Alvaro Mechoso

An intimate documentary portrait of an exceptional couple who live in a suburb of Montevideo: Julia, a 65-year-old transsexual whose new gender identity has finally been recognised (after twelve years) by the Uruguayan state, and Ignacio, her lover, a former construction worker with a troubled past. Inseparable for 20 years, the couple are now preparing for marriage. Aldo Garay’s camera follows Julia and Ignacio’s joys and worries, patiently revealing the sources of the strength of their relationship.

Award-winning documentary about how one Uruguayan leftist survived solitary confinement during the dirty war. The story of former Tupamaro guerilla fighter, Henry Engler, whose prolonged confinement and torture during the Uruguayan dictatorship led to a mental breakdown. Today Dr. Engler is a Swedish citizen and a scientist renowned for his research into Alzheimer’s disease. In this impressive documentary, the scientist visits the places of his painful past, painting an intimate and disturbing portrait of prison life under the dictatorship.

This documentary tells the story of a group of Uruguayan political and social activists who began or intensified their activities in the 1960s. What emerges is how diverse the Uruguayan left was in thought and action in fields like attitudes to armed struggle, the place of women and children, the historical significance of the Frente Amplio Party and the ways in which the old ideals have found expression - or not, as the case may be - under the first left wing national government in the history of the country. The documentary was made for Casa Bertolt Brecht, and is geared to stimulating debate and training new generations of activists.

After 22 years an old photographer finds lost negatives of El Popular, the newspaper he worked for when it was closed down by the dictatorship in 1973. A teenager is looking for the way to deliver to it's owner the treasure he had found playing in the garage as a child, inside a hole in the wall. A building reveals a secret that has been hidden inside it: fifty thousand ever enduring negatives with the untold story of a country.

This is a documentary about the Uruguayan boxer Alfredo Evangelista, who at height of his career even fought against Mohammad Ali. A considerable part of the film is a long interview with him in Carabanchel prison in Madrid. Alfredo, one of Uruguay's last sporting legends, tells his story for the camera. He talks about his life and his career in sport, and he reflects bitterly and lucidly about the mistakes he has made and his situation today.

This is a documentary about the Uruguayan boxer Alfredo Evangelista, who at height of his career even fought against Mohammad Ali. A considerable part of the film is a long interview with him in Carabanchel prison in Madrid. Alfredo, one of Uruguay's last sporting legends, tells his story for the camera. He talks about his life and his career in sport, and he reflects bitterly and lucidly about the mistakes he has made and his situation today.

This is a documentary about the Uruguayan boxer Alfredo Evangelista, who at height of his career even fought against Mohammad Ali. A considerable part of the film is a long interview with him in Carabanchel prison in Madrid. Alfredo, one of Uruguay's last sporting legends, tells his story for the camera. He talks about his life and his career in sport, and he reflects bitterly and lucidly about the mistakes he has made and his situation today.

The Punta de Rieles prison was where most female political prisoners were incarcerated during the dictatorship in Uruguay. The way up to the building led through “the meadow” where there were animals grazing, and the prison itself was surrounded with flowers. The place seemed eminently liveable, almost comfortable, and at first sight there was no sign of the silent struggle going on behind those walls. This documentary is an attempt to reconstruct life at the prison through the testimony of some of the hundreds of women who were there and who resisted the military regime's attempts to grind them down and destroy them.

The biggest peaceful demonstration of resistance to an authoritarian regime in Latin America in the 1970s was the general strike whereby Uruguayan workers and students rejected the military coup of 27 June 1973. In this documentary we follow what happened from two perspectives: that of the people who took part in the mass mobilisation, and that of those who captured those events in images.

The biggest peaceful demonstration of resistance to an authoritarian regime in Latin America in the 1970s was the general strike whereby Uruguayan workers and students rejected the military coup of 27 June 1973. In this documentary we follow what happened from two perspectives: that of the people who took part in the mass mobilisation, and that of those who captured those events in images.

34-year-old Pamela is a small and shy woman. She works at the cash register of a supermarket. She attends a religious temple led by a Brazilian minister. She periodically visits her autistic mother. She is an anonymous character, leading a meaningless life. Suddenly, a miracle occurs. Messages of a marvelous destiny start to reach Pamela in unusual ways: a client, a gentle and charismatic transvestite, her own mother, dreams, bar codes, real and imaginary signals. The Savior of the Next Millennium is apparently on his way and everything indicates that she, being a virgin, is carrying him on her entrails. Impelled to face herself, Pamela undertakes an inner voyage. A paradoxical voyage: the more mystic she grows to be, the more human she becomes.

In Montevideo, Sonja cares for her invalid mother, works in a garment factory, and has little going for her. Her neighbor Modesto, an older man who lives alone, types anonymous letters to her. Her mother is difficult -- demanding and miserable, afraid of death. Sonja meets Ernesto, a nurseryman, and finally there may be some possibilities in her life. Does freedom beckon?

Héctor Rodríguez (1918-1996) was one of the outstanding figures in the people's movement in Uruguay. He was a textile worker and also a member of parliament for the Communist Party, and he was expelled from their ranks in the 1950s. He was a journalist, a militant activist and a political prisoner, and a key force in trade union unity and left wing politics in Uruguay. His life was bound up with some of the most important events in the history of this country after 1930. As well as Héctor's own testimony we have the voices of textile workers, intellectuals, union members and politicians, in a rich mixture of archive film and photographs.

Armed based on photography, period films, archival materials and testimonies of survivors, family members and historians, the documentary accurately and exquisitely reconstructs the course of the “expropriating anarchists” in the Río de la Plata and specifically in Montevideo del First third of the 20th century.

The first documentary about the little-known world of transvestites in Montevideo. We are shown the most complicated facets of these people, their consciousness of themselves, and their perceptions of the world and of life. We learn about their everyday (and every night) experiences, and how they cope with the bigotry and old fashioned attitudes that are all around.

This documentary examines the problems of Uruguay's Atlantic coast in the face of a scheme to exploit the area's tourist resources that is not geared to sustainable development.

This is the dramatic untold story of small farmers who suffer and struggle to subsist less than 80 kilometres from Montevideo. The reality of their daily lives is that the land is impoverished, middle men dominate the business, they cannot compete with firms that have new technology, and the market for their goods is small. They have to fight to survive in the wider context of the impact of regional integration - the Mercosur - and the world crisis that other countries are also going through.