While this year's
slate of Oscar nominees is definitely more diverse than in years
past, the acting categories once again did not have any Asian or
Latinx nominees. It's clear that Hollywood still has a long way to go
for underrepresented communities, so it may be beneficial to leave behind Hollywood and its offerings for a while, and check out how the
rest of the world films itself. One great place to start is at the Cinema Tropical Festival, at New York's Museum of the Moving Image.
The winners of the eighth annual Cinema Tropical awards will be shown at the museum from Feb. 2 through the 4th. The five films are geographically linked, but reflective of the incredible diversity of Latin America. They are stories from Puerto Rico to Chile, which stretch as far away as the Philippines and Mozambique; stories of people of different genders, sexualities and ages; stories that are funny and sad and lush and empty.
The trailers for the films are below, in the order that they will be shown at the festival. There are links to more information as well.
La Soledad
(set
in Venezuela)
Adriana's Pact (El pacto de Adriana)
(Documentary
from Chile)
Memories of A Penitent Heart
(Documentary from Puerto Rico)
Araby (Arábia)
(set in Brazil)
The Human Surge (El auge del humano)
(Goes from Argentina to
Mozambique to the Philippines)
Readers outside of New York may be able to screen the films elsewhere, for example Memories of A Penitent Heart can be seen via PBS.
