Film Screening:

Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)
(Jason Kohn, 2007, 85 min, Brazil & USA, English & Portuguese w/ English Subtitles, Color, DVD)

-- Introduced by Aaron J. Lorenz, PhD, Post-Doctoral Associate of Luso-Brazilian Studies.  Q&A to follow!

Send a Bullet unflinchingly explores the cycles of violence that plague Brazil's upper and lower economic classes in fits of rampant corruption and violent kidnappings. The film chronicles these cycles by utilizing highly personalized stories that reflect the growing truth about Brazil's huge economic disparities-differences that cause violence on both sides of the spectrum. A frog farm connected to a corrupt politician and one of the most powerful men in Brazil; a kidnapping victim who had both her ears cut off before she was released to her parents; a wealthy plastic surgeon who pioneered the procedure used to reconstruct the ears of kidnapping victims; and a kidnapper who has watched many like him escape the poorest parts of Brazil for the wealthier Sao Paolo, where they terrorize the upper class with kidnappings, theft and murder.

-- Winner of the Special Jury Award for Best Documentary at the 2007 Rome Film Fest and the Cinematography Award as well as the Grand Jury Prize in the Documentary category at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival!

Cost: Free and Open to the Public

Sponsors: The Department of Romance Studies, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image (AMI)