With the Return of LALIFF, Angelenos Can Enjoy These Latino Movies on the Big Screen

After a 5-year hiatus, the Los Angeles-based film festival dedicated to showcasing Latino perspectives through art is back. And its return brings with it a slew of new events and initiatives that hope to make its mission a year-long endeavor as well as a one-stop shop for all things Latinx. “LALIFF has long been the most important Latino film festival in the U.S.. But this time around, with the launch of LALIFF Art, LALIFF Music and LALIFF Legacy, we are making sure it becomes the Mecca of Latino content,” said Edward James Olmos, founder of LALIFF. “LALIFF is a celebration of having our voices heard beyond the film screen, and we felt it crucial to bring the festival back to the place where it started– Los Angeles.” True to its mission, the fest will be screening films from all over the continent, including projects from Argentina, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, and the United States.

In addition to the features and shorts presented at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, LALIFF will host a series of cool events. There’ll be a special Latinx podcast event (“Live from LALIFF”) with Latinos Who Lunch and Locatora Radio. The event will be free and open to the public, and will allow fans of Starz’s original hit show Vida to hear their podcast faves interview creator, Tanya Saracho, and the stars of the Latinx series. And for fans of El Santo, LALIFF has partnered with the Academy Film archive to screen a new print of the 1961 luchador classic film Santo Contra “Cererbro del Mal.”

Since there’s so much to see, we’ve narrowed our top picks to 10 films you should keep an eye out for. They run the gamut from soccer dramas to get you into the World Cup spirit to comedies about gold-seekers that are fun for the entire family.

LALIFF runs June 20-24, 2018.