Cinema Studies

A selection of independent, experimental, classic, and unconventional films that celebrates Latin American cinema and the art of filmmaking. Featuring both well-known and films to be discovered, these titles explore the region's cinematic heritage.

New to Pragda? Please sign up and login to preview and/or license this collection. If your institution has already licensed this collection, you will need to access this page from your institution's network to watch the film. For help on using Pragda, please visit our help wiki.

for licensing options.

The Cinema Studies collection includes the following titles:

A Useful Life

La vida útil
Drama, Fiction Uruguay, Spain
An art film enthusiast fears that decrease in attendance will force the Uruguayan Cinematheque to close. To save it, Jorge enters a new world and is exposed to an unknown passion. A modern classic film.

Andrés Reads and Writes

Andrés lee i escribe
Drama, Fiction, Romance Chile
Andrés Centeno, a young factory worker, realizes that although he has lost its way and forgotten his teenage dreams, it’s still not to late.

Angel Face

Carita de Cielo
Fiction, Comedy, Romance, Musical Mexico
A singular comedy of errors, this Mexican classic follows Lupe as she pretends to be a thief to infiltrate a criminal cell that is threatening her father.

Before Opening Night

Antes del estreno
Drama, Fiction, Romance Argentina
Writer-director Santiago Giralt gives us elements of Woody Allen’s nervous comedy and Cassavetes’ melodramatic roller coaster in a storm of egos that takes place on one decisive weekend in the lives of Juana, a popular actress about to star in an important theater production, and her husband Roman, a director suffering from writer’s block.

Behind the Scenes: La Llorona

Documentary Mexico
The story behind the filming of the iconic film: La Llorona (1933).

Black Bread

Pa negre
Drama, Fiction, Thriller Spain
The Spanish selection for the 89th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film, Black Bread is set in the war-ravaged Catalan countryside of the early 1940s where a local man is accused of murder and his son sets out to find the truth.

Brickmakers (Chircales)

Chircales
Documentary, Classic Colombia
An essential and highly influential classic, Chircales is the product of two of the most prominent and rebellious voices of the New Latin American Cinema: Marta Rodríguez and Jorge Silva.

Carlos Saura Photographer

Documentary Germany
Legendary Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura unveils his hidden passion: Photography.

City of God - Ten Years Later

Cidade de deus -10 anos depois
Documentary Brazil
An investigation into the fate of the young actors who participated in the award winning film City of God, directed by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund, featuring actress Alice Braga (Queen of the South) and musician and actor Seu Jorge, among others.

Correspondence

Correspondencia
Documentary Spain, Chile
From Spain to Chile, award-winning film directors correspond and share their reflections about film, family, heritage, and maternity.

Craft

Riscado
Drama, Fiction Brazil
Bianca manages a precarious living as a talented but underemployed actress troubled by the belief that she has missed her big break. But an audition leads to a rare opportunity.

Dear Werner (Walking on Cinema)

Documentary Spain
In 2020, a young filmmaker follows in Herzog ́s footsteps in an act of reverence to one of the greatest filmmakers of our time.

Defect

La tara
Documentary, Experimental Argentina, Spain
A light lens into deep history led by the discovery of the soundtrack to Argentina's sole surrealist film, the 1936 “Tararira: Today's Bohemia.”

El Amparo

El amparo
Drama, Fiction, Thriller Colombia, Venezuela
In the Venezuelan town of El Amparo, near the border with Colombia, a group of fishermen sets off down the Aruca River. But only two men return, their friends shot down by the military, who claim they were clandestine guerrillas on a mission.

Following Nazarin

Tras Nazarín
Documentary Spain
A journey through memory accompanied by Buñuel’s photographs taken during the scouting of locations for “Nazarín."

Gabo & Cinema

Gabo y el cine
Documentary Mexico
A commendable and well documented contribution to the general study of Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez’s cultural production. In the voice of his friends and accomplices, the documentary takes us beyond his literary figure and immerses us in his cinematic one.

I Travel Because I Have to I Come Back Because I Love You

Viajo porque preciso, volto porque te amo
Documentary, Experimental, Romance, Fiction Brazil
In this award-winning and hauntingly melancholic film, geologist José Renato travels to Sertão, an isolated region in Northeastern Brazil, to assess possible routes for a canal. For many, the canal will be a source of hope, but for those living on its direct course it only means requisitions, departure, and loss.

Infernal Dolls

Muñecos infernales
Fiction, Thriller, Science Fiction, Classic Mexico
In this remastered Mexican classic, four men are cursed by a voodoo priest for stealing a sacred idol from his temple.

La Llorona

Fiction, Classic, Thriller, Drama Mexico
A new restoration of Mexico's pioneering horror sound film, La Llorona is a romantic melodrama with expressionist and supernatural elements based on the chilling tale of the ‘wailing woman’.

La Soledad

La soledad
Drama, Fiction Venezuela, Canada, Italy
Handyman José lives with his family in La Soledad, a ramshackle villa located in what was once among Caracas’ most affluent neighborhoods. Might a fabled treasure supposedly hidden in La Soledad’s walls offer José’s family a chance at a better life?

La Yuma

Drama, Fiction Mexico, Nicaragua, Spain
Nicaragua’s first full-length feature in 20 years, La Yuma tells the story of a young woman who dreams of transcending her bleak life in the slums of Managua by becoming a boxer.

Leading Actor

El actor principal
Drama, Fiction Mexico, Argentina
Luis, an amateur actor, forgoes his movie premiere at a renowned festival to be with Azra, a chambermaid from Albania with an enigmatic scar.

Left Entranced

Documentary Brazil
A cinematographic opera, a musical version of the events that shook Brazil and the political left in 2016.

Looking for El Santo

Documentary Mexico, Cuba
This intimate short documentary reveals the surreal story of Santo's debut in cinema, during the Cuban Revolution.

Los Lobos

Los lobos
Drama, Fiction Mexico
An absorbing coming-of-age story about migrant life through the prism of its most innocent figures: children.

Machuca

Drama, Fiction, Classic Chile, Spain
A political and emotionally charged story, experienced by two 11-year-old boys coming from opposite ends of the social spectrum in the days leading up to the military coup in Chile.

Mute Fire

Pirotecnia
Documentary Colombia
A personal essay that examines the relationship between film footage, the events of the war in Colombia, family history, and the origins of cinema in Colombia.

Night Shot

Visión noctuna
Documentary Chile
After being raped, a young filmmaker creates a video diary exploring the wounds of abuse, the re-victimizing legal proceedings, and the accompanying friendships. Does rape ever end?

Ninosca

Documentary Sweden
The story of a woman who left her abusive husband and set off into the world with the dream of a simple life, seeking a way to support her family.

Panther Women

Las mujeres panteras
Fiction, Science Fiction, Thriller, Classic Mexico
Panther women are worshipers of Satan and perform rituals in their honor and sacrifice. The fighters will face them up and down the ring.

Perdida

Documentary Mexico
After being told that her family had made some of the worst films in the history of Mexican cinema, Viviana García Besné unearths 100 years of cinematic legacy.

Rompiente

Drama, Fiction Argentina
It’s the first day shooting a low-budget film. The director tries to shoot a sex scene, secretly keeping the camera running between takes, to capture brief moments of intimacy.

Santo vs. the Evil Brain

Santo contra Cerebro del Mal
Fiction, Science Fiction, Adventure, Classic Mexico, Cuba
In this cult classic from El Santo's saga, an undercover police officer is kidnapped by Dr. Campos who brainwashes him into becoming a member of his gang.

Santo vs. the Infernal Men

Santo contra Hombres Infernales
Fiction, Science Fiction, Adventure, Classic Mexico
El Santo helps an undercover agent take down a gang of drug smugglers in this new restauration of the Mexican cult classic.

Santo vs. the Riders of Terror

Santo contra los Jinetes del Terror
Fiction, Thriller, Adventure, Classic Mexico
A new restoration of the cult classic film featuring El Santo. A group of violent lepers escape from a sanatorium unleashing the terror on the inhabitants who have no choice but to turn to El Santo to save them.

Searching for Oscar

En busca del Óscar
Documentary
A film critic and President of the Spanish Association of Film Critics, Óscar Peyrou has a peculiar method for reviews: instead of seeing films, he critiques them by their posters.

Silent Witnesses

Mudos testigos
Experimental, Drama, Documentary, Romance Colombia, France
An imaginary trek through the history of Colombia (and its cinema) during the first half of the 20th century, using footage of Colombian silent film.

Southern District

Zona sur
Drama, Fiction, Comedy, Romance Bolivia
Bolivia’s official entry for the Academy® Awards, this searing portrait of a patrician family in flux exposes the bubble of decadence in which they exist. The threat of shifting aristocratic privilege heralds a new era in a seemingly interminable class war.

Stigmata

Estigmas
Drama, Fiction, Experimental Spain
Told by a hulking, gentle giant of a man, Stigmata follows Bruno as he wakes up one morning bleeding from mysterious wounds on his hands. A hauntingly beautiful and lyrical tale based on the Italian cult graphic novel by Lorenzo Mattotti and Claudio Piersanti.

Stories Our Cinema Did (Not) Tell

Histórias que nosso cinema (nāo) contava
Documentary Brazil
A review of the military dictatorship in Brazil told only through images and sounds from pornochanchada films, a genre of erotic film that was the most popular during that period.

Stronger than Love

Mas fuerte que el amor
Fiction, Drama, Romance Mexico, Cuba
Newly restored, this Mexican clasic melodrama and social critique of class tensions follows a humble man's fight to be accepted by the upper class after making millions.

Swing and Sway

Vai e vem
Documentary, Experimental United States, Brazil
Against the backdrop of a tumultuous 2020 marked by pandemics, elections, and social upheavals, the two friends embark on a thought-provoking exploration of feminist cinematic expression and the female experience.

Take Me in Your Arms

Llévame en tus brazos
Fiction, Drama, Musical, Romance Mexico
One of the most important melodramas of the decade where a fishing-village girl sacrifices her reputation to the local banker to protect her family. Newly restored!

The Bat Woman

La mujer murciélago
Fiction, Adventure, Science Fiction, Classic Mexico
A new restoration of a fascinating and little-known Mexican entry in the Batman superhero canon.

The Calm After The Storm

Como el cielo después de llover
Documentary Argentina, Colombia
After studying abroad, Mercedes returns to her native city to join her father, acclaimed filmmaker and writer Victor Gaviria (The Rose Seller), in the shooting of his next film

The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet

El perro que no calla
Drama, Comedy, Fiction Argentina
An adventurous and bittersweet cinematic exploration of adulthood, love, loss, and fatherhood in a world rocked by a sudden catastrophe.

The Phantom of the Monastery

El fantasma del convento
Fiction, Drama, Classic, Thriller Mexico
The sexual tension between a trio of friends is being punished by the super natural experiences at an abandoned convent.

The Queen of the Lizards

La reina de los lagartos
Science Fiction, Romance, Comedy, Fiction Spain
The most groundbreaking love story of recent Spanish cinema stars a single mother and an alien.

The Rose Seller

La vendedora de rosas
Drama, Fiction, Classic Colombia
A poignant portrayal of life in the streets of Medellín, Colombia, directed by the iconic Colombian poet and filmmaker Victor Gaviria.

The Territories

Los territorios
Documentary Argentina, Brazil
An engrossing exploration into what it means to be a journalist, the film is about how we approach the conflicts and the role the press plays in times of fake news.

The Welles Raft

A jangada de Welles
Documentary Brazil
During Orson Welles' filming of It's All True in Brazil, a fishermen's raft vanishes at sea, evoking memories of dictatorship, WWII, and labor rights battles.

This is Cristina

Ella es Cristina
Comedy, Drama, Fiction Chile
A Chilean generational comedy produced by Salma Hayek and directed by the multitalented Gonzalo Maza, screenwriter of A Fantastic Woman and Gloria.

Time Theorem

Teorema de tiempo
Documentary Mexico
Years after the death of my grandmother Anita, I found thousands of photographs and hundreds of home movies. The images revealed their secret profession as amateur filmmakers.

Timecode

Drama, Comedy, Fiction Spain
Luna and Diego are the parking lot security guards. Diego does the night shift, and Luna works by day.

Uncertain Journey

Camino incierto
Documentary Spain
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pedro Costa, Manoel de Oliveira, Luis Miñarro, and Pablo García Pérez de Lara share images, sounds, and words as they walk the line where life meets film.

Untouched

Sombra verde
Fiction, Drama, Romance, Adventure Mexico
A romance set in the jungle around Veracruz, where a scientist searches for barbasco roots. Lost in the interior, he meets a machete-wielding stranger and his beautiful daughter.

Urgent Love

Amor urgente
Comedy, Fiction, Romance Argentina
Fresh and endearing, Urgent Love uses highly original photography and exceptional artwork to create the playful world where Agustina and Pedro fall in love. Everything is intentionally exposed in this subtle, intelligent, and entertaining comedy that dares to be different.

We Need It Yesterday

Para ayer
Fiction, Comedy Spain
An emerging production company is ready to do whatever it takes in order to get the job from an award-winning advertising agency.

Woody and Woody

Fiction, Animation, Comedy Spain
A young Woody Allen meets an old Woody Allen having a drink in a bar. A great dialogue begins.