LATIN-CANADIAN SHORTS
As part of VLAFF’s ongoing commitment to support the work of Latin-Canadian filmmakers and media artists,
we present these ten shorts, each offering the viewer a unique vision and perspective.
4:30 MARÍA
(precedes The Awakening of the Ants)
Director: Yoel Ortega
Canada/Cuba, 2019
Spanish with English subtitles | 7 min
Seven-year-old María travels along the train tracks to collect a secret that makes other people happy.
ABEO
(precedes The Infiltrators)
Director: Brenda López Zepeda
Animators: Brenda López Zepeda & Ana Eskildsen
Canada/Mexico, 2019
Spanish with English subtitles | 7 min
A hard-hitting mixed media animated short that depicts the journey of Nadia and Lupe, two immigrants who risk their lives to cross the border into the Arizona desert.
BOULEVARD
(precedes Muralla)
Director: David Bercovici-Artieda
Canada, 2019
English | 16.36 min
Hayden Glass is an LAPD homicide detective who investigates sex crimes and murder while struggling with his own personal demons.
ESTELAS
(precedes Where are you?)
Director: Milena Salazar
Canada/Costa Rica, 2019
Spanish with English subtitles | 20 min
José and Nora spend their afternoons tracing the routes of planes that take off and land in San José, Costa Rica. In a study of these quotidian moments, fragments of memories come and go as planes fade into the distance.
THE ISLAND
(plays in #Activismo Shorts Program)
Director: Alexandra Gelis
Canada/USA/Colombia, 2018
English | 6.09 min
For over 25 years, Brian has tended an urban garden between Oakland and Berkeley in homage to those who have died in poverty. The island persists as a living legacy of the Black Panthers who were the first to organize this marginalized neighbourhood.
MEDIA LUNA
(precedes Los Andes Symphony Orchestra)
Director: Ana Carrizales
Canada/Peru, 2018
Spanish with English subtitles | 2 min
As a painter describes the mythical and violent romance between the Sun and Moon, she recounts the tragic fate of countless women around the world.
Ô CRIATURA: NAVIGATING (DIS)LOCATION
(precedes Roads in February)
Director: Andréa Monteiro
Canada/Brazil, 2019
English and Portuguese with English subtitles | 9 min
A documentary that captures an East Van Latinx artist’s reflections on identity and belonging, and on how social, cultural, and discursive realities influence her life.
QUIMSACOCHA
(plays in #Activismo Shorts Program)
Director: Émilie Martel
Canada/Ecuador, 2018
Spanish with English subtitles | 8.22 min
In the high Andes of Quimsacocha, Ecuador, Bolivar and Isaura fight to protect their Indigneous land and waters from the Canadian mining companies who seek to extract its gold and copper.
SHANGO: THE WILL TO OVERCOME
(precedes Cantadoras)
Director: Obediya Jones-Darrell
Animator: Wilson Borja
Canada/Colombia/USA, 2019
Yoruba and Spanish with English subtitles | 2.19 min
A dreamlike narrative about Africans who were transported across the sea to the Americas.
Music performed in Yoruba and Spanish by Kombilesa Asé.
VAMPIRE REBOUND
(precedes Lightning Falls Behind)
Director: Lorenzo Gutiérrez
Canada, 2019
English | 5 min
In a society fearful of vampires, Ernesto Murciélago, a detective and luchador, must rescue a kidnapped basketball player and defeat the city’s fascist leader, L0L1TA.