San Diego Latino Film Festival

I have been coming to the LFF for the past few years, and it is usually a pretty fun event. I only watched on movie this year, so I won’t base the review on that (Although I wasn’t impressed with the one movie I saw this year). The movies are shown at the Hazard Center in Mission Valley, and they also have a few vendors in the lobby showing art and other film related literature. Unfortunately, I wasn’t too impressed with the setup of the Opening Night gala this year.
The gala was at the W Hotel in downtown They had everyone cattled downstairs in the lobby area, with very few areas that you could escape too. When I went to the pool bar upstairs to get away from the crowd, I heard comments from the bartender that «the party wasn’t supposed to be up here» WTF? It’s a bar! Lastly, the «free» drink coupon expired about 30 minutes after I had initially received it. Really? At the previous Opening Night gala, the set up was much better, the bar served whatever beer was sponsoring the event all night and «crowding» was minimal. LFF staff, can you please find a better venue than the W?

Very much looking forward to the opening gala (that happens to be tonight) for this year! At the W!
Love the parties, they usually book good musicians/​dancers. Last year there was an awesome Tango group. One of the instructors dragged me onto the stage and taught me a thing of two about the ‘forbidden dance’…
There’s always a lot going on and it makes for a good time. Often they book my friend’s mariachi band for the film screenings or the parties. Walther-​Meade livens up the events. I just kinda wish they quit using the US Grant for their closing party. That place is huge, but lacks character and it just feels like you are at a quinceanera because it a big ballroom type place. Who knows, this year may be better but the last two or three have left me yawning & going home early.
Always an awesome selection of Latino films, sometimes you spot an actor or two. When I watched ”La Misma Luna” last year, I sat two rows behind the majority of the cast. That was fun. And then I met Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite at one of the parties.
So, good Latino films, especially lesser known ones, and fun parties afterward – a winning combination !! ;-D

Hoy fue el ultimo día del Latino Film Festival 2010 en San Diego, en su cumpleaños 17 nos trajo buenísimas películas! Se lleva a cabo siempre en los cines de Hazard Center. No pude a ir muchas películas, pero cada vez mejora su organización, nada es perfecto, claro… supe de unos amigos esta vez que se quedaron sin entrar porque sobrevendieron boletos, aun así el esfuerzo que hace el Media Arts Center por traernos este Festival año con año es ENORME. No todo es perfecto, pero se merecen 5* porque se que ha sido un gran trabajo. Me parece que habiendo tanto latino en San Diego tener un festival de este calibre es lo mejor que nos puede pasar. Vienen películas de toda Latino America, es tanto el talento hispano! Vale mucho la pena explorar también los documentales, seria muy difícil ver estas películas de otra manera.
BOTTOM LINE: Keep the work guys! YES, YES, YES, come to watch some movies next year, this movie festival is SO worth!