Expanded Program of 17 Spanish-Language Movies Set

The Latino movie wave in Hollywood could get a new boost from the record number of Spanish-language films the AFI Fest has scheduled for its second year, event organizers said.

The 17 movies on the two-week schedule represent one of the first attempts at encompassing the full universe of Spanish-language film, said Rosa Bosch, the AFI’s Latino film coordinator.

“Distribution-wise, (the festival) should strengthen the marketing image of Latin culture by presenting it as a total universe,” said Bosch, a native of Spain’s Catalonia region. “It should help break down the colonial barriers between Spain and Latin America” and Latinos in the United States.

Although the films are highly spiced with national flavors--such as Chile’s “La Imagen Latente” (“The Latent Image”) about military dictatorship--Bosch says the themes are universal. “When I see films such as ‘La Imagen Latente’ and how they got it past the censors, it reminds me of what used to be the daily sport in Spain during Franco.”

Efforts were made to select the best and most interesting films from Spain, Latin America and U.S. Latino film productions, Bosch said. No Latino productions from Los Angeles were available for the festival, she said.

“In that sense, this year’s program marks a new point of departure,” she said. “I think this represents the AFI’s great vote of confidence in the Latino community.”

The festival’s three Latin films selected for gala openings, she added, may spark a controversy by featuring a pair of pro- and anti-Cuban films. “Un Hombre de Exito” (“A Man of Success”), a character study of two brothers in pre-revolutionary Cuba directed by Humberto Solas, screens next Thursday at 8 p.m.

The next evening features “Nadie Escuchaba” (“No One Listened”), a documentary critical of Cuba’s prison system co-produced and co-directed by Nestor Almendros, the director of “Conducta Impropria” (“Improper Conduct”), a documentary about the mistreatment of Cuba’s gay community.

“We gave both films the same slot,” Bosch said. “To have excluded either film would have been censorship. Almendros has an important reputation as a film maker, and so does Solas (who directed the now classic ‘Lucia’). We will let the people judge.”

The other gala attraction is “Clandestino Destino” (“Clandestine Destiny”), a futurist sexual comedy of errors about two women who try prevent the man they love from committing suicide. The film, directed by Mexico’s Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, screens April 26.

“Lola La Loca” (“Lola the Crazy”), Enrique Oliver’s comedic treatment of cultural conflict inside a welfare office, is one of two U.S.-produced Latino films. It screens April 27 at 10 p.m.