Queens, with a population of over 2 million people of which 26.5% is of Hispanic descent, is the location of the new The Other Side Film Festival, which is being billed as the first film festival for immigrants in Queens, focusing on Latin Americans and Latinos. The aim of the festival is to create a space for the invisible, the displaced— the immigrants to develop diverse initiatives that enrich and raise awareness about the audiovisual culture with a special focus on the cultural, political and social aspects of the diverse community of New York City, specifically in the distinct borough of Queens.
The non-competitive film festival which is organized by Momentos de Arte y Cultura, CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Movimiento Audiovisual Alternativo y Comunitario de Ciudad Bolivar (Bogota, Colombia) opened on Friday, July 27 and runs through Wednesday, July 31.
The festival features the work and talent of promising Latin American filmmakers from different countries including the United States, Spain, Mexico, and Ecuador, among others. The lineup ranges from animation, shorts and a special emphasis on films and documentaries that showcase the situations of the immigrants. Additionally, as part of the program "Semillero", a series to encourage filmmaking and production, there will be multiple workshops in different areas of audiovisual training.
