AFI Silver is proud to partner with Cinema Tropical, a nonprofit organization that promotes, programs and distributes Latin American cinema in the United States. For more information, visit www.cinematropical.com.

YOUNG REBELS
[Jóvenes Rebeldes]
From the writers/director of the critically acclaimed and award winning film HALF NELSON

"As young Cuban musicians with few hopes of commercial success embrace rap music, they look at American hip-hop with a mixture of pride (in the purity of their own political and social messages) and envy (at the wealth and fame achieved by American rappers). This informative documentary introduces us to a number of these earnest young pop messengers, who barely have the resources to make a CD... but have the wherewithal to organize a rap festival." - Stephen Holden, New York Times. Official Selection, New Directors/New Films 2005.

DIR/SCR Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck; PROD Anna Boden and Richard Sterling. US/Cuba, 2005, color, 70 min.

THE MAGIC GLOVES [Los Guantes Mágicos]

In this absurdist comedy, legendary Argentine director Martín Rejtman once again gives life to endearingly obsessive characters and offers a unique and un-romanticized view of Buenos Aires while building a poetic coherence from apparently banal situations. His Renault 12 may be old, decrepit and terribly un-cool, but for 35-year-old car service driver Alejandro (played by "Vicentico," singer and leader of the popular Argentine rock band Los Fabulosos Cadillacs) it's a haven of peace. When the good-natured driver runs into fast-talking self-made "Piraña" one evening, Alejandro spirals into an adventure he can't control when he suddenly finds himself rich from selling one-size-fits-all "magic gloves," which also bring porn, dog-walkers, health-spas and anti-depressants into his life.

DIR Martín Rejtman. Argentina, 2003, color, 90 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED