ECC's Latino Film Festival features a variety of genres
Films from Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Peru, Spain and Venezuela will be in the spotlight when Elgin Community College hosts the 2015 Latino Film Festival Elgin Friday, April 10, through Friday, April 17.
This is the third year the college will host the festival, which kicks off Friday, April 10, with the screening of the 2014 Chilean film "Desastres Naturales/Natural Disasters" at 6 p.m. in the Spartan Auditorium, Building G, on the ECC's Spartan Drive campus, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.
An opening reception will be at 8 p.m. April 10 in the Spartan Terrace Restaurant, Building I.
In "Natural Disasters," high school teacher Raquel walks into her classroom one day to find that she has been replaced by a much younger teacher. Undisturbed by the news, she calmly locks and blocks the classroom door and begins to teach as if nothing has happened. She won't come out until someone explains to her why she was fired.
The students, in solidarity, hold the younger teacher hostage and threaten to boycott a play the faculty has staged for that evening. "Natural Disasters" offers a satirical and yet poignant portrait of Chile's education system.
Other films featured at the festival include the following, which are in Spanish with English subtitles. Directors and actors from some of the films also will appear to share the experience of making their productions.
<h3 class="breakHead">Saturday, April 11</h3>
Building G Spartan Auditorium
• 5 p.m. "Dr. Funes' Formula/La Fórmula del doctor Funes," a 2014 family comedy from Mexico. Through his telescope, Martín Poyo witnesses Dr. Funes' discovery of a formula that will turn adults into young people. Hoping to be turned into a 20-year-old, Dr. Funes tests the formula but is instead turned into a 12-year-old. The formula then falls into the hands of Funes' archenemy, Dr. Moebius. Based on Francisco Honojosa's best-selling children's book, "Dr. Funes' Formula" is a throwback to family-friendly, G-rated movies.
• 7 p.m. "The Perfect Size/La Justa Medida," a 2012 comedy from Columbia. After 15 years of marriage, Ramon begins to question whether he has what it takes to please his wife. At the same time, his beautiful wife Tatiana wonders if her husband no longer finds her attractive, especially since his job as a fashion executive requires him to work with Colombia's most beautiful women on a daily basis. They are both willing to do whatever it takes to rekindle their passion in this raunchy comedy that takes aim at the way society sexualizes men and women.
<h3 class="breakHead">Sunday, April 12 </h3>
Marcus Theaters, 111 S. Randall Road, Elgin
• 3:30 p.m. "The Stranger/La Extraña," a 2014 thriller from the Dominican Republic. Based on Sergio Gobbi's 1968 French psychological thriller, "The Stranger" tells the story of Jean-Louis, a successful book editor in Santo Domingo who feels guilty about the accident that left his ex-wife paralyzed. To clear his head, he decides to spend the weekend in his private home at a luxury resort. There he meets Rosa, a stunning woman with whom he begins a passionate affair. But in true film noir fashion, Rosa's mysterious past will turn Jean-Louis' life upside down.
• 6 p.m. "The Womb/El Vientre," a 2014 horror thriller from Peru. Silvia, a beautiful 45-year-old widow, is obsessed with having a child and finds in attractive but naive Mercedes the perfect candidate to bear it. Silvia offers her a job and a room in her house, and then manipulates her into seducing a young man named Jaime. They soon fall in love and Mercedes becomes pregnant. Silvia will do anything in her power to keep the baby, even if it means leaving a couple of bodies behind.
<h3 class="breakHead">Friday, April 17 </h3>
Building G, Spartan Auditorium
• 6 p.m. "3 Beauties/3 Bellezas," a 2014 comedy from Venezuela. Former beauty queen Perla will do whatever it takes to make sure that one of her two preteen daughters, Carolina or Estefanía, is crowned Miss Republica. She will be as ruthless in their training as a drill sergeant. Trouble begins when Carolina is declared first runner-up in her school's fifth-grade beauty pageant. Perla won't be denied. Carlos Caridad Montero's dark comedy pokes vicious fun at his country's fixation with beauty pageants and fame.
• 8 p.m. "The Seventh Floor/Septimo," a 2013 thriller, co-production from Argentina and Spain. Ricardo Darin plays Sebastian, a successful lawyer in the midst of an acrimonious divorce who, before heading to court to represent his client in a controversial case, stops by his estranged wife's apartment to pick up their kids. They play their usual game of seeing who makes it down the stairs from their seventh-floor apartment. But when he reaches the lobby, his kids are nowhere to be found. They seem to have vanished in thin air. It is soon evident they have been kidnapped, but by whom?
Tickets to each event are $10, $7 for students and seniors, and can be purchased at the door, by phone at (800) 344-0538, or online at www.latinofilmfestivalelgin.com.
The festival is sponsored by ECC President's Office, the ECC Humanities Center, ECC Student Life, MAGIC, GIST, the city of Elgin, and the City of Elgin Cultural Arts Commission.
For information, call Margarita Mendoza at (630) 335-5229.