SXSW panel: Latino cinema knows no boundaries

Along with films and music, Austin's annual South by Southwest festival offers pass-holders the chance to attend intimate panel discussions with experts and some of their favorite artists.

Monday, three of the festival's Latin American born filmmakers joined moderator Charles Ramirez Berg, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss "New Trends in Latino Cinema." About 30 seconds into the talk, however, they realized they might not have much to say on the given subject.

"I think there is a change in that Latino filmmakers are getting away from being so easily identified or grouped together and I think that's good," said Berg, who initially organized the event as a conversation between himself and producer Elizabeth Avellan.

Avellan, who worked with her husband Robert Rodriguez on films like "El Mariachi," "Desperado," and "Sin City," recommended that Peruvian director Ricardo de Montreuil, who brought his film "Mancora" to the festival, join the conversation. Then, when they discovered that Mexican director Jonas Cuaron, the 26-year-old son of "Y Tu Mama Tambien" director Alfonso Cuaron, was bringing his first film "Ano Una" to the festival, they invited him to join in.

Berg welcomed the panelists to discuss whether each of them recognized any trends in Latino cinema, and Cuaron, the youngest of the group, quickly questioned the term itself.

"I think talking in general about Latin American cinema becomes restrictive," he said. "I have Mexican cinema influences, but I also love Iranian and European cinema."

The other filmmakers underscored this sentiment. It's limiting to categorize Hispanic filmmakers as Hispanic, they said. Filmmakers are filmmakers and the movies they make are as diverse as the Americas themselves.

"Some films in neighboring Latin American countries are never even screened in those other countries," said Montreuil, pointing out that while the nations are close together, their respective artistic communities might be more foreign than most people realize.

The panelists own films prove this point. Montreuil's film "Mancora" brings viewers to Peru and takes its 22-year-old protagonist on a story of dark self-discovery and redemption following his father's suicide.

Cuaron's film on the other hand is an often comedic, experimental collection of photographs documenting an actual year of the filmmaker's life. Cuaron then set a fictional narrative over the photographs, offering an un-stereotypical look at an American tourist's experience in Mexico City.

Ultimately, the filmmakers said they appreciated the evolution of filmmaking in Latin American countries, but they were eager to move on.

"I believe that the world wants to hear new voices, new forms even in mainstream cinema," said Avellan. "I think we're ready for new stories told a different way."