LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, which marked its 15th anniversary last year, will not be held in 2012 due to a lack of funding, the Los Angeles Times said.

“We don’t like to call it canceled. We are regrouping,” LALIFF co-founder and executive director Marlene Dermer said. “But we will still be trying to do some special anniversary screenings, a day of shorts, some membership and networking events to keep our audience happy.”

She said the decision to postpone LALIFF until 2013 was announced upon the advice of the festival’s management last week.

Over the years, Dermer said, “we had made some marketing cuts and programming cuts. It is an expensive venture. We are in Hollywood. If we were in Wisconsin, we’d be the big cheese and everyone would give us stuff for free.”

The festival was founded in 1997 by actor Edward James Olmos, along with Dermer, and each year it has been organized through the Los Angeles Film Institute.

The last edition of LALIFF featured films such as “Without Men,” “Chico y Rita” and “Hidalgo, la historia jamas contada” (Hidalgo, the Untold Story) among others. EFE