The Latin American Film Festival kicks off its spring semester lineup with a screening of the film “Jardín de Amapolas” (Garden of Amapolas) at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20 in the Leon S. and Pete P. Peters Educational Center in the Student Recreation Center (Woodrow and Shaw avenues) on the Fresno State campus.
Presented by the CineCulture and the Chicano and Latin American Studies Department, with various co-sponsors, this free, public viewing is co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science. It will be followed with a talk by Dr. Patricia Rodriguez, associate professor of politics at Ithaca College in New York.
Other films planned this semester are the Brazilian film “Rio 2096 Uma História de Amor e Fúria” March 6 at 5:30 p.m. and the Mexico film “Jaula de Oro,” May 1at 5 p.m.
The 86-minute Colombian film “Jardín de Amapolas,” directed by Juan Carlos Melo Guevara, is about a farmer and his son, forced to into exile by rebels who cultivating poppies (Amapolas), a dangerous, but lucrative business.
Rodriguez’ teaching and research interests revolve around grassroots ethnic and peasant mobilizations and their impact and consequences for democracy in Latin America, said Dr. Annabella España-Nájera, film festival coordinator and professor in the Chicano and Latin American Studies Department.
Rodriguez has published several articles on Colombian social movements and is working on a book project that examines the possibilities and challenges of cohesive network/alliance-building among non-violent grassroots organizations to prompt economic, social and political change and enduring peace in contemporary Colombia.
The project focuses on local social movements and community organizations’ efforts in two regions of Colombia.
“It explores historical and contemporary factors that help explain why alliance-building has had some success at solidifying networks beyond the local in one region, but not in another, despite the constant interference from U.S., state and armed actors in both cases,” España-Nájera said.
All CineCulture screenings are free and open to the public in the Peter Education Center.
For more information, contact España-Nájera at aespanajera@csufresno.edu or 559.278.3020, or Dr. Mary Husain, CineCulture adviser, at mhusain@csufresno.edu.
Related links
