UNM film students will be sharing screen time with some of the Americas' most talented filmmakers Saturday at the Sin Fronteras Film Festival.
Sin Fronteras, or without boarders, is in its second year thanks to UNM's Student Organization for Latin American Studies. The festival is an all-day event with 19 films running between one and 60 minutes at the Guild Cinema.
"It's not common to get to see independent films from Latin America," said Sandra Ortsman, graduate assistant in the Latin American Studies Program and Solas member.
The group of six students and two community members set up a Web site calling for entries, and after the judging was done, they ended up with films from Mexico, Nicaragua, Cuba, Uruguay, Honduras, Argentina and the United States.
One film, "En la Puta Vida," directed by Beatriz Flores Silva, was Uruguay's Oscar entrance this year. Although it wasn't submitted, group members felt it was important to include in the festival so they requested that the film and the filmmaker come for the festival.
"It's cool because she's a woman director, and that's not the most common thing," Ortsman said.
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Four students from UNM's Media Arts Program have videos running in the festival. Magali Arreola Allen, Amanda Vega, Marisa Castaneda and Marcos Baca will all be at the Guild Saturday and at the Winning's Coffee after party to discuss their films with moviegoers. Baca will be giving an introduction to his film, "A Day at the Ditch," which he made with Vega.
"Hopefully, it's supporting the community, giving UNM filmmakers a chance to have their films shown in a festival venue," Ortsman said.
Beyond the students and Silva, filmmakers Veronica Rueda, producer of "Los Braceros: Triste Recuerdo" and Greg Berger, director of "Gringoton" and "Tlalnepantla: The Price of Democracy," will be speaking at the event.
"Gringoton" is a 17-minute short about a man who is upset about the situation in Iraq, but since he is in Mexico, he feels powerless.
"He is inspired by the people on the streets in Mexico City so he employs the same tactics of selling gum and washing windows to get a guerilla army to take out Bush," Berger said. "It's an anti-war film, but it is also a reflection of what it means to be a gringo in the complex relationship between Mexico and the U.S."
Berger said he will talk about why a gringo is speaking for the indigenous people of Mexico and what it's like being a gringo in Mexico.
"The work has been done and now the big task is to make sure people go," Ortsman said.
What: Sin Fronteras Film Festival
When: Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Where: Guild Cinema 3405 Central Ave.
Price: $12 all day passes, $5 per screening
