![\"Martina](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Montelona-Cine_X.jpg\")
Martina Paseggi stars as Elisa in Un futuro brillante (A Bright Future), a film by Uruguayan director Luc\u00eda Garibaldi. Credit: Courtesy Image \/ Raza C\u00f3smica<\/p>\nMartina Paseggi stars as Elisa in Un futuro brillante (A Bright Future), a film by Uruguayan director Luc\u00eda Garibaldi. Credit: Courtesy Image \/ Raza C\u00f3smica<\/p>\n
International film festival Raza C\u00f3smica, now in its fifth year, showcases independent cinema for underserved communities and prides itself on curating a \u201cconstellation of Latinx sci-fi cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n
Created by the San Antonio-based organization MonteVideo and sponsored by the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI) and American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions (AIT-SCM), Raza C\u00f3smica spotlights science fiction and sci-fi-adjacent films by Latinx and BIPOC filmmakers.<\/p>\n
MonteVideo founder Manuel Solis, an occasional Current contributor, said he settled on the sci-fi theme for the festival, which gets underway Thursday, Oct. 9, because of the accessibility of the genre.<\/p>\n
\u201cScience fiction is often present and influential in many Latino households growing up, via television shows like Star Trek and The Twilight Zone,\u201d Solis said. \u201cIt\u2019s often passed down by t\u00edos and t\u00edas. [Sci-fi] allows filmmakers to imagine and create new worlds where Latino narratives are centered in new ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, Raza C\u00f3smica has a robust selection of films around the world, including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Scotland, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and the United States.<\/p>\n
The opening night film is the Texas premiere of Un futuro brillante (A Bright Future) by director Lucia Garibaldi. Set in a dystopian world, the film follows Elisa (Martina Passeggi), a young woman from South America who\u2019s selected through a lottery to travel \u201cNorth\u201d in hopes of reuniting with her sister.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot everyone has an opportunity to migrate and make a better life for themselves,\u201d Solis said. \u201cI think a film like Un futuro brillante is a great example of that \u2013 exploring immigration from a fresh lens. In the film, [Elisa] sees the value of her own community and the importance of being true to yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other films screening at Raza C\u00f3smica that highlight the migrant experience are Illegal Alien, which uncovers the physical and emotional journeys that Venezuelan women endure while migrating; and M.A.M.O.N. (Monitor Against Mexican Over Nationwide), a comedy that explores the consequences of banning immigration. Think of Sergio Arau\u2019s 2004 film A Day Without a Mexican, except instead of Mexicans disappearing into thin air, they are catapulted back into Mexico.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking at immigration from a satirical point of view and from a fresh perspective,\u201d Solis said. \u201cIt\u2019s a meaningful way to engage, have a dialogue and share different viewpoints. You can see immigration from a basic human level \u2026 instead of the rhetoric that\u2019s on the news.\u201d<\/p>\n
A full festival schedule is available online at the website below.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Free, various times, Thursday, Oct. 9-Saturday, Oct. 11, Arthouse at Blue Star and Central Library, 134 Blue Star and 600 Soledad St, montevideo210.com.<\/p>\n
Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Apple News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>| Twitter<\/a>\u00a0| Or sign up for our\u00a0RSS Feed<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tThe festival\u2019s seventh-annual installment will take place Oct. 2-5. \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tFrom blockbusters to award contenders, there\u2019s no shortage of intriguing films headed our way. \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tThe Texas senator compared Brendan Carr\u2019s threat to ABC to that of a mafia boss.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n This article appears in Oct. 2-15<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t
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