42nd Chicago Latino Film Festival Announces Audience Choice Winners

The International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago announced today that out of the three winners and six runner-ups of the 42nd Chicago Latino Film Festival’s Audience Choice Awards, five were directed or co-directed by women.

Venezuela was top of mind in many of our audience voters. It Would Be Night in Caracas, Mariana Rondón’s and Marité Ugás’ powerful story about a woman forced to look for a way out of the country while hiding in an apartment that once belonged to a now deceased neighbor during the 2017 anti-Maduro government protests that shook, won the Audience Choice Award for Best Fiction Feature. It Would Be NIght in Caracas was the Opening Night selection and played a second time the first weekend of the Festival alongside Rondón’s and Ugás’ previous collaboration Zafari.

Beyond, Bettina López Mendoza’s short film about a young Venezuelan migrant trying to make her way through the dangerous tropical rainforests of the Darién region, won the Audience Choice Award for Best Short.

The Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary went to Comparsa, Vickie Curtis’ and Doug Anderson’s moving documentary about two sisters in Ciudad Peronia, Guatemala who use art to heal the deep wounds left after 41 girls locked in a schoolroom were killed in a fire on March, 2017 at the state-run Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home. Comparsa was executive produced by acclaimed filmmaker Jayro Bustamante (Ixcanul, La Llorona and 41st CLFF official selection Rita) who attended the Festival to present his latest feature, Cordillera de fuego.

Here is the trailer for Comparsa…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7syugP3x2qE

Even though CLFF is a non-competitive festival, since 1993 the public has had the opportunity to vote for their favorite films in several categories for the Audience Choice Award. Held exclusively in one location, the Landmark Century Centre Cinemas, 2828 N. Clark St., April 16rd-April 14th, the 42nd edition of the Festival presented 51 features and 31 shorts from Latin America, Spain, Portugal and the United States.

The Festival had its best post-pandemic run this year beating last year’s numbers with an increase of 51% in sales (including merchandise) and a 30% increase in attendance. Festival organizers this year focused all their energies in fulfilling Pepe Vargas’, Executive Director and Founder of the International Latino Cultural Center and the Chicago Latino Film Festival, annual promise of making this year’s edition better than last year’s through its carefully curated programming and by making it far more affordable through special discounts and sales.

By moving away from the traditional gala model and bringing Opening and Closing Night celebrations directly to the cinema itself, the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago created something more powerful than spectacle: accessibility. The restructured events—featuring pre-screening receptions with hors d’oeuvres, cash bars, and direct filmmaker engagement—replaced the elaborate productions of years past. Perhaps most significantly, ticket prices dropped from $75 to $35 for these special events, opening the doors to a broader audience. Both events sold out days in advance.

The success of the 42nd Chicago Latino Film Festival—its sold-out screenings, its streamlined format, its world-class lineup—proves that when you remove barriers and center the work itself, audiences respond. 

The 43rd Chicago Latino Film Festival will take place April 15-26, 2027.

AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS

The winners and runner-ups of the 42nd Chicago Latino Film Festival Audience Choice Awards are:

• Feature/Winner: It Would Be Night in Caracas/Aún es de noche en Caracas (Venezuela/Mexico; Directors: Mariana Rondón and Marité Ugás): Trapped in a city on the verge of collapse, Adelaida buries her mother and is left completely alone. When she returns home, she discovers her apartment has been taken over by women aligned with the Chaves regime. With no way out, she hides in the flat next door—only to discover the corpse of her neighbor. Adelaida descends into a claustrophobic spiral of confinement, fear, and growing despair —until she realizes that in order to survive, she must give up her identity. 

• Second Place: Enough Mom!/¡Basta mamá! (Colombia; Director: Flora Martínez): Fernando is 45 years old, has a good job, and a secret that doesn’t fit on his resume: he still lives with his mother, Victoria, who cares for him with a love so immense it stifles him. Fernando invites Leticia—his girlfriend and, to make matters worse, his boss—to dinner so the two women can meet for the first time. What begins as a cordial dinner turns into a full-blown battle of hints, jealousy, and untouched dishes.

• Third Place: Cielo (Bolivia/UK; Director: Alberto Sciamma): Believing, quite literally, that heaven is a place on Earth, eight-year-old Santa takes her mother’s body on a journey across the Bolivian altiplanos after swallowing a fish whole and dispensing with her abusive father. On her way, she meets a group of “cholita” wrestlers and a gruff policeman who believes Santa possesses magical powers. 

• Documentary/Winner: Comparsa (Guatemala/USA; Directors: Vickie Curtis and Doug Anderson): Executive produced by Jayro Bustamante, “Comparsa” fully immerses audiences in the intense world of Ciudad Peronia, Guatemala, where sisters Lesli and Lupe use art to inspire local youth and heal deep wounds. After 41 girls are killed in a state-run “Safe House” and the government refuses to act, the sisters organize a community comparsa —an exuberant street performance featuring towering puppets, fire-breathing stilt walkers, and thundering drums. Their youth movement takes to the streets, confronting corruption and reclaiming public space for women and girls. 

• Second Place: A Shabbat on the Other Side of the River/Um Shabat na Outra Margem do Rio (Brazil; Director: Diego Lajst): Set against the sweeping rivers and lush expanse of the Brazilian Amazon, this evocative documentary uncovers the little-known world of the descendants of Moroccan Jews who have called the region home. For more than two centuries, this community has kept alive the practices and traditions of their ancestors, far from the main centers of Judaism. From an old synagogue in Belém to Jewish cemeteries overgrown by the forest, the film follows the history and daily life of a group whose identity has endured despite the challenges imposed by the world’s largest tropical rainforest.

• Third Place: 42nd Street/La 42 (Dominican Republic; Director: José María Cabral): Festival alum José María Cabral (39th CLFF Audience Choice Award semifinalist “Parsley,” “The Projectionist”) takes us to Santo Domingo’s Capotillo neighborhood where dancers and performers inhabit the night to the relentless beat of dembow while confronting police harassment and the weight of stereotypes of violence and drug trafficking. 42nd Street —a source of inspiration for artists such as Bad Bunny and Arcángel— shows us that dance here is more than movement: it is a cry of untamed humanity. A frenetic, sensorial experience that blurs the lines between documentary and fiction.

• Shorts/Winner: Beyond/Más allá (Venezuela/Canada/Colombia/USA; Director: Bettina López Mendoza): After being separated from her mother while crossing the treacherous jungle between Colombia and Panama, Zuli, a young Venezuelan migrant, is forced to abandon her childhood to survive in this dangerous place.

• Second Place: Cake/Paste (USA: Director: Erick Juárez): Set in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, Rosy is a proud and resilient single mother determined to give her little son, Alex, the most beautiful cake he deserves. With limited resources and mounting financial pressure, Rosy is reminded of what truly matters.

• Third Place: La Cerrillana (Argentina; Director: Andrea Urquiola): A woman comes to understand her son’s transition after meeting a young trans man from her small town. In him, she sees a reflection of what her son could aspire to be if he had more confidence. This experience ultimately serves as a bridge for her to reconnect with her family and with herself.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE INTERNATIONAL LATINO CULTURAL CENTER

With the Festival behind them, the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago is ready to continue its year-round program of cultural events including concerts, dance presentations, plays, culinary experiences…and film, among so many other disciplines.

The International Latino Cultural Center’s film programming continues with their monthly Reel Film Club at Facets, 1517 West Fullerton Avenue. Held on the last Tuesday of each month (except March, April and December), the Reel Film Club celebrates a theme night with a reception and screening showcasing films and filmmakers from Latin America, Spain and Portugal followed by a post-screening discussion. Then, during the summer and in collaboration with the Chicago Parks District, the Center will present five family-friendly films every Wednesday in July in different parks throughout the city as part of their 20th annual Films in the Park program. Films for both series will be announced soon. For more information on this and other events, visit latinoculturalcenter.org.

This summer, the ILCC will present the third annual Levitt VIBE Chicago Music Series exclusively at Riis Park, 6100 W. Fullerton Ave. Sponsored by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, this groundbreaking series of free concerts will be presented every Saturday for 10 weeks from June 13-August 22nd, except on Saturday, July 4th. Details about this festival will also be announced soon.

Additional concerts presented or co-presented by the ILCC include: the cumbia-punk group Son Rompe Pera at Thalia Hall on Friday, June 19 and Hasta La Muerte, a 2 act, multi-dimensional theatrical and musical performance that explores the stages of grief and loss through the celebration of life and death created by East L.A. roots music group Las Cafeteras on Friday, October 30, 2026 at the Copernicus Center, 5216 W. Lawrence Ave.

The ILCC has also partnered with Physical Theater Festival Chicago to present Los Regalos/The Gifts at the Dance Center at Columbia College, 1306 S. Michigan Ave. from June 4-6. Created and produced by Perú’s Compañía de Teatro Físico (Physical Theater Company), follows a father and his two sons as the most routine tasks, such as preparing breakfast, bathing, or housework who don’t quite know what they are doing turn into real adventures. 

And in the fall, the ILCC will present the Fourth Annual Chicago Latino Dance Festival, a celebration of the many styles of Latin American and Iberian dance. The event will take place in multiple locations including Humboldt Park Field House, 1440 N. Humboldt Dr. Dates, performances and additional locations will be announced in late August-early September.

Be sure to check back here at SCREEN Magazine for more exclusive news and interviews. You can also click right here to subscribe to our weekly email newsletter.