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Browse 63 movies from Film Unit of the Division of Community Education, Puerto Rico
Aimed to educate the people, and especially those who lived in the most vulnerable areas, about important safety measures to be taken before, during, and after a storm. The film takes a decidedly modern, scientific approach in its discussion of hurricanes, and it goes to great lengths to dispel popular lore that many of the island’s under-educated inhabitants still relied on for weather predictions.
Jan 1958
Documentary on Puerto Rican pianist Elisa Tavárez.
Jan 1956
José Raúl Ramírez explains the way an electrical organ works and – more than forty years before he recorded his work – plays a selection of "danzas" on the organ, including "Felices días" by Morel Campos and "Tus caricias" by José Enrique Pedreira.
Illustrates the dilemma of a sugarcane worker who has a child out of wedlock without his wife’s knowledge.
A dramatization of the way a group of rural people resolve their issues with an authoritarian town leader.
Jan 1959
Biographical documentary on the life and work of Pedro Flores, internationally renowned Puerto Rican musician.
Jan 1960
Presents the Spanish classical guitarist Regino Sáinz de la Maza, playing classical pieces such as "Preludio ensueño" by Francisco Tárraga.
Jan 1951
In the community of Vega Alta, Puerto Rico, the main character, played by the esteemed comedian José Miguel Agrelot, buys a washing machine for his wife. However, the town has no electrical power. The movie’s depiction of the jíbaro as naive and comical created a rift among the DivEdCo personnel, especially its community organizers. It was censored by the government and shelved for many years.
Jan 1961
The film recreates the miracle of the birth of Jesus in a Puerto Rican field. It begins with the pilgrimage of Mary and Joseph, the birth of Jesus, and the arrival of the Three Kings.
Zoilo Cajigas y Sotomayor is a carver of wooden models of saints. Don Zoilo is one of Puerto Rico's best-known artisans and was 96 years old at the time of the filming. The film shows the elaborate process behind his craftsmanship.
Dec 1956
Geña, Blas' wife, is dedicated solely to housework by her husband's disposition. When Blas suffers an accident and is hospitalized, Geña takes over the coffee harvest. Blas believes her unable to carry out the tasks because he considers them exclusive to men.
Jan 1964
It is the story of a young Puerto Rican government doctor who is assigned to fight schistosomiasis in a rural district and informs Puerto Ricans about the dangers posed by this common disease.
The DivEdCo’s most important attempt to depict women’s rights in the context of modernization processes in Puerto Rico. Modesta leads a group of women in Barrio Sonadora, Guaynabo, in a strike against their husbands to demand their rights in a domestic context.
Aug 1956
The efforts of a community to build a bridge which would allow their children to go school during the rainy season.
It presents the problem of physically disability through a young crippled and the attitudes of the community towards them.
Jan 1965
A group of kids in a poverty-stricken Puerto Rican rural town need money to purchase baseball uniforms for little league.
May 1951
The location of the dividing line between two farms causes friction between two families.
The effects of emotional neglect on an only child.
Jan 1970
One of the DivEdCo's films that best depicts the history and evolution of another genre of popular music from the coasts and of African origin: the plena. It presents sequences of interpreters of those rhythms in Ponce, in the dances of the coastal areas, and the fusion of popular and refined genres in presentations by Ballets de San Juan of the ballet-plena by Amaury Veray, "Cuando las mujeres" ("When the Women").
Jan 1966
Recreates the town meetings which were a staple of the DivEdCo project. True-life residents debate community priorities, in this case the advisability of building parks and roads before dealing with the severe health issues caused by the town’s water supply. Afflicted by personal tragedy, Ignacio, the common man, finds the courage to challenge the reigning leadership.