The Other America Film Festival

The Other America is an international film festival committed to showcasing work produced by and centered around people that, by virtue of race, color, class, gender, sexuality, and political beliefs, have been continuously excluded from the eyes of Hollywood, and therefore from mainstream American culture.

People of color, women, queers, people with disabilities, the poor and working classes, youth and the elderly, community activists -- these are the people who inhabit and comprise an "other" America.

Because this Other America very often exists below the surface/in the margins/at the periphery of and is very seldom recognized or legitimized by mass-market media, the Other America is a space for progressive filmmakers to reflect the lives and experiences of peoples in struggle, to honor traditional cultures, and to nurture new aesthetics.

Likewise, the Festival exists to provoke dialogue and promote critical thinking, to replace ignorance with education, and to give San Antonio and South Texas greater access to the beautiful and diverse genres of independent film and video. By holding festival screenings at alternative venues (which in the past have included jails, coffee houses, housing projects, public schools, community centers, libraries, nursing homes, and cultural arts centers) the Other America includes the very people it portrays.

Since its inception in 1992, the Esperanza Center's Other America Film Festival has provided one of the few outlets for exhibition of independent film and video in South Texas. By 1997, the Other America has grown to a annual nine-day festival, helping to fulfill a pressing need for access to alternate media in San Antonio -- which is monopolized by two families of theater owners who control what movies are shown and for how long, basing their decisions solely on perceived "profitability". In September 1997 the San Antonio City Council eliminated the Esperanza from receiving local arts funding, a decision that was later extended into the year 2001. These grants were a major source of funding for the Other America Film Festival, and we've been forced to drastically cut-back, first canceling the 1998 Festival and then downscaling the 1999 festival. Currently we do not have dates planned for the 2000 Festival, and may need to cancel this year's festival as well.

This reality is especially difficult as we receive many inquiries regarding this year's festival: when is it happening?, what is the deadline for submissions?, when are you sending the call for entries?, etc. Right now there are no definitive answers to those questions. We ask for your understanding and support during this difficult period. The Esperanza is determined to continue curating Other America and we are looking toward future successful installments in spite of these setbacks.