familia Filmica
The Latino Cinemedia Sidebar
If it weren’t for the Toronto Film Festival, the average
American never would’ve heard of Y Tu Mamá También or its talented
and eye-pleasing star Gael García Bernal. And if it weren’t for
Cannes, it’s hard to imagine Amores Perros ever would’ve been shown
in the same theater as Finding Forrester or Kiss the Girls. That’s
too bad, because there’s a whole world of engaging stories,
noteworthy actors, and well-made films on the other side of the
American/Latino cultural border that contemporary American
audiences may never see. Some Latino films are now making it to the
American mainstream, but they’re still too few and far between.
Luckily for us, though, Film Fest director Roger Durling and
UCSB faculty member Cristina Venegas know this — and they’re trying
to close the gap. For the second year, Venegas’s Latino Cinemedia
sidebar will screen films from Mexico, Uruguay, Brazil, Cuba, the
United States, and other parts of Latin America and Spain, all
under the umbrella of the Santa Barbara Film Festival. Offerings
run the gamut from the classic 1964 Cuban-Soviet film Soy Cuba
alongside Siberian Mammoth, a documentary that charts the film’s
history; to a biopic about Cazuza, Brazil’s Jim Morrison. There’s
also Un Año sin Amor, an Argentinean film about an HIV-positive
member of the Buenos Aires S&M leather scene; Nuestra Familia,
an American documentary about Latino gangs in California; the
Fellini-esque Uruguayan piece A Dios Momo; a documentary about
corrido music, Sinaloa, and border-crossing called Al Otro Lado;
and the Argentinean documentary Mbya: Tierra en Rojo, about the
Mbya tribe coping with globalization.
For a thought-provoking film, check out La Última Luna (The Last
Moon), a film in Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles about
Palestinian immigrants in Chile, and how conflicts in the Middle
East play out in South America. Or those seeking lighter fare can
view Temporada de Patos (Duck Season), a comedy from Mexico about
two adolescents taking advantage of their parents’ absence.
Cinemedia shorts offer bite-size films with big impact, like
Australian Aboriginal filmmaker Beck Cole’s 26-minute Lore of Love;
and the Youth Cinemedia Program will give glimpses into the future
of Latino filmmaking, as well as a window into the current lives of
young filmmakers.