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La Vida Loca
Mon 6th April 6.45pm Australian Premiere
Christian Poveda, 90 min, España/Mexico/France, 2008 Documentary
This extraordinary documentary faithfully records the hopes and fears of the inhabitants of a new tropical suburb of Los Angeles on the outskirts of San Salvador and the Gangs created there which were based on their earlier Los Angeles counterparts. The gangs are called maras, (named after the marabuntas, the carnivorous ants of Central America, which destroy all life in their path), spread terror in El Salvador. For a year the camera focuses on daily life in a cell of one of these gigantic maras, composed of fifty or so teenagers and young adults aged 16-18. It is an egalitarian community, a self proclaimed brotherhood of outsiders, half street-kids, half child soldiers. Victims of a perfect globalisation crime. A raw, non judgmental, compassionate account of a gang of teenagers whose only hope is to have a bit of fun before meeting an early death.
Courtesy of Siren Visual
Screening followed by Q & A Session
