OLA Latino Film Festival Delivers Serious Lineup

For the 11th annual OLA Latino Film Festival, organizers clearly aimed high.

Kicking off the three-day cultural celebration put on by the Organización Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island is “Pescador,” or “Fisherman”—winner of three international film festival awards—on Friday, September 12, at 5:30 p.m. at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, followed by a performance by Mambo Loco at 7 p.m.

The 96-minute film from director Sabastian Cordero follows 30-year-old Blaquito, who lives with his mother in a small Ecuadorian fishing village where he has always felt like an outsider. That changes when he discovers a box filled with bricks of cocaine, washed up on the beach—launching him down a dangerous road.

On Saturday, September 13, the festival continues at 3 p.m. with “7 Cajas,” or “7 Boxes”—titled for the parcels of unknown content that 17-year-old Victor is asked to carry through Market Number 4 in Paraguay, until his mission gets complicated along the way. This 100-minute action-thriller from directors Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schembori puts audiences right in the middle of a much more serious crime scheme than both Victor and his pursuers could have ever imagined.

The festival culminates on Sunday, September 14, at 3 p.m. with “Gloria” from Chile, the shamelessly candid story of a free-spirited, middle-aged divorcée caught up in a whirlwind romance with a former naval officer.

The 70-minute film from director Sebastián Lelio is far from a shallow chick flick. “Gloria” does not shy away from serious issues, among them an exploration of how gender roles and family life have, and have not, changed despite sexual liberation, consumerism and capitalism—racking up Best Film awards at the San Sebastian International Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival.

Tickets for the 11th annual OLA Latino Film Festival screenings are $10 each and free for Parrish members. For reservations, call 283-2118 or visit parrishart.org.