This fall, film programs at a Western-themed museum in San Antonio and a film festival in Houston will honor Indigenous and Latinx cultures.
To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, the Houston Latino Film Festival will present VISTAS, a showcase of short films by makers from Hispanic and Latinx cultures and traditions. The 90-minute program will run Thursday, September 18, at 7:30 p.m. at the Star City Grill at City Center.
The VISTAS program name highlights the diversity of Houston’s Hispanic community, with films representing Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, and the U.S., including Re-Éksodos by Julia Horta Paiva, Cacique Del Monte by Colombian filmmaker Mateo Martinez, Passarinho by Brazilian filmmaker Natalia García Agraz, and five other short films.
Tickets for the Houston Latino Film Festival are available online for $14 plus service fee.
The Briscoe Western Art Museum in San Antonio has announced the return of its annual Native American Film Series, beginning Saturday, September 20 with the 2020 foodways documentary Gather directed by Sanjay Rawal.
A film still from “Gather,” directed by Sanjay Rawal
The series continues Saturday, October 11 with Indigenous sovereignty documentary Lakota Nation vs. the United States directed by Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli. On Saturday, November 15, Val Kilmer stars in Thunderheart, based on the story of activist Leonard Peltier, who was imprisoned after the deaths of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975.
Matthew Davila
The series, collectively titled The Modern Era, was curated by Matthew Davila (Standing Rock Lakota Sioux), who will lead a short presentation before each film.
Admission for the films is free with advance registration through the Briscoe Museum website.