These Are the 2016 Nominees for the Only U.S. Awards Recognizing Latin American Film

Over the last few years, we’ve watched Latin American cinema go from a scrappy up-and-comer to one of the most vital and universally lauded film producing regions in the world, and as more and more countries rise to the task each year, it seems Nuestra América is bound to remain a perennial force on the global scene. But none of this would have been possible without the sustained efforts of organizations like the pioneering New York non-profit Cinema Tropical.

Since its founding in 2001, Cinema Tropical and Co-Founding Director Carlos Gutiérrez have been doing the often invisible work of bringing American audiences the cutting edge in Latin American cinema. Starting with New York premieres of watershed films like Y tu mamá también nearly 15 years ago, Cinema Tropical eventually took its mission one step further and founded the first awards ceremony for Latin American cinema, aptly titled the Cinema Tropical Awards.

Going into its sixth edition, the Cinema Tropical Awards was way ahead of the curve when it first celebrated the Ten Best Latin American Films of the Decade at The New York Times Center back in 2010. Since then, a number of international awards ceremonies have emerged with similar goals, including Panama’s Premios Platino and Mexico’s Premios Fénix, but the Cinema Tropical Awards has stuck to its low-scale, cinephile roots, and also reserved a very special place for U.S. Latino films often overlooked in other awards ceremonies.

Now, as the organization braces for the upcoming January 20 ceremony, we’re happy to bring you the nominees for the sixth edition of the Cinema Tropical Awards. The winners will screened in a very special program at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens from February 25-28, 2016.