Bringing home cine.

• Author: Holston, Mark
• Position: Facets Multimedia and Chicago Latino Cinema produce video releases of exceptional Spanish and Latin American films

A new cooperative venture in home videos is showcasing the finest in films from throughout Latin America and Spain. Facets Multimedia and Chicago Latino Cinema, two Chicago-based nonprofit media arts organizations, have joined together to produce video releases of selected works screened at the 1994 Chicago Latino Cinema Festival. The festival annually screens about thirty-five feature films and as many documentaries, shorts, and videos. The films are the first of what is planned to be a continuing series of video releases of exceptional Spanish- and Portuguese-language features.

"Globally, cinema is in a crisis just about everywhere," notes Milos Stehlik, coordinator of the series for Facets Multimedia. "The one sign of hope, which is much more than just a glimmer, is in Latin America."

Without exception, the debut collection of films deals with a variety of contemporary political and social issues that are as fresh as the headlines in the morning newspaper.

From Venezuela, director Carlos Azpurua and cinematographer Adriano Moreno effectively capture the grim realities of life in the crime-infested working-class neighborhoods of a large metropolis like Caracas in Disparen a Matar [Shoot to Kill]. The mother of a man wrongfully killed by police struggles against a corrupt and uncaring establishment in a suspenseful campaign for justice.

Capitalismo Salvaje [Savage Capitalism], a Brazilian feature written and directed by Andre Klotzel, utilizes the glossy style of the Brazilian telenovela and a healthy dose of the country's indigenous mythology to tell the story of a greedy gold mining firm's efforts to wrestle land from an Indian tribe. The 1993 film is a powerful statement about the consequences of...