{"id":236075,"date":"2013-03-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-06T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/media-arts-center-celebrates-20-years-of-latino-film\/"},"modified":"2013-03-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-03-06T08:00:00","slug":"media-arts-center-celebrates-20-years-of-latino-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/media-arts-center-celebrates-20-years-of-latino-film\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Arts Center celebra 20 a\u00f1os de cine latino"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nonprofit looks to entire region for this year\u2019s Latino Film Festival<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anthony King | Downtown News\u00a0Assistant Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Media Arts Center San Diego crosses a milestone this year, with their 20th anniversary celebration of the San Diego Latino Film Festival March 7 \u2013 17. What started as a small student film collective has grown into one of the leading festivals focusing on work by and about the Latino experience.<\/p>\n

To help promote this year\u2019s festival, Media Arts Center organizers held an official launch party Feb. 21 at Gang Kitchen, located at 345 Sixth Ave. in Downtown. Media Arts Center founder and Executive Director Ethan van Thillo, along with other staff, offered information on the festival and received a proclamation from Mayor Bob Filner\u2019s office declaring the date Latino Film Festival Day in San Diego.<\/p>\n

\"Media<\/a>
(l-r) Media Arts Center San Diego founder and Executive Director Ethan van Thillo and Tijuana, Mexico Mayor Carlos Bustamante at the GANG Kitchen kickoff Feb. 21. Between them is the event poster by Juan Luis Garcia. (Photo by Ana Pines)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTwenty years ago we started as a small student film festival, and now we\u2019re expecting over 20,000 [attendees],\u201d van Thillo said of this year\u2019s anniversary. \u201cWe\u2019re really excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

In honor of the festival\u2019s 20 years, Media Arts Center will be screening their \u201ctop 10 groundbreaking and influential\u201d Latino films from the past 20 years. \u201cThe selected films blur the line between reality and fantasy, explore ideas of love and friendship and delve into pertinent social and political topics such as poverty, memory and state violence,\u201d organizers said.<\/p>\n

The 10 films are \u201cNostalgia de la Luz\u201d from Chile; \u201cCronos,\u201d \u201cDesperado,\u201d \u201cAmores Perros,\u201d and \u201cY T\u00fa Mam\u00e1 Tambi\u00e9n\u201d from Mexico; \u201cFresa y Chocolate\u201d from Cuba; \u201cAbres los Ojos\u201d and \u201cTodo Sobre Mi Madre\u201d from Spain; and \u201cCentral do Brasil\u201d and \u201cCiudade de Deus\u201d from Brazil.<\/p>\n

Organizers are also screening another classic, \u201cSelena,\u201d in partnership with Full Moon Drive-In in Pacific Beach. The movie will show March 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the authentic drive-in, located at 1500 Felspar St. The movie\u2019s director, Gregory Nava, will be in attendance.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back at our 20 year history, San Diego-born filmmaker Gregory Nava and acting legend, Lupe Ontiveros, have both attended numerous times and have been so important to the film festival,\u201d van Thillo said. \u201cSo, in celebration of our 20th Anniversary and in tribute to the late Lupe Ontiveros, [we are] honored to present this audience favorite in a great new and exciting outdoor venue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Festival Special Events Producer Yolanda Walther-Meade hosted the event at Gang Kitchen, and helped introduce guest dignitaries including the Mexican Conusl General in San Diego and the mayor of Tijuana, Mexico, Carlos Bustamante.<\/p>\n

Recognizing San Diego as part of a complex border region, Media Arts Center is looking to reach a wider audience. They will be screening a selection of films in Tijuana for this year\u2019s festival, and will once again offer the Borders on Film program, featuring films that explore concepts of how borders affect a region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year to commemorate our 20th anniversary, in an act which really highlights the importance of our cross-border region, we are exemplifying our spirit of regional unity,\u201d Walther-Meade said.<\/p>\n

Two of the festival\u2019s three main parties will take place at Downtown locations, including the opening night party March 7 at Caf\u00e9 Sevilla, located at 353 Fifth Ave. The Centerpiece Screening after party on March 13 will be at FLUXX Nightclub, located at 500 Fourth Ave. Five Star Tours will offer free transportation from the Mission Valley movie theater to the downtown locations.<\/p>\n

The closing weekend party held March 16, will be at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park. Organizers are expecting VIP guests from several of the films screened throughout the festival to attend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really all about you, our community here and on the other side of the border,\u201d Walther-Meade said. \u201cYou are the reason that we at Media Arts Center San Diego and the San Diego Latino Film Festival are able to celebrate 20 healthy, vigorous, vibrant years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most films screen at the Digiplex Mission Valley, formerly the UltraStar Mission Valley Cinemas, located at 7510 Hazard Center Drive. General admission tickets are $10.50 per film, with discounts for students, seniors, military and Media Arts Center members. There are also special prices on passes and family tickets.<\/p>\n

For the complete schedule and movie information \u2013 including the opening party, closing weekend party and centerpiece showcase \u2013 as well as to purchase tickets, visit sdlatinofilm.com or call 619-230-1938.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nonprofit looks to entire region for this year\u2019s Latino Film Festival Anthony King | Downtown News\u00a0Assistant Editor The Media Arts Center San Diego crosses a milestone this year, with their 20th anniversary celebration of the San Diego Latino Film Festival March 7 \u2013 17. What started as a small student film collective has grown into […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":236076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Media Arts Center celebrates 20 years of Latino film","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}