Today is the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month. It's a month, September 15 to October 15, dedicated to celebrating the histories, cultures, and contributions of those whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.
The Milwaukee Film Festival's Cine Sin Fronteras, or cinema without borders, is celebrating all month long with film, food, and music. Every weekend they'll show films covering topics like the Afro Latinx Experience, Immigration and Social Justice, and Indigenous Peoples' Day.
Ernie Quiroz is the Cine Sin Fronteras Programmer with the Milwaukee Film Festival.
"Cine Sin Fronteras is our program here at Milwaukee Film that seeks to highlight Hispanic, Latinx culture through cinema. And it's a part of the overall goal of Milwaukee Film to highlight the diversity in film and filmmakers," says Quiroz.
This year, Cine Sin Fronteras is providing hybrid viewing of its films. Five of the films will be showing at the Oriental Theater, and then 10 films will be hosted online.
Quiroz explains, "It might be too far to drive, or maybe they don't feel comfortable with COVID, or any number of reasons. So we adopted this hybrid model so that people can sort of watch these films at their leisure; on their own terms."
One of the biggest challenges the festival has faced was choosing what films to include. Quiroz points out that there are over 20 countries in South America, and they all have different cultures, histories, and languages.
"So, to try to encapsulate that in, you know, 15 films is challenging," describes Quiroz. "But there are those definite topics that you know that we want to hit. You know, we could easily do a whole slate of films about immigration, you know, but, but so much of Latinx culture, I mean, it's not just about immigration, there are so many other things," Quiroz says.
Cine Sin Fronteras is set to host a kick-off celebration Friday, September 17. The event runs from 4 pm to 8 pm at Zócalo Food Truck Park.
"There are not going to be any films out there. But it's going to be some food and some music, some Latinx vendors, and just sort of a fun way to start the whole month-long celebration."
