The Chicago Latino Film Festival is back this year with an abundance of titles that respond to our “new reality,” says founder Pepe Vargas.
Organizers say they are using the festival as a cultural bridge between Latin American countries and the United States by showcasing international cinema alongside local independent works for two weeks at the Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema in Lake View, starting April 16.
Vargas views the festival as a way to connect with and “travel” the world, he says, especially during today’s politicized cultural climate and intensified local immigration enforcement.
“The stories are universal,” Vargas said. “But you have to be willing to get exposed and really get connected.” After more than 40 years under Vargas’ leadership, the event is the largest and longest-running festival dedicated to showcasing work by Latino filmmakers in the United States.
“The festival is an event that we need to take care of,” said programming manager Sandra Bernal A. “So when we say that everyone is invited, it’s because everyone is part of it, and we need the people to show up.”
What’s noteworthy at this year’s Chicago Latino Film Festival?
The first-ever, feature-length animated film made entirely in Mexico (“Soy Frankelda”) and the opening night feature “Aún Es De Noche En Caracas” from Venezuela are two highlights among the 51 feature-length and 31 short films in this year’s festival.
The lineup also includes several heart-pounding thrillers, organizers said, including “Borealis,” a Puerto Rican sci-fi, and “Noviembre,” Colombian director Tomás Corredor’s feature debut.
The film fest “also opens the chance to reconnect to our countries’ stories and moments that have been important in our histories,” Vargas said. Those stories often connect to modern-day moments and conflicts, he added.
In “1938: When Mexico Recovered Its Oil,” Sergio Bonilla and Raúl Briones star in the Sergio Olhovich film that took nearly two decades to make. The story is about Mexican president Lázaro Cárdenas’ decision to nationalize the country’s petroleum reserves and facilities after U.S. and British oil companies attempted to exploit the resource.
Animated films are strongly represented this year — the most to ever be screened at the festival.
“Soy Frankelda,” a dark fantasy stop-motion film by Mexican brothers Arturo and Roy Ambriz, is a Guillermo del Toro-backed film. In it, the intricately crafted puppets, made by a team of more than a dozen artists, are adorned with feathery wings, colorful eyeballs and sharp teeth. Del Toro advised the brothers and has widely promoted the film, telling fellow Mexicans it’s a “must-see.”
Now that the gothic fantasy is coming to Chicago, festival attendees will be among the first in the U.S. to see it on the big screen. (If you miss it, Netflix acquired the rights to the film, available on the streaming platform later this year.)
The Ambriz brothers’ type of creativity is exactly the kind that Latino film fest organizers aim to highlight, Vargas said. “Hopefully, we will be able to bring more and more [animated films] in the editions to come,” he said.
And “TheyDream,” by William D. Caballero, is the second animated film in this year’s festival. The movie follows Caballero’s mother as she deals with the grief and guilt after the death of her own mother, Isolina. The matriarch is brought back to life through 2D and 3D animations, documentary techniques, archival photos and videos, and several revealing mother-son discussions.
Beyond Spanish
Every film includes English subtitles, which is especially handy for the handful of films that aren’t in Spanish.
In “Runa Simi,” a documentary from Peru, Quechua takes center stage. The filmmakers follow artist-activist Fernando Valencia and his son Dylan as they work to dub “The Lion King” in the most widely spoken indigenous language of South America.
The Guatemalan drama “Cordillera de Fuego” features Kaqchikel and Tz’utujil, two languages spoken by the indigenous Mayan people. Directed by filmmaker and screenwriter Jayro Bustamante, the film centers on two volcanologists working to fight corruption and save at-risk families as a new volcano forms on Guatemala’s famous Cordillera de Fuego, or Mountains of Fire.
Bustamante brings another Guatemalan documentary to the festival this year with “Comparsa.” After 41 girls were killed in a government-run safe house, sisters Lesli and Lupe Pérez in Ciudad Peronia use art to heal deep community wounds. They’ve given life to a growing youth movement that aims to reclaim safety and space for Guatemalan women and girls.
Haitian Creole and French are spoken in “Melodrama,” a drama written by novelist Rey Andújar and Dominican director Andrés Farías. The film tells the story of Sonia, who meets and falls in love with Aimé, a Haitian construction worker, just as the Dominican Republic’s government begins its crackdown on undocumented Haitians.
Portuguese appears in at least a half dozen films, from Bruno Brini’s “Five Types of Fear” to “A Wolf among the Swans,” a biopic about Thiago Soares, the top dancer of the Royal Ballet in London until he retired six years ago.
The language is spoken in “A Shabbat on the Other Side of the River,” from director Diego Lajst, too. The film is a documentary about the Moroccan Jewish community that has called the expansive Amazon rainforest home for two centuries.
Premiering alongside Lajst’s film is the short film “Barrio Chino Havana,” which tells the story of the Afro-Cuban-Chinese community in Cuba. Thousands of Chinese workers traveled by boat to the Caribbean in the mid-19th century and formed large communities such as the one in the movie. Cuba’s Chinatown is beginning to fade, but it’s estimated that about 1 in 6 Cubans has Chinese ancestry.
Made in Chicago
Only four Chicago-made productions are included in this year’s festival lineup.
Vargas and Bernal said the lack of Chicago films this year is reflective of the challenges independent filmmakers face. Production for shows like “The Bear” and the One Chicago franchise (“Chicago P.D.,” “Chicago Med,” and “Chicago Fire”) is booming, but those projects have money and connections behind them.
Filmmaker and DePaul professor Brian Zahm submitted “Abel,” which tells the life story of Abel Berumen, a local photographer whose life changed after he woke up blind one day. “Abel” will premiere alongside “Sorda,” a film inspired by the Spanish director Eva Libertad’s sister.
Free Spirit Media, an arts and media non-profit for youth ages 11 to 25, submitted a thriller named “Lluvia,” which explores microaggressions and racism in the workplace. “Created With Purpose” is a short documentary about autism in the Latino community with the founders of the Autism Hero Project.
And “Cake,” a short film starring young Chicago actor Benjamin Delgado, was inspired by director Erick Juarez’s 7th birthday party — when his mother did everything possible to make her son’s birthday unforgettable. The short film is a collaboration between local companies Deep Focus Entertainment and Mass Epiphany Studios.
“Go and see as many films as you can,” Vargas said, adding that the film fest organizers always aim to “transform” audiences.