Returning for its fourth year, CineArte 2017: A Latinx Queer Film & Art Festival is here to make Los Angeles just a little bit queerer. Dedicated to showcasing the stories of LGBTQ, two-spirited, Latinx, Chicanx, and indigenous identities through film and visual art, CineArte is presented by the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The three-day event kicks off with a night of live performances by poet Yosimar Reyes, musician Jurni Rayne, dance artist W!NK and DJ Sizzle and continues with a weekend full of short and feature films. Among those flicks is Adelina Anthony’s 2016 Bruising for Besos. The indie project follows a charismatic Xicana lesbian who seduces an alluring Puerto Rican woman only to find herself recreating her tumultuous past.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFQQ4MnVPwM
In addition to screening queer Latino shorts like Dominic Colon’s yoga-set Skin about a gay man dealing with his weight, and Steven Liang’s Afuera, about an undocumented woman who resorts to sex trade to survive, CineArte will also feature an art exhibit curated by Rubén Esparza that’ll run until June. It includes artwork by Laura Aguilar, Marcel Alcala, Maritza Amezcua, Enrique Castrejon, Diego Eduardo, Cleonette Harris a.k.a. Cle Torres, Carolina Hicks, Alex La Cruz, Roy Martinez a.k.a. Lambe Culo, Miguel Angel Reyes, Manuel Rodrigues a.k.a. Sad Boy, Joey Terrill, Rommy Torrico, Luis Valencia, among others.
Closing out the festivities is a 20th anniversary screening of Miguel Arteta‘s 1997 seminal Star Maps. Arteta’s explosive debut film about a young man in Los Angeles called Carlos who dreams of becoming an actor but who ends up hustling on the streets at his father’s bidding instead. Nominated for 5 Independent Spirit Awards upon its release the drama stars Douglas Spain, Efrain Figueroa, and even features a brief appearance by Michael Peña. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Arteta and Spain as well as live entertainment by Lilly Flor y Los Compas and DJ Sizzle. It promises to be a can’t-miss event.
CineArte 2017: A Latinx Queer Film & Art Festival runs April 21-23, 2017.