THE SETTLERS

Chile, 1901. Three horsemen embark on an expedition, tasked with securing a wealthy landowner’s vast property. Accompanying a British lieutenant and an American mercenary is mestizo marksman Segundo, who comes to realize their true mission is to violently “remove” the indigenous population. Equal parts harrowing and beautiful the film is a remarkable debut that won the FIPRESCI prize at the Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered.

Why this pick?

At times brutal but also humane look at the marginalized history of colonialism in Latin America.

The Settlers

Cine Sin Fronteras Shorts

From documentaries to magical realism the six films in the Cine Sin Fronteras shorts program explore a wide range of ideas, themes, and issues. Some will make you laugh; some will make you cry but each is designed to provoke, illuminate, and explore the Latinx experience, resonating long after their brief runtime.

Why this pick?

Like a 90min tour of topics, themes and ideas permeating the Latinx world. Immigration, sexuality, identitiy, hope and love - all make up the kaledscope of the Latinx experience.

Cine Sin Fronteras Shorts

Prison in the Andes

The most ruthless right-hand men in Pinochet’s dictatorship are serving out sentences in jail for their crimes against humanity. More luxury resort than prison; they are watched over by guards who feel more like servants. After a TV interview, the men fear a transfer to a regular jail. They will do anything to stay put, descending into chaos and violence that echoes that of their regime that once gripped Chile.

Why this pick?

Brutal and at times tough to watch examination of power and the extreme lengths men will go to in order to keep it.

Prison in the Andes

Sujo

From the team behind IDENTIFYING FEATURES (MFF2020) comes a powerful and well acted drama that won the World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. When a cartel gunman is killed, he leaves behind Sujo, his beloved 4-year-old son. The shadow of violence surrounds Sujo during each stage of his life in the isolated Mexican countryside. As he grows into a man, he finds that fulfilling his father’s destiny may be inescapable.

Why this pick?

From the directors of Identifying Features comes a gripping of coming of age film about trying to break away from a culture and history of violence.

Sujo

The Movie Teller

As the “movie teller” a young girl regales the people of her poor, desert mining town with her uncanny ability to recount the pictures she's seen in the cinema. She transports her audience to the new, exotic, and epic worlds she discovers onscreen, allowing them to escape their daily lives. This inspirational drama directed by Lone Scherfig and starring Berenice Bejo is a celebration of the power of storytelling, even in the harshest of circumstances.

Why this pick?

The magic of storytelling and the power of cinema itself are on full display! A must-see for any cinephile!

The Movie Teller

Toll

Suellen, a Brazilian toll booth attendant and mother, falls in with a gang of thieves in an attempt to keep her family afloat. In doing so, she realizes she can use her job to raise some extra money illegally for a so-called noble cause: to send her son to an expensive gay conversion workshop led by a renowned foreign priest. TOLL is part intimate, social drama and another part realist, crime thriller.

Why this pick?

Simple yet powerful story of how family love can lead to intolerance and hate. Machismo is still very real in Latin America, to sometimes devistasting consequences.

Toll

We Grown Now

In 1992 Chicago, as Michael Jordan solidifies himself as a champion, a story of two young legends in their own right begins. As wide-eyed and imaginative best friends Malik and Eric traverse the city, looking to escape the mundaneness of school and the hardships of growing up in public housing, their unbreakable bond is challenged when tragedy shakes their community just as they are learning to fly.

Why this pick?

Filmmaking at it's finest. A top-notch cast, including two young actors giving heart breaking performaces. Friendship, trauma and the need to move on - all combine in a powerhouse of a film.

We Grown Now

MONSTER

When her young son Minato starts to behave strangely, his mother feels that there is something wrong. Discovering that a teacher is responsible, she storms into the school demanding to know what’s going on. But as the story unfolds through the eyes of mother, teacher, and child, the truth gradually emerges. Palme d’Or winner and internationally acclaimed director Hirokazu Kore-Eda returns with a delicate, powerfully moving story of love, duty, social conflict, and secrets.

Why this pick?

A new film by Kore-eda? I'm in! A true masterpice with an ending that will leave you buzzing!

MONSTER

Thelma

When 93-year-old Thelma Post gets duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, she sets out on a treacherous quest across the city to reclaim what was taken from her. Inspired by a real-life experience of writer-director Josh Margolin’s own centenarian grandmother. Shining a spotlight on an elderly grandmother as an unlikely action hero, THELMA puts a clever and humorous spin on movies like MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE.

Why this pick?

Witness the rise of the latest action hero: 94 year-old June Squibb! Squibb gives the performance of her life in this heartwarming and fun film about a bad-ass grandma going after the men that scmmed her. Oh yeah, she gets a little help from her friend Shaft aka the late Rochard Roundtree

THELMA

Cara Ogburn - Artistic Director

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Kerstin Larson – Programming Director

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Abbie Esterline - Programming Coordinator

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