Angeleno’s are spoiled for film festivals. That’s despite the discontinuation of the LA Film Festival in 2018. Instead of being dominated by one single film festival like TIFF, Berlinale, or the London Film Festival, Los Angeles has a diverse range of brilliant film festivals that each cover different perspectives. PAFF is your go to for Pan African film, Outfest celebrates LGBTQ+ films, Shorts Fest covers many of the latest shorts, whilst AFI Docs screens the best recent documentaries. Similarly, LALIFF, the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival showcases the global Latino experience on film. In a city dominated by Latinos, LALIFF is the premiere Latino film festival in the city, and likely the country. With plenty of premieres, round table discussions, and workshops, make sure you add it to your film calendar for next year. Read on for our full LALIFF 2021 review.
The Experience
With COVID-19 cases declining in California and Los Angeles, LALIFF 2021 was one of the first film festivals since the start of the pandemic that hosted in-person events in Los Angeles. All of the films had screening times at Hollywood cinemas for anyone to attend. However, as the festival coincided with the birth of my first baby, I was only able to make the most of the virtual portion of the festival, so our LALIFF 2021 review misses the in person events. Luckily for me, almost all of the films still had virtual screenings (other than the big premieres like In The Heights), so I was able to catch a lot of the festival, especially the international films that usually find it harder to fill theaters than the domestic premieres.
For this 20th edition of the festival, all of the round table discussions and industry workshops were hosted virtually, allowing anyone without time to attend or COVID-19 concerns to access some brilliant industry insider knowledge on offer. LALIFF 2021 is the first film festival that we’ve seen in Los Angeles that hosts industry events. It was also the first we’ve seen that screened films from local student filmmakers, which were boosted from placements ahead of some of the most anticipated international movies on the schedule, such as Executive Order. The combination of industry talks and student film screenings demonstrates LALIFF is committed to boosting the Latino film community by sharing knowledge from role models within the industry and giving screen space to help young filmmakers get seen. It was great to see the community connection – something that all film festivals should aspire to create.
A next step could be hosting some of the festival’s events within the Los Angeles’ Latino community as well as Hollywood. Whilst Hollywood might give the festival more visibility in the industry, screenings in community centers might boost the visibility of the festival amongst Latinos as well as the Latino community to the film industry. PAFF is one great example of this, moving from it’s humble start at the former Laemmle Sunset 5 in West Hollywood to the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in the center of Los Angeles’ African American community. The move has allowed the festival to expand into a multi-dimensional event with films at the theater and arts and crafts in the mall to celebrate Pan African culture and the African American community. Another example is the younger Central American International Film Festival held in the Plaza de la Raza cultural center, showcasing Latino films in one of the artistic hearts of Los Angeles’ Latino community. Showcasing some of it’s star films in the Latino community in Los Angeles could boost the community’s visibility to the film industry.
Wherever in Los Angeles LALIFF 2022 takes place, make sure you make the effort to attend.
The Films
As expected, there was a good representation of Latin American films screening at LALIFF 2021. Whilst the selection wasn’t as large as other film festivals, it’s 18 feature films represented a decent selection of countries with 9 countries represented at this year’s edition. LALIFF 2021 also did an OK job of representing directors from different background. 10 of the 18 feature films were directed by women which was great to see, and the festival also screened 2 films by Afro-Latin directors and 1 by an indigenous woman which was better than nothing. Other films also touched on the Afro-Latin and Indigenous experience, however it would be awesome to see further visibility for Afro-Latin and Indigenous directors and producers in future.
LALIFF 2021 also had a nice mix of genres to watch. There were the classic artistic festival films such as Nudo Mixteco and La Botera, protest films such as Landfall, dreamy coming of age journeys such as Papi, and pop films such as comedy satire The Best Families, and rom-com Something Blue. It even covered the big premiere of one of the year’s most hyped films in musical, In the Heights. There was something for every type of film fan.
The quality of the films was good too. All of the 9 feature films I saw are worth your time with no duds in the mix. Here’s how they stacked up.
- Landfall
- Executive Order
- Fruits of Labor
- The Best Families
- Papi
- Nudo Mixteco
- Something Blue
- La Botera
- Between Fire and Water
LALIFF 2021’s Best: 1
Landfall is one of the best critiques of disaster capitalism and imperialism there is. It’s perfectly ordered observational scenes from around the island craft a country at crisis point. It’s an urgent warning to the precarious situation on the island following the devastation of Hurricane Maria.
The Runner Up: 2
A lightly comedic dystopian film, Executive Order fits perfectly within the highly divided Brazilian society. It’s great to see a movie in which reparations is the main focus and, like Bacurau, brings humor to a fiery contemporary context.
Two Personal Documentaries: 3 & 9
Fruits of Labor and Between Fire and Water are two brilliantly intimate documentaries which follow two teenagers trying to find their own identity. Fruits of Labor follows a student trying to support her family whilst studying for graduation in Central California, whilst Between Fire and Water follows a Black adoptee of an indigenous community trying to connect with his biological roots.
The Pop Hits: 4, 5, & 7
The Best Families, Papi, and Something Blue were three great movies to watch for the casual film viewer looking for some light entertainment. The Best Families features two dysfunctional families that lose it as a long held secret comes to light. Papi is a beautifully dreamy coming of age movie shot from the perspective of a kid missing her drug-dealing dad. Something Blue is the perfect film to watch if you’re looking for a cheesy romcom.
The Art House Festival Films: 6 & 8
Nudo Mixteco and La Botera are two art-house films which depict humble lives away from the bustle of the city. Nudo Mixteco features three storylines with indigenous women that piece together Amores Perros’ style in a remote Mexican town. La Botera follows a teenager growing up in a tough Buenos Aires neighborhood dreaming of being a boatwoman.
The Shorts
There was also a great selection of shorts which screened both in front of the biggest features of the festival as well as on their own in shorts only screenings. These included shorts from local student filmmakers as mentioned above, as well as shorts from up-and-coming filmmakers trying to break into the industry. Of the small selection we saw for our LALIFF 2021 review, we strongly recommend looking out for the following:
- Nuevo Rico: a purple and pink neon infused animation that reminded me of the Akira look but with the bikes and sci-fi swapped out for reggaeton and the music industry.
- The Libertarian: there should be more slave rebellion stories on film. The Libertarian uses a simple black and white animation to convey the terror of the slave ships and the bravery and power of the rebellion, connecting them to the African diaspora in the Americas.
- Roach: if you ever wondered what Kafka’s Metamorphosis converted to animation might look like, check out Roach.
Overall LALIFF 2021 Review
Los Angeles has a lot of great film festivals and LALIFF is one of them. LALIFF 2021 was the most rounded film festival I’ve experienced in Los Angeles, featuring a diverse selection of international and domestic films from within the Latin American universe, as well as Q&A’s, round table discussions, and industry workshops that are usually only confined to the biggest international film festivals. It even has a nice portion of community outreach, screening a few shorts made by students at local school districts. Just as the Pan African Film Festival, hosted in Crenshaw, is the go to for Pan African film in Los Angeles, LALIFF is the go to festival for Latino film in the city. It’s celebration of Latin film should be a can’t miss event for any local film fan.
Head to our LALIFF 2021 Hub for individual reviews from the 20th edition of LALIFF, giving more detail than the LALIFF 2021 review summaries.
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