Embracing Another World
It’s been a long day of interviews for Ciro Guerra. As director of Embrace of the Serpent, the first Colombian film to be nominated for an Oscar, the film man of the moment is in demand in London, where the film launches this…
Brazil: Pixacao Sao Paulo’s Urban Calligraphy
Although present in many different Brazilian cities, pixação (often spelt ‘pichação in official accounts) is most closely identified with São Paulo. In this ‘city of walls’, pixação is everywhere. No building or wall is…
Top Ten Brazilian Things To Do This Summer
Despite it taking place over 6,000 miles away, London is gearing up for the 2016 Olympics as if we were hosting it here. What we spent on partying in the great summer of 2012 we are now preparing to shell out on summer parties…
SEX WORKERS' OPERA
With a cast made up of workers in the sex industry and actors (its not clear whom is which to preserve anonymity) this unique multimedia production written by British-Uruguyan singer and composer Alex Etchart, offers a brutally…
Not Another Play About War
Bringing real life British and Argentine veterans of the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas War to the stages of London and Brighton, Lola Arias is soon to create a ground-breaking theatrical experience. Latinolife talks exclusively to this…
Cuba Makes An Author's Dream
Many an author and musician have fallen to the seductions of the Latin Caribbean’s most intriguing island and bestselling author Rosanna Ley is no exception. Her latest novel Last Dance in Havana takes readers to the dusty dance…
Chasing Butterflies
Victoria Kellaway visits the birthplace of Gabriel García Márquez, Nobel Prize winner, pioneer of Magical Realism and Colombia’s most famous writer.
Rosa of the Wild Grass: The story of a Nicaraguan family by Fiona Macintosh
The 'Solidarity' generation reunites at the latest book launch by Latin American Bureau and Practical Action. Nearly thirty years in the making, Rosa chronicles the real-life stories of a poor Nicaraguan family over a…
The UK's Top Colombian Movers and Shakers
Take a trip to Elephant and Castle or Seven Sisters’ indoor market and you’d be forgiven for thinking that you’d been transported to Colombia. Salsa blaring out of little shops, couples dancing between tables in mid-afternoon,…
The UK's Top Colombian Creatives
The contribution of Colombian immigration to UK culture is impossible to ignore. As far back as 1975, Guardian writer Richard Williams described the Monday night when salsa king Héctor Lavoe took to the stage in a grotty London…
The UK's Top Colombian Creatives
The contribution of Colombian immigration to UK culture is impossible to ignore. As far back as 1975, Guardian writer Richard Williams described the Monday night when salsa king Héctor Lavoe took to the stage in a grotty London…
The Club Dir. Pablo Larrain (2016)
In The Club everything is distressing. In the home for ‘repentance’ we find a chaplain who collaborated with the dictatorship, a priest accused of child abuse, another involved in illegal adoptions and a senile one who cannot…
Interview with Patricio Guzmán
Patricio Guzman’s film-making is full of paradoxes; subtle yet scathing, hard-hitting yet humane, highlighting the worst and the best of the human condition with an aesthetic brilliance that moves the viewer. Latinolife talks to…
El Botón de Nácar (The Pearl Button) Dir. Patricio Guzman (2015)
Using the poetic language that has become a trademark of the famed Chilean director, this sequel to his multi-awarded Nostalgia de la luz (Nostalgia for the Light, 2010) explores both small detail and big historical processes to…
Things you should know about Spanish Oscar Triumphs
After celebrating Latin America's successes at the Academy Awards, we couldn't carry on without bringing you Spain’s most successful Oscar-winning films and individuals within the film industry.
Things you should know about Latin American Oscar Triumphs
Do you remember the days when Latino artists weren’t allowed to sing their songs on mainstream TV because ratings would drop? I know right? Hard to imagine, but it did…Back in 2005, when Jorge Drexler was nominated for an Oscar…
Things You Should Know About...Latin American Political Cinema
The plethora of social documentaries and politically-committed films that came out of Latin America between the mid-1950s and mid-1970s brought Latin American film onto the focus of world critics. Of course, to reduce the region…
'Breathe' by Leila Segal
A debut collection of short stories exploring the emotional relationships between Cubans and Western visitors to the Caribbean island.
LATIN LONDONER #16 Fernando Montaño - Royal Ballet Dancer
Originally from the city of Buena Aventura on the Pacific coast of Colombia, dancer Fernando Montaño is now a soloist with the Royal Ballet. Twice a winner of the LUKAS Personality of the Year (2013 and 2014), Fernando has…
Top Ten Latin Bars in London
Want to do Christmas the Latin way? Try some of London's best Latin bars, from glamourous to ghetto chic, no one does drinks and festive fun better than Latinos. Here is Latinolife's definitive list...
The World of Spanish Belénes
Christmas - a time for glittering trees, flashing lights and endless feasts. In Spain, whilst its biggest celebration of ‘Los Reyes’ falls on the 6th of January - with crowds lining the streets and children perched on their…
Uncovering The Invisible - Mexicans in the UK
At a time when Britain's immigrant community is increasingly falling under an unfriendly spotlight, 'Uncovering the Mexican Community in the UK' is a welcome photography exhibition and important reminder of the…
The Art of Being Bi-cultural
Migration has always been part of human history and always will. Even those who thought they had one cultural identity, are the product of centuries of migration. Where localised migration may have mixed peoples of similar colour…
Dark Soul - Interview with Spanish Film Director Alberto Rodriguez
Last year, Alberto Rodríguez took home ten Spanish Academy Goya prizes for his suspenseful detective noir Marshland, and this summer it premiered in the UK. It is sure to appeal based solely on its intense but measured action,…
Mexican Bohemia in London - an interview wth Chloe Aridjis
As she prepares to speak at this weekend's Flipside Festival in Suffolk, Mexican author Chloe Aridjis talks to Elizabeth Mistry about stuffed animals and why she has made London her home.
Nova Gaucho - the uniqueness of Argentine Design
Argentine Design hit London's biggest design show in a big way last week. We picked our favourites...
Brazil's Social Realism?
If Ken Loach were Brazilian, he may well have made a film like this. THE SECOND MOTHER is about a set of social rules which have been in place in Brazilian and Latin American culture since colonial times, and which continues to…
The Second Mother (2015) Dir. Anna Muylaert
A hugely enjoyable film exploring the complex relationship between Latin America's middle class and its live-in maids in a digestible, humorous and touching way.
A Guide to Mexican Contemporary Art
To mark the UK’s dedicated ‘Year of Mexico’, Latino Life celebrates the work of the 10 hottest Mexican artists right now, who have- or will be- delivering exhibitions across the country in 2015. From Tate Modern commissions to…
Marshland (2015) Dir. Alberto Rodríguez
Critically acclaimed Spanish director Alberto Rodríguez’s latest film, Marshland, was a box-office hit in Spain, winning a spectacular ten Spanish Academy Goya awards including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best…
Flesh and Blood: True Fiction by Marcus Dalrymple
Marcus Dalrymple’s Flesh and Blood follows his debut novel, Killing Time. Dalrymple’s contextual knowledge of Mexico is without fault, complemented by Flesh and Blood’s compelling storyline. Following the adventure of Brit John…
Mexico Dances
Celebrating its 56th year, Mexico´s most important and largest dance company, performs in London for the first time in 2 decades. We caught up with Salvador López, Director of Ballet Folklórico de México, in Mexico D.F. before…
Latin Pop's Unlikely Phantom
For someone who has the knack of appearing everywhere in musical theatre, you could say there is something ghost like about Geronimo Rauch, London’s Phantom of the Opera. If not that, this Argentine has so obviously taken life by…