15 Questions With Diana Cadavid, Director at Latino Film Institute

Favorite day & time to go to the movies: Saturday early afternoon in La Cinemateca La Tertulia in Cali, Colombia.

Name: Diana Cadavid
Occupation: Director of Industry Programs at the Latino Film Institute
Links: Get tickets to Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, starting 5/27 (tomorrow!)

1. What’s your favorite day & time to go to the movies?

Saturday early afternoon in La Cinemateca La Tertulia, in Cali, Colombia.

2. What’s your favorite movie theater?

I’ve lived in several cities and in each city I have a favorite movie theatre. I love walking, so they’re usually cinemas in the neighborhoods I’ve lived in.

I also love cinemas that host retrospectives and that are playful with their programming, by curating showcases for different types of audiences and with different themes.

3. What’s your go-to movie theater snack & drink combo?

A glass of red wine.

4. What’s your dream movie theater snack & drink combo (if noise and sound weren’t an issue)?

I don’t really have one!

5. First movie you remember seeing in a theater?

The first one I remember is E.T.

6. Last movie you saw in a theater?

The last one is Bruno Santamaría’s Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building, which played in La Semaine de La Critique in Cannes last week.

7. Is there a movie you wish you could have seen in a theater?

Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, or Cleo From 5 to 7.

Cléo from 5 to 7 dir. Agnès Varda (image by Criterion Collection)

8. Have you ever seen a movie more than once in theaters?

Yes, a few of the classics, like Roberto Rosellini’s Rome, Open City.

9. Do you stay through the credits or leave as soon as the film ends?

It depends on the day and what is happening after, or if I have to run to pee… usually try to stay, though.

10. What’s one thing you would change to make movie theaters better?

• More cinema from all over the world.

• Taking bigger risks and creating new audiences by showing work from a wider range of filmmakers.

11. Tell me about an especially memorable moviegoing experience that stands out in your mind.

Watching Pina in 3D with Wim Wenders in attendance, at the Lincoln Center in New York, with family and friends very dear to me.

Pina dir. Wim Wenders (IFC Films)

12. What’s a movie you’re looking forward to seeing?

La Bola Negra, by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who just won Best Director (in a tie!) at the Cannes Film Festival.

14. If you could live in a movie, which one would it be?

In a Guillermo del Toro film.

The Shape of Water dir. Guillermo del Toro (Searchlight)

15. Why do you think people should continue seeing movies at the movie theater?

Seeing a film in a theater combines total immersion with a sense of community. The intimacy of a personal emotional journey combined with the shared energy of the rest of the audience. It is a completely unique experience.