A portrait
of half a dozen men and women
who live in the crowded and
unhealthy industrial courts of
Oporto, an odd architectural
legacy of the industrial
revolution.
Through a series of intimate
conversations, shot at daylight,
and with one or two crew
members, 'Ilhas do Porto' is a
warm portrait of the lives,
hopes and frustrations of
several Portuguese men and women
on the turn of the 21st century.
'Ilhas do Porto' was entirely
funded by ICAM (Instituto do
cinema audiovisual and
multimedia - Audiovisual
Portuguese Institute), and it
was world-wide broadcast by RTP
(Radio Televisão
Portuguesa - Portuguese Radio
and Television) in 2001 and 2002.
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Even in the
current Colombian armed
conflict, dozens of
high-school graduates have the
possibility of accomplishing
their obligatory military
service as primary school
teachers of Nueva Era.
'Military Teachers' is a
journalistic note on the
school project of
Norberto Tarazona Rojas, a
police lieutenant
struggling to keep Nueva Era
running, the only primary
school available to the
children of Olas II, one of
the poorest neighbourhoods of
Bucaramanga, a Colombian city
with a population of 1
million.
The misery of Olas II is such
that the first priority of the
school is to feed its pupils.
Although some funds are
provided by the local
government and several charity
institutions, parents must pay
the weekly equivalent of 1
dollar per student - a
difficult task for those who
own nothing. As a result many
parents are obliged to take
their children from the
school. Without education the
most fortunate kids would get
menial jobs, whereas the
majority of them will fall in
the abysms of beggary,
criminality and prostitution.
Nueva Era is periodically run
in a government house built
besides a running sewage;
about three years ago classes
were suspended due to certain
bureaucratic disagreement.
Wanting to eliminate such
source of uncertainty,
lieutenant Norberto Tarazona
is trying to raise funds in
order to buy a lot for Nueva
Era.
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A
self-reflexive video, 'The
Thinker who used to read
fiction' introduces viewers to
the life of US philosopher
Chuck Dyke, as well as to his
ideas on controversial topics
such as American politics,
adolescence, ecology, higher
education and the general
purpose of philosophy in 1990s
America.
A documentary on philosophy,
boldly tailored according to
the melodramatic discourse of
the Media. Dyke's elaborated
concepts are juxtaposed to
those improvised by several
men and women from around the
world: documentary-makers,
actors and passserbies who in
spite of their ignorance on C.
Dyke's philosophy, are eager
to discuss and distort his
discourse according to their
own impressions and
pre-conceived ideas.
Shot between 1996 and
1997, 'The Thinker who
used to read fiction' was
partly financed by PIFVA
(Philadelphia Film and Video
Association).
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