Best Ibero-American Film?

by Nathaniel R

Kill the Jockey and I'm Still Here are hoping for both Oscar & Goya nominations

The Spanish Film Academy Goya Awards (essentially Spain's Oscars) aren't held until February 8, 2025 but they've released a list of the eligible titles for their "Best Ibero-American Film" category. This category has been around since the beginning of the Goyas with Argentina, Mexico, and Chile frequently favored among nominees and winners of the category.  Here are the 2024 entries they'll choose between for the Ibero-American nominations for the 39th annual Goya Awards...

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TIFF ’24: Another take on the transporting “Kill the Jockey”

By Abe Friedtanzer

It’s not always the plot a film that makes it interesting but sometimes the way that it’s told. Kill the Jockey most certainly falls under that description, enhancing a premise about a jockey on the run from his mobster boss after an accident with an unforgettable and unique style. Those seeking a narrative that has a distinct start and finish with clear resolution for all its characters won’t necessarily find that here, but what transpires over its ninety-six minutes is definitely captivating… 

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Best International Film: Argentina's "The Delinquents" and Mexico's "Tótem"

by Cláudio Alves

In its long history, the Academy has awarded the Best International Film Oscar to a Latin-American country four times. The first two were from Argentina, 1985's The Official Story and 2009's The Secret in Their Eyes, followed by Chile with 2017's A Fantastic Woman, and Mexico with 2019's Roma. Looking at those dates, it's fair to say AMPAS has become more open to Latin cinema in the 21st century, even though Europe remains the category's continental champion. Hope remains eternal that voters will broaden their horizons. 

I've already reviewed Chile's submission, The Settlers, when at TIFF. So, it's time to consider the films of the other two Latin victors of yesteryear. There's Argentina's newly released The Delinquents, and Mexico's Berlinale prize-winner Tótem…

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TIFF '23: "A Ravaging Wind" delivers an acting masterclass

by Cláudio Alves

Sergi Lopez and Alfredo Castro work miracles in "A Ravaging Wind"

I swore to myself that, if ever I got to attend TIFF, I wouldn't capitulate to the tyranny of awards buzz. Smaller pictures and international sensations deserve as much attention as those movies bound for Academy consideration. Now that I'm here, that intention remains true, though new frustrations compound with old ones, especially concerning actors. In such a wide array of world cinema offerings, it's dispiriting that the only thespians that can headline articles and cause social media stirs are either Hollywood institutions or Sandra Hüller.

That's not a dig at those lucky few, merely an appreciation that there's greatness beyond the mainstream spotlight. In other words, everyone at TIFF should be talking about what Chilean star Alfredo Castro and Catalan star Sergi López  achieve in A Ravaging Wind… 

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TIFF ’23: “The Human Surge 3” is cinema’s dream of itself

by Cláudio Alves

I don’t even know where we are and you keep asking where we’re going.

Where is cinema going? Does it know where or what’s ahead? Is it like us - lost in the dark, blindly navigating a road somewhere, maybe nowhere? Perhaps it’s just like us in other ways, too. Can it dream? It must. When it leaves the waking life to visit Morpheus’ realm, it may consider yesterday, today, and tomorrow, others and itself, the possible made impossible, and the other way around, too. Paths appear and disappear as the mind wanders, a string of consciousness twisting itself mad. I’m not sure if writer/director Eduardo Williams’ films know where they’re going, but they’re undoubtedly mad. They dream the future and themselves, infinite possibility.

So it was with 2016’s debut, Human Surge (2016), and so it is with its follow-up, The Human Surge 3, one of the most exciting films at this year’s TIFF…

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