The Des Moines Latino Film Festival, the first and only festival of its kind in Iowa, will return on Saturday, April 11, 2026, at Varsity Cinema in Des Moines with a full day of Latino and Latin American storytelling.
The festival will take place at Varsity Cinema, 1207 25th St., Des Moines, IA 50311, and will feature two internationally acclaimed feature films along with a curated program of six short films exploring community, identity, health, immigration and the resilience of Latino families across the United States and Latin America.
Presented by the Latino Center of Iowa, the festival reflects the organization’s mission of creating a space where Iowa’s Latino community and all Iowans can see their stories on screen, hear their voices and celebrate their culture.
Two award-winning feature films headline the festival
This year’s program includes two recognized films that highlight the range of Latino and Latin American cinema.
American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez, a documentary narrated by Edward James Olmos, will be one of the featured screenings. The film won the Festival Favorite Award at the Sundance Film Festival and looks at the life, work and legacy of Luis Valdez, the playwright, director and founding force behind El Teatro Campesino in 1965.
The documentary traces how Valdez brought together farm workers and students to tell their stories through theater. He later became the first Chicano director to bring a production, Zoot Suit, to Broadway in 1979, and went on to direct the feature film La Bamba, securing his place as one of the most influential Latino artists in American history.
The film is in English and, according to festival organizers, stands as a record of what it has meant, and continues to mean, to insist that the Chicano story belongs on America’s stages and screens.
The festival will also screen A Poet (Un Poeta), a feature film directed by Colombian filmmaker Simón Mesa Soto. The film won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and will be shown in Spanish with English subtitles.
The story follows a failed writer wandering through the streets of Medellín, disillusioned and unmoored, until an unexpected chance to mentor a young student gives him the possibility of something he had stopped believing in: a second chance.
Festival organizers described the film as a story about literature, failure and the quiet, unlikely ways human connection can restore a life. Its selection, they said, reflects the festival’s commitment to presenting serious, internationally recognized work centered on Latino and Latin American experiences as the artists intended them to be seen.
Short films will screen throughout the afternoon
The festival’s Shorts Program will run from approximately 12:30 to 5:00 p.m. in the Loft Theater on the second floor of Varsity Cinema. The six short films will screen in continuous rotation, with each film shown twice during the afternoon. Admission to the shorts program is free.
- Estela, Is That You — 15 min. An older woman finds solace speaking to her late husband through a car radio in a meditation on grief and memory.
- I’m Leaving / Me Voy — 20 min. A Puerto Rican man confronting a health diagnosis makes the profound decision to leave the community he has built over a lifetime.
- La Estrella — 15 min. A small-town family is caught in the path of the fentanyl crisis with intimate and unflinching honesty.
- Zero Tolerance / Cero Tolerancia — 20 min. A family navigating the immigration system must also advocate for a son with autism, revealing the compounded weight of systemic exclusion.
- The Beat of the Game — 15 min. A love letter to fútbol and the Puerto Rican communities built around it.
- Final Frame — 14 min. A look at the impossible choices marginalized communities face between economic survival and access to health care.
The total runtime for the short films is approximately 99 minutes.
A cultural event centered on community
Organizers say the Des Moines Latino Film Festival was built as a community-centered gathering where Latino families, artists and leaders from across Iowa and the broader Midwest can see themselves reflected on screen.
That mission is reflected in a program that stretches across generations and geographies: a Sundance-honored documentary about one of the founding voices of Chicano culture, a Cannes-recognized Colombian feature in Spanish with English subtitles, and a lineup of short films made by and about Latino communities navigating the defining realities of contemporary life in the United States.
The festival also makes a broader argument about who serious cultural programming is for and where it belongs, positioning Iowa audiences as part of that conversation.
“The Des Moines Latino Film Festival exists because our community deserves to see itself fully and honestly. The big screen is worthy of our stories so future generations of Iowans know that careers in film are possible for them, too.”
— Antonio Romero, VP, Board of Directors, Des Moines Latino Film Festival
“Film is one of the most powerful ways a community affirms its own existence. When we bring a Cannes prizewinner by a Colombian filmmaker to Des Moines, we are saying something about Iowa’s Latino community, and about what all of Iowa can appreciate.”
— Jessica Trinidad, Board of Directors, Des Moines Latino Film Festival
Event schedule at Varsity Cinema
All events are open to the public at Varsity Cinema, 1207 25th St., Des Moines.
- 12:30 – 5:00 p.m. | Shorts Program: Loft Theater (2nd Floor), six short films in continuous rotation, each screening twice
- ~1:00 p.m. | American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez: Main Auditorium
- ~3:30 – 4:00 p.m. | A Poet (Un Poeta): Main Auditorium
About the festival and the Latino Center of Iowa
The Des Moines Latino Film Festival is Iowa’s first and only Latino film festival. Presented by the Latino Center of Iowa, the event brings award-winning Latino and Latin American cinema to audiences across Iowa and the Midwest and celebrates culture, community and the stories that connect people across generations and borders.
The Latino Center of Iowa serves the Latino community across the state through advocacy, education and cultural programming, with a focus on strengthening and celebrating Latino contributions to Iowa’s social, cultural and economic life.
More information is available at latinocenterofiowa.org/dsm-latinofilmfestival and on Facebook at facebook.com/LatinoCenterOfIowa.
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