CineFest Latino Boston
CineFest Latino Boston Film Festival is committed to using the power of film to break stereotypes, bring cultures and communities together and reveal the complex issues affecting the Latinx community.
Emerson Paramount Center
Bright Family Screening Room
559 Washington St, Boston, MA, United States, Massachusetts
Directed by Cecilia Aldorando | Co-presentation with Bright Lights Film Series
97 mins | All Ages | From USA | English with Subtitles | FREE SCREENING, No Ticket required
What if you could rewrite your adolescence? In this high school reunion movie turned inside out, filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo embarks on a fantastical quest to reconcile her tortured teen years. She ‘goes back’ in more ways than one, tracking down old foes and friends alike, and re-staging her most primal humiliations while casting herself as a teenager.
In a cathartic, time-bending process of letting go, Cecilia is forced to confront the flawed memories she’s held onto for years. Oscillating between present and past, hallucination and reality, You were my First Boyfriend is a hybrid documentary that explores the power of adolescent fantasy, the subtle violence of cultural assimilation, and the funhouse mirror of time’s passage. Perhaps we will all learn something about growing older and making peace with the things that haunt us.
Directed by Sebastian Diaz & Noam Osband
73 mins | All ages | From USA & Mexico | Spanish with Subtitles
Raymundo Morales runs a crew of 12 Oaxacan tree planters traveling the United States in this intimate portrait about the hidden world of guest workers regrowing America’s forests. We follow them over the course of one season planting for the country’s largest reforestation company, and we watch as Raymundo balances the job’s demands with the needs of his men and their loved ones back home. Through the voices of the planters and company owners, we learn how the industry turned from American to foreign workers, and how planting went from work people cherished to work people endure.
Directed by Carolina Markowicz
107 mins | Ages 18+ | From Brazil & Argentina | Portuguese & Spanish with Subtitles
Brazil, 2022. In a remote area in São Paulo’s countryside, a rural family who lives beside a charcoal factory accepts a proposal to host a mysterious foreign guest. The home soon becomes a hideout as the so-called guest happens to be a highly wanted drug lord. The mother, her husband and child will have to learn how to share the same roof with this stranger, whilst keeping up appearances of an unchanged peasant routine.
Directed by Leonardo Barbuy La Torre
76 mins | All ages | From Peru | Quechua with Subtitles
In the Peruvian Andes, two siblings are raised in isolation by their father, a Tablas de Sarhua painter who exchanges his art in the village for supplies, while his children wait for him, cared for by their dogs. One morning, Diogenes does not wake up. Sabina and Santiago live for three days with the corpse of their father, longing for him to wake up. After recognizing his death, they will go in search of their past.
Directed by Rayell Abad Guangorena
15:36 | All Ages | From Mexico | Spanish with Subtitles
Located in Marseille, France. Cristina, a Jewish mother of Mexican origin, must face the Nazi occupation of 1940. After the deportation to a concentration camp of her husband, Cristina and her daughter, Ivana, are taken to a safe house where they wait to be evacuated from Europe to return to Mexico. It will be in the confinement where both experience a unique connection.
Directed by Brian Ríos
15:00 | All Ages | From Puerto Rico | Spanish with Subtitles
A father and daughter must cross the border in order to find a better life, but the daughter cannot speak.
3. TranstierroDirected by Susanna Arrazola
8:43 | All Ages | From Mexico | No dialogue
Irene lives locked up in her memories. Exile and loneliness plunge her into a state of melancholic inactivity; only through a frontal look at the past she will be able to find peace.
4. The FourthDirected by Johnny Kirk
11:45 | All Ages | From USA | in English with subtitles
Eager to celebrate the 4th of July, a group of young black and Latino friends experience a police encounter that shatters the meaning of the holiday.
5. ÑañosDirected by Emilio Subía
15:00 | Ages 18+ | From Ecuador | English & Spanish with subtitles
In the heart of Corona, Queens, two Ecuadorian siblings are placed at odds with each other when one reveals a sudden urge to leave their home.
6. Tomb of the SeaDirected by Andrew Garcia
12:08 | All Ages | From USA & Cuba | English & Spanish with subtitles
In the wake of Fidel Castro’s death in 2016, Rosa struggles to cope with her trauma as a Cuban immigrant and single parent in Miami.
Directed by Paloma Zapata
95 mins | All ages | From Spain & Germany | Spanish with Subtitles
A filmmaker is fascinated by the art of a flamenco dancer seen in archival footage from the 1960s and decides to follow the thread. The investigation leads her to Antonia Singla, a dancer who was born at the beach of Somorrostro in Barcelona and became deaf shortly after her birth. At the age of 17 she became a cult dancer internationally and in countries such as Germany she was considered the best in the world. When she turned 30, La Singla abruptly disappeared from the stage without a trace. Behind her fascinating gaze, La Singla hid a tragic story. The filmmaker, determined to unveil it, rescues from oblivion a woman who was ahead of her time, who made a great contribution to flamenco, gypsy culture and the deaf community and was unjustly erased from history.
Directed by Carmen Oquendo-Villar
77 mins | Adults only | From Colombia & Puerto Rican | Spanish with subtitles
Viewing Advisory: This documentary film contains brief instances of sexual nudity and acts. These scenes are included in a cultural and artistic context, intended to contribute to the authentic portrayal of the SantaFe neighborhood and its daily life. The film is recommended for mature audiences (18 and over) who can appreciate the artistic, cultural, political and educational value of these moments. Viewer discretion is advised.
Brothels are rarely seen as safe or dignifying. In the red-light district of Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, a country torn by decades of war, there’s a tiny brothel that functions as a shelter, shielding sex workers in Santafé, a zone that concentrates all the miseries of a bloodstained region. “Todas Las Flores” constructs an intimate portrait of Tabaco y Ron, this neighborhood and the fierce will of its inhabitants to blossom.
Directed by David Barba
10 mins | All Ages | From Mexico | Spanish with subtitles
A mischievous teen explores an empty beach house unaware of the video cameras watching his every move.
Until the Sun Dies | Directed by Jonas Brander
94 mins | All ages | From Colombia | Spanish with Subtitles
“Until The Sun Dies“ unfolds its stories over co-incidences of the contrary: life born from death, and death from the pursuit of peace and justice. Through its insight into the struggles of two social leaders in Colombia’s “post-conflict“ era, the film invites us to delve deeply into the stories of those who have defied violence and demonstrates that the human spirit can prevail and leave a legacy of hope in the midst of the deepest darkness.
Directed by Verónica Ramírez
13:21 | All Ages | From Mexico | Spanish with Subtitles
Lorena is a seven-year-old girl who wants to win the piñatas school contest, where the grand prize is “a bicycle.” But her young age and inexperience will create a very special piñata.
Directed by Marlén Ríos-Farjat
27:00 | All Ages | From Mexico | Spanish with Subtitles
After a lifetime together, Susana has been abandoned by her husband. She is in denial and holds on to the past. One day, she needs the help of her neighbor, Gloria, a free-spirited woman who Susana can’t stand. But the friendship that emerges between them arises in Susana the desire to live in the present.
Directed by Gianfranco Fernández-Ruiz
16:43 | All Ages | From USA | Spanish with Subtitles
A Puerto Rican actor lands her big break on a heavily exploitative ad role. Will she be able to escape this ludicrous nightmare of a set?
Directed by Gabriela Badillo Sánchez
9:00 | All Ages | From Mexico | Spanish with Subtitles
Amidst the loss of her grandfather, Cloe blocks out her feelings and all sound from her world until an encounter awakens a memory in her that forces Cloe to confront her emotions.
5. In TowDirected by Sharon Arteaga
20:49 | All Ages | From USA | Spanish with Subtitles
A self-involved teen and her overworked single mom confront their differences as their mobile home is towed away… with them inside of it!
Directed by Set Hernandez
88 mins | All ages | From USA | English & Spanish with Subtitles
Most people dream of a better future. Pedro, an aspiring social worker, is no different. But as a blind, undocumented immigrant, Pedro faces political restrictions to obtain his college degree, secure a job in his field, and support his family. As he finally graduates, uncertainty looms over Pedro. What starts as a journey to provide mental health care for his community ultimately transforms into Pedro’s path towards his own healing. Through experimental cinematography and sound, “unseen” reimagines the accessibility of cinema, while exploring the intersections of immigration, disability, and mental health.
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tickets@artsemerson.org
617.824.8400
Emerson Paramount Center
559 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111
THU-SAT: 12–6PM
SUN & MON: Closed
TUE-SAT: 12–6PM
SUN & MON: Closed
The Paramount and Cutler Majestic Box Offices are open 2 hours prior to any event. The Cutler Majestic Box Office is open during performances only.
