Feature:Unmissable Latin Cinema!

Lustful, intense, dramatic a few of the many words to describe Latin America Cinema. There’s no better part of the world to showcase a country’s social and economic problems than Latino film makers from slums and gang culture of Brazil to the drug mules of Columbia, journey of discovery of a political icon/freedom fighter Latin America is so diverse you will find a film for every social and economic problem. Next week at the London Festival but from October 28th Miss Bala  a story of  a young aspiring beauty queen who finds her dream turn to nightmare when she’s forced to get involved in a crime gang of A Lawless Mexico, A film which will contend for Best Foreign Movie at the next Oscar Academy Awards. Here is a list of some of Latin Americas unforgettable films….


Amores Perros (Love’s a Bitch) 2000
Tagline: “Love is betrayal. Love is anguish. Love is sin. Love is selfish. Love is hope. Love is pain. Love is death. What is love? Love’s a bitch.”
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, this captivating and intense Spanish film is the collection of three different stories, tied together with one horrific car accident. Each story is filled with love and suspense, along with betrayals, lust, thrills and chills. For the scene of the car accident, “The car crash sequence was shot with nine simultaneous cameras, including two on adjacent rooftops and one hidden in a trash barrel.” This is one film from the recent vaults of the Latin Cinema that you do not want to miss!(imdb)


Maria Full of Grace (2004)
Tagline: “These pellets contain heroin. Each weighs 10 grams. Each is 4.2 cm long and 1.4 cm wide. And they’re on their way to New York in the stomach of a 17-year-old girl.”
Set in Columbia, María Álvarez is 17 years old and pregnant. She is fired from her job, and in order to help support her family, she decides to take a job as a drug mule, transporting drugs to America. Catalina Sandino Moreno, who plays María Álvarez, “Became the first actress ever to be nominated to Best Actress at the Oscars for a role that it is spoken entirely in Spanish.” After watching this suspenseful and heart-wrenching drama, it won’t be hard to see why she was nominated. “Based on 1,000 true stories,” this film will have you sitting on the edge of your seat until the very end.(imdb)

City of God (2002)
Tagline: “Fight and you’ll never survive. Run and you’ll never escape.”
City of God is perhaps the film that exploded the most into Western popular culture. In the amazing film a pact between a gang, known as the Tender Trio, and the people of the City of God in Brazil, led to an all out war between the two new rival gangs of the city. A boy named Rocket dreams of being a photographer, and his only way to leave the City of God is to photograph the violence and bloodshed for the newspapers. Filled with deception, lies, betrayal, mistrust, and the honesty of Rocket himself, it was voted “movie of the year” by Empire magazine in 2003. This Brazilian film is a must see.(imdb)

The Motocycle Diaries (2004)
Tagline: “Let the world change you… and you can change the world.”
The Motorcycle Diaries is an irresistible film based on Che Guevara’s own diaries of his early years in the ‘50s. We follow two friends as they set out on a journey across South America, covering over 8000 kilometres in only four months. At first, Alberto and Ernesto only want to be tourists of South America, exploring and having fun. But their perceptions change dramatically after journeying through the slums, seeing the poverty of the people, and witnessing the problems of the class system in the cities. Their friendship is tested and we see the political future of a nation born in various subtle moments. A nice added touch is that the closing credits are overlaid with original photos from the real journey of Alberto and Ernesto. (imdb)

Y Tu Mamá También (And Your Mother Too) 2001
Tagline: “Life has a way of teaching us. Life has a way of confusing us. Life has a way of changing us. Life has a way of amazing us. Life has a way of hurting us. Life has a way of healing us. Life has a way of inspiring us.”
Y Tu Mamá También is an irresistable Mexican film that begins with two teenage boys, living in Mexico City. They create a fictional road trip to a non-existent secluded beach in order to impress the beautiful Luisa, who has just moved from Spain. Faced with infidelity from her husband, Luisa decides to go with the boys on the road trip of their lives. Lies, lust, despair and passion, all feed into the backdrop of rural Mexico’s devastating poverty. This film really has everything, sex, laughs and drama. It broke Mexican Box office records in 2001, grossing £2million in its first week, the biggest opening ever for a Mexican film. This is rightly one of the most successful films to come from the Latin cinema.(imdb)

Out Next!

Miss Bala (2011)
“A blistering firecracker” Variety
Miss Bala (“Miss Bullet” in English) tells the story of Laura, a young aspiring beauty queen who finds her dream turned against her when she unwillingly gets involved with a criminal group at war in today’s lawless Mexico. Talented director Gerado Naranjo was supported by his famous producers Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna helped him to create an epic thriller for his third feature. Ex-model Stephanie Sigman is the fantastic as a girl who finds herself used by the brutal criminals. The beautifully directed film racks up the tension all the way to the powerful finale. It also features some of the visceral shoot outs seen since Michael Mann’s now classic crime drama Heat (1995). Miss Bala is the latest Latin film that you simply cannot afford to miss in the cinema.



Miss Bala is at cinemas from Friday October 28th
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