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"Sin fronteras" means "without borders," and, this year, the film festival that goes by that name knocked down a few barriers of its own.

For the fifth year of the socially conscious festival, organizers decided to expand beyond Latin American topics to include films by and about American Indians and others.

The result: double the number of submissions from last year and a wider range of narratives, said Yvette Morales, lead organizer.

The festival itself is a bit scattered this year, too. It opens tonight at Out Ch'Yonda in the South Valley and continues all day Saturday and April 28 at the Lobo Theater in Nob Hill.

Tonight's program is devoted to New Mexico films. The lineup:

The hourlong "When Your Hands Are Tied" explores ways young Navajos are finding positive outlets of expression and acting as role models. Filmmaker Mia Boccella Hartle will present the movie.

Federico Reade also will be on hand to discuss his 25-minute contribution "The 1988 Land Grant Struggle at Tierra Amarilla."

Two other Navajo short films will be presented: "Making a Stand at Desert Rock" and Nanobah Becker's moving "Conversion," which explores the influence of Christianity on native culture.

Other programs will be devoted to physical borders, American Indians and gays on Saturday, and identity, women and social justice on April 28.

"Our ideology behind the film festival has always been . . . there are no borders," Morales said. "And we don't mean just physical borders. There are also things in our daily life that separate us" - racism, sexism, classism.

"Bringing people together is what we mean by `without borders.' "

She said 65 films were submitted for consideration last year, and more than 130 were entered this year. Twenty organizers (up from six last year) helped select the films that will be shown.

"It's been a very democratic process," Morales said.

The festival is run by the Student Organization for Latin American Studies at the University of New Mexico. The students this year reclaimed the festival from faculty, which branched off and offered the Cin‚Mas festival earlier this year.

Morales said Albuquerque and New Mexico can easily handle more than one Latino film festival. She said the area is well positioned to be a leader in the hemisphere's film and social justice communities.

"This is one of the most powerful places to have that connection and solidarity with Latin America," she said.

Morales said she moved to Albuquerque from Los Angeles in 2005, and she is finishing up her master's degree in Latin American studies this spring.

She was drawn to Albuquerque's diversity.

"I always wanted to come here, because it's so different from the rest of the United States," Morales said. "There's a larger consciousness. People have an awareness of the land and the environment."

She sees a place where Latin Americans, Chicanos, Hispanics, Native Americans and others are coming together. And she said the peace movement is vibrant in Albuquerque.

"It's pretty viable," she said of the Duke City, "especially in proportion to the size of the city."

The festival will feature films from all over South and Central America, plus the native lands of Canada and even Germany.

On April 28, the hourlong documentary "Buffy Sainte-Marie" will explore the life of the American Indian songwriter and '60s icon. Another film sharing that program is "Young Women United," a 15-minute documentary about a community group in Southeast Albuquerque.