2023 Festival Selections

Special Recognition: Trailblazing Chicano Actor Pepe Serna on his career spanning 50+ years. Ligiah Villalobos, screenwriter of Under the Same Moon offered a workshop to our Cine Se Puede fellows. We also presented and Art Exhibit at Pajaro Valley Arts, featuring local artist Juan Fuentes, subject of the shirt film Strawberry Picker.

The second weekend of WFF was cancelled to to extreme local flooding, and we are working to reschedule some films from that weekend. Coming Up: Sansón and Me, August 26.


2022 Festival Selections

FEATURE FILMS

SHORT FILMS

Special Recognition, Trailblazer Chingona: Josefina Lopez, playwright and screenwriter of Real Women Have Curves on the film’s 20th Anniversary.


2021 Festival Selections

Our first all-virtual film festival was a smashing success! We worked with the Eventive platform to present 20+ powerful films and shorts - all for free - as a gift to our community after a tough year. Due to systemic inequalities and the number of essential & heroic agricultural workers living and working here, Watsonville suffered the highest Covid-19 infection rates and deaths in Santa Cruz County. This was our gift to our amazing community, and the world.

2021 WFF Film Poster.jpg

2020 Festival Selections

Our 2020 Festival, scheduled for March 12-15, was cancelled due to Covid. However, we quickly pivoted, and by April 2020 we began our Virtual WFF online series. Though Virtual WFF, we screened most of our 2020 selections and hosted filmmaker Q&A’s throughout the year. The accompanying art exhibit “Campesinos: Workers of the Land,” which WFF co-sponsored with Pájaro Valley Arts, also premiered online. You can view it here.

Feature Films

Short Films

Música para después de dormir – Nicholás Rojas Sánchez / The LostVincent Cortez / Remover el corazón / To Stir The Heart – Melissa Elizondo / Xilonen – Digital NEST Short Film Intensive / No Place to Grow – Michelle Aguilar / Time and the Seashell - Itandehui Jansen (postponed until 2021 WFF) / Through Your Eyes  Eugenia Rentería  / Represent – Armando Aparicio / Best of Me – Maureen Gosling, Craig Sherod, Los Cenzontles / Bakosó – Eli Jacobs Fantauzzi / Last Online – Hector Villareal / Sharing Stories: Vinent Cortez - Eugenia Rentería / Oda a los frijoles – Karolina Esqueda / Burger Buddies – Avery Christmas / Your Welcome - Naftali Beane Rutter

Plus free community Film Talks: “Docs from the Heart” with Melissa Elizondo, and “Capture, Create & Inspire” with Eugenia Rentería.


2019 Festival Selections

Feature Films

Short Films

Service With A Smile – Andrés Mercado + Digital NEST Team (World Premiere) / Futbolistas 4 Life – Jun Stinson / Towards the Sun – Monica Santis / Crisanto Street – Paloma Martínez / To Infinity  Gabriel Savodivker / Con o Sin Papeles - Aria Zapata / Sunflower Soup  Melissa A. Martinez / Sharing Stories: Jessica Sierra – Eugenia Rentería / Sharing Stories: Dr. Ernesto Vela – Eugenia Rentería / Mia’s Wish – María Cano / Rosario – Marlén Ríos-Farjat / Forty-Seven – Sarah Mondragón / #ttyl – Allyson Wegner / Maestra Roxana – Soquel High Mulitcultural Club /  Stupidly Happy – Johnny Rome / Generation Z – Rosie Ceja


2017 Festival Selections

Feature Films

You're killing me susana – Roberto sneider

You're killing me susana – Roberto sneider

mele murals – tadashi nakamura

mele murals – tadashi nakamura

raising zoey – Dante Alencastre

raising zoey – Dante Alencastre

chavela – Catherine Gund & Daresha Kyi

chavela – Catherine Gund & Daresha Kyi

tesoros – maria novaro

tesoros – maria novaro

War of the limelight – Eric Hinwood, HARA YOUTH PROGRAM

War of the limelight – Eric Hinwood, HARA YOUTH PROGRAM

Short Films

No pases por San Bernardino (Don't Pass Though San Bernardino) – Hugo Magaña (U.S. premiere) / 37° North & Between Seasons – Puck Lo / A Father's Day – Mat Johns / Campito Kids – Anthony Loera-Brust / Carnitas – Tony Vaca / Closure – Ayana Hawk-Harris / Dance With Your Heart  Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi  / Deep in the Woods – Soyeon Kim / Dejando Huella & Permiso  Edgar Ontiveros & Jorge Flores / Every G.I. is a P.O.W. – Jaeson Amarillas / Grandma's Card NightRose Mercurio / Honey, I'm Home - Annie Taylor / I Was Born in Mexico, But... – Corey Ohama / Jenny Loves Satan – Jenna Bryant / Karen – Vanessa Cano / Kevin's Quest – Joseph Cloud / La Rabia de Clara (Clara's Rage) – Michelle Garza Cervera / Piaf – Adan Miguel / Santa Cruz ICE Raid: Lessons & Aftermath  Brenda Avila-Hanna & Kati Greaney / Soul-Mate – Jonathan Rome / Sugar – Jennifer Castaneda / The Battle for Matheney Tract – Samuel Contreras / The Cleansing Hour – Damien LeVeck / The Creature – Jane Tobias / Trespassers (Inkräktare) – Johannes Persson

Inspirational Filmmaker Award – Tadashi Nakamura / Filmmaker in Education Award – Luis Cámara


2016 Festival Selections

Feature Films

 
en el último trago - Jack Zagha Kababie

en el último trago - Jack Zagha Kababie

the great sasuke – Mikiko Sasaki

the great sasuke – Mikiko Sasaki

Boy and the World – Alê Abreu

Boy and the World – Alê Abreu

El canto del colibRí – Marco Castro Bojorquez

El canto del colibRí – Marco Castro Bojorquez

indivisible - Hilary linder

indivisible - Hilary linder

landfill harmonic – Brad Allgood, Graham Townsley

landfill harmonic – Brad Allgood, Graham Townsley

ovarian psycos – Joanna Sokolowski & Kate Trumbull-LaValle

ovarian psycos – Joanna Sokolowski & Kate Trumbull-LaValle

viva – Paddy Breathnach

viva – Paddy Breathnach

 

Short Films

Lurker — Gabriel Medina (World Premiere) /  Libertad — Brenda Avila-Hanna / Midnight Warrior — Alex Santana Jr. / 
Four Postcards to Marta — Hernán Talavera (U.S. premiere) /  Emerald Ice — Jesseca Ynez Simmons / Finding Blas Marisol Medina-Cadena /
They Will All Die In Space — Javier Chillón / La ropavejera (The Huckster) — Nacho Ruipérez / Ahco On The Road, Hansel + Gretel,  Noir — Soyeon Kim  / El Cacao — Michelle Aguilar / Mama Agatha — Fadi Hindash / The Call — Brianna Beavers / Fish Eye — Tong Zhou / 
Carla — Jacqueline Aquino / Baggage — Jessica Scrimshaw / As Seen On TV — Gabriel Norwood / The Maw — Jess Moss / 
Periods Suck & Where Are You?  — Jonathan Rome / El espejo humano (The Human Mirror) — Marc Nadal  /
Apis Mellifera — Cristian Duran & Joey Cloud  / Right Side of the Tracks — Richard Medina III / What Could Be — Spencer Merritt

Inspirational Filmmaker Award - Soyeon Kim / Local Pioneer Filmmakers Award - Geoffrey Dunn, George Ow, Jr., Cori Houston, Mark Schwartz


2015 Festival Selections

Feature Films

 
The Storm that swepts mexico – Ray Telles

The Storm that swepts mexico – Ray Telles

Documented – Jose antonio vargas

Documented – Jose antonio vargas

HABANASTATION - IAN PADRÓN

HABANASTATION - IAN PADRÓN

Sleep Dealer – Alejandro Rivera

Sleep Dealer – Alejandro Rivera

East side sushi – anthony lucero

East side sushi – anthony lucero

food chains – sanjay rawal

food chains – sanjay rawal

 

Short films

Edgar and the Joyous Life – Veronica López / Eduardo Carrillo: A Life of Engagement – Pedro Pablo Celedón / Eloy Take Two – Roberto S Orejel / Guajiros – Kati Greaney / Hijos del Sol – KQED Spark / Legacy of Resilience & Keiro Thursdays – Marissa Kitazawa / My Sunshine, My World – Marisol Medina-­Cadena / The Unique Ladies –  Gloria Morán /  Youth Short Film Program & Award

CA State Assembly Recognition for Body of Documentary Work - Ray Telles


2014 Festival Selections

Feature Films

 
go for it! – carmen marron

go for it! – carmen marron

la revolución de los alcatraces – Luciana kaplan

la revolución de los alcatraces – Luciana kaplan

hecho en mÉxico – duncan bridgeman

hecho en mÉxico – duncan bridgeman

xilonen: ceremony of tender corn – Consuelo Alba

xilonen: ceremony of tender corn – Consuelo Alba

everything comes from the streets – Alberto pulido

everything comes from the streets – Alberto pulido

 
 

Short Films

Luna  – Antonio Perez / Growing People – Dana Forsberg / Lonche – Claire Weissbluth / Vida Diferida (Life Deferred) – Brenda Avila-­Hanna / The Big Deal – Lucy Rodríguez / The Poem Home ­ Tara Evonne Trudell / Telling the Blues in Santa Cruz – Eric Arvizu / Día de los Muertos – Dave de Give / Una Mañana (In the Morning)  América Valdés /  / Tradiciones Veracruzanas  Gabriel Johns Robledo  / Youth Short Films Program & Award

Honoring Women Filmmakers - Carmen Marrón, Luciana Kaplan, Consuelo Alba


2013 Festival Selections

Feature Films

 
La bamba – Luis Valdez

La bamba – Luis Valdez

Los Que Se Quedan (Those who remain) – Juan Carlos Rulfo & Carlos Hagerman

Los Que Se Quedan (Those who remain)Juan Carlos Rulfo & Carlos Hagerman

Mosquita y MarI – aurora guerrero

Mosquita y MarI – aurora guerrero

Oscar – Rubén González

Oscar – Rubén González

Sin Padre – Jay Francisco López

Sin Padre – Jay Francisco López

The Crumbles – Akiro Boch

The Crumbles – Akiro Boch

harvest of loneliness (Cosecha triste) – Gilbert González

harvest of loneliness (Cosecha triste) – Gilbert González

La leyenda de la llorona – Alberto 'Chino' RoDríguez

La leyenda de la llorona – Alberto 'Chino' RoDríguez

 

Short films

Common Ground Consuelo Alba & John Speyer / Maestra – Catherine Murphy / Don't Cost Nothin' To Dream – Kathy Bisbee & Emery Hudson / Cain's Arcade - Nirvan Mullick / Gordo Vince Navarro / Rushing Waters, Rising Dreams – John Cantú / El Mar Picando en Sus Espaldas (The Sea Scratching at Their Backs)  Claire Weissbluth / L’equip petit – Roger Gómez & Dani Resines / La Charreada! Rodeo a la Mexicana – Olga Nájera-Ramírez / 
The Virtues of Corned Beef Hash Kerwin Berk / Lluvia Fría (Cold Rain) – Ana Simoes & Alex Perdomo / Márgenes íntimas (Intimate Margins)  Mónica Enríquez-Enríquez / Primera – Marcos Aguirre / Escrito Mónica Enríquez-Enríquez /  Follow Your Heart  Prem Devi Pride / Soul In – Noé Lomelí / 
Stuck in the Mud: The Pájaro River in Peril – Lois Robin / Bi-National Dreams, Mixtecos – Yolanda Cruz / The Audio Gadgeteer  Claire Weissbluth / 
The Project: Six Watsonville Digital Stories  Ron Glass / Unnatural Causes: Becoming American – Patricia García Ríos & Maria Teresa Rodríguez /
Best of the Fest: Chicago Childrens Int’l Film Festival Shorts – Various Directors
Youth Short Films Program (12 films) & Award

Local Pioneer Filmmaker Award - Luis Valdez


2012 Festival Selections

all-shorts Program

 
El Andalón – consuelo alba

El Andalón – consuelo alba

dirty business – jon silver

dirty business – jon silver

the save – amanda micheli

the save – amanda micheli

 

A Piece of Cake – Katie Roper / Double Edge – Nikolas Rector / Japanese American Citizens League Short Films  Heather Geddes and Watonka Addison / The Project: Short Digital Films  Ron Glass / Jacob Martinez: NEXTie 2012 – Cosmic Design / Salió El Sol – Sheila Lopez / Racism: A Short Inquisitive Film  Watsonville TEC Students

"On The Same Page" Award Recognition - Consuelo Alba & John Speyer / Local Pioneer Filmmaker Award - Jon Silver