The International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago announced this month that the 36th Chicago Latino Film Festival will now take place virtually from September 18-27. The Festival was originally scheduled for April 16-30 at the AMC River East 21 Theatres, but was postponed on March 13th when Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered all events of a 1,000 or more attendees to be canceled or postponed. The Festival will present 44 features and 38 shorts.
Some of the high profile titles participating in this year’s Festival include: Ema, Pablo Larraín’s exhilarating and incendiary drama about family and reggaetón starring Mariana Di Girolamo and Gael García Bernal (in his third collaboration with the Chilean director); Divine Love, Gabriel Mascaro’s (Neon Bull) dystopian tale about a woman’s pursuit of motherhood in a Brazil ruled by a fundamentalist party that has a say on its citizens’ sex and family lives; Amalia, the latest nightmare from Mars Volta founder Omar Rodríguez-López, about a woman who becomes obsessed with her late husband’s lover; the anthology film Days of Light, which brings together six filmmakers from each Central American country to tell six different stories about the aftermath of a solar storm in the entire region; four retired filmmakers match wits with a couple of ruthless real estate developers who will stop at nothing to buy their dilapidated mansion in The Weasel’s Tale, Juan José Campanella’s (The Secret in Their Eyes) darkly funny tribute to the golden age of Argentinean cinema; and Cuaco, the story of a man who returns home travelling through the same route he took to migrate to the United States three decades before, written and directed by the Pilsen-based Colectivo El Pozo. The full schedule can be found here: https://chicagolatinofilmfestival.org/films/virtual-film-schedule/
“We are happy to finally be able to present this robust cinematic assortment of short and feature films. While we cannot gather in person to enjoy and engage our filmmakers and the public in a face-to-face conversation about these films this year, we are still providing this amazing talent and film lovers a platform to do so. We may not be able to travel to Latin American, Spain and Portugal right now due to the pandemic, but we are bringing these countries, their people and their stories to homes across the state through these shorts and features,” said Pepe Vargas, executive director of the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago, producer of the Chicago Latino Film Festival.
The Festival will be working with Eventive, whose virtual screening platform has become, in the last few months, the leader in providing film festivals and independent films with a secure way to make these films available to a wider audience. All films will be geo-blocked to residents of the state of Illinois.
As with the live version of the Festival, each feature will be paired with a thematically appropriate short. Tickets for films are $15 for general public and $13 for ILCC members, students and seniors; all fees are included in the price. After unlocking you’ll have 3 days to watch the film; once you begin, you will have 48 hours to finish watching.
Festival passes good for 10 films: $100 for general public ($50 savings) and $80 for ILCC members, students and seniors ($70 savings).
For updates, visit www.chicagolatinofilmfestival.org.