Austin's Cine Las Americas announces Call For Entries for 25th Anniversary edition this year

Call for Entries opened today for the special 25th Anniversary edition of Cine Las Americas International Film Festival (CLAIFF), which will take place June 7-11, 2023.

For its 2023 edition, CLAFF looks forward to building on the momentum the popular Austin-based film festival has achieved the past few years, while also looking back at CLAIFF’s legacy over the past quarter century.

Cine Las Americas will once again celebrate Texas filmmakers through its signature Hecho en Tejas Program, showcase youth through the Emergencia Program, as well as present new releases and documentaries, and ensure everyone gets to participate through a variety of free festival programming. Next year’s edition will also see exciting additions to programming and special cinematic events including a new screenwriting award to be presented by the film festival, along with awards which will include cash prizes totaling $6500.

Special events, parties, and community celebrations have always been a signature of CLAIFF, as are the special guests and filmmakers who come to Austin to attend the film festival each year. Those filmmakers and guests will join local talent from the state of Texas, as the film festival continues its mission to showcase films and videos from Latin America (North, Central, South America, and the Caribbean) and the Iberian Peninsula. Films and videos made by or about Latinx in the U.S. or the rest of the world, as well as films and videos by or about indigenous groups of the Americas are also featured.

Executive Director Gabriel Ornelas, said, “This will be a very special year for Cine Las Americas. Celebrating its 25th year, this festival represents the dedication and passion of hundreds of filmmakers, volunteers, staff, businesses, and community that each year have believed in the mission and significance to showcase Latino and Indigenous stories in cinema. The 25 years have been full of wonderful successes and not without challenges. But it is the perseverance and will of a collective community to ensure the voices Cine Las Americas represents are heard and shared.”

Submissions can be made at https://filmfreeway.com/CLAIFF and https://festhome.com/f/cine-las-americas.

For more information about Cine Las Americas, visit https://cinelasamericas.org/.

Program Sections

New Releases (Non-competitive section)

First and Second Dramatic (Narrative) Features in Competition

Documentary Features in Competition

Dramatic Shorts in Competition

Documentary Shorts in Competition

Hecho en Tejas Films in Competition

Music Videos (eligible for an Audience Award)

Panorama: Non-competitive section for Features and Shorts

Special Screenings: Classics, Retrospectives, and a Co-Sponsored Programs