By UZO NNABUIHE
Observer Staff
OCT. 4, 2007

The annual Latin American Film Festival kicked off its 18th year on September 19. The 3-week event is an avenue for Washington D.C. area residents to get exposed to film makers from all over Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

Each year the festival, which is jointly presented by the Ibero-American Cultural Attaches Association, the American Film Institute and the Inter-American Development Bank, seeks to promote talented, up and coming movie directors.

The festival showcases films that highlight the arts, culture and customs of their representative countries and serves as a network between its members. It also seeks to preserve and promote the Ibero-American culture to the D.C. public.

This year’s film selection includes an array of award winners, documentaries, box-office hits and promising new talents. Some of the represented countries are Bolivia, Argentina, Columbia, Venezuela, Cuba, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The eclectic array of films vary from hard-hitting documentaries, to comedic portrayals of true life events, such as “Ton of Luck” and “Tocar Y Luchar (To play and To fight).”

“Ton of Luck” is a comedic portrayal of military corruption and the effects of greed. Based on true events that took place in Colombia, the plot centers around the actions of an anti guerrilla patrol unit that stumbles on $46 million of hidden loot in the Colombian jungle. Faced with the dilemma of reporting their find and losing the money to their superiors or keeping the money for themselves, the soldiers choose to share the loot and keep quiet about it. The story follows the soldiers on their quest to get back to civilization and start living a life of luxury.

“Tocar Y Luchar (To Play or To Fight)” is a documentary on the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra system, set up to introduce music into the lives of rural kids. The film follows the kids who play in these orchestras as they travel and play around the world. It provides an endearing and heart warming glance into an incredible network of hundreds of town and village orchestras. The film also shows the inspirational journeys of some of the children including, Edicson Ruiz, Berlin Philharmonic’s youngest player, and world-renowned conductor, Gustavo Dudamel.

“I think I learned a lot about music, about the effect it can have on people and also a little bit about Venezuela,” Craig Erdrich of D.C. said after watching the documentary.

The movies are showing at the AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center in downtown Silver Spring, Md. The Gala Theater at Tivoli Square in Columbia Heights is hosting a number of free screenings this year. The festival ends on October 7.