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How taking to the stage for one ex-prostitute can reflect a new time, without violence, in Colombia's future. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/

Viewfinder Latin America - Acting Lessons promo

Sao Paulo is a swelling, burgeoning metropolis that is likely the largest city in the Americas. It is also the centerpiece of Brazil's capitalistic juggernaut. This dynamism has created great shifts in the stability of those on the edge of economic security. One of the consequences has been pockets and neighbourhoods falling victim to surges of crime and in the case of 'Cracolandia', illegal drug use. Julio Docjar is a graffiti artist dedicated to rejuvenating his neighbourhood and helping his neighbours.

Viewfinder - Art on the Street

The most concentrated population in the sprawling city of Buenos Aires, Argentina is found in its slums. As with so many of the marginalised shanty towns of Latin America there is a wellspring of violence and economic despair. Caught in the ever shifting instability of Argentina's economy there is little chance that these slums will be transformed or that their residents will be able to easily escape the country's cyclical poverty. Despite this for Eugenio, a 32-year-old photographer who still calls the slum of Villa 15 his home, there is a persistent richness to the life around him, and hope.

Viewfinder - Eugenio's close up

Julio Docjar, a street artist from São Paulo, dreams of using his art as an instrument for social change.

Viewfinder Latin America - Art on the Street promo

Eugenio, a professional photographer, seeks to infuse his Buenos Aires slum with art, creativity and free expression.

Viewfinder Latin America - Eugenio’s Close Up promo

Driving through the most remote regions of Mexico, the artists driving the "Paz Paz Bus" are working to transform the struggling rural communities in Mexico. Their vehicle is an old school bus they have turned into a mobile laboratory. It combines the artists's passion for art and their drive and desire to create sustainable solutions to growing ecological problems. With great imagination, and encouraging free expression and creativity, they are working to implement solutions to overcoming the negative environmental impact affecting Mexico.

Viewfinder - Paz Paz Bus

A bouncing bus full of inspiration and energy is taking a message of ecological awareness to rural Mexico.

Viewfinder Latin America - Paz Paz Bus promo

For the mothers who are incarcerated in Argentina's Los Hornos Prison being separated from their children is often the most difficult part of their life behind bars. It is one reason why this facility has established a policy to allow these mothers to have their children stay with them, at least until the age of four. To help them cope with this emotional environment, theatre director Miguel has established a series of workshops so that each of the inmates has an opportunity to express their feelings in a play, reflective of their life behind bars.

Viewfinder - Invisible mothers

A cast of female inmates, mostly mothers, create a play that reflects their world behind bars and their aspirations for life on the outside.

Viewfinder Latin America - Invisible Mothers promo

Maria has been living on the streets of Bolivia since she was a young teen. She entered into the dark, dangerous world of sex trafficking after being raped as a 12-year-old. Now a young mother, she is determined to try and get off the streets and raise her young son.

Viewfinder - Little Princess

A young, single mother’s struggle to escape the violent exploitation of living on the streets of Bolivia for the sake of her son.

Viewfinder Latin America - Little Princess promo

When you reach that latter stage of life so many assumptions are made: you will retire, you will relax or slow down and definitely leave the fast lane of life behind. All with the idea that you will happily accept being something less. But this film looks at a small group of the senior set who get up on their feet every day and enthusiastically chase their next challenge, and in doing so challenge conventional thinking about the elderly. They dance in the traditional Mexican style, Danzon. They meet Saturday nights in the public plazas of Mexico City to explore the sensuality of dance, enjoy romance and seek out the possibility of love in this, their last chapter of life. As we follow their embrace of new passions, we witness the transformation of these ageing souls from the nameless and neglected to - if only for a small stage or a brief moment - become lithe, lively stars living to the fullest at the onset of twilight.

Viewfinder - My Dancing Heart

Across Mexico, older women are dancing to defy the heartache of loneliness and the pain of lost youth.

Viewfinder Latin America - My Dancing Heart promo

Viewfinder Latin America - Coming Soon promo

Independent filmmakers utilise the power of storytelling to reveal the impact of global events on local communities.

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