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CineFestival returns to west side with its largest program in years

Festival organizers will be saying a temporary goodbye to Historic Guadalupe Theater, which will close in September for renovations.

SAN ANTONIO — Movie fans in San Antonio will want to make sure there's extra room in their popcorn buckets: CineFestival returns to Historic Guadalupe Theater for its 44th edition this week, tacking on an extra day of screenings to accommodate for nearly 30 additional films over last year's event. 

Tickets can be purchased now to catch the 114 films that comprise the 2024 program, 15 of which are features. That number is the result of Festival Director Eugenio del Bosque and his small team combing through 312 submissions this year—a huge jump over the roughly 200 movies submitted for CineFestival 2022. 

"Part of the mandate was, of course, it was going to create extra work for us, and I just wanted to make sure everybody was OK with that," said del Bosque, capping off his third year as head programmer for CineFestival. "It didn't surprise me, but in many instances (their) answer was, 'That's what we do. That's how we service both the artists and the audience.'"

Del Bosque offers several reasons why his team received such a high number of submissions this year, not the least of which are COVID-era production delays that have been felt both at local and Hollywood levels. There's also an always-growing enthusiasm for anyone with a phone to try their hand at filmmaking when technology has put the tools right in our pocket. 

Credit: CineFestival
A still from the 2023 CineFestival short film "Escape the Scroll."

But another reason has to do with CineFestival itself. The event that touts itself as the longest-running Latino-centric film festival in the country has seen its own reputation grow over the past half-century, but it refocused on locally produced stories in the mid-2010s—at about the same time as Hollywood was starting to be more proactive about diversity in storytelling. 

"The atmosphere, the market, if you would, was changing for Latino film festivals," del Bosque said. "In 2017 we changed to (become) a more local and regional program. That's paying off right now, I think."

Curtains up

It kicks off Tuesday evening with a free screening of "Blood In Blood Out," the 1993 film that intertwines crime cinema with Chicano culture and which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Del Bosque admits opening CineFestival with a 30-year-old film marks a bit of a "breach of protocol," but given the movie's local ties – San Antonio actor and CineFestival artistic advisor Jesse Borrego is one of the movie's stars, and he will host Tuesday's screening – it simply made sense. 

CineFestival will then close Sunday evening with "Going Varsity in Mariachi," a documentary about South Texas high school mariachi competitors that's already visited Sundance and South By Southwest. 

But between "Blood In Blood Out" and "Going Varsity in Mariachi," there awaits a world of films, much of it sourced from Texas. Exactly a third of the 114 movies selected for CineFestival 2023 showcase Alamo City artists and stories, while other parts of the program hail from elsewhere in the U.S. and around the world.

Credit: CineFestival
A still from the CineFestival 2024 film "Entre Frontreras," about immigrants journeying to America.

Horror fans can visit Guadalupe on Friday night to catch "Summoning the Spirit," where a family finds itself in the grips of a cult that claims to have a connection with a legendary beast. The night before, Guadalupe will host a screening of "Heart of Glory," about a San Antonio boxer fighting to live up to his father's legacy. And the animated "Home Is Somewhere Else," directed by Carlos Hagerman and Jorge Villalobos, is made up of three short films about Dreamers. It's set to screen Saturday.

Del Bosque says immigration is an enduring theme at CineFestival, but the evolution of political conversation means Dreamers have emerged as a key subject, as is the case with "Home Is Somewhere Else."

“There are some (thematic) constants, like family and immigration," he says. "But if you combine those two and what’s happening now, the stories are about Dreamers and families separated by the immigration system.”

Still other CineFestival movies (the festival's full program can be explored here) are about LGBTQ+ life and food, social justice and sports, coming of age and comedy. They come from a a healthy mix of younger and accomplished filmmakers, del Bosque says, CineFestival’s spot on the calendar – along with its mission of lifting up local filmmakers – liberates it from the “market pressures” of enticing audiences with big studio fare.

Credit: CineFestival
"Going Varsity in Mariachi" will close CineFestival 2023, marking its San Antonio premiere after screening at Sundance and SXSW.

"Part of what we’re realizing is there’s a whole world of material coming to the festival anyway. It seems like we still have a niche. People do come out to the festival and we’re able to show films that aren’t being shown anywhere else.”

CineFestival 2024 is offering 13 free screenings, in addition to Family Day on Saturday with a morning block of films from directors under 20 years old. Thursday will bring free Senior Cinema showings for certain movies, and a Cine en el Barrio block Wednesday featuring international shorts. 

A temporary goodbye

The 2023 festival will also serve as a farewell to the Guadalupe as the west side knows it. 

The historic theater is set to shut down for an undetermined amount of time in September for renovations, which means del Bosque is already planning for a 2024 event away from its usual home while it’s getting a makeover.

"It's been in its current incarnation for about 25 to 30 years, and the festival has always been there," he said. "People identity with it."

And the Guadalupe is expected to be packed not just with moviegoers but filmmakers too; del Bosque says they expect more than 80 crew and cast members to attend, some of them participating in post-movie Q&As. 

"It elevates the work," del Bosque said. "It elevates the experience."

CineFestival runs through Sunday at the Guadalupe (1301 Guadalupe St.). Individual screening tickets are $8, while all-festival passes cost $40. Attendees are encouraged to get tickets and arrive at the Guadalupe early. 

   

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