There is a particular kind of power that does not announce itself with fanfare or press releases. It does not wait for applause. It rises before the sun does, moves quietly through a kitchen that smells of café de olla, arepas or huevos con chorizo, or something familiar simmering on the back burner, and holds an entire universe together with hands that are simultaneously the softest and the most formidable things you have ever known.

It is the power of madre

In Latino families across generations and across borders, from the colonias of Pilsen to the barrios of East Los Angeles, from the sugar cane fields of Puerto Rico to the high-rises of Miami’s Little Havana, it is the Latina mother who has served not merely as the center of the household, but as its architect, its moral compass, its emergency room, its court of law — and yes, if you were foolish enough to test her, its enforcement arm. The chancleta, after all, has been maintaining order in Latino homes since long before any government agency thought to try.

The Original Multitasker

Long before the word “multitasking” entered the corporate lexicon, Latina mothers had already mastered the art. They worked double shifts and still made sure the frijoles or arroz con pollo were on the table at dinner time. They learned English in their forties, against the odds, so they could navigate school systems, immigration offices, and hospital waiting rooms on behalf of their children, parents, siblings or spouses. They stretch a $7.00 chicken into three meals, making each one taste like an occasion. They attend every school play, every quinceañera committee meeting, every Sunday Mass — and somehow manage to run informal financial networks of tandas and cundinas that put more than one small business on its feet.

They don’t call it resilience. They call it Martes.

The Latina mother’s role in sustaining family and culture is not incidental — it is foundational. Sociological research consistently finds that Latino family cohesion, educational aspiration, and cultural identity are transmitted overwhelmingly through the mother. She is the keeper of language, of recipes, of stories, of saints’ days and family altars. She is the one who makes sure the children know where they come from — which, in the Latino experience, is the most important thing a person can know. Culture, heritage, and tradition are all mostly transmitted by mothers.

When the Chancleta Speaks, You Listen

Let’s pause here to give proper respect to the chancleta — that humble rubber sandal that has served as the primary diplomatic instrument of Latina motherhood for at least three generations.

Do not be fooled by its modest appearance. In the hands of an experienced Latina mother, the chancleta was less a footwear item and more a precision guidance and policy administrator. It could arc across a living room with the accuracy of a heat-seeking missile, navigate around furniture, clear a doorframe, and arrive at its destination before the recipient had fully processed the decision that prompted its deployment. There are grown men in their fifties — respected professionals, pillars of their communities — who will still flinch involuntarily at the sound of a sandal being removed from a foot. This is not trauma. This is respect with institutional memory.

And the look. Every child of a Latina mother knows the look — that quiet, unblinking, thousand-yard stare delivered across a crowded room that communicates, without a single syllable, the precise latitude and longitude of the line you are about to cross and the consequences awaiting you on the other side. The chancleta was dramatic. The look was surgical. Together, they constituted a complete system of behavioral governance that child psychologists are still trying to fully document.

But here is what made it all work: the same woman who could bring an entire dinner table to silence with one raised eyebrow was the same woman who stayed up past midnight sewing your costume for the school festival, who memorized your friends’ names and always asked about them, who put the best piece of chicken on your plate and told everyone else she wasn’t hungry. The discipline and the love were never in contradiction. They were the same thing, expressed in different registers.

Grandes Mujeres: Latina Mothers Who Shaped Arts and Culture

Latina mothers have not only sustained families — they have shaped the culture that the entire world now celebrates. Some of the most towering figures in Latino arts, letters, and public life have been mothers whose creative genius and personal sacrifice run in inseparable currents.

Our most recent Chicago Latino Film Festival celebrated the fact that women filmmaker where the ones that brought forth the most popular films by audience choice. We wrote an article about it and you defenitely check it out here when you’re done with this one.

Gloria Estefan rebuilt herself from near-total paralysis after a devastating tour bus accident in 1990 — and she did it, she has said, for her son Nayib. The Cuban-American icon, who would go on to have a daughter, Emily, as well, returned to stages around the world not just as a performer but as a living testament to what a mother is willing to endure and overcome. Her music — from Conga to Get On Your Feet — carries that same unbreakable energy.

Rita Moreno, the incomparable Puerto Rican legend who became the first Latina to win an Oscar, a Tony, an Emmy, and a Grammy, raised her daughter Fernanda while navigating an entertainment industry that was, to put it gently, not designed with women like her in mind. She fought for dignity on screen at a time when Latina actresses were offered stereotypes or nothing, and she created, through sheer force of talent and will, a space for every Latina performer who came after her. She is now in her nineties and still working. Mamá does not retire.

Salma Hayek Pinault, the Mexican actress and producer who fought Harvey Weinstein’s coercion and harassment for years to bring Frida to the screen — a film about another iconic Mexican woman — has spoken at length about how becoming a mother to her daughter Valentina transformed not just her personal life but her professional sense of purpose. She became a fierce advocate for paid family leave and maternal health care on the international stage. She did not soften when she became a mother. She sharpened.

Isabel Allende, the Chilean literary giant whose novels — La casa de los espíritus, Eva Luna, Paula — have been read in dozens of languages by tens of millions of people, wrote her most devastating and most beautiful book, Paula, as a letter to her daughter who lay in a coma from which she would never return. It is arguably the most profound meditation on mother-and-child love in all of Latin American literature. She has said that she begins every new book on January 8th — the day she began that letter. Even in grief, mamá keeps writing.

America Ferrera, the Honduran-American actress, director, and activist best known for Ugly Betty and her recent turn in Barbie, became a mother in 2018 and has since made maternal advocacy — for working mothers, for immigrant mothers, for mothers navigating systemic inequity — central to her public identity. She has been as eloquent about the exhaustion and the wonder of motherhood as she has been about the roles that made her famous.

We know there are many more examples and you may know women of equal resilience without a title or a fame. We share these stories as examples, not as the complete picture. 

The Culture She Carries

The International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago exists because culture does not preserve itself. It requires people who believe, with the kind of conviction that doesn’t need an argument, that art matters, that story matters, that the Spanish language matters, that nuestra historia matters — and that someone must fight to keep it alive and visible.

That conviction? Many of us first encountered it at home. In a mother who sang along to Como una Flor while washing dishes. In a grandmother who recited poetry by Neruda or Sor Juana from memory. In a tía who dragged the whole family to a community theater production and cried through the whole second act and then told everyone it was muy bueno through a voice still thick with tears.

The ILCC’s mission — to celebrate, elevate, and sustain Latino arts and culture — is, at its deepest level, continuous with what Latina mothers have always done: hold the culture in their hands, make sure it is fed and warm, and pass it, intact and alive, to the next generation.

A Letter We Can Never Finish Writing

There is no article long enough, no tribute eloquent enough, no bouquet fragrant enough to fully account for what Latina mothers have given. The calculus is simply too large. It includes the sleepless nights and the school lunches and the prayers whispered over sleeping children and the money secretly set aside and the dreams quietly deferred and the pride — el orgullo — worn like a second skin whenever their child accomplishes something that once seemed impossible.

On this Mother’s Day, the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago honors every Latina mother — the famous and the unsung, the ones still here and the ones we carry with us always, the ones who crossed borders and the ones who held the border of the family together when everything else was uncertain.

To the mother who made the mole from scratch because the jarred kind was, simply, not an option.

To the mother who worked the overnight shift and still showed up to the school play in the front row.

To the mother who told you in the clearest possible terms exactly who you were and where you came from, because she knew that a child who knows those things is a child who cannot be lost.

To the mother who never said I love you in those words but said it in every bowl of caldo she set in front of you when you were sick, in every button she sewed back on, in every worry she carried so you wouldn’t have to.

To all of them: Feliz Día de las Madres.

Gracias, Mamá. Por todo. Por siempre.

The International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago proudly celebrates Latina mothers and the living culture they sustain. Learn more about our programs, film festivals, and community events at latinoculturalcenter.org.

© 2026 International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago. All rights reserved. Reproduction with attribution only.

The Chicago Latino Film Festival, managed and produced by the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago announced the results on Monday, 4th of May, 2026. This capped a festival run that by any honest measure was the organization’s strongest since the pandemic turned the world of cinema into a waiting room.

Venezuela on Everyone’s Mind

If there was a thematic heartbeat to this year’s audience votes, it was Venezuela — and the particular kind of dread that comes from watching a country consume itself.

It Would Be Night in Caracas, the searing co-direction of Mariana Rondón and Marité Ugás, took the top prize for Best Fiction Feature. The film — which opened the festival and returned for a second screening alongside the duo’s earlier collaboration Zafari — drops its protagonist Adelaida into Caracas during the violent 2017 anti-Maduro protests, alone after her mother’s death, hiding in a dead neighbor’s apartment with a corpse for company and an identity she can no longer afford to keep. It is the kind of film that doesn’t ask for your sympathy — it simply refuses to let you look away.

The Best Short Film award went to Beyond (Más Allá), Bettina López Mendoza’s gut-punch of a short following a young Venezuelan girl separated from her mother in the treacherous Darién jungle — one of the most dangerous migration corridors on the planet. In under twenty minutes, López Mendoza accomplishes what some features can’t in two hours: she makes the global migration crisis feel like one child’s face.

Two films. Two Venezuelan stories. One unmistakable signal from an audience that is paying attention to the world outside the multiplex.

Guatemala’s Wound, Turned Into Art

The Best Documentary prize went somewhere equally uncompromising. Comparsa, directed by Vickie Curtis and Doug Anderson and executive produced by acclaimed Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante — who was on hand to present his latest feature Cordillera de Fuego — centers on two sisters in Ciudad Peronia, Guatemala, responding to one of Central America’s most devastating and under-reported tragedies: the 2017 fire at the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home that killed 41 girls locked inside a state-run facility.

Lesli and Lupe’s response is not a petition or a protest sign. It’s a comparsa — a thundering street procession of towering puppets, fire-breathing stilt walkers, and drums that refuse to be ignored. Curtis and Anderson don’t just document a community’s grief; they document what happens when art becomes the only language powerful enough to hold it.

The Format Shift That Actually Worked

Here’s something festivals rarely admit: the gala model is broken. Elaborate opening night productions, $75 tickets, and red carpet theatrics that have more to do with optics than cinema have been quietly hollowing out festival culture for years. The ILCC did something radical for the 42nd edition — they scrapped it.

Opening and Closing Night events moved directly into the cinema. Ticket prices dropped from $75 to $35. Receptions featured food and drinks, yes, but more importantly they featured filmmakers — real, accessible, in-the-room human beings who made the work and wanted to talk about it. Both nights sold out well in advance. Something to keep in mind for next year’s 43rd edition.

The festival’s overall numbers backed up the instinct: a 51% increase in sales and a 30% jump in attendance over the previous year. All 51 features and 31 shorts from Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and the United States screened exclusively at the Landmark Century Centre Cinemas on Clark Street — one location, no logistical sprawl, total focus.

Pepe Vargas, ILCC’s Executive Director and founder, makes the same promise every year: this edition will be better than the last. For 42 years, he has delivered.

What Came Close

The runners-up deserve more than a footnote. Colombian director Flora Martínez’s ¡Basta Mamá! (Enough Mom!) — a sharp domestic comedy about a 45-year-old man still living with his mother when his girlfriend and boss comes to dinner — finished second in fiction, which suggests Chicago’s Latino audiences have a sophisticated taste for farce alongside tragedy. Bolivian-UK co-production Cielo, about an eight-year-old girl hauling her mother’s body across the altiplano after swallowing a fish whole, finished third. That sentence alone should tell you something about the range of storytelling on offer.

In documentary, Diego Lajst’s A Shabbat on the Other Side of the River — a quietly extraordinary portrait of Moroccan Jewish descendants who have preserved their traditions in the Brazilian Amazon for two centuries — took second place. Third went to José María Cabral’s 42nd Street, a kinetic dive into Santo Domingo’s Capotillo neighborhood where dembow, dance, police harassment, and raw humanity collide in something that blurs the line between documentary and fever dream.

Among the shorts, Chicago’s own Pilsen neighborhood showed up in Erick Juárez’s Cake — a mother, a son, a birthday, and the weight of financial reality — and finished second. Third went to Argentina’s La Cerrillana, a quiet, precise story about a mother finding her way toward her son’s gender transition through an unexpected mirror.

The Festival Doesn’t Stop Here

With the awards behind it, the ILCC moves into a full calendar that reflects the breadth of what a genuinely multidisciplinary cultural organization looks like in practice. The monthly Reel Film Club at Facets continues on the last Tuesday of each month. Films in the Park — now in its 20th season — returns every Wednesday in July across Chicago’s parks. The third annual Levitt VIBE Chicago Music Series kicks off June 13 at Riis Park with ten consecutive Saturdays of free concerts through August 22.

Cumbia-punk outfit Son Rompe Pera hits Thalia Hall on June 19. East L.A. roots collective Las Cafeteras bring Hasta La Muerte — a two-act exploration of grief, loss, and the celebration of life — to the Copernicus Center on October 30. Peru’s Compañía de Teatro Físico arrives June 4–6 at the Dance Center at Columbia College. And the Fourth Annual Chicago Latino Dance Festival lands in the fall at multiple locations.

Forty-two years in, the Chicago Latino Film Festival is not coasting on legacy. It’s building one — film by film, seat by seat, vote by vote. And this year, more often than not, the votes went to women telling stories the rest of the world hasn’t caught up to yet.

Pay attention.

The 42nd Chicago Latino Film Festival was presented by the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago at the Landmark Century Centre Cinemas, April 16–27, 2026. For upcoming ILCC programming, visit the main page of latinoculturalcenter.org.

There is an art form that refuses to be tamed. It lives in the stomp of a heel on a wooden stage, in the ache of a voice reaching for something beyond language, in the precise tension of a guitarist’s fingers coaxing fire from six strings. Flamenco is not something you simply watch — it is something that finds you, grabs you, and doesn’t let go. It transmits the anguish, the pain, the joy and the passions of life, all expressed thorough fiber and sinew and an ancient calling from the past.

The 24th Chicago Flamenco Festival, presented by the Instituto Cervantes of Chicago in collaboration with the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago, brings an extraordinary international lineup to the city from March 1 through March 17, 2026. All performances take place at the Instituto Cervantes of Chicago, 31 West Ohio Street in the River North neighborhood. Tickets range from $20 to $35, and the full schedule with ticketing is available at chicago.cervantes.es.

This year as in years past, the festival in Chicago coincides with the World Flamenco Congress (Congreso Mundial de Flamenco), a global initiative founded in 2021 by the headquarters of the Instituto Cervantes in Spain. Chicago is one of the principal host cities in 2026, placing our city squarely at the center of an international conversation about flamenco’s past, present, and future. That is not a small thing. That is Chicago being recognized as a major North American home for one of humanity’s most profound art forms — one that UNESCO itself declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity back in 2010.

A Festival Built on Depth

Teresa Hernando, Cultural Programs Curator at the Instituto Cervantes of Chicago and the architect of this festival’s vision, puts it plainly:

“This Festival was born from the conviction that Chicago deserved to experience flamenco at the highest artistic level,” said Teresa Hernando, Cultural Programs Curator and Festival Producer. “For twenty-four years, we have built a platform where master artists and visionary creators meet an informed and passionate audience. It is not a showcase; it is a dialogue
between history and the present. Here, tradition and risk coexist.”

The 2026 program is remarkable in its range. Rather than serving up a single, monolithic vision of flamenco, it places the art form in honest dialogue with its own complexity — its Andalusian roots, its Moorish and Mediterranean inheritance, its contemporary restlessness, and its capacity for genuine cross-cultural encounter.

The Full Performance Schedule

Sunday, March 1 — RAW (Opening Night) Granada-born dancer and choreographer Irene Morales opens the festival alongside cantaor El Calerito and guitarist José Fermín Fernández. RAW strips flamenco to its essential architecture — rhythm, breath, gesture, silence — while weaving in electronic textures that expand the form without losing its pulse. This is flamenco distilled to its bones, and it is the perfect entry point for the festival.

Friday, March 6 — Latente/Malagueña Guitarist Dani de Morón — born in Morón de la Frontera and shaped by the legendary lineage of Diego del Gastor — brings original compositions alongside the deeply traditional Malagueña. A collaborator of José Mercé, Paco de Lucía, and Antonio Canales, Dani de Morón is one of the most technically authoritative guitarists working in flamenco today.

Saturday, March 7 — YARIN One of the most conceptually daring offerings of the festival. Andrés Marín, one of flamenco’s most innovative choreographer-dancers, meets Jon Maya and the acclaimed Kukai Dantza company in an encounter between flamenco and ancestral Basque dance. Kukai Dantza — winners of Spain’s National Dance Award for creation in 2017 — bridges ancient Basque tradition with contemporary movement. Live music by Basque musician Julen Achiary and the haunting rhythms of the txalaparta percussion instrument make this an evening unlike anything Chicago stages regularly. YARIN is a reminder that identity and artistic dialogue are not mutually exclusive — they can be the same conversation.

Saturday, March 14 — José Antonio Rodríguez ⭐ Co-produced by the ILCC Guitarist José Antonio Rodríguez brings an evening dedicated entirely to the flamenco guitar repertoire, bridging classical structure with contemporary harmonic language. This concert is co-produced by the ILCC, making it a particularly meaningful night for our organization and our community. Tickets are $20–$35 at chicago.cervantes.es — don’t miss it.

Tuesday, March 17 — Seffarine: From Fez to Jerez ⭐ Co-produced by the ILCC | Festival Closing Night The festival closes — and what a closing it is. Seffarine, led by Moroccan vocalist Lamiae Naki and multi-instrumentalist Nat Hulskamp, joined by dancer Manuel Gutiérrez and bassist Yosmel Montejo, traces centuries of musical exchange between North Africa and Andalusia. The program illuminates something that often gets overlooked in popular presentations of flamenco: its deep, living roots in the Moorish world of medieval Iberia. From Fez to Jerez is not just a concert title — it is a historical argument made in music and movement. This closing night is also co-produced by the ILCC. Tickets are $20–$35 at chicago.cervantes.es.

The ILCC’s Role: More Than a Partner

The ILCC’s connection to this festival runs deep. Our Deputy Executive Director, Mateo Mulcahy, is co-producing both the March 14 and March 17 concerts, bringing the ILCC’s creative energy and community reach directly into the heart of the programming.

Mateo had this to say about the collaboration and what these two concerts mean:

The International Latino Cultural Center (or the ILCC) values the opportunity to showcase the bonds between Spain and Latin America through collaborations with the Instituto Cervantes and the Chicago Flamenco Festival. The power of flamenco in its many forms and expressions inspires us to seek out and explore the cultural connections between Spain and Latin America.

Having veteran Maestro José Antonio Rodríguez and Seffarine shows the contrast and evolution of an artform that has lived in our midst for centuries and can still demonstrate the capacity for innovation and growth.

This kind of partnership — between the Instituto Cervantes and the ILCC — reflects exactly what both organizations exist to do: build bridges. Between Spain and the Americas. Between the classical and the contemporary. Between an art form with 1,000 years of history and an audience that may be experiencing it for the very first time tonight.

Listen Before You Go: HablArte! Podcast

Want to go deeper before stepping into the theater? We’ve got you covered.

The latest episode of our HablArte! podcast features an unmissable conversation with Mateo Mulcahy, Teresa Hernando, and Nat Hulskamp and Manuel Gutiérrez of Seffarine. Together, they explore the creative vision behind the festival, the story of Seffarine: From Fez to Jerez, and the living connections between North African musical heritage and Andalusian flamenco. It is the kind of conversation that will completely transform how you hear and see these performances live.

[PODCAST LINK/EPISODE COMING SOON.]

An Invitation

I have been immersed in Latino and Spanish culture my entire life. I grew up in Spain. I attended Spanish schools. I know what it means to feel flamenco not as a spectacle but as a living, breathing thing — something inherited, argued over, reinvented, and fiercely protected by the communities that carry it.

What this festival offers Chicago is rare. It is not a greatest-hits tour. It is not a postcard version of Spain for tourists. It is the real conversation that flamenco artists, scholars, and cultural leaders are having right now, in 2026, about where this art form comes from, where it is going, and what it means for all of us — regardless of whether our family comes from Andalusia, Morocco, the Basque Country, Mexico, Puerto Rico, or Illinois.

Come on March 1. Come on March 6 or 7. Come on March 14 for a masterclass in guitar, or March 17 to hear the musical dialogue between Fez and Jerez close out the festival on a note that will stay with you for weeks.

You don’t need to know anything about flamenco to walk through that door. You just need to be willing to feel something. Willing to open your mind to new things and broaden horizons beyond where the sun rises.

Tickets: $20–$35 | All performances at Instituto Cervantes of Chicago, 31 West Ohio Street Full schedule and tickets: chicago.cervantes.es

The 24th Chicago Flamenco Festival is presented by the Instituto Cervantes of Chicago in collaboration with the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago, and supported by the Illinois Arts Council Agency, the Tourist Office of Spain in Chicago, and Best Western River North Hotel.

This Month’s Star: Texas Style Pulled Pork

Chef Nick Kleutsh from Sanders BBQ has cooked up something special for February—a Texas-style pulled pork taco that’s a love letter to the Southwest. We’re talking slow-smoked pork with that authentic Texas BBQ soul, wrapped in Mercadito’s house-made tortillas and topped with flavors that celebrate the culinary traditions where Mexican and American Southwest cooking collide.

Kleutsh is no stranger to BBQ neither – he is a master at it and to say these tacos are delicious can only be challenged with a taste test!

It’s the kind of taco that makes you understand why BBQ is a religion in Texas, and why tacos are a way of life everywhere else. Put them together, and you’ve got something worth making a pilgrimage for.

How It Works

Simple: you order the February Tacos 4 Strength special, you eat really well, and a portion of the proceeds goes directly to supporting the ILCC’s mission of promoting and preserving Latino arts and culture in Chicago. Win-win-win.

The ILCC is the organization behind the Chicago Latino Film Festival, showcasing Latino cinema since 1985, bringing filmmakers and artists to Chicago, and creating spaces where culture thrives. Your taco habit can literally fund the arts. That’s the kind of multitasking we can get behind.

Where to Find It

Mercadito River North
108 W Kinzie Street
Chicago, IL 60654
River North

Hours:
Monday-Wednesday: 11:30 AM – 9:30 PM
Thursday-Friday: 11:30 AM – 10:30 PM
Saturday: 10:30 AM – 10:30 PM
Sunday: 10:30 AM – 9:30 PM

Getting There:
CTA Red Line: Grand Station (State & Grand) – 5-minute walk
CTA Buses: #65 Grand, #22 Clark, #36 Broadway

So grab some friends, hit up Mercadito, and order that Texas Style Pulled Pork taco. Your February just got more delicious—and more philanthropic. The more you eat the more you support good eating and Latino arts in Chicago.

Something stayed with him on that day. And when the Washington D.C.-based graphic designer sat down to create his entry for the 42nd Chicago Latino Film Festival poster competition, those memories became the foundation of his design.

This week, the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago announced that Mejía’s entry had won first place, selected from more than 750 submissions representing countries from around the world, including Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.

From Observation to Design

Mejía, a Salvadoran visual artist and photographer, translated his Chicago experience into what he describes as “a bold, cinematic graphic language.” The poster features a filmmaker at its center—the person behind the camera, captured in motion.

“The composition emphasizes process, movement, and collaboration, honoring not only the director but the entire team whose combined effort makes each story possible,” Mejía explained. “The design reflects cinema as both a crafted structure and a living, collective experience.”

Pepe Vargas, Executive Director of the International Latino Cultural Center and founder of the festival, praised the winning design. “Don’t let the simplicity of Ed’s magnificent design fool you,” Vargas said. “It speaks about the power the camera gives moviemakers to tell our stories and to bear witness to the many abuses inflicted on our community.”

For many years, the submissions to the Chicago Latino Film Festival’s Poster Contest have used early 20th Century camera and film representations. The selection committee was drawn to the fact that Mejías’ design brought that vision into the 21st Century, with modern camera images and iconógraphy.

A Multidisciplinary Approach

Mejía brings both formal training and a personal creative philosophy to his work. He holds a Master’s degree in Advertising and a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design from the School of Design “Rosemarie Vázquez Liévano de Ángel” at UJMD in El Salvador.

His professional portfolio includes branding projects, commercial and artistic photography, social media content creation, and editorial design. But Mejía doesn’t limit himself to one style or medium.

“For years, I questioned my style, trying to fit into a box,” he said in a recent interview with Sitar Arts Center in Washington D.C., where he placed second in their 15th Annual Patricia Sitar Juried Exhibition. “But that only limited my curiosity. I give myself the freedom to evolve.”

His work blends photography, collage, and painting—whatever medium best serves the story he’s trying to tell. He describes his role as “a translator of inner worlds,” creating from emotion, memory, and present experience rather than adhering to a predetermined aesthetic.

The Daily Practice

Mejía maintains a disciplined creative routine. He sketches for ten minutes every day, not necessarily to produce finished work, but to stay connected to his creative process.

“Create every day,” he advises other artists. “Not for validation, not for perfection—just to stay connected to your essence. Don’t wait for inspiration. Let it find you already in motion.”

He’s currently developing a personal project called “33+,” a multidisciplinary exploration of identity through self-portraiture, collage, and painting. The title references both his current age and the idea that identity is fluid rather than fixed—shaped by memory, time, and experience. He hopes to complete the collection by the end of the year.

The Festival and Beyond

Mejía’s winning poster will serve as the visual identity for the 42nd Chicago Latino Film Festival, appearing on schedules, invitations, merchandise, and promotional materials. He receives a $1,000 prize for the winning design.

The festival will run from April 16-27, 2026, at the Landmark Century Center, featuring nearly 100 feature-length and short films from Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Spain, Portugal, and the United States.

Since its founding in 1985 with an audience of 500, the festival has grown to attract more than 50,000 attendees annually across its year-round programming which includes the Reel Film Club, Films in the Park and many other events produced by the International Latino Cultural Center. Mejía’s poster now joins that legacy—a design born from a summer walk through Chicago, filtered through the eyes of an artist who pays attention to what he sees.

For Mejía, the win validates an approach to creativity that values observation, authenticity, and continuous evolution. As he puts it, being an artist means “being the verb, not just the noun”—staying in motion, remaining open to what the world offers.

Eduardo Mejía’s portfolio can be viewed at edmejiastudio.com and on Instagram @edmejiastudio.

Filmmakers, your moment has arrived! The submission portal is now open!

From humble beginnings to cinematic greatness – that’s the story of both the Chicago Latino Film Festival and the countless filmmakers who have graced our screens over the past four decades. As we prepare for our 42nd edition in April 2026, we’re once again opening our doors (and our FilmFreeway portal) to discover the next generation of Latino storytellers who will captivate, inspire, and transform our understanding of the Latinosphere.

A Festival Born from a Vision beyond Concrete Walls

Picture this: 1985, 14 films projected onto a concrete wall for an audience of 500. That was the modest beginning of what would become the largest, most comprehensive, continuously running Latino film festival in the United States. Founded by visionary Pepe Vargas and organized by the International Latino Cultural Center (ILCC), our festival was born from a simple yet powerful belief: cinema is “necessary, important” and “transformative” against preconceptions people may have of Latinos.

What started as Chicago Latino Cinema has evolved into something extraordinary. The growth of the Festival from 500 attendees to more than 35,000 tells a story of community, passion, and the universal power of storytelling. Today, we proudly hold the distinction as the nation’s longest-running and largest Spanish and Portuguese language film celebration.

From 14 Films to Nearly 100: Our Evolution

The numbers speak volumes about our growth and impact. Today, the Festival screens close to 100 films from all over Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, Portugal and the United States. Our most recent festival showcased 51 Feature Films and 30 Short Films from around Latino America, Portugal, Spain, The Caribbean, and the United States, each one carefully selected to represent the rich tapestry of Latino experiences and artistry.

But we’re not just about quantity – we’re about quality, diversity, and impact. As Pepe Vargas, our founder and the executive director of the International Latino Culture Center of Chicago, explains: cinema serves as a “weapon” against negative stereotypes, giving “people the opportunity to get to see who the Latinos are, not by the preconceived idea that they have”.

Your Film Could Be Next: What We’re Looking For

The 42nd Chicago Latino Film Festival, scheduled for April 2026, is seeking fresh voices, compelling stories, and innovative filmmaking from across the global Latino community. Here’s what you need to know:

Submission Requirements:

• Features must have a running time of 70 minutes or above & shorts must be less than 20 minutes
• Films from Latin America, Spain, Portugal and the United States, or works where the subject matter is directly related to Latino culture
• All submissions must include English subtitles
• Selected films must be a Chicago premiere

What We Celebrate: The Festival presents all forms of filmmaking including animation, documentaries, experimental, narrative, etc. We particularly encourage the submission of works for young audiences and welcome films with an educational value, or a strong historical and artistic importance.

Recognition That Matters

While the Festival is non-competitive, we believe in celebrating excellence. The most popular narrative feature, feature documentary, and short film are given the Audience Choice Award – recognition that comes directly from the hearts and minds of our passionate Chicago audiences.

But the real prize? Becoming part of a legacy that has been continuously celebrating Latino filmmakers and serving as a platform for cultural exchange and community building. Your film doesn’t just get screened; it becomes part of a movement that’s been breaking down barriers and building bridges for over four decades.

Mark Your Calendars: Important Dates

🎬 Submission Portal Opens: September 4th, 2025 📅 Submission Deadline: December 1st, 2025 🎭 Festival Dates: April 2026 💻 Submission Platform: FilmFreeway portal

Beyond the Screen: Educational Impact

The Chicago Latino Film Festival isn’t just about entertainment – it’s about education and cultural understanding. A fundamental educational platform that continues to channel the cultural significance of film to the next generation of filmmakers, our festival provides new creators the opportunity to learn about the diversity of other cultures, and the prospect of meeting film artists.

Your film could be the one that opens dialogue, challenges perspectives, or inspires the next generation of Latino filmmakers. That’s the kind of impact that extends far beyond box office numbers or critical acclaim.

Ready to Join Our Story?

As we prepare for April 2026, we’re not just planning another festival – we’re curating the next chapter in a story that began with 14 films on a concrete wall and has grown into a cultural institution that attracts passionate audiences, generous sponsors, and talented filmmakers from around the world.

The submission portal opens tomorrow, September 4th, 2025, on FilmFreeway. Don’t just submit your film – submit your voice, your perspective, your piece of the Latino experience. Join us in bringing even more latinismo to Chicago’s cultural landscape.

Because at the Chicago Latino Film Festival, every frame tells a story, every story builds a bridge, and every bridge brings us closer together.

Ready to be part of our 42nd year of cinematic celebration? Visit FilmFreeway and submit your film today!

The Chicago Latino Film Festival is organized by the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago and represents the great diversity of themes and genres of Latino film making from around the world. For more information, visit our website or follow us on social media for the latest updates.