Latino film festival to debut this weekend

Film screenings and panel discussions will inaugurate a new Latino Film Festival on campus Nov. 5-6.

One of the festival organizers, Jean Janecki, a Ph.D. candidate in Spanish, says the event will provide an introduction to cultures not often experienced in Madison. “We’ll be showing films from Mexico, Venezuela, the United States and other countries,” she says. “For a lot of people, the festival will be a real cultural awakening.”

The proceedings will begin at 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5, with a presentation by Ray Sandisteban, director of CineFestival in San Antonio, the largest, longest-running Latino film festival in the nation. The featured picture Friday, “La Otra Conquista,” directed by Salvador Carrasco of Mexico, will be shown at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. in the Memorial Union Fredric March Play Circle.

Panel discussions Saturday, Nov. 6, will consider the role of sound in selected Latino film at 10 a.m. and other aspects of Latino cinema at 12:30 p.m. Both panel sessions will take place in 206 Ingraham Hall.

In the evening, Santisteban will present screenings from “The Best of CineFestival.” Included will be “Luminarias,” an American film directed by JosÈ Luis Valenzuela. The star and co-writer of “Luminarias,” Evelina Fern·ndez, also will attend the screening at 5 p.m. in the Play Circle.

Most of the films will be in Spanish with English subtitles. The panel discussions will be in English. All events are free and open to the public. For more information contact Janecki at (608) 233-8576.