Voices from Latin America: The Modern Period
Films & Documentaries
Films
The Official Story (1985)
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Luis Puenzo's film is about an upper middle class couple who lives in Buenos Aires with their 5 year-old adoptive daughter, Gabriela. Alicia Ibañez starts suspecting that her beloved little Gabi is one of the many children who were taken from their biological parents during the Dirty War in Argentina. The story chronicles the birth of democracy after Raúl R. Alfonsín was elected president in 1983. Argentinians had just started exercising their freedom of speech and were determined to find justice for the years of military repression between the 1976 and 1983.
La Noche de los Lápices (Night of the Pencils with English subtitles) (1986)
Director: Héctor Olivera.
This film tells the story of six high school student activists who did not survive the horror of the domestic invasions and human atrocities in clandestine detention camps.
The movie clearly portrays the constant fear and trepidation the Argentinian society experienced during the military repression (1976-1983).
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Documentaries
Meeting the Enemy & Return to The Falklands
Two truth and reconciliation stories between former enemy soldiers that decide to meet again after 30 years of the Malvinas war.
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YouTube: Meeting the Enemy (2012)
Return to the Falklands (2012) ITV1
Argentina's Cold War
This video program from the Princeton Films for The Humanities & Sciences provides a quick overview of Argentina's Cold War.The video segments in this short film examine Perón’s first presidency, the “Dirty War,”the defeat of Argentina in the Falklands War, and the return of democracy with President Raúl Alfonsín.
Juan Peron [Video file]. (1990). Retrieved July 9, 2018, from https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=102633&xtid=2607
Wikimedia CC: Eva Duarte (Evita) llorando abraza a Perón. Acto 17 de octubre de 1951
Las Abuelas Chela Fontana, Raquel Radío de Marizcurrena, Clara Jurado y Eva Castillo Barrios marchan junto a las Madres de Plaza de Mayo. Source: www.abuelas.org.ar 05.05.1982
Las Abuelas De Plaza De Mayo and the Search for Identity: Children of Argentina's "Disappeared (2012)
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Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo is an Argentinian human rights group made up of grandmothers committed to finding their lost grandchildren, who they believe were stolen by the government during the country’s military dictatorship. Between 1976 and 1983 as many as 30,000, dissidents—now known as “the disappeared”—were kidnapped and presumed killed, with hundreds of new mothers among them. Through interviews with members of Las Abuelas, recovered grandchildren who were raised by people sympathetic to the military regime, and many others, this program tells the story of these determined women and of the formerly missing as they explore their true identities. (55 minutes)
Films Media Group, 2012.
Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo - Audiovisuals with English subtitles
https://www.abuelas.org.ar/galeria-videos/english-subtituled-audiovisuals-9
Abuelas Flyer Source: www.abuelas.org.ar
The Mothers of Plaza De Mayo (1985) Portillo, L. Blaustein, S. (Director).
Photo: Kanopy