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Sylvia Perel

 * Sylvia Perel is an art history teacher, artistic director, curator, and film juror from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Sylvia has gone on to found several Latino film festivals that give audiences meaningful, non-stereotypical views of the Latino experience, with focuses on Women in Film, the Immigrant Experience, the Jewish Experience in Latin America, and Human Rights Series. She has created opportunities for the promotion and acknowledgement of Latino films and filmmakers and to generate career opportunities for young people in the film and film festival industries.

Early Life

 * Sylvia was born in Buenos Aires Argentina where she received her degree in Art History from the University of Buenos Aires. She went on to become a professor in the History of Art and Film before immigrating to San Francisco in 1981, where she conducts the majority of her work while frequently traveling to other parts of California and Baja California, Mexico

Career

 * Remaining true to her commitment to art and education, Sylvia Perel has developed her career around the art of film with some of her most notable accomplishments being in the creation and promotion of Latino Films. Her first notable documentary about open air-political art exhibitions in Buenos Aires “Art and Ideology”, was considered subversive by the Argentinian government as it unexpectedly captured police destruction of art and violence towards opposition organizers . The documentary did tour around European Universities as it became a record of the Argentinian government’s effort to repress organizers in the late 1970s
 * In 1997, Sylvia founded the International Latino Film Festival in the San Francisco Bay Area to give voice to Latino cultural expression through the powerful medium of film. The Festival has been a major event on the global film calendar with venues in San Francisco, San Jose, Redwood City, San Mateo, Berkeley, San Rafael, San Bruno, and Larkspur. Her programming made possible for audiences in the Bay Area to be acquainted with a meaningful, non-stereotypical view of the Latino experience.She continued her work in Todos Santos, Baja California, Mexico where since 2004 the festival she founded with focus on Mexican films artists and directors has grown to become the largest event in Baja California, dedicated to the dissemination of high quality Latino films.
 * Sylvia has been involved with various art of film programs, she served as the Artistic Director for programming of the Int’l Latino Film Festival in Redwood City, California. She has been invited to curate at various film festivals throughout the world that relate to Latino Film Works, such festivals include The Festival Latinoamericano di Trieste in Italy and the Territorio Latinoamericano program of the Festival de Mágala . In addition to being invited to be a Judge at major international film festivals in Spain, Mexico, Argentina and India, she has also been invited to curate and lecture at several universities and colleges in the US and abroad including UC Berkeley, Dominican University, College of Marin, City College SF, San Jose State University, San Francisco State University, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, Mexico among others.With a strong belief in the inspirational power of film Sylvia has created ground breaking educational programs such as the 1998 award winning “Youth in Video” program that has produced over 50 films by latino youth . In addition the program is designed to help at-risk Latino youth from around the bay area learn about filmmaking, digital technology, and are encouraged to pursue higher education.

Inspiration

 * In an Article on the San Francisco Chronicle Sylva reveals she had always been fascinated by the art of film and its contributions by Latinos she explains "There have always been movies by Latinos, movies of great distinction since the form itself was born, But it's only now that the giant Hollywood is beginning to pay attention to that fact." Shortly after arriving in the U.S. in 1981 Sylvia read and was inspired by Hayden Herrera's biography of the artist Kahlo. When she opened the doors to her first film festival in 1997 she found a small attendance of people to watch the 17 films over 2 days. Sylvia describes how she was determined to find the audience for the spanish speaking films "I would go to Book Passage in Corte Madera to see Isabel Allende speak,She'd read one evening in English, the second evening in Spanish. There'd be 300 people at the Spanish event, just as many as at the English event...So I realized there was an audience here for Spanish-language things. Why not for Spanish-language movies?" Sylvia was driven by her desire to reveal Latin cinema as a real phenomenon that had a long history and that deserved to be seen by a much larger North American audience. Six years Later her film festival has grown to include more than 70 films in six different venues and 25 Films in the Cine Todos Santos Film Festival which recently added two new venues in La Paz, the Teatro Juarez and Galería Galería.

Career Accomplishments

 * (Founder)
 * International Latino Film Festival - San Francisco Bay Area
 * Festival Cine Todos Santos - Baja California (Mexico)
 * 1998 “Youth in Video Program”
 * (Art Director for Programming) International Latino Film Festival - Redwood City
 * (Curator) Festival Latinoamericano di Trieste (Italy), Festival de Málaga (Spain)

Recognition
Sylvia Perel has received numerous recognitions including Certificates of Recognition from the California State Assembly,the United States Congress, the Channel 7ABC Latino of the Year Award and the KQED- PBS Latino Hero Award among others.