The vitality of Latin culture will surge onto the screen when Flinders University, in collaboration with the Latin American Society of South Australia (LASSA), hosts the 2022 Latin American Film Festival, an inclusive cultural celebration that brings together Adelaide’s Central and South American communities through viewing cinematic contributions from 15 countries.

Now in its 17th year, the Adelaide season of the Latin American Film Festival will be held across three venues between 2 – 17 November. All 15 feature films are free to watch and open to the public.

The cultural significance of the Latin American Film Festival

Supported by a collective of Central and South American embassies, the film festival serves as an important meeting place and celebration for the Latin American community all over Australia. Flinders University has been hosting this annual event in Adelaide since 2006.

“It’s really important for the people in Adelaide from these different Latin American communities to come together and network – especially the younger people – because it promotes a collective cultural exchange,” says Spanish Studies and Linguistics lecturer Dr Olga Sanchez Castro.

The festival attracts several hundred people throughout its season and has received glowing feedback from attendees. Olga explains, “It’s very important for these communities to experience movies spoken in their first language because it reinforces the value of their language and culture”.

“It also provides an opportunity for the people of these communities to reach the Australian public and share their culture through the universal language of film.”

What’s on?

Screen and Media Lecturer Dr Nicholas Godfrey will be opening the Latin American Film Festival on Wednesday, November 2, with the new Uruguayan feature film “The Employer and the Employee” will be screened at North Terrace’s Fat Controller. To follow are 14 further movies by Central and South American filmmakers.

THE EMPLOYER AND THE EMPLOYEE (EL EMPLEADO Y EL PATRÓN)
Country: Uruguay
2 November, 6.30pm, Fat Controller, 136 North Terrace

On a rural farm in Uruguay, two men find their responsibilities for their work and families complicated by an unexpected tragedy.
(106 mins, 2021)

THE MISSED ROUND (EL PIEDRA)
Country: Colombia
3 November, 6.30pm, 182 Victoria Square, Level 10, Room 10.1

An ageing, down-on-his-luck Colombian boxer must deal with the arrival of a 12-year-old boy who claims to be his son.
(90 mins, 2018)

TODAY WE FIX THE WORLD (HOY SE ARREGLA EL MUNDO)
Country: Argentina
4 November, 6.30pm, 182 Victoria Square, Level 10, Room 10.1

When an Argentinian man discovers the son he’s been raising for nine years is not his, he sets out to find the child’s biological father.
(113 mins, 2022)

SPIDER (ARAÑA)
Country: Chile
7 November, 6.30pm, 182 Victoria Square, Level 10, Room 10.1

In chaotic 1970s Chile, a trio of right-wing revolutionaries commit a political crime that continues to haunt them 40 years later.
(105 mins, 2019)

BIG HOUSE (CASA GRANDE)
Country: Brazil
8 November, 6.30pm, 182 Victoria Square, Level 10, Room 10.1

A 17-year-old high schooler from a wealthy family attempt to find his place in the world as he navigates class, race and sexual awakening.
(115 mins, 2014)

TROPICAL IRON (HIERRO TROPICAL)
Country: Costa Rica
9 November, 12.00pm, Bedford Park, Humanities Building, Lecture Theatre North 2

A documentary exploring the life of Minor Keith and the historic yet controversial construction of the Costa Rican Atlantic Railway in the 19th century.
(108 mins, 2017)

UPHILL LOVE (AMOR CUESTA ARRIBA)
Country: Venezuela
9 November, 6.30pm, 182 Victoria Square, Level 10, Room 10.1

A reclusive man gets a second chance at love when he reunites with his crush at a high school reunion and sets out to win her heart.
(85 mins, 2015)

MARTIN & MARGOT (MARTIN Y MARGOT)
Country: Guatemala
10 November, 6.30pm, 182 Victoria Square, Level 10, Room 10.1

Two writers travel through Guatemala in search of the poet who brought them together – until a pregnancy changes their perspective on life.
(93 mins, 2019)

TRIP TO TIMBUKTU (VIAJE A TOMBUCTÚ)
Country: Peru
11 November, 12.00pm, Bedford Park, Humanities Building, Lecture Theatre North 2

Two teenagers growing up in Peru during the tumultuous 1980s attempt to keep their love alive by escaping to an imaginary utopia.
(100 mins, 2014)

WARMI PACHAKUTIK: TIME OF WOMEN (WARMI PACHAKUTIK: TIEMPO DE MUJERES)
Country: Ecuador
11 November, 6.30pm, 182 Victoria Square, Level 10, Room 10.1

Through their activism, a new generation of Kichwa women generates changes and questions about the meaning of belonging, roles and thought.
(56 mins, 2020)

INNOCENCE (INOCENCIA)
Country: Cuba
14 November, 6.30pm, 182 Victoria Square, Level 10, Room 10.1

In 1871, a group of first-year medical students are wrongly imprisoned – leading one man to pursue justice and the hidden truth over 16 years.
(121 mins, 2018)

MANGORÉ: FOR THE LOVE OF ART (MANGORÉ: POR AMOR AL ARTE)
Country: Paraguay
15 November, 6.30pm, 182 Victoria Square, Level 2, Room 2

From humble beginnings, Agustin Barrios uses his talent and passion to become the legendary musician, guitarist and poet known as Mangoré.
(93 mins, 2015)

SOMETHING BLUE (ALGO AZUL)
Country: Panama
16 November, 12.00pm, Bedford Park, Humanities Building, Lecture Theatre North 2

When a wedding planner accidentally steals a dress belonging to a famous actress, she resolves to make the most of her fate before she’s caught.

(90 mins, 2021)

PABLO’S WORD (LA PALABRA DE PABLO)
Country: El Salvador
16 November, 6.30pm, 182 Victoria Square, Level 10, Room 10.1

A broken upper-middle-class family in El Salvador struggles with jealousy and revenge in this thriller based on Shakespeare’s Othello.
(84 mins, 2018)

LIONESS (LEONA)
Country: Mexico
17 November, 6.30pm, 182 Victoria Square, Level 10, Room 10.1

A young Jewish woman in Mexico finds herself torn between her duty to her family and her forbidden love for a non-Jewish man.
(94 mins, 2018)

Pick your top film now

Or come to watch all of them. All films are free, presented in their original language with English subtitles and open to the public – no registration needed, just rock up on the day.

Olga tells us the festival is attracting a growing number of curious outsiders, far beyond the Latin American communities to also include art cinema buffs, screen studies students and people studying the Spanish language. An event not to be missed.

Find further information on the Latin American Film Festival Facebook page.