Obdulio, an 11-year-old Afro-Uruguayan boy, can neither read nor write and lives with his sisters and grandmother and helps support them by selling newspapers - One evening, he discovers that the night watchman at the newspaper is a magical Maestro, who introduces him to the power of literacy and the meaning of life - Against the backdrop of Uruguay's provocatively stimulating carnival, the Maestro teaches Obdulio about life through the lyrics of the Murgas, the songs of the carnival. 

Race and its impact on the art and history of Brazil are highlighted in this two-disc set with Joel Zito Araujo's documentary Denying Brazil (A Negacao do Brasil, 92 mins) and Geraldo Santos Pereira's Aleijadinho: Passion, Glory and Torment (Aleijadinho: Paixao, Gloria e Suplicio, 100 mins.