¡Viva El Cine! at MVFF

¡Viva El Cine!  sprung out of extensive audience research in 2012, which highlighted the changing demographic landscape of Marin, and supported the California Film Institute’s long-term vision of celebrating collaborative diversity.

We began working with students and families the following year and launched the festival program in 2014. We were thrilled when, in December 2015, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Marin awarded the Mill Valley Film Festival the Outstanding Business Diversity Award.

“¡Viva el Cine! celebrates the universal stories of Latino and Hispanic cultures that can be shared with an entire community and helps to build the multicultural bridges that we seek every day in our work to support Latino-owned businesses and individuals”.

-Chamber President, Cecilia Zamora

Through the ¡Viva El Cine! Initiative, MVFF has developed partnerships with various community-based organizations in Marin, including PUENTE, (a mentoring group for Latino teens in Marin), ALMA, (Association of Latino Marin Attorneys), MCOLE (Marin County Organization of Latino Employees), the Latino Council and the Canal Alliance to target divergent communities of Latinos in Marin.

Our advisory committee assisted with design and distribution of  bi-lingual ¡Viva El Cine! flyers in the Canal district, Pickleweed Park and Alfred J. Boro Community Center and various Latino marketplaces around the area, furthering outreach into the Marin Latino community. Thanks to this important work, new and diverse attendees were introduced to the Mill Valley Film Festival, many coming for the first time ever.

In 2016, more than 4,000 patrons attended the ¡Viva El Cine! film screenings, which included a series of new works from Mexico as well as seminal films from Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Spain—and a very special musical performance by the Alejandro Escovedo Trio at the Sweetwater Music Hall as part of the MVFF Music program.

During this year’s screening of Lupe Under The Sun, the audience was full of young Latin Americans invited by the Association of Latin Attorneys in Marin (ALMA)’s PUENTE program.  Marin County Public Defender and PUENTE founder Jose Valera spearheaded this outreach, introducing a new, young audience to ¡Viva El Cine! and MVFF.

This year’s 2016 ¡Viva El Cine! films included:

 

• Aquarius / Brazil (Director: Kleber Mendonca Filho)

• Finding Oscar / US (Director: Ryan Suffern)

• Icaros: A Vision / Peru, US (Directors: Leonor Caraballo, Matteo Norzi)

• The Long Night of Francisco Sanctis (La Larga Noche De Francisco Sanctis) / Argentina (Directors: Francisco Marquez, Andrea Testa)

• Lupe Under the Sun (Lupe Bajo el Sol) / Mexico, US (Director: Rodrigo Reyes)

• Neruda / Chile, France, Spain, Argentina (Director: Pablo Larrain)

• The Pleasure Is Mine (El Placer Es Mio) / Mexico (Director: Elisa Miller)

• Visitor’s Day (Día de Visita) / Mexico (Director: Nicole Opper)

• You Will Know What To Do With Me (Sabrás que hacer conmigo) / Mexico (Director: Katina Medina Mora)

• You’re Killing Me, Susana (Me estas matando Susana) / Mexico, Canada (Director: Roberto Sneider)

 

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Thank you to our numerous supporters and audiences for being part of ¡Viva El Cine! And helping us celebrate collaborative diversity through film.