This past Friday, June 27, the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival (PHLAFF 2025) hosted an evening dedicated to horror cinema at the Fleisher Art Memorial. The program featured two special short film blocks from prominent genre festivals: ETREUM Horror Film Fest and the renowned Macabro: Mexico City International Horror Film Festival.

ETREUM is a festival founded in 2021 by Colombian filmmaker Jorge Esteban Pardo, a horror movie enthusiast who launched the event using the resources he had available. In 2022, Argentine filmmaker Adrián Deschamps joined the team—initially as a jury member—and now oversees the festival’s operations in Buenos Aires.

This year, from a pool of 519 submitted films and shorts, ETREUM presented an international selection that included Horas Extras by Colombian director Andrés Gómez Tovar, The Walls of Horror by Mexican filmmaker Rosa Enríquez, Puedes Tú Solito by Spanish director Silvia Pradas, and 9 Minutos by Argentine filmmaker Victoria Mammoliti. This showcase reaffirmed ETREUM’s commitment to serving as a platform for independent works of horror, fantasy, and science fiction designed to thrill fans of the genre.

Next came the spotlight on Macabro, the first and most prominent genre film festival in Mexico, founded in 2002 by Edna Campos. Both Macabro and Edna have become institutions within the horror film scene in Mexico, Latin America, and globally. The short film selection included Bestia, El Huésped, Clickbait, and Hambre—all directed by Carlos Meléndez, a native of Mexico City who represented both his hometown and the festival in person at the event.

As for Meléndez, his first feature film, After School (2014), also marked his directorial debut in the United States. It won Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Film at the 2014 World Cinema Encounter. The film was also included in the Official Selection at the 2014 Imagen Awards, the 2014 Georgia Latino Film Festival, the 2014 Maverick Movie Awards, the 2015 Viva Latino Film Festival, the 2015 Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema, and the 2015 Chicago Latino Film Festival. Through his work as a director, screenwriter, and producer, Meléndez has earned international recognition and currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

The evening concluded with a special conversation between Carlos Meléndez and Erick Barragán, where they discussed his career, creative inspirations, and evolution in the craft of filmmaking.

Meléndez’s four films showcased a wide range of visual styles, narrative structures, and storytelling techniques. This was explored further in a discussion alongside local Philadelphia filmmakers Wi-Moto Nyoka and Edgar Aquino-Huerta, who also shared perspectives based on their own experiences.