Hispanic Film Festival begins Nov. 1

Augustana College will sponsor its 27th annual Hispanic Film Festival on Wednesdays, Nov. 1-Dec. 6.

All films will be shown at 7 p.m. in Hanson Hall of Science, Room 102. Films are free and open to the public. Films are in Spanish with English subtitles.

Nov. 1: Canción sin nombre (Song Without a Name)

Director: Melina León
Country: Perú
Year: 2019
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 1h 37min
Rating: Not Rated

Plot summary: Georgina’s newborn daughter is stolen at a fake health clinic. Her desperate search for the child leads her to the headquarters of a major newspaper where she meets a lonely journalist who takes on the investigation.

• Nominee: Best Iberoamerican Film, Goya Awards
• Winner: Best Film and Best Cinematography, Stockholm Film Festival

→ Event page

Nov. 8: Ya no estoy aquí (I Am No Longer Here)

Director: Fernando Frías de la Parra
Country: México
Year: 2019
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 1h 52min
Rating: R

Plot summary: In Monterrey, Mexico, a young street gang spends their days dancing to slowed-down cumbia and attending parties. After a mix-up with a local cartel, their leader is forced to migrate to the U.S. but quickly longs to return home.

• Nominee: Best Film, Film Critics Awards
• Nominee: Best Iberoamerican Film, Goya Awards

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Nov. 15: Campeones (Champions)

Director: Javier Fesser
Country: Spain
Year: 2018
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Family
Runtime: 2h 4min
Rating: R

Plot summary: Marco Montes is a basketball coach who works as second trainer of an important team of ACB (Spanish basketball national league), but in reality he is a man burned inside himself in his professional life as well as personal life, turning him in an arrogant and bad-mannered man. During an ACB game, a discussion with the first trainer causes an incident and he's fired out from the stadium. He is sentenced to community service, and forced to work with a team of players with mental disabilities.

• Winner: Best Film in Spanish, Sant Jordi Awards
• Winner: Best Film, Comedy, Feroz Awards

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Nov. 29: El botón de nácar (The Pearl Button)

Director: Patricio Guzmán
Country: Chile
Year: 2015
Genres: Documentary
Runtime: 1h 22min
Rating: Not Rated

Plot summary: The sea holds all the voices of the earth and those that come from outer space. Water receives impetus from the stars and transmits it to living creatures. Water, the longest border in Chile, also holds the secret of two mysterious buttons which were found on its ocean floor. Chile, with its 2,670 miles of coastline and the largest archipelago in the world, presents a supernatural landscape. In it are the voices of the Patagonian Indigenous people. Some say that water has memory. This film shows that it also has a voice.

• Winner: Best Documentary, Jerusalem Film Festival
• Winner: Best Documentary and Best Director, Philadelphia Film Festival

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Dec. 6: Argentina, 1985

Director: Santiago Mitre
Country: Argentina
Year: 2022
Genres: Drama
Runtime: 2h 20min
Rating: R

Plot summary: Inspired by a true story, this film portrays a young legal team of unlikely heroes in a David-Goliath battle to prosecute Argentina’s bloodiest military dictatorship in a race against time to bring justice to the victims of the Military Junta.

• Nominee: Best International Feature Film, Academy Awards
• Winner: Best Film, Golden Globes

→ Event page