It's Always Shiny in Sabana Grande

Documentary on Venezuela's dictator Juan Vicente Gómez.

Halfway between fiction and documentary, Initiation of a Shaman tells the story of Rarowe, a young Yanomami who is about to be initiated and must make contact with spirits brought by other shamans. The young man feels the effects of the initiation and always waits until the end to see if he can withstand it. The initiation itself is a rare event and occurs only when the old medicine man is about to die. The ancient rites includes the struggle of the youth with evil spirits which attempt to prevent the old witch doctor from imparting his wisdom to the young man. Hallucinogetic plants are used by the tribe to increase perception. The eerie images depicted are similar to those evoked in the books of Castaneda.

In 16th-century Spanish America, a Dominican friar named Santiago survives a brutal expedition and is absorbed into a Carib tribe. When he flees tribal conflict only to be captured by Spanish forces accused of heresy, he is forced to confront the clash between his ideals and the violence of conquest.

Between 1980 and 1992, El Salvador was at war. Two Venezuelans joined the guerrilla movement in that Central American country and participated in Radio Venceremos, a subversive radio station that broadcast uninterruptedly during the years of struggle between the government and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front.

Documentary film directed by Manuel de Pedro and shot from 1983 to 1984. It portrays the creative, research, and learning process of a group of people who traveled to the most remote corners of the Venezuela in search of its authentic artistic expressions.