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Latin Film NYC

New York was America’s first film city and is now second after Hollywood. In addition to commercial movie theaters, NYC has film presenters that screen movies before commercial release. Drive-ins are popular during the pandemic.

Film News

Dune, by Denis Villeneuve, opens citywide on Fri, Oct 22. 🇨🇦

Film Festivals

Now Playing

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It is streaming on American Masters on PBS Thirteen to Wed, Oct 20. FREE 🇵🇷

El Planeta by Amalia Ulman is at IFC Center in the West Village to Thu, Oct 21. $13 🇪🇸

Illustrious Corpses (1976), by Francesco Rosi, screens at Film Forum in Hudson Square to Oct 21. $15 🇮🇹

Son of Monarchs by Alexis Gambis is at Cinema Village and Cobble Hill Cinemas to Thu, Oct 21. sonofmonarchs.com 🇲🇽

Cannes Palme d’Or winner Titane by Julia Ducournau is at IFC Center in the West Village to Thu, Oct 21. 🇫🇷

Coming Soon

BRONX RISING!
Wolfen, Edwin Pagán’s 1980 Bronx horror movie, screens with live music by Bobby Sanabria & Project X and director Q&As at the Bronx Music Heritage Center Laboratory in The Bronx on Fri, Oct 29 at 8pm. FREE with reservation to (917) 557-2354. Facebook @bxmusic

Previously

Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless is at Film Forum in Hudson Square to Oct 14. 🇫🇷

The Kicking and Screening soccer film festival screens Rayados 75, Fernando Kalife’s film about 2019 Mexican champions CF Monterrey at Scandinavia House in Murray Hill, Manhattan on Thu, Oct 14 at 7pm. $20. 🇲🇽

The Kicking and Screening soccer film festival screens Big-Time Soccer: The Remarkable Rise & Fall of the NASL (featuring Pelé at the NY Cosmos) at Upper 90 in Astoria, Queens on Wed, Oct 13 at 7pm. $20. 🇧🇷

Arrebato (1979) by Iván Zulueta, Pedro Almodóvar’s favorite horror film, is at IFC Center in the West Village Fri-Sat, Oct 8-9. $17. 🇪🇸

GoodFellas (1990), the Scorsese masterpiece, is at Film Forum in Hudson Square to Thu, Oct 7. 🇮🇹

Veinte por veinte (20 for 20), MoMA Film’s tribute to Cinema Tropical, the leading Latin American film presenter in the U.S., is streaming for MoMA members to Oct 5. moma.org
🇦🇷🇧🇷🇨🇱🇨🇴🇨🇷🇨🇺🇩🇴🇲🇽🇺🇾

Little Girl (2020) by Sébastien Lifshitz, a gentle story of how a 3-year old boy deals with the world after declaring herself a girl, is at Film Forum in Hudson Square to Sep 30. 🇫🇷🏳️‍🌈

Annette by Leos Carax, starring Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver at IFC Center in the West Village to Sep 30. 🇫🇷

Tango Shalom is a cute Jewish Argentine tango movie. ✡️🇦🇷

Azor (2021) by Andreas Fontana, a Swiss film about Argentine finance in the 1970s, at Lincoln Center ends Thu, Sep 23. 🇦🇷

Faya Dayi by Jessica Beshir, a dreamy Ethiopian film at Lincoln Center, ends Thu, Sep 23. filmlinc.org 🇪🇹

Annette by Leos Carax, starring Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver at Lincoln Center ends Sun, Sep 19. 🇫🇷

Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), by Questlove, is about the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, the Black Woodstock. Ends Sep 16 at cinemavillage.com 🇺🇸

The Lost Leonardo by Andreas Koefoed (2021), is about the world record $450 million “Salvator Mundi” painting. Includes Jerry Saltz. Ended Sep 16, 2021 at filmforum.org 🇫🇷

La Piscine by Jacques Deray (1969), is a sleeper romantic hit in NYC. It ended Sep 16, 2021 at filmforum.org 🇫🇷

FILM Archive

The New York Film Scene

American cinema started here before moving to Hollywood. The City remains important because it is the world media capital.

The film industry used to be in the Upper West Side, but is more in Tribeca and Brooklyn now.

The History of Cinema

The first cinema was created in Paris, France in 1895. 🇫🇷

American cinema began in NYC in 1896. Some of the very first American films were New York street scenes.

The industry developed in Fort Lee, New Jersey before moving to Hollywood for California sunshine.

The Types of Films a Country Makes Reveal the State of the Nation

Latin Movies in New York City (Oleksandra Polishchuk/Dreamstime)
Latin Movies in New York City (Oleksandra Polishchuk/Dreamstime)

Hollywood wastes its creativity on shoot-em-ups and superheroes. Independent filmmakers produce much more interesting work. The Latin world is more diverse and more connected to family and community, so Latin films reflect that.

The Colonial Period and then Cold War communist-hunting unleashed mayhem on Latin America that led to instability and civil wars from which we are still recovering.

As filmmaking gear has gotten better and cheaper, filmmakers across the Latin world have been energized.

The types of films a country makes, say a lot about that country. Countries that are very violent make Hollywood style shoot-em-up films. Countries that have been taken over by narcotics traffickers make drug films. Countries that have gone through civil war, make war movies.

But when countries begin to heal, they begin to make films about reconciliation, diversity and so on. That is the great beauty of Latin film. It’s not Hollywood, it’s real life.

Culture

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