Sydney Latin American Film Festival 2014

Overview

George Street will be humming with the energy of Latin America, thanks to the ninth annual Sydney Latin American Film Festival. Making the jump to the more centralised Event Cinema location in the CBD, the eight-day event will showcase films from all over Southern and Central America, as well as Caribbean nations including Cuba, Haiti and Puerto Rico. Even better, money raised by the festival will be used to support Latin American charities, including education initiatives in Mexico and Panama.

Good cause or not, there's plenty to get excited about on the SLAFF 2014 program. Opening night film Behaviour was a box-office hit in Cuba, and will be following by a party fuelled by Latin music, canapes and plenty of Havana Club rum. Venezuelan drama Bad Hair, meanwhile, was a favourite at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival earlier this year, while Peruvian dark comedy The Mute has earned comparisons to the films of the Coen brothers.

'Shortcuts to Mexico' presents five exciting short films from emerging Mexican filmmakers, and will be preceded by a set of alternative Mexican tunes spun by DJ Senor Bolivar. Sydney's hottest Latin American DJ will also be playing tracks after the screening of Songs of Redemption, a documentary about the reggae program in a Jamaican penitentiary.

Image: Bad Hair.