InFocus: Latinx & Hispanic Cinema Shorts I – Figments, Fictions and Fantasies

September 26 · 12:15 pm

Virtual Event


Directed by Alberto Belli, Nicole Vanden Broeck, Alyssa Toledo, Domingo Pablo Ortiz, Victor M. Rocha, Thais Drassinower, Joao Dall'Stella.

, USA, Mexico, Spain, Peru, 76 min.


NewFilmmakers Los Angeles Film Festival
September 25-26, 2020
Los Angeles, CA

NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) co-host a virtual edition of the annual NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) Film Festival InFocus: Latinx & Hispanic Cinema event, powered by Seed&Spark. Latin Reel joins this year for the first time as Community Collaborator.

A collection of films that play on narratives, both real and surreal, that we create for ourselves and the things that we choose to believe when confronted with uncertainty. Stories told in this block include a couple facing the choice of spending eternity together, a boy finding his own moral compass, a man using his childhood imagination to cope with a grim reality, a woman on a quest to regain her ability to dream, a college student orchestrating a fiction about his life for his visiting mother, a pair of trapeze artists whose trust is critically tested, and a young girl who escapes deportation by becoming a mermaid.

AFTER LIFE VACATIONS
Directed by: Alberto Belli
12 Mins | Spain

When a newly wed couple books their after life vacation, a series of decisions will take them into an unpredictable journey.

THE LITTLE THIEF
Directed by: Nicole Vanden Broeck
3 Mins | USA

After stealing a bean from a local market, a young boy experiences guilt for the first time.

LIFT OFF
Directed by: Alyssa Toledo
13 Mins | USA

The dichotomy between a young boy's childhood dreams and his adult reality.

WATER DREAMS
Directed by: Domingo Pablo Ortiz
11 Mins | Mexico

An old Mayan woman dreams about being a crocodile. In the night, an owl stalks her and does not allow her to dream anymore; tired of this, she goes in search of a shaman to ask for help.

BEING IN
Directed by: Victor M. Rocha
14 Mins | USA

When his mom decides to visit him on his college campus, Adrian enlists the help of his friends to "go straight again."

THE CATCH
Directed by: Thais Drassinower
16 Mins | Peru

The trust between a couple of trapeze artists is threatened before the most important performance of their career.

DIA DE LAS CARPAS
Dir. Joao Dall'Stella & Writ. Marika Kato Hoag
15 Mins | USA

A little girl escapes deportation by becoming a mermaid.

Suggested screening time: September 26th at 12:15pm PT
Live Filmmaker Q&A: September 26th at 2:00pm PT