Oscar Entrant ‘Backyard’ Highlights Latino Festival

Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival also premieres “Bedrooms,” “Forged”

Carlos Carrera’s “Backyard” (“El Transpatio”), Mexico’s official entry in the 2009 Oscar foreign-language film category, will be the closing night attraction at the 14th Los Angeles International Film Festival, which will screen films from 20 countries during its run from August 19 through August 25 at the Mann Chinese 6 theaters in Hollywood.

Carrerea’s film (photo below), which stars Jimmy Smits, Ana de la Reguera and Joaquin Cosio, is a fictionalized version of an investigation into a series of murders of young women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

BackyardOther films that will screen at the festival include the drama “Bedrooms,” a collaborative work from directors Youssef Delara, Michael D. Olmos and Victor Teran; the Columbian Oscar entry “Los Viajes del Viento” (“The Wind Journeys”); and the Cannes Directors Fortnight selection “Navidad” (“Christmas”).

The festival will also mark the west coast premiere of William Wedig’s “Forged,” which stars Manny Perez as an ex-con trying to make a new life.

The Latino Public Broadcasting Showcase section will highlight documentaries produced by Latinos and focused on the Latino community around the world.

As part of an ongoing mission to preserve Latino cinematic history by restoring and archiving one film each year, the festival has this year helped restore the Puerto Rican classic “Dios Los Cria.” LALIFF is the only Latino film festival to have its films preserved by the Academy Film Archive.

Tickets go on sale on Tuesday. Information is available at latinofilm.org.

From the LALIFF press release, here are the features screening at the festival:

Narrative films:

BEDROOMS (USA)
Dir: Youssef Delara, Michael D. Olmos, Victor Teran

CHAMACO (THE KID) (Mexico)
Dir: Miguel Necoechea

CONTRACORRIENTE (UNDERTOW) (Peru, Colombia)
Dir: Javier Fuentes-Leon

CUESTION DE PRINCIPIOS (A MATTER OF PRINCIPLES) (Argentina)
Dir: Rodrigo Grande

DIOS LOS CRIA (FACADE) Puerto Rico)
Dir: Jacobo Morales

È PROBIDO FUMAR (SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES) (Brazil)
Dir: Anna Muylaert

EYES WIDE OPEN (Uruguay, France)
Dir: Gonzalo Arijón

FORGED (USA)
Dir: William Wedig

GO FOR IT! (USA)
Dir: Carmen Marron

HABANA EVA (Cuba, Venezuela, France)
Dir: Fina Torres

HERMAFRODITA (Dominican Republic)
Dir: Albert Xavier

LOS VIAJES DEL VIENTO (THE WIND JOURNEYS) (Colombia)
Dir: Ciro Guerra

LULA, O FILHO DO BRASIL (LULA, THE SON OF BRAZIL) (Brazil)
Dir: Fabio Barreto

MAL DIA PARA PESCAR (BAD DAY TO GO FISHING) (Spain, Uruguay)
Dir: Alvaro Bechner

MEMORIAS DEL DESARROLLO (MEMORIES OF OVERDEVELOPMENT) (USA/Cuba)
Dir: Miguel Coyula

NAVIDAD (CHRISTMAS) (Chile, France)
Dir: Sebastián Leilo

OVEJA NEGRA ((BLACK SHEEP) Mexico, Spain)
Dir: Humberto Hinojosa Ozcariz

RABIA (SPAIN, COLOMBIA, MEXICO)
DIR: Sebastian Cordero

RETRATOS EN UN MAR DE MENTIRAS (PORTRAITS IN A SEA OF LIES) (Colombia)
Dir: Carlos Gaviria

TE EXTRANO (I MISS U) (Mexico, Argentina)
Dir: Fabian Hofman

EL TRASPATIO (BACKYARD) (Mexico)
Dir: Carlos Carrera

TROPICO DE SANGRE (Dominican Republic)
Dir: Juan Delancer

UN DIA DE SOL (Guatemala)
Dir: Rafael Tres

VIAJO PORQUE PRECISO, VOLTO PORQUE TE AMO (ITRAVEL BECAUSE I HAVE TO, I COME BACK BECAUSE I LOVE YOU) (Brazil)
Dir: Karim Ainouz, Marcelo Gomes

LA YUMA (Nicaragua)
Dir: Florence Jaugey

Documentaries:

CRUZ REYNOSO: SOWING THE SEEDS OF JUSTICE (USA)
Dir: Abby Ginsberg

EL AMBULANTE (THE PEDDLER) (Argentina)
Dir: Eduardo del la Serna, Lucas Marcheggiano, Adriana Yurcovivh

EL ANALON – A MAVERICK HUMANITARIAN CONSUELO ALBA (USA)
Dir: Consuelo Alba

ENTRE A LUZ E A SOMBRA (Brazil)
Dir: Luciana Burlamaqui

HARVEST OF LONELINESS: THE BRACERO PROGRAM (COSECHA TRISTE) (USA)
Dir: Gilbert Gonzalez, Vivian Price

IMMIGRANT NATION (USA)
Dir: Esaú Meléndez

ONLY WHEN I DANCE (Brazil, UK)
Dir: Beadie Finzi

SEQUESTRO (KIDNAPPING) (Brazil)
Dir: Jorge Wolney Atalla

THE STORM THAT SWEPT MEXICO (USA)
Dir: Ray Telles

TIEMPO DE LEYENDA (Spain)
Dir: José Sánchez-Montes González

TIN TAN (Mexico)
Dir: Francesco Tabeada Tabone

WOMEN WITH ALTITUDE (USA)
Dir: Sarah Vaill

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