Things we love about...Nicaragua
Charming colonial cities with cobblestone streets, Pacific breakers producing perfect surf year-round, tiny Caribbean islands you can make your own for a day, and the smoothest rum that ever came out of an oak barrel. Nicaragua…
Street Elegance
L-Gante is one of the most exciting, original and successful urban artists to emerge from Latin America in recent years. Emerging from the working-class suburbs of Buenos Aires, the boy from el barrio came out of nowhere and…
Things That Matter To...Mandinga
Hailing from Bucharest, Mandinga have come a long way since representing Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2012. Integrating the sassy Spanish lead singer Bárbara Isasi, this energetic, funky Tropical-Urban fusion…
Portugal's Evita
Ever since she was six years old Lisbon-born Madalena Alberto dreamed of being an actress. Like Eva Perón, her character in Evita, which returns to the London stage next month, Madalena was strong-willed and persistent young girl…
Caballerango (Dir Juan Pablo González)
‘CABALLERANGO’, by Mexican film maker Juan Pablo González, is a feature-length documentary examining the effects of a suicide on a family and the people of a village afflicted by more than one such death, some by consuming…
Birds of Passage (Dir. Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra)
Through a series of five ‘songs’ or ‘cantos’, ‘Birds of Passage’ tells the painful story of how the drugs trade began in Colombia in the 1960s. From modest beginning, the Wayuu tribe found themselves involved as it began. The…
Prodigious Child
Silvana Estrada grew up in rural Mexico in a home where music and instruments were made; both of her parents are luthiers. She was raised singing Mexican son jarocho before studying jazz and absorbing the music of the likes of…
Things That Matter to...Alfredo Rodríguez
Widely considered to be one of the most gifted and exciting jazz pianists of his generation, Alfredo Rodríguez’s high-octane, warm and joyous musicianship won him at first the mentorship of Quincy Jones then a Grammy nomination.…
‘BALNEARIOS 2002’ by Mariano Llinás, screened in the ‘Architecture on Film’ series at the Barbican
‘Balnearios’ (Beach Resorts) may be a documentary, including archive footage from the mid-20th Century, but with Mariano Llinás’ ironic and dry sense of humour, it reveals an unconventional and surreal quality all of its own,…
'Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle' Dir. Gustavo Salmerón
Corina Poore talks to Gustavo Salmerón, who made a unique film about a family who lived a fairy tale. It happened to be his own.
THE GREAT MOVEMENT - 2021 by Bolivian writer/director Kiro Russo.
Can the sprawling city of La Paz also rise as from the dead? Check out ‘THE GREAT MOVEMENT’ (2021) by Bolivian director Kiro Russo.
‘SON OF MONARCH’ (Hijo de Monarcas) written and Directed by Alexis Gambis - Mexico/ US 2020
A collage of memories and events fragment like dreams when they collide with reality, in French-Venezuelan’s director Alexis Gambis’ film ‘SON OF MONARCH’ 2020.
'La Casa de Bernarda Alba' By Federico Garcia Lorca
Jorge de Juan directs a stunning new version of the intense and powerful play by Federico Garcia Lorca (1898- 1936), one of the greatest Spanish writers of the 20th century. A musician, a poet and a playwright Lorca died young…
Medellin's French Alter Ego
To most, Annie Trousseau is the Colombian embodiment of Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich with her sultry voice and elegant demeanor. She has captured the heart of men and women alike with her multilingual talent and carefully…
Interview with Spanish Director Daniel Monzon
Four years after having won the Goya prize for Best Director with his thriller Celda 211, Daniel Monzón returns with a new film, El Niño. Specialising in adrenaline-laden thrillers based on real-life events, Monzon is at the…
Coconut Flour and Cashew Nut Biscuits
These Brazilian biscuits are sooo more-ish and divinely simple to make. I love cashews, they are positively the best thing to leave Brazil since Adriana Lima (my mum comes from Rio Grande do Norte, it has the biggest cashew nut…
Colombia: Commemorating the Mulatos Massacre
On 21st February 2005, paramilitaries and Colombian soldiers massacred eight people from two hamlets of the San Jose Peace Community, in Apartadó, Colombia. Despite assassinations and forced displacement since the Peace Community…
Acosting Fame
Carlos Acosta, arguably the best ballet dancer of his generation and London’s most famous Latino, looks back on his thirteen years in London, during which he went from the Royal Ballet's principle dancer to global ballet…
HOLOGRAM (2022) Book of poems by Miguel Cullen
‘Books should be more than just lines of poetry.’ HOLOGRAM (2022) the new collection of poems by Anglo-Argentine poet and journalist Miguel Cullen, includes visuals and videos and certainly fits the bill of being different.
The Blue Trail (O Último Azul- 2025) by Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro
“Since when was getting older an honour?” Set in an uncomfortably near future, this dystopian tale creates a universe where the elderly are sent away to a colony from which none are known to ever have returned, all in the name…
Nheengatu – Conquest and Resistance in the Amazon
Travelling by boat along the deep Amazon forest, Portuguese Film director José Barahona searches for a language that was all but obliterated when his ancestors imposed their own language upon the native population in Brazil.…
Colombia: London Mural Honours Lucas Villa
London graffiti artist Kapo pays tribute to the demonstrator assassinated during Colombia’s national strike in 2021 in Stockwell’s ‘Hall of Fame’
MERCEDES RUIZ @ SADLERS WELLS
Mercedes Ruiz' fiery charm and intimacy leave her audience spellbound
Latin American Activists: More in Danger than Ever
While Venezuela dominates the headlines in terms of Latin America's human rights news, Tom Gatehouse reminds us of the grave situation of many activists all over Latin America, including in Colombia, Brazil, Argentina and…
La Casa de Bernarda Alba - A Talented Cast and Crew Dedicated to Preserving the Magic of Lorca
Lorca’s La Casa de Bernarda Alba - a masterpiece work exploring themes of repression, desire, control and suffering - is brought to life in the original Spanish on the London stage at the Cervantes Theatre. Jorge de Juan directs…
I’m still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui - 2024) by Brazilian director Walter Salles
Picking up the Oscar at the 97th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film, ‘I’M STILL HERE’ is a stirring thriller/ family drama set in 1971 during the most agonizing period of Brazil’s Military Dictatorship. Based on…
Food, Femininity and Theatre: The Life of Pepa Duarte
Theatre maker, and drama teacher, Pepa Duarte, is author of the self-performed play Eating Myself. Directed by Sergio Maggiolo, the play will be showing at Peckham Fringe this 16 and 17 May and has been hailed by The Guardian as…
A Talent Show Star with a Difference
Since winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 2017 (with the highest ever score to date) and giving Portugal its first-ever win in the contest, Salvador Sobral has proved to be much more than just a talent contest winner. The jazz…
LATIN LONDONER #59 - Mariana Aristizábal, Actor, Director, Theatre-Maker
Colombian actress and theatre-maker Mariana Aristizábal describes herself as someone who “makes things happen, one way or another.” She has performed in 'Dirty Thirty,' 'Gloria y Ramona' and 'The…
Meow! (2024) by Mexican Ariel de la Garza and Czech Michal Vojtech.
Meow! a comedy short film that has just premiered at the Norwich Film Festival, is an intriguing, quirky and amusing run through the Gothic shadows of the city of Prague, as a toilet attendant searches for her lost cat, trying to…
Flesh and Blood: True Fiction by Marcus Dalrymple
Marcus Dalrymple’s Flesh and Blood follows his debut novel, Killing Time. Dalrymple’s contextual knowledge of Mexico is without fault, complemented by Flesh and Blood’s compelling storyline. Following the adventure of Brit John…
LATIN LONDONER #61 - Pepa Duarte, Actor, Writer and Director
"Captivating, marvellous, enjoyable and unique" is how one critic described Pepa Duarte's one woman show 'Eating Myself' which she wrote and performed across the UK, to rave reviews. Her other works…
'HAMLET' by Peruvian company Teatro La Plaza, at The Barbican Theatre
This captivating piece of theatre is Hamlet as we have never seen it before, in a fresh perspective from the first Peruvian company to perform at The Barbican. Inspired by how Shakespeare’s timeless play about the search for self…
Football’s Bohemian
After a very successful career in the Spanish and Italian football leagues for Valencia, Lazio and Barcelona, Gaizka Mendieta felt the urge to experience the most acclaimed league in the world. At 29, the Bilbao-born Spanish…