The Five Films Considered for the FIPRESCI Award

The recent 37th Cinélatino, Rencontres de Toulouse’s Competition for Fiction Feature Film offered us a program of eleven titles. The FIPRESCI Jury had the opportunity to evaluate first and second features films in this selection. This is my overview of the five films considered.

The place where the devil and two dogs meet: El diablo fuma (y guarda las cabezas de los cerillos quemados en la misma caja) and Una casa con dos perros.

The neighborhood—the neighborhoods—in the Mexico of tacos and enchiladas is where we examine (from within family contexts) a society of traumas taking place during Pope Wojtyła’s visit. The primordial violence at the superstructure level is percolating tensions and fears, all of which can generally be extrapolated to a Latin American urban landscape. Is this the origin of evil? Or, at least, of a kind of evil that can be personified by the devil himself with a pair of slippers he left as a gift? Five siblings live in the house, and the children’s mother has left home (perhaps fleeing this evil?). The father goes searching for her, and no one has heard from him.

Beginning with its title, the film is a broad metaphor, containing fantastic elements about this idea of ​​lurking evil, forced isolation, and the threat of the loss of innocence and the loss of loved ones. The older sister doesn’t want to be an older sister; the eldest brother must embrace adulthood; the younger ones are each brilliant in their own way (an extraordinary cast of children should be noted). Now with their stern-faced grandmother, they play occasional games, and play video recordings of the family that once was.

The Devil Smokes (And Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box) (Mexico, 2025) takes its time to show the role of the State in this situation. This formidable debut has similarities to two Argentine features from 2018, based on stories of children growing up in a world without adults: Vendrán lluvias suaves (Soft Rains Will Come) by Iván Fund, and El día que resistía (The Endless Days) by Alessia Chiesa. The connecting elements are more visible in A House with Two Dogs (Argentina, 2025), the surprising first feature film by Cordoba native Matías Ferreyra. Once again, children are embodiments of candor and vulnerability in a cruel world. Once again, a grandmother is an accomplice to this.

Both films share the same setting within a working-class home, with a remarkable use of space and light, plus the disturbing presence of a shadowy supernatural element—perhaps an allegory of our anxieties and uncertainty in times of family and collective crisis. The atmosphere of A House with Two Dogs is quite dense, as the fantastic gives way to essential horror. Ghosts appear, maybe mundane, or maybe entities that indicate we are witnessing the coexistence of two worlds in a single domestic context. The setting is the 2001 economic collapse in Argentina. The echoes of that moment resonate deeply today. The social commentary is powerful in this story of displacement in a strange family chess game of disturbing mystery.

From Panama and Colombia: Querido trópico, Malta, Horizonte.  

Ana Endara Mislov’s Querido trópico (Beloved Tropic) (Panama, 2024) is a movie finely crafted in its rhythms and staging, turning to the crescendoing relationship between the aristocratic elderly woman, Mercedes, and her caregiver, Ana María. Mercedes is losing her mental faculties, and Ana María is an immigrant seeking papers. The tale becomes familiar: Mercedes is authoritarian, and her caregivers don’t last long in their jobs. Ana María has special patience and character. Ana María gradually wins Mercedes’ affection. A merit of this opera prima lies in how this link becomes stronger, and the two women, understanding each other from their backgrounds, share mutual confidences.

Beloved Tropic is not without obviousness in its depiction of socioeconomic class differences and the resulting disdainful vices of wealthy families. The authentic mise-en-scène of the tropical garden of Mercedes’s Panamanian mansion stands out. Also worthy of praise are renowned Chilean actress Paulina García (Mercedes) and Colombian Jenny Navarrete (Ana María), who deliver stupendous and natural performances. Nevertheless, the feeling we’re watching something we’ve already seen is palpable. We recall titles like Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Amador (2010), and The Intouchables (2011), to name a few. Falling into the so-called white savior concept can also be problematic. However, at the end of the day, Beloved Tropic, in its classicism and format, succeeds in appealing to a broad audience.

We found Natalia Santa’s Malta (Colombia, 2024) solid in its simple narrative form, a drama of youthful tribulations and inner discoveries, with a charismatic protagonist at its center (the remarkable Estefanía Piñeres). Natalia’s journeys and encounters are intrinsic to her desires and uncertainties. She seems to be planning to emigrate to Germany, but dreams of escaping to Malta. We discover her in her routines, interpersonal dynamics, and ways of dealing with life, including her sexuality. The characters around her—family, friends, and lovers (a terrific cast)—construct the unique and conflicted aspects of Mariana’s life. This fine second feature by the director of La defensa del dragón (The Dragon’s Defense) (2017) exudes freshness, being a generational portrait too.

Something different happens with the second feature film by the director of La tierra y la sombra (The Land and the Shadow) (2015). Horizonte (Colombia, 2024), by César Augusto Acevedo, is interesting in its symbolic representation of the consequences of violence, as well as atonement and reconciliation, in relation to the Colombian internal armed conflict. This tale of both ghostly Basilio and his mother retracing their steps has moments of cinematic beauty in its meaningful content. However, the theatricality of the movie feels excessive. The statement is clear and coherent, yet underlined and affected. Still, it is a valuable opus. 

Luis Vélez
Edited by Robert Horton
© FIPRESCI 2025