Gonzalo Justiniano’s ¿ALGUIEN HA VISTO A LUPITA? (HAVE YOU SEEN LUPITA?) will open the 15th Cine Las Americas International Film Festival on Tuesday, April 24 at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin. Partially shot in Austin, the film stars Dulce María, Carmen Salinas, and Cristián de la Fuente. Scheduled to attend the opening night screening are actress Carmen Salinas, Director Gonzalo Justiniano, and Producer Daniel de la Vega.

Closing the festival is Selton Mello’s O PALHAÇO (THE CLOWN) on Sunday, April 29 also at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar. Actor and director Selton Mello’s sophomore feature brings to the screen the magic and enchantment of a family circus traveling through the dirt roads of the Brazilian inlands. Scheduled to attend the screening is Producer Fernanda Kalume.

¿ALGUIEN HA VISTO A LUPITA? (HAVE YOU SEEN LUPITA?) stars Dulce María, of RBD fame, as a young mexican girl who runs away from her family when they try to send her to a mental hospital, starting a journey through which she will take us to discover a world that seems much crazier than she is. With her sensuality, innocence and romanticism, Lupita invites us to believe that life can be experiencedin different ways.

O PALHAÇO (THE CLOWN) follows the life of Benjamim (Selton Mello), who along with his father Waldemar (Paulo José) form the clown duo Thoroughbred and Mongrel, the main attraction of Circo Esperanza, a 15 people circus that travels through the dirt roads in the Brazilian inlands. Father and son share the ring and, supposedly, the same vocation, yet in spite of making the audience burst into laughter, Benjamim lives a personal crisis and tries to find his own identity. 

The 15th Cine Las Americas International Film Festival runs April 24-29, 2012 and will take place at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, the Violet Crown, and at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC), with additional screenings at St. Edward’s University in Austin Texas.