As spring makes its arrival, April is bringing six film festivals in the U.S. with an ample offer of U.S. Latinx and Latin American film cinema. Audiences in Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, San Francisco, Seattle, and Tucson, will be able to watch these films on the big screen, while larger audiences across the country will also be able to catch some of the selections in the online version of most of these cinematic events.
Check them out!
LATINX & HISPANIC CINEMA AT CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
March 30—April 17
The 46th annual edition of the Cleveland International Film Festival is taking place March 30 – April 9, at its new home at Playhouse Square, followed by CIFF46 Streams, April 10 – 17, 2022 on the CIFF streaming platform. The in-person Festival will showcase 146 feature films and 182 short films representing 73 countries during its 11-day run. CIFF46 Streams will present nearly two-thirds of the in-person lineup over its eight-day run. This year’s festival boasts a hefty selection of 18 films that elevate stories, topics, and themes that are embedded in both Latinx and Hispanic communities, including films from Spain and North, Central, and Latin America.
SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
April 14—24
The 48th Seattle International Film Festival will be a hybrid experience, with films screened at SIFF theaters and venues throughout the city as well as virtually on the SIFF Channel. Held April 14–24, the festival will present the best in international and independent films from around the globe and features its sidebar of Ibero-American cinema, nurtured by a vast diversity, a unique history, and a long, rich tradition of storytelling. The sidebar’s selection of powerful documentaries and works of fiction have always been fantastic, with larger-than-life themes, characters, and legends igniting our imaginations, our senses, and our emotions. Some highlights include the Chilean film Phantom Project by Roberto Doveris, and the Bolivian film Utama by Alejandro Loayza Grisi.
LATIN WAVE: NEW FILMS FROM LATIN AMERICA
April 21—24
The annual Latin Wave series, presented by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in partnership with Fundación PROA in Buenos Aires, sponsored by Tenaris and programmed in collaboration with Cinema Tropical, provides the opportunity for Houstonians to see new films from Latin America, and to meet internationally acclaimed filmmakers. The nature of the festival allows audience members to interact with the filmmakers in Q&A sessions and informal conversations. This year’s series features 11 films from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela, including The Dog Who Wouldn’t be Quiet by Ana Katz, Comala by Gian Cassini, and Jesús López by Maximiliano Schonfeld.
CINEMA TUCSÓN
April 21
As Mexican cinema continues to generate world-wide enthusiasm, Cinema Tucsón is able o bring even more of it to the Tucson community! Cinema Tucsón presents films through an exciting format—monthly screenings throughout the year at the Fox Tucson Theatre, a new dedicated home for Mexican cinema. The program provides a mix of classic films, B movies, and new cinema with exceptional filmmakers and special guests from Mexico for dialogue with our audiences. April’s screening will feature the acclaimed documentary feature La Mami by Laura Herrero Garvín, which is a potent portrait of female solidarity among the workers of the Barba Azul cabaret in Mexico City.
CHICAGO LATINO FILM FESTIVAL
April 21—May 1
The 38th Chicago Latino Film Festival, produced by the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago, will once again adopt a hybrid format with in-person screenings at the Landmark Century Center, several Drive-In presentations at ChiTown Movies Drive-In., and with virtual screenings accessible to residents of Illinois and the Midwest states of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. The festival will screen close to 100 feature and short length films from Latin America, Spain, Portugal and the United States, including Eva Longoria Bastón’s feature documentary La Guerra Civil, about the legendary rivalry between pugilists Julio César Chávez and Oscar de la Hoya, and Juan Pablo González’s Dos Estaciones, winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition Special Jury Award for Best Actress for Teresa Sánchez for her performance as the owner of a down but not necessarily out tequila factory.
CINE LATINO AT THE SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
April 21—May 1
For the 65th annual edition of the San Francisco International Film Festival, the longest running film festival in the Americas, presented by SFFILM, the event will make its return to theaters in person, featuring more than 130 films from 56 countries, including 16 world and 10 North American premieres. The 65th SFFILM Festival celebrates the global art and craft of film in San Francisco and the East Bay and will present the Cine Latino competition. From the Andes Mountains’ rural highlands to crowded Brazilian streets, the Cine Latino program showcases the diverse textures and cinematographic excellence of Latin American storytelling featuring seven features films including the Ecuadorean film Lo Invisible by Javier Andrade and the Mexican film The Box by Venezuelan director Lorenzo Vigas.
