Cinema Tropical is celebrating its 25th anniversary. They are known for distributing and promoting Latin American cinema to the States.
In celebration of this milestone, they are screening Martín Rejtman's Silvia Prieto in 4K at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Wednesday, March 11th. Silvia Prieto was Cinema Tropical's first film presentation held on February 20, 2001 at the Two Boots Pioneer Theater (yes, Two Boots pizza).
Silvia Prieto: On her 27th birthday, Silvia Prieto decides to change her life only to spiral into an identity crisis when she discovers other women share her name. Buoyed by quick wit and a pop-infused eye for consumer culture, Silvia embarks on a wry, screwball-inspired quest for self-definition.
On Wednesday, March 18, Cinema Tropical is having a joint celebration with the Flaherty Seminar at Anthology Film Archives. This marks Flaherty's 70th anniversary.
Curated by Zaina Bseiso and Carlos A. Gutiérrez, this incisive and defiant program of short films originated from their collaboration at the 70th Flaherty Film Seminar and features artists from across the Global South – Palestine, Puerto Rico, Morocco, Yemen, Lebanon, and Latinx USA – who reclaim humor, popular culture, and aesthetics as spaces of resistance and resilience amid the ominous threat of colonial forces. Timely and resonant, this collection of shorts offers a poignant yet playful polyphony of voices grappling with an increasingly nonsensical geopolitical world.
- Alex Rivera DÍA DE LA INDEPENDENCIA (USA, 1997, 2 min, digital)
- Meriem Bennani LIFE ON THE CAPS: 2. GUIDED TOUR OF A SPILL (Morocco, 2020, 15 min, digital)
- Larissa Sansour BETHLEHEM BANDOLERO (Palestine, 2004, 6 min, digital)
- Akram Zaatari RED CHEWING GUM (Lebanon, 2000, 11 min, digital)
- Asim Aziz 1941 (Yemen, 2021, 4 min, digital)
- Sofía Gallisá Muriente THE ENVOY (EVEN IF IT’S NOT MORE THAN A TRUCE) (Puerto Rico, 2022, 24 min, digital)
- Jazmin Garcia TROKAS DURAS (USA, 2025, 17 min, digital)
"The new millennium has witnessed an extraordinary renaissance in Latin American cinema, alongside the emergence of a powerful generation of U.S. Latinx directors," says Carlos A. Gutiérrez, co-founding executive director of Cinema Tropical. "For 25 years, we've worked to create a space where these films can engage audiences in the United States in meaningful and lasting ways. This anniversary is both a celebration of that journey and a recommitment to the work ahead."
Additional anniversary programming is expected soon. To learn more about Cinema Tropical and see some of their latest offerings, check out their website:
www.cinematropical.com.