9th Annual CINE LATINO Film Festival Returns October 8 – 14

Via a recent Press Release from MSP Film Society:

MSP Film Society is thrilled to announce the 9th Annual CINE LATINO Film Festival returns October 8 – 14, 2021 to present another exciting selection of films from the world’s most acclaimed and up-and-coming filmmakers from U.S. LatinX, Latin American, and Iberian communities and regions. CINE LATINO proudly spotlights this vast cultural, linguistic, social, and historical wealth in the following festival sections: Bright New Voices, Cinema with a Conscience, We the People, The Art of Living, Masters, Women & Film, and Cine en Familia.

“Per the mission of the MSP Film Society to unite, inform and transform through the art and power of cinema, the theme of this year’s hybrid CINE LATINO is CINE JUNTOS = CINE LATINO!” said Susan     Smoluchowski, Executive Director of MSP Film Society. “Which is to say, CINE LATINO is about coming together - whether in person or from the comfort of home - through film.”

The 9th edition of CINE LATINO will present 20+ award-winning narrative and documentary films hybrid festival to MSP Film Society Members and our greater community of global cinephiles, with exuberant in-person events and screenings, engaging filmmaker conversations, and we will also continue to present Cine Latino at Home/en Casa via our virtual cinema platform to the growing Spanish-speaking populations throughout Minnesota.

This year’s CINE LATINO will also highlight and honor the African impact on and contributions to Latin American and Ibero history, communities, and cultures through a special focus on Afro-Latino films.

“Between 1525 and 1866, approximately 12.5 million Africans were brought to the Americas against their will as slaves. Besides providing the labor that built nations, this population and their descendants have contributed to the artistic and social wealth of the continent and have shaped the cultural heritage both past and present,” said Hebe Tabachnik, Artistic Director of CINE LATINO. “Recent films from all over the region are richly portraying the history, the struggles, and the lives of Black Latino Americans through fresh and powerful cinematic voices. The 9th Annual CINE LATINO pays tribute to this cultural legacy by presenting a collection of films that provide fresh perspectives and reclaim lost or forgotten histories as well as present strong counter-narratives that question, and build upon, older forms of representation.”

Some of the films that will be included in the 9th Annual CINE LATINO’s Afro-Latino program include:

A BRUDDAH'S MIND (Cabeça de nego) Directed by Déo Cardoso, Brazil, Fiction, 2020

An introvert geek and fan of the Black Panther Movement – is on a mission to promote changes in his school and neighborhood. But during a classroom quarrel, Saulo reacts to a racial insult from a classmate and is expelled. Outraged, he refuses to leave the school until justice is done. His solitary occupation ends up challenging the school’s board & mobilizes the entire community. The students did not anticipate, however, the director’s extreme reaction.

BROUWER: THE ORIGIN OF THE SHADOW Directed by Katherine T. Gavilán & Lisandra López Fabé, Cuba, CyDocumentary, 2019

Leo Brouwer, the outstanding Cuban and world-renowned composer, opens the doors to his creative space allowing the viewer to explore his daily life and work. A die-hard iconoclast, he defies us to question art, Cuba, and even the purpose of this documentary, in a way that is quintessential to his private & artistic persona after eight decades of existence. OFFICIAL TRAILER

EXECUTIVE ORDER (Medida Provisória) Directed by Lázaro Ramos, Brazil, Fiction, 2020

In Brazil’s near future, two roommates become unwitting symbols of resistance when a voluntary ‘back-to-Africa’ program for ‘high melanin’ citizens quickly becomes a violent round-up of all Black citizens in this powerful debut feature from writer/director Lazaro Ramos.

LIBORIO Directed by Nino Martínez Sosa, Dominican Republic/Puerto Rico/Qatar, Fiction 2021

Liborio disappears in a hurricane. One day he returns speaking as a prophet, curing the sick and congregates many followers deep in the mountains. The local powers confront him only to see him vanish, until he decides to confront his deepest fears and battles the invading US Marines. 

SONGS THAT FLOOD THE RIVER (Cantos que inundan al Rio) Directed by Germán Arango Rendón (aka Luckas Perro), Colombia, Documentary, 2020

Oneida was still a child when she learned the Afro-Colombian tradition of singing “alabados” to accompany the dead on their journey to purgatory. With one leg devoured by a snake, and a war without truce, she became the composer of new songs and made her wounds a source of inspiration. Today, Oneida’s compositions unite to the voice of millions in the reconciliation process of a country with one of the longest wars in history.

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The complete line-up of films and special events for the 9th CINE LATINO Film Festival will be announced September 15, 2021. All-Access passes to CINE LATINO are on sale now at MSPfilm.org/cine-latino/ and cost $60 for MSP Film Society Members, $100 for General Public.

Tickets to Individual CINE LATINO Screenings will go on sale September 23 and will cost $5 for MSP Film Society Members, $10 for General Public, and $5 for Community Partners.

CINE LATINO is an annual event presented by the MSP Film Society, Minnesota’s leading non-profit exhibitor of international independent cinema. MSP Film Society is a dynamic 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to fostering a knowledgeable and vibrant appreciation of the art of film and its power to inform and transform individuals and communities.