Yesterday evening, AFS Cinema was aglow as cinephiles and celebrities made their way into the 27th Annual Cine Las Americas International Film Festival. The Fest kicked off with an impressive red carpet event, featuring filmmakers, musicians, and actors who were all here to celebrate a weekend of Latino and Indigenous films thrown by the non-profit, Cine Las Americas. As the red carpet was starting to take place, I caught up with Cine Las Americas Lead Programmer Florencia Choto to learn what we can expect from this year’s film festival. She gave me the rundown of the fest, starting with opening night, “This is pretty much a world premiere of the film we’re showing, Take It Away,” The documentary focuses on Johnny Canales, and the impact his television show had on Tejano music.
The fun continues all through the weekend, “Tomorrow, for example, we’re featuring Spain. Everything we’re showing tomorrow is Spain-produced.” The showcase will include three Spanish feature films, Glimmers, La Infiltrada, and Llueve Sobre Babel. It’s the first time Cine Las Americas has done a day dedicated to a country, “And then on Friday, we are very international because we’re showing a Peruvian film, an Argentinian film, a Uruguayan film, and a Panamanian film.” All of the films participating in Cine Las Americas film competitions will be featured on Saturday and Sunday for free, “They have a jury award and an audience award. So if you come, not only is it free, but you also get to vote for your favorite.” Choto explained.
Back on the red carpet, things were heating up as two-time Latin Grammy Award Winner Michael Salgado made his debut, along with iconic artists Bobby Pulido and Sunny Ozuna. The line of filmmakers and musicians was impressive, and Latinitas Magazine even caught up with Fragmentos Director, Abraham J Vidal to discuss his documentary, “I’m an immigrant from Venezuela. And it was a lot of painful feelings, having to leave my home, having to leave everything I knew behind. I had to try to get rid of those feelings through this story, and that’s what this film is about.” As a local filmmaker, Vidal also expressed how grateful he was to Cine Las Americas for the opportunity to showcase Fragmentos, “It’s amazing. It’s very very important to have spaces like this where we can develop our art, we can share it with one another, and we can just feel like we’re at home with our people.”
For more information on how to attend Cine Las Americas, click here, and don’t miss out on the festival taking place now until the 18th!
