Mission

Latin American Film Center, Inc. is a New York nonprofit organization which aims to develop a film center in New York City that will be a showcase for first-run, classic, documentary and experimental films from and about Latin America and the Caribbean; a center for research on the history of film, filmmaking and the film industry in the region; the core of a program of cultural outreach to New York area communities that have ties to that region; and a nexus uniting far-flung academic circles engaged in the examination of a range of moving image studies.  A longer term goal will be to develop the film center into the cornerstone of a broader cultural complex that would incorporate theater, music, art, dance, archival resources and other cultural expression of a broad range of sectors of Latin American and Caribbean societies, including indigenous sectors.

Goals

The development of such a film center would involve building, establishing and maintaining at a single site a theater of two to four screens, a conference room, film archives and research facilities to be made available to film scholars from throughout the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The goals would be to:

AWAKEN, through film and other forms of related media, the consciousness of the public in New York and elsewhere to the rich tapestry of Latin American and Caribbean experience, the cultural, historical and social heritage underpinning it and the challenges currently facing the societies of the region;

ENCOURAGE the preservation and promotion of such films and related media with a view to broadening the understanding of Latin American and Caribbean stories, ideas and tropes; and 

PROVIDE a gathering place, discussion forum and research center for film lovers and scholars, and for those people with roots in the region and others in the general public who have an interest in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Why are we doing this?

We aim not only to promote better understanding of Latin America and the Caribbean among audiences in New York, the United States and across the region, but also to enhance the appreciation by people from throughout the hemisphere of their cultural and historical roots.  New York is home for a rich diversity of immigrant communities from Latin America and the Caribbean, and it receives a steady stream of visitors from those countries. This makes the city an ideal place to learn about the culture and history of the region, engaging audiences and creators in a productive dialogue.

We hope to enrich the film viewing experience through discussion groups, seminars and other events aimed at developing insights into the historical, social, cultural and artistic contexts surrounding the films that are presented, and through innovative website and mobile applications with links to additional information about the films and their contexts.

We believe that New York City is the best location in the United States for developing a Latin American film center. The city has the largest number of academic and cultural institutions in the United States with programs devoted to the region, as well as a longstanding art house cinema culture, a large and diverse Latin American and Caribbean population, and centuries-old ties to the region, as vividly shown in the museum exhibition presented from September 2010 to January 2011 by the New-York Historical Society and  El Museo del Barrio on Nueva York (1613-1945).