Winners

Best Film:
UNDEFINED THINGS / LAS COSAS INDEFINIDAS
by María Aparicio, Argentina

Best Non-Fiction Film:
PEPE
by Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias, Dominican Republic

Best Director:
THE DELINQUENTS / LOS DELINCUENTES
by Rodrigo Moreno, Argentina

Best First Fiction Film:
THE SETTLERS / LOS COLONOS
by Felipe Gálvez, Chile

Best U.S. Latinx Film:
SKIN OF GLASS
by Denise Zmekhol

The winners of the 15th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards were announced on Tuesday,
January 14, 2025 at a special ceremony at Film at Lincoln Center.

Cinema Tropical’s programs are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

Cinema Tropical Awards Producer: Juan Pedro Agurcia.

Cinema Tropical announces its annual list of the Best Latin American Films of the Year, comprising 26 titles from ten different countries that the organization has selected as the best of 2024.

Featuring productions from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Paraguay, and Peru, the films selected will compete for the 15th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards in the categories of Best Film, Best Non-Fiction Film, Best Director, and in some cases, Best First Film.

The New York-based non-profit organization has also unveiled the seven nominated films that will compete for the Best US Latinx Film.

The winners of the 15th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards will be announced at a ceremony on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 at Film at Lincoln Center in New York City.

All of the films under consideration had a minimum runtime of 60 minutes and premiered between May 1, 2023 and April 30, 2024.

LATIN AMERICAN FILMS
(in alphabetical order):

**THE BURITI FLOWER / CROWRÃ**
Renée Nader Mesora and João Salaviza, Brazil/Portugal

**LA COCINA**
Alonso Ruizpalacios, Mexico/USA

**THE DAY I MET YOU** **/ O DIA QUE TE CONHECI**
André Novais Oliveira, Brazil

**THE DELINQUENTS / LOS DELINCUENTES**
Rodrigo Moreno, Argentina

**EUREKA**
Lisandro Alonso, Argentina/France/Portugal

**THE HUMAN SURGE 3 / EL AUGE DEL HUMANO 3**
Eduardo Williams, Argentina/Portugal/Netherlands/Taiwan/Brazil/Hong Kong/Sri Lanka/Peru

**HURRICANE SEASON / TEMPORADA DE HURACANES**
Elisa Miller, Mexico

**THE LAST / LOS ÚLTIMOS**
Sebastián Peña Escobar, Paraguay/Uruguay

**MEMORIES OF A BURNING BODY / MEMORIAS DE UN CUERPO QUE ARDE**
Antonella Sudasassi, Costa Rica/Spain

**MIXTAPE LA PAMPA**
Andrés Di Tella, Argentina/Chile

**THE OTHER SON / EL OTRO HIJO**
Juan Sebastián Quebrada, Colombia/France/Argentina

**OTRO SOL**
Francisco Rodríguez Teare, Chile/France/Belgium

**PEPE**
Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias, Dominican Republic/Namibia/Germany/France

**PICTURES OF GHOSTS** **/ RETRATOS FANTASMAS**
Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil

**THE PRACTICE** **/ LA PRÁCTICA**
Martín Rejtman, Argentina/Chile/Portugal

**REAS**
Lola Arias, Argentina/Germany/Switzerland

**REINAS**
Klaudia Reynicke, Peru/Switzerland

**RIDERS / EL REPARTIDOR ESTÁ EN CAMINO**
Martín Rejtman, Argentina/Portugal/Venezuela

**THE SETTLERS / LOS COLONOS**
Felipe Gálvez Haberle, Chile/Argentina

**SKIN IN SPRING / LA PIEL EN PRIMAVERA**
Yennifer Uribe Alzate, Colombia/Chile

**SLEEP WITH YOUR EYES OPEN / DORMIR DE OLHOS ABERTOS**
Nele Wohlatz, Brazil/Taiwan/Argentina/Germany

**SOCIALIST REALISM / EL REALISMO SOCIALISTA**
Raúl Ruiz and Valeria Sarmiento, Chile

**SUJO**
Fernanda Valadez and Astrid Rondero, Mexico/France

**UNDEFINED THINGS / LAS COSAS INDEFINIDAS**
María Aparicio, Argentina

**YOU BURN ME** **/ TU ME ABRASAS**
Matías Piñeiro, Argentina/Spain

U.S. LATINX FILMS
(in alphabetical order):

**IGUALADA**
Juan Mejía Botero, USA/Colombia/Mexico

**IN THE SUMMERS**
Alessandra Lacorazza, USA

**SKIN OF GLASS**
Denise Zmekhol, USA/Brazil

LATIN AMERICAN CINEMA JURY

Josh Gardner is a Detroit-based film programmer for the American Film Institute. He programs features for AFI FEST in Los Angeles and is the Senior Film Programmer and Public Relations Manager at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. There he curates the AFI Latin American Film Festival, AFI European Union Film Showcase, and the New African Film Festival in addition to repertory series and first-run films. He is also the founder of Cinema Lamont, a nonprofit that fosters cross-cultural understanding through the power of world cinema in Detroit.

Milton Guillén is a Nicaraguan artist, filmmaker, and the senior programmer at CIFF/Points North Institute. His films, installations, and performances have screened globally at the Venice Biennale, Locarno, CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, Dokufest, T/F, CIFF and many more. Milton is a former fellow at the Film Study Center at Harvard and teaches film production at the University of Vermont.

Isabel Rojas is a cultural manager, film programmer, and curator, she is dedicated to research, teaching, and producing cultural projects focused on audience design and development. Currently she is the Artistic Director of the "The Audience of the Future" Seminar at the FICUNAM and founder of OaxacaCine. She has also been a selection committee member for DocLisboa (2024) and the Morelia International Film Festival (2019–2023), specializing in documentary short films. She has served as a jury member, mentor, and collaborator with various festivals, organizations, and film schools across Mexico and Ibero-America, including the Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE), FICUNAM, Morelia International Film Festival, Ambulante AC, Proimágenes Colombia, Cine Cauce in Spain, and the "Fragmentos de lo Real" Seminar in Bolivia.

US LATINX CINEMA JURY

Sabrina Avilés is an award-winning independent filmmaker, educator, and the Founder/Executive Director of CineFest Latino Boston. Born in NYC, and as a first-generation daughter of Puerto Rican and Dominican immigrants, she sees her life reflected in the stories she documents about Latinx communities. In addition to her film career, in 2016, Sabrina became the Executive Director of the Boston Latino International Film Festival. During her tenure, the festival received a special commendation from the Boston Society of Film Critics, “for bringing to Boston audiences a varied, challenging line-up of local, national and international films by Latinx filmmakers, and for prioritizing outreach to community partners.” In 2022, Sabrina founded CineFest Latino Boston, which Boston Magazine recently recognized as “the best film festival in Boston for international films.”

Eugenio del Bosque Gómez is a film programmer, arts administrator, filmmaker and photographer working in the United States and Mexico. From 2006 to 2014, del Bosque served as executive director of Cine Las Americas in Austin, Texas, creating theatrical exhibition opportunities for more than 1,600 independent Latinx and indigenous films, supporting regional talent, and overseeing youth education programs. For his work, he was presented with the Award of Excellence for Service from the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center. In the past 20 years, he’s collaborated on feature and short films, award-winning multimedia journalism projects, and worked with institutional and corporate clients on nonprofit and commercial projects. He currently serves as Film Programmer and Program Operations Manager for the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio, Texas, and is working on his first documentary feature as director.

Gabriel Magraner is a cultural worker based in New York City by way of Diasporican Texas. He is currently the associate director of The Latinx Project at New York University, an interdisciplinary center with arts and curatorial programs, public humanities programming and the Intervenxions digital platform for original writing and cultural criticism. Previously, he was assistant director at the NYU Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and director of programs at the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures in San Antonio, Texas. He is a member of the editorial team for the forthcoming book Nuyorican and Diasporican Visual Art: A Critical Anthology (Duke University Press, 2025).

Winners

Cinema Tropical's programs are made possible with the support of the New York State Council on the Arts.
They are also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
in partnership with the City Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Cinema Tropical is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization.
All donations are tax deductible.

Cinema Tropical Inc. © 2025

Winners

Cinema Tropical's programs are made possible with the support of the New York State Council on the Arts. They are also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairsin partnership with the City Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Cinema Tropical is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization.All donations are tax deductible.

Cinema Tropical's programs are made possible with the support of the New York State Council on the Arts.
They are also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
in partnership with the City Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Cinema Tropical is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization.
All donations are tax deductible.