The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center Announces THE 44th CINEFESTIVAL SAN ANTONIO  

San Antonio's original Latinx film festival returns on Tuesday, July 11 through Sunday, July 16, 2023, at the historic Guadalupe Theater with a greater than-ever Texas filmmaker presence. Featuring 114 films, including 38 films from San Antonio and 40 films from the Lone Star State, the 44th CineFestival San Antonio continues to support local and regional filmmakers, while offering a well-rounded program to local audiences that also includes national and international films that highlight artistic excellence and diversity.  

   

“We never know how many films will be submitted each year, but with a total of 312 entries this year, the amount of work being done by local and regional Latinx, and indigenous filmmakers is staggering.” said CineFestival Programmer Eugenio del Bosque. “Of course, the work varies in quality, and many of these films are short films, yet it is very encouraging to see young and veteran filmmakers in San Antonio and Texas are hard at work. We look forward to being a part of bringing an audience to these films and helping some of these voices mature, now and in the years to come.”  

 

The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center will add an extra day to the 44th CineFestival San Antonio to accommodate the high volume of submissions. This year, the festival will feature 31 screenings showcasing 15 feature films and 99 short films. 

 

“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. We wanted to make sure we were able to showcase as many local and regional artists whose unique voices need to be heard.” said del Bosque.  

 

The festival will open on Tuesday, July 11 with a special 30th anniversary screening of “Blood In, Blood Out,” directed by Taylor Hackford. This event will be hosted by Jesse Borrego, San Antonio's own stage and film actor and CineFestival artistic advisor. The screening will be free and open to the public and will be a unique opportunity to revisit this seminal work of the Chicano film cannon based on the true-life experiences of screenwriter Jimmy Santiago Baca and starring Borrego, Damian Chapa, Benjamin Bratt, Enrique Castillo, and Valente Rodriguez, among many others. 

 

“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. “When you feature a free screening of a movie like 'Blood In, Blood Out' in the heart of the Westside, it's hard to not miss the cultural significance of it being featured by the Guadalupe's CineFestival,” he added.  

 

The festival will close with the San Antonio premiere of the documentary “Going Varsity in Mariachi,” directed by Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn, which focuses on Edinburg North High School's acclaimed Mariachi Oro in South Texas, as they rebuild their twenty-member varsity group and work on a shoestring budget to compete in the state championships, and the winner of the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. 

 

Other feature films include:   

• “El Equipo” (Dir. Bernardo Ruiz, 2023, USA) – In 1984, an unlikely meeting between Texas native Dr. Clyde Snow, a legendary American forensic scientist, and a group of Argentine students who ultimately change the course of forensic science and human rights forever. 

• “Gift” (Dir. Alex Oviedo, 2022, Texas) – A young Esper must come to terms with his past and save the future for both him and a young woman. 

• “Home Is Somewhere Else” (Dir. Carlos Hagerman, Jorge Villalobos, 2022, Mexico) – An acclaimed Mexican animated documentary, it opens an intimate window to the hearts and minds of young undocumented Dreamers in the US. 

• “Hummingbirds” (Dir. Silvia Del Carmen Castaños, Estefanía "Beba" Contreras, 2023, Texas) – A lyrical, intimate, and uplifting look at the lives of the two young directors in Laredo, Texas as they navigate the immigration process in a politically divided America. The film won the Grand Prix of the Generation 14 plus the International Jury at the Berlin International Film Festival. 

• “Martínez” (Dir. Lorena Padilla, 2023, Mexico) – Another acclaimed Mexican film from newcomer Lorena Padilla who spent three years teaching film at SMU in North Texas. Martinez, a lonely accountant who prizes his daily monotony, must realize that his life is still ahead of him when he is pushed into retirement.  

• “Moe” (Dir. José Luis Valenzuela, 2023, USA) – Based on the award-winning play “Dementia,” Moises is having a going away party because he's dying of AIDS, but his plans go awry when unexpected characters from his past show up, all the while his alter ego, a torch singing drag queen, wants to take him for "the ride of his life.” 

• “Nelly Queen: The Life and Times of Jose Sarria” (Dir. Joe Castel, 2022, USA) – A triumphant story of the human spirit, a hero's journey of man fighting unjust laws and uniting a fractured community. This is co-produced by Chicano actor Danny de la Paz. In 1961, Jose Sarria was the first openly gay man to run for public office in the US, and he ran in heels. When San Francisco city officials vowed to shut down all the gay bars in 1961, the 38-year-old female impersonator threw caution to the wind and campaigned for a seat on the board of supervisors.  

• “On Guard: A Story of American Youth” (Dir. Allen Otto, 2023, Texas) – Directed by San Antonio native Allen Otto and set in El Paso, Texas, this energetic documentary follows an all-girl team of high school students connected by their passion for the unheralded, all-American sport of color guard, as they compete in the wake of tragedy, navigate the universal trials and tribulations of adolescence and come of age in an era unlike anything America has experienced before. 

• “Seahorse” (Dir. Rommel J. Eclarinal, 2022, Texas) – Emily is a young mother and heroin addict, struggling to maintain a relationship with her daughter and a grip on reality. 

• “The Secret Sabbath” (Dir. Daniel Goldberg, 2022) – A documentary in which individuals in Mexico and the United States converge towards the often-shunned junction, where Hispanic and Jewish cultures intersect, as they disentangle the fibers of deeply hidden family secrets handed down by generations past. 

• “Summoning the Spirit” (Dir. Jon Erich Garcia, 2023, USA) – A horror film directed by a native Texas director, “Summoning the Spirit” follows a young couple as they decide to escape the hustle of the big city, purchasing a home in the remote forest. The couple quickly realizes that they are on the land of a cult, and its leader claims a telepathic connection to a legendary flesh-eating beast deep in the woods surrounding them.  

 

The Mesquite Awards will be bestowed in two categories: Best Texas Narrative Short Film and Best Texas Documentary Short Film. A panel of industry professionals will choose the jury award-winning documentary and narrative films from a collection of 14 short films made in Texas, including works made by filmmakers from Austin, Dallas, Colorado, Colombia, Corpus Christi, Costa Rica, Fort Worth, Laredo, Mexico, the Rio Grande Valley, and San Antonio. 

  

A large selection of local films will screen under the banner “Vistas de San Antonio,” featuring 20 short films including student films from UTSA, University of the Incarnate Word, and new works by Antonio Graviel Gonzales, Antonio Roman, Paul Alanis, Cody Slice, Nick Rodriguez, Joe Louis Salinas, Maximillian Wright, Keanu Cordero, Vanessa Rae Lerma, Robb S. García, Marisela Barrera and Austin Hernandez, among others. 

 

Three local feature films are also part of “Vistas de San Antonio”: 

• “Conjunto Blues” (Dir. Joel Celestino Settles, 2020, San Antonio) – Local feature film “Conjunto Blues” is a stage play that was adapted for the screen in collaboration with Teatro Vivo and The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. The show explores social and historical conditions that led to the development of Conjunto music as an expression of cultural resistance and liberation. Written and performed by Nicolás Valdéz. 

• “Heart of Glory” (Dir. Jorge Lopez Ramirez, 2022, San Antonio) – Local feature film “Heart of Glory” trails the legacy of Ramirez' father, local San Antonio boxer Jimmy "The Kid" Sanchez who endures life's daily struggles while training to fight his way to the top in the boxing world. 

• “Sacred Mask” (Dir. David F. Mendez, 2023, San Antonio) – This local feature film is the story of a young man, Jesse, who comes from a luchador family. He forsakes the family name and mask, and instead tries to follow his own dreams until one day a dark and mysterious shadow brings him back into the fold by hurting everyone close to him to get what he wants. 

  

The 44 CineFestival San Antonio will offer 13 free screenings, including Family Day on Saturday, July 15 with a morning block presenting a selection of youth films made by artists, 19 years of age or younger, followed by “On Guard: A Story of American Youth” (Dir. Allen Otto, 2023, Texas) and “Home Is Somewhere Else” (Dir. Carlos Hagerman, Jorge Villalobos, 2022, Mexico). 

   

Free screenings will also include Senior Cinema, on Thursday, July 13 at noon featuring “Conjunto Blues” (Dir. Joel Celestino Settles, 2020, San Antonio) dedicated to San Antonio's elderly film and music community. Beginning on Wednesday, July 12, “Cine en el Barrio” presents four screenings featuring a selection of international short films from Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Spain, and Venezuela; and a collection of short films showcasing Latinx and indigenous talent from around the US.  

 

Three Texas short film showcases include a total of 17 short films from artists working in Austin, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Edinburg, Kyle, El Paso, Pflugerville, and Weslaco among other Texas locations.    

 

All 44th CineFestival San Antonio screenings will take place at the historic Guadalupe Theater, located at 1301 Guadalupe Street, San Antonio, TX 78207. Full festival schedule and tickets will be available Friday, June 23 at guadalupeculturalarts.org. Individual tickets are $8 and festival passes are $40.  

 

The 44th CineFestival San Antonio is made possible thanks to the continuing support of the City of San Antonio Department of Arts and Culture, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the San Antonio Film Commission, the Ford Foundation, and H-E-B. 

For more information call 210.271.3151, email cine@guadalupeculturalarts.org, or visit www.guadalupeculturalarts.org/cine-festival/. 

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