The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) celebrates its 20th anniversary and this time will hold, for the second consecutive year, a virtual edition from Wednesday, June 2 through Sunday, June 6. The call for entries is open until Friday, March 12.

The festival's goal is to show the human experience from the Latinx perspective, whether through film, television, digital, music, art, or any other vehicle, regardless of the platform.

The festival will feature films, series, music, XR projects, and short films, including projects from LALIFF's new Latinx Inclusion Grant Series.

In December 2020, five Afro-Latino filmmakers were chosen to participate in the grant that awarded $20,000 each to create a short film through this program.

The winning participants were filmmaker Lorena Duran, writer/director Justin Floyd, director Monica Suriyage, award-winning Kase Pena, and artistic director Tamara Shogaolu.

These grants have been awarded with the support and backing of Netflix, the huge streaming platform.

Edward James Olmos, Oscar-nominated actor, founder of LALIFF and the Latino Film Institute, said in this regard:

"This is the time for diverse voices to tell their stories, and we are proud to be able to offer our grantees the platform that allows those voices to be heard," hoping that the projects of these five grant winners will generate a positive and lasting impact on the industry.

Founded in 1997, LALIFF is committed to being "the benchmark for emerging Latino talent" in the entertainment industry and to being a platform that both showcases and promotes audiovisual work and the diversity of Latino voices in the film world.

There are high expectations for the projects submitted this year, as the pandemic has creatively challenged filmmakers, musicians, and artists to produce and carry out their work.

"Like all aspects of society, the pandemic drastically changed the way the film industry works, and we believe it is important to be a platform that addresses this historic moment," said Diana Cadavid, Artistic Director of LALIFF.