CineFestival 33 - Day 1

Each year on the heels of Sundance Film Festival, local folks gather at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center to celebrate and reflect on Latino cinema—contemporary and historical, Chicano, Latin American, and Indigenous. On Thursday evening’s launch of CineFestival, filmmakers, actors, commissioners, curators, and friends huddled in the Cine Lounge—a warm glow of bomber jackets and leather boots, wool coats, caps, and scarves—sipping Modelos and embracing each other with jovial talk as the outside temperatures rivaled Park City, Utah.

By eight o’clock, a brimming crowd packed the Guadalupe Theater, and Patty Ortiz, director of the GCAC, was moved to tears in her opening comments. Young girls in fancy dress with bows in their hair flitted down the aisles to their seats. Then, in his humble tone, CineFestival Curator Manuel Solis affirmed, “Tonight, Aztlán is in focus.”

“Rooftop Wars” and “Cartoneo y Nopalitos” (“Cardboard Dreams”), the two films that opened CineFestival last night, are inspiring illustrations of how cinema connects us to a broader world of insight—one that is visceral, emotional, tangible. Through the experiences of children growing up in the United States, both films illuminate under-represented, or misrepresented, communities.

Miguel Silveira’s “Rooftop Wars” won the Premio Mesquite Award: Best Short Film for its portrayal of a fierce afternoon in the life of a Mexican-American boy whose father died as a soldier in Iraq. Silveira filmed in the Chicago neighborhood of Pilsen and worked with a 90% cast of non-actors. His film achieves a visceral atmosphere of the neighborhood and a nail-biting climax, yet allows for relief and the belief that hope prevails.

The Premio Mesquite Award: Special Jury Award went to “Cartoneo y Nopalitos” (“Cardboard Dream”). Director Pablo Véliz, an alumn of Say Sí and San Antonio’s rising star, adds a moving, soulful story of human dignity to the angry and frustrated debate over the Dream Act. (In attendance were five individuals on hunger strike for the Dream Act.)

In the Q&A session after the film, Véliz asserted that he didn’t intend for his film to serve as a political tool, and he avoided the trap of stereotypical characters. Rather, he wanted to offer a personal, human picture, with empathetic characters throughout, appealing to the hearts and minds of a wide audience. Véliz shared the stage with the cast and his local production team of CineVéliz: Director Pablo Véliz, Producer Dago Patlan, Casting Director Victor Augustin, and Composer Douglas Edward.

Despite a few false starts with the projectors, a few ringing cell phones, and a few chatty viewers, the first night of CineFestival was rich and layered with stirring engagements between films and neighbors—then, letting us out to slide home on ice, just before a snowfall.

Photo Credit: Ray Santisteban.