Lawrence’s annual Latin American and Spanish film festival

On Oct. 4–6, the Warch Campus Center Cinema hosted the annual Latin American and Spanish film festival in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. The festival featured recent critically acclaimed films from the Latin American and Spanish-speaking world, played in Spanish, though featuring English subtitles. Starting at 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 4, the event launched with the film “Receta No Incluida” (“Without Prescription”) (2022). Directed by Juliana Maité, “Receta No Incluida” follows a woman with OCD who must go to extreme lengths to access her medication; she meets a pharmacist who sells prescription medications under the table, and during a storm, the two are forced to spend time together, leading to a transformative experience. According to the Lawrence University Latin American and Spanish Film Festival Instagram (@lulasff), there was a Q&A and reception with Maité after the viewing.

On Saturday, Oct. 5, “La Memoria Infinita” (“The Eternal Memory”) (2023) was played at 2 p.m. Directed by Maite Alberdi, this documentary follows a Chilean couple who have been together for 25 years and explores how they navigate the husband’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease. I could not fathom watching such an emotional film in the Lawrence Cinema, but it sounds like a beautiful, heartwrenching watch.

Also on Saturday, “Te Estoy Amando Locamente” (titled “Love & Revolution” in English) (2023) was featured at 4 p.m. Directed by Alejandro Marin, “Te Estoy Amando Locamente” is a Spanish historical drama about the LGBTQ+ community during a time when homosexuality was criminalized. The film is set in 1977 Seville, Spain, and it follows an adolescent named Miguel as he navigates his queer identity; Miguel’s mother, Reme, battles her steadfast, traditional beliefs and eventually becomes involved in the LGBTQ+ movement to support her only son as he faces adversity.

“Te Estoy Amando Locamente” was the only film I had the chance to watch. With a limited Spanish faculty, it was fun to read the subtitles and catch various familiar words — studying French makes such a feat feel noteworthy; it makes one feel basically fluent off of two years of high school Spanish. The movie itself was good! It was simultaneously heart-warming and heart wrenching, with a mix of gross discrimination yet also a mother’s journey towards acceptance and unconditional love towards her son. Reme’s journey in accepting her son was by no means linear and often difficult to empathize with, making the film frustrating to watch at times. This reality of acceptance, though, was a high point of this film.

Critiques I’d like to posit, as someone who has seen many LGTBQ+ documentaries and films, include the ambiguity of the film’s goal. As a historical drama, was it trying to accurately depict the LGBTQ+ movements during this time period? I think it’s important to highlight truth and fiction. I’ve watched films that do this historical fiction ploy, then inform statistics and happenings of what the reality is for the LGBTQ+ community, and I think that doing so is very important because it raises awareness. Being an uplifting film, it was nice to end on a positive note, with Miguel going off into the world and following his dreams, but I think this makes the commentary a little confusing — “everything is alright” when, in fact, there is still so much adversity against this community. Maybe I’m just reading into a fictitious movie too much, but I think the reason for making films like these is to be groundbreaking and to make people cognizant of the discriminatory history, to improve and fight for growth in the future. Overall, I did enjoy this film very much, and I was happy to attend at least one film of the Latin American and Spanish film festival. If I had to rate it, I’d give it a 3/5.

The last two films in the series were shown on Sunday, at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively. The first was “Cassandro” (2023), which is a biographical drama film about Saul Armendariz, a gay amateur wrestler who becomes successful as an “exótico,” or a lucha libre wrestler who performs in drag. The final film of the series was “Alegria” (2021), which is a Spanish comedy drama that follows a woman who distances herself from her Jewish heritage. She ends up living in Melilla, which is a city where Christian, Jewish and Muslim families coexist peacefully. Being exposed to this mélange of culture and coexistence, Alegria reconciles with her family and her past to find peace amidst her niece’s wedding.

With that, the Latin American and Spanish film festival has drawn to a close for the year. Make sure to look out for it next year!