Edward James Olmos
Actor and founder of the Latino Film Institute, Edward James Olmos, announced April 6 that the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) will host a virtual festival for the 2021 edition with recognized festival to run Wednesday, June 2 through Sunday, June 6.
This year’s program will be comprised of feature films, episodics, music, XR projects, and short films, including those from LALIFF’s inaugural Latinx Inclusion Fellowship Series. The fellowship, created to develop extensive and inclusive opportunities for underrepresented groups within the Latinx community, selected five visionary Afro Latino directors (award-winning filmmaker Lorena Durán; writer and director Justin Floyd; award-winning filmmaker Kase Peña; director Monica Suriyage and artist, director Tamara Shogaolu).
“As one of the first film festivals in the world to fully produce a virtual festival in 2020, we were overwhelmed by the support from the film industry and community for LALIFF and more importantly for our filmmakers,” said Edward James Olmos, co-founder of LALIFF. The Academy Award-nominated actor said that the festival is committed to offering a platform to showcase the remarkable and diverse work of Latino voices, despite the current pandemic. “We want to ensure that these voices are heard, that we create safe spaces online and in-person, and that our next generation of storytellers is inspired”, added James Olmos.
Diana Cadavid, LALIFF’s Artistic Director said that the prestigious festival is looking forward to seeing what new content has been created this past year, as it definitely has been a period where filmmakers, musicians, and artists have had to challenge themselves creatively to produce and complete their work. “Like every aspect of society, the pandemic dramatically changed the way the film industry worked, and we believe it is important to be a platform that addresses this historic moment in time”, added Cadavid.
The program and complete schedule of events will be announced in early May. Presenting sponsors of the annual festival include EGEDA, AltaMed, Sony, and WGAW – www.latinofilm.org.
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