Pragda | The Arts

100 Ways to Cross the Border

Documentary United States, Mexico

An exploration of the 40-year career of performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña as he enacts interventions by “queering the border” — claiming all borders as queer and liminal spaces.

7 Reasons to Run Away (from Society)

7 Raons per Fugir (de la Societat)

Comedy, Fiction Spain

Seven darkly humorous stories whose protagonists are downright detestable. Seven characteristics that make us unbearable. Seven reasons it’s best to avoid people altogether. Seven surrealist visions of a dysfunctional society.

7 Weeks

7 semanas

Drama, Fiction Chile

Based on true events, 7 Weeks touches upon the politics of pro-choice and the rights to one’s body that still generate heated discussions. A necessary film to open the conversation on the topic in an intelligent manner.

A Moonless Night

Una noche sin luna

Comedy, Drama, Fiction Argentina, Uruguay

Up-and-coming Uruguayan director Germán Tejeira creates a moving, poignant, and witty character study in his first feature film.

Angélica [a tragedy]

Angélica [una tragedia]

Documentary Spain

Recipient of important awards in Spain and abroad, Angélica Liddell's dramaturgy is considered one of the most avant-garde in contemporary European theater. As Liddell starts working in her new play, director Manuel Fernández-Valdés decides to capture her rehearsal process on camera.

Art Poetry, Part 1

Animation, Romance Spain

Have you ever wondered what would it be like to mash-up Shakespeare’s poems with sound, music, pictures, and illustration? Art Poetry bringing people closer to poetry by representing a selection of the most significant poems in the history of literature in two-minute animation pieces.

Art21: Borderlands

Documentary United States

Five acclaimed artists create ambitious public artworks, photographs, sculptures and performances during one of the most divisive moments in the history of the U.S. and Mexico border.

Bajarí: Gypsy Barcelona

Bajarí: gypsy Barcelona

Documentary, Musical Spain

Bajarí offers an intimate look at how flamenco’s legacy is kept alive within Barcelona’s tight-knit Gypsy community. Flamenco is passed on within the family in the Gypsy community that bore Carmen Amaya, the greatest flamenco dancer of all time.

Before Opening Night

Antes del estreno

Drama, Fiction, Romance Argentina

Writer-director Santiago Giralt gives us elements of Woody Allen’s nervous comedy and Cassavetes’ melodramatic roller coaster in a storm of egos that takes place on one decisive weekend in the lives of Juana, a popular actress about to star in an important theater production, and her husband Roman, a director suffering from writer’s block.

Bertsolari

Documentary, Musical Spain

Bertsolaritza is an ancestral, completely improvised, form of Basque poetry. Anachronistic? Not at all: the bertsolari, with their spontaneous creation and wordplay, could be an inspiration for rappers and other improv artists.

Bixa Travesty

Bixa travesty

Documentary Brazil

Linn da Quebrada, a Brazilian transgender singer and artist, presents a powerful and courageous feminist film-discourse on the body and its representation.

Blast Beat

Comedy, Musical, Fiction United States

A Colombian metalhead and new American suburbanite makes a leap into adulthood to save his family. An Uber Metalized American Latino Adventure That'll Kick Your Ass Back to the Y2K.

Carlos Saura Photographer

Documentary Germany

Legendary Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura unveils his hidden passion: Photography.

Carretera Cartonera: Discover the World of Cartonera Publishers

Carretera cartonera

Documentary Italy

Carretera Cartonera travel across Latin America to understand Cartonera book production. What they find is a diverse and vast array of citizens and cooperatives committed to using literary production as a means of fighting for social justice, economic equality, and a more sustainable world.

Castanha

Drama, Fiction Brazil

Joao divides his time working as a crossdresser in gay bars and acting in small plays and onscreen. Tormented by his past, he starts to merge reality with the fiction he interprets.

Chillida: The Depth of Air

Chillida: Lo profundo es el aire

Documentary Spain

A poetic and fast-paced reminiscence of one of the most prominent sculptors of the 20th century.

City of God - Ten Years Later

Cidade de deus -10 anos depois

Documentary Brazil

An investigation into the fate of the young actors who participated in the award winning film City of God, directed by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund, featuring actress Alice Braga (Queen of the South) and musician and actor Seu Jorge, among others.

Cows Wearing Glasses

Las vacas con gafas

Drama, Fiction Puerto Rico

Directed by one of the most talented emerging filmmakers coming out of the new wave of Puerto Rican cinema, Cows Wearing Glasses uses a subtle sense of humor to touch upon issues of aging.

Craft

Riscado

Drama, Fiction Brazil

Bianca manages a precarious living as a talented but underemployed actress troubled by the belief that she has missed her big break. But an audition leads to a rare opportunity.

Diaspora Drums

Tambores da diáspora

Documentary, Musical Brazil

Using stories, batucadas, and songs, Diaspora Drums addresses a political and cultural vision embedded in the course of two African drums and their ramifications in Brazil.

Dreams of Chonta

Documentary, Musical Colombia, United States

Diego, an Afro-Colombian musician, leaves his family behind on the Pacific Coast of Colombia, and endures a solitary life as an undocumented immigrant and a minimum wage job at a cemetery all to become an ambassador of his music and culture in NY.

Día de Los Muertos

Documentary, Musical United States

Latino rock greats Los Lobos, the salsa-rap-reggae-funk Ozomatli, and the all-female mariachi band Flor de Toloache lead this musical celebration of Dia de los Muertos.

El Eternauta´s Wife

La mujer de El Eternauta

Documentary Argentina, Spain

Elsa Sánchez's life is evidence of the cruelty of Argentina’s repressive dictatorship, which took the lives of her husband and family.

Europe in 8 Bits

Animation, Documentary, Musical Spain

Europe In 8 Bits explores the world of chip music, revealing how to reuse old videogame’s hardware like Nintendo’s GameBoy, NES, Atari ST, Amiga, and the Commodore 64 and turn them into a tool capable of creating a new sound, a modern tempo, and an innovative musical style.

Gabo & Cinema

Gabo y el cine

Documentary Mexico

A commendable and well documented contribution to the general study of Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez’s cultural production. In the voice of his friends and accomplices, the documentary takes us beyond his literary figure and immerses us in his cinematic one.

Goya: The Secret of the Shadows

Goya, el secreto de la sombra

Documentary Spain

Ramón, a fine art photographer, purchases an anonymous 19th-century portrait in Barcelona. He and the singular experts advising him believe that it is none other than a “Goya in the shadows.”

Great Performances - Albéniz: Portraits of Spain

Documentary, Musical, Series United States

Scott Yoo travels with guitarist Manuel Barrueco and pianist Juan Perez Floristan through the great Spanish cities of Andalusia, to see how Albeniz captured the culture through his music.

Great Performances - Piazzolla’s History with Tango

Documentary, Musical, Series United States

Scott Yoo and his wife Alice Dade, a leading flutist, travel to Buenos Aires to discover the music of Astor Piazzolla

Grey City

Cidade cinza

Documentary Brazil

A new form of graffiti was in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The works of artists such as Os Gêmeos, Nunca, and Nina spread from city streets to art galleries and museums around the world. When City Hall implemented a law to “combat visual pollution”, a graffiti war against the local government is unleashed.

Horizons

Horizontes

Documentary Cuba, Switzerland

Alicia Alonso’s splendor still radiates throughout the world of ballet today. A star so brilliant, she has captivated audiences worldwide. Even now at the age of ninety, she continues to encourage the dreams of young dancers who seek to follow in her footsteps.

Inner Borderlines

Visions of America Through the Eyes of Alejandro Morales

Documentary Spain

In a trip around Southern California, Alejandro Morales, a pioneer of Chicano culture, presents a unique vision of America, as he explores a variety of topics that concern the Chicano/Latino community.

Jaar. Lament of the Images

JAAR el lamento de las imágenes

Documentary Chile

Alfredo Jaar is one of the most uncompromising and innovative artists working today. To him, art is “the last place” of freedom, and he displays his work as an act of resistance.

Joaquín Sorolla: Journeys of the Light

Joaquín Sorolla: viajes de la luz

Documentary Spain

In 1900, Spanish naturalist painter Joaquín Sorolla was awarded the Grand Prix at The Paris Universal Exhibition. When American billionaire Archer Milton Huntington meets him, he will make the greatest commission of his life: The decoration of the Hispanic Society of America in New York, “Vision of Spain.”

Leading Actor

El actor principal

Drama, Fiction Mexico, Argentina

Luis, an amateur actor, forgoes his movie premiere at a renowned festival to be with Azra, a chambermaid from Albania with an enigmatic scar.

Marimbas From Hell

Las marimbas del infierno

Comedy, Fiction, Musical France, Mexico, Guatemala

Boldly exploring the boundaries of fiction and documentary, up-and-coming Guatemalan filmmaker Julio Hernández Cordón’s (Gasolina) original and entertaining second feature follows three unlikely characters from Guatemala City as they attempt to fuse improbable musical styles.

Marina Abramovic in Brazil: The Space in Between

Documentary Brazil

Marina Abramović travels through Brazil in search of personal healing and artistic inspiration, experiencing sacred rituals and revealing her creative process.

Miguelito: A Song to Puerto Rico

Miguelito: canto a Borinquen

Documentary, Musical Colombia, Australia, Puerto Rico

Reminiscent of Searching for Sugar Man, the filmmaker follows the steps of Puerto Rico's child music sensation Miguelito. Featuring incredible archival footage of NYC in the 70s’ and salsa performances from Papo Lucca’s La Sonora Poncena, Malo Malo and many others, this is a film that celebrates the musical and cultural depth of the Caribbean.

Murals

Murales

Documentary Spain

In 2009, the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona organized an exhibition that brought together a group of contemporary mural artists from very different cultural and stylistic backgrounds. The documentary follows the artists as they work and discuss the use of an empty wall as a canvas and expressive medium.

Murillo's Last Journey

Murillo, el último viaje

Documentary Spain

The Sevillian Baroque master painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo underwent a calculated spoliation that scattered most of his work around the world’s top museums. Murillo's Last Journey follows the enthralling journey of one of his most celebrated pieces, “The Young Beggar,” from Paris to Seville in the occasion of the 400th anniversary of his birth.

Off the Road

Fuera del camino

Documentary, Musical Mexico, United States

Each year, the slow-paced lifestyle on Mexico’s largest desert in Baja Peninsula is given a turbo boost by the Baja 1000, the largest off-road motorsport race in the world.

Over the Waves: A Story of Flamenco in the U.S.

Sobre las olas

Documentary, Musical United States

For over a hundred years, the art of flamenco has been crossing the ocean into distant places. Many have fallen in love with the deep song, the cry, the rhythm. Over the Waves explores the tradition of flamenco art in the US: its origins, protagonists, and its identity as a nomadic and hybrid art form.

Red Gringo: American Pop Culture and Cold War in Latin America.

Gringo rojo

Documentary, Musical Chile

Reminiscent of Searching for Sugarman, the film follows Dean Reed, a North American singer who became a pop idol during the ʼ50s and ʼ60s in Chile and the Americas.

Rompiente

Drama, Fiction Argentina

It’s the first day shooting a low-budget film. The director tries to shoot a sex scene, secretly keeping the camera running between takes, to capture brief moments of intimacy.

Roots of Latin Jazz

Documentary United States

Celebrate Latin music with the Raices Jazz Orchestra, with originals and arrangements such as Herbie Hancock's “Eye of the Hurricane” and performances by artists including Richard Bona and Anaadi.

Russian Red

Vermelho russo

Drama, Fiction, Comedy, Adventure Brazil

Marta and Manu are two Brazilian actresses that decide to move to Moscow to study the Stanislavski method. There, wrapped inside a love triangle, they overcome their differences.

Sacromonte. The Wise of the Tribe

Sacromonte. Los sabios de la tribu

Documentary, Musical Spain

Sacromonte aims to recover the memory of the most important flamenco community in the world. Through the survivors of a lost and golden age, elder flamenco men and women, we dive in their past in search of their roots and memories.

Skin

Documentary, Experimental Brazil

The vibrant tapestry of Belo Horizonte, Brazil reveals walls adorned with captivating art: stunning murals, raw graffiti, and heartfelt expressions that leave an indelible mark.

Stealing Rodin

Robar a Rodin

Documentary Chile, France

Traces the story of Luis Onfray as he explains the personal and artistic reasons for pulling off Chile’s greatest art theft.

Stigmata

Estigmas

Drama, Fiction, Experimental Spain

Told by a hulking, gentle giant of a man, Stigmata follows Bruno as he wakes up one morning bleeding from mysterious wounds on his hands. A hauntingly beautiful and lyrical tale based on the Italian cult graphic novel by Lorenzo Mattotti and Claudio Piersanti.

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.

Sublime

Drama, Fiction, Romance, Musical Argentina

A thoughtful and tender handling of a teen’s emerging sexuality. When a teenager falls for his best friend, turbulent emotions brew beneath the surface.

Tania Libre

Tania libre

Documentary Cuba, United States, Germany

In a fascinating and novel approach, Lynn Hershman Leeson allows us to eavesdrop on one of the world’s most celebrated—and daring—Cuban artists, Tania Bruguera’s session with Dr. Frank Ochberg, a New York-based psychiatrist and pioneer in post-traumatic stress disorder and the Stockholm syndrome.

Tehran Blues

Un blues para Teherán

Documentary, Musical Spain

The city’s musicians and poets take us on a musical tour of Iran’s capital in a charming film about a music culture rarely heard of in the West.

The Invisible Hand

La mano invisible

Drama, Fiction Spain

With impeccable performances and a surprising ending, The Invisible Hand is an astonishing parable of work in contemporary society.

The Journey of Monalisa

Documentary Chile, United States

Chilean-born performer and writer Iván Monalisa fully embraces his / her dual selves: scrappy, masculine Iván as well as diva, transvestite sex-worker Monalisa.

This is Cristina

Ella es Cristina

Comedy, Drama, Fiction Chile

A Chilean generational comedy produced by Salma Hayek and directed by the multitalented Gonzalo Maza, screenwriter of A Fantastic Woman and Gloria.

Triana, Pure and Pure

Triana, pura y pura

Documentary, Musical Spain

This joyful film memorializes the end of an indomitable lineage in a unique flamenco soiree, transformed into a tribute to a disappeared world.

Tungsten

Tungstênio

Fiction, Drama, Thriller Brazil

Based on the award-winning graphic novel Tungsten, the film follows an investigator as he unravels a web of mystery while pursuing a serial killer through a bleak cityscape.

Unicorn

Unicórnio

Drama, Fiction, Romance Brazil

Based on short stories by Hilda Hilst, Unicorn mixes fantasy and fairytale to tell the story of a 13-year-old girl living with her mother in an isolated cottage in the countryside.

We Are Mari Pepa

Somos Mari Pepa

Comedy, Drama, Fiction, Musical, Classic Mexico

Alex has big plans for his summer in Guadalajara. He'll get a girlfriend and a new job, learn a new song with his band, Mari Pepa, and win the ”battle of the bands” concert.

When a Tree Falls (Amama)

Amama

Drama, Fiction Spain

This powerfully visualized drama of generational conflict signals the emergence of a vital Basque regional cinema in Spain.

Woody and Woody

Fiction, Animation, Comedy Spain

A young Woody Allen meets an old Woody Allen having a drink in a bar. A great dialogue begins.

Zurita, You Will See Not to See

Zurita, verás no ver

Documentary Chile

National Literature Award Laureate Raúl Zurita is not only one of Latin America’s most celebrated and controversial living poets; he is also a rocker, a human rights activist, a public figure, and a tireless struggler. This documentary is an account of his travels and daily life, as he reflects on topics such as state terrorism and death.