OLA! Latin American Winners

Three prizewinning Latin American films will be shown at the 11th OLA Film Festival this weekend at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill. Founded by Isabel Sepulveda and presented by the Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island, the festival will kick off tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. with “Pescador,” an Ecuadorean film, which will be followed at 7 p.m. by a performance by Mambo Loco on the museum’s terrace.

“7 Cajas,” an action-thriller from Paraguay, will screen on Saturday afternoon at 3, and “Gloria,” a feature from Chile, will conclude the festival on Sunday at 3. Tickets for each film are $10; free for members, students, and children. The Mambo Loco performance is free with museum admission.

Ms. Sepulveda noted that some countries are represented in the festival for the first time this year. “We never had a movie from Paraguay,” she said. “In the past, we’ve had a lot of films from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, but now we have added Ecuador and Paraguay. It’s a very diverse program.”

“Pescador” (Fisherman) tells the story of Blanquito, a 30-year-old who still lives with his mother in a small fishing village in Ecuador. When boxes of cocaine begin to wash up on the shore, he sees an opportunity to leave the village and perhaps gain the attention of Lorna, a Colombian woman with a vacation home there. Lorna claims she has contacts in Guayaquil who will buy the drugs, and the two of them take to the road.

Sebastian Cordero, the director, whose work has been presented at such film festivals as Sundance and Cannes, was intrigued by a true incident in which cocaine washed up on a beach — “not in the narco elements of the story, but in how the people in this town would react to this situation.” “Pescador” was shot hand-held, with available light and considerable improvisation, on location in the town where the actual incident took place. The film won prizes at film festivals in Cartagena and Guadalajara.

Victor, a 17-year-old wheelbarrow operator in one of Asuncion’s municipal markets, is the protagonist of “7 Cajas” (7 Boxes). One day he is asked by a stranger to transport seven boxes of unknown content through the market, for $100. Anxious to get ahead, Victor accepts the offer and begins the eight-block journey, but before long things become complicated. He loses the cellphone the contractor gave him, the box is stolen from him, and he finds himself in a high-speed wheelbarrow chase, having become involved in a crime about which he knows nothing.

“7 Cajas,” which won awards at film festivals in Lima, Miami, Palm Springs, and San Sebastian, was nominated for prizes at both the Toronto Film Festival and the Seattle International Film Festival. Rene Rodriguez of The Miami Herald wrote the film “doesn’t follow any Hollywood formulas, building its own brand of high-speed suspense marked by pitch-black humor and breathtaking twists.”

“Gloria” is set in Santiago and centered on a free-spirited older divorcée who meets Rodolfo, seven years her senior, at a social dance club. Their intense passion leaves her vacillating between hope and despair until she realizes that, even in middle age, it’s never too late to pursue life’s opportunities. The film is also a realistic portrayal of contemporary Chile, addressing how gender roles and family life have and have not changed there.

“Gloria” was named Best Latin-American Film at Mexico’s Ariel Film Festival and has garnered honors at festivals throughout the world, including best actress awards for Paulina Garcia, who plays the title role, at festivals in Berlin, Hawaii, Lima, and Chile.

Reviewing the film in The New York Times, A.O. Scott wrote, “The great accomplishment of ‘Gloria,’ the writer-director Sebastian Lelio’s astute, unpretentious and thrillingly humane new film, is that it acknowledges both sides of its heroine’s temperament without judgment or sentimentality.”

Mambo Loco is an Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican band that combines old-school Latin music and Latin jazz. Guests have been advised to bring chairs or blankets to the Friday-evening concert. Food and drink will be available at the Golden Pear Cafe.