Written By: Gabriela Lor and Edited by: Natalie Kates

The Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication (HMC) at Florida State University (FSU)’s College of Communication & Information will host the fifth edition of an international Spanish-language documentary festival called “Puntos de Vista”, which translates to “Points of View” in English.  The festival will take place at the FSU Askew Student Life Center on Thursday, April 10, from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. and 6:30-7:45 p.m., as well as on Friday, April 11, from 10-11:30 a.m., 1:30-3 p.m., and the closing  ceremony starts at 7 p.m.

This event is open to the public and all documentaries will include English subtitles.

“Puntos de Vista” promotes the creativity and originality of documentaries written and produced by Hispanic students in communication and film studies from Chile, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, U.S., Puerto Rico and Spain.  The festival’s main purpose is to encourage the expression of different perspectives through subject matters that will help us grow as communicators and as a society.  “Our goal is to develop awareness about social issues in Hispanic countries among students, thus educating and promoting cultural and academic ties among them,” mentioned Dr. Sindy Chapa, School of Communication Assistant Professor & Center for HMC Associate Director.  “This event provides opportunities to explore the uniqueness among the Hispanic demographic, thus helping them gain a deeper understanding about the different cultural interactions in an artistic way.”  The upcoming screening will show a variety of short documentaries that cover multiple genres regarding consumption, culture, religion, society and environmental-related topics.

For a month window towards the end of 2013, communication, media production and filmmaking undergraduate students/faculty in colleges and universities across the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Iberian Peninsula were invited to submit video entries.  To be eligible and considered, the submissions had to take the form of a 15-20 minute Spanish documentary and include English subtitles.

The festival committee, consisting of filmmakers and faculty, selected the best documentaries to participate in the “Puntos de Vista” festival on April 10-11.  The top contestants will show their work and compete for a first place prize of $2,000, a second place prize of $1,500 and a third place prize of $1,000.  The final round of selected documentaries will take part in an online voting process before the event starting from March 24 through April 7.  Winners are selected by the combined results of the online public voting and judges’ scores.

In addition to the documentary screening and presentation of prizes to winners, “Puntos de Vista” includes workshops for participants that feature FSU faculty and a guest speaker.  This festival will conclude with the annual “Lazos: Celebrating Latinidad”, in which the participants and students who share similar cultures, ideas and goals get together to celebrate their Hispanic heritage.

More information about “Puntos de Vista” and the voting process from March 24-April 7 will be available at hmc.comm.fsu.edu/puntos-de-vista.  If you have questions about this festival, please contact Dr. Sindy Chapa, School of Communication Assistant Professor & Center for HMC Associate Director, at 850.645.8129 or e-mail Sindy.Chapa@cci.fsu.edu.

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The Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at the FSU College of Communication & Information is the first of its kind in the United States devoted to educating students and professionals in the field of Hispanic marketing and advertising.  The Center focuses on educating students and training communications professionals to better serve the U.S. Hispanic and multicultural markets.  Faculty and students working with the Center are conducting groundbreaking research and serving as an innovative resource for the marketing industry.

To learn more, please visit the Center’s website, follow on Twitter.