Although the San Diego Latino Film Festival is not until March of next year, its parent organization, the Media Arts Center San Diego, has been screening great Latino film all year at its Digital Gym Cinema, in North Park.

“This commitment to Latino films every month is a tribute to our roots, but more importantly, it’s a great alternative to what is playing in multiplexes,” said Ethan van Thillo, founder and executive director of both the center and the festival. “Latino cinema is great story-telling that communicates issues and entertains.”

The Digital Gym Cinema is ending 2014 with two series of films from throughout Latin America.

During November, it will screen several movies that reflect the diversity that exists in contemporary Latino cinema.

“It tells us that we are in a great time for storytelling from all over Latin America,” said Phillip Lorenzo, exhibitions director at the Media Arts Center. “It also tells us that the growing Latino population here in San Diego and in the U.S. is diverse, and it also tells us there is an increase in the amount of media content that we consume, and as that continues to grow so will the need to discover new stories, and that can only be good for diversity.”

Among the Latino films for November are The Mystery of Happiness, where a man and his wife try to find his lost best friend; Purgatorio, a documentary that explores the U.S.-Mexico border as if it were a scene from Dante’s Divine Comedy; Libertador, a bioepic about South American independence hero, Simón Bolivar; and To Kill A Man, the official Oscar selection from Chile that tells a story about ethics and family.

Also included is Food Chains, a new documentary produced by Eva Longoria.

“We´re very excited about the Latino and Spanish language films we’re screening in November,” Van Thillo said. “In particular, the movie produced by Eva Longoria, Food Chains, is going to garner a lot of interest and spark a lot of dialogue. We’ll have a panel discussion on the opening night of this film, November 28th. The discussion of where our food comes and paying workers a livable wage is a very pertinent topic at this time.”

Another film that is still very relevant after 15 years since a shorter version first screened at one of the first San Diego Latino Film Festival in the mid-1990s is La Ciudad, which is now considered a classic film that portrays the daily lives of several Latino immigrants in the U.S.

“At the time, La Ciudad was a very rare film,” Van Thillo said. “It put a personal face on the many immigrants living in the United States and the daily struggles they go through. As some things have improved greatly over the course of 15 years, La Ciudad still reminds us that there’s still a lot more work to do with regards to bettering the lives of all those in the U.S.”

Then in early December, the Digital Gym Cinema will present the series Noir Mexicano, with a couple of dark, crime-driven classic Mexican films, including Cabaretera.

“Noir Mexican cinema like the Cabaretera films were on the fringe, and that is important, because every great era of film needs a film for every audience,” Lorenzo said. “These films were inspired by Hollywood’s film noir and gave audiences that wanted edgier entertainment an option.”

Van Thillo said that preparations for the 2015 San Diego Latino Film Festival, which takes place in March, “are well on their way.”

He said that organizers are reviewing 100s of entries over the next few months and will make final selections for the movies by January.

Van Thillo encouraged the public to support Latino cinema by attending the monthly screenings, promoting them among family and friends, and by considering being volunteers during the film festival.

“We really need community members to come out and support these movies more often,” he said.

For a complete list of films being screened during November and December at the Digital Gym Cinema, please visit www.digitalgym.org. It is located at 2921 El Cajon Blvd., in San Diego.