Latinx cinema is global cinema. That’s the remit and message of Cine Las Americas International Film Festival, Austin’s celebration. CLAIFF runs June 8-12 at at AFS Cinema, 6406 N. I-35, and the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, 600 River. Tickets and info at cinelasamericas.org/film-festival.
Daughter of a Lost Bird
Canada’s legacy of erasing Native culture was rarely more cruel than in the act of removing children from their families and their tribes, and then adopting them to white families with no idea of their lost lineage. Four decades after she was taken from her home, Kendra Mylnechuk Potter let director Brooke Swaney (Blackfish) follow her emotional journey into the damage inflicted by assimilationist policies.
ESB-MACC, Thu., June 9, 3:30pm
What We Leave Behind
The unmissable Hecho en Tejas Centerpiece Feature at this year’s CLAIFF, Iliana Sosa’s tender tribute to her grandfather was a double award winner at this year’s South by Southwest, and Julian became one the most beloved documentary subjects in the festival’s history. His monthly trips across the border, from his home in Durango to his family in El Paso, speak to the transnational experiences of so many people divided by a line on a map.
AFS Cinema, Thu., June 9, 8pm
Fly So Far
Republicans have raised a nightmare scenario that their abortion bans would criminalize stillbirths and miscarriages. If that sounds far-fetched, then the terrifying case of Teodora Vásquez – one of 17 women currently serving decades in prison in El Salvador for losing their babies due to medical complications – is a sobering nightmare. Celina Escher’s documentary is a warning that worst-case scenarios can happen. Part of CLAIFF’s free programming.
ESB-MACC, Fri., June 10, 8pm
Hecho en Tejas Competition
The best of new Texas shorts, presented by the Texas Film Commission and Texas Archive of the Moving Image, all eligible for an audience award. Austin represents – most especially East Austin, with two shorts (Maximiliano Benitez’s “Lift a Weight” and Elias Posada’s “Save the Block”) looking at gentrification in traditionally Latinx neighborhoods.
AFS Cinema, Sun., June 12, 1:30pm
Deserto Particular (Private Desert)
Brazil’s submission for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, Aly Muritiba’s drama draws on his own experience as a prison guard in this tale of a disgraced cop (Antonio Saboia) and his online love (Pedro Fasanaro). This regional premiere takes on Brazil’s culture of masculinity in its questioning of love in the modern world.
AFS Cinema, Sun., June 12, 7pm
This article appears in June 10 • 2022.
