Vanessa Erazo, it's my name

Four great Latin-American films (and one Spanish one) are playing in theaters across the country – including one by former The Mars Volta guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. Check them out!

A Theater Near You is Remezcla’s twice-a-month guide to Latin movies you can watch without having to get off your couch. Check out two great films that put a face on homelessness: the Academy Award-winning short documentary Inocente, about a young Latina artist who is homeless and undocumented, and Entre Nos, based on the true story of a Colombian immigrant doing what she can to survive after her husband abandons her and her two young children.

Viggo Mortensen, best known for his roles in Eastern Promises and The Lord of the Rings, is a huge soccer fan. He almost got thrown out of an airport once after loudly celebrating a goal by his favorite Argentinian club team, San Lorenzo. Coincidentally, it’s his love of soccer that brought him to his newest role—playing twins in the Argentinian thriller Everybody Has A Plan.

The popular East WillyB web series is back with a new season. Often compared to Cheers, the series centers on a Puerto Rican bar in Bushwick owned by Willie Jr. who is fighting to keep the gentrification of the neighborhood from creeping into his bar.

A Theater Near You is Remezcla’s guide to awesome Latin movies for the lazy and broke; you can watch these all at home. 25 years ago a small, independently made Latino film was released in theaters. Starring the legendary Edward James Olmos and a young Lou Diamond Phillips, Stand and Deliver tells the story of a Bolivian immigrant who teaches math at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles to mostly Latino students. For his portrayal of Jaime Escalante, high school math teacher, Edward James Olmos was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.

The Academy Awards are rarely a platform for independent films, let alone Latino films but this year was different for a young Latina artist named Inocente Izucar. The circumstances of her life, chronicled in the short documentary film Inocente, are heartbreaking. She has suffered physical abuse, chronic homelessness, and the constant fear of deportation since she and her family are undocumented.

It’s an exciting week for Latino film. There are lots of options at the theater including the Oscar nominated NO (starring Gael García Bernal), the Puerto Rican thriller Los Condenados, and Bless Me, Ultima based on Rudolfo Anaya’s classic Chicano novel.

Remezcla readers love to take in culture, but don’t always have the cash for tickets. That’s where we come in. A Theater Near You is Remezcla’s guide to awesome Latin movies for the lazy and broke; you can watch these all at home (because sabemos que son flojos). Here’s part two of our celebration of Afro-Latino films for Black History Month. Blacktino is that rare teen movie that gets it right. The characters are caught somewhere between adulthood and childhood, hating high school, but trying to have fun. The director, Aaron Burns, drew from his own experiences as a “blacktino nerd” and injects smart social commentary about race into the storyline.

Afro-Latinos contend with a host of issues. They have to fight for acceptance within the Latino community and sometimes even within their own family (lighter skin is often considered more desirable amongst Latinos). And to further complicate things many Latinos are unaware of or even deny their African roots. But outside of the Hollywood system, in the indie film world, there are Latinos who have embraced their African heritage and focused their cameras on Afro-Latinos. LatinoBuzz talked to some Afro-Latina filmmakers who have decided to tell their own stories. Who needs Hollywood anyway? Here are three documentaries that are currently in production.