Cine sin Fronteras (Cinema without Borders)
Latinos make up about 24% of box office ticket sales and 24% of streaming service subscribers, and according to McKinsey and Company, the right and accurate representation of the Latinx community in the media could lead to an additional $12 billion to $18 billion in annual revenue in the industry.
Programs like Cine sin Fronteras (Cinema without Borders) serve as a resource and platform for representing the Hispanic community in film. In 2016, Milwaukee Film introduced Cine sin Fronteras to the Milwaukee Film Festival to celebrate the heritage of Hispanic, Latinx, and Indigenous communities in film.
While Cine sin Fronteras is showcased during the Milwaukee Film Festival, programming is offered throughout the year to celebrate the diverse Hispanic heritage in Milwaukee. This year, from October 4-14, 2024, Milwaukee Film celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month by screening films by and about the Hispanic community.
Milwaukee Film worked with Cine sin Fronteras to present three films: In the Summers, Borderland: The Line Within, and Hail to the Breadsticks. The films cover topics beyond border relations, such as identity, family relationships, and sexuality.
Cine sin Fronteras programmer Ernie Quiroz took on his role in 2020 and from the beginning, he knew he wanted to bring a new look forward for how the Hispanic community was viewed in film.
“I always use the phrase ‘by, for, and about Latinxs’, so it’s all over America, all over Latin America,” said Quiroz. “I always want to be cognitive of like that it’s not just border issues, it’s not just immigration…yeah there’s border issues and I don’t want to shy away from that but there’s so much more than just those hot-button issues.”
The 2024 Line Up
Along with the three films, this month’s celebration lineup will include the 8th Annual Femme Frontera Filmmaker Showcase, a collection of seven short films that first screened in El Paso, Texas in 2023 before screening around the country. The showcase will screen in Milwaukee on October 5, 2024.
This Latine-led film organization Femme Frontera annually hosts the Femme Frontera Filmmaker Showcase. The showcase started to celebrate films produced by women filmmakers from the U.S.-Mexico border region. It has now expanded into including short films from around the world, people of color, the LBGTQ+ community, other underrepresented communities, and more.
The 9th Annual Femme Frontera Filmmaker Showcase has been postponed to 2025.
Jackie Barragan is co-director of Femme Frontera and she found her voice as a filmmaker through the organization.
“There’s definitely a lack of access to stories that humanize women, transpeople, people of color, and we think it’s an opportunity to challenge the dominant narratives that you see in Hollywood movies, in streaming platforms, especially in media and in the news,” said Barragan. “We believe film can build more compassion, more understanding.”
The organization has filmmakers from around the U.S.-Mexico border region of El Paso, Texas, Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, México. Its mission extends to those living in border regions around the world and works to provide resources and access to resources to connect them with the stories being produced. Femme Frontera also provides in-person workshops and grant opportunities to make film and filmmaking accessible to the communities it serves
“It just felt like an answer to this feeling of isolation I think we feel sometimes. It’s like bringing community together and sharing a shared experience,” said Barragan. “And that’s kinda what our goal is to help grow filmmakers. [To] give them a platform, give them resources, and just really help them to believe in themselves enough to continue and tell stories.”
Maria Peralta-Arellano is a Milwaukee-native journalist who focuses on sharing news from her local communities. She dedicates her work to accessibility and producing bilingual coverage focused on arts, culture, and politics. She looks to explore her community through a journalistic and creative lens.
