The Latino Film Institute has announced the lineup for its 24th annual Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF). Between May 28 and June 1, LALIFF will screen more than 90 films at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Attendees can expect a wide selection of features, shorts, episodic works, animation, panels and masterclasses. This year will place an added emphasis on the power of art: a theme that feels more timely than ever before for the festival coordinators. “This is such a hard time,” says Diana Cadavid, LALIFF’s director of industry programs, regarding the tensions of today's political and economic climate. “Many in our community feel threatened by the level of instability we’re facing, we want to make sure we continue to celebrate what makes us very powerful.” LALIFF was founded in 1997 by Edward James Olmos, Marlene Dermer, Kirk Whisler and George Hernandez with the goal of uplifting emerging Latino filmmakers. Since then, it has debuted films by Academy Award-winning directors, Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuaron, Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Pablo Larraín. As of last October, LALIFF was officially recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as an Oscar Qualifying Festival, which means that this year’s winners in the Best U.S. Latino Live Action Short and U.S. Latino Animated Short categories would be subsequently eligible for consideration at the 98th Academy Awards. “The festival continues with that same goal of being this platform for Latino cinema, now with a bigger focus on U.S. Latinos,” says Cadavid, who notes that roughly half the lineup is comprised of U.S. filmmakers. The program will kick off with a screening of “ASCO: Without Permission,” a documentary about the L.A. teen collective whose avant-garde methods pushed the boundaries of Chicano performance art in the ’70s and ’80s. Under the executive production of Mexican actors Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, the film was written and directed by Travis Gutiérrez Senger and recently premiered at the South by Southwest film festival in March. "I really love the way in which ['ASCO: Without Permission'] brings back the historical work that ASCO did,” said Cadavid. “That’s why we chose it as our opening film, [because] it encompasses precisely that vision that we have for this year’s festival.” LALIFF will conclude its itinerary with a showing of another L.A. based film titled "Serious People." Co-written and co-directed by Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson, the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It stars Gutierrez as a successful music video director, who hires a look-alike to take his place while he prepares for fatherhood. This decision ripples into a series of unexpected events that reflect the growing asymmetry of work-life balance in the States. “[‘Serious People’] is very connected to art and to culture, to artistic movements,” says Cadavid. “It’s also fun and very L.A., so for us it was very important to give a lot of visibility to the talent in the city.” This year also marks the return of LALIFF Eastside programming at the Regal L.A. Live in DTLA, which aims to highlight Los Angeles stories. Included in the lineup is Yelyna De León’s “20 Pounds to Happiness,” a romantic comedy written by “Real Women Have Curves” creator Josefina López; Yolanda Cruz’s “La Raya,” an Oaxacan coming-of-age story, plus her short film “40+,” about a divorced Los Angeles court translator; Aot Rivera’s “Los Angeles Canvas,” which explores city murals, as well as Kase Peña’s “Trans Los Angeles,” which features four different trans women in different L.A. neighborhoods. “ It's not that easy to come all the way to Hollywood to enjoy the festival,” says Cadavid. “We wanted to be able to expand to a satellite festival where people can still go and enjoy the films.” In line with LALIFF’s mission to spotlight rising filmmakers, they will also showcase the work by participants in the LFI Inclusion Fellowship and LFI Spark Animation Fellowship. This includes 10 live action films and three animation films that are shown across two different screenings at the Egyptian Theatre. The LALIFF lineup includes titles that have graced major international film festivals. From Sundance: “Rains Over Babel” by Gala del Sol and "Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, Dile que no Soy Malo)" by Joel Alfonso Vargas, which won the NEXT Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast. From SXSW: “42nd Street” by Jose Maria Cabral; “Uvalde Mom” by Anayansi Prado and "American Sons” by Andrew James Gonzales. From the Toronto International Film Festival: “Beloved Tropic” by Ana Endara, “Linda” by Mariana Wainstein, “Carnival Is Over” by Fernando Coimbra and “The Freedom of Fierro” by Santiago Esteinou. From the Málaga Film Festival: “Stay Still” by Joanna Lombardi. Miami Film Festival: “Espina” by Daniel Poler. From DOC NYC, "Isla Familia" by Abraham Jiménez Enoa and Claudia Calviño. Also being featured is “Shaman,” a film by Antonio Negret, which first aired at the inaugural LALIFF Film Market and later secured distribution. “ There's [a showing] for everybody, you don't necessarily need to be Latino to come and connect with our industry,” says Cadavid. To view the full list of films and purchase passes, visit the festival’s official website.