Estimados Amigos,
BLIFF is celebrating our 10th anniversary, thanks to the continued support of our sponsors, filmmakers, volunteers and audience!
This years festival includes 6 days of films, receptions and special events. We will be screening more than 50 films from the United States, Peru, Spain, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Mexico among others. The films showcase a variety of diverse topics including food, music, dance, the environment, and politics. All of these films are premiering in Boston, and all Spanish-language films will be subtitled in English.
BLIFF's mission is to "bring communities together through film". When the festival was first established in 2002, the coordinators sought to accomplish a number of goals. First, they wanted to screen the best Latin American films in the three following categories: feature films, short films, and documentary films. Second, the festival sought to show films that portrayed more accurate depictions of the Latino and Latin American communities and create intercultural awareness. Third, the Festival sought to strengthen intercultural relations between the Latino community and other ethnic and cultural groups. Finally, the Festival wanted to provide an outlet for Latino producers, directors, and writers to screen and discuss their work in the Greater Boson area. Now, ten years later, we are extremely proud of our accomplishments, yet realize that our work is never done. We look forward to another 10 great years!
See you at the movies!
Saludos!
Jose Augusto Barriga
Festival Director
Boston Latino International Film Festival
Bios & Contacts
Jose Barriga
Festival Director - Founder
E-mail: jbarriga@bliff.org
After 10 year career as a network TV producer, Jose arrived in Boston from Los Angeles in 2001 to work for a community based organization. Back then he founded BLIFF with a small budget, a group of volunteers, the support of the city of Cambridge, his friends from L.A. and generous in-kind sponsors. He is a social psychologist by training and specializes in Latino media in the U.S. He has worked in Los Angeles and Boston with Telemundo, Fox Latin America, La Opinion newspaper and Enigma Entertainment in different senior management positions in marketing and for the US Latino national TV industry. He has attended: Universidad Ricardo Palma (Lima), UCLA and Armando Robles Godoy Filmmaking School. In his spare time he is a marketing and video production consultant that specializes in the US Latino market at Viceversa Communications (www.latinoad.com) and is enrolled in a Masters of Science in Regulatory Affairs-Drugs & Medical Devices program at Northeastern University looking to specialize in marketing for the biotech industry.
Astrid Martinez-Jones
Volunteer Coordinator & Production Manager
E-mail: astridmj@bliff.org
Astrid was born in Cuba and has lived in California, Italy, Chile, Mexico, Uganda, New Jersey, and now resides in Arlington, MA. She is the Director and founder of Latin Art Space, dedicated to promoting Latin art and culture... with a touch of Africa. Astrid has a Masters Degree in Multicultural Studies and has worked as a consultant for non- profit organizations throughout Latin America, Africa, and the US in the area of program management and training. She has taught diverse courses in culture studies at the university level, and is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian. She founded Latin Art Space in 2008 and strives to promote Latin art, music, film and cultural events at unique venues. She enjoys international art, travel, food, and film, and is looking forward to her first year working with Bliff.
Erin Scheffler
Programming Director
E-mail: escheffler@bliff.org
Erin, a Mid-western gal at heart, claims to have no accent although she does exude a mid-west charm and friendliness. She relocated to Boston in 2002 and after five years working at Harvard Business School in management, a couple of countries traveled and career changes later, she is now a licensed Family Nurse Practitioner working at Massachusetts General Hospital. Throughout all of life's changes and adventures, she has always maintained a love for film, music, euchre, travel, and meeting new people. This is Erin's 3rd year with BLIFF and she looks forward to working with the BLIFF community for many more to come.
Adriana Baco
Publicity, Promotions, and Media Relations Coordinator
Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico Adriana moved to Boston in 2007 to attend Northeastern University where she is currently finishing a degree in Communication Studies, Business Administration and International Affairs. In past years her passion for Latin America, its people, and culture has been channeled through travel and more recently through film. In the past, Adriana has been involved with campaigns that tackle a multitude if issues ranging from social justice to environmental topics most of which have targeted the Latin community. Recently, she has been directly involved with publicity and promotional efforts within the film industry through her experience at Allied Integrated Marketing in the greater Boston area. As a new member of the BLIFF community Adriana hopes to combine her passion for Latin America with her new found publicity, marketing, and public relations skill set.
Lauren Bennett
Communications and Operations Coordinator
E-mail: lbennett@bliff.org
After graduating with her Bachelor of Arts in English Writing, Lauren traveled to Costa Rica to begin her career in Teaching English as a Second Language. It was there that she became fluent in Spanish, and fell in love with everything Latin. She moved to Boston in 2005 where she continued to teach ESL at a non-profit organization, and help her students find jobs in the city. She retuned to Latin America in 2008 to do communication and translation work for a bilingual magazine in Guatemala and an online newsletter in Oaxaca, Mexico. Lauren also volunteered with a documentary that chronicles the largest immigration raid in US history. She is passionate about immigration rights and education, and enjoys ski racing, international food, travel and film.
Marisol Márquez Photographer
E-mail:marisolmarquez@bliff.org
She spent seven years in "The Emerald Island", after graduating in Spain with her BA in English Literature and Linguistics, moved by her desire of travelling the world, improving her English and meeting new people. There she would unexpectedly find her two new passions: her future husband and photography. After working as a tour guide at the Guinness Museum in Dublin and as a National Tour Guide around the country for several years, she studied photography at Limerick Senior College for Further Education. About a year ago, they relocated to the states in search of new enriching experiences and now she is expanding her photography studies at New England School of Photography. BLIFF came into the picture as most great things in life do, by chance, and her connection with the language and culture and her love for off mainstream and independent movies did the rest.
Isabel O'Daly Social Media Coordinator
E-mail: iodaly@bliff.org
Isabel was born in Caracas, Venezuela. She graduated as an Elementary Education Teacher and after three years of experience, decided to explore the corporate world. She moved to Boston in 2010 to continue her professional development and started her Master in Corporate and Organizational Communication with HR specialization at Northeastern University. Isabel has been engaged with the non-profit world and Latin community while doing a marketing internship at IBA -Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción-. Ever since she has been fascinated with social media and the impact it has in advertising.
Luz Valdez
Public Relations Coordinator-Hispanic Media
E-mail: lvaldez@bliff.org
Luz R. Valdez was born in Lima Peru. She holds a Master in Arts Degree in Critical and Creative Thinking from UMASS Boston. She also has an MA in Directing Documentary Film and TV from the Russian Film School (BGIK) from the former Soviet Union. Luz has instructed video production courses at two major universities in Peru; the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos and the Universidad Federico Villarreal. Teaching and helping others to identify and reach their creative potential is her passion; to this end, she mentors young artists and nonprofit organizations in documentary filmmaking and video production. She has collaborated in various documentary projects and is currently implementing her audiovisual production and marketing communications company, Iconic Productions. Luz is also a reporter for the TV Magazine Show called Punto de Encuentro broadcast every Sunday by Sur Peru.
Carlos Gutiérrez
Internet and Video Media Coordinator
E-mail: cgutierrez@bliff.org
Carlos was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala and later moved with his family to Madrid, Spain, where he finished high school. He found his way to the US in 1992, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science in Engineering at FIU in Miami, FL. He finally moved to Boston, MA for his Master of Science in Engineering at MIT, and he has lived here ever since. An avid traveller, he's always been interested in documenting his trips and learning about other cultures. This is his first year helping at BLIFF, where he is eager to lend a hand to promote Latino culture.
Mrinalini Tankha
Assistant Media Relations Coordinator
E-mail: minu@bliff.org
Mrinalini Tankha (better known as Minu!) is a PhD Candidate in anthropology at Brandeis University and is currently writing her dissertation on the cultural meanings of the dual currency system in Cuba. She spent almost two years in Havana living and doing her research. She is a big film buff and also loves traveling, collecting kitsch and playing Latin partnership dominoes.
Jonathan Han
Viral Marketing Director
E-mail: info@bliff.org
A native of Montreal, Canada, Jonathan Han is an avid French, Japanese, and Spanish-language film buff currently working in Boston as a management consultant. He speaks several languages, and is currently trying to master Spanish as well. While in grad school, Jonathan traveled throughout the Iberian peninsula in a month and has recently been to Colombia. Jonathan has worked with the Fantasia Festival in Montreal, and served as the interpreter for Japanese directors. As a management consultant, he is currently working on strategic marketing plans targeting the Gen Y for his international clients. He hopes to use his marketing skills and apply the various strategies to attract more Gen Y to the festival. Jonathan being from Montreal, where cultural festivals are almost a daily occurrence, also hopes to bring some French savoir-faire and Japanese eccentricity to Bliff's viral marketing and publicity campaigns by utilizing all channels and forms of social media. Viral is the new black.
Karin Broadhurst
E-mail: kbroadhurst@bliff.org
Karin is a bilingual executive with expertise in growing business through strategic planning, partnership-building and marketing. With over 15 years of experience in both non-profit and for-profit organizations, her special talent is bringing individuals together to participate in communities, online in person. Karin is the former Membership Director for the Boston Society of Architects, and she recently completed a four-year board term at Rowe Camp and Conference Center in the Berkshires. Karin earned a BA in Intercultural Studies from Warren Wilson College, and studied abroad at la Universidad de las Americas-Puebla, Mexico. Karin has been an Organizer of the 1700-member Boston Spanish Language Meetup since 2005. This is her 2nd year as a member of the BLIFF executive team.
Festival Volunteers:
- Adrienne Calotta
- Erich Padilla
- Lindsey Bartlett
- Raul Garcia
- Caroline Whistler
- Lisa Perry
- Laura Paun
- Kira Gagarin
- Mark Santa Maria
- Carole Bersani
- Giancarlo Ganoza
- Karla Kasdan
- Sarah DiMeo
- Rogelio Garcia
- Victor Hugo Arellano
- Victor Palomares
- David Ronn
- Laura Bard
- Stella Wang
- Ingrid Roche
- Juan Casillas Alvarez
- Sheri Tang
- Ashley Brown
- Aleyda Gonzalez
- Marcela Chacon
- Jennifer Luong
- Minu Tanka
- Jens Tillman
- Sharon Lourenco
- Rudy Wang
- Samantha Cutglass
- Jean Marie Cabe
- Fatima Bouirabnabe
- Thomas Lynch
- Sam Gable
- Silvia Lazala
- Giovanni Caceres
- Clairemise Montero
- Steve Johnson
- Karely Rincon
November 17 – 22, 2011
all films are subtitled in English
6 Days of Films
60 Movies from 17 Countries
15 Local, National, and International Directors in attendance
Venues:
Harvard University
David Rockefeller Center for
Latin American Studies
1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Directions
MIT Sloan Latin American Club
MIT Building 54, Auditorium Room 54-100
21 Ames St., Cambridge, MA, 02139
*3 blocks from the Kendall MIT Red line T stop
Directions
Venue map
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Hispanic/Latino and the Latin American Caucuses
Harvard University – Kennedy School of Government
Weiner Room
79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
Directions
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For Film Submissions & Mail Service
Address (for regular postal service)
Boston Latino International Film Festival
PO Box 400937
Cambridge, MA 02140
Physical Address (for UPS, Fedex, DHL, etc.)
Direccion Fisica (para UPS, Fedex, DHL y demás couriers):
Boston Latino International Film Festival
20 Orchard St #1
Cambridge, MA 02140