Ubeimar Rios stars in “A Poet,” which won the jury prize at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. (Photo: 1-2 Special)
By Michael Morain
Editor
When the Des Moines Latino Film Festival lights up screens this Saturday at the Varsity Cinema, viewers will get a chance to see stories by and about Latinos — stories you can’t stream at home on the couch. The lineup includes two recent winners from Sundance and Cannes, plus a half dozen shorts about love, loss, identity, immigration, health care and even a little futbol.
Now in its sixth year, Iowa’s only Latino film festival “exists because our community deserves to see itself fully and honestly,” said Antonio Romero, the festival board’s vice president. “Latinos have stories that are worth telling.”
Romero (pictured) grew up in Ankeny, the son of Mexican immigrants who moved to Iowa in 1998. He started making videos in high school, in an audio-visual production class, but didn’t realize filmmaking was a career option in Iowa, especially for Latinos, until he discovered the festival.
“I hadn’t seen anything like it in the Des Moines area,” he said. “It was so amazing, so cool to see someone like myself, with a similar background and the same skintone, on the big screen.”
Romero sells real estate and produced the business’ sponsorship video for the festival a few years ago. He’s supported the event ever since and encourages others to do the same.
“The cool thing about films — about the arts, in general — is that everyone has their own perspectives and opinions,” he said. “You can strike up different conversations, learn about different cultures, and create a community event together.”
This year’s event opens at 12:30 p.m. Saturday with a live performance by a local Mexican folk dance group, plus a pair of food trucks out on 25th Street, one that sells Mexico City-style street tacos and another that sells Mexican desserts.
Visit the Varsity’s website for details about the free showcase of short films (1 p.m.), plus the ticketed feature films: “A Poet” (1 p.m.), about a down-and-out Colombian writer who mentors a young poet, and “American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez” (4:15 p.m.), a documentary about the Chicano playwright and director who encouraged farm workers and students to express themselves through theater and film.
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