By Erin Oliveri

The sixth annual Boston Latino International Film Festival (BLIFF) is enveloping the city in its cultural charm once again this week.

A screening of “Imitation,” a Mexican-Canadian film by Federico Hidalgo, kicked off the 10-day festival Friday night at the Harvard Film Archive.

Jose Augusto Barriga, founder and curator of the festival, and co-curator Sabrina Aviles, worked with several others to decide which films would be screened. The films were divided into three categories: feature films, documentaries and shorts. Film lengths range from one minute to more than an hour.

Those who do not speak Spanish will not be excluded from the festival. Several films are in English, and those in Spanish are accompanied by English subtitles.

Goals of the festival include providing new Latino producers and directors with exposure and depicting experiences of Latinos and Latin Americans, but Barriga said the motifs runs deeper.

“Our most important objective is to ‘break’ stereotypes through movie,” Barriga said. “We are trying to show real realities.”

Several venues in the area will be screening the 79 films: the Harvard Film Archive, Carpenter Center for Visual Arts, the Coolidge Corner Theatre, the Howard Thurman Center for Race, Culture and Ethnicity at Boston University and the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA).

Barriga said the venues were chosen based on convenience and ability to showcase the festival.

“We want places that are accessible to public transportation, and places that are able to bring some attention to the film festival,” Barriga said.

Unlike the other venues, the MFA will only be screening one film multiple times during the two day period, Oct. 18 to Oct. 19. The featured film, “Orozco: Man of Fire,” is a documentary about Mexican muralist Jos’eacute; Clemente Orozco.

“It shows an energy that I would think that would really inspire young artists today,” said Bo Smith, an MFA spokesperson.

The Howard Thurman Center, on the other hand, is showing several films Oct. 19 to Oct. 21. Many of the films focus on themes like culture, social justice and human rights.

“I told [Barriga] that we at the Howard Thurman Center are very interested in social justice and human rights,” said Raul Fernandez, assistant director of the Howard Thurman Center. “I wanted to make sure at least some of the films touched on those area.”

Admission to the festival is free at the MFA and Howard Thurman Center at BU, and $6 with valid student ID at the other venues.