In Theaters Now

Now out in theatres is Victor Nunez’s riveting film Spoken Word. Cruz Montoya (Kuno Becker) is a rock star on the West Coast poetry circuit, where audiences from San Diego to Seattle gather to hear him perform. Just off the road from such a tour, he gets an unexpected phone call alerting him that his father, Senior (Rubén Blades), is fatally ill.

Cruz rushes home to his dying father, a reclusive former schoolteacher still leading a traditional life in their once bucolic mountain valley, now ravaged by poverty, drug abuse, and violence. Once home, Cruz retreats to his old life, managing a Santa Fe hip-hop club owned by local crime boss, Emilio (Miguel Sandoval), who Senior used to run with back in the day. Seduced by the fast action and easy money, Cruz loses his poetic voice, his identity, and almost his life, before he finds a way to heal his relationships with his family, his community, and himself.

Spoken Word depicts the edgy collision of old and new worlds, and explores how families can move beyond words, both spoken and unspoken, to share the language of their hearts.

Spoken Word made its West Coast Premiere at the 2009 LALIFF.
 

Benjamin, a retired court employee, decides to write a book about an old rape/murder case that he believes wasn't properly solved. He becomes determined to find the real culprit and reopen the case - a complicated and thrilling quest that filmmaker Juan Jose Campanella depicts with a style that effortlessly juggles romance, comedy, suspense and political commentary. Winner of the 2010 Oscar® for Best Foreign Language Film. 
Director Juan Jose Campanella

Writer/director Rodrigo Garcia (Nine Lives) teams with executive producer Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu to craft this drama highlighting the powerful bond between a mother and her son. It's been years since Karen (Annette Bening) gave her daughter, Elizabeth, up for adoption, and the decision to abandon her child has always haunted her. Upon meeting laid-back Paco (Jimmy Smits), Karen permits her anxiety and mistrust to get the best of her. On the surface it appears that Elizabeth (Naomi Watts) is none the worse for never knowing her biological mother; she's a fast-talking lawyer who's just landed a high-profile job at a firm fronted by Paul (Samuel L. Jackson), though her unsavory penchant for exploiting others is about to blow up in her face. Meanwhile, maternal-minded baker Lucy (Kerry Washington) longs to experience the joys of motherhood, eventually deciding that adoption is the best bet to start a family with her husband, Joseph (David Ramsey).
Written and Directed by past LALIFF Jury Member Rodrigo Garcia
 

When a young American (Amanda Seyfried) travels to the city of Verona, home of the star-crossed lover Juliet Capulet of Romeo and Juliet fame, she joins a group of volunteers who respond to letters to Juliet seeking advice about love. After answering one letter dated from 1957, she inspires its author (Vanessa Redgrave) to travel to Italy in search of her long-lost love, which sets off a chain of events that will bring a love into both their lives unlike anything they have ever imagined.
Written by past LALIFF panelist Jose Rivera
 

Set in Roman Egypt in the fourth century A.D., Rachel Weisz plays astrologer-philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, who fights to save the collected wisdom of the ancient world. Her slave Davus (Max Minghella) is torn between his love for his mistress and the possibility of gaining his freedom by joining the rising tide of Christianity.

The film, which also stars Oscar Isaac, Ashraf Barhom, Homayoun Ershadi, Jordan Kiziuk, Michael Lonsdale, Rupert Evans and Richard Durden, premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
Directed by Alejandro Amenabar