Cinema Tropical, the non-profit media arts organization leading presenter of Latin American cinema in the United States, announced its Third Annual Shortlist, comprising 25 Latin American films from eight different countries plus six U.S. Latinx productions that the New York–based organization has selected as the best of the year.
Featuring productions from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Uruguay, and the United States, the list includes Academy Award winner Roma by Alfonso Cuarón; the Colombian film festival favorite, Birds of Passage, by Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego; the 14-hour plus Argentine epic La Flor by Mariano Llinás; and the Chilean film Too Late to Die Young by Dominga Sotomayor, winner of the Best Director Award at the Locarno Film Festival.
The films selected for this shortlist will compete for the 10th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards, which will offer awards for Best Film, Best Documentary, Best Director, Best First Film, and Best U.S. Latinx Film. The winners will be announced at a special evening ceremony at The New York Times Company headquarters in New York City on Thursday, January 9, 2020.
All the films under consideration had a minimum of 60 minutes in length and premiered between April 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019.
CINEMA TROPICAL’S 2019 LATIN AMERICAN SHORTLIST:
(Listed alphabetically by title)
1. The Awakening of the Ants / El despertar de las hormigas, Antonella Sudasassi, Costa Rica
2. Belmonte By Federico Veiroj, Uruguay
3. Birds of Passage / Pájaros de verano, Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego, Colombia
4. Buy Me a Gun / Cómprame un revólver, Julio Hernández Cordón, Mexico
5. Caballerango, Juan Pablo Gonzalez, Mexico
6. The Chambermaid / La camarista, Lila Avilés, Mexico
7. The Dead and the Others / Chuva É Cantoria Na Aldeia Dos Mortos, João Salaviza & Renée Nader Messora, Brazil
8. The Edge of Democracy / Democracia em Vertigem, Petra Costa, Brazil
9. End of the Century / Fin de siglo, Lucio Castro, Argentina
10. Enigma, Ignacio Juricic Merillán, Chile
11. A Family Submerged / Familia sumergida, María Alché, Argentina
12. Introduzione All’oscuro, Gastón Solnicki, Argentina
13. La Flor, Mariano Llinás, Argentina
14. Lapü, Juan Pablo Polanco and César Alejandro Jaimes, Colombia
15. Los Reyes, Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff, Chile
16. Monos, Alejandro Landes, Colombia
17. Our Time / Nuestro tiempo, Carlos Reygadas, Mexico
18. Rojo, Benjamín Naishtat, Argentina
19. Roma, Alfonso Cuarón, Mexico
20. Temblores, Jayro Bustamante, Guatemala
21. Temporada, André Novais Oliveira, Brazil
22. Too Late to Die Young / Tarde para morir joven, Dominga Sotomayor, Chile
23. The Sharks / Los tiburones, Lucía Garibaldi, Uruguay
24. A Wild Stream / Una corriente salvaje, Nuria Ibáñez, Mexico
25. While We Are Here / Enquanto Estamos Aqui, Clarissa Campolina and Luiz Pretti, Brazil
CINEMA TROPICAL’S 2019 U.S. LATINX SHORTLIST
1. Decade of Fire, Vivian Vazquez and Gretchen Hildebran
2. Harvest Season, Bernardo Ruiz
3. I’m Leaving Now / Ya me voy, Armando Croda And Lindsey Cordero
4. The Infiltrators, Alex Rivera And Cristina Ibarra
5. Premature, Rashaad Ernesto Green
6. The Unafraid, Heather Courtney and Anayansi Prado