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...
Medellin's French Alter Ego
To most, Annie Trousseau is the Colombian embodiment of Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich with her sultry voice and elegant demeanor. She has captured the heart of men and women alike with her multilingual talent and carefully…
Something Contagious
CONTAGIO (Contagion) is an exciting new group exhibition of nine Latin American artists covering a wide range of different techniques and styles. Based at the CECILIA BRUNSON GALLERY and curated by gallery artist Jaime Gili,…
THE OTHER WAY AROUND (Volveréis-2024) Dir. Jonás Trueba
“It’s like a wedding but the other way around.” Here is a couple who are convinced they want to separate and determined to celebrate the event as well. No infidelity, no arguments…they are so cool, that there is no even “Will…
The Shape of Water (2017) Dir. Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro’s stunning and superbly crafted fairy-tale fantasy is brimming with imagination, profound empathy and a deep and powerful sensuality.
EMILIA PÉREZ (2024) directed by Jacques Audiard is sweeping the boards at the festivals.
A Mexican drug cartel gangsta musical fantasy about Juan “Manitas” Del Monte, a married drug warlord and father of two, hires Rita (Zoë Saldaña) an unappreciated defence lawyer, to help him fake his death and emerge transformed…
Things You Should Know About... Day of the Dead
There is still a commonly held view that ‘Day of the Dead’ is Mexico’s ‘Halloween,’ that everyone dresses up as skelatons, and it is truly scary, therefore unsuitable for children. 'Dia de Los Muertos' is in fact a…
EVERYBODY KNOWS - When a Secret is not a Secret
When a young teenager is kidnapped at a family wedding in a small Spanish town, layer-by-layer, dark secrets, unsatisfied revenge and rivalries are revealed. Unable to contact the police, the whole family is trapped in a fraught…
LATIN LONDONER #60 - Tara Hoyos-Martinez, Actor, Writer, Director
After being crowned Miss Universe Great Britain and alongside a successful modelling career, Tara made a splash on the big screen in British romcom Ghosted (2022). Since then, Tara's screen work has gone from strength to…
Deconstructing Chile's Past
Up and coming Chilean writer/ director FELIPE CARMONA URRUTIA's 'Penal Cordillera’ (2023) was nominated for the Sutherland Award (Best First Feature) at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival. He talks to Corina J Poore…
“FREEDOM IS WITHIN EVERYONE”
The Delinquents is a heist film with a twist: the aim is not for wealth and luxury, but for freedom and the meaning of life. Selected as Argentina’s entry for the Oscars, this latest offering from Rodrigo Moreno is based on the…
Roberto Bolaño: Literary Hot Property or Hot Air?
Roberto Bolaño is being hailed as the best author to come out of Latin America in the past 40 years. Why, after years of success in Spanish, has the Chilean author only now come onto the English-language radar and does he live up…
Things We Love About... Mexican Comedy
Ask a British person what they know about Mexico and they might mention tacos and Cancún: for those unacquainted with the country, its image is inextricably linked to bean-laden delicacies and ‘Spring Break’ debauchery. However…
ORDINARY TIME (Tempo Común) Dir. Susana Nobre
A contemplative and minimalist film that reveals a moving life cycle as it delves into the lives of a young couple and their daughter during her first year of life. A quiet study of parenthood with a gentle intimacy and subtle…
These Trees are Made of Blood @ The Arcola Theatre
A brave piece of theatre, using sensitivity, humour and music, to depict the horror of Argentina's dirty war.
Fish Finding Water: The Story of Pescadito Films
Children’s films do not always get the headlines they deserve despite being vital to the film industry these days. With Disney recently finding a lucrative business in Latino related animations such as the hugely successful Coco…
FRANCESCO (2020) Dir Evgeny Afineevsky
THE BRIDGE MAKER- Pope Francis has broken from some traditions, opening his arms and his heart to all sectors of afflicted humanity in the world. Evgerny Afineesky’s moving documentary reveals the huge scope of Pope Francis’…
To Fight or Not To Fight
The English-language production of Chilean playwright Pablo Manzi's 'A Fight Against' debuts at London's Royal Court Theatre until 22 January 2022. 'Una lucha contra' portrays violence as a shared…
Don Juan in Soho @ The Donmar Warehouse
The myth of Don Juan is well-known. Though it found its origins in literature over four centuries ago, the idea has come into popular culture and evolved to fit the typically modern term of ‘womanizer’. Yes, Don Juan is a…
'Return to Ithaca' (Dir. Laurent Cantet)
“You can’t talk about Cuba without letting the Cubans speak,” says French filmaker Laurent Cantet, director this this fascinating study in the complexities of human behaviour in difficult times.
Celluloid Colonialism
Felipe Gálvez’s much-anticipated directorial debut, ‘The Settlers’, deals with a taboo topic in Chile’s official history - the genocide of the Selk’nam people in Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost part of South America, at the…
'Breathe' by Leila Segal
A debut collection of short stories exploring the emotional relationships between Cubans and Western visitors to the Caribbean island.
Latin Londoners of 2018
As Latin artists are making the mark ever more indelibly in the UK, we celebrate those who stood out this year, earning the support from both the public and the discerning LUKAS judges to win awards for their artistic excellence…
Art Therapy
Dairo Vargas started out in a village in Colombia, yet, thanks to the originality of his art, today his paintings and portraits figure in many private collections. Passionate about mental health, he dedicates a great deal of his…
LATIN LONDONER #59 - Mariana Aristizábal, Actor, Director, Theatre-Maker
Colombian actress and theatre-maker Mariana Aristizábal describes herself as someone who “makes things happen, one way or another.” She has performed in 'Dirty Thirty,' 'Gloria y Ramona' and 'The…
Miguel Hernandez: The Man with Lots of Heart
Today, on the 30th October in 1910, in the town of Orihuela in southeastern Spain, Miguel Hernandez was born. As we come to the end of the month of October, it would seem an apt moment to delve a little into the work and life of…
Llamadas desde Moscú (Calls from Moscow) by Cuban director Luis Alejandro Yero
In the ‘Minds’ strand of the BFI Flare Festival 2024, the documentary ‘CALLS FROM MOSCOW’ is the story of four young Cuban immigrants, who find themselves stuck in Moscow, just one day before the invasion of Ukraine. Lost,…
MAGDALENA, TE AMO (2024) by Andrea Calao
‘Magdalena, Te Amo’ (2024) is a moving short film about student sex workers in New York. Premiered at the New York Latino Film Festival, it has also been longlisted for the 2024 Yugo BAFTA Student Awards.
'Reputations' by Juan Gabriel Vasquez, translated by Anne McLean (Bloomsbury)
Depicting the slippery nature of the past and the unreliability of memory, Juan Gabriel Vasquez' fifth novel draws a convincing portrait of the complex world of Bogotá in recent years, adding to his own reputation as one of…
GRACE: Diaspora, History and Becoming What We Are
Unveiled at the Tate Britain on the 28th of May 2024 and showing until the 26th of January 2025, Alvaro Barrington’s major new commission GRACE aims to take visitors on “an intimate journey through time and place”. Celebrating…
Turning Up the Heat
Choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa has worked with top dance companies across the globe – and yet she says there is something special about Danza Contemporánea de Cuba. Which is why she’s delighted that the Havana-based company…
'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…
My Own Private Hell / Inferninho (2018) Dir. Guto Parente
A beautiful film that illustrates how a little slice of extraordinary life can survive in a dark, fairytale environment.
The Clan (Dir. Pablo Trapero)
Outsanding performances and direction bring to life this story, one of the most curious of Argentina's many intriguing historical dramas.