The San Diego Latino Film Festival starts on Thursday and runs through March 24. With four screens across town and dozens of screenings and events, planning either a connoisseur’s full calendar or just picking a few films to sample can feel overwhelming.
Here’s some film highlights:
There’s a shorts pass, which allows you to see five different shorts programs for $35. Here’s a good listing of all the shorts program offerings. Don’t miss: docu-shorts, Hecho en USA, ¡Somos! Cine LGBTQ+ and the San Diego/Tijuana region’s shorts, ¡Frontera Filmmakers!
“Anytime we’d pan or tilt, I was afraid. Why pan? Keep it still. There’s no reason to move the camera,” director Li Cheng recently told Salon. “José,” an acclaimed LGBTQ drama that won the Queer Lion award at Venice Film Festival, screens on March 19 and March 25.
Next Tuesday’s Migrant Voice Showcase features 15 community-submitted short films that embody migrant or border issues.
Similarly, the Youth Visions Showcase on March 23 features a bunch of youth-produced projects, including several from local organizations and schools (like High Tech High Chula Vista, Del Lago Academy in Escondido, San Diego’s Teen Producers Project and more).
I’ll be taking my soccer-obsessed daughter to see “Nos Llaman Guerreras,” (translation: “they call us warriors”) about an undefeated Venezuelan girls’ soccer team. Here’s the trailer. (“Nobody knows what we go through, what we cry about.”) It screens March 19 at 5 p.m., and March 23 at noon.
And don’t miss the festival extras:
Attention foodies: Saturday’s Sabor Latino Food Wine and Beer Festival features beer, tequila, wine and food tastings from all over the San Diego/Baja region.
Attention music lovers and/or Fashion Valley shoppers: Sonido Latino offers free outdoor music showcases nearly every day of the film festival. Check out the schedule here (or just go get your mall pretzel on your own time, and hope for the best).
Voice of San Diego by Julia Dixon Evans
