The seventh art festival honors Latino stories, culture and creativity through film, music, art, and dining experiences March 19-23, 2025.
By Andreína Longoria.
For more than thirty years, the annual San Diego Latino Film Festival (SDLFF) has embedded itself in the history of both Californias as a vital platform for storytelling, bringing together filmmakers, artists, and audiences in a celebration of the richness and diversity of Latino and Latin American culture.
The thirty-second edition, will be Thursday, March 19 through Sunday, March 23, 2025 at AMC Mission Valley 10 (1640 Camino Del Rio North, SD, CA 92108) and the Digital Gym Cinema (1100 Market St, SD, CA 92101).
“We have a selection of over 100 films, it’s a very intense 5-day festival, hopefully everyone is scheduled to see the best in cinema. We have films from Latin America, South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. We have a very special selection of films from the Dominican Republic, the cinema of this country has been flourishing thanks to a very strong film school, ‘La Bachata de Biónico’ and ‘Olivia y las nubes’ will be presented, films that are in competition, each one has only one screening, it is recommended to buy tickets online starting March 6”, explained the artistic director of the SDLFF, Ana Paula Lorgia to Así es la Nota.
The most important film festival in Southern California this year welcomes the inspiring words of guest and Latin film legend Gregory Nava: “No wall can stop a dream”, through the power of the seventh art, “Cinema without borders”.
Among the festival’s special tributes is Chilean actress, director and playwright Paulina Garcia, who will be honored with the debut of the film “Querido Trópico”, directed by Panamanian Ana Endara, a moving story of an upper-class woman struggling with dementia. Also recommended are the Colombian films ‘La Salsa Vive’ and ‘Alma del Desierto’. Mexican films ‘Mesa de Regalos’ and ‘Déjame estar contigo’.
One of the most powerful stories of Latin cinema, “El Norte”, by Gregory Nava, popular for his film “Selena”, returns to the festival with a restored version, to which Lorgia added: “We will also invite Dolores Huerta, the civil rights leader in the United States, and we are programming this film because we must highlight the values of the Latino community in the United States, and the film talks about crossing the border, it is a film that will be 40 years old, and it is very current”.
With a dynamic fusion of film, music, art and food, the annual San Diego Latino Film Festival (SDLFF) invites you to join this unforgettable journey through narratives, culture, and the essence of community.
The “Frontera Filmmakers” section, the multi-award winning film “Broken Borders” (Soy lo que nunca fui / 2024 / Mexico / 123 min.), debut feature by Tijuana filmmaker Rodrigo Álvarez Flores starring Oaxacan actress Ángeles Cruz; and the documentary “Surgencia”, by Alejandro Montalvo (2024 / Mexico / 76 min. ) which follows prestigious winemaker Hugo D’Acosta and celebrity chef Benito Molina on a road trip in the Baja California peninsula, as well as the films “El Mirador” by Tijuana’s Diego Hernandez and “The In Between” by U.S. filmmaker Robie Flores.
Short films: “The Afro Mexpats”, by Ebony Marie Bailey; “Memories of an Eternal Flowers”, by Gabriel Cardona; “Kumeyaay Land”, by Dylan Verrechia; “RPDB Documentary”, by Aleida Lomeli; and “Luz de Sol”, by Tijuana’s Marco Aurelio Celis.
