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América Latina y el Caribe: Pensar, Representar y Luchar por los Derechos
May 24 – 27, 2023 • Vancouver, Canada & Virtual

About the Film Festival

The LASA Film Festival is held in conjunction with the annual LASA Congresses. Given its academic and interdisciplinary focus, the festival seeks to showcase audiovisual materials related to the many and diverse perspectives on Latin America: its history, its peoples, its cultures, its art, and all the subjects and discourses with which its communities engage. The films are from all over the world and special attention is given to the documentary genre in all its expressions. In today’s educational context, audiovisual productions are not only versatile and necessary, they also challenge monological discourse by allowing the expression of multiple voices, especially of those that have not direct access to print culture.

The festival has been held continuously since 1983. Its trajectory and relevance are reflected in the constant growth in number and quality of the films presented to its annual call for submissions and the renewed interest it awakens among the attendees to the LASA congresses, as well as among directors and distributors of films from and about Latin America. The films presented at LASA’s festivals and exhibits find an international exhibition circuit associated with the educational environment in all its diversity; thus, films have the opportunity to reach the classrooms and auditoriums of universities around the world, to be studied by specialists, and to reach particularly interested viewers.

The festival takes place concurrently with the LASA Congress, and constitutes a part of LASA’s Multiscreen Platform (MSP), a multiscreen permanent exhibit and resource of Latin American Films and Films on Latin America. Films submitted to the annual Festival Call have also the opportunity to be selected for other screening events organized by LASA’s MSP throughout the year–film exhibits at regional LASA meetings; film series at the LASA Cultural Center in Pittsburgh; and Virtual Labs offered to LASA membership. These venues offer excellent opportunities to reach and impact audiences associated with education, scholarship, and social action. 

Objectives

  • To showcase and promote audiovisual productions from and about Latin America amongst educational circuits in Latin America and internationally.
  • To provide a platform to promote a broad knowledge of the region, its societies, its struggles, its artistic expressions, and its achievements.
  • To contribute to the knowledge of the great wealth of Latin American cinema, especially documentary production, and promote its study in universities around the world, especially in Latin America.
  • To contribute to the creation of alternative circuits for the exhibition of film production from and about Latin America, engaging new partnerships and building new audiences, inspiring individuals and communities to engage as active citizens at a local, national and international level.