Calendar – Past Event

Now in its 22nd year, the AFI Latin American Film Festival showcases the best filmmaking from Latin America and, with the inclusion of films from Spain and Portugal, celebrates Ibero-American cultural connections.

Highlights of the festival include the Opening Night selection, The Mexican Suitcase, Chevolution director Trisha Ziff's latest documentary about a treasure trove of photographs from the Spanish Civil War recently discovered in Mexico City; Medianeras, Gustavo Taretto's quirky crowd-pleaser about two lonely people finding each other in Buenos Aires; Chilean auteur Raul Ruiz's lush, labyrinthine epic Mysteries of Lisbon, presented in a weeklong run within the festival; Bonsai, the latest film from Chilean director Cristian Jimenez (Optical Illusions), which recently premiered at Cannes; multiple award-winner Hermano, Venezuela's Oscar selection from 2010; Brazil's Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within, this year's biggest hit at the Latin American box office; Blackthorn, Spanish screenwriter-turned-director Mateo Gil's imaginatively updated Western about the final days of Butch Cassidy in Bolivia; and Miss Bala, Gerardo Naranjo's gripping thriller about a Baja, California, beauty queen caught in a maddening cycle of drug cartel violence.