Site Loader
Tickets
721 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO 80204
Return to XIFF XXV Homepage
SATURDAY APRIL 15, 2023
Saturday April 15 at 1:00 PM
Crowdfunding Workshop with Avenida Productions
Fanny Veliz Grande & Nelson Grande
Avenida Productions' Team have successfully crowdfunded for over
200 film and television campaigns, raising over 2 million dollars for
independent projects, on an array of platforms. This workshop seeks
to provide you the tools necessary to run a successful campaign
MyDACALife
Saturday April 15 at 3:00 PM
Mi Vida DACA/ My DACA Life
Filmmaker in Person
Mi Vida DACA/ My DACA Life
Fanny Veliz Grande, CA, US, 2022, 70 Min
Filmmaker in Person
We follow Maribel, a young American woman who discovered in High School that unbeknownst to her she’s an undocumented immigrant. After living as an undocumented immigrant for most of her life, In 2012 Maribel benefited from Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals the act enacted by president Barack Obama that allowed her to get a work permit and exception from deportation.
Saturday April 15 at 4:30 PM
XicanIndie FilmFest XXV Awards Reception
Saturday April 15 at 5:35 PM
Noche de Baila y Musica Shorts:
Ghostly Labor: A Dance Film
Hot Latin Nights at the Granada
Sentir el Son and Souleros

Ghostly Labor: A Dance Film
John Jota Leanos, US, 25 Min
Vanessa Sanchez y la Mezcla have taken the dance world by storm by combining traditional rhythms with explosive social justice oriented work. Ghostly Labor explores the history of exploitation and the strength of female labor in the US–Mexico borderlands through Tap Dance, Mexican Zapateado, Son Jarocho, Afro Caribbean movement, and live music. The full live production will be at Su Teatro in 2024.
Screen Shot 2023-03-28 at 12.17.31 PM

Hot Latin Nights at the Granada
Franco Vidal, US, 2022 16 Min
A coming of age salsa musical, set in 1984, once famed salsa club's closing night. Carlos, a whitewashed Cuban American born teen, avoids the club until the girl of his dreams, and a big lie force him to ask his salsa singing Tio to teach him to salsa.
Sentir El Son
Sentir El Son
Karla Bernadette Duarte, US/Mexico 2023, 18 Min
A story of self-discovery as Franchesca, an Afro-Mexicana, raised in L.A. immersed in a Mexican culture. Now seeks the West-African, Afro- Mexicano side that she has buried, to find her place in this world. A poetic short documentary.
Souleros
Jesus Cruz, US, 2021 20 Min
This short documentary focuses on a group of Chicano Soleros (Soul Record collectors) in Northern Califas who are committed to keeping the legacy alive of so many underground soul artists alive.
Saturday April 15 at 5:40 PM
Social Justice Shorts:
Somos Esenciales/ We are Essential
The Lifers Network and The Kill Floor
somos esenciales
Somos Essenciales/ We Are Essentials
Rafael Flores & Paul S Flores
San Francisco, US, 2022, 25 Min
From performing artist and producer Paul S. Flores, it tells the stories of Latino Essential Workers at the Mission Food Hub in San Francisco. Through oral histories of both immigrant and native born volunteers the film examines the impact on mental health and lack of adequate services due to the COVID pandemic, showing the resilience and self determination of the Latino community by relying on cultural practices such as food pathways, healing circles, lowriding, volunteering and arts practices to address the decline in mental health. Ultimately it puts a face on who Essential Workers are in the Latino community by sharing what they have endured and also what they hope for in the future.
TheLifersNetwork_Poster
The Lifers Network
Michael Steves, US, 2021 15 Min
When he was 16, Roberto Luca was sentenced to life in prison. 30 years later, Roberto is released after reforming from his violent past. Searching for redemption, Roberto helps other released lifers (people who have been sentenced to life in prison) change their lives and re-enter society.
poster final2
The Kill Floor
Carlos Avila, US, 27 Min
A young Latinx reporter returns to his rural hometown when the COVID-19 pandemic engulfs a meatpacking plan in an attempt to uncover the urgent and deadly circumstances threatening the plant’s workers – including his father.
Saturday April 15 at 6:57 PM
57 Chevy
Filmmaker in Person
57 Chevy
Chris Franco, Herbert Siguenza and Sam Woodhouse
US, 2022, 67 MIN
Filmmaker Chris Franco in Person
Culture Clash's Ricardo Salinas brings his one man show from stage to screen. It's 1964 and ten-year-old Junior is in crisis: his Old World Mexican dad is loading the family's 1957 Chevy and moving the entire familia from their familiar and diverse East Side neighborhood to a new tract home in the middle-class and eerily homogeneous San Fernando Valley.

Writer and four-time SoCal Emmy Award-winner, Cris Franco, based on his life experiences, as it humorously explores the Baby Boomer's generation of "double immigrants" who first moved from their homelands to the U.S. barrios in search of opportunity -- then moved on up into the suburbs in search of color TV and the middle-class American dream.
Saturday April 15 at 8:25 PM
The Margarita Man
Pepe Serna in Person
margarita
The Margarita Man
Daniel Ramos
US, 2019, 95 MIN
Filmmaker Pepe Serna in Person
Pepe Serna, Jesse Borrego and Danny Trejo in San Antonio!!!
A young man, who fears he will grow up to be like his working class father, goes to college where his love for the party gets him cut off financially and forces him to sell margaritas in order to stay in school.
Saturday April 15 at 10:00 PM
XicanIndie FilmFest XXV After Party