Cinefest Latino is one of Boston’s cinematic celebrations of the Latin arts in contemporary filmmaking. Beginning in 2022, Cinefest Latino is a relatively recent addition to the film festival landscape, though the team behind it are true veterans of both the filmmaking and film festival industries. Following in the footsteps of Boston’s International Latino Film Festival, Cinefest Latino similarly spotlights domestic and international film fare with an emphasis on presenting the diversity in Latin filmmaking and authentic displays of the Latino experience globally.

The festival debuted last week with Rosamary Berrios-Hernández’s “Santiago De Las Mujeres,” a documentary detailing the women who have devoted themselves to Santiago Apostle, a Catholic Apostle who journeyed through Camino de Santiago, Spain, and became known as the evangelical trustee of Spain and pilgrimage.

The festival continues this week with Alessandra Lacorazza’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner, “In The Summers,” followed by a Q&A with Lacarozza herself. The coming-of-age movie trails Violeta and Eva as siblings who share growing pains while spending summers in New Mexico with their eccentric father.

“The programming reflects the complexity and diversity of who we are,” said festival director and programmer Sabrina Avilés in an interview with The Beacon. “Not only our struggles but our achievements and our joys. If you’re looking for something more commercial, that’s not what this film festival is about.”

The festival carries on its celebrations on Sept. 26 at Emerson’s Paramount Theatre with Carla Gutierrez’s debut film “Frida,” a documentary feature exploring the profound artistic and personal journey of Latina icon Frida Kahlo through her very own personal works, including never-before-seen pieces from Kahlo’s illustrated diary, personal essays, and letters. “Frida” was featured at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and is being co-presented by Emerson’s Visual Media Arts department. Tickets are free to anyone who RSVP.

Avilés expressed frustration with current Hollywood representation for Latinos, saying that one of the festival’s goals is to push back against the negative stereotypes being propagated against Latinos and Latino filmmakers in entertainment and to display their vast cultural diversity and breadth of talent.

“It angers me that we’re still looking to Hollywood for our inspiration,” said Avilés. “I tell people to look to Latin America, to Europe, to others and see what they’re doing out there so that we can tell human stories. Not just stories about Latin experience, but human stories.”

Laura González’s narrative feature “Milonga” takes the silver screen on Sept. 27, which follows  a middle-aged woman rediscovering her past through her long lost love of tango. Juan Mejía’s “Igualada,” a documentary about Black Colombian activist Francia Márquez and her presidential campaign, will also be released on Sept. 27.

Sept. 28 is Cinefest’s most packed day of programming with Kathryn Ramey’s documentary “El Signo Vacio” that includes footage spanning from the entire last century to now; Tatiana Huezo’s Mexican feature “El Eco,” documenting a village where granddaughters take care of their grandmothers; and Miguel Ferrer’s “La Sombra Del Sol,” a script about a blue collar worker in Venezuela tapping into his musical past to win money and escape his debt. The day is bookended by two shorts programming blocks, featuring six films and Q&As with some of the filmmakers.

“As a Latina girl growing up in New York, I didn’t see anybody that looked like me or spoke to me or my culture. One of those things that changed things for me was Rita Moreno; when she ad-libbed in Spanish I’d be like ‘I recognize that accent’ or ‘I recognize that dialect, ‘I recognize that expression,’” said Avilés.

The festival closes on Sept. 29,  with another packed day of cinema with the third and final short film program, featuring  “Estela, Is It You?” by Fabian Martin, Juan Yactayo Sono’s narrative short “Chica,” Jean Chapiro’s narrative “52 Minutos,” Marcos Nieves’s queer documentary short “My Queerceañera,” and Ida Joglar’s micro-doc “My Name is Annabel.”

The feature lineup rounds out with three remarkably distinct films. The first, Mabel Valdiviezo’s “Prodigal Daughter,” is an autobiographical documentary about the filmmaker reuniting with her family in Peru after 16 years of no contact. Trailing Valdiviezo’s film is Itandehui Jansen’s futuristic narrative film “Itu Ninu,” which follows a man living in an oppressive dystopian city in a world that is seemingly irreversibly affected by climate change as he begins to cultivate new plantlife. Lastly, Alonso Ruizpalacios’s Tribeca Film Festival Select narrative feature “La Cocina” is a clever and insightful film following undocumented line cooks in Manhattan who are under legal scrutiny after money mysteriously goes missing at their restaurant “The Grill.” The festival will see its completion with the closing ceremony that same evening.

“There’s a wide range of styles and visual stories here,” Avilés said. “It’s about humanity with characters that are Latino, that’s the key. The added bonus is that the Latino audience will see themselves reflected on screen, but it’s about having stories that everyone can relate to and connect with.”

Tickets to any of the Cinefest Latino candidates can be purchased here, as well as eventwide passes via the same link.