Reviews

Lia Gomez-Lang takes a close look at Fernanda Valadez’s poignant feature film Sin Señas Particulares (Identifying Features), a tender portrayal of disappearances of migrants on the Mexico-United States border, and LAB recommends other important films presenting narratives of migration.

In his latest book, Ben McKay writes about a commodity that is rapidly expanding in Latin America: soy. Taking a political economy approach, he explores the historical development of the industrial soy complex in the region, carefully analysing society-capital-state relations and looking at some of the contradictions of Evo Morales’ rule.

The short film El Silencio del Rio, ‘The Silence of the River’, by Peruvian director Francesca Canepa, won the Grand Jury Award at the Oscar-qualifying Calgary International Film Festival and is currently longlisted in the Best Short Film category for the 2021 Academy Awards. Mathilde Aupetit considers the film’s blurring of dream and reality in order to present an Amazonian perspective, and its representation of the narrative power of nature.

“I wanted to capture what was happening in Chile and to pay homage to the strength and commitment of the Chilean people. They are taking on neo-liberalism and a militarised state with stones and trumpets. This is a lesson for the rest of the world, we can learn so much from them."

Enrique Monteverde, a detached ex-dictator, is on trial for genocide. The Monteverde family, in lockdown, slowly loses control. With the help of a new maid, Alma, they must face up to the horrors they’ve continued to deny for decades - by recognising the dead.

For seven years, Rodríguez Ríos followed the residents of the once close-knit village of Congo Mirador, inches away from drowning in murky water, chronicling their desperate attempts to save the community.

These independent Latin American film productions have been carefully selected by Gianna Giordani to showcase the continent's cinematic diversity and artistic mastery.

Rafael Zafra asks what happened to the cholombianos, the urban tribe portrayed in Fernando Frías de la Parra's Oscar-nominated film 'I'm No Longer Here'.

Dive Tierra Bomba Dive, made in 2020 by The Right to Roam Films, tells the story of 19-year-old Yassandra Barrios, who emerges as the environmental leader of her Colombian island, Tierra Bomba, home to the Varadero Reef.

Filmed over three years between 2017 and 2019, Bajo Fuego is an engaging, enraging portrait of a community’s struggle against state abandonment, economic collapse, and a rising tide of violence