5th The Americas Film Festival of New York (TAFFNY) Opens June 7

The fifth edition of The Americas Film Festival of New York (TAFFNY), June 7-15, 2018, showcases feature films in fiction and documentary as well as shorts and animations that represent the rich diversity of cultures, languages and stories of the Americas. The Festival begins Thursday June 7, 6:30pm, at the Instituto Cervantes (211 East 49thStreet) with the New York premiere of Handia by Spanish directors Jon Garaño and Aitor Arregi. Handia, which means Giant in Basque language, is a touching drama about the tough life of mid-19th century traveling circus "freaks". "An uneasy universe with complexity, subtlety, emotion and truth," according to Carlos Boyero of the newspaper El País. The evening wraps up with a cocktail reception in the courtyard of Instituto Cervantes. All screenings are free and open to the public and foreign language films are subtitled in English.

About the festival, Dr. Juan Carlos Mercado, Dean of the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Center for Worker Education of CUNY (CWE), explains: "TAFFNY is in its fifth edition and through the years it has been growing. This year, we wanted to honor the students and faculty of City College's MFA program in Film, one of the oldest film schools in the U.S. and the only public institution in New York City to offer a BFA in film. Among the amazing list of people who studied or took classes at CCNY Film Program are Woody Allen, Judd Hirsch, Stanley Kubrick, Jackie Mason, Richard Schiff, Eli Wallach, Ben Gazzara."

TAFFNY closes on Friday June 15, 6:00pm, with the Awards Ceremony of The Americas Short Films Competition at the National Museum of the American Indian (1 Bowling Green), followed by the New York premiere of Out of State by Native Hawaiian filmmaker Ciara Lacy. Out of State is a character-driven documentary that chronicles the experience of two men who find their cultural identity while housed in a private prison, thousands of miles from their island home of Hawaii.

"I hope we're becoming little by little in a voice for independent filmmakers; and also, a much-needed platform to show works that otherwise might never be seen in this city. An example of that will be the 8 features made by establish filmmakers and 40 films selected for The Americas Short Film Competition in which, this year, we received more than 200 films,"says TAFFNY's Artistic Director Diana Vargas.

The Americas Short Film Competition is exclusively dedicated to the promotion and exhibition of short-length audiovisual works by emerging filmmakers. The Festival's competition will showcase films with a maximum length of 20 minutes that portray contemporary concerns of filmmakers living in the region. This year, TAFFNY screens 40 short films in competition for The Americas Award in the categories of Animation, Documentary, Experimental, and Fiction. Judging the categories of Documentary and Animation are filmmakers Miguel Rueda, Freddie Marrero and editor Pilar Rico. Judging the categories of Fiction and Experimental are actress Kika Child, professor Ana Maria Hernandez and Justin Mugits, Coordinator of Community & Public Programs at Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

The Americas Panorama is an exciting program that will bring the richness of the cultures of The Americas through eight award winning, feature-length films in fiction and documentary. The films reflect the multiplicity of stories and identities that form the "American" experience, ranging from documentaries that explore the complexities of community in a globalized world to stories, both personal and social, of perseverance, memory, and love.

On Friday June 8, the Festival continues at 6pm at Instituto Cervantes (211 East 49th Street) with a selection of short films in competition for The Americas Award and a special presentation of What Matters, a documentary produced by LiteraturFestival Berlin in which 30 international writers, artists and students commemorate the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The festival continuesat 7pm with the NY premiere of the Mexican film Tesoros (Treasures), directed by María Novaro. Utilizing documental imagery, the film joins a group of children on an enchanting voyage of discovery that ends with a find far more precious than a lost pirate's treasure trove. An intimate glimpse into the lives of people living in this natural paradise.

Saturday June 9 begins at 3pm at the CWE Auditorium (25 Broadway, 7th Floor) with a selection of short films in competition. At 4:15pm the New York premiere of El Laberinto de Octavio Paz, a documentary directed by Jose Maria Martinez that reviews the work and trajectory of the Mexican poet and essayist (1914-1998), with testimonies of 25 great experts. The documentary offers a broad vision of the production of an author who always affirmed that the true biography of a poet is not in the events of his life, but in his work.

On Monday June 11, the Festival continues at 1:00pm at the CWE Auditorium with a selection of short films in competition. At 5:45pm on Monday, TAFFNY moves to the Martin E. Segal Theater at CUNY's Graduate Center (365 Fifth Avenue between 34th & 35th streets), with a selection of short films in competition followed at 6:45pm by the New York premiere of Casa Roshell from Chile-Mexico. Director Camila José Donoso's eye-opening documentary tells the story of the mesmerizing Casa Roshell, a place where gender rules do not apply, and men can transform into women without being judged or discriminated against.

Screenings on Tuesday June 12 start at the CWE Auditorium (25 Broadway, 7 Floor) at 1pm with an encore screening of Handia (Giant). At 6:00pm at Instituto Cervantes a selection of short films in competition and at 7:00pm TAFFNY honors City College's MFA on media and film with a selection of award-winning short fiction and documentary films from across the globe, produced within the MFA Program in Film at The City College of New York. A cocktail reception will follow.

On Wednesday June 13, TAFFNY comes to the Consulate of Argentina in New York (12 West 56thStreet), at 5:45pm with a showcase of short films in competition, and at 6:30pm, the NY premiere of Una Especie de Familia, by Argentinian director Diego Lerman; a film that paints the portrait of a woman in search of ways out of unsolvable problems and who stumbles forward without thinking, without calculating the terrible consequences of her actions.

On Thursday June 14 at 6:00pm, TAFFNY goes to NYU's King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center (KJCC - 53 Washington Square South) for the final screening of short films competing for The Americas Award. Following is the 7:15pm New York premiere of La Defensa del Dragon (The Dragon Defense) by Colombian writer and director Natalia Santa in which three men who have found shelter in the safety of their routines are confronted by reality. A cocktail reception will follow. Also, on Thursday at 1:30pm at the CWE Auditorium (25 Broadway, 7 Floor) the encore screening of Una Especie de Familia.

TAFFNY is a cultural project of the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Center for Worker Education of City College of New York (CUNY), in collaboration with the National Museum of the American Indian, and Instituto Cervantes. TAFFNY is made possible with the generous support of its partners and sponsors: the CCNY Division of Humanities and the Arts, the CCNY Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, Telemundo 47, Ron Barceló, Goya Foods, CUNY 's Bildner Center, Consulate General of Argentina, NYU's King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, Ines Rosales (Tortas de Aceite), Aceites Castillo de Canena, Begonia Sangria, Ole Imports, and Event Model Agency.

For TAFFNY information and schedule visit www.taffny.com.