More than just a documentary dispatch from the illegal immigration frontlines, Mark Becker's Romantico evolves from a verite view of undocumented alien subculture to a deeply personal, subtly-hued, and bittersweet dramatic story of family, fatherhood, identity and survival. By day, mariachi musician Carmelo Muñiz washes cars, but at night, he and his friend Arturo perform norteño and ranchero music for gringo tips in the taquerias and bars of San Francisco's Mission District. Carmelo's meager itinerant living belies the deep roots and binding ties he has to his native Mexico. His wife, two young daughters, and gravely ill mother rely on the money Carmelo sends to them in the little town of Salvatierra. When Carmelo returns to the life and loved ones he left behind a thousand miles south of the border, he resumes the wearying struggle against medieval poverty that he sought to escape in "el Norte." As Carmelo doggedly copes with his mother's mortality, his daughters' needs, and his own dreams, Romantico becomes an unforgettable portrait of the love, pride, and grace connecting one life with two countries. Becker has created a film that is as urgent as today's headlines and as timelessly lyrical and beautiful as the music, land, and faith that are Carmelo's joy and salvation.

The Emmy-winning film Made In L.A. tells the remarkable story of Maria, Lupe and Maura, three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops who embark on a three-year odyssey to win basic labor protections from a trendy clothing retailer. Hailed by The New York Times as 'an excellent documentary... about basic human dignity', and 'a rousing true story of solidarity, perseverance and triumph' by Variety, Made In L.A. offers a deeply human story about immigration, the power of unity, and the courage it takes to find your voice.Lupe Hernandez, a five-foot tall dynamo, has been working in Los Angeles garment factories since she left Mexico City at age 17. Maura Colorado left her three children in the care of relatives in El Salvador while she sought work in L.A. to support them. But the low-paid work came with a high price - wretched working conditions and an 'undocumented' status that deprived her of seeing her children for over 15 years. And, at 18, Maria Pineda came from Mexico in hopes of a better life. Twenty three years later, substandard working conditions and domestic abuse have left her struggling for her children's future and for her own human dignity.These three women, along with other immigrant workers, come together at L.A.'s Garment Worker Center to take a stand for their rights. Against all odds, these seemingly defenseless workers launch a very public challenge (a lawsuit and a boycott) to one of the city's flagship clothiers, calling attention to the dark side of low-wage labor north of the U.S.-Mexico border and revealing the social fault lines of the new globalization. As the campaign drags on through 3 long years, the workers' struggle yields hope and growth, but it is also fraught with disappointments and dangers. For Maria, Lupe and Maura, the long campaign is a turning point from victimization to empowerment - each finding strength and resources to continue, and making life-changing decisions that they never could have envisioned.

The legend, the details and the lie surrounding the Bolivian city that went to war over water. A mother who lost a son, an Army General who was ordered to send his troops against his own hometown, a homeless man who became a hero and a single father who harvests flowers help shape the triumph of the Cochabamba water war. But the passage of time and the complexity of reality transformed this story into a painful process of tragedy and deception. In an attempt to become part of this people's movement, a young filmmaker has no choice but to abandon what he believes in. What remains is an exploration of the lost relationship between man and water, which then becomes the lost relationship of man with himself.

What would be the shortest route between Entre Rios in Argentina and the Chinese metropolis Shanghai? Simply a straight line through the center of the earth, since the two places are antipodes - they are located diametrically opposite to each other on the earth's surface. During his visits to four such antipodal pairs, the award-winning documentary filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky captured images that turn our view of the world upside down. A beautiful, peaceful sunset in Entre Rios is contrasted with the bustling streets in rainy Shanghai. People who live in a wasteland are connected to people dwelling next to a volcano. Landscapes whose splendor touches the soul are juxtaposed with the clamor of a vast city. These antipodes seem mythically connected, somehow united by their oppositeness. Kossakovsky's movie is a feast for the senses, a fascinating kaleidoscope of our planet. Vivan Las Antipodas! - Long Live The Antipodes!

In 1961, three young, visionary architects were commissioned by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara to create Cuba's National Art Schools on the grounds of a former golf course in Havana, Cuba. Construction of their radical designs began immediately and the school's first classes soon followed. Dancers, musicians and artists from all over the country reveled in the beauty of the schools, but as the dream of the Revolution quickly became a reality, construction was abruptly halted and the architects and their designs were deemed irrelevant in the prevailing political climate. Forty years later the schools are in use, but remain unfinished and decaying. Castro has invited the exiled architects back to finish their unrealized dream. Unfinished Spaces features intimate footage of Fidel Castro, showing his devotion to creating a worldwide showcase for art, and it also documents the struggle and passion of three revolutionary artists.

"The Rati Horror Show" is a documentary portraying the dramatic story of Fernando Ariel Carrera, an ordinary man unjustly convicted to 30 years of prison --not by mistake but deliberately- by means of manipulation of a Judicial Case.The movie takes as a central point the way in which the Fernando Carrera's case was set up: the manipulation and alteration of evidence at the scene; the manipulation by the police of the testimonies of the few witnesses called to declare; the manipulation of National Media by Rubén Maugeri, key witness and president of the 34th Precinct Friends Association. On the other hand, we show how Fernando Carrera lives his days inside prison, knowing he is another victim of police excesses and a Legal System that unjustly convicted him.

Triplets Angel, César and Marcos, age 11, all want the same - a role in a major ballet production at Havana's celebrated Grand Theatre. Who will be chosen? Their teachers at Cuba's world -renowned National Ballet School say all three have the same emerging talent and there's every chance they will develop as great dancers. Hardly anyone can tell them apart. Their training is rigorous and demanding; thousands of hopefuls apply for a coveted spot at the School. Filmmaker Sylvie Collier was granted extraordinary, unlimited access to the School and backstage at the Grand Theatre, allowing her to film the boys as they train in the robust and expressive style that distinguishes Cuban ballet. Her film provides a child's eye view on determination and the hunger for professional success in the context of Cuba's surprising impact on the formation of male dancers. In the film, ballet superstar José Carreño tells the triplets to pursue their dream just as he did as a boy growing up in Havana. Excitement builds as the triplets prepare for their chance to debut on stage at the Grand Theatre.

This is the incredible story of Pablo Escobar, the infamous boss of Colombia's Medellin drug cartel, told for the very first time by his son, Sebastian and his widow Maria Isabel Santos. In Nicolas Entel's film Sebastian tells of his extraordinary childhood, growing up with a father he loved but whom he knew to be Colombia's enemy number one. He tells of times of extraordinary luxury and extravagance, and other times on the run. And Sebastian and his widow open the family vaults to share their private and long hidden archives. But this is also the story of two of Escobar's most prominent victims, the Minister of Justice and a politician about to be elected President of Colombia, as told by their sons. They were among hundreds that Escobar had killed in the 1980's. The film follows Sebastian as he tries to break the cycle of revenge and assassination by seeking reconciliation with the sons of his father's victims.

Prepare for the journey as an unknown, a nothing, no one. Prepare to leave everything from South and Central America behind and travel alone with a vague sense of direction and the echo of your family left in your ears. Prepare to face the same intimidation and corruptive danger in Mexico as you will eventually find 1,300 miles north, when you cross into the United States-if you live through it. As rich nations sharpen their borders and differences, the poorest peoples continue to blur them in the search for liberties too universally held to be claimed by any flag. Through this burning hunger, we are drawn into De Nadie, and through its intimate lens and enduring crew, we find ourselves confronted with a story of immigration we only thought we understood. First-time filmmaker Tin Dirdamal displays moving photographic grace and sophisticated understanding of his subjects as he follows their search for the sustenance their native countries can't provide. These personal stories force deeper understanding of the United States' border crisis, while exposing hypocrisies in a Mexican culture faced with equally uncomfortable intolerance of its own. All this from a film that doesn't take political stances; it merely brings us the voices of those affected, the results of which are far louder.

Tango was born in Buenos Aires and no one dances tango as passionately as the Argentineans do – that is at least what the Argentineans themselves believe. Tango is as Finnish as sauna and skiing – that is what the famous Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki and many of his fellow countrymen are convinced of. Two countries, two opinions, two musical traditions. "Midsummer Night’s Tango" is a humorous, light-hearted road movie, accompanying three Argentinean tango musicians as they leave the milongas of Buenos Aires behind to discover tango in faraway Finland. Singer Chino Laborde, guitarist Diego "DIPI" Kvitko and bandoneonist Pablo Greco are the stereotypical Argentinean tango musicians. They are noisy, passionate and one hundred percent convinced that their music is the only true tango. Travelling through Finland, they dive into a completely new world. Long strips of forests, hundreds of lakes, bright summer nights and, above all, slightly shy and quiet people who play this foreign music called Finnish tango. "Midsummer Night’s Tango" is a music-laden, humorous cinema documentary, capturing the many comic and charming moments when musicians from two worlds come together – to discover that they all share the same love for tango music, however different it might sound.

A "rockumentary" about the Mexican Band Molotov and the political, social and financial context where the band is born and developed.

Shining a spotlight on one of America's most controversial issues, THE IMMIGRANT follows the true story of one Mexican immigrant's life and untimely death while crossing the border into the United States. Despite the threat of aggressive minutemen patrols and hostile drug cartels, Eusebio De Haro attempted the courageous trek in hopes of achieving the American dream. But before he could reach the promised land, De Haro paid the ultimate price. This award-winning investigative documentary retraces his journey and reveals a case of appalling injustice.

Israel Ticas is El Salvador's only criminologist. In one of the world's most dangerous countries, his job is to unearth the hundreds of missing people murdered and buried by the rival gangs MS-13 and 18 Street as their street war rages. Without him the murdered would go uncounted. The gangs may have declared a truce in 2012, but as we discover on the job with Israel, the murder rate has increased and El Salvador's missing remain without justice.

From Medellín, Colombia comes the feature-length documentary, CAPTIVE BEAUTY. It's an intimate portrait of four women, jailed for murder, kidnapping, revolution, and con-artistry, who are brought together by a beauty pageant held inside the prison walls. The weeklong pageant transforms the prison into colorful and controlled mayhem, and serves as a jumping off point to explore the contestants' lives. Leave the prison to meet their ex-boyfriends. Visit their hometowns. Walk with their victims through the scene of their crimes. You will get to know four women--- Catalina, Leidy, Diana and Marta----who grew up when Medellín was in the throws of violence. Candid and intimate interviews with each of them----about their childhood, their crimes, their notions of femininity, beauty, and innocence---help narrate the film. Diana is compassionate and girlish in one moment, and in the next she recounts stabbing her brother-in-law in the neck 36 times. Leidy confesses to a robbing spree through little towns across Colombia, and weeps as she describes her regret in leaving her son without his mom. Combining intimate pageant footage from inside the prison, with home videos, family photos, and provocative interviews with their friends, families, and enemies, CAPTIVE BEAUTY brings these women's stories to life. It is a tale both universal and entirely unique, sexy and brutal, where themes of innocence and femininity are turned on their heads and the criminal, for a day, becomes a queen. Danielle Calle - New Orleans Film Festival

Réquiem NN is a film about a ritual of resistance of the people of Puerto Berrio, Colombia, who have lived continuous cycles of violence for many decades. The recovery of the bodies from the Magdalena River, their burial, the favors people ask from the souls of the NN (NO Names), the baptizing given to this unknown corpses, is the collective ritual that has taken place for over 30 years. Juan Manuel Echavarria began photographing the graves in Puerto Berrio in November 2006 and this film is one of the results of this investigation.

The ability to visualize same-sex parent families is one of the critical issues facing our society. Education is the first step in a cultural struggle to liberate people from a tradition that has denied them basic rights based on their sexual orientation. This is the motivation behind this documentary - to demystify and eliminate the fears and prejudices so that our children will be born in a more just and free society.