Events

Fri., 25 November 2005, 2-3:30 pm

With a discussion to follow, led by Luisa Ortiz: 3:30-4:30 pm, Munk 208N.

"La Sierra"(2003) is the first of three films we'll be showing this year in a "Focus on Columbia" film series.

Documentary Film from Colombia, directed by journalists Margarita
Martínez and Scott Dalton. Followed by discussion with Luisa Ortiz Pérez.

The film is in Spanish, with subtitles in English.

The film explores human sides of the current conflict in Colombia, from the perspectives of people who have lived as well as “covered” the war in this South American country. Attention concentrates upon youths from a neighbourhood in Medellín. Twenty-two year old Edison Flores heads up the Sierra cell from the paramilitary group called “Bloque Metro”. Cacique Nutibara, a rival, tries to assume power of the cell and kills Flores in the process. The film’s strong images capture the violence of everyday life. “La Sierra” has featured at the Los Angeles Film Festival, Human Rights Watch Festival, SilverDocs, Seattle Film Festival and Toronto’s own HotDocs, among other venues. It won “Best Documentary” at both the Slamdance Festival in New York City and the Festival of International Cinema in Miami.

~~~Presented by Latin American Studies at the University of Toronto and the Munk Centre for International Studies.

visitor Luisa Ortiz Pérez

The Munk Centre and LAS@UofT welcome Mexican political scientist Luisa Ortiz Pérez from the Instituto Tecnólogico Autónoma de México (ITAM). Dra. Ortiz will be in Toronto until 3 December 2005, sharing her research and participating in two “Americas Studies” workshops. She has a doctorate in Ideology and Discourse Analysis from the Government Department at the University of Essex in the UK. Before the ITAM appointment in her native Mexico, she was a Lecturer in Discourse Analysis and Gender Studies at the Universidad del Rosario in Colombia. Luisa Ortiz’s published work concerns political discourses and identity formation among indigenous groups and movements such as the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN) in Mexico and the Wayuu of the Colombian-Venezuelan border. Her work also explores ethnicity, race and gender in global contexts of conflict and economic emergencies.

Everyone is warmly welcomed at Luisa’s talk in our Luncheon series, Wednesday, 23 November, 12-1:30 pm, Munk 108N. To reserve a light lunch, please RSVP to Camille Harrison help.mcis@utoronto.ca or Kenneth Mills ken.mills@utoronto.ca.