It's almost like a film community that gets together every year.

The Seattle film community is at a grass-roots level. Large film communities used to be small ones. The industry has to be created here.

There's less of a community for film here. Artistically, this is not a strong community, ... It's easier to clear locations and people are more excited about being involved with a movie. You are more of a maverick, to quote Top Gun .

We are hoping to really draw from the University of Pennsylvania community for the film festival.

It's a resource for our students in our film courses. And when we do these series for the community, it makes them aware of the richness of American cinema.

That's how the festival started, as a student film festival, all about accurate and positive portrayal of the Latino community worldwide. Those core values are still very much part of the festival today.