Theatre/Film

Y Tu Film Festival Tambien

Twenty-five years is a milestone for almost anything in life: a marriage, a business, a top score on a pinball machine. It's proof of establishment and most often, of dedication. It's a certain "settled" glow. This spring, glowing brighter than ever, The Chicago Latino Film Festival settled into its twenty-fifth year as what Hispanic Magazine called "the biggest, oldest, and best Latino Film Festival in the United States."

This extra-special film festival featured 75 features and 45 shorts from nearly every genre, all pondering the complexity, complications, and comedy of Latino culture in Mexico, Latin America, Spain and the U.S.. Special events included the Opening Night Gala, Noche Mexicana, A Night of Spain, and Closing Night Gala, as well as special segments focusing on the US, women in film, and LGTB. The festival attracted more than 30,000 people.

The Conduit attended a screening of Ainda Orangotangos (Still Orangutans) from Brazilian director Gustavo Spolidoro, an intriguing adaptation of the short story collection by Paulo Scott. The film travels through the city of Porto Alegre on the hottest day of the year, swimming from one perspective to another.

What's most impressive about this film is that the entire 81 minutes is one continuous shot. The effect is somewhat exhausting, which seems to stand in for the oppressive heat otherwise difficult to translate on screen.

Through the eyes of fifteen people, among them a young boy, a drunk Santa Claus, a girl at her quinceañera, and her much older lover, Spolidoro gives his audiences a panoramic view of urban Brazil, from bustling train stations to apartment buildings, exploring the beautiful and confronting the bizarre.

See synopses of all the films at this year's festival, as well as award winners, at www. latinoculturalcenter.org/cinema-festival.