La agonía de Rasu Niti . 1990. 1 videocassette (30 min.). Looks at the life, customs, culture and history of the Andean peoples. Discusses the passing of the ceremony of "dansak" from one generation to another as a means of preserving the cultural tradition. Encourages students to practice using Spanish vocabulary to express emotion. VHS 1472

AIDS in the barrio: Eso no me pasa a mi . 1988. 1 videocassette (30 min.). Discusses the causes and effects of AIDS in the Hispanic community through interviews with AIDS sufferers, their families, and members of the community at large. Drug abuse, cultural attitudes toward condom use and toward homosexuality, and the economic causes of drug abuse in the barrio are covered, as well as the role of family and friends in comforting and helping AIDS victims. Measures to prevent the spread of AIDS to wives and women friends of drug users and bi-sexual men are also discussed. VHS 3073

Americas . 1993. 10 videocassettes (570 min.). This intimate look at contemporary Latin America examines issues confronting the entire region by focusing on individual communities. VHS 2121-2130

Art of the fantastic Latin America, 1920-1987 . 1987. 1 videocassette (30 min.). The exhibition of Latin American painting illustrates the combination of national situations with the major themes of multi-cultural heritage (European, U.S., pre-Columbian, African, and Spanish colonial), as well as the influences of Catholicism, political upheavals, and geographic isolation. Includes reactions of people who viewed the exhibit. VHS 2008

Biculturalism and acculturation among Latinos . Heritage (Princeton, N.J.) . 1992. 1 videocassette (28 min.). This film examines the question of which part of their culture Latinos feel they should keep and leave behind. It explodes some commonly held beliefs and misconceptions about who Latinos are in the U.S. and probes the relationship between ethnic identity and entrepreneurial success in the U.S. marketplace. VHS 5377

Builders of images . Americas. 1993. 1 videocassette (60 min.). One of a series of programs focusing on contemporary Latin America. This segment explores the arts throughout the Americas, celebrating the extraordinary creative ferment that has attracted global acclaim and given rise to a distinct and increasingly influential Latin American voice. Looks at artists from Puerto Rico, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina who are creating works that reflect and influence their people's cultural identity. VHS 2127

Central America Costa Rica . Our developing world. 1996. 1 videocassette (20 min.). The topics of economic development, education, and self-help are featured in this program. We see: how the country uses coffee and banana exports to propel itself forward as a developing nation; how and why it chose educating its people over building an army; and how it remains a peaceful democratic anomaly in Latin America. VHS 4525

Columbus didn't discover us . 1992. 1 videocassette (24 min.). Indians from North, Central, and South America speak of the impact the Columbus legacy has had on the lives of indigenous people. VHS 1980

Cristóbal Colón 500 años después . 1992. 1 videocassette (24 min.). Indians from North, Central, and South America speak of the impact the Columbus legacy has had on the lives of indigenous people. VHS 1979

Cultura Chavín . 1990. 1 videocassette (27 min.). This documentary explores the remnants of civilizations left by early indigenous cultures who inhabited regions now belonging to Peru. VHS 1473

El espejo enterrado reflexiones sobre: España y el nuevo mundo . 1991. 5 videocassettes (ca. 59 min. each). El espejo--para los indios americanos simbolizaba el poder, el Sol, la Tierra y sus cuatro rincones, y su gente. Ahora se está levantando ante el viejo y el nuevo mundo un "espejo" extraordinario para reflejar las difirentes culturas de los países y pueblos hispanohablantes, junto con los temas, instituciones, creencias y símbolos que han permanecido o cambiado a través del tiempo. Carlos Fuentes looks for his forebears in the mix of people that created Latin America: Spanish, Arab, Jewish, Indian, and African. He asks what is unique in their culture that is cause for celebration in the 500th anniversary year of Columbus. VHS 6491

The feast . 1988? 1 videocassette (30 min.). Examines the first stages of alliance formation between two mutually hostile Yanomano Indian villages in souther Venezuela and northern Brazil. Describes in detail the preparations for a feast involving the inhabitants of the villages and presents scenes of chanting, dancing, and trading at the feast. VHS 1676

A festa da moca . 1988? 1 videocassette (18 min.). Showcases how the Nambiquara people in Brazil's far northwest are using video to revive waning cultural practices. VHS 1824

De acá, de este lado = From here, from this side . 1991? 1 videocassette (24 min.). The United States and Mexico, though neighbors, do not always understand one another's culture. The United States developed economically long before the petroleum industry revolutionized the Mexican economy (although the Mexican boom was followed by a bust). The United States economy is centered on military objectives and the struggle with the Soviet Union. But now the entire world faces common economic and environmental problems. VHS 900

In the ashes of the forest . Decade of destruction. 1990. 2 videocassettes (110 min.). Series chronicles the devastation of the Amazonian rainforest from 1980 to 1990. In this segment a Brazilian settler's two sons are murdered and another is kidnapped by Indians. While a government expedition searches for the child, the colonists' expansion continues to encroach on the Indians. Landless peasants are lured to the forest with promises of free land and big harvests. By the decade's end, the fate of the kidnapped boy is learned; an epidemic kills many of the Indians; the settler's farms have failed; and more than 15% of the rainforest has been destroyed. VHS 1675

In women's hands . Americas. 1993. 1 videocassette (60 min.). One of a series of programs focusing on contemporary Latin America. This segment is set in Chile and examines the changes women of every social class made as they organized to defy the repression of the Pinochet Years and to create better living conditions for their families. VHS 2125

Iracema . 1980. 1 videocassette (95 min.). In addition to the conflict between economic development and the environment, the development of the Amazon region has also affected the lifestyle and culture of the people. We see this conflict through the eyes of a young truck-driver known as Tiao Great Brazil and a 15-year-old girl Iracema. In their travels along the Transamazon Highway they encounter many people who seek to improve their economic lot despite the power of the landlords and developers. The lyrics of the songs, stressing Brazil's great wealth and growing prosperity, are in sharp contrast to Iracema's decline into prostitution, profanity, violence, alienation, and aimlessness. VHS 587

It's all true . 1994. 1 videocassette (86 min.). Twenty-five-year-old Orson Welles went to Brazil for RKO to make a film for the United States' anti-Nazi "Good Neighbor Policy." He masterminded a complex film that featured three separate stories, each vividly depicting the charm, drama and politics of South American culture. During the course of filming, Welles encountered hazardous locations and an ever-changing cast of studio executives at RKO. After months of shooting, the studio suddenly pulled the plug and shelved the ambitious project. Home Use Collection VHS 6148

The JVC Smithsonian Folkways video anthology of music and dance of the Americas . 1995. 6 videocassettes (329 min.). Presents a wealth of ethnic music from the Americas. Most segments are short. Includes folk music, folk songs, performances on traditional musical instruments, dances, and religious or ritual performances. The tapes contain no spoken introduction or explanation, but the booklets contain: overview essays that discuss entire traditions; selection descriptions that present information about each cut; and resource material, including suggestions for listening, viewing, and reading. The quality of the recording varies from segment to segment. VHS 7420

Mirrors of the heart . Americas. 1993. 1 videocassette (60 min.). One of a series of programs focusing on contemporary Latin America. This segment analyzes shifting ethnic and racial definitions in the region, looking at Bolivia, a nation with a rich Indian tradition, and Hispaniola, an island divided between two nations - Haiti and the Dominican Republic - with different cultural heritages and attitudes towards their African roots. VHS 2124

Multi-cultural education in the quincentenary year, a multi-media approach . 1992. 1 videocassette (90 min.). A teleconference sponsored by the Association for Educational Communication and Technology discusses Hispanic culture and its interaction and influence on Latin America and the United States. VHS 1570

Nomads of the rain forest . 1987. 1 videocassette (59 min.). An anthropological study of a Stone Age tribe, the Waorani Indians of the Amazon in Ecuador. This dwindling Stone Age tribe's way of life is threatened by the encroachments and environmental depredations of the outside world. VHS 585

O espírito da TV Índios Waiãpi, Amapá = The spirit of TV . 1990. 1 videocassette (18 min.). Shows how the Waiãpi, a small and recently contacted Tupi-speaking group in far northern Brazil, have used videos to document their own cultural practices, to discover the existence of other Tupi-speaking groups they had not known about, and to receive the experience of other indigenous groups that have confronted common problems such as land rights. VHS 1825

Pemp . 1988. 1 videocassette (27 min.). Documents the recent history of the Gavião tribe in the eastern Amazon. In the 60s, the Gavião were widely considered so decimated by contact that their continued survival as a group was impossible. However, the group has not only survived, but has pioneered some approaches to living on the interface with Brazilian culture. Shows how these people have reclaimed their land and much of their tribal culture with the help of video technology. VHS 1823

The price of freedom . 1995. 1 videocassette (21 min.). Rolando Cruz, who was convicted of raping and murdering a young girl on the basis of perjured testimony and subjected to three trials and ten years on death row, describes his attempt to begin life anew now that he is free. VHS 1894

Sacred games: Ritual warfare in a Maya village . 1988. 1 videocassette (60 min.). Presents how the Maya people see the world and how their symbolic world is renewed in the annual carnival celebrations. VHS 889

Soccer stories: Historias de fâutbol . 1997. 1 videocassette (87 min.). "Soccer is a national passion in Chile and a staple of daily life alongside work, food, and sex. Soccer is also the central thread that links the three distinct stories of this film, which depicts life in very different parts of Chile. All three stories feature characters who are forced to make a decision between soccer and something else."--Http://www.lavavideo.org. VHS 7881

Tango, baile nuestro = Tango, our dance . 1994. 1 videorecording (70 min.). Documents the history and the unique role of the tango. Shows the beauty of the dance and how it has changed over the years. VHS 3386

This is not your life . 1991. 1 videocassette (15 min.). A Brazilian housewife, Noeli Cavalheiro, describes her childhood, adolescence and present life illustrating the beliefs, aspirations, experiences and lack of opportunity that lie behind the statistics about life in the third world. VHS 2118

Todos Santos = The survivors . 1989. 1 videocassette (58 min.). Documents the impact of civil war, guerrilla warfare, and government reprisal on the Indian village of Todos Santos Cuchumatán, in the Guatemalan highlands, since 1979. Shows agricultural, economic, social, phychological, and theological effects on the villagers. Sequel to Todos Santos Cuchumatán. VHS 1080

Transnational fiesta, 1992 . 1992. 1 videocassette (60 min.). The film documents the multicultural and transnational experiences of Quispes, a family of Peruvian Andean immigrants living in Washington D.C., who return to their hometown, Cabanaconde, to sponsor the annual patron saint fiesta. The North American members of this extended family, as well as other migrants from the community living in Washington, also participate in the Virgin of Carmen celebration, where the complexities of cultural production, religious syncretism, inter-ethnic marriages, migration, and racism all converge. The story follows the migrants back to their "new world" (Washington D.C.) where they constantly "discover" and reinvent their plural identities (Cabane no, Andean, Peruvian, Latino, and American) in their daily lives as nannies, janitors, college students, and other occupations, and in the special events sponsored by the 300 plus members of the Cabanaconde City Association. VHS 3869

Vela tradition and change in Juchitán . 1986. 1 videocassette (36 min.). Although the Zapotec Indians of Mexico have adjusted to urban life and modern economic pressures, they continue to preserve their cultural traditions. The film focuses on the association Angelica Pipi for the preservation of the vela tradition. VHS 1520

The virgin and the bull . The buried mirror. 1991. 1 videocassette (ca. 59 min.). Carlos Fuentes looks for his ancestors in the mix of people that created Latin America: Spanish, Arab, Jewish, Indian, and African. He asks what is unique in their culture that is cause for celebration in the 500th anniversary year of Columbus. His quest takes him from the quayside at Vera Cruz back to Spain. VHS 1891

When the mountains tremble . 1983. 1 videocassette (ca. 85 min.). A documentary describing the struggle of the Indian peasantry in Guatemala against state and foreign oppression. Uses a variety of forms -- interviews, direct address, newsreels, re-inactmemts, video transmissions, and on-the-spot footage shot at great hazard. Loosely centered on the experiences of 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchù. VHS 739

When will our turn come?: The urban poor of Oaxaca . 1982. 1 videocassette (53 min.). Following a background report on the economic history of Oaxaca, Michael Higgins, anthropologist at the University of Northern Colorado who has lived in Oaxaca since 1968, interviews a number of low-wage and occasional laborers and a few professionals about their lives, jobs and aspirations. The film shows how the changing social structure affects sex roles, cultural relations, economic conditions, and religious practices. VHS 1519

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