Cinema Tropical

Cinema Tropical

Carlos Gutiérrez of Cinema Tropical picks his favorite films on OVID. New York-based Cinema Tropical is a non-profit media arts organization that has become the leading presenter of Latin American cinema in the United States. Founded in 2001 with the mission of distributing, programming and promoting what was to become the biggest boom of Latin American cinema in decades, Cinema Tropical brought U.S. audiences some of the first screenings of films such as Amores Perros and Y Tu Mamá También.

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Cinema Tropical
  • Cinema Tropical Intro

    Carlos Gutiérrez of Cinema Tropical picks his top films on OVID.

  • Away from Meaning (Lejos del sentido)

    Directed by Olivia Luengas • Documentary • 2020 • 88 minutes

    When Liliana was three years old, she suffered from viral encephalitis. As a consequence, she began to experience borderline personality disorder years later. Along with her family, she devotes herself to managing and coping with emoti...

  • Tú y Yo

    Directed by Natalia Cabral and Oriol Estrada • Drama • With Paula Lebrón, Francisca Pérez De Sosa • 2014 • 86 minutes

    The Mrs., an elderly widow, and Aridia, a young maid, live together in a house filled with orchids in the center of Santo Domingo. Aridia cleans, the Mrs. gardens, and when work ...

  • 108 (Cuchillo de Palo)

    Directed by Renate Costa Perdomo • Documentary • 2010 • 91 minutes

    When Rodolfo Costa was found naked on the floor of his home in Paraguay, he had been dead for days. Though ostensibly jobless, he had mysteriously amassed a small fortune. He also had a secret alias-Hector Torres-and a secret lif...

  • Adriana's Pact

    Directed by Lissette Orozco • Documentary • 2017 • 96 minutes

    When I was a girl, I had a strong role model in my life: my aunt Adriana. In 2007, she was detained and I found out she worked as an agent at DINA (Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional) in Pinochet’s secret police, which has often been ...

  • Beyond My Grandfather Allende

    Directed by Marcia Tambutti Allende • Documentary • 2015 • 98 minutes

    More than 40 years have passed since a military coup in Chile deposed the democratically elected government of President Salvador Allende. The death of Allende and the years of military dictatorship that followed have left dee...

  • Cinema Novo

    Directed by Eryk Rocha • Documentary • 2016 • 90 minutes

    CINEMA NOVO is a film essay that poetically investigates the eponimous Brazilian film movement, the most prominent in Latin America in the past century, through the analysis of its main auteurs: Nelson Pereira do Santos, Glauber Rocha, Leo...

  • El Velador

    Directed by Natalia Almada • Documentary • 2011 • 72 minutes

    Martin, the night watchman, arrives with the setting sun in his rumbling blue Chevrolet. The cemetery mascots, EI Negro y La Negra, chase his truck down the road and greet him with wagging tails. The sound of construction fades away as...

  • In the Intense Now

    Directed by João Moreira Salles • Documentary • 2017 • 127 minutes

    Made following the discovery of amateur footage shot in China in 1966 during the first and most radical stage of the Cultural Revolution, IN THE INTENSE NOW speaks to the fleeting nature of moments of great intensity. Scenes of C...

  • Presumed Guilty

    Directed by Roberto Hernández • Documentary • 2009 • 88 minutes

    In December 2005 Tono Zuniga was picked up off the street in Mexico City, Mexico, and sentenced to 20 years for murder based on the testimony of a single, shaky eyewitness. PRESUMED GUILTY tells the heart-wrenching story of a man wh...

  • The Tiniest Place

    Directed by Tatiana Huezo • Documentary • 2011 • 104 minutes

    On the surface THE TINIEST PLACE is the story of Cinquera, a village literally wiped off the official map during El Salvador's 12-year civil war. But on a deeper level it is a story about the ability to rise, to rebuild and reinvent on...

  • Waiting for the Carnival

    Directed by Marcelo Gomes • Documentary • 2019 • 86 minutes

    The small village of Toritama is a microcosm of relentless capitalism. Each year, more than 20-million pairs of jeans are produced in make-shift factories. The locals work non-stop hours, proud to be the masters of their own time. Durin...

  • Araby

    Directed by João Dumans & Affonso Uchoa • Drama • With Aristides de Sousa • 2017 • 98 minutes

    Andre, a teenager, lives in an industrial town in Brazil near an old aluminum factory. One day, a factory worker, Cristiano, suffers an accident. Asked to go to Cristiano’s house to pick up clothes and ...

  • Still Burn (Algo quema)

    Directed by Mauricio Alfredo Ovando • Documentary • 2020 • 77 minutes

    Alfredo Ovando Candia was a military general who served as co-president of Bolivia from 1965–66 (and again from 1969–70) after overthrowing President Víctor Paz Estenssoro. His political and military service connect him to the...