2021 Films
LOLA Award Winners & Official Selections
LOLA Award Winners
La Nave del Olvido (Forgotten Roads)
Claudina (70) is a repressed woman from the countryside. After her husband passes away, she meets Elsa (65), a married woman, who invites Claudina to discover real love. Under the judgment of a little, conservative town in the south of Chile, which is obsessed with UFO sightings, she starts on a tough journey to be free. Claudina bravely leaves everything and comes to understand that freedom is individual and inalienable.
Negra
I was about seven years old the first time someone called me “black” on the street. I turned around to see who they were talking to, until I realized it was me. That day I understood I was black, and the laughter it caused among the people nearby made me think being a black person wasn’t that great… Was this only happening to me? Or did it happen to other black women? “Negra” shows the director in her search of exploring what it means to inhabit Mexico as a black woman. It tells the story of five afro-descendant women from southern Mexico, exposing racism, resistance and processes of self-acceptance, strategies for transcending stereotypes, and the celebration of their identity.
LOS FEATURES
Philadelphia Premiere
Mexico // 2020
Medhin Tewolde Serrano
Documentary
Spanish
72 minutes
Joyride
Sisters Marina and Karina break their grandmother Juana out of her senior living facility. Juana enlists her granddaughters to take her to the Grand Canyon in secret. The car ride reveals some painful family history and allows Juana to carry out some unfinished business.
LOS SHORTS
USA East Coast Premiere
USA // 2020
Edwin Alexis Gómez
Narrative
English & Spanish
14 minutes
Superestar
Two Salvadoran women, one a first generation indie-pop singer, and the other an immigrant bathroom attendant at an LA nightclub, bond over their different troubles and their mutual love of music.
LOS SHORTS
USA East Coast Premiere
USA // 2021
Daniel Larios
Narrative
English & Spanish
12 minutes
When You Clean A Stranger’s Home
A first-generation high school student describes what her and her mom learn about people when cleaning their homes for a living. House decor and items left around convey a privilege that unveils her imagination, jealousy, and frustrations.
#Whitina
Inspired by coming of age cult classics, #Whitina is a film about exploring the crossroads of the inner and outer struggles of being Mexican-American against the backdrop of a social media obsessed society. High School cheerleader and whitina (white acting Latina) Genesis Valdez is forced to go on the run with her two former best friends after a confrontation with undercover I.C.E. Agents. Not realizing the whole thing was filmed by two middle schoolers the group goes #viral. While on the run Chris reveals he is a dreamer and could get deported. Genesis makes a decision to help Chris escape learning what it really means to be "down for La Raza."
LOLA Award Honorable Mentions
Los Features
Alas (Wings)
Giving the opportunity to self-representation, the director of the film enters the woman prison in Puerto Rico. This piece of participatory filmmaking was made between the filmmaker and almost 42 woman in jail, who learn the camera work, sound and storytelling. The documentary is a compilation of stories that brings humanity to an inhumane place and reality.
World Premiere
Puerto Rico // 2020
Llaima Sanfiorenzo
Documentary
Spanish
38 minutes
Website
iGilbert
Gilbert Gonzalez (Adrian Martinez), feels isolated from the world. He is 39, a virgin, diabetic, and lives with his sarcastic, overprotective mother, who owns the upper Manhattan brownstone. Fearful of life and people, yet starving for human connection, Gilbert sublimates by taking photos of women, building a digital 'connection' to others. Jana, (Dascha Polanco), is Gilbert’s tenant—beautiful but haunted by her own insecurities that inhibit her from standing up to her ex-boyfriend Tony, (Raul Castillo), an Iraq war vet with PTSD. Three people reaching for true connection, becomes a dangerous love triangle in our increasingly digital and disconnected world.
Philadelphia Premiere
USA // 2020
Adrian Martinez
Narrative
English & Spanish
90 minutes
Website
Madalena
Luziane, Cristiano, and Bianca have almost nothing in common, beside the fact that they all live in the same rural city surrounded by soy fields in western Brazil. While they don’t know one another, each of them is affected by Madalena’s disappearance. In different parts of the town, each in their own way, they react to her absence.
Philadelphia Premiere
Brazil // 2021
Madiano Marcheti
Narrative
Portuguese
85 minutes
Elena
In 1937, tens of thousands of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent were exterminated by the Dominican army, on the basis of anti-black racism. Fast-forward to 2013, the Dominican Republic’s Supreme Court stripped the citizenship of anyone with Haitian parents, retroactive to 1929, rendering more than 200,000 people stateless. Elena, the young protagonist of the film, and her family stand to lose their legal residency in the Dominican Republic if they don’t manage to get their documents in time. Negotiating a mountain of opaque bureaucratic processes and a racist, hostile society around, Elena becomes the face of the struggle to remain in a country built on the labor of her father and forefathers. Director Michèle Stephenson’s new documentary follows Elena and her family through their despair and small joys, as they struggle to remain in the country they’ve called home for generations.
World Premiere
USA & Dominican Republic // 2020
Michèle Stephenson
Documentary
Spanish & Haitian Creole
30 minutes
Website
La Casa de Mama Icha (The House of Mama Icha)
Mama Icha feels the end of her life close and only thinks of one thing: returning to her homeland, Colombia. Decades ago, she had immigrated to the United States to help her daughter with the care of the grandchildren. She dreams of the Magdalena River in the sunset, being surrounded by her family and neighbors in the patio of the house she built during the years of absence with the money she sent from abroad. But the idyllic world of her memories is confronted with deteriorated family relationships and the repercutions of economic inequality.
International Premiere
USA & Colombia // 2020
Oscar Molina
Documentary
Spanish
85 minutes
Website
Nudo Mixteco
The trace of the past is present when three migrants return to a community in the highlands of Mixtec Oaxaca in México, where their three stories intersect.
Philadelphia Premiere
Mexico // 2021
Ángeles Cruz
Narrative
Spanish & Mixteco
91 minutes
Website
LOLA Award Honorable Mentions
Los Shorts
Breaking Through
A woman gets stuck in a bathroom and it kinda, sorta changes her life, actually.
World Premiere
USA // 2020
Kira Kalush
Narrative
English
13 minutes
Nuevo Rico
A brother and sister stumble upon a celestial secret that changes their lives forever and propels them into Reggaetón stardom, but they soon discover that their newfound fame comes at a deep price.
Philadelphia Premiere
USA // 2021
Kristian Mercado Figueroa
Narrative
English & Spanish
17 minutes
Website
Sol (Sun)
A resilient mother races to teach her daughter all that she knows to weather the effects of climate change.
Philadelphia Premiere
Canada // 2020
Andy Alvarez
Narrative
English
15 minutes
Website
Full Beat
A transgender youth, resentful of having to spend court-ordered time with her unaccepting dad, finds an unlikely ally in his fiancé.
Philadelphia Premiere
USA // 2018
Kase Peña
Narrative
English & Spanish
11 minutes
Website
At Last
A timid high school girl reveals her truth during the most important night of the year.
Philadelphia Premiere
USA // 2020
Lorena Gordon
Narrative
English
14 minutes
Soy Un Vampiro (I'm A Vampire)
In and amongst the confusion created by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, 8 year-old Jackie believes she is turning into a vampire. As her suspicion is reinforced by her parents’ bewildering behavior, the imaginative girl creates her own plan to survive the confinement.
Philadelphia Premiere
Mexico & USA // 2020
Sofia Garza-Barba
Narrative
Spanish
15 minutes
Website
Tercera Trinidad (Third Trinity)
A wise Puerto Rican santera bestows a puzzling premonition upon her pregnant daughter, who fears losing her artistic practice to the demands of motherhood.
Philadelphia Premiere
USA // 2020
Yara Travieso
Narrative
Spanish
9 minutes
Website
Official Selections
LOS FEATURES
A Colombian Family
Belly of the Beast
Calle de la Resistencia
Ciegos
Contactado
De Aqui (From Here)
El murmullo de la marimba (The Whisper of the Marimba)
El viaje de Monalisa (The Journey of Monalisa)
Entre Fuego y Agua (Between Fire and Water)
Haciendo Posible Lo Imposible (Making the Impossible Possible)
Historias del Cabo Corrientes (Stories from Cabo Corrientes)
La frontera (The Border)
La última gira (The Last Tour)
LOS FEATURES (con’t)
Laberintho Yo'eme (Yo’emian Labyrinth)
Manos De Oro (Hands of Gold)
Mapa de Sueños Latinoamericanos (Map of Latin American Dreams)
Matar a Pinochet (Kill Pinochet)
Mulheres de Havana (Women from Havana)
Niña mamá (Mother-Child)
O Clube Dos Anjos (The Club of Angels)
Ríos de Ceniza (Rivers of Ash)
Siqueiros: Walls of Passion
Sky Blossom: Diaries of the Next Greatest Generation
The Horror Crowd
La Guerra Contra Nuestras Escuelas (The War Against our Schools)
To Be Reconciled
LOS SHORTS
12 Kilómetros (12 Kilometers)
A su propio ritmo (At Its Own Rhythm)
Aguas Negras (Black Waters)
Ale Libre
Alejandro
Alma’s recipe (La receta de Alma)
Ângela
Año sabático (Sabbatical)
Aquí (Here)
Beat Lingo
Blanes Esquina Müller (Blanes st and Muller)
Camina (Walk)
Crabs in a Barrel
Célio's Circle
Chimenea de muerte (Chimney of Death)
Consume
Displaced
Disrupted Borders
Dreamer
El Sueño Americano (The American Dream)
El Triste
Entre Puerto Rico y Richmond: ¡Las mujeres en resistencia no se rendirán! (Entre Puerto Rico y Richmond: Women in Resistance Shall Not Be Moved)
Exiliada (Exiled)
For Grace
Foreign Puzzle
Gone
Gosta de Poesia? (Do You Like Poetry?)
Hell of a Pitcher
Imelda y Luis
Impermanencia: Un Tríptico Elemental (Impermanence: An Elemental Triptych)
Instrucciones para convertirse en pez (How to Become a Fish)
It Can Be Done
Katya!
La audicion (The Audition)
La Playita (The Little Beach)
La Voz de Lupe (The Voice of Lupe)
Laberinto (Labyrinth)
Letter of Wreck
LOS SHORTS (con’t)
Light on a Path, Follow
Living Altars
Llamadas de Emergencia #NoEstásSola (Emergency Calls #YouAreNotAlone)
#LOLASJOURNEY
Lost Year
Lotería!
Luces de la Ciudad (City Lights)
Malinchista
Mango Season
Mano santa
Más Sabe El Diablo (The Devil Knows More)
Melting Snow
Nahjum
Niceville
Notes, Imprints (On Love): Part II, Carmela
Nymph
Oda a los frijoles (Ode to the beans)
On / Off
Pablo
Película de mi padre (My Father's Film)
Rosa
Ser Feliz No Vão (Happy In The Gap / Feliz en la Brecha)
Sobre Ela (About Her)
Super Bella
Supermalo
Tamales y Tunas
Taps
Tejano Night
Tesoro
The Sunset Is Not a Permanent Home
They Call Us Sediciosos
TIME
To You My Love (Para Ti Mi Amor)
Todas Las Sombras (All Shadows)
Transmitiéndolo (Passing It Down)
Trophies
UXO
Waking Hour
Zoila
LOS ESPECIALES
Limonada (Lemonade)
My Friend Frida
Semi-Finalists
LOS Features
A Morte Habita a Noite (Death Inhabits at Night)
Avanzaré tan despacio (Moving so Slowly)
Canción de Invierno (Wintersong)
El árbol de Matías (Matías’ Tree)
Sembradoras de vida (Mothers of the Land)
Valiente (Fearless)
Vivir Ilesos (Living Unscathed)
LOS Shorts
Gallos de Pelea: La Ultima Temporada (Cockfights: The Last Season)
Las Mujeres y el Mar (The Women and the Sea)
The Girl Next Door
LOS Especiales
Pay It Forward in Death