For Decker Lavely, it all started with a Facebook post. While browsing her news feed a few months ago, the USF St. Petersburg sophomore spotted an ad for an internship at the Tampa Bay Latin Film Festival. She wasted no time applying.
“I’m half Cuban, so I’m really interested in Latin studies and culture,” said Lavely, who is seeking a Mass Communications major and Spanish minor.
Held in St. Petersburg from October 18-21, the inaugural Latin Film Festival brought audiences classic and contemporary filmmaking from Latin America—from feature-length films to documentaries and short films. The goal, according to the festival’s website, was to answer three key questions: What’s happening in Latin American film? Who are the up-and-coming filmmakers? And what inspires them?
USFSP’s World Languages Program was one of the sponsors of the festival, which featured films exploring timely and timeless topics, often specific to Latin America but with global resonance.
“This is a collaborative cultural project with local artists, international filmmakers, and many sponsors and volunteers in the community of Tampa Bay,” said Dr. Martine F. Wagner, Associate Professor of French. Dr. Wagner also served as a screener for the film festival.
Among some of the featured films were Matar a Jesus, directed by Laura Mora, which tells the story of a young Colombian student who investigates her father’s death in Medellín after local police fail to find his killer. The documentary La Libertad del Diablo, directed by Everardo Gonzalez, explores violence and cartels in Mexico through intimate interviews with victims and perpetrators.
Lavely’s favorite films were Erwin Neumaier’s The Idol, a feature comedy about a struggling musician who meets his idol, and Miguel Angel Caballero’s Broken Sunflower Hearts, a short film about same-sex parents who raise a daughter.
During her internship, Lavely assisted Festival Director Linda Friedman Ramirez on key administrative tasks, such as organizing spreadsheets, and coordinated with media and local businesses to help promote the festival. Beyond those tangible tasks, she considers the strong connections she made to be her biggest takeaways.
“I gained a lot of friends and built relationships with people in the St. Pete community, including a lot of local artists,” said Lavely. “Through watching films and as one of the screeners, I learned a lot about Latin communities all around the world, from different countries and here in the United States.”
Motivated by her experience at the inaugural event, Lavely hopes to work with the festival again in upcoming years to bolster what she is learning in the classroom.