In CineFestival’s 44th year, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s Latinx film festival will screen 114 films by local and regional filmmakers at the Historic Guadalupe Theater starting Tuesday.
The festival will kick off Tuesday with a free screening of Blood In, Blood Out in honor of the film’s 30th anniversary. San Antonio actor and CineFestival advisor Jesse Borrego will host the free event and revisit the film, which follows the story of three young Chicano men’s struggles with crime, drugs, poverty and racism in East Los Angeles during the 1970s.
“CineFestival is an important vehicle to showcase the Latino narrative. It offers the community a unique chance to see authentic Latino stories being told, from Latinx filmmakers, whose work may not easily be found at the movie theater,” said Borrego in a press release.
In response to growing submissions, festival organizers added another day to this year’s CineFestival to fully accommodate all of the films and screenings.
“The festival continues to grow in popularity and in fact, this is the second time in the past three years that we extended the festival to another day,” said festival director Eugenio del Bosque Gómez in a press release. “We wanted to make sure we were able to showcase as many local and regional artists whose unique voices need to be heard.”
Of the 114 films selected for the festival, 38 are by San Antonio filmmakers and 40 are from other parts of Texas.
“Vistas de San Antonio” will showcase 20 local films throughout the festival including Conjunto Blues, Heart of Glory and Sacred Mask.
Conjunto Blues, written and performed by Nicolás Valdéz, takes audiences into the social and historical moments that led to the birth of conjunto music. Heart of Glory directed by Jorge Lopez Ramirez follows the struggles of Ramirez’s father, local San Antonio boxer Jimmy “The Kid” Sanchez and his journey to becoming a top fighter. Sacred Mask, directed by David F. Mendez, is about a young man named Jesse who was raised in a luchador family. When Jesse decides to abandon his family name and mask to pursue his own dreams, a mysterious shadow torments him and the people he loves to get him to return to the ring.
Tickets for most screenings are $8, but CineFestival will also be offering 13 free screenings starting Wednesday.
Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. attendees can see a selection of international films including Kemonito: The Final Fall/Kemonito: La ultima caida from Mexico, Statistic from Brazil, Concord/Concordia from Chile and Eternal and the River/Eterno y el Rio from Costa Rica.
Senior Cinema Day on Thursday features a free screening of Conjunto Blues at noon, and on Saturday, films by filmmakers 19 and under, including On Guard: A Story of American Youth directed by Allen Otto of San Antonio and Home Is Somewhere Else directed by Carlos Hagerman and Jorge Villalobos, will be screened for free.
The festival concludes on Sunday when a panel of industry professionals will announce its winners for the 2023 Mesquite Awards for Best Texas Narrative Short Film and Best Texas Documentary Short Film.
CineFestival will take place July 11-16 at the Historic Guadalupe Theater, located at 1301 Guadalupe St. Tickets for individual screenings are $8, with festival passes at $40. Both can be purchased on the CineFestival website, where you’ll also find a full schedule of the festival.
