The Cine Las Americas International Film Festival is an annual
film festival based in
Austin, Texas, featuring Latin American and
indigenous films from the Americas and the
Iberian Peninsula. In its 14th year in 2011, the Festival grew into a citywide event, with over 100 screenings in a nine-day span. Patrons of the festival are offered a wide variety of films to choose from including narrative and documentary features, short films, animation and youth films.
Organization
Cine Las Americas, a
501(c)(3)
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
non-profit organization, is a
multicultural organization that offers cultural experiences and business opportunities for Latinos in film and media arts, and brings media arts education to minority youth in Austin. While the international film festival seeks to become an institution in the international film business and trade, fostering multi-national film production, and accessing emerging markets and diverse audiences, Cine Las Americas remains a community oriented Media Arts Center, offering diverse opportunities for culture, education and fun.
[About Us, History](_blank)
, Cine Las Americas. Retrieved 2011-04-11. The Organization and History sections of this article are sourced from Cine Las Americas with thei
permission
.
Festival history
The Cine Las Americas International Film festival began in 1997 as a Cuban film
retrospective
A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...
sponsored by the
Mexic-Arte Museum
Mexic-Arte Museum is a fine arts museum in Austin, Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 mill ...
in
Austin, Texas. While programming the initial event, the organizers realized that although Austin was building its reputation as an important city for producing and showcasing independent film, films made by and about Latinos were largely absent from the community's
cultural landscape
Cultural landscape is a term used in the fields of geography, ecology, and heritage studies, to describe a symbiosis of human activity and environment. As defined by the World Heritage Committee, it is the "cultural properties hatrepresent the co ...
. In 2001, Cine Las Americas partnered with the
Austin Independent School District (AISD) and moved the organization's offices to
Johnston High School
Johnston High School is a public secondary school located in Johnston, Iowa. It is part of the Johnston Community School District. The school serves approximately 1,600 students in grades 10 through 12. Freshman students attend Johnston Middle S ...
in East Austin, where it established a Media Arts Center, implementing educational and mentoring programs to support the District's Dropout Prevention Campaign. During this time the organization offered the school's students hands-on
bilingual
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
opportunities in
multimedia production, event production, and non-profit organization management.
Festival-related programs and milestones
The training students received in the Cine Las Americas-school district partnership culminated in students producing ''Emergencia'', the youth component of the film festival. In ''Emergencia'' they receive entries from around the country, preview them in order to
curate
A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...
a program, grant awards for the best work, and produce a day of free screenings within the context of the festival. ''Emergencia'' remains a special competitive section of the festival open to filmmakers ages 19 and under and is
curated by students participating in Cine Las Americas' multicultural Media Literacy programs.
In 2003, professional musicians and other guest artists began to instruct and
mentor dozens of students at a
recording studio
A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...
inside the organization's classroom at the school. There, students were able to write and record music and lyrics in a professional studio environment within a bilingual Digital Music Production
curriculum in the after-school program ''BeatLab''. Many students have used skills learned there in preparing work for subsequent Festivals. ''BeatLab'' has continued at other area schools since the organization's offices moved to East Austin after its contract with the school expired.
Also in 2003, the festival extended its program to include indigenous work from the Americas, established competitive sections granting
juried and audience awards.
By 2005, the organization had presented more than 300 films at the annual Festival and at various screenings throughout Texas, collaborating with institutions such as The
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...
(MFAH), the
South By Southwest
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...
film festival (SXSW), and the
Austin Film Festival
Austin Film Festival (AFF), founded in 1994, is an organization in Austin, Texas, that focuses on writers’ creative contributions to film. Initially, AFF was called the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and functioned to launch the ...
.
In 2007, the Festival expanded to its current format in celebration of Cine Las Americas' 10th anniversary.
The 13th annual Cine Las Americas International Film Festival was held April 21–29, 2010, and featured
Mexico as the invited country in celebration of Mexico's
bicentennial __NOTOC__
A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to:
Europe
*French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated ...
.
2009 awards
Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature:
El truco del manco (The Handless Trick)
Director:
Santiago Zannou,
Spain, 2008
Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature:
Intimidades de Shakespeare y Víctor Hugo (Shakespeare and Victor Hugo's Intimacies)
Director: Yulene Olaizola,
Mexico, 2008
Special Jury Award for Documentary Feature:
Unidad 25 (Unit 25)
Director: Alejo Hoijman,
Argentina /
Spain, 2008
Jury Award for Best Narrative Short Film:
Danzak
Director: Gabriela Yepes,
Peru / USA, 2008
[RTF students triumph at the 12th Cine Las Americas International Film Festival](_blank)
Univ of Texas at Austin, College of Communication, Radio, Television and Film Department, 2009-05-04.
Special Jury Award for Narrative Short Film:
Saliva
Director: Esmir Filho,
Brazil, 2007
Jury Award for Best Documentary Short Film:
Conversations II
Director: Marianela Vega Oroza, Peru / USA, 2007
Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature:
Cinco días sin Nora (Nora's Will)
Director:
Mariana Chenillo, Mexico, 2008
Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature:
El General
Director: Natalia Almada, Mexico, 2009
Emergencia Youth Competition, Jury Award for Best Film:
Journeys Through the Red, White and Blue: Brian's Journey
Andrea Williams, USA, 2008
2008 awards
JURY AWARD WINNERS:
Jury Award for Best First or Second Narrative Feature
NOEL POETA DA VILA (NOEL, THE SAMBA POET), Ricardo van Steen, Brazil, 2006
Jury Award for Best Narrative Short
MEXICAN DREAM, David Michan, Mexico, 2007
Special Jury Mention for Narrative Short
EN TRÁNSITO (IN TRANSIT), Isabel Muñoz Cota Callejas, México, 2007
Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature
LA AMERICANA
''La Americana'' is a feature documentary film directed and produced by Nicholas Bruckman.Biswas, Anindita (February 10, 2009“Beyond Borders” The Hindu. Retrieved on June 8, 2012 The film tells the story of a young undocumented immigrant in Ne ...
(THE AMERICAN), Nicholas Bruckman, USA, 2008
Special Jury Mention for Documentary Feature
LOS PUÑOS DE UNA NACIÓN (THE FISTS OF A NATION), Pituka Ortega Heilbron, Panama, 2006
Jury Award for Best Documentary Short
CON EL TOQUE DE LA CHAVETA (WITH A STROKE OF THE CHAVETA),
Pamela Sporn, Cuba, USA, 2007
Special Jury Mention for Documentary Short
POR MIS HIJOS (FOR THEM), Aymée Cruzalegui, Spain, 2007
AUDIENCE AWARD WINNERS:
Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
NAO POR ACASO (NOT BY CHANCE), Philippe Barcinski, Brazil, Drama, 2007
Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature
LA AMERICANA (THE AMERICAN), Nicholas Bruckman, USA, 2008
Earlier winners
Best Documentary Feature 2006:
De NADIE, Tin Dirdamal, 2006
De NADIE went on to win many other awards including the Audience Award, Sundance Film Festival 2006, and Mexican Ariele award for Best Feature Documentary, 2006.
Immigration Film Series
Las Américas Film Network. Retrieved 2011-04-10.
References
External links
Festival official site
Festival videos
on YouTube
{{Authority control
Film festivals in Austin, Texas
Hispanic and Latino American culture in Austin, Texas
Native American film festivals
Latin American film festivals