Spanish Film Club
Past Participants
All Directors
Why you must-see this film. Because this lively ‘guerrilla’ film breathes an unmistakable porteño air and offers a first-hand experience of today’s Argentina in the news. It’s ...Why you must-see this film. Because it is the most authentic, multi-awarded animated feature documentary providing an unusual intimate window into the hearts and minds of immigrant Latin youth. ...Why you must-see this film. Because… is there anything cooler than having Gael García Bernal and reggaeton megastar Bad Bunny, directed by Academy Award winner Roger Ross Williams, bring to ...Chela and Chiquita are both descended from wealthy families in Asunción and have been together for over 30 years. But recently, their financial situation has worsened and they begin selling off ...Why you must see this film. Because it is the jewel of the New Wave of Dominican Cinema. Unlike films such as Alfonso Cuarón’s ‘Roma’ and Sebastiān Silva’s ‘La Nana’ ...Why you must see this film. Because it conveys the crucial message that the world needs: a story of reconciliation told by a Jewish woman, a Muslim, and a Christian living in Morocco. And ...Why you must-see this film. Because it is an example of the brilliant New Wave of Dominican Cinema. It tackles an incredibly important theme and it is written by the talented team behind ...Why you must-see this film. Because it is a feel-good debut film by Bolivian director Catalina Razzini, an incredible new talent to watch. It is a sensitive and beautifully crafted depiction in the ...Two Spanish women of different generations coincide in a hospital room in Belgium. Maria (Petra Martinez) has lived there for decades after emigrating in her youth, and Veronica (Anna Castillo) is a ...With an impressive 42 Goya Award nominations and adapted from Julio Castedo’s novel, The Chess Player follows Chess champion Diego Padilla as he falls in love with French journalist Marianne ...During the day, “Ras” is a construction worker. At night after work, he tags the walls of his neighborhood east of Cali. Ras can’t sleep and is constantly daydreaming. His mother, ...A powerful and moving documentary, On the Starting Line, follows Jennifer, an athlete who lives a permanent crisis of faith with the Cuban national sports federations. The camera captures ...A whacked-out scientist is capturing wrestlers (because they are “perfect”) and using their spinal fluid to create a Gill Man. Two cops call in Batwoman to investigate. She steals aboard the ...What was the Argentinian mindset immediately preceding Jorge Videla’s right-wing military coup? Director Benjamín Naishtat’s darkly funny, highly stylish film immerses itself in Argentina’s ...Why you must see this film. Because it is an achievement for Puerto Rican cinema. It provokes a heated and productive conversation about mental health and health insurance systems. With a good pace ...Luchadoras provides an intimate glimpse into the lives of three resilient female wrestlers in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, who courageously challenge traditional gender norms in the face of pervasive ...In this tale of racism and gender violence, the woman is the center of the story. As a wife, daughter, or sister, Genesis must respond to a way of being and a way of life attentive to what the men ...A magnificent and entertaining feature-length documentary, with hints of fiction, about Oscar Peyrou, the film critic who doesn’t watch movies. Óscar Peyrou, film critic and President of ...A mesmeric journey of four half-sisters across Colombia blends the candor of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Our Little Sister with the sensuality of Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Mustang to conjure up its own ...Featuring striking cinematography and outstanding performances, Carajita (which means annoying child) explores the tenuous relationship that exists between race, class, and family. Sarah, the ...Ángel and his younger brother Franco have been incarcerated in a juvenile prison for a year. Despite the difficulties, they have formed a solid group of friends with whom they spend their days ...Rebellious Tano is sent from Santiago to Southern Chile under the custody of his father whom he has not seen in years. In his new school, he meets Cheo, a shy boy who gets bullied for his ...Mariano Biasin’s acclaimed and tenderly observed coming-of-age film follows sixteen-year-old Manuel as he navigates adolescence in a small coastal town, hanging out with his girlfriend and ...Why you must-see this film. Because, for the first time, the backstage story of the Bossa Nova movement is told from the female perspective, explaining the untold ins and outs of the history of the ...Chinese mining in Ecuador’s mountains sets the stage for an epic battle between eco-guerrillas and a corrupt government in an intensely dramatic documentary. This Stolen Country of Mine ...A canine family becomes the catalyst for human connection in this heartwarming film about a lonely man looking for a way to keep his seven dogs in his apartment despite the neighbors’ threats. ...A smash hit in Spain starring Academy Award® winner Javier Bardem, The Good Boss is an acerbic character study and a darkly funny social satire of the workplace. Blanco, the charismatic owner of a ...Starring Penélope Cruz in what could be the best performance of her career, Pedro Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers is an unabashed story of cascading twists and turns, thickening complications, ...Director Adrián Silvestre partners with co-writer and lead actress Raphaëlle Perez to create a colorful, layered portrait of a life in flux. Working in a call center in Barcelona after relocating ...An exuberant musical and visual feast created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, In the Heights is a love letter to the Washington Heights neighborhood and an homage to the diverse Latinx communities of Upper ...The first dramatic feature by documentary duo Natalia Cabral and Oriol Estrada centers on a quinceañera celebration and shows how racial prejudices affect a teenage girl’s choices. “Miriam ...Directed by Miriam Lies’ award-winning team, Natalia Cabral y Oriol Estrada, A Film About Couples is equal parts a candid exposition of the cinematic industry and a joyful exploration of ...Based on real events, this political drama fuses Brazilian history with international anti-racist movements. Saulo, a black introverted student and fan of the Black Panther Movement, challenges his ...Acclaimed Argentine auteur Ana Katz’s funny, adventurous, and bittersweet new film follows Sebastian’s peaceful life as it begins to crumble when he loses his job because of his dog’s ...Taking place in a rural Mixtec village in Oaxaca, southern Mexico, Nudo Mixteco follows the return of María, Esteban, and Toña, each from a different direction. Each of them has a different ...Thousands of people risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea every year in an attempt to reach the European shores. In her new film, renowned documentarian Paula Palacios sheds light on the ...What happens when a man who is accustomed to being the centre of attention finds himself becoming invisible? When a life busked from cash in hand jobs trips into freefall? Julia Solomonoff’s ...ACADEMY AWARD® ARGENTINA’S SUBMISSION FOR BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM Following the path of Lucrecia Martel’s La Cienega, Paula Hernández places her film in that family reunion ...Based on the plays by Esteve Soler, 7 Reasons to Run Away features seven surrealist visions of a dysfunctional society that does not progress. The family, the poor kid who appears on TV, the ...ACADEMY AWARD® CHILE’S SUBMISSION FOR BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM SECTION MODERN CLASSICS The story takes place in Santiago in 1973 in the days leading up to the military coup, and is based on ...Frances Ha is called Cristina in this Chilean generational comedy produced by Salma Hayek and directed by Gonzalo Maza, screenwriter of A Fantastic Woman and Gloria. Maza is renowned as one of ...ACADEMY AWARD® BRAZIL’S SUBMISSION FOR BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM A few years from now… Bacurau, a small village in the Brazilian sertão, mourns the loss of its matriarch, Carmelita, ...On This Side of the Wall is a deep and global look at migrations, borders, and the most insurmountable walls erected by mankind. Alberto, a dull and indolent engineer, is fired from his company ...ACADEMY AWARDS® BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY NOMINEE SECTION MODERN CLASSICS It has been twenty years since the making of And Your Mother Too, which became one of the iconic films that marked the ...Alice Júnior is a carefree, spoiled trans YouTuber with everything she could ask for: an apartment in a cool beach town, a loving dad, her own advice vlog, an almost-win on Teen Top Model, and a ...Following his success with We Are Mari Pepa, director Samuel Kishi Leopo approaches a more personal topic in the moving autobiographical film. With touches of The Florida Project, Los Lobos follows ...Directed by Carlos Gaviria, Daniel and Diego Vega, Eryk Rocha, Lucrecia Martel, Mariana Chenillo, Nicolas Pereda, Pablo Fendrik, Pablo Stoll Ward, Tatiana Huezo. Nearly half of all young people in ...In Serra do Ramalho, Brazil, young teacher Milla finds herself pregnant by her colleague Gilmar. Gilmar is in a relationship with Igor, but Milla asserts that the baby will belong to all three of ...Buenos Aires, 1982. Matías (19) has recently finished his military service and dreams of going to Spain to study music far from a dictatorship. His problems come down to convincing his ...From Mexican director Manolo Caro (Netflix’s The House of Flowers) comes an electrifying comedy about a seemingly simple dinner party. When a group of best friends gets together during a lunar ...A crossroad between Apocalypse Now, Lord of the Flies, and Embrace of the Serpent, Alejandro Landes’s Monos tracks a young group of soldiers and rebels who run wild in the mountains of an ...Steevens is a young Haitian immigrant living a challenging, but somewhat stable life in Santiago de Chile: he has a construction job, a home, friends, and fun. This precariously balanced life is ...Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera’s powerfully inventive docu-thriller — a prison escape drama in reverse — tells the incredible true story of Marco and Viri, two members of the Dreamer-led ...For thoughtful, demure young housewife Isa, life in a lush, postcard-perfect Costa Rican seaside village is far from anyone’s idea of a dream. She is being pressured by her intrusive and ...In 1973, the eleven-year-old Miguelito was discovered singing in San Juan airport by the legendary New York record producer Harvey Averne. Within a year, he went from the slums of Manuel A Perez to ...Fresh and endearing, Urgent Love uses highly original photography and exceptional artwork to create the playful world where Agustina and Pedro fall in love. Agustina and her mother, an extroverted, ...ACADEMY AWARD® CUBA’S SUBMISSION FOR BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM Based on the little-known true story of how twenty thousand Chernobyl victims were eventually treated in Cuba, Un ...Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, and Ricardo Darín star in the new psychological thriller from Academy Award®-winning director Asghar Farhadi (A Separation, The Salesman). The story follows Laura ...Camila is a young dance student. She has a committed boyfriend and supportive family, but when she discovers she is pregnant, all that love and encouragement becomes a burden. Her boyfriend is ...ACADEMY AWARD® BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM NOMINEE A breathtaking ethnographic odyssey through the heart of the Colombian Amazon, Embrace of the Serpent is the epic story of the first contact, ...Awarded Best First Feature at the Locarno International Film Festival, German-Argentinian newcomer Nele Wolatz’s The Future Perfect explores fractured relationships within culture, tradition, and ...Inspired by actual events, this teenage thriller is a unique social commentary on dreams, class, and unfulfilled expectations in contemporary Chile. Three teenage girls from a Santiago shanty town ...In this wry and timely political comedy of manners, Martín Marchand, the son of a wealthy businessman, retreats to his lavish, secluded family estate with his most trusted confidants to start ...In this feel-good ensemble dramedy, a flat rooftop in an old Havana neighborhood is the natural habitat for three friends who spend their days and nights dreaming about the future. Yasmani is an ...Filmmaker may be available for a Q&A via Skype. Speaker fee: $300. Inquire at FILMCLUB@PRAGDA.COM. SPAIN’S OFFICIAL ENTRY TO THE ACADEMY AWARDS ® In the summer of 1993, following the death ...Oscar®-winning director Fernando Trueba, brings together an all-star cast for a lavish homage to 1950s Spanish cinema. A spirited film-within-a-film, The Queen of Spain is an artful rendering of ...Based on the legendary book Oblivion: A Memoir by the Colombian writer Héctor Abad Faciolince, and directed by Academy Award® winning director Fernando Trueba (Belle Époque), the film tells of ...Handyman José lives with his family in La Soledad, a dilapidated villa located in what was once among Caracas’ most affluent neighborhoods. After learning that the villa’s owners are planning ...ACADEMY AWARD® PANAMA’S SUBMISSION FOR BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM. Latin American icon Ruben Blades, whose “thinking man’s salsa” has earned him praise as the Bob Dylan of ...Study Guide Available. CUBA’S OFFICIAL ENTRY TO THE ACADEMY AWARDS® Set in 1988 Cuba as the government dispatched HIV patients to AIDS centers under military rule, The ...Why you must-see this film. Because back in 1971, the affair was a global public outrage where more than 60 intellectuals, including Susan Sontag, Alberto Moravia, Jean-Paul Sartre, Mario Vargas ...Shot in Colombia (because the director didn’t get permission to film in Cuba) and featuring a cast consisting mostly of expatriate Cuban actors, Everybody Leaves is a celebration of freedom and a ...A heartfelt story, Guaraní follows fisherman Atilio as he travels with his granddaughter Iara to Buenos Aires. His great desire is to have a grandson to transmit the Guaraní culture. When he ...GUATEMALA’S OFFICIAL ENTRY TO THE ACADEMY AWARDS® The brilliant debut by Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante is a mesmerizing fusion of fact and fable, a dreamlike depiction of the daily lives ...In this deeply personal follow-up to his landmark debut Ixcanul, Jayro Bustamante shifts his focus from rural Guatemala to the denizens of Guatemala City, but once again sets his sights on an ...BRAZIL’S OFFICIAL ENTRY TO THE ACADEMY AWARDS® An excitingly fresh take on some classic themes and ideas, The Second Mother dissects with both impeccable precision and humor such matters as ...Study Guide Available. This poignant coming-of-age film from Brazil is focused on Pierre, seventeen and in the middle of puberty. Ever since his father’s death, his mother Aracy has looked after ...Starring Édgar Ramírez, The Liberator narrates the story of Simón Bolívar, who fought over 100 battles against the Spanish Empire in South America. He rode over 70,000 miles on horseback. His ...In a star-making performance, Sótera Cruz brings razor-sharp intensity to her portrayal of Guie’dani, a Zapotec girl determined to fight for her dignity. Guie’dani is dragged to Mexico City ...In Even the Rain by Icíar Bollaín, filmmaker Sebastian (Gael García Bernal) and his cynical producer Costa (Luis Tosar) arrive in Cochabamba, Bolivia to make a film about Columbus’s voyage to ...Pablo Larraín first broke onto the international film scene when Tony Manero premiered at the Cannes Directors´ Fortnight. This Chilean director has now followed up with visceral Post Mortem. ...Adoptive parents Ema (Variety’s 10 Latinxs To Watch 2020’s Mariana Di Girolamo) and Gastón (Gael García Bernal) are artistic free spirits in a contemporary dance troupe whose lives ...Winner of the top prize at the Critics’ Week section of the Cannes Film Festival, Antonio Méndez Esparza’s directorial debut radiantly captures the complex homecoming of a loving father. In an ...Oscar®-winning director Fernando Trueba (Belle Epoque, Calle 54) and Spain’s legendary illustrator Javier Mariscal celebrate their passion for the music and culture of Cuba with an epic story of ...The Amazon is a vast laboratory for sustainable experiments that are revealing new relationships among human beings, corporations, and the natural heritage crucial for life on the planet. This is ...A nine-year-old boy’s preening obsession with straightening his hair elicits a tidal wave of homophobic panic in his hard-working mother, in this tender but clear-eyed coming-of-age tale. Junior ...Deep in the sun-blistered Sonora desert beneath a cicada tree, Arizona border police discover a decomposing male body. Lifting a tattered T-shirt they expose a tattoo that reads “Dayani ...A Bolivian filmmaker and a Guaraní Indian travel together through the forests of southeastern Bolivia to make a film about the Guaraní people. The starting point is a 1911 film by Swedish explorer ...Nicaragua’s first full-length feature in 20 years, La Yuma tells the story of a young woman who dreams of transcending her bleak life in the slums of Managua by becoming a boxer. Looking beyond ...Benjamín Ávila’s Clandestine Childhood (Infancia Clandestina) is an earnestly heartfelt cine-memoir based on the director/co-writer’s own tragic early life. Argentina, 1979. After years of ...Argentina’s national treasure, Ricardo Darín, is best known for his intense dramatic performances in films such as Nine Queens, The Aura, and the Oscar-winning The Secret in Their Eyes, but ...