The Latino Film Festival The Latino Film Festival was created in 1993 as a student film festival, Cine Estudiantil, which focused on highlighting films about Latinos. Under the direction of Ethan van Thillo and filmmaker Paul Espinosa, a founding member, the festival has thrived. By 1999, it became a program of the nonprofit community organization Media Arts Center San Diego. The Center’s program philosophy has been to “challenge the historical exclusion of under-represented communities from the media arts field and address distorted images of those communities by mainstream media.” The Latino Film Festival has grown into an event that has presented close to 4,000 films and has attracted more than 380,000 attendees since it was founded.
Going Forward Energized by that strong sense of cultural pride, the legacy of the Chicano Cultural Renaissance has offered creative outlets for decades. It continues to expand in all areas: music, theater, literature, art, and more, giving a voice to today’s artivistas representing the mosaic of Latino communities. Sí se puede.
Paul Espinosa, Filmmaker Co-Founder Latino Film Festival (Photo courtesy Latino Legacy Foundation)
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San Diego Latino Legacy – Timeline • Milestones • Stories
Chapter 5 – The Chicano Cultural Renaissance
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