Don’t let anyone tell you Latinx people don’t make films. We do – and every year there’s a bevy of movies starring, directed, and centering people at Sundance. Do we then get invited to the right meetings and receive big Hollywood deals that put our stories in front of audiences around the world? If you read this site, you probably know the answer.
Until there is true equity, we’re celebrating the Latinx Sundance filmmakers who are making amazing films and premiering them this year. So without further ado, we give you 15 Latinx Sundance titles to watch out for in 2024:
ConBody vs Everybody
This docu-series by gringita Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone) follows Coss Marte, a formerly incarcerated Dominican workout guru over eight years. In that time, he builds his gym ConBody, despite the many naysayers, employing other formerly incarcerated folks and building a community of health and strength. Picture a real-life This Fool where the existential dread is less funny and more inspirational.
Freaky Tales
Starring the leading man of our generational Pedro Pascal, this feature is set in 1987 Oakland and promises to be “a pastiche of pulp, pop, comic books, anthology horror, Old Testament wrath, and kung fu.” Sound like fun right? It’s directed by gringos Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck of Half Nelson, Captain American, and Sugar fame.
Frida
The name says it all – or at least it says enough to pique the interest of fans of the world-renowned painter. Peruvian editor-turned-director Carla Gutiérrez directed this documentary, using Kahlo’s own words and artwork to give us an intimate portrayal of the icon. Frida promises to let us “get to know one of the greatest artists of the 20th century in a completely new way.”
Gaucho Gaucho
This documentary takes us to the plains of Argentina where cowboy culture is alive and well. Directed by two Anglos with a flair for the visual, Gaucho Gaucho promises “operatic beauty” in black and white, giving us a window into a culture that has inspired the world even as its Argentinan originators and practitioners rarely get their due.
God Save Texas
This anthology series features an episode each from three different directors. There’s Alex Stapleton whose family arrived in the state as enslaved people with “The Price of Oil.” There’s Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused), going back to Huntsville to figure out how the prison industrial complex changed his hometown. And there’s Chicana Illiana Sosa in “La Frontera,” returning to El Paso after the devastating 2019 shooting there.
Hit Man
Adria Arjona is part of the main couple in this black comedy based on a true story. The lead of this movie is a rule-following professor, played by Glen Powell (Anyone But You, Top Gun: Maverick) who finds his true calling as a fake hitman. But when he meets Arjona’s character, things get extra topsy turvy as the film asks questions about identity and the roles we play.
Igualada
Colombian director Juan Mejía Botero follows Francia Márquez, a Black Colombian activist, as she runs for President. The film gets its title from Márquez’s work to take back the slur “igualada” aka “someone who acts as if they deserve rights that supposedly don’t correspond to them.” Expect a story filled with inspiration interwoven with messages about racial and environmental activism in this World Cinema Documentary entry.
In the Summers
By queer Colombian-American writer-director and NALIP-fellow, Alessandra Lacorazza, this dramatic feature follows two sisters who spend their summers in Las Cruces, New Mexico visiting their “loving but volatile” dad. And who plays the patriarch? None other than Residente, aka René Pérez Joglar, who’s joined by Sasha Calle and Lío Mehiel, making In the Summers one of the most anticipated Latinx Sundance films at this year’s festival.
La Mesías
Showrunners Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, known for bringing us HBO Max’s Veneno based on trans icon Cristina Ortiz, are back with this Sundance-selected series. La Mesías follows two siblings, this time Enric and Irene, who are navigating a toxic relationship with their mother as they look for safety and freedom.
Malu
Exploring intergenerational trauma, Malu tells the story of three generations of women, focusing on the mother who bears the film’s title. Played by Yara de Novaes, Malu is an out-of-work actress who’s trying to figure out her identity both in regard to stardom and motherhood. Written and directed by Brazilian Pedro Freire, Malu explores a “fraught familial dynamic” from the perspective of a “fascinating, imperfect woman.”
My Old Ass
Aubrey Plaza stars as the older version of Elliot, who comes face-to-face with her younger self, when that Elliot (Maisy Stella) takes mushrooms the summer before college. Expect Plaza to bring her “sardonic” flair as the future Elliot in this “refreshing, nuanced exploration of the uncertainties of young romance and coming of age.”
Ponyboi
Colombian-American director Esteban Arango teams up with star and co-writer Salvadoran-American River Gallo for this narrative feature. It follows Gallo’s titular character, an intersex sex worker, over one tumultuous Valentine’s Day in New Jersey. Ponyboi promises to be a “bombastic, edgy, and campy roller-coaster ride of a film.”
Reinas
Reinas director Klaudia Reynicke starts her bio by declaring that she “grew up in Peru, Switzerland, and the United States.” So it makes sense that her narrative film tells the story of a mother and her daughters getting ready to immigrate from Peru to the US. Expect “an emotional trip, transporting the viewer to Lima in the ’90s” in this 2024 Latinx Sundance film.
Sujo
From Mexican writers, directors, and producers Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez, Sujo is in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at Sundance. The film follows Juan Jesús Varela in the titular role as a young man who loses his cartel gunman father at the age of four and then must construct his own version of manhood without him.
Your Monster
Melissa Barrera stars in this horror/romance as quiet actress Laura Franco who “finds her voice again when she meets a terrifying, yet weirdly charming, monster living in her closet.” From New York native and festival-award-winning director Caroline Lindy, Your Monster bills itself as “a genre-defying monster mash that’s equal parts twisted and romantic with a dash of musical whimsy” and we’re looking forward to it and all the 2024 Latinx Sundance titles.
