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The Chicago International Latino Film Festival plays from April 16-28, with screenings at the Biograph Theater, 3 Penny Cinema and Facets Multimedia in Chicago.
For more information, visit www.latinoculturalcenter.org or call (312) 409-1757.
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Slap on your dancing zapatos and join ChicagoFilm.com, ShakeChicago and SKYY Vodka on April 20th for the Chicago International Latino Film Festival Birthday Bash at The Funky Buddha Lounge! More...
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When you start out your film fest projecting onto gymnasium walls, the only place to go is up.
Since its modest beginnings exactly two decades ago, the Chicago International Latino Film Festival has screened close to a 1000 films, boosted both attendance and its budget a hundredfold, sponsored hundreds of workshops and discussions with international filmmakers; and hosted more than its fair share of foreign journalists.
This year, the festival celebrates its Platinum Anniversary with more than 100 films from Latin America, Spain, Portugal and the United States. The stories range from violence and uprising in Haiti and gang life on the streets of Chicago to examinations of Cuban hip-hop and a retrospective of 20 years of memorable film moments. Beyond screenings, the festival includes outreach programs and free weekday matinees for grammar and high school students.
It's a large, highly ambitious program, which sounds just about right for the International Latino Cultural Center. Beyond the film fest, the group is currently embarking upon a fundraising drive to raise $50 million for an all-encompassing Latino Cultural Center.
Founder and Executive Director Pepe Vargas is a man whose dedication to Latino Culture and longtime passion for international cinema has made him one of the city's most highly visible and highly respected figures. We spoke with Vargas about the success of the festival, goals for the future and finding inspiration in film.
You were honored earlier this year as one of the Chicago Tribune's 2003 Men of The Year. What did that mean to you and to the festival?
I get the recognition for that every day, which is very important to me. I take it very seriously and it's humbling - the weight of that responsibility that I am carrying, because people are looking me and at what I do.
I have to kind of behave, to be honest and really be as committed as possible to what I preach and what I do. It energizes me and my staff to put the time in necessary and be as creative as possible with limited resource.
We're working hard to make sure that Latinos are looked at differently, not from the way up and down like a slave or like they're nothing more than cheap labor. We want people to realize that they are talking to a human being who has great potential, who if given the right opportunity can make a meaningful contribution to society.
This award gives us a sense of acknowledgement that what we're doing is being recognized.
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004: Chicago Latino Film Festival
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