October is here and so are more U.S. Latinx and Latin American film festivals happening this month, some of them coinciding with the second half of Hispanic Heritage Month. Screening many films from the Americas, these festivals will take place online and offer a good opportunity to catch up on some of the most recent productions from the region, as well as some classic films from years past.
Check them out below!
MILL VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL’S ¡VIVA EL CINE!
October 8-18
MVFF’s ¡Viva el Cine! Initiative showcases prize-winning Spanish-language and Latin American films that seek to engage and embrace their Spanish-speaking and -loving audiences. The screenings create a unique community where history, culture, and identity can be explored through the magic of movies. This year, we celebrate our Viva’s opening night with the North American premiere of the Argentine film The Heist of the Century / El robo del siglo by Ariel Winograd. Other film selections include Heidi Edwig’s I Carry You With Me / Te llevo conmigo, and Sandra Kogut’s Three Summers / Trës Verões.
NORTH CAROLINA LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL
October 9-18
Presented by the University of North Carolina-Duke University Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the North Carolina Latin American Film Festival (NCLAFF) celebrates the power and artistry of Latin America’s film and audiovisual production. Its mission is to provide a space in North Carolina for Latin American images, sounds, and stories to reach a wider audience. The 35th season of NCLAFF will be an homage to the best Latin American films produced in the past 35 years. NCLAFF will be a mixed-format, virtual synchronic and a-synchronic film festival. Some titles include Luis Puenzo’s Academy Award-winning The Official Story / La historia oficial, Natalia Almada’s El Velador, and Fernando Meireles’ City of God.
SEATTLE LATINO FILM FESTIVAL
October 9-17
The 12th annual edition of the Seattle Latino Film Festival has announced a special online edition presenting 10 fiction films and 17 documentary films. Highlights include the Colombian film The Border / La frontera by David David, Window Boy Would Also Like to Have a Submarine / Chico ventana también quisiera tener un submarino by Uruguayan director Alex Piperno, and the documentary film Border South by Raúl Paz Pastrana.
CINE LATINO
October 15-22
Presented by the Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul, Cine Latino has announced its lineup for its 8th edition taking place October 15-22 virtually. Programmed by Hebe Tabachnik, this year’s film festival will showcase nineteen fiction and non-fiction feature films, and present a retrospective of Mexican-American filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes including his most recent film 499. Other highlights include the Mexican film Identifying Features / Sin señas particulares by Fernanda Valadez, the Brazilian film Valentina by Cássio Pereira dos Santos, and Once Upon a Time in Venezuela / Érase una vez en Venezuela by Anabel Rodríguez.
DOMINICAN FILM FESTIVAL NEW YORK
October 20 - 30
For its ninth annual edition, the Dominican Film Festival New York goes online on the platform pelilat.com. The festival dedicated to showcasing recent cinema from the Dominican Island will be screening ten feature films—nine of them in competition—including Héctor Valdez’s Malpaso, which recently won the Best International Feature Award at the New York Latino Film Festival.
LOS ANGELES BRAZILIAN FILM FESTIVAL
October 21-25
Now in its 13th year, the Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival, showcases the best in new Brazilian cinema and provides the movie-loving public with access to some of the most critically and important Brazilian filmmakers, film industry professionals and emerging new talent by bringing them together in the heart of the entertainment capital of the world.
Continued from September
PORTLAND LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL
September 17 - November 12
Presented by the Hollywood Theatre, the Portland Latin American Film Festival goes virtual this year, presenting a lineup of six movies from Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, in co-production with Switzerland, and Belgium that celebrate and honor the cultural diversity of Latin America. The six films are César Díaz’s Our Mothers / Nuestras madres, José Manuel Cravioto’s Olimpia, Pablo Larraín’s Ema, María Novaro’s Tesoros, Juliana Fanjul’s Radio Silence / Silencio radio, and Juan José Campanella’s The Weasel’s Tale / El cuento de las comadrejas.
www.hollywoodtheatre.org/events/portland-latin-american-film-festival-2020
AFI LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL
Through October 7
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced today the full slate of films being presented online for the 31st edition of the 2020 AFI Latin American Film Festival, one of the largest and long-running showcases of Latin American cinema in the United States. This year's wide-ranging selection of 26 films from 20 countries, including seven U.S. premieres., spans international festival favorites and award winners, local box-office hits and dynamic debuts from a new generation of Latin American filmmakers. The majority of films in the festival will be available to view online from anywhere in the United States.
The festival will open with Pablo Larraín’s Ema, and closes with the U.S. premiere of Ecuadorian filmmaker Alfredo León León's provocative submarine-set thriller Submersible, starring Colombian actress Natalia Reyes. Other festival highlights include Academy Award-winning Argentine director Juan José Campanella's pitch-perfect black comedy The Weasels’ Tale, starring Graciela Borges and Oscar Martínez.
GRAND RAPIDS LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL
Through October 15
The Grand Rapids Latin American Film Festival (GRLAFF) celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The online GRLAFF 2020 will take over the screens during one month, from September 15 to October 15, 2020, which coincides with National Hispanic Heritage Month. Audiences will also enjoy eight feature-length films from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru, and four short films from Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico that will be shown together as a series. As always, the festival is free.
GRLAFF 2020 will open with The Unafraid, a 2018 documentary that follows the lives of three DACA recipients in Georgia, a state where they are banned from attending the top five public universities and from receiving in-state tuition at any public college. After the online debut, we will host a virtual panel discussion with education researchers and Latinx students.
CINE MEXICO NOW
Through October 15
The Film Lab in collaboration with Cinema Lamont and a/perture cinema present the 2020 virtual edition of Cine Mexico Now. Featuring some of the best in contemporary Mexican cinema, this year’s program runs from September 15 – October 13 in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, with a new film available to stream each week.
Films include recent selections from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, including Fernanda Valadez’s Identifying Features / Sin señas particulares, as well as a free program of 6 short films! All Cine Mexico selections are available in Spanish with English subtitles.
INFFINITO BRAZILIAN FILM FESTIVAL
Through October 25
For the first time ever, the Inffinito Brazilian Film Festival will stream more than 100 Brazilian productions in U.S. territories, from Puerto Rico to Alaska. This is the first time in the United States that audiences beyond Miami and New York will have access to the best films made recently in Brazil and explore the country’s culture through the art of cinema from the comfort of their homes. The program includes fiction and documentary feature films produced and released in 2019/2020, as well as short films, indigenous filmmakers productions, past festival winners and black films, all with English subtitles.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the outdoor screenings, a trademark of Inffinito festivals, will take place in Miami on September 26 in drive-in format, following all safety guidelines. Starting in November, after the festival, the platform www.inff.online will launch a catalog of Brazilian films available via VOD (video on demand) by monthly subscription in the U.S.
