‘LL: Have you seen many success stories come out of the festival?
Lucho: Yes. Years ago, there was a local filmmaker from Oakland. His name was Anthony Lucero and he had this little film called East Side Sushi. It was extremely innovative and well made. Anyway, after our festival it became a real success story. It went on to bigger festivals, had a theatrical run and is now a popular download on iTunes. It’s even been featured as an in-flight movie on Virgin America. Sushi really helped solidify our purpose: To give new Latino filmmakers the opportunity to be heard.
‘LL: What can we expect from this year’s selections?
Lucho: This year we have some fantastic submissions. John Leguizamo’s Dogs, or Perros, is having its premiere at the festival. It’s a Spanish film from Colombia and has some great performances. I would also highlight H.O.M.E., a great movie from New York. One more comes from Tijuana and is called Amir. It has a ton of originality. I’m also a big fan of this new film from Argentina called Road To La Paz. There’s everything from drama to comedy…you can’t go wrong with any of them.
‘LL: Any other goals for SFLFF?
Lucho: We definitely want to attract more diverse audiences. We want more people to be open to seeing international titles. Sometimes people steer away from subtitles and they’re really missing out. There’s a ton of great work coming out of Latin America and it deserves to be seen.
We highly recommend grabbing a tub of popcorn and heading to NorCAl for SFLFF! It runs from September 16 – October 1 and all scheduling information is available on the official festival site.