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If you’re looking for a movie night unlike any other this week, or maybe just some way to shake off the final result of March Madness, look no further than the Lawrence University Latin American and Spanish Film Festival. The festival, in its fourth year, runs April 8-11 in the Warch Campus Center Cinema at Lawrence University. The series is free and open to the public.

This year’s line-up features critically acclaimed films, along with several regional premieres. Films traverse diverse topics like homophobia, illiteracy, the famous Mexican comedy star Catinflas, absurdism, and even the Beatles. Some of the highlights for the this year include a lecture by Walter Mignolo of Duke University on “Latin America and/in the Global World Order” at 4:30 p.m. tonight as part of Lawrence University’s Povolny Lecture Series. There will also be two Q&A’s, the first with Rubén Mendoza, a Colombian director whose work “Tierra en la Lengua” or “Dust on the Tongue” will be held on Thursday at 8:30 p.m., and another on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. with Moisés Sepúlveda, the director of “Las Analfabetas” or “The Illiterate.”

Professor Rosa Tapia in the Spanish Department at Lawrence University says, “I am really excited to open with ‘Bad Hair (Pelo Malo)’ a film that has won many international awards and made a big splash last year.” The Venezuelan film also encouraged the collaboration between several different academic programs and student organizations. She is, of course, excited as well for the attendance of Mendoza and Sepúlveda. “The audience just loves the unique opportunity of chatting with the director of a film and we are happy to oblige,” she says.

The Lawrence University Latin American and Spanish Film Festival was first designed in 2012 by a former Alfieri Postdoctoral Fellow Javier Guerrero. In 2013, after Guerrero’s departure, the Spanish Department continued the event in collaboration with the president’s office and Film Studies Department at Lawrence University, along with the help of many other campus organizations. The first two years of the festival focused on films with themes of gender and music. Often, the schedule featured a mix of both recent and older films. In 2014, however, the festival decided to move the focus to films that were both critically acclaimed and part of the most recent international season.

Every year, the film festival draws people from all over Wisconsin. The festival is very unique in its diversity of programming, and is a huge asset to not just Lawrence University, but also the cultural diversity of the entire Fox Cities area. And, don’t worry if your Spanish is a little rusty — there are English subtitles for all the films.

For more information, visit go.lawrence.edu/lasf. Also, be sure to check out facebook.com/lawrencefilmfest for trailers of the films and updates on the festival. See below for a lineup of the films that will be showing.

Films

April 8**

4:30 p.m. “Latin America and/in the Global World Order” Walter Mignolo Steitz 102

7 p.m. Opening Reception WCC 225

8 p.m. “Bad Hair” Dir. Marian Rondón WCC Cinema

April 9

5 p.m. “Dust on the Tongue” Dir. Rubén Mendoza WCC Cinema

6:30 p.m. Q&A with director Rubén Mendoza WCC Cinema

8 p.m. “Two Shots Fired” Dir. Martín Rejtman WCC Cinema

April 10

5 p.m. “To Kill a Man” Dir. Alejandro Fernández WCC Cinema

8 p.m. “Cantinflas” Dir. Sebastián del Amo WCC Cinema

April 11

5 p.m. “The Illiterate” Dir. Moisés Sepúlveda WCC Cinema

6:30 p.m. Q&A with director Moisés Sepúlveda WCC Cinema

7 p.m. Closing Reception WCC 225

8 p.m. “Living is Easy with Eyes Closed” Dir. David Trueba WCC Cinema

**All events except for the Povolny Lecture Series, will be held at Lawrence University, Appleton in the Warch Campus Center (WCC) on the second floor. The Povolny Lecture Series will be held in Steitz 102 of the Steitz and Youngchild Science Building on the Lawrence University Campus.