The annual Hola México Film Festival (HMFF) kicks off in Downtown LA this weekend, showcasing the best in cinema from the U.S.’ neighbors to the south. It’s the largest Mexican film festival outside of Mexico itself, and it’s celebrating a major milestone, its quinceañera.
In honor of its 15-year anniversary, the festival will be hosting a special quinceañera-style opening night party, complete with DJs, cake, and a pink carpet instead of a red one. Opening night will also feature a film that’s all too appropriate for the occasion: Chata Carvas’ Sobreviviendo Mis XV, a coming-of-age comedy about a young girl struggling to make it through her own quince preparations.
Samuel Douek, founder and director of the festival, says there will be a total of 19 feature films screened throughout the weeklong festival. Other highlights include Christopher Zalla’s Radical, which recently won the audience award at Sundance, and David Zonana’s Herocio, an unflinching look at the Mexican military.
The festival will also feature a special category of films called El Otro México, which aims to highlight stories that defy common Mexican narratives and highlight Indigenous culture.
“There's so many films that are maybe not in Spanish, they're in Indigenous languages, or stories based in areas very remote from Mexico City,” says Douek. “They're not really well represented. So we wanted to create a space where we could show these movies.”
Douek says it’s all part of the festival’s long-standing mission to expand American ideas about what Mexican filmmaking can look like.
“We love Iñárritu, Cuarón, and del Toro. They're the three pillars of Mexican cinema, so to speak,” says Douek. “But they're the tip of the iceberg. There's so [many] more amazing filmmakers coming out of Mexico every year, and I want people to see them.”