Pamplin Media Group – Celebrate Latin American culture on the big screen

The Portland Latin American Film Festival runs Sept. 28-Dec. 7 at the Hollywood Theatre, starting with ‘Mighty Victoria’.

It’s National Hispanic Heritage Month until October 15th and an ideal time to learn more about people from Latin America.

Film has been an educational tool for years, and the Portland Latin American Film Festival returns for its 16th iteration, Sept. 28-Dec. 7 at the Hollywood Theatre.

There will be feature films, documentaries and short films from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Mexico, Panama, Uruguay and the United States. The films can be enjoyed by Spanish, Portuguese and English speakers and other lovers of Latin culture.

The festival serves as a means to showcase Latin American perspectives through films and increase the viewership of local Latin American cinema.

The festival kicks off at 7:30pm on Wednesday, September 28, with the 2011 film “Mighty Victoria (Poderoso Victoria).” Director Raul Ramon and Mexican actor Roberto Sosa will be on hand to introduce the film and participate in a post-screening question-and-answer session at Hey Love at Hotel Jupiter Next, 920 SE Burnside St.

The film has won audience choice awards at film festivals in Guadalajara, San Diego and Chicago. Sosa has worked alongside the likes of Lindsay Wagner, Jacqueline Bisset, Albert Finney, Emilio “El Indio” Fernandez, Jane Fonda, Gregory Peck, Denzel Washington and Mel Gibson.

Story: It is Mexico, 1937, and the people of the town of La Esperanza receive the news of the closure of the Indian Mine, and no one could have expected the devastating consequences. A few days later they receive the notification that the last train to the capital is leaving and with it the only means of communication with the outside world. Everyone flees the town except for a handful of residents who are led by a master mechanic.

The rest of the PDXLAFF feature film lineup:

• “Utama”, October 12, 19:30, Bolivia, Uruguay and France. Story: In the dry highlands of Bolivia, an elderly Quechua couple has been living the same daily routine for years. When an extremely long drought threatens their entire way of life, Virginio and Sisa are faced with the dilemma of resisting or being defeated. However, things change with the arrival of their nephew, Clever, who comes to visit with news. The three will face, each in their own way, the environment, the necessity for change and the very meaning of life, in this artistic debut of Alejandro Loayza Grisi.

• “Home Is Elsewhere,” 3 p.m. Oct. 23, Mexico, United States. The Story: It is an animated documentary that provides a window into the hearts and minds of undocumented immigrant youth and their families. This 2-D “animated” features three personal stories about young immigrants that highlight the complexities and challenges they face. Voiced by actual children and their families, the stories are woven together by spoken word poet José Eduardo Aguilar, also known as Lalo “El Deportee,” the film’s host and MC, whose lively “Spanglish” it breaks codes, changes standards and pushes the viewer. to decipher his poems.

• “Carajita”, 15:00 November 6, Dominican Republic, Argentina. Story: Sara and her nanny, Yarisa, have a relationship that seems to transcend their classroom conditions. They are the closest thing to a daughter-mother, but an accident will test their intimate loyalty and the innocent illusion that nothing can tear them apart.

• “Plaza Catedral”, November 16, 19:30, Panama, Mexico, Colombia. Story: Alicia (Ilse Salas) had a perfect life and lost it. Her 6-year-old son died in an accident and her grief is consumed by guilt. One night Chief, a street-smart 14-year-old who takes care of cars, arrives at her door bleeding from a gunshot wound and begs her to let him in. How far would you go to help a stranger?

• “The Moneychanger (Asi Hablo el Cambista),” 19:30 December 7, Uruguay, Argentina, Germany. History: In the mid-1970s, the regional economy attracted many scoundrels to Uruguay. Its institutions were bankrupt, there was a military government, subversives were behind bars and, for some disreputable sectors of Brazil and Argentina, the Uruguayan financial market seemed like an ideal place to disappear money. This is when Humberto Brause begins his meteoric rise in buying and selling foreign currency, sponsored by his father-in-law, a veteran in the capital removal business. But blinded by his excessive ambition, Humberto tramples over everything and everyone in his path until he has taken over the family business and accepts a dubious assignment: to clean the largest amount of money he has ever seen.

Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.hollywoodtheatre.org or at the Hollywood Theatre, venue, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd. For more about the festival, see its Facebook page.