Official Latino Short Film Festival: Russell Simmons, 5 Pointz, Standing Rock and more

The three-day long Official Latino Short Film Festival is underway at Teatro Latea in New York City.

The festival, created by acclaimed photographer/filmmaker Danny Hastings, runs from October 6-8, 2017, and is designed to “showcase, nurture, and support the emerging creative American Latino and Latina filmmaker in the United States and the Filmmaker that promotes American Diversity through Inclusivity.”

This year’s crop of short films will include a few that are of paticular interest to hip-hop audiences, including a look at Russell Simmons (Too Young To Die: Russell Simmons, directed by Clark Slater) and the 5 Pointz graffiti mecca (5 Pointz Up High, directed by Christian Cortes)

From the festival:

Filmmaker Danny Hastings created the Festival in 2015 in response to the lack of diversity among Academy Award nominees. Our mission is to showcase, nurture, and support the emerging creative American Latino filmmaker in the United States. With the evident lack of American Latino representation in studio films and TV, it’s up to us — the American Latino — to tell our stories from our perspective. This Festival is created, funded and organized by American Latino filmmakers just like you. We believe that by supporting emerging talent we will begin to see a real representation of us on the BIG SCREEN.

This year’s theme is “AMERICAN DIVERSITY” and we’re excited about the Festival’s new additions aimed at improving the overall experience for filmmakers and attendees.

For more information, the full schedule and tickets, visit www.officiallatino.com