Archival Footage

A collection of films that document and weave archival footage into powerful narratives of the past and present.

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The Archival Footage collection includes the following titles:

A History of an Assignment

Istoria odnoi komandirovki
Documentary Russia
Featuring Fidel Castro, John F. Kennedy, and Khrushchev as protagonists, the film depicts the ins and outs of the Cuban Missile Crisis of the 1960s.

Barajas

Documentary Ecuador
Latin America's turbulent history told through archives of the deaths of authors Angel Rama, Marta Traba, Manuel Scorza, and Jorge Ibargüengoitia.

Behind the Scenes: La Llorona

Documentary Mexico
The story behind the filming of the iconic film: La Llorona (1933).

Black and White Democracy

Democracia em preto e branco
Documentary, Musical Brazil
Follow Brazil's transition from dictatorship to democracy through three narratives: demands for free elections, Brazilian rock groups, and the Corinthian democracy football movement.

Burn Them

Quémenlos
Documentary Argentina
The order to burn books was only a warning of what thousands of men and women who resisted the prevailing dictatorship in Argentina would face.

Correspondence

Correspondencia
Documentary Spain, Chile
From Spain to Chile, award-winning film directors correspond and share their reflections about film, family, heritage, and maternity.

Defect

La tara
Documentary, Experimental Argentina, Spain
A light lens into deep history led by the discovery of the soundtrack to Argentina's sole surrealist film, the 1936 “Tararira: Today's Bohemia.”

Enlightened Letters

Cartas iluminadas
Documentary Argentina
An exploration of the transformative relationship between two icons of Latin American arts: filmmaker Manuel Antín and writer Julio Cortázar.

Fidel

Documentary United States
Just 9 years after Cuba's Revolution, filmmaker Saul Landau joined Fidel Castro in Cuba for an unprecedented interview for this classic documentary.

Following Nazarin

Tras Nazarín
Documentary Spain
A journey through memory accompanied by Buñuel’s photographs taken during the scouting of locations for “Nazarín."

In a Whisper

A media voz
Documentary Spain, France, Switzerland, Cuba
Filmmakers and best friends since childhood, both part of the Cuban diaspora, share how they found themselves and each other in a foreign land.

Looking for El Santo

Documentary Mexico, Cuba
This intimate short documentary reveals the surreal story of Santo's debut in cinema, during the Cuban Revolution.

Miúcha, the Voice of Bossa Nova

Miúcha, a voz da Bossa Nova
Documentary United States, Brazil, France
Unseen footage, rare recordings, and vibrant animations unveil the hidden story behind the Bossa Nova movement from Miucha’s distinctly female perspective.

Mute Fire

Pirotecnia
Documentary Colombia
A personal essay that examines the relationship between film footage, the events of the war in Colombia, family history, and the origins of cinema in Colombia.

One or Two Questions

Documentary Uruguay, Germany
A testimony of the capacity of documentary cinema (and archives) to unravel the complexity of history, One or Two Questions documents the mood on the streets of Uruguay between 1987 and 1989 following the approval of a law granting amnesty for all crimes and human rights violations committed by the army and police during the dictatorship.

Perdida

Documentary Mexico
After being told that her family had made some of the worst films in the history of Mexican cinema, Viviana García Besné unearths 100 years of cinematic legacy.

Silence is a Falling Body

El silencio es un cuerpo que cae
Documentary Argentina
This story of political activism and sexual dissidence offers a fascinating insight into life in Argentina between the 1970s and 1990s, peeling back layers of left-wing politics, homosexuality, and AIDS as it shifts between private and public spheres, intertwining the personal and the political. 

Silent Witnesses

Mudos testigos
Experimental, Drama, Documentary, Romance Colombia, France
An imaginary trek through the history of Colombia (and its cinema) during the first half of the 20th century, using footage of Colombian silent film.

Spain in Two Trenches: The Civil War in Color

Documentary Spain
The extraordinary and moving story of the convulsive years of the Spanish Civil War (1935-1939) is explained as never seen before thanks to the coloring and restoration of 150,000 frames.

Stories Our Cinema Did (Not) Tell

Histórias que nosso cinema (nāo) contava
Documentary Brazil
A review of the military dictatorship in Brazil told only through images and sounds from pornochanchada films, a genre of erotic film that was the most popular during that period.

Swing and Sway

Vai e vem
Documentary, Experimental United States, Brazil
Against the backdrop of a tumultuous 2020 marked by pandemics, elections, and social upheavals, the two friends embark on a thought-provoking exploration of feminist cinematic expression and the female experience.

The Calm After The Storm

Como el cielo después de llover
Documentary Argentina, Colombia
After studying abroad, Mercedes returns to her native city to join her father, acclaimed filmmaker and writer Victor Gaviria (The Rose Seller), in the shooting of his next film

The Film Justifies the Means

El film justifica los medios
Documentary Colombia
Inside our editing rooms are images by filmmakers revealing a country in conflict. Five decades later we see a memory that refuses to disappear.

The Padilla Affair

El Caso Padilla
Documentary Spain, Cuba
La Habana, 1971: poet Heberto Padilla has just been released from prison and “self-confides” as a counter-revolutionary before the writer’s guild, marking a before and after in the Cuban regime.

The Trial

El juicio
Documentary Argentina, Italy, France, Norway
A tour de force of political filmmaking; a chilling record of the trial of nine representatives of Argentina’s military dictatorship for unlawful detention, torture, and murder.

The Welles Raft

A jangada de Welles
Documentary Brazil
During Orson Welles' filming of It's All True in Brazil, a fishermen's raft vanishes at sea, evoking memories of dictatorship, WWII, and labor rights battles.

The Year of the Discovery

El año del descubrimiento
Documentary Spain
Citizens of Cartagena recount the events of the 1992 riots.

Time Theorem

Teorema de tiempo
Documentary Mexico
Years after the death of my grandmother Anita, I found thousands of photographs and hundreds of home movies. The images revealed their secret profession as amateur filmmakers.

Tito, Margot and Me

Tito, Margot Y Yo
Documentary Panama, Colombia
The love story between the British ballerina Margot Fonteyn and her husband, the charismatic Panamanian diplomat Tito Arias.

Tosco

Documentary Argentina
In 1966, under General Onganía’s dictatorship, Argentina faced a hidden genocide. This film explores union leader Agustín Tosco’s fight for justice.