Sydney Latin American Festival

29/01/2026

Bondi Latin Fiesta
Returns on Sunday 8 February, from 12 – 7 pm at the Pav.

This is a family friendly event, there's something for everyone - all are welcome, and entry is free!

Dante Rivera will be the Official Dj for the Festival!

For more info: https://www.bondipavilion.com.au/whats_on/event/bondi_latin_fiesta_2026

07/11/2025

Sunday 9 Nov
5:35pm
Golden Age Cinema & Bar

Winner of the NEXT Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and celebrated at Berlinale and First Films’ favourite festival, New Directors/New Films, Mad Bills to Pay (Destiny, dile que no soy malo) announces the arrival of a bold new voice, director Joel Alfonso Vargas.

Set in a tight-knit Dominican American community in The Bronx, and teeming with street-cast talent, Vargas delivers a raw, authentic, and tender portrait of urban life.

This gritty, Bronx-set romance follows two teenagers in love, an unplanned pregnancy, and the poverty that encumbers them. And yet, this is a vivacious, hear...

07/11/2025

Winner of the NEXT Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and celebrated at Berlinale and First Films’ favourite festival, New Directors/New Films, Mad Bills to Pay (Destiny, dile que no soy malo) announces the arrival of a bold new voice, director Joel Alfonso Vargas.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36WtC5VAIe4

Set in a tight-knit Dominican American community in The Bronx, the film follows Rico (Juan Collado), a young hustler selling bootleg “nutcracker” cocktails, chasing summer adventures, and navigating messy teenage love with Destiny (Destiny Checo). When Destiny moves in with his family, their apartment becomes a chaotic stage for laughter, heartbreak, and the harsh lessons of growing up fast in a city that never waits.

Teeming with street-cast talent, Vargas delivers a raw, authentic, and tender portrait of urban life. With humour, grit, and intimacy, Mad Bills to Pay introduces a filmmaker whose vision is impossible to ignore.