CINE CON CULTURA
Each fall during Latinx Heritage Month, Cultura Ithaca! organizes the Cine con Cultura Latinx American Film Festival in Ithaca, New York. 2021 marks our seventh edition celebrating the work of Latin American filmmakers from all over the continent, providing a glimpse into Latin America and the US.
We are also thrilled to continue collaborating with Ithaca organizations/institutions this year, including our longtime partners Cornell Cinema, Cinemapolis, Ithaca College, and Cornell University.
Festival screenings will take place from September 16th, 2021 through October 10th, 2021. There will be a total of 9 films shown this year with a wide ranging selection of feature-length films and documentaries. Half of the films will be available online and free to the public. We are also hosting a zoom panel on the film "In the Heights" with Dr. Omaris Zamora (Rutgers), Dr. Nicole Horsley (Ithaca College), and Dr. Rojo Robles (Baruch College), and co-hosting a second panel on the film "Son of Monarchs" at Cornell Cinema with filmmaker Alexis Gambis, Dr. Robert Reed (Cornell), Dr. Natasha Raheja (Cornell) and Dr. Camilo Malagon (Ithaca College). This second panel will be moderated by Cornell professor Shannon Gleeson (ILR Labor History).
Check out the list of films below and please follow our social media pages on Facebook
(www.facebook.com/Cineconcultura), Twitter (@cineconcultura), and Instagram (cineconcultura).
For more information please email us at culturaithaca@gmail.com
And enjoy the festival!
Organizing Committee
Enrique González-Conty
Nicole Horsley
Cecelia Lawless
Camilo Malagón
Two Cuban-born brothers, both virtuoso musicians – Aldo and Ilmar López-Gavilán – live on opposite sides of the geopolitical chasm that separates the U.S. and Cuba. But although they lead very different existences, the brothers have an instinctual connection.
Following their parallel lives in New York and Havana, Los Hermanos / The Brothers offers an amazingly heartfelt – though often startling – view of estranged nations through the lens of music and family. In capturing their momentous reunion and electrifying first performances together, the film shows how family bonds can transcend politics.
Los hermanos
The Brothers
(Cuba/USA, 2020)
By Marcia Jarmel &
Ken Schneider
Date and Time: September 16, 2021 at 7pm
Location: Cornell Cinema
In Honduras, the most dangerous place in the world to be a land defender, the Lenca and Garífuna people are not backing down. They are fighting to uphold their rights and Indigenous and Black cultures in the face of state backed megaprojects and narco-traffickers who seek to assassinate them, destroy their lands, and erase their existence. This is a documentary about the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) and about the work that Berta Cáceres did to defend their sacred land.
La lucha sigue
The Struggle Continues
(Honduras/USA 2020)
By Sam Vinal
Date and Time: September 18, 2021 available All day (FREE)
Location: Vimeo
Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, lives every day of his life stuck on the same street corner in Washington Heights, Manhattan. From the little bodega he runs with his cousin, he dreams of striking it rich, of escaping back to the Dominican Republic, and of Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), the salon employee who comes in every morning. In the Heights follows him and the other members of his close-knit community as they struggle with day-to-day life in the city, working hard to live out their dreams for better lives. Adapted from the first Broadway show with music and lyrics by Lin Manuel Miranda.
In the Heights
(Latinx USA 2021)
By PJon M. Chu
Date and Time: September 24 and 25 at 9:15pm, with a zoom panel to follow of professors Nicole Horsley (Ithaca College), Rojo Robles (Baruch College) and Omaris Z. Zamora (Rutgers)
Location: Cornell Cinema, see zoom panel on the right.
This hybrid-documentary feature is a surreal trip into the lives of Cuban-American electro-funk sweethearts, Afrobeta, and their journey to Cuba to figure out WHY they feel so Cuban, having never been to the island. As these fun-loving, knowledge-seeking electronic musicians wade through all the opinions and perspectives on Cuba, from Miami to Havana, Birthright?! dives into the Cuban-American story, ultimately exploring what it means to be a hyphenated American.
Birthright
(Latinx USA 2021)
Jayme Gershen
Date and Time: September 28 at 7pm
Location: Cinemapolis with Q&A with the director and the music band to follow
Mariel (María Villar) longs to play the role of Isabella in a local theater troupe's production of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, but money problems prevent her from preparing for the audition. She thinks of asking her brother for financial help, but is worried about being too direct. Her solution is to ask her brother's girlfriend, Luciana (Agustina Muñoz), also an actress and a more self-assured one, to convince her brother to give her the money. Luciana agrees on the condition that Mariel will not abandon her acting and continue to prepare for the part of Isabella.
The latest in Matías Piñeiro's series of films inspired by the women of Shakespeare's comedies is his most structurally daring and visually stunning work to date. Through their rich and layered performances, Villar and Muñoz demonstrate a profound intimacy formed over more than a decade of collaboration with their director. Isabella is a film about the ongoing battle between doubt and ambition that never discounts the possibility of a new beginning. (http://www.cinemaguild.com/theatrical/isabella.html)
Isabella
(Argentina 2020)
By Matías Piñeyro
Date and Time: September 30 and October 3 at 7pm
Location: Cornell Cinema
Mexico, March 2015. Carmen Aristegui, an incorruptible journalist, is fired from the radio station where she has worked for years. But Carmen continues her fight: raising awareness and fighting against misinformation. The film tells the story of this quest: difficult and dangerous, but essential to the health of democracy. A story in which resistance becomes a form of survival.(https://lightdox.com/radio-silence/)
Silencio Radio
(México 2019)
By Juliana Fanjul
Date and Time: October 2 available All day (FREE)
Location: Online
After the death of his grandmother, a Mexican biologist living in New York returns to his hometown nestled in the majestic monarch butterfly forests of Michoacán. The journey forces him to confront past traumas and reflect on his new hybrid identity, launching him on a personal and spiritual metamorphosis.
The main character was inspired by Cornell professor Robert Reed (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology), a butterfly biologist, who also serves as Associate Curator of Lepidoptera for Cornell’s Insect Collection.
An in-person post-screening panel will feature filmmaker Alexis Gambis, Robert Reed (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology), Natasha Raheja (Anthropology) and Ithaca College professor Camilo Malagon (World Languages, Literatures and Cultures). The panel will be moderated by Cornell professor Shannon Gleeson (ILR Labor History).
Son of Monarchs
(México/USA 2021)
By Alexis Gambis
Date and Time: October 5 at 7pm
Location: Cornell Cinema with Q&A to follow
Indianara, a bigger-than-life revolutionary character and her group who lead a fight for the survival of transgender people in Brazil. Shot during tumultuous times in Brazil while Michel Temer is president, while Marielle Franco is killed in cold blood, Indianara is an incredible woman, a Gena Rowlands of sorts who doesn’t take no for an answer. She cares about humanity and decency for all. In the shelter she founded, in the streets and during demonstrations, she fights for her ideals, including her relationship with Maurice, her husband. Nearing fifty, facing political attacks and the advance of totalitarianism, she commits a real act of resistance.
Indianara
(Brazil 2019)
By Aude Chevalier-Beaumel & Marcelo Barbosa
Date and Time: October 9 available All day (FREE)
Location: Online
Angelica, after a long absence from Puerto Rico, returns home when her father, Wilfredo, suffers a stroke. This unexpected return and her father's illness force Angelica to re-evaluate her relationship with her mother and family members who don't accept her because of her skin color. She must face herself and discovers that she does not know who she is. After her father's death, Angelica must decide whether to return to the comfort of her previous life, dissatisfied, but secure, or set on an adventurous path to rediscover herself as an independent, modern, strong, black, and Puerto Rican woman. (https://www.africanfilm.com/blogs/artmattan-films-virtual-cinema/angelica)
Angélica
(Puerto Rico 2016)
By Marisol Gómez-Mouakad
Date and Time: October 10 available ALL DAY
Location: Online
Angélica
(Puerto Rico 2016)
By Marisol Gómez-Mouakad