Discoveries from Costa Rica World Cinema

Make your own happiness

Aliens? Extraterrestrial life? UFOs? Is it real or is it a myth? Luis, a journalism student, decides to look for answers to the out-of-this-world unknowns with the help of Esteban, a professional ufologist (and a total romantic) who hides a secret behind the interview. Luis will find himself involved in a world full of extravaganza and incoherence to get the answers he seeks.

Following an clever plan to emigrate to the United States, a group of boys from peasant families in the southern part of Costa Rica pretends to be a soccer team and ventures to participate in the prestigious Dallas Cup, in the United States. Years later, the exercise of narrating this great little feat allows some of its protagonists to reflect on its meaning.

Ernesto and Ignacio are two brothers who find themselves facing each other in the national table tennis finals. They play overwhelmed by memories of their childhood, Ernesto competing to finally be better than his brother and Ignacio fighting because he knows nothing else but winning.

A young New Yorker finds herself caught between her longing to honor her late mother's love for Christmas and her grandfather's deep-seated aversion to embrace the holiday spirit when she returns to her family's lush Costa Rican estate after many years away.

Charlie, a mime going through a rough patch, finds a bill on the street, only to immediately lose it to Buster, another mime, sparking an absurd and escalating battle over the money. Using an arsenal of invisible weapons, from walls and ropes to chainsaws and samurai swords, the two face off in a comical duel across a park, mixing silent comedy with exaggerated action.

Natalia and Daniel, a young professional couple, are expecting their first child and face a series of paranormal events. These are triggered when the couple finds a story Daniel wrote in his teens. The terrifying events begin to drive them apart, until Natalia and Daniel discover that the fictional story they found is only an expression of the reality they are living—past and present. Daniel drastically decides to put an end to the curse that hangs over them, unwittingly falling into a new circle of destiny, where they will be consumed by the ghosts of their past.

The story of a young man who finds himself involved in a crisis after an event plunges him into the depths of his subconscious

Rosmeri is the last inhabitant of a ghost town evicted by the constant eruptions of a volcano in Costa Rica. He has found a new way of life taking care of the animals that were left in the area and working in his cafeteria. The pressure from her family and the authorities is not enough to make her leave her home. Rosmeri says that the volcano is her friend and will keep her safe; and that relationship is the force that will help her resist.

A day in a retirement home.

Mike and Alanna drove a motorbike and sidecar from Alaska to Argentina and interviewed 120 couples about how to stay together for life. They also subjected themselves to scientific tests, to see if their marriage would last. They found out the results at the end of the road...

A 12 year-old girl finds friendship on an internet chat room with a 14 year-old boy without realizing that the boy is actually an older man who is part of a child prostitution ring.

short Costa Rican drama

Bernie, Manuel, and Nestor just graduated from high school, and have no plans for the future. Unsatisfied with the opportunities Costa Rica presents, the boys decide to concentrate on mundane activities. However, over the course of a few days, key events in the boys' personal lives conspire to make a disinterested lifestyle difficult.

The first film made in the Comoros.

Síncope explores the internal fantasy of a traffic officer in his everyday work

Federico and German were best friends, fighting the dictatorship and looking for freedom together. Years later Federico and his wife are movie producers looking for funding. German, on his part, is living away from the city and spend his days painting and mourning his late wife

Samuel is a soon-to be young priest, while visiting his distant family in the countryside and as he seeks to define his faith, will face his bond with the past and the dark side of nature.

To be announced.

Liliana Lericci migrated with her family to a small town in an indigenous region in the middle of the Costa Rican mountains. They created a united and hard-working community, in which they preserved Italian practices and traditions mixed with Costa Rican ones. However, Liliana left in her country of origin the most precious thing, her heart.

Three days. Three images. Three places. Three lives that could be the same but are not. I know They approach and repel each other in a continuous swing to connect with what makes us human.

Max, Álex, and Jaime decide to camp near the summit of the Irazú Volcano with the purpose of testing the telescope they inherited from Fidel. However, whether by whims of quantum physics or simply because the stars don’t always align as we wish, the night, the conversation, and the music lead the friends down unexpected paths.

A blind old lady threads an endless thread while her house floats in the sea. Sometimes, she asks her god to wake her up from the dream of being alive. Other times, she forgets which is the dream.

John, in a mid of millionaire robbery, meets the love of his life, Ana. But now he has to choose between money and love. He chooses love and decides to return the money but the confusion starts with an accident, which happens on the way

A young couple lost their baby by apparent sudden death

While on a midnight stroll Bonnie encounters a mysterious masked figure commiting a heinous act. The fear of this confrontation leads her to look for shelter in the most unexpected of places; a house party where nothing is what it seems.

A man confined to a rehabilitation center struggles for his daily food.

In a small mountain house, under the law of the Christian Holy Family, a mother and her two children live in confinement forced by her husband, but after a failed suicide attempt, the mother is forced to include her children in a new plan to escape.

Abdulio is an elder man, who lives with the guilt of his daughter's death. One night he must face those fears.

After a big night out partying a young man comes home only to have his worst nightmare ever.

Three women over 65 defend their right to feel alive and to enjoy pleasure and desire.

After a youth marked by limitations, Vilma (45) has finally achieved the privileged life she always dreamed of. In a beachfront house located in one of Costa Rica’s most exclusive tourist areas, she waits alone for the annual visit of her American partner, who sustains this lifestyle from afar. But this year, he doesn’t show up, cuts off communication, and the money begins to run out. Amid the overwhelming tourist atmosphere, Vilma is forced to face paradise without her “Prince Charming.”

“Man will reach the moon first, before the highway reaches here, to Limón,” said the governor of the province of Limón, in 1928.

Costa Rica, New Zealand, Hong Kong,Hawaii. Through the testimonies of 12 women, the issues of marriage, traditional conventions, being attracted to women and having children are addressed. How to break with traditional patterns, how to accept one's feelings of love when they are are directed towards a person of the same sex? So many serious subjects approached here with lightness. The documentary walks us and takes us towards these women who inevitably speak a little about about us.

Two classmates decide to make a short film about drugs to enter their school’s Arts Festival; however, things don’t go as they planned.

The story tells about an older adult, who presents some health problem related to her mobility and for which she has to travel to the hospital to do rehabilitation tasks, in the course of that, somewhat strange and repetitive situations happen to her, and also he has to deal with his family's indifference to such matters.

Tonight, an ill man has to die in spite of his pregnant wife.

A night in the life of Juan, a middle-class man from San José, Costa Rica, accustomed to his urban, civilized life in the capital. He has to drive down into Puerto Jiménez, on the south coast, to search for Ignacia, his employee’s wife. The small town reveals itself a labyrinth, Ignacia is nowhere to be found, and Juan has to contend with himself. The violence of the unknown town forces him to deal with the violent behaviours he keeps inside.

Story of a peasant boy isolated from civilization, but with an idea stuck between his chest and back: to become a marathon runner

It's been 7 years after their farewell. Each of the characters: Manuel, Bernie, Néstor and El Gordo have continued on with their lives. Older and more mature, but always afraid to face the future, these 4 friends reconnect and decide to spend a weekend together, to remember and honor their friendship, just like old times.

This film shows the general aspects of the school garden program carried out by the Ministry of Public Education in the country's schools. In its development, the film shows how schoolchildren prepare the land, plant vegetables and legumes, take care of their crops and collect the harvest to, finally, consume these products in the school cafeteria. As a result of all this, the school garden becomes the “classroom” where the student learns the basic techniques of cultivating the land and the importance of good and healthy nutrition. At the same time, interest, affection and respect for farm work is awakened in the student.

Gustavo is a 33-year-old psychologist who takes care of Gerardo, his father. Pedro is a 36-year-old history teacher who comes to the country to meet his family for the first time in his life. None of them are ready for what comes ahead in the next forty-eight hours.

Raúl and Eugenio receive a financial proposition in exchange for recovering an object for Camila. The friends embark on a mission that quickly makes them doubt, and in a turn of events they face an unexpected journey.

In the middle of a criminal act, a young thief faces an elderly woman with a particular obsession, unleashing an unexpected confrontation.

By 1911, Amando Céspedes Marín and Manuel Gómez Miralles became pioneers of Costa Rican cinema. Céspedes was hired by the Variedades Theater and produced one of the first national newsreels, called "El Céspedes Journal," a weekly national news magazine. (8 mm toned).

A football coach is frustrase by his team's performance in a cup final.

Sánchez, a shy boy, finds an interesting poster on the street. Offers the sidekick position of a real superhero, and well paid! However, what he soon discovers is that this superhero, Justiceman, is just an idiot who causes more chaos and trouble wherever he tries to help, especially for Sanchez himself.

A mournful woman seeks redemption in a cemetery.

A teenager faces overwhelming absurdity.

A heartwarming story about a soccer team from an orphanage, who want to win a championship to be able to fix their home

A 2017 animated film directed by Julian Gallese. The film screened at Ann Arbor Film Festival in 2018.

When Nella Barrantes, acts as Mary in a procession, and feels the devotion of the people who pray to her, the wires are crossed and she is convinced that she has a divine call.

Through the quiet rhythms of everyday life and her imagination, Chunyan drifts between two worlds—her hometown of Enping, China, and her new home in Manzanillo, on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast.

Gerardo is a 79-year-old man who, through costumes, film photography and satire explores his spirit of an inner child, and opens up a world of play, fantasy, memorabilia, and imagination that challenges the prejudices of aging.

Four young people from different backgrounds move from elementary school to high school. At a school party, their innocence ends, and they begin to face love, lies, alcohol, and drugs.

Everything changes when the oil company launches a violent attack on its community, so Carmen and Luis try to escape.