Big Changes At 22nd Annual San Diego Latino Film Festival

This is KPBS Midday Edition. I Maureen Cavanaugh. The 22nd annual San Diego Latino film Festival kicks off tomorrow at the AMC Fashion Valley Theater's. The vessel has a new home base and similar programs at the home. So change is in the air. KPBS arts reporter Beth Okamoto sat down with one of the festival's programmers and a local San Diego filmmaker to get a preview of this year's festival. Tell us where you're sitting right now. Right now we are sitting at the digital cinemas in North Park. A neighborhood own independent cinematheque and we screen films year-round and it also happens to be a satellite site for the Latino film Festival. We will be streaming films here throughout the 11 days of the festival. For the 60s. It is very intimate and really perfect for Q&A with directors and film makers because the audience can really participate in asked questions and become involved and engaged. The film makers really love it because it is essentially around table discussion around about their fell. Digital gem cinema has been used as a venue before but you have some exciting news about a new venue you're going to be using? We have huge news. We are no longer at the Mission Valley Cinemas, we are now at the 18th. You have a new venue this year. Is or anything else knew about the programming tiny changes? In terms of programming this year we are really trying to focus on the film makers and original voices. A lot of these still makers are creating really special and unique work that focuses on Latino specific issues. I think that are spectators are going to be pleased by saying their own experiences on screen. I think that is a staple of the Latino Cinema for many years. This year we try to refocus that energy and making sure that all of these different perspectives and experiences are represented and captured. Audiences in general have had their attention focused on Latino film makers with recent Oscars and in your retail winning multiple year award. He is a producer on one of the films it has a very unique perspective in terms of the visual style and the narrative structure. Talk a little bit about the land of silence. The land of silence for [ INDISCERNIBLE ] is truly one of the most ingenious works ever showcasing here the festival this year. There is a switch in a storytelling technique about halfway through the future that will catch most individuals off guard. And visually it is quite stunning. It is a film that relies a lot on scenes without any dialogue whatsoever. It is -- visual storytelling at its finest. That is truly powerful cinema we don't need expository dialogue guiding your long. It is a pretty economic film I would say. The emotional punch that impacts is pretty impactful I would say. And I hope that spectators embrace it and I look forward to talking to our audience members after the screening to see what they think. My guess is that they will be split but that is the beauty of film. It entertains a myriad of opinions and no one really has the right one. That is really exciting for me as a programmer to hear feedback and engage in dialogue. I have also felt that a film festival is exactly the place to pick films that are going to divide an audience because it is perfect venue to have that discussion into also showcase films that are not going to be playing at the mall theaters. With try to find the films that might not get any playtime otherwise it might be harmed -- hard to find or hard access. The film Festival grants certain amount of creative license with what it is the book all of the films cannot be for the programmers were for the audience members that they have to be a perfect balance. As experimental as Al Estancia or the land of silence is I do think it is ultimately really assessable and it will entertain a really diverse range of reaction. It is a film that is a little more challenging but you have a wide range of films that you are running including very popular crowdpleasing films on opening and closing night if you want to talk about those. We have a pretty amazing lineup for our opening night's election. We just don't do one field. We do very films throughout the night. Thursday, March 12 is opening night and we have Visitantes, a picture that has super natural elements. [ INDISCERNIBLE ] [ MUSIC ] It stars a Mexican superstar Caitlin Castille. We have a documentary that follows Ramona's who is a very beloved and honored Mexican comedian and he essentially goes on a worldwide tour and the documentary follows his every step. [ LAUGHTER ] Or third film is Olvidados which is about the campaigns in the 1970s that were arranged by several dictators and they went to a press freedom of speech and a lot of civil liberties. [ MUSIC ] Opening-night we essentially have something for everyone. Crowdpleasing is part of the joys of this festival. You want to have something for everyone and just because a film is crowdpleasing doesn't mean it is not artistic were valuable. I really do think there is a lot of commercial and artistic value to a lot of these features. You were talking about new voices. You have some very new voices in the sense that you are showcasing some San Diego filmmaker's. Yes, we have two features by San Diego and film makers. One is a narrative feature and the other is a documentary. The documentary is called Chaldean voices. It is about the Chaldean popular -- people living here. The other one is Kelly Jarrow. We are really excited to have this film about a fighter living in Tijuana. He participates in underground fights and he gets in too deep. [ INDISCERNIBLE ] I didn't have the money to bet. I don't have $20,000. I borrowed it. Where? Where did you get a? I borrowed it. I know. I know. You have screwed yourself now. I knew what I did. It is okay. It is going to be fine. Is a reasonable guy. We have known him acolytes. We had known him acolytes. I talked to him. He said we can work this out. We can work this out. He said I can clear But I need your help. So, now, you have screwed both. No. It's not like that at all. It is. No it is a. It simple. It's going to be fine. Okay? They just don't want you to win next week. That's it? You want me to throw fight and that is a? That's it. You know I have never, I have never -- I know. I'm speaking with Moises Esparza kahco programmer for the San Diego Latino film Festival and San Diego the maker Ray Garter. Recall what attracted you to this particular story to tell should first feature? Initially the concept was given to me and it was all based on a true story but because it is underground fighting I googled as much as I could and could not find a single thing on it. What really attracted me to it was it was just this classic underdog story, a thing that I think was very assessable to everyone, not just the Latino community. I think that is what attracted me. It was a story that I felt I could tell. What is the benefit of being in a film festival for you? Does that help get distributors attention were just eyes on the film? I think the number one thing is getting eyes on the film. As a film maker I don't tell the stories just so I can sit down and enjoy them. They are created so that people can enjoy these stories. That is also why making sure it is assessable is another part of the formula. The other benefit , I feel, is also just promoting the film. I think hitting into the festival helps with -- if you're seeking distribution, it helps put the film out into the theater and distribute pick up on the sky things. One, it is sharing your story and to, it is getting out there so that distribute is no it exists. Moises, talk about some of the other programming you have here. There are a lot of sidebars to the festival that highlight specific kinds or tracts of films for people that they can look for? We have some very specific showcases this year. One of them happens to be the vampires which is essentially focusing on women filmmakers. We have a mix of narrative features and documentaries. Whatever other showcases is our country of focus, Argentina. We are showing Argentine films. The stand out there is really [ INDISCERNIBLE ] which stars Viggo Mortensen which is really known -- was really known here in the US because of the Lord of the rings true trilogy. The film takes place in Patagonia and he is a European explorer with his daughter and his daughter becomes separated from their group so he embarks on his journey to find her. It takes a pretty bold turn in narrative and where it ends up is really beautiful and touching and just wholly original. You're not expecting the film to end up where it ends. As a programmer one of the ways I have been criticized is that I value left turn plot twists. Last-minute reveals. That is something I try to temper with some of the -- I do kind of love the unexpected. I think ultimately individuals go to film festivals, not to see things like, you say, they see every Friday at the multiplex, they come to see something unexpected. One of the other benefits of going to a film at a film festival is there are frequently opportunity to interact with the makers through Q&A. That is right. That is really the beauty of a film festival is the spectators and artists meet and have a dialogue. The dialogue can be to reach a further understanding, a deeper understanding of a specific film or a couple mentor dialogue or sometimes even an adversarial dialogue. All are very valid and fair game at a film festival. Moises, are there any other film that you want to highlight before we go? One of the film so we definitely want to highlight is where rows which is directed by Alonso resupply feels and it is a vital and really current film and I'm so excited we get to showcase it here at the festival. It is about a group of students who are trying to essentially find their place in life in Mexico City in 1999. Against the backdrop of some student revolutions. [ INDISCERNIBLE ] The film was presented in black and white and it has French new wave undertones and I would say overtones and while I think most of the French filmmakers were essentially rewriting cinema for cinema sake I think that where rows is a film that is representative not only a deep, deep love and admiration for cinema but also for the Mexican people. It is essentially a love letter to every young person living in Mexico today. Some student groups in lower San Diego are coming in to see it so I'm really excited to see the super -- student perspective of the pill. One last think I want to ask both of you if somebody is coming to a festival for the first time what kind of advice do have in terms of how to tackle it? There is going to be a lot of choices over about 10 days so what a short five for coming to this festival? It is a matter of sitting down with the program and taking a couple of hours and just reading it through front to back and starring whichever -- which ever films are you talk -- top picks and see how it works out your schedule. Don't be afraid to take a full day to watch movies. It seems indulgent and unheard-of but it is really how you should attend a film festival. What would you suggest? Lots of red bull. Just really have to sit down with a program and go through them. For me as a film maker the Q&A -- Q&A is what attracts me to which screens I want to go through. I want to make sure I'm able to engage with the filmmaker especially if it is the film I'm really interested in. Don't be afraid to sit down and watch a bunch of movies and one day. I want to thank you both very much for taking with me -- speaking with me. We are thrilled and we can't wait to see all of you at this film Festival.