Centroamericanto Fest 2025 celebrates its 17th edition with two days filled with Central American culture. Friday, September 19th, will be dedicated to film, and Saturday, September 20th, to music, dance, and gastronomy. Centroamericanto Fest has become a cultural festival that the community looks forward to every year and that maintains its mission of uniting the community through art.
This annual festival will be held at the Asian American Resource Center located at 8401 Cameron Rd. Austin TX. 78754. As is customary, this event invites the general community of Austin to showcase different traditions of Central American people, who also celebrate their national holiday, Independence Day, in September.
On Friday, September 19th, the film festival will start at 6:30 PM, featuring the acclaimed Salvadoran film Nunca es tarde (Never Too Late). Part of the cast will be present to meet the audience, take photos, and answer questions after the film. This screening will be the U.S. premiere after a successful run at various international festivals, including Cannes World Film Festival, Brazil New Visions, and the Stockholm City Film Festival. Two Salvadoran shorts, Fleeting and El de la mochila (The One with the Backpack), will also be screened, followed by a Q&A session with their executive producer. The short film Todas (All) by Salvadoran filmmaker and singer Pamela Robin will also be screened. The festival will conclude with the Costa Rican documentary Buscando el Swing (Searching for Swing) about the origins of cumbia in Costa Rica.
Saturday, September 20th, the traditional music and food festival will start at 5:30 PM with an exhibition fair and traditional food. The traditional dances from Costa Rica, performed by Carolina Ruiz-Roth and the group Amor por Panamá, will begin at 7 PM. Following that, the Guatemalan marimba master Luis Leiva, Max Frigüey from El Salvador, a historic leader of the famous band Frigüey, and Nicaraguan singer-songwriter Luis Pastor will take the stage alternately with his talented son Adrián González Mejía, along with the hosts Mauricio Callejas Trio.
For more information and tickets for each day, visit www.cacfest.com.
Source: Festival Director, IMDb, elsalvador.com