New Filmmakers Los Angeles film festival is held every month across the city. NFMLA brings together hidden talent in filmmaking by underrepresented groups such as the Latinx and Hispanic community. The film festival provides film makers with a venue to showcase their work and connect with writers, actors and producers to help them finance and distribute future films to the public.
“It has been very lovely. I haven’t been to many of these events, but my friend invited me tonight.” Jennifer Duarte an attendee said. “I’m like pleasantly surprised by the amount of like solid films there have been. They’re shorts, but I can see them being made into films.”
The shorts showcased are about social issues affecting the Latinx and Hispanic community. They create awareness by bringing the stories to life. The Peruvian-American film “Maxima”, directed by Mariel Sosa, tells the story of a indigenous woman from Peru in a legal fight against a powerful mining company illegally evicting her from her land. To other stories, such as the Spanish film “The Contract”, directed by Pablo Gomez Castro. The story of a Spanish samesex couple and their struggle to adopt a child while dealing with the common standards of society.
“Prior to tonight I’ve never heard of this film festival, and I didn’t know what to expect. I’m very happy that I was invited to experience it today.” Paul Frank said. “It’s important to support underrepresented filmmakers and their work. The shorts are great stories and they need to be told.”
Other shorts like the brazilian film “Carro”, directed by Gustavo Rosa, the story of an undocumented immigrant from Brazil dealing with language barriers and his decision to purchase a car to better himself in the US. And in an unexpected turn of events such as in the Costa Rican short that portrayed the story of a husband who lacks attention from his wife since their child was born is “Sudden Death”, directed by Kenneth Sanabria.
“After experiencing the film festival and learning what these filmmakers are doing. I’d like to comeback and support them.” Susana Guzman said. “I never thought I would have such a great experience.”
The environment, vibes, feeling of connection amongst the attendees and the films showcased throughout the evening create a lasting experience bringing together various people from diverse backgrounds to share and bring to light the struggles experienced in the Latinx and Hispanic community.
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