You don’t need to know, or care, about motor racing to enjoy Senna. In sports-cinema terms, it’s closer to something like Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno’s Zidane than recent releases like TT3D or From the Ashes: an inventively crafted portrait of an exceptional individual. Yes, we’re taken chronologically through the Brazilian driver’s stellar track career, with team-mate Alain Prost as his Dick Dastardly-like arch-rival. But beneath the helmet, Ayrton Senna was a fascinating, contradictory mix of religious faith, boyish innocence, global celebrity and reckless determination; you couldn’t have made a film like this about Nigel Mansell. The film’s masterstroke is its exclusive use of archive footage, with no visible talking heads or modern-day interruptions. With so much recorded footage of Formula One available, it has been possible to fashion Senna’s story as a live action drama rather than a posthumous documentary; we’re not so much hearing what happened in the past as seeing it happen before our eyes. The immediacy of the approach is exhilarating and, as we approach the inevitably tragic ending, undeniably emotional.

In December of 2002, McDonald’s had to shut down their restaurants in Bolivia. The company cited financial problems, but the real reasons were to be found elsewhere. Bolivia may be a small, poor nation on the global market, but strong traditions and national tastes are sometimes more powerful factors than economic clout. In his first feature-length documentary, Fernando Martinez shows what happened. His story is driven by the characters behind the events and their life stories, not by fact. The symbolism is obvious when a multinational giant is brought to its knees by a country’s traditions and heritage. The film was made with support from Göteborg International Film Festival Fund.

Take a look at the Fast Food Off the Shelf trailer on YouTube.

The Crying Forest is a documentary about Ze Claudio Ribeiro da Silva, an Amazon rainforest activist, and his wife, who were gunned down in the Brazilian Amazon on 24 May 2011.

Figures suggest that since 1996 at least 212 Amazon activists have been murdered in their battle to preserve the rainforest. As one of the most prominent activists Ze Claudio’s death has struck a particular chord, especially on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Orkut which largely publicised the circumstances of his death.

Here is a quote from the film’s producers about Ze’s position and fateful end:

Renowned for standing up to the illegal loggers and ranchers who have laid waste to the world’s greatest tropical forest, Ze Claudio had long known he was a marked man. Investigations into the assassination are ongoing, but few doubt he was killed because of this unflinching struggle in defence of the environment. After riddling his body with bullets, the gunmen cut off one of Jose Claudio’s ears – proof, police say, that they had successfully completed their mission.

Director Gabriel Elizondo, from Al Jazeera, has used a mixture of original and archive footage, and interviews, the film explores the death of Ze Claudio, how he had already predicted his own execution and the legacy of this event.

The Crying Forest paints a shocking portrait of life in the Brazilian Amazon through the story of a couple that lived and died for the rainforest.

The Crying Forest was made by Al Jazeera and can be viewed in full on YouTube.

This groundbreaking documentary brings us the voices of the Mayan people as they share their perspectives on the prophecies of their ancestors and their fight to defend Mother Earth and their culture from destruction.

2012 The Mayan Word is both a message of hope and a call to action. Featuring testimonies from contemporary Mayans throughout Mesoamerica, from spiritual guides to activists, community leaders, farmers, artists, teachers, and children, this film is an extraordinary journey into the heart of Mayan struggle and spirituality.

The latest Undercurrents movie will be UK premiered in December. Click on the link above to watch the trailer on YouTube.

Fernando Spiner’s Western “Aballay, el hombre sin miedo” (Aballay, the Man Without Fear) was unveiled Monday as Argentina’s candidate for Oscar nomination in the foreign-language film category.

“Aballay” is the bloody and violent tale of a young man’s quest to avenge his father’s death at the hands of a now aging gaucho who wants to end his life of crime.

Film stars Nazareno Casero (“Buenos Aires, 1977″), Pablo Cedron (“The Aura”) and Claudio Rissi (“Nine Queens”).

“Aballay” won 22 of the 69 votes cast for the Oscar runner, beating comedy “Un cuento chino,” starring Ricardo Darin, and politically charged “El estudiante” (The Student) by Santiago Mitre, a screenwriter on Pablo Trapero’s multi-laurelled “Lion’s Den” and “Carancho.”

Boya Films and KV Entertainment produced “Aballay,” which won the public’s nod in the international competition at the 2010 Mar del Plata Film Festival, the second-biggest fest in Argentina.

The 84th Academy Awards will be held on 26 Febuary 2012 at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.

Here is a full list of Latin American submissions to the 84th Academy Awards for best foreign language film:

Argentina: Aballay, el hombre sin miedo (Aballay, the Man Without Fear), Fernando Spiner

Brazil: Tropa de Elite 2 – O Inimigo Agora É Outro (Elite Squad – The Enemy Within), José Padilha

Chile: Violeta Se Fue a los Cielos (Violeta), Andrés Wood

Colombia: Los Colores de la Montaña (The Colors of the Mountain), Carlos César Arbeláez

Mexico: Miss Bala (Miss Bala), Gerado Naranjo

Peru: Octubre (October), Diego and Daniel Vega

Uruguay: La Casa Muda (The Silent House), Gustavo Hernández

Venezuela: El Rumor de las Piedras (The Rumble of the Stones), Alejandro Bellame

Rodrigo and Mariana are an affluent, loving young couple on a New Year’s break. Late one night, they are driving along the remote south Pacific coast when they come across seven-year-old Karina, who appears lonely and desperate. She tells the couple that she has run away from home, and confesses to them a dark secret. Rodrigo and Mariana resolve to stay with the girl through the night and help her, but in the morning, Karina is gone. The couple check into a hotel and continue with their holiday, but Mariana is haunted by what the girl has told her, and becomes increasingly more distressed. In the meantime, Karina has returned to where her family are camping on the beach close to a nature reserve, where adults fear falling into the tunnels their children have built under the sand and poisonous sea snakes have made their way onto land. The arresting debut feature from London Film School graduate Paz Fábrega, Cold Water of the Sea is set in a place of idyllic beauty, though the focus is on the experiences of two women of different ages, from different social backgrounds, and the internal, psychological troubles in their paradise.

What was the point of Plan Colombia? Is the U.S. government still concerned with fighting drugs? Why have 20 years of drug wars in the Andes resulted in a two-fold increase in cocaine imported into the U.S. in the last ten years alone? Could there be alternate purposes to a plan focused on beefing up the brutal Colombia military and spraying coca fields in rebel-held parts of the country when coca is grown all over Colombia? And what about oil, given that Colombia has the same oil potential as Venezuela, currently the second largest oil supplier to the U.S.? The award-winning Free Will Productions team sheds light on the complex issues of drug-trafficking and civil struggle in Colombia and the impact of both the current chemical-spray program and the multibillion dollar aid package delivered to the military. Analysis and interviews with Noam Chomsky, the late Senator Paul Wellstone, Colombian Presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt (later taken hostage by the FARC), U.S. Members Of Congress John Conyers and Jim McGovern, U.S. State Department officials, a World Wildlife Fund scientist, as well as Colombians from all walks of life, including guerrilla leaders.

This film brings to light a subject that isn’t going to go away anytime soon. Did you know that the U.S. led ‘war on drugs’ continues in Colombia? Or that this the drug trafficking is generating funds for other U.S. governmental projects such as the ‘war on terror?’

This film provides high quality investigative journalism as well as exclusive interviews.

Glacial Balance is a proposed documentary film project about the effects that the warming climate is having on the once-mighty glaciers in the Andes. Featuring talking head interviews with the likes of Al Gore, as well as ample footage of the beautiful Andean landscape, the film will trace the impacts back to the myriad communities who depend on those glaciers for water.

Ethan Steinman (film maker) is planning on completing filming in the northern tip of South America by the end of August. That will be followed by an intensive post production process with the goal of getting the film released by early 2012.

Earthlings is a powerful and informative documentary about society’s treatment of animals, narrated by Joaquin Phoenix with soundtrack by Moby. This multi-award winning film by Nation Earth is a must-see for anyone who cares about animals or wishes to make the world a better place.

The actual premise of the documentary is very simple – there is no plot as such, Earthlings just asks viewers to watch, and as the tagline says ‘Make The Connection’ between nature, animals and human beings. Under the obvious statement that an Earthling is a living creature who inhabits Earth, this documentary film asks us to examine our connection as humans – one species of Earthling – with nature and other living creatures – other species of Earthlings.

Using hidden cameras and never before seen footage, Earthlings takes a step by step, comprehensive look at man’s relationship, often economic, with nature and animals.

It is not for the faint-hearted – Earthlings is a very upsetting film to watch, featuring graphic scenes which would challenge those with the strongest of hearts and stomachs.

If you don’t like running from the truth, watch this film.

Monsanto is the world leader in genetically modified organisms (GMOs), as well as one of the most controversial corporations in industrial history. This century-old empire has created some of the most toxic products ever sold, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and the herbicide Agent Orange. Based on a painstaking investigation, The World According to Monsanto puts together the pieces of the company’s history, calling on hitherto unpublished documents and numerous first-hand accounts. Today, Monsanto likes to style itself as a ‘life sciences’ company. The leader in genetically modified seeds, engineered to resist its herbicide Roundup, claims it wants to solve world hunger while protecting the environment. In the light of its troubling past, can we really believe these noble intentions? Misleading reports, collusion, pressure tactics and attempts at corruption: the history of Monsanto is filled with disturbing episodes. Behind its clean, green image, Monsanto is tightening its grasp on the world seed market, striving for market supremacy to the detriment of food security and the global environment.

This is a well made film. The producers go the extra mile in travelling the world to talk to those effected by Monsanto. Monsanto themselves decided not to participate in the film…and when you watch the film, you will understand why.