Events Around the Bay
CAFILM Celebrates Hispanic Cinema
In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, the Smith Rafael Film Center presents four remarkable films that reflect the richness, diversity, and artistic vitality of Hispanic cinema and storytelling. Spanning Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, and the United States, the series brings together visionary filmmakers whose works have shaped the cultural landscape of the Americas.
From Gregory Nava’s heartfelt portrait of Mexican American icon Selena Quintanilla, to Fernando Eimbcke’s understated coming-of-age gem, Lucrecia Martel’s groundbreaking masterpiece, and Anabel Rodríguez Ríos’ powerful documentary on a community fighting to preserve its way of life, each film offers a distinct perspective on identity, family, memory, resilience, and belonging. Together, these acclaimed works celebrate the many voices, traditions, and lived experiences that define Hispanic culture. Crossing borders, genres, and generations, they invite audiences to discover the extraordinary breadth of Hispanic filmmaking through four unforgettable cinematic experiences.
Information:
415-454-5813; rafaeltheater@calfilm.org
Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael;
Photos courtesy of CAFILM
“SELENA”
Jennifer Lopez and Edward James Olmos (two of my favorite actors) star in this celebration of Selena Quintanilla Perez, a girl from South Texas with global talent,
Sept. 13th at 11:00 AM
incredible will and magnetic charm. Young. Beautiful. Enormously gifted. At 23, Selena shone as a fresh star in a vibrantly new musical field. But just as she was poised to be the next pop-music sensation, her life was tragically cut short. In English and Spanish with English subtitles
Director: Gregory Nava
“LA CIÉNAGA”
The release of Lucrecia Martel’s “La Ciénaga” heralded the arrival of an astonishingly vital and original voice in Argentine cinema.
Sept. 19th at 11:00 AM
With a radical and disturbing take on narrative, beautiful cinematography, and a highly sophisticated use of on- and offscreen sound, Martel turns her tale of a dissolute bourgeois extended family, whiling away the hours of one sweaty, sticky summer, into a cinematic marvel.
This visceral take on class, nature, sexuality, and the ways that political turmoil and social stagnation can manifest in human relationships is a drama of extraordinary tactility, and one of the great contemporary film debuts.
In Spanish with English subtitles
Director: Lucrecia Martel (Argentina 2001)
“LAKE TAHOE”
After crashing his family’s car, teenager Juan spends a surreal day scouring the streets for help.
September 12th at 11:00am
Roaming from house to house, he encounters an eccentric mechanic, an aspiring punk singer, and a Kung Fu obsessive. Their strange worlds force him to face the grief he’s been trying to escape.
In Spanish, English and Italian with English subtitles.
Director: Fernando Eimbcke (Mexico/Japan/US 2008)
“ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENEZUELA”
On Lake Maracaibo, beneath the mysterious silent Catatumbo lightning, the village of Congo Mirador is preparing for parliamentary elections.
September 26th at 11:00 am
For streetwise local businesswoman and Chavist party representative Tamara every vote counts, fought by all means, while for opposition-supporting teacher Natalie, politics is a weapon unsuccessfully attempting to force her from her job. And with her sharp eyes, little Yoaini sees her community sinking from sedimentation, her childhood and innocence with it. How can a small shining village survive against corruption, pollution and political decay – a reflection of all the flaws of contemporary Venezuela.
In Spanish with English subtitles
Director: Anabel Rodriguez Rios (Venezuela/UK/Brazil 2020)
By Lina Broydo
