Third annual CineLatino film festival expands with more films, theaters

Marcus Theatres’ third annual CineLatino Milwaukee Film Festival begins next week, featuring an expanded lineup of films and locations. 

The Hispanic film festival, taking place April 10 to 14, includes 15 films being shown at Marcus Majestic Cinema of Brookfield, Marcus Renaissance Cinema in Sturtevant and Marcus South Shore Cinema in Oak Creek and related events that will help raise money for local Hispanic health and education efforts. 

The five-day event will kick-off with a fundraising event on April 10 benefiting the Aurora Cancer Care Spanish Clinic, which provides bilingual Spanish-speaking services on the system’s St. Luke’s Medical Center campus on Milwaukee’s south side. 

The event will include a special showing of “Shine” at 7 p.m., with a special appearance by Gilbert Saldivar, an acclaimed dancer and lead actor in the film, which tells the story of two of Spanish Harlem’s most celebrated salsa dancers. Tickets are $85 and are available for purchase here. 

The rest of CineLatino will feature nationwide premieres of new films “The Curse of La Llorona,” “El Chicano” and “Superlopez.” Films will play at a combination of Majestic of Brookfield, Renaissance and South Shore Cinemas, with certain titles playing exclusively at South Shore Cinema.

More information about the film festival, including its full lineup, locations, showtimes, language formats and tickets, is available here.

Half of all net proceeds will be donated to local Hispanic health and education efforts. The first two years of the festival raised more than $40,000 for those initiatives.

“Marcus Theatres is thrilled to make CineLatino available for even more of the community to enjoy in 2019,” said Rolando Rodriguez, chairman, president and CEO of Marcus Theatres. “Not only have we assembled a fantastic film line-up, we have the honor of premiering three films for the first time in the U.S. right here in Milwaukee! The momentum is building for another tremendous festival that celebrates Hispanic films, culture and, most importantly, gives back to our community partners.”

Special events that are new to this year’s festival include:

• April 13, 10 to 10:45 a.m.: “Eso Es Vivir” (“That is Life”) Event at Majestic Cinema of Brookfield is sponsored by Susan G. Komen Wisconsin and includes programming and discussions surrounding breast cancer awareness.
• April 14, 2 to 4 p.m.: Pepsi and Marcus Theatres Present: Next Gen Cine Workshop at South Shore Cinema, which is the kick-off for a new mobile film contest. Attendees during the workshop will learn the basic elements of mobile filmmaking from Milwaukee-based filmaker Marcelo Martinez.

That contest “challenges emerging talent to create a short film using only their mobile device. Filmmakers can choose from one of three categories (“Community,” “Family Stories” or “Live Out Loud”), which can be expressed in any genre,” according to a news release. Marcus will open public registration and release more details about the contest on Wednesday, April 10.

All special activities are complimentary, with food and beverage and film admission sold separately.