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Kiss of the Spider Woman
Luis Molina and Valentin Arregui are cell mates in a South American prison. Luis, a gay man, is found guilty of immoral behaviour and Valentin is a political prisoner. To escape reality Luis invents romantic movies, while Valentin tries to keep his mind on the situation he's in. During the time they spend together, the two men come to understand and respect one another.
Hector Babenco
Casts & Crew
William Hurt
Raúl Juliá
Sônia Braga
José Lewgoy
Miriam Pires
Milton Gonçalves
Patricio Bisso
Nuno Leal Maia
Denise Dumont
Herson Capri
Fernando Torres
Ana Maria Braga
Walter Breda
Miguel Falabella
Also Directed by Hector Babenco
After 12 years, Sofía and Rímini decided to separate. While Rímini finds it easy to move on and start a new life, Sofía stays stuck in the past and constantly harasses him. She reappears again and again on Rímini's horizon to reconquer him, torture him or redeem him.
The first of four installments in the groundbreaking Heartbeat of the World anthology film series. Comprised of several short films by some of the world's most exciting directors, Words with Gods follows the theme of religion - specifically as it relates to an individual's relationship with his/her god or gods...or the lack thereof. In Words with Gods, each director recounts a narrative centered around human fragility, as well as environmental and cultural crises involving specific religions with which each has a personal relationship; including early Aboriginal Spirituality, Umbanda, Buddhism, the Abrahamic faiths, Hinduism, and Atheism. An animated sequence by Mexican animator Maribel Martinez is woven through each of the film segments, with each segment narratively connected as a feature-length film.
Hector Babenco injected autobiographical details into this tale of an Argentine teen's first romance. Living with his parents, 17-year-old Juan (Walter Quiroz) hangs out with several intellectuals who would like to photograph the human soul. The girlfriend of the group's financier is Ana (Maria Luisa Mendonca), and Juan is attracted to her, despite the knowledge that she spent two years at a clinic because she was "crazy." Juan sees Ana when he can and trains as a door-to-door salesman, but when the German photographer on the soul project gives him a viewfinder, it changes his life, putting him on the path to his later success as a Hollywood director. Shown in competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.
Martin and Hazel Quarrier are small-town fundamentalist missionaries sent to the jungles of South America to convert the Indians. Their remote mission was previously run by the Catholics, before the natives murdered them all. They are sent by the pompous Leslie Huben, who runs the missionary effort in the area but who seems more concerned about competing with his Catholic 'rivals' than in the Indians themselves. Hazel is terrified of the Indians while Martin is fascinated. Soon American pilot Lewis Moon joins the Indian tribe but is attracted by Leslie's young wife, Andy. Can the interaction of these characters and cultures, and the advancing bulldozers of civilization, avoid disaster?
Pixote, a 10-year-old runaway boy, is arrested on the streets of São Paulo during a police round-up homeless people. Pixote endures torture, degradation, and corruption at a local youth detention center where two of the runaways are murdered by policemen who frame Lilica, a 17-year-old trans hustler. Pixote helps Lilica and three other boys escape where they make their living by the life of crime which only escalates to more violence and death.
Albany, New York, Halloween, 1938. Francis Phelan and Helen Archer are bums, back in their birth city. She was a singer on the radio, he a major league pitcher. Death surrounds them: she's sick, a pal has cancer, he digs graves at the cemetery and visits the grave of his infant son whom he dropped; visions of his past haunt him, including ghosts of two men he killed. That night, out drinking, Helen tries to sing at a bar. Next day, Fran visits his wife and children and meets a grandson. He could stay, but decides it's not for him. Helen gets their things out of storage and finds a hotel. Amidst their mistakes and dereliction, the film explores their code of fairness and loyalty.
Documentary about race car driver Emerson Fittipaldi
History of a famous Brazilian bandit of the early seventies and his fight against a death squad.
Sought after by several reputable women, a bohemian becomes obsessed with a prostitute.
When a doctor decides to carry out an AIDS prevention program inside Latin America’s largest prison: the Casa de Detenção de São Paulo - Carandiru, he discovers the victim of one of the darkest days in Brazilian History when the State of São Paulo’s Military Police, with the excuse for law enforcement, shot to death 111 people. Based on real facts and on the book written by Dráuzio Varella.