Ninth CCNY TAFFNY welcomes back in-person viewers, celebrates cultures and peoples of the Americas

In-person for the first time in three years, The Americas Film Festival New York (TAFFNY) opens on June 17 with the New York premiere of “The King of all the World” by legendary Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura at the Instituto Cervantes New York. TAFFNY ends on June 24 with its awards ceremony at the National Museum of the American Indian followed by a special presentation of “Bootlegger” by Anishinaabe/French director Caroline Monnet.

A cultural initiative of the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Center for Worker Education of the City College of New York, this ninth edition of TAFFNY presents seven award-winning fiction and documentary feature films and more than 30 shorts, celebrating the rich diversity of the stories, languages and cultures of the Americas. Apart from the opening night, all of the screenings are free and open to the public, and foreign language films are subtitled in English. Click here for the full program and showtimes.

A component of TAFFNY is the Americas Short Film Competition that is dedicated to the promotion and exhibition of short audiovisual works by emerging filmmakers that portray the contemporary concerns of filmmakers living in the region. This year, TAFFNY shows 28 short films competing for the Americas Award in the categories of animation, documentary, experimental and fiction. 

The jurors in the documentary and animation categories are director Catalina Santamaria, producer Wilson Reyes and film professor Alvaro Baquero-Pecino. Actress Jely Reategui, artist Alexis Mendoza and professor James  Lowry make up the jury in fiction and experimental film categories. 

Special guests, who will all engage in Q&A sessions after their respective films are screened, include: 

  • Alexandra Fierro, producer, “The King of all the World”;
  • Caroline Monnet, director, “Bootlegger”;
  • Greta Schiller, director, “The Land of Azaba”; and 
  • Carmen Vidal, director, “Exiles.”

Juan Carlos Mercado, Dean of CCNY’s Division of Interdisciplinary Studies and TAFFNY’s founder, said of this year’s festival: “In addition to highlighting the importance of presenting films from established filmmakers, we promote new talents with The Americas Award for short films in competition. We would also like to honor the students and faculty of City College’s MFA Program in Film, one of the oldest film schools in the U.S. and the only public institution in New York City to offer a BFA in film.”

Diana Vargas, TAFFNY’s Artistic Director, noted that this year’s films, mostly directed by women, “explore the complexities of their societies, review their past and question social and personal positions on pressing issues such as reproductive rights, sustainability, motherhood and the legacy of ancestral laws.”

Click here for a list of TAFFNY’s partners and supporters.

About the City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Emsi puts at $1.9 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 16,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.

Jay Mwamba
p: 212.650.7580
e: jmwamba@ccny.cuny.edu