Culture Arts and Culture
First Person | Poetry
SURVIVE - SOBREVIVIR

Denisse Vargas -Bolaños is a Bolivian poet and writer. She is a member of the feminist literary collective Las Juanas and SLAP (Spanish and Latin American Poets and Writers). She was also part of the Invisible Presence Project.…

First Person | Poetry
Haikus for a Pandemic

Leo Boix is a bilingual poet, translator and journalist born in Argentina who lives and works in the UK. Boix has published two poetry collections in Spanish, Un lugar propio (2015) and Mar de noche (2017), and has been included…

First Person | Poetry
It Is Not The Virus

Mabel Encinas is a Mexican artist and poet based in London, member of the Hispano-American Women Writers on Memory, who is also a senior lecturer in higher education in the UK. Writing and art has allowed her to process her…

Reviews | Film
‘Ropes’ (Cuerdas) Dir. José Luis Montecinos

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR. With multiple awards for his six short films behind him, writer/ director José Luis Montecinos has finally plunged into his first feature with a dark thriller laced with horror at every turn.

In-depth Interviews | Film
Mexico's New Movie Magician: Fernanda Valadez

In the world of booming Mexican cinema, it's hard not to notice that most of the big names are male: Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñarritú. Nor for much longer if Fernanda Valadez is anything to go…

Reviews | Film
‘ASFIXIA’ Dir. Kenya Márquez

Mexican writer/director Kenya Márquez excels with her second feature ‘Asfixia’ (Suffocation 2018), to be screened (free) online at the Raindance Film Festival 2020, in the Female Gaze strand. It is a tale of redemption and love,…

Reviews | Film
Nuevo Orden (2020) Dir. Michel Franco

In ‘New Order’ (2020) the third feature written and directed by Mexican Michel Franco, no one is innocent. There is no ‘get out of jail free card’ here! Michel Franco’s powerful film, screened at the 2020 BFI London Film Festival…

Reviews | Film
ELLA ES CRISTINA Dir. Gonzalo Maza

Life is in colour but sometimes we need to see it in black and white. In ‘Ella es Cristina’ (This is Cristina, 2020), award-winning Chilean writer/ director Gonzalo Maza explores the power of female friendship set against the…

Reviews | Film
'Sin Señas Particulares' Dir. Fernanda Valadez

The Devil is Alive and well on the Mexican Border in ‘Sin Señas Particulares’ (Identifying Features - 2020), one of the Latino highlights at the 2020 BFI London Film Festival - a moving, multi-award-winning Opera Prima from…

Obituaries | Art, Literature, Society
Quino, creator of "Mafalda" (1932 - 2020)

This week Argentina mourns a great loss. At the age of 88, Argentine cartoonist, Joaquín Salvador Lavado Tejón (more commonly known as ‘Quino’) passed away on the 30th September in Mendoza, Argentina. Creator and father of…

Reviews | Film
75 Days (2020) Dir. Marc Romero

Screened at the 2020 London Spanish Film Festival, in his film ‘75 Days’ (2020) Writer/director Marc Romero re-visits a horrifying real-life event that remains a brutal and dark mystery. In 1992, in an area known as Alcàsser,…

Reviews | Film
'Memory House' Dir João Paulo Miranda María

Set in modern-day Brazil, with a fantastical narrative using hallucinations and dreams, in his film Memory House 2020, João Paulo Miranda María explores the lonely and tortured life of Cristovam as he suffers the harsh clash of…

Reviews | Film
'Window to the Sea' Directed by Miguel Ángel Jiménez

“Those that take risks get the life they want”, not as easy as it sounds, but pretty close to the decisions made by María (Emma Suárez) in this very moving film about love and loss, when María discovers she only has a few months…

Reviews | Film
‘Los Conductos’ (2020) Directed by Camilo Restrepo

Colombian experimental filmmaker, writer and director Camilo Restrepo, known for 5 award-winning short films, including ‘La Bouche 2015’, has won the Berlinale’s GWFF Best First Feature Award with his ópera prima ‘Los Conductos…

Reviews | Art, Film, Tango Music
BELFONSO - A Story of Love and Betrayal

Belfonso is a powerful tableau-video tale of love, jealousy, rage and betrayal played out between three dwarf characters. It is the result of an artistic collaboration between Argentine painter Ricardo Cinalli and the Argentine…

Reviews | Art, Film, Tango Music
BELFONSO - A Story of Love and Betrayal

Belfonso is a powerful tableau-video tale of love, jealousy, rage and betrayal played out between three dwarf characters. It is the result of an artistic collaboration between Argentine painter Ricardo Cinalli and the Argentine…

Things You Should Know About... | Film
Things You Should Know About...Brazilian Cinema

It is fascinating that although all the Latin American countries discovered the magic of moving pictures at around the same time, thanks to the pioneering work of the Lumière Brothers in 1895- 1896, the trajectory of their…

Surrogate Latinos | Tango Dance, Tropical Dance
Surrogate Latina #4: Despina VIolari - dancer

Cyprus-born dancer Despina had been accumulating admirers on the Salsa scene for several years before getting to show off her grace and talent on the West End stage as part of the dance ensemble of 'On Your Feet'. She…

Things You Should Know About... | Film
Things You Should Know About...Chilean Cinema

Chilean cinema is on a high at the moment with directors such as Pablo Larrain and Sebatian Lelio creating some of the most original and critically acclaimed works of the day, but it has had a tumultuous past. Although Chilean…

Culture Guides | Culture, Society
Yerba Mate: A Gringa’s Guide

A gringa living in Argentina describes the joys of discovering Yerba Mate, and the social hurdles to overcome in between!

Latin Londoners | Tropical Dance
LATIN LONDONER #30: Daniel Carbonero, dancer

Born in Malaga, Spain Daniel Carbonero is a professional dancer, choreographer, model and actor. After 16 years of intense training and dance competitions in Spain Daniel moved to London and founded the Carbonero Dance Academy,…

Reviews | History, Literature
'Britain and the Dictatorships of Argentina and Chile' by Grace Livingstone

Ask anyone active in the British left during the 1970s and 1980s and they are likely to remember stories about Chile: Hawker Hunter jets bombing the presidential palace, the murderous Pinochet regime (1973-1990), Chilean refugees…

Things That Matter To | Flamenco Dance
Things That Matter To...Pablo Egea

Winning last year's LUKAS for Outstanding Male Dance Performer, Pablo Egea captured Londoners' attention after spotting this rising star in the West End show "Heart Beat of Home" as a flamenco soloist dancer.…

Things You Should Know About... | Film
Things You Should Know About...Argentine Cinema

A powerhouse in the world of film, Argentina has won eighteen GOYA AWARDS, making it the Latin American country with most wins in the Spanish film awards, and was also the first Latin American country to take home two Oscars for…

Latin Londoners | Contemporary and Classical Dance, Tropical Dance
LATIN LONDONER #29: Julia Ruiz Fernández, dancer

Julia Ruiz Fernández is one of those rare dancers who traverses the world of Latin dance and ballet. Born in Málaga, Spain, she graduated in Contemporary dance and Ballet before training with the prestigious Alicia Alonso company…

Reviews | Film
THE UNCERTAIN KINGDOM

THE LIFE TREE, directed by Paul Frankl, is a mystical film forming part of this exciting compilation of short films called THE UNCERTAIN KINGDOM.

In-depth Interviews | Film
The Rise and Rise of Diana Bermudez

The Cali-born, British-Colombian actor Diana Bermudez talks about her heritage and her life in film and television including her impressive performance in THE LIFE TREE, one of 20 films in the anthology THE UNCERTAIN KINGDOM to…

Hotlists | Food
LOCKDOWN HOTLIST - May 2020

Even in Lockdown you can still Think Latin, Eat Latin, Feel Latin...here's our choice of Latin must-haves and must-eats

Top 10s... | Literature
Top 10 Non-Fiction Books about Latin America

These books may be non-fiction, but as the magical realism of last week’s list showed us, the line between fact and fiction in Latin American writing is a very fine one indeed.Whether on politics, history or music, they are all…

In-depth Interviews | Film
DANCING QUEEN

Charismatic, dynamic and sensual, Mariana di Girolamo has caused a stir as the protagonist of Pablo Larraín’s new film EMA alongside Gael Garcia Bernal. Corina Poore talks to the rising Chilean movie star about her role as an out…

Culture Guides | Literature
LatinoLife's Guide to Bi-lingual Poetry

Rhyming translator-poet, Timothy Adès guides us through the daunting world of poetry, finding moments of bi-lingual inspiration to help us battle through dark times and relish the good...

Top 10s... | Literature
Top 10 Contemporary Classic Fiction

We bring you masters of contemporary fiction, some are already becoming classics, all of which, once started you cannot put down, whether in Spanish or English.

Culture Guides | Literature
LatinoLife's Guide to the Latin American Classics

A list we've always wanted to do... the must-reads of Latin America's fantastic array of fiction. Here we begin with the classics, from the 20th century and before, obviously omitting many greats...but you have to start…

In-depth Interviews | Literature
"Critics in Chile Did Not Consider Me a Writer"

Isabel Allende is one of the Spanish-speaking world’s most widely read authors. The award-winning Chilean novelist has written over twenty books, which have gone on to sell over 74 million copies worldwide and be translated into…

Culture Guides |
The Isolation Film List

You may have missed them first time around in the cinema, but here’s ten relatively recent Latin-American films available online to watch in isolation – you won’t be disappointed!

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