Las Acacias is a drama that focuses on a truck driver named Ruben (played by German de Silva), who is told to give Jacinta (Hebe Duarte) a lift from Paraguay to Buenos Aires. Unbeknown to him, Jacinta is bringing her baby daughter, Anahi (Nayra Calle Mamani), with her. And so this atypical road movie begins. Continue Reading

In recent decades we have noticed a significant increase in the production of fiction films and documentaries featuring capoeira. To be honest, the presence of capoeira in motion pictures of all sorts is nothing new, even though, in the past, it had been mostly limited to national productions and correlated to other themes of Afro-Brazilian culture. Continue Reading

For many, Brazil means beautiful girls, samba and the most entertaining football the world has ever seen.
But it wasn’t always a free and joyful place in the land of green and yellow. During the military dictatorship of the 1970’s, it was a hard time for those who dared to fight back. In Your Name (Em Teu Nome), based on true accounts, doesn’t fail to show us how. Continue Reading

“The Brazilian Godfather” is coming to town. Elite Squad 2 (Tropa de Elite 2), the most successful film in Brazilian cinema history (more than 1.25 million spectators went to see the film during its first weekend), has been retitled Elite Squad: The Enemy Within and will hit UK cinemas on August 12th. Continue Reading

Not many people realise the close link that exists between Wales and Argentina. In the mid-19th century many Welsh citizens were invited by the Argentine government to come live in Patagonia. For Argentina this meant that their land was now inhabited and so less vulnerable to capture, and for the Welsh it meant the acquisition of large amounts of land where they could start a new life. Continue Reading

Pedro Almodovar is undoubtedly Spain’s best-known and most important contemporary filmmaker, and has been described as “the cultural symbol par excellence of the restoration of democracy in Spain” (Steven Marsh, Senses of Cinema). It is no surprise then that the recent BFI season Good Morning Freedom! Spanish Cinema After Franco, which looked at the adventurous, alternative and eclectic movement that sprang up within Spanish culture after the demise of the country’s dictator in 1975, should include half a dozen of his films amongst the 13 titles in the selection. Of these Dark Habits (Entre Las Tineblas, 1983) is his third. Continue Reading

The Return of a Legend – Asif Kapadia brings to the big screen Ayrton Senna’s life story

In Brazil, particularly from 1989 to 1994, Sundays were not lazy days, and Brazilians were not allowed to sleep until late. Sundays were Formula 1 Grand Prix days, days to see the man with the yellow helmet holding the green and yellow flag. This man was Ayrton Senna; a man who won three Formula 1 World Championships and kept the record for most pole positions from 1989 to 2006. Most of all, he seemed to have no fears and was a hero in a country, at this time, without any expectations. With a meteoric rise and a tragic death, he suddenly turned into a myth. Continue Reading

Combining both the bliss of Rio de Janeiro’s surf spots and the grit and danger of its shanty towns, Rio Breaks tells the story of friendship and coming-of-age through its documentary format. Its attempt to show where the favellas and the beaches meet means that it’s ambitious in its scope, but is this slum-come-surf film greater than the sum of its parts? Continue Reading

When it comes to high-profile celebrity break-ups, its hard to forget that of creative duo Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo Arriaga. After collaborating on three outstanding films, Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel , director González Iñárritu and screenwriter Arriaga suffered a very public falling out. Continue Reading