![\"Media](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/web-IMG_5000-300x174.jpg\" "\\"web")
To help promote this year\u2019s festival, Media Arts Center organizers held an official launch party Feb. 21 at Gang Kitchen restaurant 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
\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<\/strong><\/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 In conjunction with the festival, the Media Arts Center is also accepting entries for \u201cstorefront video installations\u201d at their North Park location, 2921 El Cajon Blvd. Selected rotating street-side videos will be shown in the windows of the Center, in part to offer yet another outlet for new work.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are excited to offer our storefront as a new venue for the voice of Latinos in and around San Diego, as well as bring a sense of place and awareness of new media formats to San Diego citizens\u201d organizers said. For full submission guidelines, email Media Arts instructor Evan Apodaca at evanapodaca@gmail.com.<\/p>\n Co-presented by the San Ysidro Health Center, the SDLFF will one again be screening a collection of feature and short films in its Cine Gay showcase, highlighting recent films about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Latino culture. This is the eighth year of the LGBT-focused showcase.<\/p>\n \u201cChallenging the historical exclusion of underrepresented communities in the media, the festival takes advantage of the opportunity of this showcase to highlight experiences of gay life in different corners of the world, underlining the universal experience as well as the unique expressions of the Latin LGBT community,\u201d organizers said.<\/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":" North Park nonprofit looks to entire region for this year\u2019s Latino Film Festival By Anthony King | SDUN Editor The North Park-based nonprofit 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 […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":245869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_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":[11549,11547,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245868","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=245868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}