Shows & Events
The Boston Latino International Film Festival

Past Event

Sep 24—Oct 03, 2021

The Boston Latino International Film Festival

Since its inception in 2001, the Boston Latino International Film Festival (BLIFF) has been committed to using the power of film to break stereotypes, bring cultures and communities together and reveal the complex issues that affect the Latinx community in the United States, Latin America and Spain.

Info

Venue

Virtual Event
On Demand Streaming

Dates

Sep 24, 2021 - Oct 03, 2021

Details

$10 per film

Streaming viewing window listed per film below

Films

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It

Directed by Mariem Pérez Riera

$10 | 90 Minutes | PG-13

Fri, Sep 24 @ 6:00 pm –
Sun, Oct 03 @ 10:00 pm

RITA MORENO: JUST A GIRL WHO DECIDED TO GO FOR IT illuminates the humor and the grace of Moreno, as well as lesser-known struggles faced on her path to stardom, including pernicious Hollywood sexism and abuse, a toxic relationship with Marlon Brando, and serious depression a year before she emerged an Oscar winner. Moreno’s talent and resilience triumphed over adversity, as she broke barriers, fought for representation and forged the path for new generations of artists.

Q&A with the producer to follow.

Viewing of this video is available only to those in New England.

Tickets

Dreams of Chonta

Directed by Monica Cohen

$10 | 87 Minutes | All Ages
In Spanish with English subtitles

Fri, Sep 24 @ 6:00 pm –
Sun, Oct 03 @ 10:00 pm

DREAMS OF CHONTA follows the story of Diego Obregon, an Afro-Colombian musician who came to the United States 16 years ago in search of his dreams. He made the ultimate sacrifice by leaving his family behind and living a solitary life.

This is not just another immigrant story focused on terror, inequity and policy; this is a story about the hopes and dreams of an artist, the only ambassador of his music and his culture in NYC. People have never been this close to the life of an undocumented immigrant who’s struggles go beyond himself and his family to create a bridge between 2 worlds. This story honors the wealth and the ripples of change that immigration creates.

Q&A with the director to follow.

Viewing of this video is available only to those in New England.

Tickets

Elder woman standing in a garden of large plants

Perfume de Gardenias

Directed by Macha Colón

$10 | 97 Minutes
In Spanish with English subtitles

Fri, Sep 24 @ 6:00 pm –
Sun, Oct 03 @ 10:00 pm

Perfume de Gardenias is the debut film from the renowned queer Afro-Puerto Rican singer, multi disciplinary artist, and filmmaker Macha Colón. The dark comedy that captures the idiosyncrasies and spirit of a nation adept at creating novel strategies for laughter in the face of adversity, tells the story of Isabel – played by veteran theater and television actress Luz María Rondón in her first movie-starring role — an elderly woman living in a middle-class neighborhood in Puerto Rico, who has just become a widow after having cared for her husband until his last breaths. However, her recent loss becomes a blessing when she crafts a beautiful custom-made funeral for him that catches the attention of Toña (Sharon Riley), a pious but domineering woman who involves herself in local funerals.

Q&A with the director to follow.

Viewing of this video is available only to those in New England.

Tickets

Los Hermanos/The Brothers

Directed by Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider

$10 | 84 Minutes | All Ages
In English and Spanish with English subtitles

Fri, Sep 24 @ 6:00 pm –
Sun, Oct 03 @ 10:00 pm

Virtuoso Afro-Cuban-born brothers—violinist Ilmar and pianist Aldo—live on opposite sides of a geopolitical chasm a half-century wide. Tracking their parallel lives in New York and Havana, their poignant reunion, and their momentous first performances together, Los Hermanos/The Brothers offers a nuanced, often startling view of estranged nations through the lens of music and family. Featuring an electrifying, genre-bending score, composed by Cuban Aldo López Gavilán, performed with his American brother, Ilmar, and with guest appearances by maestro Joshua Bell and the Harlem Quartet.

Q&A with the filmmakers to follow.

Viewing of this video is available only to those in New England.

Tickets

Women is Losers

Directed by Lissette Feliciano

$10 | 84 Minutes | PG-13

Fri, Sep 24 @ 6:00 pm –
Sun, Oct 03 @ 10:00 pm

In 1960’s San Francisco, bright and talented Catholic school girl Celina Guerrera (Lorenza Izzo) survives a difficult home life by following the rules. That is until an indiscretion creates a series of devastating consequences. As Celina faces the compounded obstacles of being young and alone, she sets out to rise above the oppression of poverty and invest in a future that sets new precedents for the time. Inspired by real women and the Janis Joplin song of the same title, WOMEN IS LOSERS world premiered at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival, where it finished as one of the most-watched of the festival.

Q&A with the director to follow.

Viewing of this video is available only to those in New England.

Tickets

Student Shorts Program

Directors: Ethan Almonte, Pedro Aponte, Chris Carchipulla, Lena Faeskorn, Anaisha Foster, Michael Rodriguez

FREE | 60 Minutes | All Ages

Fri, Sep 24 @ 6:00 pm –
Sun, Oct 03 @ 10:00 pm

BLIFF 2021 features an hour of selected student shorts, including non-fiction and experimental films, for example, produced by high school and college students. The program will include “Pandemic Duck-Rabbit,” a poignant documentary filmed by a high school student over the course of an entire year–as well as “Safe and Unsocial” and “Facade,” two thought-provoking experimental films from R2R film school kids.

Viewing of this video is available only to those in New England.

Tickets

Girl sitting in front of a wall with college information posters behind her

Fruits of Labor

Directed by Emily Cohen Ibañez

FREE | 78 Minutes
Tickets will become available WED SEP 29 at 12PM ET.

Wed, Sep 29 @ 7:00 pm –
Thu, Sep 30 @ 7:00 pm

Co-presented with Bright Lights Film Series – *Free Screening Event*

Ashley Solis is a high school senior who must divide her time between school and supporting her family as a second-generation Mexican American. Located in a California working class town, the harshness of agricultural labor in the strawberry fields shares a stark contrast with the beautiful nature and relationship to her spiritual ancestral upbringing. Director Emily Cohen Ibáñez documents Ashley’s life guided by the spirit world through her hardships and joys in modern America.

Live Q&A with the director on September 30.

More Info & Tickets

Missing in Brooks County

Directed by Lisa Molomot and Jeff Bemiss

$10 | 81 Minutes | PG-13
In English & Spanish with English subtitles

Thu, Sep 30 @ 6:00 pm –
Sun, Oct 03 @ 10:00 pm

70 miles north of the Mexican-US border lies Brooks County, Texas – a haunted, inhospitable place where thousands of immigrants have gone missing or died over the past decade. Missing in Brooks County follows the journey of two families who arrive in Brooks County to look for their loved ones, only to find a mystery that deepens at every turn. Stuck between the jurisdiction of border agents, local law enforcement, and cartels, the county is a barren landscape designed as a deterrent to illegal crossings. Despite this tactical designation, the municipality has never been provided the resources to process the remains of the hundreds of undocumented immigrants who succumb to dehydration and exposure each year. Missing in Brooks County is a potent reminder that these deaths are more than a statistic—each represents a living human being, loved by their family, now lost.

Q&A with the filmmakers to follow.

Viewing of this video is available only to those in Massachusetts.

Tickets

Grocery worker stocking supermarket shelves

My Darling Supermarket

Directed by Tali Yankelevich

$10 | 78 Minutes | All Ages
In Portuguese with English subtitles

Thu, Sep 30 @ 6:00 pm –
Sun, Oct 03 @ 10:00 pm

“Grocery store employees, today’s essential workers, get star treatment in My Darling Supermarket (made prior to the pandemic). Set within a bright, colorful supermercado in São Paulo, Brazil, this charming, funny documentary glides through a seemingly endless array of vibrantly designed shelves and displays, but it’s the store’s employees who take center stage. Rodrigo (in bread) discusses quantum physics and parallel universes; Santo (a forklift operator) builds video game cities; a security officer tracks possible shoplifters on closed circuit TVs (“Two suspects near the condensed milk!”); Ivan (a baker) is into Manga cosplay; and then there’s the artist who lovingly paints the prices. A panoply of individuals with fears, hopes, and questions about their place in the universe are celebrated in a quirky portrait that juxtaposes their idiosyncrasies with the assumed mundanity of bringing food to our table…” —Film Forum

Q&A with the director to follow.

Viewing of this video is available only to those in Massachusetts.

Tickets

On the Divide

Directed by Maya Cueva and Leah Galant

$10 | 80 Minutes | PG-13
In English & Spanish with English subtitles

Thu, Sep 30 @ 6:00 pm –
Sun, Oct 03 @ 10:00 pm

ON THE DIVIDE follows the story of three Latinx people living in McAllen, Texas who, despite their views, are connected by the most unexpected of places: the last abortion clinic on the U.S./Mexico border. As threats to the clinic and their personal safety mount, our three characters are forced to make decisions they never could have imagined.

Q&A with the filmmakers to follow.

Viewing of this video is available only to those in New England.

Tickets

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Sep 24—Oct 03, 2021

The Boston Latino International Film Festival

Info

Venue

Dates

Sep 24, 2021 - Oct 03, 2021

Sponsored by

Details

$10 per film

Streaming viewing window listed per film below

Films

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It

Dreams of Chonta

Perfume de Gardenias

Los Hermanos/The Brothers

Women is Losers

Student Shorts Program

Fruits of Labor

Missing in Brooks County

My Darling Supermarket

On the Divide

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