The 18th annual Chicago Latino Film Festival, presented by the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago, continues Friday through Thursday, April 12 through 18. Film and video screenings will be at the Biograph, 2433 N. Lincoln; Columbia College Hokin Center, 623 S. Wabash; Richard J. Daley College, 7500 S. Pulaski; Facets Cinematheque, 1517 W. Fullerton; Metzli Video Cinema, 1440 W. 18th St.; North Park Univ., 3225 W. Foster; Northwestern Univ. Annie May Swift Hall, 1905 Sheridan, Evanston; Northwestern Univ. Block Museum of Art, 1967 South Campus Dr., Evanston; Northwestern Univ. Thorne Auditorium, 750 N. Lake Shore Dr.; the Three Penny; and Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, Lecture Center B2, 750 S. Halsted. Tickets for most programs are $9; for students, senior citizens, and disabled persons, $8; and for members of ILCC and the Illinois Arts Alliance, $7. Festival passes, good for ten screenings not including special events, are $70, $60 for ILCC members. For more information call 312-409-1757. Films marked with an * are highly recommended.

  • 90 Miles

An Argentinean drama (2001) about six jaded people in Buenos Aires trying to change their lives. Juan Villegas directed; in Spanish with subtitles. 72 min. On the same program, Dos mas (2001, 19 min.), a Spanish short by Elias Leon Siminiani. (Biograph, 6:30)

Israel in Exile

Brazilian cinema generally separates into the sexy (Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands) and the socially responsible (Pixote), with the occasional hybrid (Bye Bye Brazil). This 2001 feature by Sandra Werneck falls squarely into the first category: after Carlos (Murilo Benicio) is stood up by a beautiful woman, the narrative leaps 15 years into the future, showing three different outcomes to his life. In the first he’s a married attorney, bored with his secure life; in the second he’s left his wife and child for a male soccer pal; and in the third he’s a swinging single who still lives with his domineering mother. Apparently only one of these scenarios actually transpires, and screenwriter Paulo Halm and Werneck, much to their credit, never really specify which. Unfortunately most of the characters are either uninteresting or underdeveloped, reducing the whole thing to an academic exercise. In Portuguese with subtitles. 93 min. (Joshua Katzman) On the same program, The Table Is Set (2001, 12 min.), a Mexican short by Kenya Marquez. (Biograph, 8:30)

Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »

A poor farmer whose wife has died tries to care for his son in this 2001 Venezuelan feature, directed by Alberto Arvelo. In Spanish with subtitles. 93 min. (Biograph, 9:00)

  • Dear Fidel: Marita’s Story