We know we said something similar last year, but 2025 gave us an abundance of fantastic films about the Latino/Latin American experience— from absurdist metafictions involving doppelgängers to a documentary about a slain music star that utilizes never-before-seen home footage.
For the purposes of this list, we only included films that center on characters who are Latinos in the U.S. or Latin Americans. Based on this parameter, you’ll see Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” is missing, but a documentary about the master of monsters himself is included. Similarly, though some of the films on this list were released internationally in 2024, they all had their U.S. debut in 2025.
25. ‘Magic Farm’ 
Chloë Sevigny in Amalia Ulman’s “Magic Farm.”
(Mubi)
To the tune of cumbia villera, an Argentine subgenre first popularized among working-class communities, this biting satire observes clueless gringos in Latin America as they fail to grasp the nuances of a world outside their limited bubble. For her sophomore feature, Argentine-born artist Amalia Ulman took Chloë Sevigny, Simon Rex, Alex Wolff and Joe Apollonio to a rural town to play a crew for a Vice-style media company that mines culture for mass consumption. Ulman also acts in the film as the only bilingual member of the team.
Streaming on Mubi.
24. ‘Pepe’
What would the hippopotamus that belonged to the infamous Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar say if given the chance to tell its story? That’s the question that Dominican director Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias asks in this bizarrely imaginative vision. Speaking in four different languages, Pepe shares its impressions about being uprooted from its African homeland and on the power dynamics among the hippos once in South America. Through the animal’s point of view, De Los Santos Arias considers the enduring grip of colonialism and the consequences of human irrationality.
Streaming on Mubi.
23. ‘Bob Trevino Likes It’ 
In a disarming performance, Brazilian American actor Barbie Ferreira plays Lily, an emotionally numb young woman with a difficult childhood. After her self-absorbed father disowns her, she finds solace in an unlikely friendship with Bob Trevino (John Leguizamo), a Latino man without children she meets through Facebook. Their surrogate father-daughter bond in this crowd-pleaser about two lonely people soothing each other’s pain also serves as a showcase for the wonderful Leguizamo, at once humorous and poignant.
Streaming on Hulu and Disney+ and available on VOD.
22. ‘Serious People’ 
Miguel Huerta, left, and Pasqual Gutierrez in the movie “Serious People.”
(Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullin / Sundance Institute)
Stressed about the impossibility of work-life balance, a Mexican American music video director hires a doppelgänger in this film, which premiered at Sundance. While his look-alike takes over professional commitments, Pasqual can spend time with his pregnant partner. A clever ploy at first, the idea quickly turns into a nightmare primed for uncomfortable comedy. Blurring the lines between fiction and reality — everyone on screen is playing a version of themselves — the result is a tongue-in-cheek metafiction about the pitfalls of an industry that prioritizes productivity over people.
Available on VOD.
21. ‘A Vanishing Fog’
Photographer Sebastian Pii is the perfect guide through the bewildering mysticism of Colombian writer-director Augusto Sandino’s debut. Filmed partially in an at-risk ecosystem, the stunning Sumapaz Páramo, the narrative witnesses how F (Pii) cares for his father and worries about the future of this land at the hands of those who wish to exploit it. Yet more than a plot-driven work, this curio plays like a sensorial and surreal trip where a magical staircase to heaven blends with the already hypnotic landscape.
Available on VOD.
20. ‘Motel Destino’
Sultry and neon-soaked, this sexually charged thriller from versatile Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz follows Heraldo (Iago Xavier), a handsome criminal on the run. Attracted to him, Dayana (Nataly Rocha) allows him to hide and work at the roadside motel she runs with her husband, the deranged former cop Elias (Fábio Assunção). A love triangle marked by voyeurism and secrecy develops. Within the halls and rooms of this hedonistic property, they are always on the verge of crossing the line between eroticism and danger.
Available on VOD.
19. ’31 Minutes: One Hot Christmas’ 
If you haven’t yet encountered the cheeky puppets of the Chilean TV show “31 Minutos,” adored across Latin America since the early 2000s, their new Christmas movie is the perfect introduction. When high temperatures threaten the holidays in the town of Titirilquén, reporter Juan Carlos Bodoque (a red rabbit with an addiction to betting on horseracing) must embark on a mission to the North Pole. A collection of peculiar characters, including Bodoque’s best friend Tulio Triviño, a monkey who serves as news anchor of the satirical 31 Minutos newscast at the center of this show, populate this irreverent universe.
Streaming on Prime Video.
18. ‘The Fishbowl’ 
The unjust, neocolonial relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S. is addressed through the personal story of Noelia (Isel Rodriguez), a woman living with cancer who decides to return to her hometown on the island of Vieques, which for six decades the Navy used as a site for military exercises. The first Boricua film nominated for Spain’s Goya Awards as best Ibero-American film and the first to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival illustrates how the political and the personal are always intertwined.
Available on VOD.
17. ‘Corina’
Although fearful of the world beyond the few blocks that separate her home from her job at a publishing house, Corina (Naian González Norvind), a timid 20-year-old with aspirations to become a writer, finally takes a chance. She steals a famous scribe’s manuscript and improves on it in secret. Trouble ensues. Filmmaker Urzula Barba Hopfner channels the beloved French film “Amélie” for an enchanting dramedy about reinventing yourself on your own terms that brings Cristo Fernández (of “Ted Lasso” fame) along for the ride.
Streaming on Hulu and Disney+.
16. ‘The Astronaut Lovers’
Pedro (Javier Orán) is gay. Maxi (Lautaro Bettoni) is not. That doesn’t stop them from teasing each other with explicitly vulgar jokes that quickly transform into playful flirtation. The more time they spend together during a summer in an Argentine beachside town, the more Maxi’s straight guy curiosity approximates real romantic interest for the cautious but enticed Pedro. The latest titillating work from Marco Berger, a director who’s long explored the less defined edges of masculinity, thrives on the leads’ ebullient chemistry.
Available on VOD.
15. ‘Belén’ 
First documented in Ana Correa’s book “Somos Belén,” this rousing and timely courtroom drama follows the 2014 case of a young woman from Argentina’s Tucumán province who is falsely accused of killing her own child after experiencing a miscarriage. Her determined lawyer, Soledad Deza (played by the film’s co-writer and director Dolores Fonzi), brings light to such egregious injustice and ignites a moment across the South American country. The true story resonates with the plight of women’s reproductive rights around the world today, including in this country where access to safe abortions remains at risk.
Streaming on Prime Video.
14. ‘Selena y Los Dinos’ 
With access to never-before-seen footage and new interviews with those closest to Selena Quintanilla, filmmaker Isabel Castro manages to construct an unexpected and life-affirming portrait of a young woman still discovering herself and her interests. Making a profile documentary about the martyred Tejano music icon, whose life and career have already been the subject of a popular film and a scripted TV series, must be a daunting task. But Castro succeeds by zeroing in on the moments away from the spotlight where Quintanilla’s playful personality and vulnerable ambivalence paint her in a new, more humane light. The film made its debut at Sundance, where it generated so much buzz it had to be pulled from the festival’s online platform because of piracy concerns.
Streaming on Netflix.
13. ‘Ponyboi’ 
New Jersey’s urban grit contrasts with the ethereal visions of Ponyboi (River Gallo), an intersex Latinx sex worker. Caught in the crossfire of deadly criminal activity, Ponyboi dreams of escaping in the arms of their idealized man. The extraordinary Gallo, who also wrote the screenplay, brings a blend of fierceness and fragility to a role that explores expectations of masculinity in Latino families. Ponyboi embodies the strength that it takes to take space in a world that’s eager to crush you for being different from the norm.
Available on VOD.
12. ‘The Hyperboreans’
In the new mind-bending, handcrafted nightmare from Chilean duo Cristobal León and Joaquín Cociña, who previously directed the terrifying stop-motion feature “The Wolf House,” a single actor, Antonia Giesen, retells the biography of Miguel Serrano, a writer of otherworldly texts with neo-Nazi ideologies. His eyebrow-raising biography is dissected by way of inventive vignettes that blend performance and wildly interactive sets. The experience is endlessly innovative and bitingly critical of the subject’s abhorrent views.
Streaming on Film Movement+.
11. ‘The Falling Sky’
While documentarians Eryk Rocha and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha vividly capture the traditions of the Yanomami Indigenous people and their ongoing flight to protect their Amazonian home, it’s the unexpected interrogation of the film’s motives that elevates it from yet another doc about the clash between ancient practices and voracious process. At one point a Yanomami man questions the filmmakers’ intentions. His distrust is based on previous encounters with unscrupulous visitors. “Are you really going to be our allies?” he asks.
Available on VOD.
10. ‘Oceans Are the Real Continents’
An exquisitely photographed, black-and-white triptych set in Cuba, this unsung gem portrays the hopes of those with a chance to escape their challenging conditions and the anguish of the ones left behind. An artist with an opportunity to leave the island for good but without her romantic partner, two young boys whose friendship may be lost to geographical separation, and an elderly woman waiting for a loved one who may never return, exemplify a profound longing. If only the world would let them stay together.
Available on VOD.
9. ‘Sangre Del Toro’
Using the “At Home With Monsters” exhibit as a physical labyrinth through Guillermo del Toro’s mind, this insightful portrait of the Mexican master director goes beyond the talking-head format. It engages with the material manifestations of the stories and ideas that shaped Del Toro’s artistry. Hearing the director talk about his obsessions and convictions about existence and creativity would be compelling on its own — Del Toro is a gifted speaker — but French filmmaker Yves Montmayeur succeeds at invoking a phantasmagoric atmosphere through sound and image, fitting for his fascinating subject.
Streaming on Netflix.
8. ‘Kill the Jockey’
Female jockeys stretching in the changing room appear to move to an electronic tune in one of the most singular sequences of this enigmatic concoction of a film about Remo Manfredini (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart), a drug-addicted jockey. Much to the dismay of his malevolent benefactor (Daniel Giménez Cacho), Remo is ready to throw his career away. But what begins as the sleazy and alluring tale of a man parachuting into self-destruction turns into an exploration of the transformative power of living in one’s true identity.
Streaming on Prime Video and available on VOD.
7. ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ 
Dazzling musical numbers and an improbable yet poignant love connection power this cinematic adaptation of the Broadway musical, which was based on Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel set during Argentina’s Dirty War. Mexican American actor Tonatiuh commands attention with his star-making dual role. He embodies movie-obsessed gay prisoner Luis Molina, who is falling for his revolutionary cellmate played by Diego Luna. And in sequences in a film within the film alongside Jennifer Lopez, a consummate entertainer here, Tonatiuh transforms into a stylish, closeted man orbiting Lopez’s fictional screen diva Ingrid Luna.
Available on VOD.
6. ‘The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo’ 
Raised by a group of vivacious trans women in the desert, young Lidia (Tamara Cortés) has seen firsthand the effects of AIDS on the people around her, including the person she considers her mother, Flamingo (Matías Catalán). In this mining area, however, the men believe they’ve contracted the illness through the piercing gaze of their trans lovers. With a mix of Almodóvar-like seductiveness and imagery atypical of westerns, Diego Céspedes’ provocative and tonally unpredictable first feature is as much a coming-of-age story as it is a tale about queer resilience tinged with the fantastical.
In theaters in New York City; more cities to come.
5. ‘Elio’ 
The young Latino protagonist of Pixar’s most recent adventure dreams of being abducted by aliens. An orphan in the care of his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña), an Air Force major, the endearingly peculiar Elio (Yonas Kibreab) doesn’t feel like he belongs on this planet. When his wish is granted and he finds himself amid extraterrestrial new friends and foes in a gorgeously animated vision of space, he must rethink what it means to feel at home. As eye-catching as it is heartfelt, the film taps into our shared desire to find somewhere to belong.
Streaming on Disney+.
4. ‘We Shall Not Be Moved’ 
The enduring devastation of the 1968 Tlatelolco student massacre in Mexico City is examined here from the perspective of a woman in the present. Socorro (Luisa Huertas), a no-nonsense lawyer with a skewed sense of justice, is bent on avenging her brother, one of the victims, after finding the name of the soldier responsible. Anchored by Huertas’ blazing performance, Pierre Saint-Martin’s trenchant debut plays both as a portrait of a person stuck in a state of perpetual grieving and an indictment of a troubled country.
In theaters in New York and will debut on Hulu and Disney+ on Jan. 1.
3. ‘A Poet’
First-time actor Ubeimar Rios plays Oscar Restrepo, a down-on-his-luck poet forced to work as a teacher, with cringe-inducing brilliance. Pathetic and prideful, yet ultimately a principled father, Oscar tries to revitalize his nonexistent career by encouraging one of his students to pursue poetry. This uncomfortably hilarious and cutting dramedy from Simón Mesa Soto addresses both artistic failure and how often creative fields expect voices from disadvantaged backgrounds to exploit their trauma for the edification of the bourgeoisie.
The film had an awards-qualifying run and will open in more theaters on Jan. 30.
youtube.com/watch?v=xRyVkKYG3BA
2. ‘Apocalypse in the Tropics’ 
Evangelical Christianity infiltrated Brazilian politics with such virulent persuasion that it propelled the far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro (recently sentenced to 27 years in prison) to the presidency in 2018. With incisive narration and potent imagery, Oscar-nominated documentarian Petra Costa crafts an eye-opening account of how a country fell prey to the warped ideologies of a faith that preaches violence and division under the guise of divinity. The mirror this scorching documentary holds to what’s happened in the U.S. over the last decade is utterly bone-chilling.
Streaming on Netflix.
1. ‘The Secret Agent’ 
The past communicates with the present in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s masterfully realized, genre-defying thriller set in the late 1970s during Brazil’s military dictatorship. With Wagner Moura (“Narcos”) in a career-best turn as a father hiding from a powerful enemy and living under a different identity, Mendonça’s knockout about memory, collective and personal, has set a new high bar for Brazilian cinema. It’s a culmination of the themes that the director has discussed across his body of work, conveyed here in the reflective and gripping ordeal of a regular man standing for what he believes in.
Now playing in theaters.
Honorable mentions
And because this year there was an embarrassment of riches as far as Latino films goes, here are some honorable mentions we just had to include:
‘Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires’
A new take on the Dark Knight comic book hero that faces off against conquistador Hernán Cortés.
‘Baby’
A sexy and superbly acted Brazilian queer drama about an age-gap relationship.
‘Brownsville Bred’
A heartfelt, autobiographical Nuyorican coming-of-age story.
‘Most People Die on Sundays’
An Argentine dramedy about a gay man in his 30s still figuring himself out.
Párvulos: Children of the Apocalypse’
A Mexican zombie movie centered around three young brothers in an isolated home.
‘The Unexpecteds’
After falling for a scam, a group of everyday people decides to fight back in this action comedy.