Movies That Matter Latino is a quarterly film series that celebrates the diversity that exists within the Latino culture. Each event features a film screening, followed by a moderated discussion with local subject matter experts.

Screenings will be held on the first Sundays at 4 p.m. in March, June, September and December at the Rose Marine Theater, 1440 North Main St., home of Artes de la Rosa. MTMLatino is a made possible through a collaboration between the Fort Worth Human Relations Commission and Artes de la Rosa Fort Worth Cultural Center for the Arts and with support from the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Women’s Network of Fort Worth. Admission is free. Each event begins with a reception with refreshments provided by Taco Diner.

 

Unlike any other, the annual debutante ball in Laredo, Texas is part of a lucrative month-long festival honoring George Washington's birthday. Las Marthas follows two young women as they prepare for this elaborate rite of passage: Laurita, a 13th-generation debutante descended from Laredo's original Spanish land grantees who questions debutante society's class system geared toward girls like herself; and Rosario, a high-achieving, Mexican-raised and U.S.-schooled outsider struggling to understand the elite society's unspoken rules.

Tracing the event's origins back to 1898, the film works to unravel why a town like Laredo – with a population that is 98 percent Mexican – feels such affinity for America's Founding Father. Despite history and all odds, the celebration perseveres and flourishes thanks to the Mexican American girls who wear this gilded tradition in the form of elaborate colonial gowns. Las Marthas is a beautifully drawn and sometimes humorous, coming of age portrait of these two young women as they navigate this complex tradition in a time of economic uncertainty and political tension over immigration and border relations between the US and Mexico.

 

Rating: Not Rated

Released: 2013

Run Time: 69 minutes