The 2026 Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) is here, and it’s a big one. Now in its 25th year, the festival is poised to deliver an incredible lineup with some of Hollywood’s biggest and most recognizable Latino talent, mixed with emerging (and even student!) voices.

LALIFF 2026 is honoring Jennifer Lopez with their first-ever Adelante Award for Industry, reuniting her with the festival’s founder, Edward James Olmos. And they’re giving Paulina Chavez (Landman) the Next Gen Award during their opening night ceremony.

Jessica Alba (Valentina), Wilmer Valdermana (Suarez), Cristo Fernandez (No Translation Required), and Eugenio Derbez (Circus Gomez) all have projects at this year’s festival. Plus, Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro will also be in attendance for I Am Frankelda.

Latina Media Co sampled this year’s programming, and here are five standouts that we think you should put your eyeballs on ahora, going from dark and dramatic to colorful and comedic.

Aguadilla

The dramatic feature, Aguadilla (formally titled Adrift) stars honorary Latino Lou Diamond Phillips (Stand and Deliver), Alina Robert (The Roar of the Butterflies), and Rene Moran (Cross). Phillips is Benicio, a former surfing champ who is now confined to a wheelchair after an accident in the water. When Dominican couple Talisa (Robert) and Raúl (Moran) wash ashore on his palatial piece of Puerto Rican property, Benicio is more than intrigued.

The couple convinces Benicio that they are brother and sister in the hopes of getting more than a plate of food out of the well-to-do hombre. What follows is a scheme so manipulative that you can’t help but be drawn in. There is tension, seduction, and deception. But most of all, there is corazon.

The film reunites Lou Diamond Phillips with Tom Musca, writer and producer of Stand and Deliver. Tom Musca wrote Aguadilla and also directed the feature alongside Alexander Zeke Musca.

It’s also one of the best dramatic features that I screened for LALIFF. Robert delivers a silent but incredibly strong performance as Talisa. And Moran gives us a character that I quite frankly loathed yet, loved more than my tia’s chile colorado even though I know it will bring me heartache later.

Aguadilla screens on Thursday evening at LALIFF 2026 with a post film Q&A moderated by yours truly.

Exodus Stories

Delivering real-life drama and a teeny tiny speck of hope, Exodus Stories documents the migration of three asylum seekers as they travel from Central America to the United States. Colombian-born US immigrant, Ilse Fernandez, directs the documentary, embedding herself in mass migrant caravans to tell the story of Daisy, Cindy, and Dennis.

Taking place over years, the documentary follows these three and their family as they navigate a legal process that will hopefully end in the American dream. Each has to endure thousands of miles of walking, hitching rides from strangers, and dealing with changing weather with little more than the clothes on their backs. Faced with violence and even death, they figure the dangerous travel is worth the risk if it means they will end up in America.

Add to that a changing political landscape and a global pandemic, and Fernandez allows audiences to sit in the utter devastation and desperation of each of these dreamers. I can tell you that Exodus Stories will make you livid with our current administration (if you can even get any angrier at this point). But it will also leave you inspired. If you need encouragement, these individuals will surely fill up your heart with hope – even if our government does the opposite.

Exodus Stories screens Friday evening and runs 90 minutes.

Valentina

Valentina is courtesy of journalist and filmmaker Tatti Ribeiro and stars Keyla Monterroso Mejia (The Studio) as the title character. Valentina, like so many Latinas, is the manager of not only her own life, but her family’s as well. This young mujer lives in El Paso, but crosses the border on the daily to help her family. With her bank account constantly dwindling, she finds herself in a game of Wack-a-Mole every hour of her day.

Fortunately for her, she is spunky and energetic. Unfortunately for her, she often has to choose between meeting her own needs or her papa’s and hermano’s. That being said, when a government program threatens her livelihood, Valentina has to decide if she is willing to fight against the man or not.

I found Valentina comforting in its familiarity with a space that many of us can relate to. Mejia delivers an authentic portrayal of a woman who feels more like a sister than an actor playing a part. Major shoutout to a dinner party scene that so perfectly explains corporate and city greed (I rewatched it three times).

Jessica Alba serves as a producer on the project and Valentina is a genuine standout. As such, it has the honor of serving as LALIFF’s Opening Night Film on Wednesday night.

How to Clean A House in 10 Easy Steps

The documentary How To Clean A House in 10 Easy Steps comes to us from director Carolina González Valencia. This artistic and sometimes animated film centers around the director’s own mother, Beatriz Valencia.

Back in the late 90’s, Beatriz migrated from Colombia to the United States and, like so many before her, became a domestic worker. The mother of two left her children behind, including Carolina, in search for a better future with the hopes of being reunited soon. To counter the isolation and depression, Beatriz began writing. When a client discovered her musings, she encouraged Beatriz to write a book. Spoiler alert: she did!

That first book, titled How to Clean Your House in 10 Easy Steps thrusts Beatriz into a life that she never knew existed. She would go on to write other books and later partnered up with her daughter for this documentary project.

Though the title may seem like the viewer is about to get an intense cleaning tutorial, this film is most assuredly not. It is a loving look at sacrifice and suffering. And, it serves as a genuine love letter to the domestic worker.

Can Beatriz make amends with the children she left behind? That I won’t spoil. But I can tell you that if your mama is still alive, you will most certainly want to reach out and hug her – hard!

How To Clean Your House in 10 Easy Steps screens at LALIFF on Friday night, where both Carolina and Beatriz will be on-site for a Q&A.

Circus Gomez

The term ‘LOL’ is as overused as the word ‘love.’ However, I stand on all ten toes when I say I LOLd and LOVED Circus Gomez. This animated, comedic series is courtesy of director and Mexican animator Sergio “Teco” Lebrija (La Familia del Barrio). It centers on the Gomez family and the circus they run.

Unfortunately, the circus is about as popular as crying kids at church. But the family comes up with a scheme that will most certainly make them profitable again.

What follows is absolute absurdity. Think anal bleaching and horny abuelos, and you are in the vicinity of Circus Gomez. The Latino-ness of this adult animation project had me reveling in its luchador masks and big-boobed telenovela mom. Eugenio Derbez (Acapulco)and Diana Bovio (The Manny) lend their voice to this project that, for all its funniness, is really about family and doing what it takes to not only survive, but thrive.

Circus Gomez premieres on Saturday at LALIFF 2026.

Honorable mentions go out to No Translation Required, Suarez and LALIFF’s closing night film TheyDream, winner of the NEXT Special Jury Award for Creative Expression and EP’d by John Leguizamo and Ben DeJesus. LALIFF takes place at the famed TCL Chinese IMAX Theatre and the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood from May 28-May 31, 2026.