CCU to host five-week Latin American film festival

CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Coastal Carolina University will host its second annual Latin American Film Festival, a five-week event showcasing award-winning films from Latin American countries.

All events include a film screening and subsequent discussion with Mauricio Castillo, assistant professor in the LIS department; four of the five events will feature Zoom discussions with the respective directors. Events take place on consecutive Wednesdays at 5 p.m. starting Wednesday, September 29 in the Lib Jackson Student Union Theater. All events are free and open to the public.

The film festival is representative of many programs and initiatives within the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts, manifested within the LIS department, including a new motto: “Learn Local, Go Global”.

Castillo said that sharing and discussing films from Latin American countries – including Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay and Bolivia – allowed CCU students, faculty and community members to learn the contexts cultural and historical surrounding the stories in addition to enjoying the art form.

“The subjects are contemporary,” Castillo said. “The main characters are mostly young people facing a globalized world, and I think students will easily identify with them. Topics are diverse and include LBGTQ themes, family issues, and topics of violence, corruption, race, and class. Viewers will see how the people of Latin America deal with these issues. At first the audience will see the differences, but ultimately they will see how similarly they approach these issues. There is no difference to the way these things are done in the United States.

Castillo says the focus isn’t limited to the CCU campus, however.

“We also promote languages ​​in the community, all around Horry County. We have Language Day, during which we invite high school students from schools in the region. They come for an event where we play games and talk about the importance of learning other languages. So, this is part of a whole project that we have in the department that we see ourselves as ambassadors of DCI.

Film program:

For more information, visit www.coastal.edu/culturalarts or contact Castillo at mcastillo@coastal.edu or 843-349-6972.