The 6th Annual Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) presented by co-founder/actor Edward James Olmos kicks off today (Friday July 19th) with Vicente Aranda's Juana La Loca (Mad Love) from Spain. To be held at its traditional venue, the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, from July 19th to July 28th, 2002, the festival will showcase over 100 recent and classic films from Latin America and Spain.

LALIFF will be paying a special tribute to films from Brazil this year, with a retrospective of the films by renowned Brazilian filmmaker Nelson Pereira dos Santos who will receive the festival's 2002 Lifetime Achievement award.

Film highlights include O Invasor (The Trespasser) from Brazil, winner of this year's Best Latin American Film at Sundance, Vidas Privadas (Private Lives) the directorial debut of popular Argentinean singer Fito Paez, and De La Calle (Streeters) by Maryse Sistach, which swept Mexico's highest accolades, the Ariel Awards this year.