Summer is already here, and June brings three high-profile film festivals dedicated to U.S. Latinx and Latin American cinema in Austin, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. The three festivals will offer their programming online, while two of the festivals will also host some in-person screenings.
Check them out below!
PHILADELPHIA LATINO FILM FESTIVAL
May 30 - June 6
The Philadelphia Latino Film Festival (PHLAFF) was established in 2012 and has become the Greater Philadelphia region’s only festival showcasing the extraordinary and innovative work of emerging and established Latino and Latinx filmmakers. PHLAFF’s programming focuses on the diverse experiences and realities of our people. PHLAFF has evolved into an international film festival that brings the best of Latino and Latinx stories to a wide audience. The 10th edition of the festival will be held exclusively online and this year’s lineup includes the Colombian film The House of Mama Icha by Oscar Molina, the Peruvian film Contactado by Marité Ugás, and the queer Chilean documentary Forgotten Roads by Nicol Ruiz Benavides, among many other titles.
LOS ANGELES LATINO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, LALIFF
June 2 - 6
The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) is the premier international event dedicated to reveling in the Latino human experience through film, television, music, visual art, or any form of expression that defies category. With five days of both in-person and virtual screenings, masterclasses, panels, and performances, LALIFF is a garden of creativity and a celebration of Latino life. LALIFF was founded in 1997 when Edward James Olmos and co-founders Marlene Dermer (1997-2014), Kirk Whisler, and the late George Hernandez joined forces with the City of Los Angeles to form the first-ever Latino focused international film festival. The 2021 edition of the festival will be hybrid, with a combination of in-person and virtual screenings.
The 20th edition of the festival will host a special preview screening of Warner Bros. Pictures’ upcoming In the Heights, the highly-anticipated film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit Broadway musical from director Jon M. Chu. Other highlights include the Mexican film Nudo Mixteco by Ángeles Cruz, the Puerto Rican documentary Landfall by Cecilia Aldarondo, the Brazilian Afro-futuristic movie Executive Orders by Lázaro Ramos, and the U.S. Latinx documentary Fruits of Labor by Emily Cohen Ibáñez.
CINE LAS AMÉRICAS FILM FESTIVAL
June 9 - 13
The Austin-based Cine Las Americas International Film Festival (CLAIFF) is hosting a hybrid presentation for its 23rd edition taking place June 9-13, 2021. In the film festival’s first year under the stewardship of new Executive Director Gabriel Ornelas, CLAIFF will continue its mission to showcase films and videos from Latin America (North, Central, South America, and the Caribbean) and the Iberian Peninsula. Films and videos made by or about Latinx in the U.S. or the rest of the world, as well as films and videos by or about indigenous groups of the Americas are also featured.
Some of this year’s highlights include the Venezuelan film La Fortaleza by Jorge Thielen Armand, the Argentine film The Siamese Bond by Paula Hernández, the Guatemalan film Los Fantasmas by Sebastián Lojo, the Bolivian film Chaco by Diego Mondaca, and the documentary film The Journey of Monalisa by Nicole Costa, winner of the Cinema Tropical Award for Best U.S. Latinx Film.
