NFMLA Announces 2024 InFocus: Latinx & Hispanic Cinema Film Festival

NewFilmmakers Los Angeles has announced the 2024 edition of the NFMLA InFocus: Latinx & Hispanic Cinema Film Festival. Taking place from September 20-21, the festival will be held at South Park Center in Downtown Los Angeles.

The two-day program will feature four short film programs with audience Q&A sessions and two live panels, including Feature Filmmaking: In Conversation with Oscar-winning producer Daniel Dreifuss. Known for producing the Academy Award-winning film All Quiet on the Western Front, Dreifuss will discuss the current landscape of feature filmmaking and share insights into the process of bringing projects to life.

The second panel, TV Development: In Conversation with Loreli Alanís at Point Grey Pictures, will offer an insider perspective on TV development and best practices for securing a series green-light. Point Grey Pictures, founded by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, has a first-look film deal with Universal Pictures and a TV deal with Lionsgate.  

25 short films will screen during the two-day event, spanning narrative live action, documentary, and animation. The filmmakers hail from nearly a dozen countries including Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, France, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, and the United States.  

Among the selections are the Los Angeles premieres of five new short films by emerging talent from São Paulo, Brazil. These include the Los Angeles premiere of “When Big People Lie” by NFMLA’s Best New Filmmaker of 2024, Gianfranco Fernández Ruiz, and the world premieres of “Petalos” by NFMLA Best of Award winner Nicole Mejia, “The Mourning Of” by NFMLA alum and NewNarratives grant winner Merced Elizondo, and “The Devil’s Plot” by Julia Weisberg Cortés.  

Also Read: A Prom Night Fantasy and a Unibrow Highlight NFMLA’s InFocus: Canadian Cinema Program

The in-person festival day programming begins with InFocus: São Paulo, a collection of films curated in partnership with SPCINE and Kinoforum. Highlighting the work of a diverse range of filmmakers from the city of São Paulo, Brazil, this block of films explores ideas of home, family and motherhood, mental health, ambiguous loss, self-determination and fighting for what’s right under seemingly impossible circumstances.  

The program continues with InFocus: Latinx & Hispanic Cinema I, a selection of shorts which offers a wealth of  characters with creative approaches to problem solving, who are finding their own ways of overcoming and coming to  terms, who are grieving and holding space for hope and joy. 

Other highlights of the festival include InFocus: Latinx & Hispanic Cinema II, a collection of stories about self-determination, healing and creating our  own destiny, and InFocus: Latinx & Hispanic Cinema III, which explores magical realism, experimental narratives and things that aren’t as they seem.

In support of the featured filmmakers and projects, NFMLA will bring together industry professionals, executives and creatives including Diana Mogollón at Dan Lin’s Rideback Rise, Fidel Barajas at WME, Georgina  González at NBCUniversal, Giulia Cardamone at El Estudio, Gloriana Paz at Latino Public Broadcasting, Graciela  Garcia at Cinetic Media, Henry Kittredge at Iconoclast, Jeff Valdez at New Cadence Productions, Joan Wai at the  Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Julia Iglesias at Focus Features, Leonardo Zimbron at 3pas Studios, Nando Vila at Exile Content Studio and Ramón Campos at Bambú Producciones, Tatiana Castro at Sofía Vergara’s  Latin World Entertainment and Yira Vilaro at Pablo Larraín’s Fabula, among others.  

“We’re looking forward to an amazing edition of this beloved annual event, the opportunity to spotlight fresh storytelling,  and to welcome back celebrated alumni as well as new talent from across the world,” said NFMLA programming director Bojana Sandic and executive director/co-founder Larry Laboe.  

Find out more about attending the festival here.

See the Full List of Selections for the NFMLA InFocus: Latinx & Hispanic Cinema Film Festival Below

Aureo & Mirele (Dir. Filipe Galvon & Writ. Adele Autin)  

Bajo La Tierra (Dir. & Writ. Pablo Guillen)  

Boi De Conchas (The Shell Covered Ox) (Dir. & Writ. Daniel Barosa)  

Canta Santiago (Dir. & Writ. James Valdez)  

Carpeteo (Dir. Adriana González-Vega & Writ. Gabriela Acevedo Gándara, Adriana González-Vega)  ● Casulo (Womb) (Dir. Aline Flores, Writ. Aline Flores)  

Chuck and Fern (Dir. & Writ. Henry Alexander Kelly)  

Contando Aviões (Counting Planes) (Dir. Fabio Rodrigo)  

Cooking With Claudia (Dir. Priscila Torres & Writ. Priscila Torres, Vincent Bates)  

Fruits and Veggies that Help your Projections (Dir. & Writ. Marian Fragoso Basauri)  

In The Fold (Dir. Manuel Del Valle & Writ. Erika Aldana, Manuel Del Valle)  

In Tow (Dir. & Writ. Sharon Arteaga)  

Iron Lung (Dir. Andrew Reid & Writ. Vee Saieh)  

Na Savi (Dir. & Writ. Sofia Ayerdi)  

Nea (Dir. & Writ. Alex Ulises, Nelson G. Navarrete)  

No se ve desde acá (Dir. Enrique Pedráza-Botero, Writ. Faye Tsakas, Enrique Pedráza-Botero)  ● Peccadillo (Dir. & Writ. Sofia Garza-Barba)  

Petalos (Dir. Nicole Mejia & Writ. Nicole Mejia, Don DiPetta)  

Taka Taka (Dir. Thomas Webber)  

Tapuia (Dir. Kay Sara, Begê Muniz & Writ. Begê Muni)  

The Devil’s Plot (Dir. & Writ. Julia Weisberg Cortés)  

The Mourning Of (Dir. & Writ. Merced Elizondo)  

Verde (Green) (Dir. Rodrigo Ribeyro & Gustavo Auricchio)  

When Big People Lie (Dir. & Writ. Gianfranco Fernández-Ruiz)  

Wishful Thinking (Dir. Rodrigo Carvalhedo, Silvia Lara & Writ. Rodrigo Carvalhedo)

 

Main Image: A still from “Canta Santiago” courtesy of NFMLA