This year’s Hispanic Heritage Month, running Sunday, September 15, through Tuesday, October 15, brings a plethora of film festivals in the United States that showcase the most recent US Latinx and Latin American productions and bring these titles to audiences across the country. These festivals not only highlight the diverse voices and stories within theses communities, but also offer a unique opportunity for cultural exchange and dialogue.
Through a wide range of genres and styles, from poignant dramas to vibrant comedies, these events foster a greater understanding and appreciation of the rich cultural tapestry that defines the Latinx and Latin American experiences. Additionally, many festivals feature panel discussions, workshops, and networking events that support emerging filmmakers and encourage the growth of new talent in the industry.
Check them out!
GAINESVILLE LATINO FILM FESTIVAL
Gainesville, FL: September 12 — 29
Florida’s Gainesville Film Festival is a three-week festival highlighting Latin American culture through film, music, and dance. In its 20th anniversary edition, the festival will welcome international filmmakers Carlos Andres Vera from Ecuador (This Stolen Country of Mine and Propagandia) and Miguel Ángel Ferrer from Venezuela (The Shadow of the Sun) and will present different films from Latino USA, Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia. The event also features an international food festival, as well as a special section dedicated to folkloric dances.
NEW YORK LATINO FILM FESTIVAL
New York, NY: September 15 — 22
The New York Latino Film Festival (NYLFF) is the premier Urban Latino film event in the country. Since its founding in 1999, the NYLFF produces culturally relevant and entertaining experiences that build audiences for Latino cinema, support the film community with professional development and foster relationships for Latino talent. Programming includes the flagship film festival in New York City, competition programs and community programs.
Some of this year’s spotlight screenings include Pimpinero: Blood and Oil by Andrés Baiz, Las Amazonas de Yaxunah by Alfonso Algara, Malta by Natalia Santa, The In Between by Robie Flores, and Voces American Historia: The Untold Story of Latinos by Ben DeJesus.
AFI LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL
Silver Spring, MD: September 19 — October 10
The AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in is presenting the 35th edition of the AFI Latin American Film Festival, one of the largest and longest-running showcases of Latin American cinema in the United States, dedicated to presenting Latin America's prolific and versatile talent. This year's wide-ranging selection of 41 films from 21 countries spans international festival favorites and award winners, local box-office hits and dynamic debuts from a new generation of Latin American filmmakers.
Opening the festival with Alonso Ruizpalacios' La Cocina, this year’s selection also features Sundance Grand Jury Prize winners Sujo by Mexican filmmaking duo Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez, In the Summers by Colombian-American director Alessandra Lacorazza, and Berlin-premiered Memories of a Burning Body, the latest from Costa Rican filmmaker Antonella Sudasassi Furniss.
NEWFILMMAKERS LOS ANGELES' INFOCUS LATINX & HISPANIC CINEMA
Los Angeles, CA: September 20 — 21
NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) will host the 2024 edition of their InFocus: Latinx & Hispanic Cinema Film Festival on September 20 and 21. The two-day program will feature four short film programs with audience Q&A sessions and two live panels, showcasing 25 short films spanning narrative live action, documentary, and animation, representing nearly a dozen countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, France, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, and the United States.
Among the selections are the Los Angeles premieres of five new short films by emerging talent from São Paulo, Brazil, the Los Angeles Premiere of When Big People Lie by NFMLA’s Best New Filmmaker of 2024 Gianfranco Fernández-Ruiz and the world premieres of Petalos by NFMLA Best of Award winner Nicole Mejia, The Mourning Of by NFMLA alum and NewNarratives grant winner Merced Elizondo and The Devil's Plot by Julia Weisberg Cortés.
HOLA MEXICO FILM FESTIVAL
Los Angeles, CA: September 20 — 27
The largest Mexican film festival outside of Mexico, Hola México Film Festival returns for its 16th annual edition for a week-long celebration of Mexican cinema.
This year’s selections present a diverse range of exciting films, including comedy, horror, social-political interest, LGBTQ themes. Some highlights include the opening night's screening of Casi el paraíso / Almost Paradise by Edgar San Juan, Jíkuri. Journey to the Land of the Tarahumara by Federico Cecchetti, and Tótem by Lila Avilés.
CINEMA TUCSÓN
Tucson, AZ: September 25
Cinema Tucsón, the cultural initiative featuring monthly screenings of Mexican films at the historic Fox Tucson Theatre, is proud to present the boldly crafted and tumultuous musical melodrama Take Me in Your Arms / Llévame en tus brazos. The incomparable Cuban-born star Ninón Sevilla (Aventurera, Victims of Sin) plays Rita, as a young woman from a small coastal village in Veracruz and the daughter of a poor fisherman. To pay off her father's debts, she leaves her town and is exploited by several men, including a married politician who turns her into a famous dancing star—all while relentlessly seeking to reunite with her true love.
Beautifully lensed by renowned cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, director and co-writer Julio Bracho's expansive melodrama about class struggle and erotic tension features some wonderful song-and-dance sequences from Sevilla, who also produced the film, uncredited, alongside brothers Guillermo and Pedro Calderón. Sevilla's screen magnetism guides the audience through the film, culminating in a deeply satisfying finale.
CINEFEST LATINO BOSTON
Boston, MA: September 25 — 29
CineFest Latino Boston is an annual film festival committed to using the power of film to break stereotypes, bring cultures and communities together and reveal the complex issues affecting the Latinx community in the United States, as well as communities in Latin America and Spain.
Among this year’s featured films are the Sundance winning films In The Summers by Alessandra Lacorazza and Frida by Carla Gutiérrez, the Venezuelan drama The Shadow of the Sun by Miguel Ángel Ferrer, and the Mexican documentary The Echo by Tatiana Huezo.
PORTLAND LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL
Portland, OR: September 25 — November 13
The Portland Latin American Film Festival (PDXLAFF) serves the community as a non-profit cultural promoter under the guidance of the Hollywood Theatre. We are dedicated to showcasing perspectives of Latin American culture through an exploration of Latin film and increasing the visibility of Latin American cinema locally. PDXLAFF presents films with universal appeal that can be enjoyed by native Spanish, Portuguese, and English speakers, and other lovers of the Latin culture.
The 18th edition of the film festival hosted by the Hollywood Theatre will screen the films Good Savage / buen salvaje by Mexican director Santiago Mohar Volkow, the Cuban drama Los Frikis by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, and Boca chica by Dominican-Guyanese American director Gabriela A. Moses, among others.
https://hollywoodtheatre.org/series/portland-latin-american-film-festival/
GEORGIA LATINO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Atlanta, GA: September 26 — 29
2024 marks the 13th anniversary of the Georgia Latino International Film Festival (GALIFF), produced every September in Atlanta during Hispanic Heritage month. Founded by the Georgia Latino Film Alliance (GALFA), an Afro–Latino multi-disciplinary arts nonprofit, the festival aims to develop, promote and increase awareness of Latino cinema among Latinos and other communities by presenting a wide variety of films, music and entertainment.
This year’s edition kicks off with the U.S. premiere of Mimi and Tony: La Creación de Un Sueño by Tony Succar. The core of the festival program is our main slate of feature and short films, highlighting politically, culturally and socially relevant films from diverse storytellers. you can’t find these experiences anywhere else.
MILL VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL’S ¡VIVA EL CINE!
Mill Valley, CA: October 3 — 13
Presented by the Mill Valley Film Festival, ¡Viva el Cine! celebrates the richness of Ibero-American cinema, encompassing films in Spanish and Portuguese languages and Latinx and Latin American cinema from around the world. The initiative curates a selection of films that resonate deeply with these communities, bringing the finest international and independent films to the screen.
Some of this year’s edition highlights of ¡Viva el Cine! include the queer crime musical Emilia Pérez, the Peruvian coming-of-age tale Reinas, the Colombian thriller Pimpinero: Blood and Oil, and the immigration documentary Borderland: The Line Within.
NORTH CAROLINA LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL
Durham and Chapel Hill, NC: October 7 — 26
Hosted and presented by UNC-Duke 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. This year, the festival’s interested on the Western film genre commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, Northern Mexico, and Western Canada—moving south to Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.
NCLAFF 2024's program includes the Chilean historical dramas The Settlers / Los colonos by Felipe Gálvez Haberle and White on White / Blanco en blanco by Theo Court, the Cuban drama Vicenta B. by Carlos Lechuga, and the Lucha Libre biopic Cassandro by Roger Ross Williams starring Gael García Bernal.
SEATTLE LATINO FILM FESTIVAL
Seattle, WA: October 4 — 12
Aiming to bring audiences and filmmakers together for an educational experience and to support the magic of film-making as part of Hispanic and Romance Language Cinema globally, the Seattle Latino Film Festival showcases groundbreaking films each year.
The opening night film of the 16th edition is the Venezuelan drama The Shadow of The Sun by Miguel Ángel Ferrer. Other titles include the Chilean film Outsider Girls / Las demás by Alexandra Hyland, and the Argentine coming-of-age film Alemania by María Zanetti.
MSP FILM'S CINE LATINO
Minneapolis, MN: October 9 — 13
Presented by the Minneapolis St. Paul (MSP) Film Society, Cine Latino returns to The Main Cinema for five days of Spanish and Portuguese language films, special guests, fiestas, food trucks, and more!
The 12th annual celebration of the best Latin American, US Latinx, and Ibero Cinema pays homage to the longstanding film industries throughout the Spanish and Portuguese speaking diaspora by showcasing the diversity of their inhabitants, the immense beauty of their geographies, and the magic of their many cultures through the power of film. The festival kicks off with the screening of the Brazilian film I'm Still Here by Walter Salles.
NVISION LATINO FILM & MUSIC FESTIVAL
Palm Springs, CA: October 10 — 12
Founded in 2015 as the Official Latino Film Festival, the festival has been the pioneering platform dedicated to spotlighting the rich diversity and creativity of Latino and Latina filmmakers and artists in the United States. For the 10th annual edition, the festival has been transformed to the NVISION Latino Film & Music Festival, The event strives to spotlight the power of culture, champion diverse Latin talent, and provide a prominent platform for discovering and exhibiting innovative work in film, music, the arts, and technology.
Among this year’s featured films are Ponyboi by Esteban Arango, Boca Chica by Gabriella A. Moses, and En La Caliente: Tales of a Reggaeton Warrior by Fabien Pisani.
CINE+MÁS SAN FRANCISCO LATINO FILM FESTIVAL
San Francisco, CA: October 11 — November 3
The Cine+Mas SF Latino Film Festival showcases the work of emerging and established filmmakers from the US, Latin America, Spain and Portugal. This year’s edition will kick off at the Roxie Theater with the documentary film Prodigal Daughter by Peruvian-American director Mabel Valdiviezo.
