Title: Paraiso Travel
Location: Brava Theater for Women in the Arts
Tickets: Click here
Description: dir. Simon Brand, 2007, Colombia / USA, 110 min.

Start Time: 15:00
Date: 2008-11-08
End Time: 17:00

Based on Jorge Franco’s bestselling novel of the same name, Paraiso Travel follows the journey of illegal immigrants Marlon and Reina, who survive turbulent river crossings, dangerously cramped buses, and swindling “travel agents” on their way from Medellin, Colombia, to New York, only to lose each other upon arriving. As Marlon searches for Reina, he adjusts to New York’s harsh winter and unpromising job market, cleaning bathrooms, sleeping in shifts with other squatters, and encountering a series of memorable characters along his way: a cantankerous restaurant owner and his kind wife; a beautiful salsa singer, and a stuttering fetish photographer (played by John Leguizamo). A gritty portrait of both the inhuman living conditions and the surprising humanity to be found in immigrant communities, Paraiso Travel is one of the highest-grossing films from Colombia, and made its U.S. premiere at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.

Basado en la exitosa novela del mismo titulo de Jorge Franco “Paraiso Travel” relata el viaje de dos inmigrantes ilegales Marlon y Reina, quienes sobreviven inescrupulosos “agentes de viaje”, turbulentos cruces de rio, autobuses peligrosamente apretados, en la ruta de Medellin, Colombia, a Nueva York, donde se pierden al llegar. Mientras Marlon busca a Reina, se acostumbra a los duros inviernos de Nueva York y un mercado de empleo poco prometedor; limpia banos, duerme en turnos con otros ocupantes ilegitimos y conoce a varios personajes memorables: un dueno de restaurante pendenciero y su agradable esposa; una linda cantante de salsa y un fotografo de fetiches tartamudo (John Leguizamo). Un valeroso retrato de las condiciones inhumanas de vida como de la sorprendente humanidad encontrada en las comunidades inmigrantes, Paraiso Travel es una de las peliculas colombianas de mas exito taquillero y tuvo su estreno estadounidense en el Tribeca Film Festival, 2008.