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Starting by the importance that this film had during the socio-political context, after Martin Luther King's Dead in 1968 and, furthermore, the intensification of the Civil Rights Movement in the USA, the casting of a lead-african american actor comes as a pleasant surprise to the public. As this picture shows, he was the only african-american actor in the movie. Moreover, even when the director claimed that his casting had nothing to do with rae, the protrayal of the character's killing after he'd been a heroic figure throughout the film on the hands of the police, comes as a true protest statement.

On the otherside, regarding the creation of the film itself, it might be astonishing to the public to realize that this was a low-budget independent film, for even after more than 50 years of it sproductio, the movie has become a reference for the genre, specifically in terms of the zombies. The film is shot with an on-hand camera which allows you to feel like you're being part of the story, the action feels closer, everything appears to be more realistic. Furthermore, the clever decision to use a black and white image to cover up the difficulties that special effects implied for the movie reflects on a thrilling approach to these monsters.

Regarding concepts reviewd on class, the filming on location is seen in the whole movie, the director even stated that due to the low budget, it was necessary to search for abandoned locations in which no one would care if a zombie destroyed a wall. This allows the actors to play freely with their environment, portraying commitment with the characters.

Highly critical, smartly portrayed movie which definitely deserves to be seen by everyone (specially if you're a zombie geek as myself) Fun Fact: This was one of the first movies to stablish "rules" about zombies taht can still be seen to the day in movies and tv shows such as The Walking Dead ;)

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CLEOPATRA! LIZ! Whatever it is....Enjoy the most expensive scene of that time...Trust me, everyone involved would highly appreciate your joyfulness while watching after almost going bankrupt.

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CLEOPATRA! LIZ! Whatever it is....Enjoy the most expensive scene of that time...Trust me, everyone involved would highly appreciate your joyfulness while watching after almost going bankrupt.

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Kleopatra Königin Makedonia Christ - From Kingdom Republik Makedonia (video entersRome1963film)

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After the reflections I heard on class and as a zombie fan myself, I looked deeper into this film and found this really cool video! Enjoy :D

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The ACCIDENTAL History of the Zombie Genre | Horror Analysis

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Up to the date, the discrepancies in the cuban society shown by Sara Gomez's movie are a relevant topic. "Patria y Vida" a recent song which sparked protests and brought back those who defend the system shows how deeply divided cuban society is to the date due to a failed adoption of a capitalist model.

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Una canción llevó al presidente de Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, a tuitear tres veces.

La misma canción hizo que la televisión estatal de la isla convocara a los cubanos a aplaudir y cantar el himno nacional el jueves, y que los medios oficiales le dedicaran páginas enteras de críticas y largos minutos de televisión desde el miércoles.

Se trata de " Patria y Vida", un tema que cuestiona al gobierno del país comunista y denuncia la situación política y económica que atraviesa la isla.

Compuesto por afamados artistas cubanos como Yotuel Romero, Descemer Bueno, el dúo Gente de Zona y los raperos Maykel Osorbo y El Funky, el tema superó el millón de reproducciones en YouTube en menos de 72 horas y se volvió viral en varias redes sociales en Cuba.

Casi desde su publicación, conllevó también a una aireada respuesta de las autoridades, que lo han calificado de "trapero y cobarde" y han llamado a sus autores "ratas" y "mercenarios" .

No es habitual que tantas autoridades y medios oficiales reaccionen al unísono solo por una canción, como ocurrió ahora.

"Así se canta a la Patria: vivo en un país libre, cual solamente puede ser libre, en esta tierra en este instante y soy feliz porque soy gigante", escribió como parte de una serie de tuits Díaz-Canel, en referencia a un conocido tema del trovador Silvio Rodríguez.

¿Por qué causa controversia "Patria y vida"?

Según se desprende de la mayoría de las críticas del gobierno y sus medios, entre los elementos que provocaron mayor molestia están:

su letra crítica con el oficialismo

algunas de las imágenes que muestra el videoclip (de protestas y represión en la isla)

la participación de algunos músicos que antes defendieron al sistema y de otros que siempre lo han cuestionado (algunos de ellos miembros del contestatario Movimiento San Isidro, que realizaron una huelga de hambre en noviembre pasado).

Producida entre La Habana y Miami, "Patria y vida" cuestiona algunos de los problemas sociales más urgentes que atraviesa la isla, desde la situación de la vivienda hasta el exilio o la carencia de alimentos.

"Bombo y platillo a los 500 (años) de la Habana, mientras en las casa las cazuelas ya no tienen jama (comida)", canta Romero.

"Publicidad de un paraíso en Varadero, mientras las madres lloran por sus hijos que se fueron", dice también la letra de la canción.

El tema luego se abre a asuntos más políticos hasta abogar por un cambio en la isla.

"Ya ustedes están sobrando ya no le queda, ya se van bajando. El pueblo se cansó de estar aguantando, un nuevo amanecer estamos esperando", dice.

Sin embargo uno de los versos que mayor molestia provocó en el gobierno es uno en el que los músicos piden cambiar una consigna que hizo popular Fidel Castro en la década de 1960: "patria o muerte".

"No más mentiras, mi pueblo pide libertad, no más doctrinas. Ya no gritemos p atria y m uerte sino p atria y v ida", dice la canción.

El tema cuestiona además las nuevas medidas económicas que ha tomado el gobierno para sacar a flote las finanzas de la isla en medio de la crisis.

"Que celebramos si la gente anda deprisa, cambiando al Che Guevara y a Martí por la divisa", dice en alusión a la dolarización que vive la isla.

¿Qué dice el gobierno?

En una de las primeras reacciones, el exministro de Cultura de Cuba y actual presidente de Casa de las Américas, Abel Pietro, calificó la canción como " un panfleto musical" y un intento de entorpecer un potencial acercamiento entre el gobierno de Biden y La Habana.

"Los grupos financiados en el exterior y en la Isla advierten que si existiera de algún modo un acercamiento civilizado entre los dos países, eso supondría el fin de sus empleos y es realmente muy grotesco que una supuesta bandera de la vida sea levantada desde territorio norteamericano", dijo.

Una crítica similar utilizaron varios ministros del gobierno, instituciones oficiales y el propio presidente.

"Patria o muerte gritamos miles anoche con el aplauso de las 9 y el himno de Perucho Figueredo. Quisieron borrar nuestra consiga y Cuba la viralizó en las redes", escribió Díaz Canel, en referencia a la convocatoria a cantar el himno.

La televisión cubana (estatal) también dedicó espacio el jueves a cuestionar el tema musical y el diario oficial Granma le dedicó un artículo en portada y varias páginas interiores en su edición del viernes.

Los canales de la televisión interrumpieron sus trasmisiones a las 9:00 PM el jueves para pasar el himno nacional, luego de que en el noticiero estelar convocaran a los cubanos a cantarlo y aplaudir en una campaña llamada "Morir por la Patria es vivir".

¿Qué dicen los que apoyan "Patria y vida"?

El tema, que fue publicado en YouTube el pasado miércoles, se volvió rápidamente viral y fue compartido por miles de personas dentro y fuera de la isla.

Según aseguró en la presentación Alexander Delgado, uno de los vocalistas de Gente de Zona, la canción "es el sentir de muchos cubanos que están dentro y fuera de Cuba", y enfatizó que no recibieron financiamiento de ningún grupo o gobierno para su realización.

"Esto es una cosa de corazón que estamos haciendo para la gente", dijo.

Yotuel Romero, por su parte, indicó que la canción tiene entre sus objetivos mostrar que los artistas cubanos buscan un cambio.

"Se acabó, se acabó la mentira, se acabó el engaño, se acabó la tortura, se acabó el encarcelamiento, se acabó la prisión, se acabó el no dejarte ser como tú eres", comentó.

El artista cubano Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, líder del Movimiento San Isidro, quien interviene brevemente en el video, aseguró, por su parte, que "Patria y vida" representa un "momento único" y que la letra estaba "haciendo llorar a la gente dentro y fuera de Cuba".

La vicepresidenta del Parlamento Europeo, Dita Charanzová, fue una de las personalidades que celebró la canción y la publicó en sus redes sociales.

Recuerda que puedes recibir notificaciones de BBC Mundo. Descarg a nuestra app y actívalas para no perderte nuestro mejor contenido.

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La polémica por "Patria y vida", la canción de un grupo de artistas cubanos que fue duramente criticada por el gobierno de La Habana - BBC News Mundo

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Una canción llevó al presidente de Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, a tuitear tres veces. La misma canción hizo que la televisión estatal de la isla convocara a los cubanos a aplaudir y cantar el himno nacional el jueves, y que los medios oficiales le dedicaran páginas enteras de críticas y largos minutos de televisión desde el miércoles.

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Cleopatra: The Film that changed Hollywood

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Cleopatra: The Film that changed Hollywood

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I may know little to nothing about film-making, but this film definitely helped me to understand the importance of project management when shooting. we hear all the time about how expensive Hollywood films are and the importance of the box office but to understand it through such an extreme case as a movie that almost caused bankruptcy for such a big studio as 20th Century Fox was very interesting.

From contracts that were just to expensive to sustain to poor time management and the lack of someone who was able to negotiate with the people involved in the project in such a way in which their participation wouldn't be compromised but their engagement would be strengthen, this movie comes as a bir surprise for anyone who sees it. Furthermore, it allows mortals (as amyself) to understand all the implications behind film-making. I must say, the ambition shown by the production team conviced me that this timeless movie became what it is for a reason.

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A diferencia de otras entradas, en esta ocasión resumo mi reflexión de la película en un fragmento de un ensayo del gran escritor cubano José Martí: "La incapacidad no está en el país naciente, que pide formas que se le acomoden y grandeza útil, sino en los que quieren regir pueblos originales, de composición singular y violenta, con leyes heredadas de cuatro siglos de práctica libre en los Estados Unidos, de diecinueve siglos de monarquía en Francia.  Con un decreto de Hamilton no se le para la pechada al potro del llanero."

Sara Gómez, feminista, verdaderamente revolucionaria, afrodescendiente y trascendente con una obra que presenta una fuerte crítica a las discrepancias que con la revolución cubana llegaron. Sútil, fácil de seguir y con una reflexión que sacude la revolución entera.

*I did this particular review in spanish because translating the essay would have gone against the essence of the essay itself

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La incapacidad no está en el país naciente, que pide formas que se le acomoden y grandeza útil, sino en los que quieren regir pueblos originales, de composición singular y violenta, con leyes heredadas de cuatro si

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Beautiful use of color, don't you think? Amazed by this film! It was a visual experience.

Being used to films in which the story is the center of it, and coming from films which objective was to show historical inequalities and disparities, touching on highly critical socio-political issues, this movie was a whole new experience of its own.  Confused by the trama, surprised by the development of the story and highly amazed by the visual experience.

I am not a fan myself of this type of films. As a social sciences student, I find it to be quite "empty" in comparison to films which have become key in telling unheard stories, such as the ones we watched when talkin about the Third Cinema. But it was a refreshing experience to pay attention to elements such as the use of color and how it connects to particular dynamics during the film.

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*Sorry for the nervousness

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After today's class, I further analyzed on the relevance that the Scramble for Africa and the late decolonization processes had in the African countries' cultures. It was very interesting to listen to my classmates's perspective on this matter and realize how even when they got their independence, their culture was not set free and was even influenced by other powers such as the USSR. I found it deeply interesting to learn about the cinema schools on the USSR and the role they had on the African cinema.

I choose this political cartoon as my conclusion of this class which was also enhanced by y experience watching the film, as expressed on the audio above. Africa has been the subject of a lot of intervention, in ther political, economic and cultural life which has perpetuated the obstacles that they currently faced. Even when Panafricanism was something talked about and fought for in the cinema industry, it is also an example on how regional integration has become a bigger challenge as time passes by.

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If podcast is your thing, I enjoyed this one!

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If podcast is your thing, I enjoyed this one!

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Listen to this episode from The 1001 Movies Podcast on Spotify. Jean-Jacques Beineix's Diva (1981) is the first film to be labelled as Cinema du Look, a subgenre of French films featuring intense love affairs, a cynical attitude towards the police, and much location shooting in Paris Metro.

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One of the TV shows which inherited Romero's ideas for zombies, The Walking Dead, had as a special guest one of my favorite NFL Players Hines Ward!

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On a highly tensed political scenario, Soviet films from this era were hardly just a film. Though I do not consider myself to be a cinema expert, by watching this film I could clearly observe how by portraying what seems to be a very ordinary story, they transmit strong social and political spheres of the soviet society. Katya, the main character, represents basically social movements and the portrayal of the idea of the state that the USSR wanted to transmit through a person, someone who does not lie, hard working, invested and someone who can adapt. It comes to particular interest the chosen music for the film. The movie starts with a song that says “Aleksandra, this city is ours together. We have become its fate”, as if it was implying some sort of causal relationship between who people are due to their circumstances. The social sphere in the USSR at the time reflected very specifically what the government worked for them to be, what the government pushed. Therefore, It comes to my particular attention the realisation to this movement on how encouraged women empowerment was at that time, of course the objectives behing it might have nothing to do with gender equality and might be way more related to economic and sociopolitical interests (such as cohesion in such critical times) but the role that women play in this film became deeply trascendant somehow. Overall, I really enjoyed watching this film, we are mostly used to seeing the USSR as this communist monster, mean and overpowering, so it was refreshing to see a more ordinary story told as well through the life of a woman.

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As someone who’s almost completely new to cinema outside of Hollywood, I easily find interesting things amongst the different styles and movements we have been analyzing. Nevertheless, Dogma 95 has probably been one of the most surprising ones yet.Starting by the movement itself, I find quite interesting the fact that someone would try to “safe the cinematic purity” by creating a set of rules which try to protect what making a movie really implies. Even though I understand that it is sort of a resistance movement to overly exploited techniques which partly diverge from “traditional” cinematography, it seems a bit pretentious to claim there is only one type of cinematography which is “pure”, in a sense in which that implies for it being more valuable. Having said that, I must admit that there’s a sort of mystery and enigma that comes with the movement itself, by a movie having to be certified to be considered part of Dogme 95, which can definitely lead to high intrigue from the public, particularly for those, like myself, who do not understand totally what making a movie implies, needless to say what a “pure” one requires.

Therefore, “Italian for Beginners” was a really interesting experience to me. What could be perceived as an “amaetur” way to make a film, really translates into a very entertaining movie which is presented in a very different way. Experiencing a story as one would actually live through it, with no overlapping music or elaborate visual effects, makes it easier for the viewer to sort of empathize and connect with it, even when it presents unknown scenarios to the viewer, such as Minister Andreas or Jorgen, although you might not have been in remotely similar positions, their story becomes very “real” to the viewer.

Furthermore, considering such a tight framework within Dogme 95, I wasn’t expecting the movie to be as entertaining as it was for me. I found it even kind of comedic, a sort of joyful way to tell a story which maintained the engagement with interesting characters within a small town near Copenhagen.

Another thing which I find deeply interesting, and forgot to highlight as much in my delivery on Canvas, is the fact that the Director is not the focus on the film, regardless of the incredible effort it implies, from my understanding, to make this type of films. I do not understand completely this part of the movement but is definitely something I'll look into.

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Italian for Beginners  and Dogme 95 - A Brief Analysis

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Italian for Beginners  and Dogme 95 - A Brief Analysis

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I found this podcast which I really enjoyed. I hereby share it!

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A surprising film based on a true story. While watching the movie and as a fan of crime stories myself, I immediately wondered wether or not this was a true story. To my surpirse, it was. In the 50s, there was a brutal murder in New Zealand which shooked the country as two teenage girls murdered one of their mothers by crashing her skull with a rock.

The protrayal of the movie deepens on the relationship between Pauline and Juliet, characters whom I found particularly well scripted throughout the film, as they create some sort of imaginary world in which it is easy as a viewer to get caught into. The detrimental of their mental status, their estrangement from reality is something very interesting to see, particularly if you, as myself, are a fan of true crime stories.

I found this movie to be my favourite I've watched since the beginning of the course. I did not look into the trama beforeheand and I was incredible surprsed and disturbed by the story behind the film. Furthermore, I became even more of a fan of Kate Winslet's acting, I really enjoyed this take on a criminal's mind and behaviour understanding.

I am leaving here a brief video which explains the true crime stry, nevertheless I believe this movie is definitely worth it.

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The Dark and Twisted Story of 2 Teenage Killers | The Parker Hulme Case

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I don't even have dreams with dwarves in them. The only place I've seen dwarves in dreams is in stupid movies like this! "Oh make it weird, put a dwarf in it!".

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Definitely a good laugh after Ceneval week hahaha, I'll share my review in an audio below.

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Probably one of the most confusing films I have watched, "Suzhou River" is a love and obsession story that seems to develop as complex as the flow of the river in the title itself.  The river provides a mysterious atmosphere itself in which as a viewer, you suddenly find yourself feeling as another person on the boat. I was filled by a plethora of emotions and from confusion, to looking forward to the happening of moments of love, loneliness, and sorrow. It portrays a different side of Shanghai, a grittier side which one might not imagine at first when hearing about this city.

An intricate film in which I had trouble identifying sometimes the narrator as there were sudden shifts which made it difficult to say. Following throughout most of the story of a filmmaker who fell in love with a character named MeiMei, it was interesting to me that the movie was filmed through his perspective, the camera acting as his eyes and allowing us to portray everything from his point of view. Furthermore, we hear from other perspectives, MeiMei’s and Mardar’s, when suddenly the original narrator seems to handover the control over the story to Mardar. Once this changes begin to happen, it is really difficult to settle a narrator’s identity, shifting constantly and probably being the origin of my confusion and difficulty to follow up at certain points.

As hard as it might be to follow up on certain moments, it was an interesting story as it created one more emotion for me as a viewer, which was a certain lack of trust in the story as I felt there was no reliable point of view to what was happening, which is a different feeling from many other stories and creates deep reflection for those watching, providing a sort of thriller-like feeling. At the same time, the way the movie is filmed, with the camera being unsteady as it is your point of view at many moments, and particularly the scene when the boatman looks straight into the camera, breaks with the illusion of a typical movie, where we are used to being separated from the story as actors and actresses never speak directly to us.

I really appreciated the portrayal of the female characters, which seemed to transform to different phases of some very typical stereotypes of what a woman should be or is desired to be. Overall, with all of the shifts in the narration, the way the camera is used and the story itself, the movie plays with the viewers opinion, whifting in as these elements shift themselves throughout the film. Even when the story seems to be very tragic, the atmosphere created allows the viewer to sympathize with the characters and their wasted surroundings.

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One of the best and most reflexive movies I have watched recently. I was pleasantly surprised with Japanese cinema as I was not familiar with it and had intendenly stayed away from it, but the depth of the story definitely caught me, it got me thinking about those little moments in life we value the most.

One of my favorite moments was one which I consider probably one of  most emotional moments in "After Life". Basically and trying not to spoil whoever will be reading this in the future, is  when a young staff member discovers a connection between himself and an elderly newarrival. The new arrival is able to tell him something that changes hisentire perception of his life.

A pragmatic film which I could not appreciate any particularity in terms of filmmaking beyond the story, probably because of my lack of knowledge or because of how invested I became with the emotions and the story itself. One of my favourite movies of the course, no doubt.

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My first oficial Bollywood movie was: Monsoon Wedding and I have to say....I loved it! It is a really entertaining romcom with a Bollywood twist which translates into a movie rich in culture, music, dance and, also, drama. As I mentioned during my presentation, the thing that I liked the most about this movie was to observe how the director, Mira Nair, an Indian woman who studied in the Western world (US), provides a refreshing approach to the gender theme in India. Most Bollywood films portray the gender hierarchy observed in the country's society but, somehow, this movie provides an approach which results refreshing, as it presents a very subtle but yet present criticism to the gender opressive dynamics.

Furthermore, by learning the importance and meaning of dance in the Bollywood industry, watching the scene I hereby share was exciting to say the least. To me, it was a joyful experience to watch this film asI ended up dancing myself (hopefully one day I'll get the hand out of it because wight now I looked like an Octopus with no coordination hahaha). Probably not as profund as other films but definitely very entertaining and as a fan of musicals myself, I muts admit I loved it!

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As someone who loves gamification, boy oh boy was this exciting! haha. Eventhough I'm not a fan of the story itself nor I think is the best one I have watched (particularly after the whole semester), it was very entertaining because of the interaction element. It was interesting to, instead of predict all of the time what could happpen (as I did with other films) I could actually decide it.

Although at firts the digital cinema topic wasn't too clear for me as far as all the criticism I've heard goes, I definitely identify the difference from the other movies we have watched, in which in the midst of gloryfing the technology and digital skills needed to produce this sort of film, the story might seem plain at some particular moments. Nevertheless, I must recognize that even when not necessarily in the film I chose for this week's assignment, I do believe that it is possible to have incredibly interesting films through digital cinema.