The third Latino Film Festival and Conference will put Latina filmmakers, actresses, and Latina film scholars at the center. The Latina Film Festival provides an exciting and productive paradigm in which to showcase the innovative directing and acting of women in documentaries, shorts, and feature length films. Multiple scholars and filmmakers will be present. Here are a couple of included films:

Las Marthas, USA 2014
The annual debutante ball in Laredo, Texas, is unlike any other. Part of the largest celebration of George Washington’s birthday in the world, a select group of mostly Mexican-American girls is chosen each year to dress in elaborate gowns representing iconic figures from America’s colonial history. Their goal: to recreate a party hosted by Martha Washington, but this time set along the U.S./Mexico border. A year in the making, each girl’s dress can weigh 100 lbs. and cost up to $30,000—nearly the median family income of Laredo. Las Marthas follows two of the girls—Laurita Garza Hovel and Rosario Reyes—as they prepare for this extraordinary rite of passage.

Lake Los Angeles, USA 2014
In Lake Los Angeles, we follow the story of Roberto, a middle-aged Cuban immigrant working at a holding house, and Cecilia, a 10-year-old Mexican girl who ends up at that house with no family members to fend for her. Through navigating what was supposed to be both Roberto and Cecilia’s promised land, they find a common hope in each other while navigating the hauntingly beautiful and desolate world that is Lake Los Angeles.

Bloomington, IN: April 7 - 8. Full details here.