Reviews

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.

“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."

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.

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.

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.

Award-winning Chilean documentary filmmaker Maite Alberdi unveils her new documentary 'The Mole Agent', which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and has been met with veneration from critics. Unusual, stylish and poignant, the film will be released in the UK on 11 December.

In recent years, this highest award in the filmmaking business has been kind to Latin American filmmakers, especially Mexican directors: Since 2014 five directing awards were won by Alfonso Cuarón (for Gravity in 2014 and Roma in 2019), Alejandro González Iñárritu (for Birdman in 2015 and The Revenant in 2016), and Guillermo del Toro (for The Shape of Water in 2018). The Oscars 2021 submissions from Latin America are:

Ventana Sur has indisputably become a key event in the film industry calendar and, since its creation in 2009, has played a significant role in bringing Latin American cinema to the rest of the world. This year’s edition is set to unveil a wealth of burgeoning talents and new and exciting audiovisual content.

Peru’s official contender for the Oscars, Song Without A Name (Canción sin nombre) follows a young indigenous woman as she searches for her child, stolen at birth in a fake health clinic in Lima.

Camila Freitas’ documentary Landless (Chão, 2019) follows the struggle of the MST – the Landless Workers’ Movement in Brazil ­– as they strive for reform and access to land.