The Latin American Film Festival (LAFF) was founded in 2005 by Judith van den Burg and Jessica de Jaeger. In a period of six years the LAFF has grown from a small overview festival into a successful medium-size festival and knowledge platform for Latin American film and culture.

Each year, LAFF introduces and presents the work of (new) filmmakers from and dealing with Latin America.  Of course, there is no such thing as a single Latin American film culture; Latin America is home to a rich and highly diverse range of film cultures. With the sixty films that make up this year’s programme, LAFF intends to provide an overview of this diversity, in terms of themes, countries and narrative forms. Many of these films will have their Dutch premières at LAFF.

Latin American cinema is booming worldwide, and particularly in the Netherlands. More and more films are being bought by Dutch distributors, which means more Latin American films in Dutch cinemas and at the various festivals in the Netherlands.

Latin America is also a continent in flux: following the fall of many dictatorial regimes in the 1980s and the ensuing wave of democratisation, there are now progressive regimes in place in many Latin American countries. This has resulted in a blossoming of film culture – often still looking back to the periods of dictatorship and examining problems such as poverty, violence and drugs – but also new, more universal themes. This year, LAFF will be devoting particular attention to four themes with special film routes: Straying Thirty-somethings (the ‘Multiple Choice Generation’); Sport; Debut Films and Viagem através do Brasil!
 
The 7th LAFF opens with the Dutch première of Chilean film La Vida de los Peces (winner of this year’s Goya Award for Best Foreign Film, attended by the filmmaker, Matias Bize. In cooperation with the Eye Film Institute, LAFF is also showing a retrospective of Bize’s work.

This year, LAFF will once again be welcoming many foreign guests, such as renowned documentary maker Patricio Guzman and Rebecca Cammissa, winner of the Dirk Vandersypen Award. The filmmakers will present their films to the public and answer questions after the screenings.

LAFF is also presenting a retrospective of Argentine filmmaker Pablo Trapero, in cooperation with Belgium’s Open Doek film festival. With his raw, social realist films, Trapero is seen as the initiator of New Argentine Cinema. His latest film, Carancho, will have its Dutch première at LAFF. After the festival, a retrospective of his work will go On Tour to eight cinemas throughout the Netherlands.
There will also be plenty of opportunity to delve deeper into the background to the films and the issues they raise. With eight FilmExtras and three Masterclasses, lectures, round-table discussions and/or public discussions will be organised in cooperation with various organisations, including Utrecht University, CEDLA (the Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation) and the Radboud University Nijmegen.

Naturally, there will also be competition this year, in the form of the Latin Angel Awards. The jury will present the winning film from the Official Competition with the Latin Angel Award. In addition, the Youth Jury and the Audience Awards will be given out for Best Fiction Film and Best Documentary. The Latin Angel Awards will be presented on 12 May, followed by a free screening of the winning jury film and then the LAFFiesta party, featuring DJ Poto Peludo, DJ Rodrigo and DJ Tommi, in Utrecht’s Lux venue. 

The party atmosphere lives every evening throughout the festival in the cocktail bar, with DJs, dancing and – last but not least – Latin Karaoke on 11 May.
We look forward to welcoming you to the 7th LAFF!
Latin American Film Festival