10 Movies Playing the Los Angeles Film Festival That Prove There’s No Such Thing as a ‘Latino Film’

The Los Angeles Film Festival announced some major changes in staffing, particularly its programmers, just a few months ago. After injecting new blood into its film curating team, the newest incarnation of the fest revealed a lineup jam packed with premieres, and more diverse behind-the-camera talent than ever before. The Los Angeles Times weighed in on the LAFF’s makeover with some impressive stats, “The festival is presenting 45 world premieres — more than half its feature slate — with more than 80% of the program by first- or second-time directors. Looking to give further voice to diverse perspectives, nearly 40% of the films in the festival were directed by women and nearly 30% directed by people of color.”

Even still, when everyone is clamoring to appear diverse and film event organizers try to be more inclusive of international fare and female directors — Latino cinema usually gets lost in the shuffle. The City of Angels though, has got our back. This year’s Latino films at the L.A. fest run the gamut from comedies to thrillers to documentaries; go from Puerto Rico to Mexico to Colombia and beyond; and feature our favorite stars like Luis Guzman, Rosario Dawson, and Rosie Perez, plus up and coming actors like Veronica Sixtos and indie stalwart Jesse Garcia.

Here are ten movies that are so diverse in themes, story, and style that they prove there really is no such thing as a “Latino film.”

The Los Angeles Film Festival runs from June 10 – 18, 2015.