Des Moines Latino Film Festival

Get ready for four unforgettable nights at the 2025 Des Moines Latino Film Festival, presented by the Latino Center of Iowa! This celebration of Latino culture brings powerful movies and art together under one roof. From award-winning documentaries to community conversations, it's a joyful, high-energy experience you won't want to miss. Join us April 15-18 at Varsity Cinema for a celebration of Latino culture, connection, and community in Des Moines!

Schedule of Events:

7:00 pm: Lengua and Sujo

Run Time: 138 min

Recently arrived in the United States, a haunting anxiety troubles Daniel before his first day of school.

When a cartel gunman is killed, he leaves behind Sujo, his beloved 4-year-old son. The shadow of violence surrounds Sujo during each stage of his life in the isolated Mexican countryside. As he grows into a man, Sujo finds that fulfilling his father's destiny may be inescapable.

A breathtaking film and the second collaboration of filmmakers Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez (Identifying Features), Sujo recenters stories of cartel violence by exploring its aftermath, the collateral damage, and its orphans. With lyrical intensity and a penetrating humanity, it offers a moving, contemporary coming-of-age portrait of Sujo, a young man named after a strong-willed horse, and the way his identity, consciousness, and moral character are shaped through various episodes - by the women who protect him, the boys lured toward their fathers' fates, the mentorship of a teacher - as if they are seasons in his growth.

Click here to Buy Tickets