The Austin-based Cine Las Americas International Film Festival (CLAIFF) announced plans and new programs for a hybrid presentation of the event, taking place June 9-13, 2021, which will include an Opening Night celebration and screening under the stars at Meanwhile Brewing Co. CLAIFF also revealed this year’s poster design by Josh Stauffer.
In the film festival’s first year under the stewardship of new Executive Director Gabriel Ornelas, CLAIFF will continue its mission to showcase films and videos from Latin America (North, Central, South America, and the Caribbean) and the Iberian Peninsula. Films and videos made by or about Latinx in the U.S. or the rest of the world, as well as films and videos by or about indigenous groups of the Americas are also featured.
Cine Las Americas Lead Programmer Ernie Quiroz, said, “We are so thrilled to build on the success of last year’s Virtual Showcase to launch a hybrid edition of the 23rd Cine Las Americas International Film Festival. CLA is committed more than ever to supporting Latinx and Indigenous voices in film. We’re excited at both the prospect of returning to in-person screenings, in a safe and responsible manner but also at the idea of expanding our reach beyond the Austin city boundaries through virtual events. Both have their place and both help fulfill our mission in supporting Latinx and Indigenous filmmakers.”
Co-hosted by Meanwhile Brewing Co. and Rocket Sound, Opening Night will take place on the soccer field adjacent to Meanwhile Brewing Co. (3901 Promontory Dr.) with film goers invited guests to bring their favorite blanket or lawn chair and come out to the brewery and watch the Opening Night film under the stars. Tickets will include Cine Las Americas giveaways with each ticket and an opportunity to purchase this year’s limited edition poster. Food trucks from local Austin vendors will be on hand as well.
Regarding the inspiration for this year’s poster design, Stauffer said, “This year’s poster was inspired by the famous Texas sunrise and the festival’s expansion into virtual. It represents the start of a fun and vibrant new day. We used over exaggerated device screen shapes, placed together (as we’d all like to be), to create the sunrise effect. It’s intentionally imperfect, noisy, and free from normal.”
Cine Las Americas’ signature programming track, “Hecho en Tejas,” which showcases local filmmaking talent with varied backgrounds via films and videos shot and/or produced in Texas, will return and once again be front and center at the film festival. One of this year’s centerpieces of “Hecho en Tejas” will be a collaboration with The Film Collaborative and their Community Conversations program with a special presentation of Lisa Molomot and Jeff Bemiss’ award-winning documentary Missing in Brooks County. The film, which has won multiple awards on the film festival circuit, takes us boldly into an American border town that has been caught in the middle of the daily life and death situation created by our current immigration system. We meet two families searching for their loved ones who went missing in the fields of Brooks County, Texas, as well as vigilante ranchers, humanitarian activists, Border Patrol and others locked in an endless battle of human rights and politics.
For more information about Cine Las Americas, visit https://cinelasamericas.org/.
