AOL Latino launches ‘El Festival De Cine Corto’.

While Hollywood is opening doors for Hispanic actors and actresses in music, TV and film, Latinos that create the actual entertainment programming are underrepresented. AOL Latino, with sponsor Mercury Milan, is now giving Hispanic filmmakers the unique opportunity to showcase their short films to millions of consumers online as part of “El Festival De Cine Corto”. The English or Spanish-language short films ranging in all different genres will be available on-demand.

Designed to showcase and discover the very best short-film programming from Hispanic amateur and up-and-coming filmmakers around the world, AOL Latino’s “Festival De Cine Corto” enables movie fans, over four months, to view and rate new films per week. In addition to highlighting new releases and award-winning festival favorites not seen by mass-market audiences, the Festival kicks off with an open call for submissions through September as part of the ongoing competition.

The top film each week will be eligible for the semi-final round showcasing 16 of the top shorts. In December, the top five films as voted by users will compete for the grand prize including $5,000 and the chance to meet with a major movie company. Celebrities and well-known film experts will offer commentary online throughout the festival, but will not select the winning films.

“We are thrilled to give Hispanic filmmakers a major outlet to showcase their works as part of AOL Latino’s ongoing commitment to be the destination for Latinos and Hollywood on the web,” said Angel Sepulveda, Director of Original Programming, AOL Latino. “We applaud Mercury for joining with us in this first effort to become advocates for an under-appreciated art form and to celebrate all of the Latino unsung heroes of the short film world.”

The five short films available for on-demand viewing include:

-“Pan de Agua” is the intimate story of Lourdes Hernandez, a woman born in the Dominican Republic who migrates to New York City as a young woman. Filmmaker Carolyn Lopez documents the pilgrimage of this Dominican mother as she returns to her homeland after forty-four years in the United States.

-“The Blue Marble,” from filmmaker Isil Bagdady, is the story of a man haunted by the ghost of a woman on the Staten Island Ferry in New York. As a young child, Sean becomes friends with Angela (a Latina living in New York), a girl he meets on the ferry. Sean gives Angela his favorite blue marble, and as Angela admires it, she accidentally drops it, and it rolls off the ferry. Angela drowns in an attempt to save the marble. Twenty years later, Sean still can’t get the horrifying images of that fatal day out of his mind and follows her ghost through the streets of New York leading him to the truth and sets him free.

-“The Journey” explores the deepness of personal fulfillment created by filmmaker Avi Savar. Which path do we choose in life? What road do we take? Will that road lead us to where we want to be? Everything in life is a choice and as we travel through the corridors of time, our choices lead us to meet our destiny. Which road will you go down?

-“Pelos,” created by filmmaker Augusto Sandino, explores a man’s path through loneliness. The film focuses on the feelings a man experiences as he approaches his golden years.

-“Aniversario” highlights the anniversary of an older couple who contemplate why they chose to stay together and not get divorced. As the film, created by Augusto Sandino, unfolds the couple remembers the good and bad times they experienced as a couple.

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