Film festival to give insight into Venezuela’s history and culture

Those looking to learn about Venezuela’s history and culture will have the opportunity to do so beginning next Monday, November 26.

This as the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela through the Venezuelan Institute for Culture and Cooperation (IVCC) holds its first ever Venezuelan film festival.

The festival will run up to Friday November 30 and is being held under the theme “See Who We Are”.

On Monday, the first film, “La Planta Insolente” will be shown at the Peace Memorial Hall at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. The film is about nationalist liberal leader Cipriano Castro who seized power of Venezuela in 1899.

On Tuesday 27, “Maisanta” will be shown at 10 am and 12 pm at the Peace Memorial Hall and at 5.30 and 8.30 pm at Frenches House. “Maisanta”, which is set in the midst of the political
and economic transition of the late 19th century, will also be shown at the Venezuelan Institute for Culture and Cooperation at 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday 28.

Also, on Wednesday 28, “Azu, alma de princesa” will be shown at 9 am and 11 am at the St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College (SVGCC) and again at 1 pm. This film will also be shown at Frenches House on Thursday 29 at 5:30 and 8:30 pm. This film, which is rated for audiences 18 years and older is based in the year 1780. It is about a group of slaves who ran away from a sugar cane plantation. They are pursued by Don Manuel Aguirre, obsessed landowner who has fixed his eyes on Azu, a beautiful enslaved woman.

Also, on Wednesday, “El Manzano Azul” will be shown at the Central Leeward Secondary School at 1 pm and 4 pm. This film is about an 11-year-old city boy who is forced to spend a vacation with his grandfather who he barely knows in the mountains of the Venezuelan Andes without tv, cell phone and the Internet.

On Thursday 29, at 9 and 12 pm at the Troumaca Secondary School, the film “Una Mirada Al Mar” will be shown. The film is about Rufino, a 71-year-old widower who decides to return to the town where he met his wife. On that same day at 2 and 4 pm, “El Manzano Azul” will also be shown at the Petit Bordel Secondary School.

The festival moves to the Georgetown Secondary School on Friday 29 where at 9 am and 11.30 am, the film “Azul Como El Cielo” will be shown. This film, which is about teenage parenthood, family transformation and emotional conflicts, will also be viewed at the Sandy Bay Secondary School at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Also, on Friday, at 5.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. at Frenches House, persons can view the romantic comedy “La Pura Mentira”.

According to the Embassy, the festival was created as an audio-visual aid that shows social issues that weave the notion of Venezuelan identity as a reference of cultures in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Head of the Venezuelan

Diplomatic Mission in SVG Francisco Perez Santana is encouraging persons to take in the films.

Entrance to all showings are free, and the films have Spanish audio with English subtitles. All films are suitable for general audiences except for “Azu, alma de princesa” which is for audiences 18 years and older.

The festival is being held in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Tourism among other entities.