Seattle's First Latin Film Festival Opens Monday

Let's see now. The Tarkovsky film festival continues through Thursday, the Mary Pickford series starts Sunday and the Frank Capra festival starts Wednesday, while over in Tacoma they're holding a Tortured Artists Film Festival tonight and tomorrow and a Gregory Peck festival starting Wednesday.

Perhaps the major event of mid-September is !MIRA!, Seattle's first Latin American film and video festival. Three volunteers organized the series: Jana Wilcoxen, former assistant director at 911 Media Arts Center; Marea Angela Castaneda, a 911 board member; and Kathy Doiron, who organized a Latin American festival in Olympia in 1996.

"We'd been getting a lot of videos by media makers throughout the U.S.," said Wilcoxen, who worked on the African-American festival, Flavafest, in 1996, and was looking for a similar venue for Latin productions. Castaneda visited Mexico to find more material, while Doiron organized a Thursday-night program devoted to immigrant rights.

!MIRA! opens Monday at noon at the Seattle Public Library and continues into the evening with an opening-night party at Re-Bar. More library shows will be held Tuesday through Friday, 911 Media Arts Center joins the lineup Wednesday night, and the Grand Illusion joins in Sept. 20 for a five-day run of Peter Bratt's first-run feature, "Follow Me Home."

Here's the lineup:

"Flor Silvestre," free at noon Monday at the library. The festival celebrates the "golden age of Mexican cinema" with Emilio Fernandez's 1943 film about lovers from different social classes who face parental opposition during the Mexican Revolution. Note: this is Spanish-language, without English subtitles.

"Macario," free at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the library. Roberto Gavaldon's 1959 adaptation of a Bruno Traven story about a lumberjack who dies when he fulfills his lifelong ambition of eating an entire turkey. Guest archivist Rogelo Agrasanchez Jr. will present the film and discuss his book, "Posters From the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema."

Opening-night Latin Music Dance Party, at 9 p.m. Monday at Re-Bar, 1114 Howell. The price is $5 for this benefit for the festival.

"El Abuelo Chena . . . y otras historias" and "The Last Zapatista," free at noon Tuesday at the library. Two half-hour contemporary films: Juan Rulfo Jr.'s documentary about his grandfather and Susan Lloyd's portrait of one of the last living veterans of the Mexican revolution.

"!Ya Basta! Mexican Independence? Los Indigenas Speak Out," free at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the library. A program mixing videos and discussions with Cynthia Steele and Jena Camp.

"Una Isla Rodeada de Agua" and "El Jardin del Eden," free at noon Wednesday at the library. A short and a feature by Mexican director Maria Novaro. The former is a 26-minute 1985 film about a girl's search for her mother. "Jardin" is a 104-minute 1994 drama about three women searching for family history and identity in Tijuana.

"Yesler Way," "Sueno del Ultimo Danzaq," "What Begins with A?" and "Impermanence," at 8 p.m. Wednesday at 911 Media Arts Center, 117 Yale Ave. N. This collection of shorts kicks off with Olga Sanchez's 30-minute tale of intrigue in Seattle and continues with films about dance, AIDS and the passage of time. Tickets are $4 for 911 members, $6 for others.

"Frontierland" and "PapaPapa," free at noon Thursday at the library. Jesse Lerner's feature-length documentary about the cultural relationship between the U.S. and Mexico, followed by Alex Rivera's wry half-hour tale of two immigrants: the Inca potato and his couch-potato father.

"Natives," "The Time Has Come!: El Paso Border Rights Coalition" and "Unity Crosses Borders," at 8 p.m. Thursday at 911 Media Arts Center. A program of films about media activism and immigration rights. Tickets are $4 for 911 members, $6 for others.

"Spic Out" and "En Clave," free at noon next Friday at the library. Carlos de Martini's half-hour documentary about lesbian and gay Latino artists, plus an hour-long film about Ruben Blades.

"Actos Impuros," "Entre Amigos," "Horse Dreams in BBQ Country," "Merida Proscita," "Porcaria" and "Sabrosura," at 8 p.m. next Friday at 911 Media Arts Center. A collection of films and videos about homosexuality and Latin machismo. Tickets are $4 for 911 members, $6 for others.

"Carmelita Tropicana," "Mi Pollo Loco" and "Corazon Sangrante," at 10 p.m. next Friday at 911 Media Arts Center. More gender-bender shorts, including a film about a lesbian performance artist and a video about drag queens. Tickets are $4 for 911 members, $6 for others.

"Follow Me Home," at 8 p.m. Sept. 20 at the Grand Illusion, which will also be playing the film on a continuous basis Sept. 21-25. Director Peter Bratt will be here to present this 99-minute 1995 story of four Los Angeles artists traveling across the U.S. on their way to paint a mural at the White House. Shown at the Sundance Film Festival, it stars Benjamin Bratt, Alfre Woodard and Jesse Borrego. Tickets for the opening-night show are $4 for 911 and Wiggly World members, and $8 for others. The program includes a reception; in addition to Peter Bratt, the lineup of guests includes Sherman Alexie.

"Pochonovela," "Pasiones" and "El hombre, cuando es el hombre," at 8 p.m. Sept. 21 at 911 Media Arts Center. The festival ends with films about Latin romance and the macho mystique, plus a post-performance discussion. Tickets are $4 for 911 members, $6 for others.