FESTIVAL KICK OFF

Co-Presented by AFROTAINO

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OPENING WEEKEND PROGRAM

Program Duration: 31 minutes

 
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Nuevo Rico

A brother and sister stumble upon a celestial secret that changes their lives forever and propels them into Reggaetón stardom, but they soon discover that their newfound fame comes at a deep price.

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Limonada (Lemonade)

Limonada portrays an eccentric chemist working on developing a “limonada” antidote to identify sweet talkers. The chemist tests her antidote on her clones until she finds the right antidote.

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If I Was President (Remixed)

5 artists, 4 cities and 3 swing states come together to elevate a Collective Vision of America that represents Black, Indigenous, Working People of Color who changed the direction of the country. LA’s Las Cafeteras and The Center for Cultural Power present If I Was President - Remixed.

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Llamadas de Emergencia #NoEstásSola (Emergency Calls #Youarenotalone)

Musical video clip with a documentary tone that seeks to make visible in mexico and various parts of the world the violence against girls and women in confinement by covid-19. A Mexico-Holland co-production.

Sunday, May 30 — Tuesday, June 1

FILMS AVAILABLE FOR 72 HOURS

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Desde Philadelphia

Program Duration: 1 hour 35 minutes
Q&A moderated by Joy Soto

 

La receta de Alma (Alma’s recipe)

Alma’s recipe follows the journey of Alma Romero, a health promoter at Puentes de Salud, as she helps the Latinx community during the Covid-19 pandemic and also faces her own personal challenges.

La casa de Mama Icha (The House of Mama Icha)

The House of Mama Icha is an observational documentary that portraits the heroic return of 93-year-old Maria Donisia Navarro to Colombia.

 

We Salute You

Program Duration: 1 hour 29 minutes
Co-Presented by the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival

 

Taps

A grieving father explains his veteran son's demise with PTSD and sends him off with honor.

Sky Blossom: Diaries of the Next Greatest Generation

Sky Blossom is the film salute to 2020. It is a raw, uplifting window into 24.5 million children and millennials stepping forward as frontline heroes.

 

Afro Latino Sounds

Program Duration: 1 hour 32 minutes
Co-Presented by Minorities in Film (MiFilm)

 

Ser Feliz No Vão (Happy In The Gap / Feliz en la Brecha)

A black essay on trains, beaches and occupying spaces.

El murmullo de la marimba (The Whisper of the Marimba)

The marimba is the bridge between Africa and Latin America. The sound of the wooden xylophone connects the present-day life on the Ecuadorian Pacific coast with its African roots.

 

Growing, Learning, Loving

Program Duration: 42 minutes

 

Waking Hour

Sofia, a young trans woman, meets Isaac at a party. When he invites her to go home with him, Sofia must talk herself through her options.

Katya!

Women are often afraid of making a mess out of motherhood, and single mother Taisha, aged 20, is no exception. Katya! Is a poetic documentary following Taisha Ramirez, a Mexican young mother as she reflects on her past and her hopes for her and her daughter.

Las Mujeres y el Mar (The Women and the Sea)

Two women navigate life and death at sea in a remote Chilean fishing village.

Zoila

Despite her age, an elderly Salvadoran immigrant woman pushes her cart through the streets of Los Angeles, selling clothes to support herself and hoping to one day have her own stand.

Para Ti Mi Amor (To You My Love)

To You My Love investigates the visual poetry of a love letter.

 

Murales Chicano

Program Duration: 1 hour 14 minutes
Co-Presented by Philadelphia Folklore Project, Film Fatales, and New Latin Wave

 

Tejano Night

While out of town at a family gathering, a young Latino is forced to tag along with his cousin to a local Tejano bar after butchering his Spanish pronunciation at dinner.

La Voz de Lupe (The Voice of Lupe)

With the walls as their canvas, Chicano muralists have been community storytellers for well over 60 years. The ceramic mural, The Voice of Lupe by Susan Shelton continues that tradition to address racism and violence against women.

Siqueiros: Walls of Passion

Siqueiros: Walls of Passion, a one-hour documentary film about Mexican visual artist David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896–1974) and the resurrection of his Los Angeles mural América Tropical, located at the birthplace of Los Angeles and later championed by the Chicano movement as a symbol of its oppressed culture.

 

Mujeres Fuertes

Program Duration: 1 hour 16 minutes
Co-Presented by the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival

 

Alejandro

A mother drives her one year old son to visit his father's gravesite. She shares their family history, while also attempting to lift both of their spirits before they arrive.

Foreign Puzzle

Foreign Puzzle is an intimate documentary that captures the journey of an inspiring Mexican American dancer as she communicates the impermanence of life through dance while juggling the roles of a recently divorced parent of a 6-year-old, a choreographer and a primary school teacher amidst intensive treatments for breast cancer.

 

Growing Up/Crecimiento

Program Duration: 1 hour 29 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from Pennsylvania.

 

Full Beat

A transgender youth, resentful of having to spend court-ordered time with her unaccepting dad, finds an unlikely ally in his fiancé.

Canción de Invierno (Wintersong)

Danielle, a young musician, sets off on a journey with Diego, her best friend, while both of them face the pain of a break up with their partners.

 

Tales of the Trails

Program Duration: 1 hour 31 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from Pennsylvania.

 

Off the Road (Fuera del Camino)

A group of young musicians sing the deeds of three men who live in the most isolated region of the Baja California Sur desert. As the “Baja 1000”, the world's largest annual all-terrain car race, takes place crossing the Mexican-US border, these men look for an opportunity to be a part of it and escape the apparent monotony of their small communities.

 

We Are Here

Program Duration: 1 hour 47 minutes
Co-Presented by Greater Philadelphia Latin American Studies Consortium
Restricted to audiences watching from the USA & Puerto Rico. Maximum capacity of 300 viewers.

 

Ale Libre

Alejandra is a criminalized organizer and unapologetic immigrant. While she prepares for one of the biggest moments of her life — her deportation case — Alejandra is forced to reckon with a past mistake and a system that could tear her apart from her family and the only home she has ever known.

De Aqui (From Here)

From Here is a hopeful story of Tania, Sonny, Miman, and Akim — artists and activists based in Berlin and New York whose lives and futures hang in the balance of immigration and integration debates.

 

En Nuestra Piel

Program Duration: 1 hour 47 minutes

 

Nymph

Pressured by her economic situation, a newly arrived immigrant in New York enters a world of embellished sex work.

El viaje de Monalisa (The Journey of Monalisa)

After 17 years, Nicole Costa gets in touch with Iván Ojeda, her old Chilean friend from college. Back then he was a talented theater director and playwright, but it turns out he has reinvented himself.

 

My Story/Mi Historia

Program Duration: 54 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from the USA & Puerto Rico.

 

Camina (Walk)

Video-essay on the development of the human being, focused on the process of learning how to walk.

Película de mi padre (My Father's Film)

After my father died, my mother left his workshop in the garage untouched. I go back to see what these things tell me about the father I did not know.

Manos De Oro (Hands of Gold)

Sergio, a former mechanic, is in the middle of a crippling battle with arthritis. When the opportunity to fix an old family-friend's truck arises, Sergio begins a downward spiral towards denial and self-destructive behavior in an attempt to regain his identity as a working man with purpose.

Pablo

Pablo suffered an accident that left him quadriplegic. His existence completely changed and thus a question arises: What am I going to do with my life? Pablo will answer this difficult question, bringing out the strength of his spirit.

Tesoro

Selling his car to make ends meet, a lonely elderly man must relive his memories as he prepares to give up his Tesoro.

 

Webseries Showcase

Program Duration: 45 minutes

 

My Friend Frida

A millennial Frida Kahlo attempts to navigate the modern world and all its social norms.

Pay It Forward in Death

Pay It Forward in Death is an episodic web series of three young women living in NYC taking matters into their own hands.

 

Que Spooky

Program Duration: 57 minutes
Q&A moderated by Café Negro Con Genre

 

El Sueño Americano (The American Dream)

Three immigrants about to cross the border sit around a fire and discuss what "The American Dream" means to them.

Trophies

On a perfect Santa Barbara day the illustrious Amanda Cara sets her trophy husband about the task of getting her an "indoor tree" but he gets bombarded by his friend shaming him, her hot brother bullying him, a romantic threat to his marriage, his bank account drawing empty, and worst of all burnt cookies.

La audicion (The Audition)

Tony Mendes is a Latino actor who doesn't fit the Hollywood stereotype. He has to go to great lengths to get casting directors to look beyond the surface to notice his talent.

Transmitiéndolo (Passing It Down)

Canada as a nation, is known for its vast nature, peacekeeping and overall, being a vibrant cultural mosaic. However, it is only now that Canadians are looking back at its dark history of racism.

Letter of Wreck

An undocumented high school senior, Elena, gives tips on how to get her professionally frustrated History teacher to write her a much needed letter of recommendation for college.

Tuesday, June 1 — Thursday, June 3

FILMS AVAILABLE FOR 72 HOURS

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Pa'lante Mujeres

Program Duration: 1 hour 27 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from the USA & Puerto Rico. Maximum capacity of 500 viewers.

 

Ângela (Angela)

In Angela’s house, there’s a small universe of prescriptions that suggest a permanent concern for her health.

La nave del olvido (Forgotten Roads)

Claudina (70) is a repressed woman from the countryside. After her husband passes away, she meets Elsa (65), a married woman, who invites Claudina to discover real love.

 

Transformations and Mutations

Program Duration: 1 hour 13 minutes
Q&A moderated by Café Negro Con Genre

 

Más Sabe El Diablo (The Devil Knows More)

On the Colorado-New Mexico border, a traditional way of life is slowly fading away. A young man must face the dark realities of his rural community and a mysterious supernatural force as he goes on the hunt for a deadly mountain lion.

Blanes esquina Muller (Blanes st and Muller)

A los pocos días de mudarse con su novia, Jorge recibe la visita de una versión futura de él mismo que ha viajado en el tiempo. Éste le dice que su novia va a dejarlo por otro sujeto y le propone un plan para evitarlo.

Laberinto (Labyrinth)

After his wife tells him a dream in which was sexually asphyxiated by another man, Juan with OCD becomes obsessed to the point of confusing reality and doubting if he is the one who asphyxiated her.

Gone

Among the guards of a detention center there is a rumor of a migrant child, who has the power to make their innocent children disappear.

Consume

A world where everyone lives in the work stations and eats liquid food coming from dispensers. Workers that are only numbers fulfill incomprehensible and alienating tasks to earn points and reach a target to move up the chain and access a better life.

 

La Fuerza

Program Duration: 1 hour 34 minutes
Co-Presented by Chicana Directors Initiative

 

Entre Puerto Rico y Richmond: ¡Las mujeres en resistencia no se rendirán! (Entre Puerto Rico y Richmond: Women in Resistance Shall Not Be Moved)

Evoking history and ritual, this dance film honors a lineage of resistance against U.S. colonialism through the activism of Afro-Puerto Rican radical nationalist leader Dominga de la Cruz Becerril (1909-1981) and white Puerto Rican anarchist, labor organizer, and feminist writer Luisa Capetillo (1879-1922).

Mulheres de Havana (Women from Havana)

Women from Havana is a documentary film that intends to show different women living in Havana, Cuba. In a poetic tone, we visit their houses, schools and cultures, and ask the following question to viewers: is the fight for women’s rights in other countries the same as that of women who live in Cuba?

 

In Between Here & There

Program Duration: 1 hour 37 minutes
Q&A moderated by Café Negro Con Genre
Restricted to audiences watching from Pennsylvania.

 

Impermanencia: Un Tríptico Elemental (Impermanence: An Elemental Triptych)

Change is the only constant. Impermanence: An Elemental Triptych is a representation of three finite states, always repeated but never equal; bases of our reality, which we use as a reference of our conscious, remembered and imagined experiences; where the only constant is change.

Contactado

ALDO is enticed by a young man into preaching again. His vanity overcomes his fear of reliving his past, unaware of the motives of the young man.

 

Tragedies of Youth

Program Duration: 1 hour 4 minutes

 

La Playita (The Little Beach)

The City of Corrientes in summer. On the shores of Paraná, in the shadow under General Belgrano Bridge, thousands of families compete for space for their umbrella and chaise lounge.

Imelda y Luis (Imelda and Luis)

Young twins, Imelda and Luis, live a neglected life with their drug dealing mom and jerk- off drug addict older brother.

 

Instrucciones para convertirse en pez (How to become a fish)

Tras la misteriosa desaparición de su padre, una niña reflexiona acerca de la vida y la posibilidad de alcanzar la felicidad.

Super Bella

Eight year old Bella helps her neighbor, Karen, search for her missing cat. But both of them have a secret they are not ready to share.

Soy Un Vampiro (I'm A Vampire)

In and amongst the confusion created by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, 8 year-old Jackie believes she is turning into a vampire.

 

Healing Together

Program Duration: 1 hour 36 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from Philadelphia, PA. Maximum capacity of 300 viewers.

 

Tamales y Tunas (Tamales & Tunas)

In the South Carolina Indigenous Guatemalan community, women face healthcare barriers that make it difficult to carry their pregnancies to term.

Belly of the Beast

The pastoral farmlands surrounding the Central California Women’s Facility, the world’s largest women’s prison, help conceal the reproductive and human rights violations transpiring inside its walls.

 

What Happens Over Cocktails and Hors d’Oeuvres...

Program Duration: 2 hours
Restricted to audiences watching from the USA & Puerto Rico. Maximum capacity of 300 viewers.

 

Crabs in a Barrel

Voted most likely to succeed in high school, Yoly, an aspiring writer, now finds herself in her early 30s, disillusioned and desperate.

O Clube Dos Anjos (The Club of Angels)

None of them could resist. Over three decades, seven friends gathered saw their brotherhood monthly meetings turned from rituals of power to melancholy reunions of failures.

 

En La Lucha

Program Duration: 1 hour 49 minutes

 

Exiliada (Exiled)

In 1998, Zoilamérica accused her adoptive father of rape and sexual abuse. Almost 20 years later, she lives in exile while caring for her 10-year-old son.

Matar a Pinochet (Kill Pinochet)

While Chile lived one of the cruelest dictatorships under Augusto Pinochet, only some daring few considered the impossible: to kill the tyrant.

 

Nuestras Raices

Program Duration: 1 hour 18 minutes
Co-Presented by Justice for My Sister

 

Oda a los frijoles (Ode to the beans)

A literary and visual rendition of beans, Ode to the Beans merges a cooking recipe with archival footage of immigrants and fieldworkers.

Sembradoras de vida (Mothers of the land)

Mothers of the Land accompanies five women from the Andean highlands in their daily struggle to maintain a traditional and organic way of working the land.

 

Life Through Unity

Program Duration: 1 hour 35 minutes

 

Mano santa

Don Isidoro, better known as “Mano santa” in his hometown, shelters his grandson for a
few days after he ran away from his home.

Ciegos

Juan, a 13-year-old boy, travels with his father Marco — who was blinded during the Falklands War — to his childhood hometown.

 

El Mundo Entero

Program Duration: 41 minutes

 

Melting Snow

Melting Snow is a short archival documentary exploring the coloniality of Puerto Rico’s labor through the symbol of water.

Lost Year

A reflection of a doomed year.

Chimenea de muerte (Chimney of death)

Natividad, Aldwin and Alberto, residents of the Miramar community in Guayama, Puerto Rico, one of the communities mainly affected by the Applied Energy Systems (AES) coal mine, narrate their daily struggles against the burning of mineral coal, and the use and deposit of toxic ash nearby from their homes.

Aguas Negras (Black Waters)

“Aguas Negras” (“Black Waters”) is a documentary about the Cuautitlán River that runs through the State of Mexico.

 

Nuestras Verdades

Program Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from Pennsylvania.

 

At Last

A timid high school girl reveals her truth during the most important night of the year.

Nudo Mixteco

The trace of the past is present when three migrants return to a community in the highlands of Mixtec Oaxaca in Mexico, where their three stories intersect.

 

Somos Dignos

Program Duration: 1 hour 48 minutes

 

El Triste

A Drama that takes place on the backstage of a marionette show. El Triste, a poorly crafted marionette, is going through an existential crisis and decides to do all it takes to prove to himself and his fellow puppets that he is valuable and worthy of attention.

A Morte Habita a Noite (Death Inhabits at Night)

In his fifties, alcoholic and unemployed, Raul’s equilibrium is his passion for Ligia, with whom he has lived as a borderline for the last years. But their relationship is not the same anymore.

 

Arte de la Tierra

Program Duration: 1 hour 39 minutes

 

On / Off

Endless distractions threaten to destroy creativity.

Supermalo

Cuban street artists are having their moment. Their own fight against the countries harsh censorship laws have recently made international headlines.

Gallos de Pelea: La Ultima Temporada (Cockfights: The Last Season)

Religion, culture, tradition and geography greatly affect the roles we assign to animals.

Friday, June 4 — Sunday, June 6

FILMS AVAILABLE FOR 72 HOURS

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Reflejos

Program Duration: 1 hour 38 minutes

 

Breaking Through

A woman gets stuck in a bathroom and it kinda, sorta changes her life, actually.

Madalena

Luziane, Cristiano, and Bianca have almost nothing in common, beside the fact that they all live in the same rural city surrounded by soy fields in western Brazil.

 

Ritmo y Resistencia

Program Duration: 1 hour 40 minutes

 

A su propio ritmo (At Its Own Rhythm)

A su propio ritmo (At Its Own Rhythm) lifts the curtain on a mostly unknown audiovisual archive chronicling the early years of the Cuban Revolution: the Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano (ICAIC Latin American Newsreel).

Calle de la Resistencia

Calle de la Resistencia is a musical film shot during the Covid-19 pandemic. It's an emotional look at the struggle of the Puerto Rican people to regain its dignity.

 

Between You and Me

Program Duration: 1 hour 12 minutes
Q&A moderated by Joy Soto
Restricted to audiences watching from the USA & Puerto Rico.

 

Notes, Imprints (On Love): Part II, Carmela

An afternoon exercise piecing together minimal details for safekeeping: my grandmother’s garden, her music, recipes for healing and wellbeing.

Niña mamá (Mother-Child)

In the intimacy of Argentine public health system, the movie reveals the stories of teenagers who, caught by different types of violence, decide whether or not to proceed with pregnancy.

 

Youth Salon: Nuestra Escuela

Program Duration: 1 hour 3 minutes
Co-Presented by MDOCS Forum

 

Haciendo Posible Lo Imposible (Making the Impossible Possible)

Making the Impossible Possible tells the story of the student led struggle to win Puerto Rican Studies at Brooklyn College, CUNY in the late 1960’s.

La Guerra Contra Nuestras Escuelas (The War Against our Schools)

La Guerra Contra Nuestras Escuelas (War Against our Schools) is a documentary project exploring the short and long term impact of school closings and privatization of education in Puerto Rico.

 

El Camino

Program Duration: 1 hour 46 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from Pennsylvania.

 

12 Kilómetros (12 Kilometers)

It’s nap time. A rural girl, just eight years old, is the only companion of her mother, who’s about to give birth.

La frontera (The Border)

Amid a political crisis, on the border between Colombia and Venezuela, an Andean woman, her husband, and brother live on looting travelers. However fate pushes her to the brink of illusion and getting lost in mysterious dreams.

 

Sus Vidas

Program Duration: 1 hour 28 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from the USA & Puerto Rico.

 

Célio's Circle

Célio lives at a large metropolis' margin. His body works like an antenna that captures all the turbulence happening in the world. Célio is also the world.

Historias del Cabo Corrientes (Stories from Cabo Corrientes)

The documentary immerses us in the fantastic and magical stories of the habitants of Cabo Corrientes (department of Chocó, Colombia) where lives a community of Afro-Colombians descended from slaves to the Spanish colonization.

 

Life in Fiction

Program Duration: 1 hour 42 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from Philadelphia, PA. Maximum capacity of 500 viewers.

 

TIME

After losing the love of his life, a robotics scientist attempts to bring his soulmate back to life. This short film music video features the live orchestral song "Time" by Hans Zimmer.

Son of Monarchs (Hijo de Monarcas)

Mirroring the annual, instinctual flight of the Monarch butterfly across the Americas, the ravishing Son of Monarchs presents a different kind of immigration story.

 

Soy Yo

Program Duration: 1 hour 49 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from Philadelphia, PA.

 

Beat Lingo

Marcus hasn’t had an easy life. Suffering from mutism since birth has kept Marcus quiet his entire life and made him the target of ridicule. After years of home-schooling Marcus faces his biggest challenge yet - his first day of regular school.

Entre Fuego y Agua (Between Fire and Water)

Camilo is the adopted son of an indigenous couple of the Quillasinga tribe in the southwest of Colombia. He is the only black person in his community and has always felt different.

 

Luchadoras

Program Duration: 1 hour 36 minutes

 

Malinchista

A 2D animated short film reclaiming a Spanish slur to empower Latinx women by retelling the story of La Malinche.

Valiente (Fearless)

An intimate portrait of a boxing gym in a small town of Conroe, Texas. The film is constructed as an allegory for the challenges faced by people of color and immigrants in the US.

 

Volando Hasta el Sol

Program Duration: 1 hour 1 minute

 

Dreamer

Lily Cruz, a DACA recipient, travels on a medical volunteer mission and upon returning to the USA a TSA agent isn’t so welcoming.

Rosa

While working at her aunt's flower shop, Rosa takes her job underground when she begins a side business of shipping undocumented bodies to their home countries for burial.

To Be Reconciled

Carlos' years-long battle against deportation leads his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. During this period of limbo, he pursues reconciliation with his faith, family and the law.

 

Los Cantantes

Program Duration: 1 hour 44 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from Pennsylvania.

 

Año sabático (Sabbatical)

Carolina is a well-known Venezuelan singer who had to migrate to Colombia and work as a maid due to the political crisis in her country. Now she is trying to resume her artistic career.

La última gira (The Last Tour)

Bolero and Guaracha singing idol Daniel Santos – the “Restless Anacobero”, the “Barrio Dandy” – was one of Tropical Music’s most colorful and enigmatic figures.

 

Ancestry/Ascendencia

Program Duration: 1 hour 20 minutes
Co-Presented by In the Cut LA & The Video Consortium
Q&A moderated by Gotham Panel
Restricted to audiences watching from the USA & Puerto Rico.

 

Living Altars

Living Altars is a remarkably intimate short film by directing duo Peggy Peralta and Lourdes Figueroa. Artists Marie-Astrid Do-Rodriguez and Eli Reyes, folk arts teachers at Los Cenzontles Cultural Arts Academy in San Pablo, CA, hoped to create an in-person, community altar for the Academy's traditional Day of the Dead gathering, but this became impossible due to Covid-19 restrictions. So the filmmakers were invited to create a film to convey their creative process and stories of loss, gratitude and healing.

Negra

I was about seven years old the first time someone called me “black” on the street. I turned around to see who they were talking to, until I realized it was me. That day I understood I was black, and the laughter it caused among the people nearby made me think being a black person wasn’t that great… Was this only happening to me? Or did it happen to other black women?

 

Stories of Journeys

Program Duration: 1 hour 31 minutes
Co-Presented by Greater Philadelphia Latin American Studies Consortium

 

Displaced

An immigrant, descendant of immigrants. This is my lament. My attempt at understanding. Absurd historic recurrence.

Avanzaré tan despacio (Moving so Slowly)

Moving so Slowly is a non-fiction film that follows the fate of different characters who, as immersed in a Kafkaesque story, await in queues that seem to have no end in the Department of Immigration in Costa Rica.

 

Nuestra Tierra

Program Duration: 1 hour 31 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from the USA & Puerto Rico.

 

UXO

An island's microcosm shaken by the constant detonations of UXOs is captured in a brief composition of sublime yet forceful sound and image.

Laberintho Yo'eme (Yo’emian Labyrinth)

A documentary about an ancient warrior tribe called the Yaqui, who struggle to survive.

 

LOLA Award Winners Shorts Block

Program Duration: 48 minutes
Read more about our LOLA Award Winners

 

#Whitina

Inspired by coming of age cult classics, #Whitina is a film about exploring the crossroads of the inner and outer struggles of being Mexican-American against the backdrop of a social media obsessed society.

Joyride

Sisters Marina and Karina break their grandmother Juana out of her senior living facility. Juana enlists her granddaughters to take her to the Grand Canyon in secret. The car ride reveals some painful family history and allows Juana to carry out some unfinished business.

Superestar

Two Salvadoran women, one a first generation indie-pop singer, and the other an immigrant bathroom attendant at an LA nightclub, bond over their different troubles and their mutual love of music.

When You Clean a Stranger’s Home

A first-generation high school student describes what her and her mom learn about people when cleaning their homes for a living. House decor and items left around convey a privilege that unveils her imagination, jealousy, and frustrations.

 

Justice/Justicia

Program Duration: 1 hour 28 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from the USA & Puerto Rico.

 

They Call Us Sediciosos

An ignored narrative of Mexican-Americans in U.S. history: In 1915, Jovita Idár, a reporter, writer, and activist for women and Mexican-American civil rights, interviews a mother whose son has gone missing while at the hands of racist Rangers and vigilantes who have been targeting the Texas-Mexican community in the Lower Rio Grande Valley during a time known as “La Matanza” (The Massacre).

El árbol de Matías (Matías’ Tree)

My grandfather was killed at the beginning of the war in Colombia, after that fact several men in the family have chosen weapons. Like my cousin´s son that was injured in combat by the paramilitary, whom was recruted with only 15 years of age. My father managed to build a different life for himself. That is the hope that I wish illuminates my son Matías and all of us, the sons and daughters of war.

 

LOLA Award Honorable Mention Features Block

Program Duration: 1 hour 9 minutes
Co-Presented by In the Cut LA & International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival
Read more about our LOLA Award recipients

 

Alas (Wings)

Giving the opportunity to self-representation, the director of the film enters the woman prison in Puerto Rico. This piece of participatory filmmaking was made between the filmmaker and almost 42 woman in jail, who learn the camera work, sound and storytelling.

Elena

In 1937, tens of thousands of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent were exterminated by the Dominican army, on the basis of anti-black racism. Fast-forward to 2013, the Dominican Republic’s Supreme Court stripped the citizenship of anyone with Haitian parents, retroactive to 1929, rendering more than 200,000 people stateless.

 

Towards New Visions

Program Duration: 23 minutes

 

It Can Be Done

With record-high poverty and unemployment rates, a group of people gather at the obelisk of the city of Buenos Aires to support Mauricio Macri´s re-election after his defeat in the primary presidential election of 2019.

BOMBA ANCESTRAL

A short film about the first Bomba Ancestral organized by Sheila Osorio and Samuel Lind in Loíza where the river meets the sea.

Hello Sunshine

There is no woman like Roz Pichardo. More than a domestic violence and gun violence survivor, Roz is a warrior.

NONSTOP

Valerie Jefferson is a bus operator, and head of the union for the Regional Transit Authority workers. With the backdrop of New Orleans, the hardest hit Southern city in the early months of the pandemic, NONSTOP illuminates systemic reasons Black citizens have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

 

Escuche Nuestras Voces

Program Duration: 1 hour 42 minutes
Co-Presented by Greater Philadelphia Latin American Studies Consortium

 

Aquí (Here)

An intimate exploration of Puerto Rican political protests as an affective space of reclamation, empowerment and political-personal demand.

Mapa de Sueños Latinoamericanos (Map of Latin American Dreams)

Martín Weber photographed several people in Latin America, asking them to write their dreams on a blackboard. Decades later, he goes on a new journey in the search for the same people to give testimony of Latin America through their lives.

 

Determinación

Program Duration: 1 hour 32 minutes
Co-Presented by Film Fatales & Firelight Media
Restricted to audiences watching from the USA & Puerto Rico.

 

Todas Las Sombras (All Shadows)

Luz an immigrant teen, lives in an apartment in Queens, New York, with her parents Marta and Alejandro. A hard-working student, who believes that without effort, talent is nothing, but unmet potential.

Fruits Of Labor

Ashley Solis is a high school senior who must divide her time between school and supporting her family as a second-generation Mexican American.

 

La Experiencia

Program Duration: 1 hour 27 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from the USA & Puerto Rico. Maximum capacity of 500 viewers.

 

Light on a Path, Follow

Light on a Path, Follow centers Joaquín, a transmasculine pregnant person who endures labor alone in mid-1990s New England.

The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet (El Perro Que No Calla)

Sebastian is an ordinary man in his thirties devoted to his loyal dog and working in a slew of temporary jobs. As he moves fitfully through adulthood, he navigates love, loss and fatherhood — until the world is rocked by a sudden catastrophe, upending his already turbulent life….

 

Amor y Pérdida

Program Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from Philadelphia, PA.

 

Luces de la Ciudad (City Lights)

Taking place over the course of a single day, City Lights follows the stories of three very different Latinx millennials living in the Los Angeles greater area.

iGilbert

Gilbert Gonzalez (Adrian Martinez), feels isolated from the world. He is 39, a virgin, diabetic, and lives with his sarcastic, overprotective mother, who owns the upper Manhattan brownstone.

 

Power In Knowledge

Program Duration: 1 hour 42 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from the Mid-Atlantic United States. Maximum capacity of 300 viewers.

 

Sol (Sun)

A resilient mother races to teach her daughter all that she knows to weather the effects of climate change.

PAPI

Papi recounts a day in the life of Sonia, an 8-year-old girl with a vibrant imagination. Her flashbacks and surreal flights of fancy shed light on her relationship with her father, who is only ever known as the elusive “Papi” figure.

 

Ghosts and Memories

Program Duration: 2 hours 48 minutes
Co-Presented by Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival

 

Alguien Cuida tu Morada (Someone Watches Over You)

A gravedigger with his workshop right next to the Lares Municipal Cemetery answers to the visitors who wish to see their loved ones' graves, while the Cemetery remains partially closed due to the destruction generated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria back in 2017.

A Colombian Family

A mother and daughter confront the past after years of civil war, but end in the difficult dilemma between reconciliation and political ideals.

 

Feminine Fortuity

Program Duration: 1 hour 29 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from Pennsylvania.

 

Tercera Trinidad (Third Trinity)

A wise Puerto Rican santera bestows a puzzling premonition upon her pregnant daughter, who fears losing her artistic practice to the demands of motherhood.

La Madrina: The Savage Life of Lorine Padilla

La Madrina: The Savage Life of Lorine Padilla is a feature length documentary about a beloved South Bronx matriarch and former “First Lady” of the Savage Skulls gang struggling to remain visible in a rapidly gentrifying community she helped rebuild in the 1980s.

 

Flipping The Script

Program Duration: 56 minutes

 

Sobre Ela (About Her)

About Her deals with a sad and unfortunate issue: domestic violence against women. Due to the alarming numbers of feminicide worldwide, it is urgent: we must talk about it.

#LOLASJOURNEY

Lola has it all. A great job, a cute apartment, a boyfriend, a best friend, and... a few extra pounds. She’s also in physical pain. But maybe, just maybe it’s all in her head? Why else would the people who care about her blame her physical ills to her weight?

Niceville

A short film about the consequences of trying to be honest in the process of leaving your hometown. This film chronicles the formative summer of a 17-year old girl, Ofelía (Felí), living in a small North Florida town.

Disrupted Borders

This story is a counterpoint to the popular media narratives of the border, with inhabitants portrayed either as helpless victims or heinous criminals. This is a story of ingenuity, strength, but most of all, of love; one between the best of friends.

The Sunset Is Not a Permanent Home

The Sunset is Not a Permanent Home was filmed in New York before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the states and now serves as the reminder we need about love, friendship, and home in the world we once knew.

 

Finding Your Own Way

Program Duration: 1 hour 39 minutes

 

The Girl Next Door

A prodigy musician trapped in a rural town fights for her freedom to achieve greatness.

Vivir Ilesos (Living Unscathed)

Una pareja de estafadores de poca monta es reducida por un hombre, quien secuestra a la mujer y abandona al joven.

 

Stories of Sentiment

Program Duration: 55 minutes

 

Lotería!

Rafa is forced into the trial of his life when he awakens to find himself face to face with Destiny and her deck of lotería cards.

For Grace

A Poetic short drama following Grace, whose quaint and quiet world is suddenly interrupted by the arrival of an unexpected visitor.

Mango Season

A recent Cuban refugee arrival, Raul, is hunting for mangoes he can hustle to local bodegas for some cash when he inadvertently becomes octogenarian Cuban lady prey.

Gosta de Poesia? (Do You Like Poetry?)

Do You Like Poetry? follows the daily routine of Roberto, one of the inhabitants of the largest city in South America. After starting a medical treatment, he realizes that the result may not be as he expected.

Hell of a Pitcher

Hell of a Pitcher tells the story of Adora, her girlfriend Ophelia and their group of friends that on a 4th of July night trespass a Baseball Field.

 

The Journeys We Take

Program Duration: 1 hour 27 minutes
Restricted to audiences watching from the USA, Puerto Rico, and Colombia.

 

Nahjum

A prehistoric family’s desperate search for a mythical source of life turns into tragedy when the egos and obsessions of their male members rise to the surface.

Ríos de Ceniza (Rivers of Ash)

Esteban decides to end his life by jumping from a bridge to a large water dam that transports him to a dream universe where he embarks on a purgatory journey in which he faces his past and his insecurities. As he progresses along this timeless path, Esteban remembers his remote house among the Colombian mountains where he works under the command of his father...

Closing Weekend Features

One-time Screenings and FILMS AVAILABLE FOR 24 HOURS

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Sneak Preview Rough Cut Community Screening: EXPANDING SANCTUARY

Sneak Preview Rough Cut Community Screening. Restricted to audiences watching from Philadelphia, PA.

This program is only available for 24 hours (12AM Saturday, June 5th — 11:59PM Saturday, June 5th).
expanding-sanctuary.jpg

Immigrant mother Linda Hernandez emerges as a community leader during the historic campaign to end the sharing of the Philadelphia police database with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Expanding Sanctuary tells a rarely told story about a Latinx immigrant community’s successful journey to change legislation and protect families.

Kristal Sotomayor
USA // 2022
Documentary
Spanish
26 minutes

 

The Horror Crowd

Restricted to audiences watching from the USA & Puerto Rico.

This film is screening once on Saturday, June 5th @ 7PM.
Greg Grunberg & Clare Kramer.jpg

Who are the minds behind the macabre of present day? A revealing, intimate documentary from veteran actor insider Ruben Pla, The Horror Crowd spotlights the Hollywood horror community, covering such wide-ranging topics as Women In Horror, Race Relations, Being The Weird Kid, Sparking The Imagination, Helping Each Other, Film Festivals, and The Dark Side.

Philadelphia Premiere

Ruben Pla
USA // 2020
Documentary
English
91 minutes

 

Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided to Go For It

Restricted to audiences watching from Philadelphia, PA. Maximum capacity of 500 viewers.

This film is only available for 24 hours (12AM Sunday, June 6th — 11:59PM Sunday, June 6th).

PHLAFF 2021 LOLA LEGACY FILM

Over a 70+ year career, Rita Moreno defied both her humble upbringing and relentless racism to become a celebrated and beloved actor, one of the rare EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) Award Winners of our time. Born into poverty on a Puerto Rican farm, Moreno and her seamstress mother immigrated to New York City when Moreno was five years old. After studying dance and performing on Broadway, Moreno was cast as any ethnic minority the Hollywood studios needed filled, be it Polynesian, Native American or Egyptian. Despite becoming the first Latina actress to win an Academy Award for her role as Anita in “West Side Story” (1961), the studios continued to offer Moreno lesser roles as stereotypical ethnic minorities, ignoring her proven talent.

Mariem Pérez Riera
USA // 2020
Documentary
English
89 minutes

 

EXU E O UNIVERSO (ESU AND THE UNIVERSE // ESU Y EL UNIVERSO)

Sneak Preview Rough Cut Community Screening. Restricted audience.

In Brazil, a country where religious freedom is under attack and racism is a systemic issue, a community struggles to prove their god Esu is not the devil. “Esu and the Universe'' is a documentary about freedom of worship, the decolonization of thought and the influence of the Yoruba people in Brazil and around the world.

Thiago Zanato and Adriana Barbosa
Brazil, Nigeria // 2022
Documentary
Portuguese, English and Yoruba
85 minutes

 

Salaryman

Sneak Preview Rough Cut Community Screening. Restricted audience.

A salaryman in Japan is a white collar worker that devotes his life to his employer. Salarymen’s relentless work ethic helped build the country into the global superpower it is today.

Allegra Pacheco
Costa Rica // 2021
Documentary
English & Japanese
78 min

YOUTH SALON

MULTIPLE WAYS TO WATCH

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YOUTH SALON SHOWCASE

Free Youth Salon Showcase available to screen Friday June 4 — Sunday June 6 via Eventive.
Also available via
PhillyCAM TV every Saturday @ 2pm during the month of June.

Mora & Chenchi

YOUTH SALON WINNER 🌟

Diego Toussaint
New York Film Academy — BFA Filmmaking
2020
20 minutes

Last Day

Kevin Valentin
University Of The Arts — Film
2020
3 minutes

Pillow Talk

Kevin Valentin
University Of The Arts — Film
2021
2 minutes

School Life

Aleishka Ruiz
2021
3 minutes

Red Head

YOUTH SALON HONORABLE MENTION 🌟

Alisha Parra
2021
5 minutes

This Choice Is Our Voice

This Choice Is Our Voice is a short documentary about the power of youth voice in voting and social change. It features Vote That Jawn, a youth-led initiative working to increase voter participation among their peers and communities.

Jose Quintana
2020
10 minutes

Clockwork

Naomi Betancourt-Rodriguez
2020
3 minutes

A Play on Words

Yazmin Ortiz
2021
5 minutes

Writers Block

YOUTH SALON HONORABLE MENTION 🌟

Solomon Jones
Carver HSES — 2021
5 minutes

A Mother's Soldier

A mother's reflection on her daughter, on coming to terms with the life she lives.

Aleishka Ruiz
2020
3 minutes

Kindergarten: Online Edition

Leila Ibrahim
University of the Arts
2020
5 minutes

Void

Reubin Gantt
2021
3 minutes

Nos Tenemos (WE STILL HERE)

Sneak Preview Rough Cut Community Screening. Restricted to Youth Salon audiences only.

Mariangelie and Yeyo are navigating the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, a disaster that brought unprecedented levels of devastation to Puerto Rico. They lead a group of young residents to Washington D.C. to protest in the halls of Congress. In this coming of age story they find their power while creating a sustainable future for themselves and their community.

Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi
Puerto Rico // 2021
Documentary
Spanish
55 minutes

PHILLYCAM SHOWCASE

AIRING SUNDAYS at 7:30 PM EST throughout May

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PHILLYCAM SHOWCASE

Watch via Xfinity 66/966HD/967, Verizon 29/30, Roku, Apple TV, and PhillyCAM TV.

 

Grown Without Water

As the sun breaks over a purple mountain, a woman wakes from a dream in the middle of the West Texas desert, just outside of El Paso. She’s wrapped in soft sheets, in the bed the women who came before her slept in. There, in the middle of the dirt, she dreamed she was drowning…

Philadelphia Premiere

Xochitl Rodriguez
USA // 2020
Experimental & Documentary
English
10 Minutes

Cenicero De Dios

Lorena and her mother live in Ciudad Juárez, a border with El Paso, Tx. U.S. Lorena lives waiting for her father’s return, while her mother is obsessed with knowing something about him. In Lorena’s memory there remains a monument, a history and hope.

Philadelphia Premiere

Celina Galicia
Mexico // 2020
Narrative
Spanish
14 Minutes

YÁ’ÁT’ÉÉH ABINÍ Good Morning

Haunted by her father’s death from a global virus that has ravaged her native Navajo nation, and now under constant surveillance from an unknown military, Crystal must learn to embrace her visions, memories and dreams in order to both survive and re-discover what may be left of the world.

Philadelphia Premiere

Morningstar Angeline
Mexico // 2020
Narrative
English & Dineh
13 Minutes

Los Amuletos Migran

In July 1980, nineteen year old Dora Rodríguez fled her native El Salvador and crossed the US/Mexico border. In Los Amuletos Migran, we accompany Dora while she looks through migrants’ personal belongings, which were seized and discarded by Ajo Border Patrol…

Philadelphia Premiere

Amada Tourella
USA & El Salvador // 2020
Documentary
Spanish
8 Minutes

Oda a Los Frijoles

A literary and visual rendition to beans, this experimental short merges a cooking recipe with archival footage of immigrants and fieldworkers.

Philadelphia Premiere

Karolina Esqueda
Mexico 2020
Documentary
Spanish
4 Minutes

JOSIE

The documentary short film JOSIE is a true account of a woman living on the US/Mexico border and her quest to find retribution while becoming an undefeated martial artist. The film is narrated by her own daughter adding a more intimate perspective into her mothers story.

International Premiere

Jackie Barragan
USA // 2020
Documentary
English
14 Minutes

Jamaica & Tamarindo

The Jamaica flower in Tamarind are iconic ingredients Mexico, but their story comes from a place much further away. In Jamaica and Tamarindo: Afro tradition in the heart of Mexico, we meet five people to explore African heritage in Mexico City, and identity that goes beyond the color of one’s skin.

Philadelphia Premiere

Ebony Bailey
Mexico // 2020
Documentary
Spanish
18 Minutes