Area creatives are leaning into local storytelling through short documentaries and stories that celebrate differences and community in the 42nd annual Chicago Latino Film Festival.
This year’s film festival, kicking off Thursday, features four locally produced films, including a short from the nonprofit youth media company Free Spirit Media, as well as a film that resulted from a collaboration between Deep Focus Entertainment and Mass Epiphany Studios.
In total, the festival spotlights 51 feature films and 31 short films from Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and the United States. All screenings, including the opening and closing night features, are held in Lake View at the Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema, 2828 N. Clark St.
Here are four local short films at this year’s Chicago Latino Film Festival.
“Abel”
Screening: with “Sorda” on April 17 at 7:45 p.m. and April 26 at 3:15 p.m.
Abel Berumen’s life changed when he woke up blind as a result of a rare genetic condition called pseudoxanthoma elasticum. Essentially, the transmission between his eyes and brain is being interrupted by the disease.
Years after losing his vision, Berumen met DePaul University professor Brian Zahm in an experimental filmmaking class and learned about his blindness and incredible photography career.
Zahm asked if he could gain access to Berumen’s archives to make a documentary about his life, and the 20-minute short “Abel” was born. Berumen was in his mid-50s when he got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and, suddenly, he couldn’t see anymore. “Everything was darker than dark,” he said.
For decades, Berumen worked as a commercial fashion photographer. He’d traveled to New York City and Miami for dozens of photoshoots and even opened a small studio in the Flat Iron building in Wicker Park for his personal work.
But being blind meant he couldn’t work anymore, and friends and colleagues began disappearing one by one. Berumen felt angry and alone, except for the one bright spot in his life: his partner of more than 30 years, Gia.
He’s since been able to see and experience life in new ways.“Life doesn’t stop, it doesn’t end,” Berumen said. “When circumstances change in one’s health … It’ll be different, it’ll be difficult, but life is worth living and you keep moving forward [even] when it’s still painful.”
“Cake”
Screening: with “¡Basta Mamá!” on April 19 at 6:15 p.m. and April 21 at 8:00 p.m.
Erick Juarez’s short film “Cake” stars Camila Banus as Rosy alongside Chicago actor Benjamin Delgado, who was five at the time of filming, as her son. The short film is a collaboration between local companies Deep Focus Entertainment and Mass Epiphany Studios.
The film is a 17-minute short inspired by the real story of director Erick Juarez’s 7th birthday. That year, Juarez’s mother decided that she’d no longer be baking cakes for her children’s parties. She (and everyone around her) got tired of burnt or undercooked cakes, so the logical solution was to buy one.
The short film, set in Pilsen, follows Rosy and Alex throughout the city as they head to a fancy bakery to get the last-minute dessert in an effort to make young Alex’s birthday the best one yet.
They end up at the real-life Bittersweet Pastry Shop & Cafe on West Belmont Avenue, where “Chicago Fire” actor Joe Minoso plays the part of the head baker.
He makes an exception for the mother-son duo on Alex’s special day, even though things don’t exactly unfold to plan.
“It is the story of me and my mom and how our community came together that day,” Juarez said. He said he hopes the short film reminds viewers of the importance of “kindness that we have for each other.”
“We know it, we just need a little bit of a reminder. We just need to see it,” Juarez said.
“Created with Purpose”
Screening: with “Comparsa” on April 23 at 5:30 p.m. and April 24 at 5:15 p.m.
Filmmaker Ashley Ephraim partnered with Tamika Lycheé Morales, founder of the Autism Hero Project, to tell a story that began developing over a decade ago.
When Morales’ son was diagnosed with autism in 2015, she blamed herself and “went through all the stages of grief.” There was also a sense of shame attached to the diagnosis. “I didn’t tell those who were closest to me,” she said.
But after some time, Morales began to see her son’s diagnosis as a positive and wanted to help create an accepting, inclusive world for her son.
She founded the Autism Hero Project, which has since provided medical grants, competency training for first-responders and legislative advocacy. The organization hired Ephraim to work as a video editor for the Autism Hero Project’s annual galas.
Eventually, Emphraim’s film company BrightCap Entertainment helped make “Created with Purpose.”
The 20-minute documentary focuses on local autistic individuals and how their families, neighbors and law enforcement can help create a more equitable world for those on the spectrum.
“We wanted to redefine how people see autism without erasing the reality of it,” Morales said. “Because the truth is, autism is not just one experience. This documentary reflects that truth, and it pushes back against the stigmas that say that they’re less than or broken.”
“Lluvia”
Screening: with “The Whisper” on April 17 at 8:30 p.m. and April 22 at 8 p.m.
Leiana Carrasco-Ramos wrote and starred in “Lluvia,” another locally produced film making its world premiere at this year’s film festival.
The 11-minute short tells the story of Lluvia, a young Latina woman working in corporate America. After getting passed up for a promotion, feelings of past trauma and prejudice begin bubbling up to the surface.
Carrasco-Ramos drew on real-life experiences with racism and fatphobia for “Lluvia,” adding that she wrote the script years ago during a “really angry time in my life.” “I felt really hopeless and trapped,” she said. “I feel like it’s a big metaphor for letting out that aggression and that anger.”
The bloody thriller comes from Free Spirit Media, a West Side arts and media nonprofit for youth ages 11 to 25. Director Nathan Suggs and Carrasco-Ramos met through the writers’ cohort and agreed to work together on the film.
Ultimately, the film’s goal is to respond to workplace discrimination and silencing that young Black and brown women face daily, Carrasco-Ramos said.
“For the girls that are too afraid to get angry, who are too afraid to speak up, don’t be,” she said, “because your voice matters.”