News & Stories

Chicago, IL  • International Latino Cultural Center’s Executive Director Mateo Mulcahy has announced expanded roles for two longtime members of the Chicago Latino Film Festival (CLFF) team, a restructuring intended to better align staff responsibilities with the operational demands of an organization entering its 43rd Festival...

Chicago, IL • Independent filmmakers from across Latin America, Spain, Portugal, the Caribbean, and the United States will soon have the opportunity to submit their work for one of the country’s longest-running showcases of Latino cinema. The International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago (ILCC)...

Belmont Cragin, get ready — because the hottest free event of the Chicago summer just got even better. The International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago is thrilled to welcome Sofrito Rico, Chicago’s beloved Puerto Rican food truck, as the newest...

On July 1, Mateo Mulcahy officially took the helm as Executive Director of the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago (ILCC), stepping into the role after Founder and Executive Director Emeritus Pepe Vargas announced his retirement last month due to...

CHICAGO — On June 30th, in a room filled with 42 years of history, Pepe Vargas did something he rarely allowed himself to do: he let Chicago’s Latino cultural community honor him instead of the other way around. The founder and...

In 1985, Pepe Vargas launched the Chicago Latino Film Festival with just 14 films and no institutional backing behind him — only a conviction that Chicago’s Latino community deserved a platform of its own. That modest first edition grew into...

After more than four decades of building one of Chicago’s most beloved cultural institutions, ILCC Founder and Executive Director Pepe Vargas steps into a well-earned retirement. There are people who change a room when they walk in. And then there are...

Chicago’s Most Electrifying Free Concert Series Is Back — and This Summer, Riis Park Becomes the Center of the Latin Musical Universe There’s a park in Belmont Cragin where, every summer since 2024, something extraordinary happens. As the sun fades...

A Mother’s Day Tribute from the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago 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...

When the votes were counted at this year’s Chicago Latino Film Festival, the results sent a message louder than any press release could. Five of the nine Audience Choice Award winners and runners-up at the 42nd Chicago Latino Film Festival were directed or co-directed...