The 15th annual Providence Latin American Film Festival - a week-long event presenting selected documentary, animated, feature and short films produced in Latin America or by Latin American directors - will launch this Saturday at venues throughout downtown Providence. In addition to film, the festival includes panel discussions, art exhibits, musical performances, dance performances and other representations of Latin American culture.
Tickets are free for all Rhode Island School of Design and Brown students, said Jose Torrealba, executive director of the festival.
"The youth is our main target," he said. "One of the most important goals of the film festival is to give the young Latin Americans growing up here a sense of belonging that I don't think they have."
The Providence Latin American Film Festival was founded in 1993 by the Gamboas, a Bolivian couple living in Providence. They wanted to promote Latin American culture and give Latin American filmmakers the chance to exhibit work in New England. Torrealba said the Gamboas also thought it was important to expose the Hispanic community in Providence to Latin cinema.
"Many Americans come to the film festival," Torrealba said. "Usually the Latin American community of Providence isn't the main audience. But I think that this year it's going to be different. There is a feeling of expectancy in the local Latin American community."
One of the few competitive Latin American film festivals in the country, PLAFF offers awards for best film, first work, actor, actress, first feature film, screenplay and cinematography.
"The festival is one of the few that has a juried competition," Torrealba said. "The jury depends on availability. We ask these people to come to Providence for a whole week. We try to have different professionals - some actors, some directors, some writers."
"Fernando Birri is the honorary president of the festival," Torrealba said. "He is known as the father of the new Latin American cinema. He's 83 years old and a walking legend."
The films included in the festival are selected by a programming committee, and according to Torrealba, "are jewels that get unseen by many" due to a lack of distribution and funding.
"The big problem is that people have the idea that you go to the movies to laugh or cry but not to think," Torrealba said. "We want to show people that thinking and getting informed doesn't go against entertainment."
The 40 films touch upon a wide variety of topics relevant in Latin America and Latin American immigrant communities in North America. The opening film, "The Violin," tells the story of a violin-playing farmer who is also a supporter of the guerrilla movement in Mexico. "The Short Life of Jose Antonio Gutierrez" documents the experience of the so-called 'green card soldier' from Guatemala, who was the second US marine to be killed in Iraq.
The documentary "May I Speak?" examines Venezuelan society under Hugo Chavez and the diverse views of Venezuelans regarding their current political situation. "Winning the Battle," which is followed by a panel discussion, is a Puerto Rican film about three women with different socioeconomic backgrounds that are brought together by the same illness.
Other films, like "Shut Up and Do It," deal with Hispanic communities in the United States.
" 'Shut Up and Do It' is the first film in the competition that is made by Latin Americans in English," Torrealbo said. The film centers around an actor who, tired of the way Latinos are portrayed in film and television, decides to start his own movie project and make things right.
"It is interesting because people can relate to it. In Latin America, nobody asks you where you are from unless you have an accent," Torrealbo said. "Here, we have to start questioning how Latin we are because of our color. Latin Americans don't find themselves portrayed anywhere unless they are being stereotyped. The reality is very different."
