Calixto Chinchilla has seen the NYILFF grow over 10 years; the current slate includes 110 films from the U.S. and Latin America. Stawiarz/Getty
Calixto Chinchilla has seen the NYILFF grow over 10 years; the current slate includes 110 films from the U.S. and Latin America.
Eleven years ago and before something called the Tribeca Film Festival, a then 21-year-old Calixto Chinchilla had the idea of a film festival “that talked to us [urban Latinos].”
The original plan was to accept only videotapes and do it in East Harlem. But he talked HBO into pitching in some money, and by the time the New York International Latino Film Festival debuted in midtown on May 31, 2000, the vision had been expanded.
Not that he thought it would stick.
“When we designed our first catalogue, we put the words ‘limited edition,’” says Chinchilla, “because we always thought that would be the first and last year that we would exist.”
Bad omens aside, Chinchilla kicks off the festival’s 10th anniversary Monday, a showcase of about 110 films from the U.S. and Latin America that is expected to welcome some 25,000 people including moviegoers, actors, filmmakers and industry executives.
“To be here 10 years later is kind of surprising,” adds Chinchilla, “and it’s a dream that continues to be fulfilled even more each and every year.”
For the first time, the week-long festival will offer all its regular screenings in the same area, at the Clearview Chelsea Cinemas and the SVA Theater, both on W. 23rd St.
The selections touch on a wide range of themes, from the repercussions of 9/11 on New York families and on teenagers in small towns across America to gay issues to three documentaries on Latin music.
“There’s a little something for everyone this year,” says Chinchilla, 32, the son of a Puerto Rican mother and a Honduran/Dominican father who lives in Washington Heights. “It’s not all over the place, but it is broad.”
The fest starts with “La Mission,” a gay-themed film starring Benjamin Bratt, and wraps up with “The Line,” an action-packed thriller set amid the drug wars of Tijuana.
The international selections are equally diverse, with movies from countries known for their film industry like Mexico and Brazil but also from unexpected places like Bolivia’s “The Gift of Pachamama” and “Gasolina,” from Guatemala.
“I discovered when I traveled that a ’hood is a ’hood and the struggles are the same regardless of whether you live here or in Ecuador, Cuba, wherever,” says Chinchilla, who attends festivals across the globe each year. “But the stories and how those stories are told are unique.”
For the first time, the festival has added a Cinedulce Showcase, featuring films about the urban experience that are not necessarily Latino, says Chinchilla.
“Life is Hot in Cracktown” follows four people as their lives intersect with crack in a tough inner-city setting, while “Trek to the Holy Land” goes with the Rev. Al Sharpton as he visits Israel and the West Bank after 9/11.
Actor John Leguizamo is getting a special award on July 29, the first such recognition given out by the festival. The Jackson Heights-raised star chose to show his 2007 drama “Where God Left His Shoes.”
“He’s just been really supportive of the festival from the very beginning,” said Elizabeth Gardner, 36, the co-director of NYILFF, “so we wanted to show and honor that.”
In a fitting anniversary tribute to a festival that was supposed to start in East Harlem, the annual Cinema Under the Stars will expand and take place in El Barrio, at a community garden on 103rd St. and Park Ave.
The outdoor free screenings begin July 30 with “Our Song,” a film about teen girls that won the first NYILFF, followed by 2001’s “Crazy/Beautiful.”
It will end Aug. 1 with a rare chance to see “The Fania All Stars: Live in Africa,” a 1974 concert featuring Celia Cruz and Hector Lavoe that was part of the famous Rumble in the Jungle boxing match.
“We are going to be in Spanish Harlem for three days straight,” said Chinchilla. “It should be cool.”
