Latin American Film Festival set for late Sept.

This fall marks the second annual Latin American Film Festival at Baldwin Wallace.

The festival is a celebration of Latin culture and Hispanic Heritage Month and will be held on campus from September 21-23.

The festival will feature the five films The Metal Stork, The Offended, The Crow’s Nest, Paradise, and I Will Be Murdered. The focus this year is set on stories related to South American countries, including Mexico, El Salvador, and Guatemala, and deal with debate-worthy topics such as gang violence and crime.

Admission is free and open to the public, encouraging attendance from Berea residents.

“The initiative of the festival is to contribute to community engagement,” said Dr. Karen Barahona, Assistant Professor of Spanish.

The festival is set in September in commemoration of Hispanic Heritage Month and the month many Latin countries gain independence from Spain.

Barahona said the film festival gives us the opportunity “to create awareness about immigration, politics, and Latinos in the U.S. in general.”

The festival is sponsored by Pragda, a film distributor that helps universities host Spanish film festivals. This year, the Spanish Club also increased its budget to help accommodate the festival, in which student involvement is pivotal, said Barahona.

“Students,” she said, “will facilitate discussions and do film presentations for a class called Women, Gender and Politics.”

Last year, the festival had around 300 attendees, however this year, the Spanish Club expects to draw in at least 100 people for each film, totaling 500 attendees.

A full schedule of festival events and further descriptions of each film can be found online via the BW events page.