It is “magico” said one of the organizers. And that may be the most apt description for the Film Festival in La Paz and Todos Santos in Baja California, Mexico. First of all, the location. It is rumored that the event’s presenting sponsor was the very legendary Hotel California of the Eagles 1976 song. Whether a fact or not meant little to me because the hotel felt like the one in the song, as did the whole small town of Todos Santos: Such a lovely place! A cozy artistic community of Americans have kept their secret well for decades. Mixing with the local Mexican store owners, they have created their own havens of art studios, wine shops and elegant restaurants blending tastes from Mexico, South America and Europe.

Then, the size of the film festival itself gave it a familial aura, a sense of “small but mighty”. Sylvia Perel, the founder and director, called it a “dissemination festival”. Premiere status is not important to her. Rather, her aim is to collect the best of the best from Mexico, Spain and South America, films that have already won at other festivals, and to bring them to the communities of village-like Todos Santos and provincial La Paz. GÜEROS, a 2014 masterpiece by Alfonso Ruízpalacios, one of the most highly awarded Mexican films, domestically and internationally, played at the Teatro Manuel  Márquez de León in the town square, and so did the seductive CARMIN TROPICAL (2015), about the Muxe culture in Oaxaca, by the much promising Rigoberto Perezcano. Actors Tenoch Huerta and Luis Alberti, representing each film respectively, were there to offer insight into the making and the intentions of the filmmakers.

But more than anything, it was Sylvia Perel herself who cast a magic spell on the community, organizers and visitors. Throughout her career since 1997 as the founder and director first of the International Latino Film festival servicing the entire Bay Area and then of the Festival de Cine Todos Santos – La Paz, she concerned herself with the preservation of film as art and not commodity, of quality over quantity, and with the good of the community. In this spirit, along with her husband Leonardo Perel, she founded the award-winning program Youth in Video and the first film school in Baja California South. These credentials, however, are only accessories to her inspirational presence. Sylvia was always there introducing films, conducting Q&As, supporting young filmmakers, leading the whole operation with the contentment of someone who loves what she does, someone who is willing to take all obstacles, small and great, as an opportunity to laugh and, no matter what, enjoy all the gifts that art brings.

Walking on the cobblestone streets after a day of beautiful films and lively conversations, there was the song again:

You can check out any time you like

But you can never leave…

Ersi Danou