5 Latino Movies That Blew Up Sundance Are Hitting Theaters This Summer

We know that day after day we torture you with trailer posts showcasing the latest Latino masterpieces sweeping the global film festival circuit, with no certainty that these films will ever make it stateside for the general public. It’s not easy navigating the choppy waters of international distribution, and the sad truth is, a lot of films never even make it out of the festival hustle. Which is why we are happy to inform you, dear readers, that five Latinoish films from this past Sundance Film Festival will soon be making their way to your local independent theater for a theatrical release.

You certainly remember our coverage of Sundance from back in January, when Latino directors swept the festival’s major awards categories and South Texas native Alfonso Gómez-Rejón made history by selling his latest feature for the highest price tag ever seen. But the Latino contributions didn’t stop there. A number of films featured Latino directors or actors, but broke expectations by showcasing a variety of thematic concerns that didn’t necessarily put their focus squarely on the Latino experience. In Nigerian-American director Rick Famuyiwa’s multicultural teen comedy Dope, for example, Tony Revolori, in a starring role, brought us a tasteful and tender portrayal of a Southern California ghetto nerd, while Gómez-Rejón’s own award-sweeping Me & Earl & The Dying Girl doesn’t feature a Latino character.

While we certainly couldn’t overemphasize the need to continue telling Latino stories, this year’s Sundance Film Festival (along with SXSW and Tribeca for that matter) showed us that we are no longer necessarily bound by that expectation, by the timeworn narratives of immigration, urban poverty and crime, or strained family ties that seem have become the only acceptable Latino subjects for the big money movers and shakers. Latinos are now in every facet of national life, from the mainstream to the margins, and films are finally beginning to reflect that reality.

But don’t take our word for it, here’s a look at our summer must-watch list.

*These movies may not fit the traditional “Latino film” label but they either have a Latino director at the helm behind the camera or feature Latino characters (or subjects of documentaries) in front of the camera.