El Comite - Sin Accion No Hay Milagros - Without Action There Are No Miracles

Annual Multicultural Film Festival

Every spring El Comite de Longmont hosts the Annual Multicultural Film Festival. The festival celebrates the cultural diversity found within the Longmont and Boulder County Community. Individuals that come from the communities portrayed and experts on the issues shown in the films participate on post-film discussion panels to answer questions. All films are free and open to the public.

Marta Moreno, Executive Director of El Comité de Longmont, notes, “Longmont has experienced a tremendous amount of change in the past ten to fifteen years. There has been an increase in high-tech workers from India and Pakistan moving into our community, the Latino population has doubled, and immigrants from around the world, from places ranging from Rwanda to China, continue to chose Longmont as their new home. We often feel that there is a ‘fear of the unknown’ in the community due to the growth of the community and the increase of newcomers to Longmont. We understand that change can be frightening. However, we hope that the films shared at the Multicultural Film Festival might be able to eliminate some of that fear as we grow together as a community and get to know one another.”

Film Festival Information is available at:

elcomitefilmfestival.org

Film Festival Library

The following films are available at the office for future educational programming:

Ciudad, La La Ciudad (1998)
Director: David Riker
Runtime: 88 minutes
Language: English and Spanish (w/English subtitles)
Feature

In stunningly gritty black and white, La Ciudad weaves a rich tapestry of present day immigrant life in New York’s Latino community. The film is comprised of four unforgettable stories: a group of day-laborers scavenge for bricks; two teenagers meet at a party in the projects; a homeless father tries to enroll his daughter in school; and a garment worker seeks justice in the sweatshops.

Clemente (2006)
Director: Pablo Véliz
Language: Spanish (w/English subtitles)
Feature

Clemente, an immigrant from Mexico, lives with his wife and daughter in Texas where he works as a mechanic and wrestler. His wife, an American from a Mexican family understands the complexities of her husband’s legal status and tries to assist him in getting his green card. Clemente struggles to keep his family united amidst poverty and the ever present immigrant oppression they face daily. Despite all of his efforts, misfortune arrives when Clemente is deported, breaking up his family and launching him in a journey back home that challenges his life and faith.

Un Dimanche á Kigali (2006)
Director: Robert Favreau
Runtime: 118 minutes
Language: French (w/English subtitles)
Feature

Bernard Valcourt is a disillusioned journalist living in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. He’s there to make a film on AIDS while all around him the racial tensions between the Tutsis and Hutus grow. At the Hôtel Des Mille Collines, headquarters for the Western expatriates, he finds a source of inspiration in Gentille, a shy and beautiful waitress. When the violence erupts, Bernard and Gentille are brutally separated. A few months later, nearly a million Rwandans massacred, Valcourt returns to Kigali, looking desperately for the woman he loves.

The Short Life of Jose Antonio Gutierrez(2006)
Director: Heidi Specogna
Runtime: 90 minutes
Language: English and Spanish (w/English subtitles)
Documentary

José Antonio Gutierrez was one of the 300,000 soldiers sent by US Army to war in Iraq. A few hours after the war began, his picture was broadcast all over the world: he was the first American soldier to be killed in the war. He was there as a so-called 'green-card soldier' fighting in the ranks of the US Marines for a foreign country. The film tells the moving and unbelievable story of a street kid from Guatemala, who headed north along the Pan-American Highway — wanting a better future —to die an American hero far from home. José Antonio’s story is an attempt to survive — on both sides of the world.

La Tragedia de Macario(2005)
Director: Pablo Véliz
Runtime: 71 minutes
Language: Spanish (w/English subtitles)
Feature

Macario, a peasant in Mexico, struggles for a dignified life for he and his wife. He often contemplates crossing the border to the United States, where he could find work and a better life. Eventually, he takes the brave step into an unknown world along with 17 other iummigrants. They entrust a Coyote (human trafficker) with their lives and money to cross them over to the so-called “American Dream” inside a train wagon. The Coyote neglects the lives of the immigrants trapped inside the train wagon where Macario and the rest struggle to stay alive.

Yo soy Boricua, pa’ que tu lo sepas (2006)
Runtime: 86 minutes
Language: English
Directors:Rosie Perez &Liz Garbus
Documentary

A documentary exploring Rosie Perez's burning question: why are Puerto Ricans so proud? Her journey through Puerto Rico's history gains inspiration from the music, dancing and energy of the Puerto Ricans, and she uses this starting point to speak to Puerto Rican people about their identity and culture. The chronicle follows Rosie through New York, Miami and to Puerto Rico to document what it really means to be "Boricua."