The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures has been awarded an external grant by Pragda’s Spanish Film Club to host a Latin American Film Festival this fall.
The five-film lineup will take place throughout the semester, yet the bulk of the festival is scheduled to take place during Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 to Oct. 15), International Education Week and Black Consciousness Day in Brazil (Nov. 20).
The festival will highlight the cultures as well as the contemporary filmmaking practices of Brazil, Dominican Republic, Paraguay, Argentina and Mexico-U.S.
Faculty member Gonzalo Aguiar Malosetti, the recipient of this highly competitive grant, will introduce and discuss the films, providing a necessary contextualization to against-the-grain storytelling practices centered on issues such as migration, racism, economic crisis and the legacy of Latin American sounds to world music.
“The department is heavily involved in developing programs focused on diversity, inclusion, and belonging,” Aguiar Malosetti said, “so this festival is all about screening relatable stories of cultural heritage, resilience against adversity, and joyful struggle our students can identify with. I look forward to the after-screening discussions the festival will surely prompt among the audience in attendance.”
The festival will be free and open to the public.
-- Submitted by the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures