A local film and music festival is using the arts to break down stereotypes.
The NVISION Latino Film and Music Festival utilizes both song and the screen to emphasize Latin pride. For almost a decade, the festival has put Latino and Latina culture on full display as it both empowers Latin artists and fights back against stereotypes in American culture. The festival will run from Thursday, Oct. 10, through Saturday, Oct. 12 at the Palm Springs Art Museum.
Filmmaker and music photographer Danny Hastings (who is responsible for Wu Tang Clan and Eminem album covers) co-founded the festival, formerly known as The Official Latino Film Festival, in 2015 in New York.
“I think hip hop taught me a very valuable lesson—that if a door closes in front of you, you either knock the door down or create your own room, and that has been, pretty much, how I got this started,” Hastings said during a recent interview via Zoom. “After the ’90s, I started making films. I’m American Latino, which means that I grew up here, and everything that made me who I am is very American—but at home, we speak Spanish.
“I live this culture duality that a lot of American Latinos go through. It’s a blessing to be able to be bicultural, but sometimes it’s a double-edged sword, in the sense that sometimes you’re not American enough on the American side, and you’re not Latino enough on the Latino side. We used to say something that I stopped saying a while ago: ‘ni de aquí; ni de allá.’ That means ‘not from here, and not from there,’ but I switched that to ‘de aquí, de allá’—‘from here and from there.’ It’s a more positive outlook on everything.”
As Hastings embarked on a film career, he learned that including Latinos in his films caused “roadblocks.”
“My films weren’t Latino enough, because everybody spoke English,” Hastings said. “… Even though the characters were predominantly Latinos, it wasn’t considered a Latino film, and then when I tried to post it or sell it to a network, it wasn’t American enough. So instead of complaining, I was like, ‘What could be a good solution?’”
Hastings decided to create a film festival he would like to attend—with a focus on American Latino films.
“We’re 20% of the population in the U.S., yet we only see 4% represented on the screen,” he said. “We’re a major part of the country, but we’re not being invited or represented. I wanted to see how we can come up with a solution. That first year, I got 500 submissions. Each year became bigger and bigger and bigger, and I took it to the point where I was like, ‘I can’t carry this by myself anymore.’ It was nine years by myself with a small team of people, and it was a very beautiful labor of love. That’s when the NTERTAIN team came and merged with us.”
This year marks the first year of that collaboration with NTERTAIN, a Latin-focused talent agency that is helping the festival support creatives in new ways.
“NTERTAIN is one of the largest Latino companies in the music space,” Hastings said. “I think they have brought a new focus and vision. … We’re basically investing in the community by helping filmmakers find solutions to production problems. We’re having a film award of $10,000 for the winning film, among others, and that’s something that we couldn’t do before.
“I think that Latinos are now taking matters into their own hands—sort of like that saying that says, ‘Grab the bull by its horn’—and not expecting people or the industry to be like, ‘OK, now you’re accepted.’ … The focus is changing the narrative. That’s our main slogan—changing the narrative all across the board. We don’t settle for stereotypes anymore; we want to see the characters we want to see. We’ve always been the villain or the drug dealer or the cartel, but I surround myself with doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, engineers, and they’re all Latinos.”
There are hubs of Latin vibrancy all across the United States, but the Coachella Valley captured the heart of Hastings, turning the New Yorker into a desert resident. After the third year of the festival, Hastings said he noticed there were more West Coast attendees than New Yorkers in the crowd. The idea for a West Coast edition of the festival became a reality when Hastings received a call from the city of Coachella.
“That’s our main slogan—changing the narrative all across the board. We don’t settle for stereotypes anymore; we want to see the characters we want to see.”
NVISION Latino Film and Music Festival co-founder Danny Hastings
“I came in October … and October is beautiful over here,” Hastings said. “The weather was beautiful; the food was great; and the people from Coachella are some of the most hospitable and beautiful people. The mayor was like, ‘We’ll bring you over here, we’ll fund it,’ and I was like, ‘Hell yeah.’ … Now we’re in Palm Springs at the Art Museum. The Art Museum saw the work that I was doing, and they fell in love with it. We did it one year there, and man, everybody came through. There’s a lot of love in the room, and that’s why we’re here.”
On top of the fantastic lineup of films, there is a series of panels and talks to give even more resources to aspiring creatives.
“I love the team that we have,” Hastings said. “It’s such a positive crew of intelligent individuals from all walks of life putting this together at a beautiful space that has a lot of energy, art and community.”
What about the music portion of the NVISION Latino Film and Music Festival?
“We’ll be doing some showcases for special attendees and some of the VIP holders,” he said. “Sofia Reyes is doing a beautiful performance, and Alex Ponce is an amazing singer/songwriter. He’s doing a little showcase at one of the gardens in the museum, surrounded by all that art. We’re going to have some local music showcases as well at Reforma, one of the happening clubs in Palm Springs.”
The NVISION Latino Film and Music Festival will take place from Thursday, Oct. 10, through Saturday, Oct. 12, at the Palm Springs Art Museum, 101 North Museum Drive, in Palm Springs. Screening tickets start at $14.99, or $19.99 for a block of shorts. Use the code NVISION50 for half off. For tickets and more information, visit nvisionfestival.com.
