Discoveries from Nicaragua World Cinema

A Glasgow man visits war-torn Nicaragua with a refugee tormented by her memories.

When a man’s wife flakes on a last-ditch effort to save their marriage, his overeager brother-in-law joins him on a trip to a hipster resort in Nicaragua.

Alsino, a boy of 10 or 12, lives with his grandmother in a remote area of Nicaragua. He's engulfed in the war between rebels and government troops when a US advisor orders the army to open a staging area by the boy's hamlet. Alsino tries to be a child, climbing trees with a girl, looking through his grandfather's trunk of mementos and trying to fly; he goes to town to sell a saddle, has his first drink and is taken to a brothel. But the war surrounds him. The US advisor takes Alsino on a chopper flight, but he's unimpressed. The soldiers' cruelties awake rebel sympathies in Alsino, and after an army assault backfires, the lad is fully baptized into the conflict.

Narrative of a period of life (1926 - 1934) of the Nicaraguan revolutionary leader Sandino, who was known as "The general of free men."

This is the story of Yuma a strong-willed and rebellious girl from the poor neighborhoods of Managua who dreams of being a boxer.

La Paz del Futuro is a film about the personal, political and artistic journey of Janet Pavone, an American muralist who joined the Sandinista revolution Nicaragua of the 1980s. Janet and her fellow muralists are today invited to restore their most monumental work almost 25 years after its completion: the Quiabu mural at the Esteli military base. Showing different historical moments through extensive use of archival materials and new footage, La Paz del futuro paints an "on the road" portrait of what remains of a series of murals and a revolution, and at the same time proposes a reflection on public art, politics and the passage of time: a look to the past from the future.

Nicaragua, today. Eleven-year-old María lives with her mother Lilibeth on the edge of an immense rubbish dump. Their future depends on selling a litter of purebred puppies to a local gang member. When the deal falls through, Lilibeth has to move to the outskirts of the city and leave María to work at a recycling factory. The days go by with no sign of her mother's return. María feels abandoned, confused and angry. One night she meets Tadeo, a kind and romantic boy determined to help her find her mother.

In 2018, the Nicaraguan police brutally repressed anti-government protests organised by high school students. K., a 17-year-old girl who was arrested, recounts the horrors of her time in jail.

An unintentional irregularity of a clip from Fata Morgana (Werner Herzog).

Compilation of 18 animated short films made by Spanish-speaking artists from around the world for the Filmoteca Maldita Short Film Festival. This collection contains very diverse works, both in technical and thematic aspects, although they all share a genuine spirit of dedication and creativity.

Looking for a few reasons why you should visit Nicaragua? Considering the country's two incredible coastlines, almost 20 volcanoes, lively colonial cities, abundant wildlife, rich culture, and delicious food, it won't be hard to convince you to put “visiting Nicaragua” at the top of your travel bucket list! Nicaragua, set between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, is a Central American nation known for its dramatic terrain of lakes, volcanoes and beaches. Vast Lake Managua and the iconic stratovolcano Momotombo sit north of the capital Managua. To its south is Granada, noted for its Spanish colonial architecture and an archipelago of navigable islets rich in tropical bird life.

This feature documentary gives voice to the Creole people from Nicaragua and Costa Rica who have lived in resistance to colonialism, and now struggle to maintain their identity. Through multiple testimonies, we learn about how Black people came to the Caribbean and how Creole culture was formed in the region. These are stories of everyday life that reflect the cultural distinctions and traditions of different communities, their worldviews, memories, dreams, identities and the challenges they faced – yesterday and today.

Lina wants to become an animal and is willing to try it. Eduardo wants to tame her but can't. Primal Force explores the limits of a couple unable to engage.

A family is torn apart by the conflict in Nicaragua, leaving brother fighting brother and illustrating religious manipulation, male chauvinism and poverty as part of the destructive legacy of war.

A short documentary, inspired by Eduardo Galeano: a short trip in rhythms, sounds and atmospheres in a cuban cigar factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.

The award-winning writer Claribel Alegría tells the story of her life, her influence in a new generation of poets and prizes like Premio Reina Sofía for Iberoamerican Poetry in 2017.

Two best friends desperate for love run against time to get their men back after an unexpected switch.

Nicaragua land of lakes and volcanoes and this video will show you the most touristic places in Nicaragua, among them stand out the city of Leon, El Canyon de Somoto, Chinandega, Granda, Masaya, among others. Music: Nicaragua Mia - The Best Of Tino Lopez Guerra.

Rita, a woman in the crisis of the 40s, decides to end a relationship that has no future, and undertakes the search for a new love in the days before the historic concert of the Rolling Stones in Havana.

Ecotourists visiting Granada explore its rich colonial heritage and architecture, and explore the looming caldera of El Mombacho. That is, for those fortunate to stay anywhere besides Hotel "Delicias". But for Matthew and Ashley, two trust fund kids from the States, they picked the wrong hotel. As do the two Italian tourists they meet at the hotel, and who then mysteriously vanish. Suffice it to say that 500 years of colonial rule, with the rape and cultural genocide, has left a lot of bad juju among some of the natives. And they will exact their revenge, if you're unfortunate enough to pick Hotel "Delicias". So stay at Hotel "Delicias" , for a hell of a trip to Granada.

A queer performance for transforming violence into healing. A traditional dance and its costumes to counter colonial legacies. A peaceful ritual for diluting the imposing masculinity of the cockfighting arena, their sharp damaging spurs, their intense cigar sucking. The Nicaraguan multidisciplinary artist Elyla, amidst masks and fumes, creates a purifying and festive prayer, a serene ceremony of alternativity for tending death.

A colonial-era play becomes a framework for examining the backdrop of today’s political landscape.

Contra agression and its effect on the Nicaraguan population

A documentary about Monimbo, a town in Nicaragua.

A film tribute to the founder of the FSLN: Carlos Fonseca Amador.

A Berlinale award nominated short feature.

Documentary on the egalitarian religious community of Solentiname in Nicaragua, with an extensive intevew with its founder, the poet Ernesto Cardenal. The film describes the aim of the Solentiname community and explains, through a thoroug interview, the ideas about Christianity, militancy and Marxism of Cardenal.

Shot over the course of seven years Clean Hands documents the human drama, personal struggle, innocence, and salvation of one family in Nicaragua surviving against the backdrop of Central America's largest garbage dump, La Chureca.

A drag queen singer’s boyfriend tells him that he is HIV positive. Between ballads and performances, he will experience intense and sensitive hours, as his convictions are shaken. Ángel Molina, a Paraguayan filmmaker and drag performer himself, exposes a heartfelt story of disarming sincerity, of (in)comprehension and love that never fades.

This documentary narrates the birth and development of Nicaraguan cinematography through iconic images and fragments of Nicaraguan film. It covers the revolution, the creation of the first film instituto in the country (INCINE), and the pioneers and representative productions and co-productions. The film concludes with the emergence of independent cinema.

Experimental Short from Noticero INCINE

Interviews with key military woman guerrilla leaders, and young girls and old women who took part baring arms or making artisanal bombs, against the regime of General Somoza.

Contrapeso is about a man struggling to uphold the meaningless construction of his life and whom through a mystical event, breaks the barrier he’s built for himself and recognises his true nature.

An emerging crisis in one of the last remaining rainforests in Central America ignites a heroic mission in PATROL. When illegal cattle ranchers decimate large swaths of rainforest, indigenous rangers join forces with an American conservationist and undercover journalists to expose the dark world of conflict beef.

Italian priest Odorico D'Andrea arrived in Nicaragua in 1953 as a missionary of the Franciscan order; his life changed forever the small town of San Rafael del Norte and influenced the peace process of the country during its civil war. Today he has thousands of devotees who hail him as a saint.

Seeking refuge from their anxieties and menial problems that haunt them at home, two girls from Miami take a last minute surfing trip to Nicaragua.

The Waslala live in northern Nicaragua, a persecuted and overlooked people, Sandinista peasants repeatedly expelled by the army from an island in Lake Cocibolca. Pagán depicts three Waslala, carefully capturing through their gestures and voices the almost suicidal composure of those who have nothing to lose yet everything at stake.

Considered to be the first Nicaraguan film.

An older man and his dog walk around the neighborhood.

In the single-channel video performance Torita-encuetada (2023), Elyla engages in an anticolonial ceremony that evokes liberation from oppression through a fire-lit ritual inspired by the Nicaraguan cultural tradition of toro encuetado, where a bull-shaped frame filled with fireworks is carried through a festival during a ritualistic dance.

Sofia, a young trumpeter, prepares herself for the reunion with her childhood friend Paula. But fearing that their bond may have faded, Sofia revisits their memories to give her a welcoming gift - a song.

Humorous investigation into the shortages and problems of distribution of goods in a war-beseiged economy

Documentary about the participation of women in the Nicaraguan Revolution.

Historical documentary about popular Sandinista insurrection in Nicaragua, 1978.

12-year-old Edelsin Linette Mendez illuminates the consequences of climate change on the coffee market, her community's traditional source of livelihood and Nicaragua's primary agricultural product.

An interrogation of capitalism and the American dream through migrant labor, GPS, and dairy cows.

Construction of telephone networks around Nicaragua

After the triumph of the Sandinista Revolution in 1979 that liberated Nicaragua from dictatorship, different sectors of the population considered how to build the new society. As a consequence, the Adult Education project was created in which members of the marginalized sectors became popular teachers who helped people of their own social class to discover their intelligence and the pleasure of knowledge

On a trip to Waslala to visit her mother María Eufemia, Amanda seeks to reconnect with the territory that belongs to her and was taken from her as a child.

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...

After finding an old watercolor of her mom surrounded by orange flowers, Haydee decides to reopen her old family nursery.

Poet Yolanda Rossman Tejada talks about her life and work while at home, in times of quarantine.

1979 Mexican experimental film