The hemisphere projects a new image.

• Author: Kogan, Marcela
• Position: Latin American films - Film

The fourth annaul Americas Film Festival reflects a pivotal time in the history of Latin America. While the themes of repression and intolerance persist, contemporary directors face new challenges prompted by the increasing freedom in countries previously ruled by military regimes. The era of the "New Latin American Cinema," which was characterized by social and political protest, is reaching an end as citizens throughout Latin America go to the polls to elect their leaders.

In October of this year, leading filmmakers, actors, directors and critics assembled in the capital of the United States to talk about filmmaking in Latin America. Over 14 countries from North and South America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal were represented in this year's festival. "The goal is to make these films available to a wider audience", says Glaucia Baena Soares, President of the Americas Film Festival Foundation. Soares also pointed out that a seminar was held to discuss how institutions in various countries can help filmmakers promote cultural cinema throughout Latin America.

The movies shown were as diverse as the producers who made them- and as distinct as the countries in which they were made. They protrayed characters struggling for independence as well as the painstaking process of confronting Latin America's difficult past. Furthermore, two of the films shown at the festival set precedents for cinema production in their countries. This Village, a film about the struggles of an ambitious young girl in a small tradtional village, is the first feature movie ever produced in Grenada. The first all Jamaican-made film in 20 years, Crossroads illustrates the danger of uncompromising dogmatism: a rightous taxi driver who is a firm believer in capital punishment is sentenced to be hanged for a crime he did not commit.

One of the most popular films of the festival, La Luna en el Espejo (The Moon in the Mirror) probes the uncertainties of the new found freedoms of Latin America. In this film, Chilean director Silvio Caiozzi questions whether it is possible for people to reconstruct their spirit after years of oppression. An old, crazed marine, unable to accept his son's budding independence, places mirrors throughout the house to monitor his every move. The son, known only by the epithet Immature Fatty, harbors grudges against his father after years of living under his tight reign. But Immature Fatty seeks freedom only to be able to destroy his father, not to...