Trazos familiares

The biggest peaceful demonstration of resistance to an authoritarian regime in Latin America in the 1970s was the general strike whereby Uruguayan workers and students rejected the military coup of 27 June 1973. In this documentary we follow what happened from two perspectives: that of the people who took part in the mass mobilisation, and that of those who captured those events in images.

Héctor Rodríguez (1918-1996) was one of the outstanding figures in the people's movement in Uruguay. He was a textile worker and also a member of parliament for the Communist Party, and he was expelled from their ranks in the 1950s. He was a journalist, a militant activist and a political prisoner, and a key force in trade union unity and left wing politics in Uruguay. His life was bound up with some of the most important events in the history of this country after 1930. As well as Héctor's own testimony we have the voices of textile workers, intellectuals, union members and politicians, in a rich mixture of archive film and photographs.

Award-winning documentary about how one Uruguayan leftist survived solitary confinement during the dirty war. The story of former Tupamaro guerilla fighter, Henry Engler, whose prolonged confinement and torture during the Uruguayan dictatorship led to a mental breakdown. Today Dr. Engler is a Swedish citizen and a scientist renowned for his research into Alzheimer’s disease. In this impressive documentary, the scientist visits the places of his painful past, painting an intimate and disturbing portrait of prison life under the dictatorship.

34-year-old Pamela is a small and shy woman. She works at the cash register of a supermarket. She attends a religious temple led by a Brazilian minister. She periodically visits her autistic mother. She is an anonymous character, leading a meaningless life. Suddenly, a miracle occurs. Messages of a marvelous destiny start to reach Pamela in unusual ways: a client, a gentle and charismatic transvestite, her own mother, dreams, bar codes, real and imaginary signals. The Savior of the Next Millennium is apparently on his way and everything indicates that she, being a virgin, is carrying him on her entrails. Impelled to face herself, Pamela undertakes an inner voyage. A paradoxical voyage: the more mystic she grows to be, the more human she becomes.

In Montevideo, Sonja cares for her invalid mother, works in a garment factory, and has little going for her. Her neighbor Modesto, an older man who lives alone, types anonymous letters to her. Her mother is difficult -- demanding and miserable, afraid of death. Sonja meets Ernesto, a nurseryman, and finally there may be some possibilities in her life. Does freedom beckon?

We follow the lives of some three-year-old children who attend their final year at an early childhood care center. We explore their language, their tests and experiments, their ways of communicating, their relationship with the environment, music and other forms of expression. A documentary about the wonderful process of growth and the challenges that a poor neighborhood faces in a very particular year.

The story of how a Uruguayan political prisoner, Jorge Tiscornia, from 1972 on, secretly kept a meticulous and personal record of his living conditions during the 4646 days (More than twelve years) that he was in prison in Penal de Libertad: the largest political prison in the 1970s' Latin America.

This is a documentary about the Uruguayan boxer Alfredo Evangelista, who at height of his career even fought against Mohammad Ali. A considerable part of the film is a long interview with him in Carabanchel prison in Madrid. Alfredo, one of Uruguay's last sporting legends, tells his story for the camera. He talks about his life and his career in sport, and he reflects bitterly and lucidly about the mistakes he has made and his situation today.

Biographical portrait of the labor movement and left wing movement in Uruguay, "Conversations with Turiansky" combines two stories. The first portrays the son of immigrants, the engineer passionate about the mystery of electricity, the man in love, the movie buff. The other places the protagonist in his time: union struggles, the advance of authoritarianism, prison and the challenges of the present. In both are present the lucidity, commitment, discreet tenderness and humor of Wladimir Turiansky.