By Stephanie Ornelas
For years, the Sundance Film Festival has uplifted Latine artists who work tirelessly to present their authentic stories to the world, whether they’re centered on growing up as immigrants or the unique cultural experiences of those who came before them. The 2024 Festival slate has 17 remarkable projects by Latine filmmakers.
Explore new works by Sundance alums as well as emerging artists who are presenting their projects for the first time in front of Festival audiences, like Carlos A.F. Lopez, Daniel Barosa, and Klaudia Reynicke.
With the 2024 Sundance Film Festival less than one week away and Single Film Tickets now on sale, we invite you to dive into these powerful films available in person and online. Whether you’re in the mood for relatable stories of family dynamics, an intimate documentary, a thrilling drama, or an inspiring episodic series, these projects by Latine artists are sure to leave you captivated. Choose your favorite titles below, and work them to your screening schedule.
Features
Director: Ramona S. Diaz
Section: Premieres
Available to watch in person and online
Amidst the traditional pomp and circumstance of Filipino elections, a quirky people’s movement rises to defend the nation against deepening threats to truth and democracy. In a collective act of joy as a form of resistance, hope flickers against the backdrop of increasing autocracy.
Director: Carla Gutiérrez
Section: U.S. Documentary Competition
Available to watch in person and online
An intimately raw and magical journey through the life, mind, and heart of iconic artist Frida Kahlo. Told through her own words for the very first time — drawn from her diary, revealing letters, essays, and print interviews — and brought vividly to life by lyrical animation inspired by her unforgettable artwork.
Directors: Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw
Section: U.S. Documentary Competition
Available to watch in person and online
A celebration of a community of Argentine cowboys and cowgirls, known as Gauchos, living beyond the boundaries of the modern world.
Director: Juan Mejía Botero
Section: World Cinema Documentary Competition
Available to watch in person and online
In one of Latin America’s most unequal countries, Francia Márquez, a Black Colombian rural activist, challenges the status quo with a presidential campaign that reappropriates the derogatory term “Igualada” — someone who acts as if they deserve rights that supposedly don’t correspond to them — and inspires a nation to dream.
Director: Alessandra Lacorazza
Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition
Available to watch in person and online
On a journey that spans the formative years of their lives, two sisters navigate their loving but volatile father during their yearly summer visits to his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Director: Pedro Freire
Section: World Cinema Dramatic Competition
Available to watch in person and online
Malu — a mercurial, unemployed actress living with her conservative mother in a precarious house in a Rio de Janeiro slum — tries to deal with her strained relationship with her own adult daughter while surviving on memories of her glorious artistic past.
Director: Esteban Arango
Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition
Available to watch in person and online
Unfolding over the course of Valentine’s Day in New Jersey, a young intersex sex worker must run from the mob after a drug deal goes sideways, forcing him to confront his past.
Director: Klaudia Reynicke
Section: World Cinema Dramatic Competition
Available to watch in person and online
Surrounded by social and political chaos in Lima during the summer of 1992, Lucia, Aurora, and their mother, Elena, plan to leave and seek opportunities in the United States. Their farewell involves reconnecting with their estranged father, Carlos, adding turbulence to the regrets, hopes, and fears of their emotional departure.
Director: Astrid Rondero
Section: World Cinema Dramatic Competition
Available to watch in person and online
When a cartel gunman is killed, he leaves behind Sujo, his beloved 4-year-old son. The shadow of violence surrounds Sujo during each stage of his life in the isolated Mexican countryside. As he grows into a man, Sujo finds that fulfilling his father’s destiny may be inescapable.
Episodic
Director: Debra Granik
Section: Episodic
Available to watch in person and online
Taking place over eight years, Coss Marte builds ConBody, a gym inspired by workouts he developed while in prison. Committed to employing trainers who were formerly incarcerated, Coss creates a community fighting to break the cycle of recidivism while navigating society’s many obstacles to reentry.
Shorts
Boi de Conchas (The Shell Covered Ox)
Director: Daniel Barosa
Section: Short Film Program 4
Available to watch in person and online
While mourning her missing sister, Rayane balances helping her fisherman father and practicing for the school’s music festival — provided she doesn’t become an ox first, a misfortune assailing several teenagers in the area.
Director: Nico Casavecchia
Section: Short Film Program 4
Available to watch in person and online
When a Latinx filmmaker is offered a dream job abroad, she discovers a supernatural way to navigate the U.S. immigration system and get the coveted travel permit she needs. But what seems like a magic solution soon shows unexpected consequences.
Director: Dylan Guerra
Section: Short Film Program 4
Available to watch in person and online
Rory thinks there’s a ghost haunting his shower and decides to investigate its origin. But when he goes to a party and meets a romantic interest, his spectral mystery begins to unravel.
Director: Carlos A.F. Lopez
Section: Midnight Short Film Program
Available to watch in person and online
A couple awakens in the night to sounds emanating from an unlikely orifice.
Director: Margaux Susi Section:
Short Film Program 3
Available to watch in person and online
Desperate for help, a woman in recovery asks an unlikely stranger on a dinner date.
Director: Catapreta
Section: Animated Short Film Program
Available to watch in person and online
Desperate for help, a woman in recovery asks an unlikely stranger on a dinner date.
Director: Gerardo Coello Escalante
Section: Short Film Program 3
Available to watch in person and online
Daniel arrives at school wearing brand-new sneakers from America, gifted to him by his father. When he sees another boy wearing the same sneakers, he begins to suspect that their shoes are the key to a terrible secret.
