producer Costa The documentary features nine projects with successful (Luis Tosar) arrive in , to make a film proposals from forest use in a sustainable manner, about Columbus’s voyage to the New World and the directly benefiting the local population and fostering good subjugation of the indigenous population. Just as filming economic partnerships. Activities such as agriculture, Amerikanuak Spain begins, the natives face a crisis when the government fisheries, animal husbandry and extraction are unraveled Thursday, Oct 2nd, 7:00 pm privatizes the water company and prices skyrocket. Daily under the support of experts, including economist Sergio 92 minutes Director: Nacho Reig / 2011 protests erupt and the local man, cast as a rebellious Besserman, Bertha Becker environmentalist, ecologist More than half a century ago, many Basques left Spain sixteenth century Taino chief, also becomes a leader in and Virgilio Viana, as well as testimony of Amazonians. It to look for a better life working as sheepherders in the the water hike protests. Bollaín intercuts footage of portrays the daily lives of the forest people as the American West. In Amerikanuak, Nacho Reig looks at Sebastian’s film with recordings of the demonstrations guardians of this great natural heritage that could last the lives of some of the last remaining Basque that occurred during the real life “Water Wars” that took into eternity, if properly managed. Eternal Amazon brings sheepherders in the United States. The documentary place when the Bolivian government privatized the water new insight into the possibilities of peaceful coexistence takes place under the vast blue skies and bleak but beautiful winter landscape of the small town of Elko, Nevada. Through the reflections of immigrants such as Juan Juaristi “Parrillas,” an 83-year old boarder at the Basque boardinghouse, the Star Hotel of Elko, we hear about the difficulties that many of these immigrants faced Interdisciplinary in forging new lives in a foreign country, as well as their nostalgia for what was left behind. The Basque group Audience created the soundtrack Film Festival specifically for the film and the sounds of traditional American folk music resonate throughout the tracks, Hosted by Southwestern providing the perfect background for this film about overcoming hardship, adaptation, courage, community The Spanish Film Club series was made possible University and a way of life that will soon be gone forever. with the support of Pragda, the Secretary of State for Culture of Spain, and its Program for Cultural

Cooperation with United States' Universities. When Worlds Collide / Cuando los mundos Yvy Maraey: Tierra sin mal Bolivia Thursday, October 9th, 7:00 pm 105 minutes Director: Juan Carlos Valdivia / 2014 chocan A Bolivian filmmaker and a Guarani Indian travel together through the forests of South Eastern Bolivia with the intention of making a film about the Guarani People. The Thursdays, September 4, starting point is a 1911 film by Swedish explorer Erland 11, 18, 25, October 2, 9 Nordenskiöld. But today’s reality turns out to be much more intense than the nostalgia of a world lost forever. In Yvy Maraey, the white man (the director) and the Olin Building - Room 105 - Indian create and interpret their own characters, walking the thin line between documentary, fiction, and 7pm performance. Far from observing another culture, we are watched and questioned about our identity. The story comes from a country undergoing enormous social, In collaboration with departments of political and historical change as it struggles to create an Modern Languages and Literatures, History, intercultural society. English, Feminist Studies, Communication Yvy Maraey is a quest for the knowledge within, seen Studies, International Studies, Latin through the eyes of the other. The learning comes from listening, which is another form of seeing. The film American Studies, Sociology / combines reality with an epic tale of a heroic indigenous Anthropology, Environmental Studies, and nation. Race and Ethnic Studies. Also in collaboration with Sigma Delta Pi, Latinos

Unidos and Paideia.

Thanks to the Global Citizens Fund for their support.