Latin American & Iberian Collections:

Videos from and about Puerto Rico

(Our videos ARE NOT FOR SALE, some may be available for purchase at the Las Americas Film Network)

1. Boricuas, Luis Garza et al., 1 videocassette (24 min.), Hollywood, Los Angeles, 1973.
   Notes: Performer Note: Alfonso Tafoya.
   Abstract: Looks at the Puerto Ricans in New York and Los Angeles.

2. Cocolos y rockeros, Ana María García, Pandora Films, and Duart Film and Video, 1 videocassette (46 min.), New York, N.Y, 1992.
   Abstract: Explores the polarized world of adolescents in Puerto Rico who prefer salsa music, "cocolos," and the world of those who prefer rock music and rockers. Shows the participation of Dr. Angel Quintero Rivera, sociologist, who actually studies the sociology of popular music in Puerto Rico.

3. Coppelia, Fernando Bujones and Kultur Inc. (Firm), 1 videocassette (VHS) (110 min.), Sea Bright, N. J, 1982.
   Notes: Performer Note: Performer: Fernando Bujones
   Event Note: Recorded in 1980 in Puerto Rico with the ballets De San Juan.
   Abstract: Bujones, star and featured dancer of the American Ballet Theater, performs the role Franz.

4. De la guaracha al beat rompiendo un poco conesa solemnidad, Luis Rafael Sánchez and Gregory Rabassa, 1 videocassette (54 min.), Hanover, NH, 1983.
   Abstract: Luis Rafael Sánchez, the author of La guaracha del Macho Camacho and his translator, Gregory Rabassa (who, also, translated Cien años de soledad), talk about Puerto Rican literature, various influences on it and barriers to its development. They also discuss the Puerto Rico of yesterday and today, as well as the problems of the Puerto Rican community in the U.S. Sánchez describes the conflict between artistic creation and political obligation and analyzes the characters and language of La guaracha from which he reads excerpts.

5. El crimen de la hacienda, Mary Esquivel et al., 1 videocassette (69 min.), Harlingen, Tex, 1996.
   Notes: Performer Note: Mary Esquivel, Arturo Correa, Lilian Hurst, Mona Marti.
   Abstract: Rosita is a young Puerto Rican woman, beautiful but for her scarred face, which she views as a curse. She ignores the men who serenade her nightly for a manipulative man who pursues her for her money. When she discovers his true intentions, she kicks him out and decides to have cosmetic surgery.

6. La Habanera, Gerhard Menzel et al., 1 videocassette (90 min.), Montevideo, Uruguay, 1919.
   Notes: Performer Note: Karl Martell, Ferdinand Marian, Zarah Leander.
   Abstract: Don Pedro de Avila, an elegant landowner of Puerto Rico, is conquered by Astree, the rebellious travelling Swedish woman. They get married and have a child. Their relationship begins to change and Don Pedro holds Astree a prisoner. Homesick, all Astree's pent-up hatred of her husband and his island breaks out when her childhood friend Dr. Sven appears to investigate the cause of a vicious fever to which the island has fallen prey. Don Pedro is determined at all costs to prevent the epidemic from becoming public knowledge in order to save his fruit export business.

7. La Habanera, Detlef Sierck et al., 1 videocassette (100 min.), Chicago, IL, 1985.
   Notes: Performer Note: Zarah Leander, Ferdinand Marian, Karl Martell.
   Abstract: The story of a Swedish woman in Puerto Rico unhappily married to a native landowner and drawn to a visiting Swedish doctor later to gain fame in the United States as Douglas Sirk.

8. Imágenes de fé, Rebecca E Marvil and Cinema Guild, 1 videocassette (28 min.), New York, 1993.
   Abstract: Discusses the creation and use of santos in Christian worship in Puerto Rico.

9. Los Dos mundos de Angelita The Two worlds of Angelita, Jane Morrison et al., 1 videocassette (VHS) (75 min.), New York, NY, 1983.
   Notes: Performer Note: Marien Perez Riera, Rosalba Rolon, Angel Domenech Soto, Delia Esther Quiñones
   Added Title: The Two Worlds of Angelita.
   Abstract: A story about a nine-year-old girl who moved from her home in Puerto Rico to New York City and finds fitting into a new school overwhelming.

10. Luisa Capetillo pasión de justicia, Sonia Fritz et al., 1 videocassette (40 min.), San Juan, P.R., New York, N.Y., 1993.
    Notes: Performer Note: Idee Charriez ... [et al].
    Abstract: Features the life of feminist Luisa Capetillo in late 19th and early 20th century Puerto Rico.

11. Manos a la Obra the story of Operation Bootstrap, Pedro A Rivera et al., 1 videocassette (60 min.), New York, N.Y., 1983.
    Notes: Performer Note: Narrator, Ilka Tanya Payan.
    Abstract: A documentary on Puerto Rico's "Operation Bootstrap," an economic development plan undertaken in the 1950s which was to attract U.S. capital and serve as a model for the Americas. Using newsreels, archival photographs, and excerpts from government propaganda films, examines the background and many problematic issues posed by the plan.

12. La Operación, Ana María García et al., 1 videocassette (40 min.), New York, N.Y, 1985?
    Abstract: Discusses the issue of the sterilization of women as a form of birth control in Puerto Rico.

13. The oxcart, José Garcia et al., 1 videocassette (29 min.), New York, 1985?
    Notes: Performer Note: Luis Vera, Lucy Boscana, Ramon Navarro, Jaime Sanchez, Janice Marietti
    Event Note: Filmed on location in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico and New York City.
    Abstract: Selected scenes from the first act of La carreta, a three-act play by René Marqués, especially adapted for television. It portrays the migration of a poor Puerto Rican farn family from the countryside to the San Juan ghetto and eventually to Spanish Harlem in New York City. The drama is followed by a short documentary-style sequence entitled Impressiones, which presents the social problems the Puerto Ricans face in New York City.

14. La patria es valor y sacrificio, José Garcia and Pablo Cabrera, 1 videocassette (28 min.), New York, N.Y, 1991.
    Notes: Performer Note: Narrator, Pablo Cabrera.
    Abstract: Surveys the activities of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party in the 1950's, including the background to the shooting incident in the U.S. Congress by four Puerto Rican nationalists in March 1954, and the contributions of the movement's leading figure, Don Pedro Albizu Campos.

15. Plena is work, plena is song, Pedro A Rivera et al., 1 videocassette (29 min.), New York, 1989?
    Notes: Performer Note: Narrator, Maria Hinojosa.
    Abstract: Brings to life the culture and political history of Puerto Rican plena, which is a musical blend of African and Spanish idioms.

16. Pregones Puerto Rico Theater ; Day of the Dead ; Los Garcias, Joseph Tovares et al., 1 videocassette (ca. 30 min.), San Antonio, Tex, 1990.
    Notes: Performer Note: Host, Marina Astudillo Pincus
    Added Titles: Day of the Dead ; Garcias.

17. Puerto Rico, arte e identidad, Sonia Fritz, Hermandad de Artistas Gráficos de Puerto Rico, and Cinema Guild, 1 videocassette (56 min.), New York, 1991.
    Abstract: Traces the themes and characteristics in the visual arts of Puerto Rico and the artists' search for the Puerto Rican identity.

18. Puerto Rico, paradise invaded, Affonso Beato, Latin American Film Project, and Cinema Guild, 1 videocassette (30 min.), New York, 1986?
    Abstract: Surveys the history and contemporary reality of Puerto Rico. Examines the historical background and present-day relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S., the impact of industrialization on the island, the historical background of the independence movement, and Puerto Rican life in New York City.

19. Salsa Latin music of New York and Puerto Rico, Ray Barretto et al., 1 videocassette, Newton, N.J., 1988?
    Notes: Performer Note: Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, Reuben Blades, Charlie Palmieri, Ray Barretto
    Added Titles: Shanachie presents Salsa ; Salsa, Latin pop music in the cities ; Latin music of New York and Puerto Rico ; Latin pop music in the cities.
    Abstract: Captures Latin music in all its joy, vitality and improvisational brilliance from the barrios of New York City to the roots-culture of the Caribbean.

20. Se permuta, Juan Carlos Tabio et al., 1 videocassette, Puerto Rico, USA, 1986.
    Notes: Performer Note: Rosita Fornés, Isabel Santos, Ramoncito Veloz, Mario Balmaseda.
    Abstract: Gloria, Yolanda's mother, exchanges their old house in Guanabacoa for a modern apartment in Vedado to keep Yolanda away from her boyfriend. In Vedado, Yolanda meets Guillermito, an opportunist, who becomes her boyfriend. Guillermito uses Gloria in his elaborate scheme of exchanges which culminates in a dream house for him. In this chain of events, Pepe comes into the picture. Pepe and Yolanda fall in love. Yolanda leaves Guillermito and goes off with Pepe.

21. TravelTur an introductory Spanish video, Andrei Campeanu et al., 1 videocassette (65 min.), Boston, Mass., 1994.
    Notes: Performer Note: Narrator, Raquel Ortiz.
    Abstract: "TravelTur is a new custom-designed video, shot in Spain, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and the United States to accompany Claro que si!, by Lucía Caycedo Garner, Debbie Rusch, and Marcela Domínguez. The video features Andrés González, who works for TravelTur, a travel agency in San Antonio, Texas. Andrés is sent on assignment to produce an advertising campaign promoting travel to the Hispanic world. As Andrés travels, the viewer, through the eye of the camera, intimately experiences each locale with him"--Container.