Latin American Studies

This page highlights media from Latin American countries and the Caribbean available through UBC Library. Given our collections, the page is under construction with frequent updates and changes.

UBC Library provides access to many films. Films are available on DVD, VHS and streamed online.

UBC Vancouver faculty, staff and students can book UBC Library videos, films or DVDs for individual use or for classroom presentation on a specific date.  Instructions on how to place a Media Booking request are available here.

UBC Okanagan faculty, staff and students can book UBC Library videos, films, or DVDs by contacting: media.ok@ubc.ca

If you don't have access to DVD and blue-ray players, you can borrow players: https://services.library.ubc.ca/computers-technology/technology-borrowing/

Kanopy

Kanopy is an on-demand streaming video service for educational institutions that provides access to more than 26,000 films each year. Kanopy works directly with filmmakers and film distribution companies to offer award-winning collections including titles from PBS, BBC, Criterion Collection, Media Education Foundation and more. Search by language or film name or browse by collection (e.g. Latin American Studies).

Criterion On Demand - feature films from theCriterion Collection, including feature film producers, including, but not limited to: 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, DreamWorks SKG, Mongrel Media, Sony Pictures Classics, Alliance Films, Miramax Films, Warner Brothers, Lionsgate Films, The Weinstein Company, as well as a smaller number of independent producers. Our title selection includes 1920 classics, new releases, foreign films, literary adaptations, documentaries, animated titles, and independent features.

Argentina

Brazil

 Bacurau, 2019 - A film by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles

A few years from now, Bacurau, a small village in the Brazilian sertoão, mourns the loss of its matriarch, Carmelita, who lived to be 94. Days later, its inhabitants notice that their village has literally vanished from online maps and a UFO-shaped drone is seen flying overhead. There are forces that want to expel them from their homes, and soon, in a genre-bending twist, a band of armed mercenaries led by Udo Kier arrive in town picking off the inhabitants one by one.

 Aquarius, 2016 - A film by Kleber Mendonça Filho

Clara, a vibrant former music critic, avid swimmer, grandmother, cancer survivor, willing lover and widow with flowing tresses, is the only remaining apartment owner in a gracious older building targeted for demolition by ruthless luxury high-rise developers. As the builders tactics to remove Clara become increasingly hostile, Clara proves to be a force to be reckoned with.

 City of God, 2002 - A film by Fernando Meirelles

[Cidade de Deus] Brazil, 1960's, City of God. The Tender Trio robs motels and gas trucks. Younger kids watch and learn well...too well. 1970's: Li'l Z has prospered very well and owns the city. He causes violence and fear as he wipes out rival gangs without mercy. His best friend Ben is the only one to keep him on the good side of sanity. Rocket has watched these two gain power for years, and he wants no part of it. Yet he keeps getting swept up in the madness. All he wants to do is take pictures. 1980's: Things are out of control between the last two remaining gangs...will it ever end? Welcome to the City of God.

 The Salt of the Earth, 2014 - A film by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado

 This French documentary portraits Sebastião Salgado, a Brazilian awarded photographer. For the last 40 years, Sebastião has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He has witnessed some of the major events of our recent history; international conflicts, starvation and exodus. He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of wild fauna and flora, and of grandiose landscapes as part of a huge photographic project, which is a tribute to the planet's beauty. Sebastião Salgado's life and work are revealed to us by his son, Juliano, who went with him during his last travels, and by Wim Wenders, himself a photographer.

 To the Left of the Father, 2006 - A film by Luiz Fernando Carvalho

[Lavoura Arcaica] A young man runs away from his devout religious family when he becomes attracted to his sister.

The Year my Parents went on Vacation, 2006 - A film by Cão Hamburguer

[O ano em que meus pais saíram de férias] It's 1970 in Brazil. While most eyes are on the World Cup and Pele, a young boy named Chauro is about to watch his life turn upside down. Brought into the world by a leftist couple, a political upheaval forces his parents into the shadows and sends him to a new neighbourhood and a new life with a friend of his grandparents. In his new surroundings, Chauro must fight against his lack of immediate family by embracing his new life and the other people in the community.

 Carandiru, 2003 - A film by Hector Babenco

Set in São Paulo's House of Detention, locally known as Carandiru. An oncologist arrives at the jail to test patients for HIV infection. Seeing the disease, overcrowding, and rampant circulation of drugs, the doctor comes to realize the internal power structure among the prisoners. Narratives develop, including the attempted murder of Dagger, the solitary confinement of Chico, and the romance between Lady Di and Too Bad. The doctor eventually begins to see the prisoners as survivors. Culminates with a violent conclusion: a dramatization of the October 2, 1992 prison riot known as the Carandiru Massacre, in which 111 prisoners are killed.

 Behind the Sun, 2001 - A film by Walter Salles

[Abril Despedaçado] "Behind the Sun" concerns two families and their long-running land war, which has robbed many a young man of his hope, love and, ultimately, life. Sent by his aggrieved father to avenge the slaying of an older brother, Tonho, in torment, carries out his bloody, ancestral obligation and then proposes a truce between the families.