Chicago, IL • International Latino Cultural Center’s Executive Director Mateo Mulcahy has announced expanded roles for two longtime members of the Chicago Latino Film Festival (CLFF) team, a restructuring intended to better align staff responsibilities with the operational demands of an organization entering its 43rd Festival year. Both positions report directly to Mulcahy, who continues to serve as the overall administrator of the ILCC and the Festival, overseeing staff, sponsorship, finances, and marketing, with an ongoing role in programming as well.
Alejandro A. Riera: Publicity and Programming Manager
Alejandro A. Riera has been named Publicity and Programming Manager, expanding a role he has held for close to 15 years as the Festival’s Media Relations and Communications Manager. The new title reflects an addition to his existing duties rather than a change in direction: Riera will now be directly involved in the feature film selection process and will work alongside Sandra Bernal A. in scheduling the Festival’s selected lineup, while continuing to manage all communications and content for CLFF, including its social media team.
“Programming a film festival like ours is a year-round effort. It involves monitoring what films are playing in the festival circuit as well as what’s playing theatrically all over Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, Portugal and the United States. It also involves striking that delicate balance between genres and filmmaking styles that makes attending a film festival an experience like no other.” Riera said.
“I am truly excited about my new, expanded role as Programming Manager. Iberoamerican cinema is having another great year and I am looking forward to working hand in hand with Sandra and Mateo in bringing as many of these great films to Chicago as possible.”
Riera’s ties to Chicago’s Latino media landscape date back to 1988, when he and a group of independent producers launched “Orgullo Latino,” a weekly newsmagazine series on the Chicago Access Network. He spent a decade as the arts and entertainment reporter for ¡Exito!, the Chicago Tribune’s Spanish-language weekly, covering theater, music, film, and television, and contributed regularly to the Tribune’s Tempo and Arts & Entertainment sections, including capsule reviews of past Chicago Latino Film Festival selections. He later served as A&E Senior Editor for Hoy, the Tribune’s national Spanish-language daily, and as Editor-in-Chief of Café Media. His writing currently appears in Third Coast Review, the Chicago Reader, and his own Substack, along with a monthly film column for Cinelandia. Riera has spent close to 15 years as CLFF’s Media Relations and Communications Manager and previously worked for 10 years as publicity manager for the Chicago International Film Festival.
Sandra Bernal Aristizabal: Artistic and Operations Director
Sandra Bernal A. has been named Artistic and Operations Director for the Festival. In this role, she will cultivate relationships with film festivals and other film-related organizations, leaders, and community stakeholders; serve as the primary point of contact between filmmakers and the Festival; and oversee the Features and Shorts Programming Committees along with the Hospitality and Ticketing teams.
“For the last 4 years, I have had the honor of working very closely with Pepe Vargas to understand the festival’s inner workings and potential opportunities. Now, as I step into this new journey as the Festival’s Artistic and Operations Director, I aim to build bridges with other Festivals, open pathways with the city’s Pan-Latino community and find new allies that want to create partnerships with the CLFF, the longest continuously running Latino Film Festival in the USA. I am thrilled to keep learning and working as part of an incredible team that embraces our Festival’s motto: to make the next festival edition better than the last one.” Said Bernal.
Bernal joined the Festival four years ago as its Hospitality Manager and has spent the past two years as Programming Manager. She is a cultural manager, brand developer, and mass media and communications professional with a background in public diplomacy, having worked with the British and Swedish embassies in Colombia on cultural exchange initiatives. She has also been part of organizing large-scale events, including the Prince of Wales’s 2014 visit to Colombia, Pope Francis’s 2017 visit, and the 32nd International Book Fair of Bogotá, held with Sweden as country guest of honor in 2021. She holds a Master’s degree in Arts and Culture Management.
A Reorganization Within an Established Structure
Both new titles sit within a reporting structure that remains unchanged at the top: Mulcahy continues to hold ultimate responsibility for the ILCC and the Festival’s operations, staffing, finances, sponsorship, and marketing. The expanded roles for Riera and Bernal are described by the organization as a response to the day-to-day realities of running an event of CLFF’s scale — now heading into its 43rd edition as the largest and longest continuously-running Latino film festival in the United States, with more than 4,500 films screened since its founding in 1985.
The organization is also changing office spaces at 11 E. Adams Suite 1605, Chicago, IL 60603 only a few blocks from their present location. The current building where the ILCC is headquartered is slated to become residential apartments and all business tenants are required to vacate after lease end.
More on the ILCC and the Chicago Latino Film Festival is available at ChicagoLatinoFilmFestival.org