This fall’s Latino film festivals roll out the reels beginning August 31, and Latino directors, actors, and screenwriters are more than ready to tell their stories.

One such tale is El Camino, featured at the 12th Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. Directed by Costa Rica resident Ishtar Yasin Gutiérrez, the movie follows two young Nicaraguan siblings in their daunting and sometimes terrifying search for their migrant mother, who was forced to leave them to find work in Costa Rica.

A scene from Juan Carlos Martin's 40 días. Photo: Miguel Lopez

Juan Carlos Martin’s 40 Days, one of 80 films selected from 400 entries for San Francisco’s 12th International Latino Film Festival, also involves a journey: three people in a love triangle take a road trip from Mexico to the United States and back.

CineSol, in south Texas, celebrates its quinceañera and—organizers hope—record-breaking attendance. Programming Director Henry Serrato expects 1,500 attendees, including many who might see August Evening, a film by Chris Eska about an aging farm worker and his young, widowed daughter-in-law.

Serrato considers the festival “a preview of what’s to come in Hollywood. You never know who’s going to be the next Robert Rodriguez,” he says, referring to the director of such films as Desperado.