Sunday 22nd December 2002 1pm - 6pm
In The DocHouse - 'A Day for Argentina'

This weekend marks the first anniversary of the current economic and social crisis in Argentina and also the rise of the extraordinary resistance movement that has redefined the nature and scale of protest in Latin America. Following on from the international day of action in solidarity with the Argentinian people, 'A Day for Argentina' aims to examine, through film and discussion, the origins of the current situation and place it in the context of Argentina's recent history.

A series of moving and powerful documentaries take the viewer on a journey from the 1960s to the present day. With informed speakers and chance for discussion of the many major issues raised by these events, it promises to be both a cautionary and celebratory day, the perfect antidote to the christmas frenzy and a chance to reflect on the wider world beyond the wild west end.

We are also pleased to be joined by The Argentinian Solidarity Campaign Katabasis Latin American Poetry and The Latin American Bureau who will all have stalls at the cinema.

At The Other Cinema (formerly Metro)
11, Rupert St, London, W1V 7FS
Bookings: 020 7734 1506
Online: www.picturehouse-cinemas.co.uk
Tickets £8 Concessions £5 (including members of The Other Cinema)
SCHEDULE AS FOLLOWS

Starting at 1.00pm
The day Introduced by Elizabeth Wood of DocHouse.
www.dochouse.org

A reading of Juan Gelman's poetry by Paula Zingoni (in Spanish with an English print translation)

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1.10pm: Screening:
The Hour Of The Furnaces
Directed by: Fernando E Solonas, Argentina, 1968 B&W Spanish with English subtitles (3 Parts) Showing the 30 minute segment from part 2 detailing the Peron years to provide a historical background to the day. Please note - previously advertised as Part 1: Neocololianism and Violence, the programme has now been changed due to time restraints - the film will be shown in its entirety at The Other Cinema on Sunday 26th January 2003.

The film, the first Argentine film essay on liberation and the national question, took two years of work. During production the filmmakers travelled more than 18,000 kilometers across the country and recorded more than 180 hours of interviews in the most diverse places, The result is one of the most lucid examples of film being used as a political weapon.

The Furnaces referred to in the title are in fact large fires used for cooking by the native indians of argentina. It was the light from these fires that guided the first European navigators towards the Argentine coast. The expression appears in the writings of the 19th century Cuban poet Jose Marti, which Che Guevara (an Argentinian) cited: 'It is The Hour Of The Furnaces, all that need be seen is their light'

Solonas states that the purpose of his film is 'to realise a decolonising film, a film of disruption as compared to the traditional values of American and European cinema.....an intense cinema like the instrument of the battle, of concrete struggle. Cinema like a gun, a guerilla film, a film of and for the masses.'
From the commentary by Ken Locker.
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1.40pm Screening:
'Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo"

By Susana Blaustein Munoz
64 mins, Argentina 1986
Spanish with English subtitles.
Having won, amongst others the IDA award in 1986 it went on to receive a nomination an Oscar for Best Documentary It is a moving account of the organization of The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo (Mothers and Relatives of Disappeared people during the last dictatorship) through personal testimony - also portraying Argentina from 1976 to 1985.

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2.45pm Break. Refreshments served

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3.00pm Screening:
Argentina In Revolt
30mins. 2002

Indymedia deliver a sometimes startling street level view of the crisis as it unfolded and its ongoing aftermath, focusing on police repression of the early protests and the extraordinary responses by popular organisations and neighbourhoods to their dire situation. It captures the practical politicisation of a people in a way that is inspiring and moving.

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3.30pm Screening:
A Cry For Argentina
Directed and Produced by Angus Macqueen, UK, 2002, 50mins
An October FIlms production for the BBC, Thirteen/WNET New York and TV2 Denmark

Cry for Argentina explores what happens when confidence in the capitalist system collapses in a country, which was once among the richest in the world. The human stories behind the financial disaster that is Argentina in 2002 when the Government defaulted on $141 billion of debt. And what happens to the middle classes when the boom turns to bust, when a country that sees itself as firmly in the first world finds itself teetering on the brink of the third.

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4.20pm Break

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4.30pm Discussion panel:

Zoe Young - Concious Cinema
Hugh O'Shaughnessy - Journalist
Eva Tarr Kirkhope - Director: The London Latin American Film Festival
Paula Zingoni - Latin Amercan Cinema Expert

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5.30pm - screening
Argentine Voices 2002 15mins
Conscious Cinema's digital diary doc 'Argentine Voices', made in October this year and providing a potent insight into the diversity and dynamism of Argentina's communal resistance movement.

Other work will be screened in the bar area throughout the day.

Please note that there may be further additions to the programme time permitting. Also - Many thanks to Gareth Evans for his participation in this project.