El Salvador is not one of my areas of specialisation. It is not a country that has received much attention outside of the field of post-conflict, trauma specialists, and those interested in the US sphere of interest, on the one hand, and literature, in particular those interested in the work of the poet and Revolutionary…
Blog
Student protests in Chile
Here is a link to Michael Chanan’s report on his recent visit to Chile and the student protests that are taking place there: http://www.putneydebater.com/2011/12/13/the-persistence-of-allende%e2%80%99s-vision/
Grupo nuevo cine
Mexican cinema went through various periods of flux and renewal, one of these was in the 1960s. There were major events that occurred throughout that decade that changed cinema and filmmaking dramatically. One these was the formation of the Grupo nuevo cine [New Cinema Group]. This was a collective of filmmakers, critics, theorists and aficionados…
Blogging and Como agua para chocolate
Recently, whilst surfing the net on an entirely different matter, I came across this blog on Como agua para chocolate http://posthegemony.blogspot.com/2007/02/literal.html by Jon Beasley-Murray, based at the University of British Colombia. Whilst some may be daunted by the title, Posthegemony, don’t let it put you off. His is a clear and readable style and this…
Como agua para chocolate / Like Water for Chocolate
Media Type: Film Year: 1992 Who wrote / made it : Alfonso Arau Plot summary: Como agua para chocolate signaled a turning point in Mexican cinema, when the film industry changed dramatically for multiple reasons, covered elsewhere by writers such as Deborah Shaw and Stephen M. Hart. It broke box office records and brought Mexican…
AcBoWriMo
NaNoWriMo has become a well-established event in the annual calendar. This is the challenge of writing 50,000 words in a month, with the hope of having a first draft (large portion) of a novel at the end. The idea is that having a goal and a set time period will concentrate the mind. It particularly…
Tenochtitlan
Melvyn Bragg and guests talk about the siege of Tenochtitlan (site of modern day Mexico City): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016924x
Cuartelazo / Military Coup
Media Type: Film Year: 1976 Who wrote / made it : Alberto Isaac Plot summary: “Lo unico que nos enseña la historia es que el hombre no aprende nada de la historia…” [the only thing history teaches us is that man learns nothing from history…] appears before the opening credits and sets the tone of…
Third cinema
While resesarching online material on Third Cinema for a class I came across this really valuable resource: http://www.dc5b.com/twtc/homepage/homepage.html
Las mujeres de mi general
Media Type: Film Year: 1950 Who wrote / made it : Ismael Rodríguez Plot summary: Las mujeres de mi General (Ismael Rodríguez, 1950) has class struggle as a central defining theme, embodying this in two female characters. Emilio García Riera identifies the character Juan Zepeda (Pedro Infante) in Las mujeres de mi General as a…