With pandemic protocols relaxing, the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival will be returning with a mix of virtual programming and in-person screenings in Hollywood June 2 through 6.

LALIFF has announced a hybrid lineup featuring more than 40 films in English, Spanish and Portuguese that include 18 features, 6 episodic series and 24 shorts. The selections hail from about a dozen countries from the Americas, from the U.S. down to Tierra del Fuego and also the Caribbean.

Opening the fest is 7th & Union, an American dramatic feature about a Mexican immigrant ex-fighter whose friendship with a disgruntled man could save the boxer and his family. Debuting worldwide at LALIFF, the film stars famed Mexican actor Omar Chaparro who appeared in the comedy No Manches Frida that had wide distribution in American theaters. It is directed by the upcoming filmmaker Anthony Nardolillo (Shine) and written by Oscar Orlando Torres (Instructions not Included). A binational co-production, the film is produced by USA’s 13 Paces and Mango Tree and Mexico’s Broken English. Co-starring the film are Edy Ganem, Julian Obradors, Gregg Daniel and Lee Coc. The opening screening will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre.

The festival’s line up includes Rita Moreno: A Girl Who Decided to Go for It, the documentary about Academy-Award winner Rita Moreno, directed by Mariem Perez Riera and winner of Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize in the documentary category; Bridges, the debut feature by director and actress Maria Corina Ramirez (Grown); the documentaries American Exile by John J. Valadez, Landfall by Cecilia Aldarondo and Fruits of Labor by Emily Cohen Ibañez; and Jonathan Cuarta’s My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It to, a horror drama that was an official selection of the Tribeca Festival last year.

Those attending the fest will also get to see a special preview of the highly anticipated musical film In the Heights. Directed by Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians), the film is based on the Broadway musical hit with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, the Broadway musical) and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story takes place in New York’s largely Dominican neighborhood of Washington Heights. The screening will take place June 4, five days before the film’s showcase at the Tribeca Film Festival’s World Premiere and a week before its release in theaters and on HBO Max.

Featured films include Colombia’s Between Fire and Water, Brazil’s Executive Order, Argentina’s La Botera, Mexico’s Nudo Mixteco, Dominican Republic’s Papi, Panama’s Something Blue, and Peru’s The Best Families.

The majority of the fest’s selections are American, which also include Green Ghost, Landfall and Blursday, the latter a co-production with Taiwan.

Closing the film will be Women is Losers, another American selection. Set in working-class San Francisco of the ’60s, the coming-of-age drama marks the directorial debut of Lissette Feliciano, who also wrote the screenplay. Starring Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s Lorenza Izzo, it tells the story of a once-promising catholic schoolgirl who rises above the oppression of poverty and invests in a future for herself setting new precedents for the time. Simu Liu, who will make history this fall with his lead role in Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, also stars in the film.

LALIFF is an annual project of the nonprofit Latino Film Institute. Last year’s fest was held online because of the pandemic.

“As we begin to finally see some normalcy in our lives, we are thrilled to be able to commemorate our 20th anniversary by bringing Angelenos together, safely, to celebrate our community of talented storytellers that so need our support,” says Academy-Award nominated actor and LALIFF founder Edward James Olmos. “This past year has been hard for everyone, and we are excited to continue to support and provide a platform to these creators that despite all odds, continued to create art.”

Fest organizers hope the hybrid screenings will allow the event to reach a wide audience. “After such a challenging year LALIFF comes stronger than ever, with a diverse program that is testament to the creativity and resilience of our artists,” says Diana Cadavid, the fest’s artistic director who assumed her position last year at the beginning of the pandemic. “Our combination of in-person and virtual events is designed to enhance our viewership experience and to ensure that everyone can enjoy the rich offering of films, episodics, music and art that we have carefully curated.”

For a complete movie lineup, schedule and tickets, visit www.laliff.org.

Featured Photo: In The Heights (Credit: LALIFF)

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The Journey of Monalisa, a documentary about a former sex worker in New York striving to become a transgender performer, won the award for best Latinx film. It is directed by Nicole Costa, a Chilean filmmaker based in the Big Apple. The American doc was co-produced with Chile.

U.S.’S BEST
Costa’s film topped Cinema Tropical’s List of Best Latinx Films of 2020, a roster of six American entries announced late last year. All selections competed for the award of the best Latinx film. The other features were: Born to Be by Tânia Cypriano, De lo Mío by Diana Peralta, The Garden Left Behind by Flavio Alves, La Leyenda Negra by Patricia Vidal Delgado, and Mucho, Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado by Cristina Costantini and Kareem Tabsch.

Check out the trailer of The Journey of Monalisa:

The winning film was selected by a jury that included Kiko Martinez, film editor at the website Remezcla, filmmaker Michèle Stephenson, and Barbara Vásconez, program manager at New York Women in Film & Television and co-director of the Ecuadorian Film Festival New York.

LATIN AMERICA’S BEST
Among a roster of films which included selections from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, the Mexican documentary La Mami won the Cinema Tropical Best Film Award in a field of 25 full features that had already earned the distinction of being on Cinema Tropical’s List of Best Latin American Films of 2020.

La Mami follows a tough but motherly woman who looks after young female dancers at a Mexico City nightclub. It is directed by Laura Herrero Garvín, a Spanish filmmaker who lives in Mexico City. “This is huge!,” announced the film’s Facebook page. “We are so happy that La Mami won Best Movie at Cinema Tropical Awards!” La Mami is a co-production of Mexico and Spain.

ADDITIONAL HONORS
The 25 Latin American full features also vied for two other prizes. Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz received the Cinema Tropical Award for Best Director for Invisible Life (A Vida Invisível) while the Chilean documentary film Night Shot (Visión Nocturna) by filmmaker Carolina Moscoso won the award for best first film. 

Created in 2010, the Cinema Tropical Awards honor excellence in Latin American filmmaking, according to organizers. This was the awards’ 11th annual edition, which took place online due to the pandemic.

The other Latin American contenders were:
–Bacurau by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles, Brazil/France
–The Cordillera of Dreams (La Cordillera de Los Sueños) by Patricio Guzmán, Chile/France
-Corporate Accountability (Responsabilidad Empresarial) by Jonathan Perel, Argentina
–The Dove and the Wolf (La Paloma y el Lobo) by Carlos Lenin, Mexico
–Ema by Pablo Larraín, Chile
–The Fever (A Fevre) by Maya Da-Rin, Brazil/France
–I Never Climbed the Provincia (Nunca Subí el Provincia) by Ignacio Agüero, Chile
–Identifying Features (Sin Señas Particulares) by Fernanda Valadez, Mexico/Spain
–No Longer Here (Ya No Estoy Aquí) by Fernando Frías, Mexico/USA
–Isabella by Matías Piñeiro, Argentina/France
–La Fortaleza by Jorge Thielen Armand, Venezuela/France/Netherlands/Colombia
–La Llorona by Jayro Bustamante, Guatemala/France
–La Vida en Común by Ezequiel Yanco, Argentina
–Los Conductos by Camilo Restrepo, Colombia/France/Brazil
–The Mole Agent (El Agente Topo) by Maite Alberdi, Chile
–Night Shot (Vision Nocturna) by Carolina Moscoso, Chile
–Once Upon A Time in Venezuela (Érase Una Vez en Venezuela) by Anabel Rodríguez Ríos, Venezuela/United Kingdom/Brazil/Austria
–One in a Thousand (Las Mil y Una) by Clarisa Navas, Argentina/Germany
–Panquiaco by Ana Tejera, Panama
–Song Without A Name (Canción Sin Nombre) by Melina León, Peru/Spain/USA
–The Tango of the Widower and Its Distorting Mirror (El Tango Del Viudo y Su EspejoDeformante) by Raúl Ruiz and Valeria Sarmiento, Chile
–Window Boy Would Also Like to Have a Submarine (Chico Ventana También Quisiera Tener Un Submarino) by Alex Piperno, Uruguay/Argentina/Brazil/Netherlands/Philippines
–Workforce (Mano de Obra) by David Zonana, Mexico

Cinema Tropical is a non-profit media arts organization that presents Latin American cinema in the United States. The awards are presented in partnership with The Latino Network, an employee resource group at The New York Times.

Check out the trailer of La Mami:

—Cesar Arredondo

Top Featured Photo: Award winner The Journey of Monalisa (Photo: Cinema Tropical)

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More than 400 films will compete at this year’s annual HollyShorts Film Festival that will take place Nov. 9 through 15.

Most official selections are from the United States while over 120 come from other countries, including a few from Latin American nations like Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Spain. Forty percent of all competing shorts are directed by women, according to fest organizers. HollyShorts is an Academy Award-qualifying festival.

This fest’s 16th annual edition will be held online over its own streaming platform Bitpix and will also host a short film market for the first time, the fest announced. Targeting leading buyers of shorts, the HollyShorts Market Week will take place the week after the competition screenings.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Some standouts of the fest program include: Michael Schilf’s The Fixer, starring Jesse C. Boyd, Veronica Diaz Carranza and Danny Trejo; Lucifer stars Kevin Alejandro and Lesley-Ann Brandt’s Adult Night; and Jose Acevedo’s Eagle, starring Daniel Taveras, Antonio Ortiz and Roy Wood Jr.

Another highlight is Sweet Potatoes by Los Angeles-based Rommel Villa Barriga, one of three winners in this year’s Student Academy-Award narrative category. 

Great Britain made history at the festival this year by becoming the nation with the most shorts ever accepted in HollyShorts with 30 films in competition, followed by Canada (14), and France (12). Spain and Mexico each have 3 shorts in competition while Peru and Brazil each have one.

OTHER SELECTIONS
Notable films include the animated short Cruel Shoes written and narrated by Academy Honorary Award winner Steve Martin; I Wish For You featuring Jeremy Irons; the Will Ferrell comedy David directed by Zach Woods of television series Avenue 5 fame; Deon Taylor’s 8:46 starring Tyrese Gibson and featuring CeeLo Green; and the high school drama At Last directed by Lorena Gordon and featuring George Lopez.

Founded in 2005 by Daniel Sol and Theo Dumont, HollyShorts Film Festival showcases works that are 40- minutes or less in various categories such as short animation, short live action, short documentary, music video, webisode, commercials, youth film and digital microbudget. The fest was recently designated an Academy Awards qualifying festival, according to HollyShorts official website.

Before co-founding HollyShorts, Sol worked at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, Pasadena International Film Festival and Lionsgate, according to his Facebook page.

Check out the trailer below for The Fixer.

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