Opening Night: Latino Film Festival

Last night (Tuesday, Sept. 15), we joined students and professionals as they mingled in the lobby of the Harn Museum of Fine Arts night, sipping champagne and sampling hor d’ouevres before taking in the opening film of the Fifth Annual Latino Film Festival.

On show was the U.S. restored premiere of Araya, a 1959 Venezuelan documentary that tied for the International Critics Prize at that year’s Cannes Film Festival before falling into obscurity.

After four years of meticulous refurbishment, a full audience in the Harn’s Chandler Auditorium was able to rediscover this milestone work.

Victoria Condor-Williams, director of the Festival and president of the Latina Women’s League, started the project five years ago.

“My intent in creating this film festival was to find a resource that could reach the entire community. It’s something that can bring all of us together, and the result is a rich experience for the Latino community and for the community in general,” she says.

The evening also marked the return of RISK cinema, a program showcasing experimental and essay films at the Harn since 1990.

“These are the kind of films you won’t see somewhere else,” Kerry Anthony-Oliver, RISK program director and Harn curator, says. “This particular evening is very special, to be collaborating with the Latina Women’s League. It’s incidental that we both wanted to feature Latin American films, and it corresponds with the fact that the Harn’s galleries are featuring a lot of Latin American art at the moment.”

The Latino Film Festival will feature films every Saturday at 2pm from now through Oct. 24. Additionally, gallery talks, readings and other related events are being held throughout the period. A full schedule of films and events can be found at latinawomensleague.org

–Ashley Spencer

(Photos: Tim Carswell)