13 Central American Films That Beat the Odds and Made It to Theaters

Making a film in Central America is not easy. Except for Panama, the region does not have national film commissions, leaving filmmakers few opportunities for government funding. They must rely on the private sector to raise money, but attracting investors is no easy feat. It doesn’t help that audiences across Central America (and Latin America) mostly prefer to watch Hollywood blockbusters over national films, making it unlikely that private investors will make their money back in ticket sales. And without a government entity overseeing the film industry, there is no infrastructure to support directors and producers throughout the process of making their movie.

Given the circumstances, the film industry – especially in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras – is really in its infancy. While history books count 1900 as the year that cinema was born, the first national production shot entirely in Guatemala was 1994’s Silencio de Neto and not far behind, Honduras’ first feature film, No hay tierra sin dueño was shot in the 80s, but not completed until 1996.

Despite these challenges and against all odds, there has been a boom in the number of national film productions in Central America over the last few years. Directors like Paz Fábrega and Neto Villalobos have taken Costa Rican cinema to heights the country has never reached before. Earlier this year, Fábrega’s second feature, Viaje, became the first Central American film to play the famed Tribeca Film Festival in New York, while Villalobos’ directorial debut Por las plumas took the honor of being the first Costa Rican film to screen at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Filmed in the Kaqchikel dialect, Ixcanul brought the region one of its highest honors by winning a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, and as a result, closing several worldwide distribution deals. It was recently announced that the Mayan romance was selected to represent Guatemala at the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

To celebrate these incredible gains, we put together a list of feature films produced in Central America that made it to theaters in their own countries in 2015. Hopefully, some of these will make it stateside soon.