With a strong sense of cultural identity sustained by the need for change in a grassroots way, the Sin Fronteras Film Festival was created.
The festival took place last weekend in two theaters at the South Broadway Cultural Center. Sin Fronteras celebrates through film the movement of the people and current topics concerning youth, gender, people of color, people of Latin America, indigenous resistance and queer issues, through film.
According to a press release, the festival was designed to "attack the current homogenized, corporate-controlled forms of media." The festival incorporates independent forms of media for a community-based alternative to typically elitist art.
"We will attempt to deconstruct the divisions of class, race, ethnicity, gender, sex, geography and age, not only in theory, but in practice," the press release stated.
The festival was planned with the community in mind and included free child care and sign language interpreters.
The festival presented 40 events like films, presentations by filmmakers and speakers such as Dr. Isabel Arrendondo with Maria Novaro's film "El Jard°n de EdÇn." Basement Films was there, along with Alexandra Halkin and the Chiapas Media Project; Mike "360" Ipiotis; Tey Diana Rebolledo with a presentation on Chicana literature; Esteban Gaggino's film "Dulces Sue§os;" Pilar Rodriguez Aranda's "Frontera es Ella/Border She Is;" Micheal Addair-Kriz's "Warspeak" and more.
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This event was jam packed with cultural learning and opportunities for everyone. Monica Delgado, one of the festival's organizers, said that with the proceeds they hope to create a home for this community-based art.
"Our main goals are to bring non-mainstream film from the international and local levels," she said.
"We are here to promote these filmmakers so that they have this forum and art space to do these things."
According to a press release, Sin Fronteras organizers kept in mind that "art should be accessible to everyone regardless of financial status or handicap."
From speakers to filmmakers to community activists, Sin Fronteras is brought to you by diverse organizations such as SOLAS, the Latin American and Iberian Institute, UNM Women's Resource Center, MEChA, ASUNM, Food Not Bombs, El Centro de la Raza, and various restaurants and organizations from around New Mexico.
"Many have volunteered and participated in this event," said organizer Stephanie Barnett. "I would just like to say thank you all for your support."
