This collaborative event in #GRmi made me so proud to live here. http://t.co/NNdECgW #Film

Over the last 10 years, cultural programs from the various universities and colleges have begun actively collaborating to create exciting and diverse programming in our region.

A fine example of such collaboration is the return of the Grand Rapids Latin American Film Festival brought to the screen by Aquinas College, Calvin College and Grand Valley State University. The festival takes place April 7-9, at Celebration! Cinema RiverTown and Wealthy Theatre.  

The festival's goal is to provide the entire West Michigan community and students with a unique and enriching opportunity to acquaint themselves with the latest and most acclaimed Latin American films.

"We didn't have any particular theme as our goal other than to showcase the diversity of Latin America through its cinema," says Dr. Toni Perrine, GVSU Professor of Film and Video and GRLAFF committee member. "For that reason, we want to exhibit movies from different countries. So, with the exception of Mexico, we have made a priority of not showing more than one film from any one country in the first two years."

Last year, the first-year festival programmed films from Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela and Uruguay. For the second year, GRLAFF has selected films from El Salvador/Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Puerto Rico and USA/Argentina with an 'opera prima' from a young director.

This year's showcase film is the Peruvian film "Contracoriente" (Undertow), a film that at its core explores the complex emotions of intersecting human sexuality within this tiny seaside town. 

After each of the six films, students from each of the colleges will lead a discussion with the audience to help enrich the educational aspects of the festival. This immersion of students into the programming is key to the festival's success and an on-going goal of fostering dialog across cultural lines.

A major addition to the festival this year is the appearance by the screenwriter, actor and producer Oscar Torres, who will be attending the Friday, April 8 screening of "Voces Inocentes" (Innocent Voices) to discuss his semi-autobiographical film. 

(Tommy adds, I saw this film on Saturday and it was beautifully rich in every way. The conversations after the film ended with the audience members were also insightful.)