LASA Film Festival

The LASA (Latin American Studies Association) Film Festival is organized in unison with the annual LASA Congresses. The Film Festival has been a major attraction of the LASA Congresses since 1983. Its trajectory and importance are reflected by the increased number of submitted films to its annual call and the constant allusion to the prizes awarded by the Festival in national and international cinema catalogs.
From its 2017 edition, the Festival will strive to exhibit audiovisual materials from around the world related to the multiple and diverse perspectives encompassing Latin American: its history, its socio-political and cultural development, the ongoing reality of its inhabitants, and the discourses that bound its nations and the region in general. In this way, the Festival integrates the aims of exhibiting and publicizing fictional and documentary audiovisual productions from Latin American countries, functioning as an outlet for films emblematic of the countries, new productions and even recently re-discovered works, thanks to restoration work done by film afficionados or archivists. In third place, since the Festival is part of a wide-spread academic activity, it intends to encourage links with researchers and members of LASA who are experts in a wide spectrum of the cultural and political life of the continent -- encouraging them to be part of the presentations and conversations about the films and other special activities.

Goals

From the three axes outlined, the Film Festival has the following objectives:

Establish the LASA Film Festival as a cultural event dedicated to the promotion of Latin American fiction and nonfiction audiovisual productions, as well as films about Latin America emanating from other geographic points of the globe.
Create a space for the exhibition and promotion of current and former Latin American audiovisual productions, highlighting their prowess and their aesthetic contribution to the medium
Highlight the participation of the LASA Congress' host country in the festival, particularly its cultural, audiovisual and photographic productions
Promote the study of Latin American Film in universities around the world, especially in Latin America and the United States
Promote bonds between Film Festival and members of LASA, involving them in its activities

The selected films will compete for the LASA2017 Film Merit Award and for two honorable mentions. It is not a requirement to be a member of LASA to participate.