A special thank you to Topo Chico for sponsoring NOCHE DE ENCUENTRO!
When You Clean A Stranger’s Home
a first-generation high school student describes what she and her mom learn about people when cleaning their homes for a living. House decor and items left around convey a privilege that unveils her imagination, jealousy, and frustrations.
dir. by SHARON ARTEAGA
SHARON ARTEAGA is a first-generation Mexican-American filmmaker and film educator from Corpus Christi, Texas, who convinced her mom to buy her a video camera instead of a Quinceañera. Recognized in NALIP’s 2019 list of Latinx Directors to Know, Arteaga’s work playfully incorporates themes of generational, linguistic, and cultural differences between people. Her films "Plane Pretend," "When I Grow Up," and "When You Clean a Stranger's Home" has won numerous awards including the Jury and Audience Award for Best Hecho en Texas Film at Cine Las Americas and the Premio Mesquite at CineFestival.
@sharonarte
Los Dioses de Maiz
cocinerx y antropólogx xicanx
dir. by ANDRES M. GARZA
This project was a labor of love developed over 2 years. The chapters are color coordinated in correspondence to the cardinal directions shared in various Mesoamerican indigenous cultures, but particularly inspired by Maya cultures per the setting. This short is an homage to maíz, a celebration of cosmology, spirituality, food, and culture. It is also an apology for all the hardships it’s had to endure, a soft poem as a tribute. This film was shot on an iPhone in the style of a guerrilla documentary.
@andresmgarza
Suffocate
Suffocate is an experimental short film about the effects of abusive relationships.
dir. by CRISTINA GONZALEZ
My name is Cristina Gonzalez. I am a 26-year-old Mexican-American filmmaker. I was born and raised in Austin, Texas, and received my BA in Media Arts from the University of North Texas. I am very passionate about being a director as well as a production designer. I hope to make a change for women filmmakers by creating more minority-led, women-centered stories.
@cinecristina
Ter
A housemaid struggles with a difficult decision while caring for the girl of the house.
dir. by MARIA LUISA SANTOS
MARIA LUISA SANTOS is a Costa Rican filmmaker, and writer. She writes stories and makes films dealing with immigration, personal loss, and family. Luisa is interested in the connections between one's internal life and the natural world and expresses subjective, unknowable experiences through description of landscape. Her latest short documentary "Café de Temporada" won at IndieGrits19' and her short fictional film “TER” premiered at SXSW20’ and was broadcast by PBS. Her work has been shown in The New Yorker, SXSW, PBS, New Orleans FF, Femme Frontera, Philadelphia Latino FF, among others.
@marialuisasantosf
Échale Sávila
A Music Video/Mini Doc about the band Sávila, exploring Mexican-American identity and the intergenerational healing between mother and child.
dir. by C. DíAZ
C. DíAZ is a filmmaker, colorist, and archivist from the Rio Grande Valley, Texas. Her films explore the alchemy of celluloid through the use of DIY, analog, and digital techniques. Exploring the interconnectedness of inner and outer landscapes are paramount in her art practice. She blends abstraction with documentary to unearth intimate and sacred interactions between the physical Earth and the people who inhabit it.
@shinykid
Limpia (Performance)
aloe, knife, burn wound, gauze, gold thread, wood, palm, Santa Muerte candle, Mexican creeper, hibiscus, orchids, water picks, gold vessels, ceramic vessel, candles, fire, tobacco, salt, soil, nails, Nikon DSLR 2020
Devin Alejandro-Wilder (they/them) is a latinx working artist who manipulates identity and research-informed found and fabricated materials/processes to create interdisciplinary sculpture, installation, and performance. Born deaf, queer, and identifying as non-binary, their work manifests from the complex intersections of both inherited and lived experiences. Currently based in their home state of Texas, their new body of work utilizes multi-channel video, photography, site-specific performance, and writing to explore and untangle developing concepts around labor, language, land, assimilation, diasporic identity, systems, and queerness. As a studio member at the Museum of Human Achievement they also participate in the artist-run projects The Revolution: Operation Scrooge and the League of Superheroes (Los Angeles), Unpaved Paradise Drive-In (TX), and Artist Field (VT) in addition to founding the virtually-based free skool initiative, Free Skool Now.
El Amor Y Su Entierro (Performance)
performed by Jose Villalobos
Jose Villalobos grew up on the US/Mexico border in El Paso, TX, and was raised in a traditional conservative family. His oeuvre reconciles the identity challenges in his life, caught in between traditional Mexican customs and American mores, as well as growing up with religious ideals that contrast with being gay. In his artistic practice, Villalobos explores traditionally "masculine" objects and softens the virility of these objects.
@josevillalobosart
Quien Bien Ama Nunca Olvida
Quien bien ama nunca olvida (One never forgets a great love) is a love letter to the Rio Grande Valley, Texas. By weaving archival footage from her family's archive alongside present-day vignettes, abstract animation and text, the filmmaker investigates her evolving fascination with the region. As humans we analyze and romanticize memory and experience, and as time goes on, we lose track of the facts. The filmmaker asks: What truth do we hide from others, or, maybe most importantly, deny ourselves?
dir. by C. DíAZ
C. DíAZ is a filmmaker, colorist, and archivist from the Rio Grande Valley, Texas. Her films explore the alchemy of celluloid through the use of DIY, analog, and digital techniques. Exploring the interconnectedness of inner and outer landscapes are paramount in her art practice. She blends abstraction with documentary to unearth intimate and sacred interactions between the physical Earth and the people who inhabit it.
@shinykid