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In 1969, the Renovación Universitaria movement and the subsequent raid on the Central University of Venezuela by the government of Rafael Caldera, triggered a strong wave of protest in the Institutes of Higher Education in Venezuela. This documentary collects part of the events that took place in the city of Mérida, Mérida State, where the University of the Andes is located.
Through the testimony of Manuel Taborda, a pioneer of labor organizing in Venezuela’s oil fields, this documentary revisits the experiences of oil workers between 1920 and 1936. Their memories reveal a world marked by corporal punishment, exploitation, racial segregation, and disease, alongside the emergence of collective resistance against the American and British oil companies that controlled the industry and the government that enabled them.
Hugo Chavez was a colourful, unpredictable folk hero who was beloved by his nation’s working class. He was elected president of Venezuela in 1998, and proved to be a tough, quixotic opponent to the power structure that wanted to depose him. When he was forcibly removed from office on 11 April 2002, two independent filmmakers were inside the presidential palace.
Cruz Quinal, "the mandolin king," lives near Cumana in a mountain valley surrounded by sugarcane fields. Perpetuating 16th century Spanish traditions of guitar-making, Cruz fashions such musical instruments as cuatros, marimba, escarpandola, and his own creation, a mandolin with two fretboards. He is an accomplished musician as well. In this moving portrait, Cruz compares himself to a decaying colonial church across the street: revered yet neglected, the village altar stands, paint peeling, under the open sky.
Mayami Nuestro goes beyond the slogan "tá barato, dame dos" (“it’s cheap, give me two”) to force a rethinking of Venezuela’s relationship with oil and national identity. Produced at the height of the oil boom, this 34-minute documentary examines Venezuelan lifestyles in the 1970s and early 1980s, questioning the consumerist fantasies fueled by petro-wealth. Through interviews with merchants, bankers, U.S. academics, and the testimonies of Venezuelans themselves, the film maps the era’s version of the “American Dream” as lived—and projected—abroad. Winner of national and international awards and directed by Carlos Oteyza, Mayami nuestro offers a sharp, historically grounded critique and an open invitation for new generations to reflect on the legacy of oil and its cultural consequences.
