Presented by OLA of Eastern Long Island, the 21st annual Latino Film Festival of the Hamptons, set for Friday through Sunday with an additional screening next Thursday, features three films with themes of heroism, strength, and resilience. Organized in celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, the festival will take place at four venues. All films are in Spanish with English subtitles.
“This year, we are honored to continue our celebration of culturally relevant, high quality cinema, presenting three films, representing at least two countries and various cultures within the diaspora, including the Latinx identity that is core to the fabric of these United States we know and love,” said Minerva Perez, OLA’s executive director. “These films will enlighten, inspire, and challenge audiences in resonant and lasting ways.”
The festival will open with “Blue Beetle (Escarabajo Azul),” a film from DC Studios, Friday at 7 p.m. at Guild Hall. Directed by Angel Manuel Soto, it is the story of an alien scarab that chooses Jamie Reyes, played by Xolo Maridueña, as its symbiotic host, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the superhero known as Blue Beetle.
In a New York Magazine review, Bilge Ebiri said, “Angel Manuel Soto’s ‘Blue Beetle’ is deeply invested in both its hero’s background and his family. That’s sort of the point, and the primary source of the film’s appeal.”
A cocktail reception will begin at 6 p.m. Tickets are $15, $13.50 for Guild Hall members, and $10 for students.
The festival will move to the Sag Harbor Cinema on Saturday at 8 p.m. with the screening of “Daughter of Rage (La hija de todas las rabias),” a Nicaraguan film directed by Laura Baumeister de Montis.
The film stars Ara Alejandra Medal as Maria, an 11-year-old determined to eke out a life with her mother in Nicaragua’s largest landfill. Their future depends on selling a litter of purebred puppies to a local thug. When the deal falls through, her mother drops Maria off at a recycling center where she must stay and work.
Jonathan Holland, writing for screendaily.com, called the film an “assured, compassionate, and admirably clear-eyed feature debut,” adding that it “elegantly fuses political protest and a celebration of human resilience into a gritty but poetic whole.”
A bilingual in-person conversation with the director will follow the screening. Tickets are $12. The film is not recommended for children under 13.
Sunday’s film, set for 2 p.m. at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, is definitely appropriate for all ages. “Vivo” is an American animated film by Kirk DeMicco in which the title character, a Cuban kinkajou voiced by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and his beloved musician friend Andres (Juan de Marcos Gonzalez), share music and an epic adventure.
“Miranda’s songs incorporate his signature rapid-fire rapping, along with quick tempo changes and genre mash-ups,” said Maya Phillips in The New York Times. The screening is free.
The festival will hold a second screening of “Vivo” at the North Fork Arts Center at the Sapan Greenport Theatre in Greenport, a new venue, next Thursday at 7:30 p.m. A post-show conversation with OLA will follow.
Tickets are $5.
