Keywords

The memory of a first communion day gone down the shitter.

A spoof of crime documentaries about the arrest and trial of a beloved poetry professor from a small town in South Carolina, who is accused of brutally murdering his wife, and the young Northeastern lawyer hired to defend him.

At a popular bakery café, residents of New York's Upper East Side get bagels and coffee served with a smile 24 hours a day. But behind the scenes, undocumented immigrant workers face sub-legal wages, dangerous machinery, and abusive managers who will fire them for calling in sick. Mild-mannered sandwich maker Mahoma López has never been interested in politics, but in January 2012, he convinces a small group of his co-workers to fight back. Risking deportation and the loss of their livelihood, the workers team up with a diverse crew of innovative young organizers and take the unusual step of forming their own independent union, launching themselves on a journey that will test the limits of their resolve. In one roller-coaster year, they must overcome a shocking betrayal and a two-month lockout. Lawyers will battle in court, Occupy Wall Street protesters will take over the restaurant, and a picket line will divide the neighborhood. If they can win a contract, it will set a historic precedent for low-wage workers across the country. But whatever happens, Mahoma and his coworkers will never be exploited again.

HD. Latinos from Texas share their personal stories in this two-part installment in the 'Habla' series.

Three best friends get together and bury a box, making a pact to open it at midnight at their high school graduation. In the small town in Georgia that they live in, things soon change. One is little miss perfect, one is an engaged prom queen, and the other is a pregnant outcast. On the night of their graduation, they open the box and they strike up a conversation. Suddenly, one brings up the topic of her going to Los Angeles for a record contract audition. They all decide to go together and they leave. With a little money, they set out on the road with a guy named Ben. When one of them tells the other a rumor that he might be a homicidal maniac, they are all scared of him. When they reach Los Angeles, Lucy (Britney Spears) falls in love with Ben and against her father's wishes, she stays and she goes to the audition.

"La Vida Loca" reflects a depressing and hopeless reality. The documentary, by photojournalist and filmmaker Christian Poveda, follows some of the members of "la dieciocho", the so-called 18th Street gang in a poor San Salvador neighborhood.

Largely directly through current day interviews with the subject at age eighty-seven, a profile of Rita Moreno is presented, she who in many respects outwardly epitomizes the American dream in being a handful of EGOTs (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony winner) and thus successful, and achieving that dream as a somewhat visible "immigrant" to the US (not technically so in being a Puerto Rican, which is part of the US) from humble beginnings. She dispels many of those views in a discussion of her career and her life. Beyond the want to be a movie star and being a proverbial triple threat (actor, singer, dancer) in the entertainment business, she talks about the difficulties she faced: being subjected to the proverbial casting couch and being sexually assaulted above and beyond by those in authority; being typecast in pretty, immigrant roles which required her solely to look beautiful and speak in nondescript accents, even after her Oscar win; the broadening of her career to do the work that was of interest as opposed to that may have been high profile; and the resulting view of her own non-self-worth in how she was viewed especially as a Latina in the US. She further discusses how that view of herself led to a Catch-22 in relationships, getting into them in her own negative view of herself, and they in turn exacerbating that view. Arguably the two most high profile are the long term abusive one with Marlon Brando, and the forty-five year marriage to Leonard Gordon until his death. Her activism is also discussed which is an outcome of her life, it largely in areas of women and minority rights.

In his A24 directorial debut, Julio Torres, SNL writer, creates a surreal comedy to explore the challenges of the immigrant experience. Follow the story of Alejandro, played by Torres, an aspiring toy maker from El Salvador who seeks sponsorship in the US aided by an eccentric art critic, Elizabeth, marvelously interpreted by Tilda Swinton. With magical sets and humorous storytelling, this film promises an enchanting and insightful ride.

15-year-old scientist Ashley Garcia explores the great unknown of modern teendom after moving across the country to pursue a career in robotics.

"Ebony Goddess: Queen of Ilê Aiyê" follows three women competing to be the carnival queen of Ilê Aiyê, a prominent and controversial Afro-Brazilian group with an all-black membership. The selection is based on Afro-centric notions of beauty, in counterpoint to prevailing standards of beauty in Brazil, a country famous for slim supermodels and plastic surgery. Contestants for the title of Ebony Goddess dress in flowing African-style garments, gracefully performing traditional Afro-Brazilian dances to songs praising the beauty of black women. For Aurelina, Joseane and Talita, the competition for the title of Ebony Goddess is part of a profound and personal search for identity and self-esteem. The figure of the Ebony Goddess, representing a "black is beautiful" view of black women, resonates with women of African descent in Brazil, the United States and throughout the world of the African Diaspora. Following the three candidates' daily lives, dance rehearsals, and interactions with each other, "Ebony Goddess: Queen of Ilê Aiyê" shows the contest's role in reshaping the idea of beauty in a society in which African descendants constitute the majority of the population but is pervaded by Euro-centric concepts of body aesthetics. The concept of the Ebony Goddess creates an alternative view of the black female body as beautiful, desirable, and talented, promoting social change at its most basic level: the individual sense of self.

Comedy veteran Willie Barcena showcases his outrageous, laugh-out-loud talents in his first-ever Comedy Central Stand-up DVD special.

"Festive Land" examines one of the largest and most extraordinary popular celebrations in the world, the week-long carnival that brings more than two million people to the streets of Salvador, the capital of Bahia, in northeastern Brazil. Carnaval is the most expressive showcase of the unique cultural richness of Bahia, where African culture has survived, prospered, and evolved, mixing with other Brazilian influences to create forms found nowhere else in the world. The film captures this unique cultural energy through extraordinary footage of musical performances, dances, religious manifestations, and street celebrations.

Eighteen remarkable Latinas share their stories in the 10th anniversary special of the HBO Latino Habla documentary Series.

A documentary film on the intense culture of amateur boxing in the east side of Los Angeles. A new breed of young fighter emerges alongside the tumultuous Latino struggle for power in the city of angels. A story that crosses boundaries and genres, it is a film about the relentless, human fight to make it in life and the sport of boxing that gives birth to that fight in the starkest terms imaginable.

This is a coming of age story about a gay boy in a Mexican family, taking place in the grape fields and trailer homes in the Coachella Valley. Goyo has a hard time hiding his sexual preferences from his father, while secretly hoping for he's acceptance. His father Ramon, a hard core Mexican immigrant, is against homosexuality and will not accept that his only son is gay. Matters get worst when Goyo and his sister Rosa fall in love with the same guy.

In 1981, Virginia Vallejo is a famous Colombian journalist and TV news anchorwoman who is invited to a VIPs party in the ranch of Pablo Escobar, a low-born man who gained money and power with drug trafficking together with his friends, turning them into the new generation of rich men of the country. Seduced by his charisma, Virginia starts a passionate love affair with Escobar despite him being a family man married to María Victoria. During the 80's, Escobar becomes famous in his try to better the life of the poor invMedellín and raising a political career in Colombia's congress, but Virginia starts to understand Escobar's real power controlling an empire of crime in Colombia and spreading his drug in all of the USA. It causes DEA agent Shepard to take interest in his business and in Virginia, contacting her anf looking for a way to stop him. With the President Belisario Betancur striking an alliance with the USA to stop Escobar and extradite him to be judged outside Colombia, which ignites a war in the country to eliminate all his enemies, politicians and non-politicians, unleashing his thirst for blood and his ambition to rule everything. Virginia, seeing that her career and her reputation are destroyed by Escobar, faces an extreme situation: to die at the hands of Escobar or by his enemies as an act of reprisal, or save herself helping Shepard to stop Escobar before he kills her.