The 11th Cinema Tropical Awards recognize the best Latin American and Latinx films of 2020 in a virtual ceremony with The New York Times Latino Network on Tuesday, January 19, 2021.
Cinema Tropical Awards 2021 Winners
And the winner is…
- Best Film: La Mami 🇲🇽 by Laura Herrero Garvin
- Best Director: Karim Aïnouz 🇧🇷 for “Invisible Life / A Vida Invisível”
- Best First Film: Night Shot / Visión Nocturna 🇨🇱 by Carolina Moscoso
- Best Latinx Film: The Journey of Monalisa 🇺🇸 by Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera
Congratulations and we look forward to seeing more great work from you.
Cinema Tropical Awards 2021 Nominations
Nominations were announced December 21, 2020. Categories include Best Film, Best Director and Best U.S. Latinx Film.
Nominees include everything from Academy Award-winning directors to first time directors. You will eventually hear about the work of the big time directors, but the real gems here are the work of younger artists. The limitations of starting out with low budgets force some stunning creativity.
Latin American Films
It’s always interesting to see what kinds of films directors are making in each country. The stories they tell say a lot about the country’s health. Latin America suffered a lot from colonialism, the Cold War and the ongoing Drug War, which are related. Some nations are still crawling out from under those problems, some have moved on. It shows in the types of films that are made.
We are going to hear more from some of these films and directors as awards season progresses.
- 🇧🇷 Bacurau is a Brazilian film by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles.
- 🇨🇱 The Cordillera of Dreams / La Cordillera de los sueños is a Chilean film by Patricio Guzmán.
- 🇦🇷 Corporate Accountability / Responsabilidad empresarial is an Argentine film by Jonathan Perel.
- 🇲🇽 The Dove and the Wolf / La paloma y el lobo is a Mexican film by Carlos Lenin.
- 🇨🇱 Ema is a Chilean film by Pablo Larraín (“No” and “Jackie”).
- 🇧🇷 The Fever / A Febre is a Brazilian film by Maya Da-Rin.
- 🇨🇱 I Never Climbed the Provincia / Nunca subí el provincia is a Chilean film by Ignacio Agüero (No to Pinochet commercials).
- 🇲🇽 Identifying Features / Sin señas particulares is a Mexican film by Fernanda Valadez.
- 🇲🇽 I’m No Longer Here / Ya no estoy aquí is a Mexican film by Fernando Frías. It is Mexico’s entry for the Best International Feature Film Oscar. Legendary directors Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón both sing praises. It’s a story about insider and outsider identity in different worlds (Mexico and New York City), and how life’s changes can very quickly invalidate your identity. It’s a dance film too.
- 🇧🇷 Invisible Life / A vida invisível is a Brazilian film by Karim Aïnouz.
- 🇦🇷 Isabella is an Argentine film by Matías Piñeiro. He’s known for adapting Shakespeare in Spanish. Piñeiro is a director with a deep natural understanding of the inner lives of women. He sets many of his films in the contemporary Argentine acting community. The work is contemporary and in Spanish, but it still feels like Shakespeare. Piñiero has that gift.
- 🇻🇪 La Fortaleza is a Venezuelan film by Jorge Thielen Armand.
- 🇬🇹 La Llorona is a Guatemalan film by Jayro Bustamante.
- 🇲🇽 La Mami is a Mexican film by Laura Herrero Garvin.
- 🇦🇷 La Vida de común is an Argentine film by Ezequiel Yanco.
- 🇨🇴 Los Conductos is a Colombian film by Camilo Restrepo.
- 🇨🇱 The Mole Agent / El Agente topo is a Chilean film by Maite Alberdi.
- 🇨🇱 Night Shot / Visión nocturna is a Chilean film by Carolina Moscoso.
- 🇻🇪 Once Upon a Time in Venezuela / Érase una vez en Venezuela is a Venezuelan film by Anabel Rodríguez Ríos.
- 🇦🇷 One in a Thousand / Las Mil y una is an Argentine film by Clarisa Navas.
- 🇵🇦 Panquiaco is a Panamanian film by Ana Tejera.
- 🇵🇪 Song Without a Name / Canción sin nombre is a Peruvian film by Melina León.
- 🇨🇱 The Tango of the Widower and its Distorting Mirror / El Tango del viudo y su espejo deformante is a Chilean film by Raúl Ruiz and Valeria Sarmiento.
- 🇺🇾 Window Boy Would Also Like to Have a Submarine / Chico ventana también quisiera tener un submarino is a Uruguayan film by Alex Piperno.
- 🇲🇽 Workforce / Mano de obra is a Mexican film by David Zonana.
Latinx Films (USA films)
- Born to Be is directed by Tania Cypriano.
- De lo mío is directed by Diana Peralta.
- The Garden Left Behind is directed by Flavio Alves.
- The Journey of Monalisa / El Viaje de Monalisa is directed by Nicole Costa.
- La Leyenda negra is directed by Patricia Vidal Delgado.
- Mucho, Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado is directed by Cristina Costantini and Kareem Tabsch. Walter Mercado (1932-2019) was a famous Puerto Rican television astrologer.
Cinema Tropical
Cinema Tropical is one of New York City’s leading Latin film presenters. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they are streaming films at cinematropical.org