TONY MANERO, One of the Worst Films of 2009 According to Entertainment Weekly

We were amused to read that Owen Gleiberman, film critic for the American magazine Entertainment Weekly, selected Pablo Larraín's Tony Manero as one of the worst films of the year. Based on the publication’s profile and their track record on coverage of foreign cinema, particularly from Latin America, we’re surprised Gleiberman especifically picked on this praised Chilean production (the film was actually number 32 in Cinema Tropical's recent poll of the best Latin American films of decade). We can think of so many other films that the magazine has championed that truly deserve the (dis)honor to be in that list.

Awards Season: THE MAID Gets a Golden Globe Nomination

Sebastián Silva's The Maid (La nana) continues to harvest nominations and awards. It was announced this morning that the Chilean film got nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the Best Foreign Film category. The film continues its successful run in New York (where it's been playing for over two months now) and is also playing in different cities around the U.S.

THE MILK OF SORROW Awarded First Prize at Havana Film Fest

Peruvian film La teta asustada (The Milk of Sorrow) by Claudia Llosa won the prize for Best Film at the Havana Film Festival which ends today. The film which already premiered in the US at the New Films/New Directors Series in New York last spring, still doesn't have a US distributor. Also at Havana, Chilean film Huacho by director Alejandro Fernández Almendras (a former New Yorker) won the prize for Best First Film.

LUZ SILENCIOSA Makes Cinematheque Ontario's Best-of-Decade List

Cinematheque Ontario has announced the results of a poll of the Ten Best Films of the Decade culled from over sixty film curators, historians, archivist and programmers from around the world. The Mexican film Silent Light / Luz silenciosa by Carlos Reygadas (which was number #3 in Cinema Tropical's poll) was the only Latin American film to make it to the top ten. Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth / El laberinto del fauno and Lucrecia Martel's The Headless Woman / La mujer sin cabeza landed in spots #22 and #25 respectively. The TIFF Cinematheque will present a film series with the winners in January.

Luna, Padilha, Valdivia and More Latin American Directors at Sundance 2010

The Sundance Film Festival has announced its lineup for their 2010 edition, the list includes the narrative directorial debut of Diego Luna with Abel, competing in the World Cinema Narrative Section are the Colombian film Contracorriente / Undertow by Javier Fuentes-León, the Argentinean El hombre de al lado / The Man Next Door by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, Bolivian Zona sur / Southern District by Juan Carlos Valdivia, while in the World Cinema Documentary Section, Latin America will be represented by Jose Padilha's Secrets of the Tribe from Brazil and Nicolás Entel's Sins of My Father, and Argentinean/Colombian coproduction. The film Memories of Overdevelopment, and adaptation of a novel by Cuban author Edmundo Desnoes (Memories of Underdevelopment) by director and screenwriter Miguel Coyula will have its world premiere in the Frontiers Section.

LA CIENAGA Gets Selected Best Latin American Film of the Decade

Cinema Tropical announced today the results of a poll of the top Latin American films of the past decade which is headed by Argentinean filmmaker Lucrecia Martel's La Ciénaga (2001). The survey culled amongst 33 film professionals based in New York City created an impressive overall list of 121 feature films. Probably there are no big surprises in the top ten list -they are a must see for any respectable cinephile, but we recommend exploring the films down the list (many of them are available on Netflix, Amazon, etc.) as there are some lesser known gems in it. View the complete results of the poll.

More Nominations for LA NANA and EL GENERAL!

The nominations for the 25th Independent Spirit Awards were made public this morning and the list contains nominations for Sebastián Silva's The Maid (La Nana) for Best Foreign Film, for Natalia Almada's El General for the Truer than Fiction Award. The US/Mexico co-production Sin Nombre by director Cary Joji Fukunaga was also nominated in three categories, for Best Feature, Best Director and Best Cinematography (by Brazilian DP Adriano Goldman). The award ceremony will be held on March 5, 2010. Congratulations to all of the nominees!

Chilean Actress Catalina Saavedra Wins a Gotham Award

In tonight's ceremony of the 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards held in New York City, Chilean actress Catalina Saavedra won the prize for Breakthrough Actor for her protagonist role as Raquel in Sebastián Silva's La Nana (The Maid). Cinema Tropical congratulates both Catalina and the director for this achievement. In the picture, Catalina is accompanied by Bolivian director Rodrigo Bellot and Chilean director Sebastián Arrau at the Gotham's afterparty at the Tribeca Cinemas.