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Arizona Daily Wildcat Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films A Zapatista guerilla and child featured in the film "A Place Called Chiapas," one of several films to be shown at the Cine Latino Film Festival, Sept. 24-Oct. 3.

Forget Ricky Martin. Forget Jennifer Lopez. Pretty people singing pop songs does not define Latin culture.

What it has done is increase its visibility, creating a collective craving for all things Latino, allowing under-the-radar artists to have their voices heard. Such voices can be heard at the Cine Latino Film Festival, a forum which screens award-winning Latino films right here in downtown Tucson. The films originate from Argentina, Cuba, Brazil and Mexico, and deal with real contemporary Latino social issues, not whether Ricky will be No. 1 on MTV's "Total Request Live."

Of the four remaining films in the festival, two focus on a woman's search for identity. "For These Eyes" (1998), directed by Gonzalo Arijon, revolves around a grandmother's 16-year search for her granddaughter, who would become the poster child for a campaign to return all illegally adopted children to their true families.

The children were "adopted" during Argentina's 'Dirty War' when soldiers took the children of their captives and hid their true identities from them. Also involved in this documentary film is Daniela who must confront her past when she discovers that her real father was an activist during the time of the Argentinean military dictatorship.

The second film, "Who the Hell is Juliette?" (1997), won the Special Recognition in Latin American Cinema award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. Juliette, a teenage prostitute in Cuba forges a relationship with a filmmaker and a model, after her father has immigrated to America and her mother has committed suicide as a result. The film explores the search for identity and the difficulties with sexual politics.

During the third and final week of the festival, the organizers focused on the issue of rebellion. This features one of the most popular films from last year's Arizona International Film Festival, Nettie Wild's "A Place Called Chiapas" (1998). The filmmakers spent eight months chronicling the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico. The place called Chiapas is the site where the Zapatista National Liberation Army battled with government troops after seizing five towns and 500 ranches in southern Mexico. The Army's commander, Marcos, in an unprecedented maneuver, sent his army's message over the Internet. "A Place Called Chiapas" captures the unique nature of this rebellion.

The final film, "Quilumbo" (1984), directed by Carlos Diegues, is a saga about a self-governing community of escaped black slaves in Brazil, circa 1641. It focuses on one of the most famous of these communities, called "black El Dorados," that existed under the reign of chieftain Ganga Zumba.

Rebellion, prostitution and the search for identity are a far cry from the "shake your bon-bon" of Ricky Martin. These films are uncompromising, un-Americanized portrayals of the Latin life.