The University of Central Florida’s School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs (SPSIA) is pleased to announce the 6th Latin American Film Festival to be held from September 25 – October 30, 2026. Times and locations of the films will vary, so please check each film for more details.
Admission is free for all the films and post-film discussions.
If interested in attending, please RSVP.
The 2026 Latin American Film Festival is made possible with the support of Pradga, SPAIN Arts & Culture and the Secretary of State for Culture of Spain, and by the generous funding and sponsorship of the University of Central Florida’s School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs (SPSIA) and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program and with support from the Modern Languages & Literature / Latin American Studies Program, the Nicholson School of Communication and Media.
Film Festival Coordinators:
Annabelle Conroy, School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs (Annabelle.Conroy@ucf.edu)
Esmeralda Duarte, Department of Modern Languages and Literature (Esmeralda.Duarte@ucf.edu)
Marketing Director:
Katherine “Kate” Shults, Nicholson School of Communication & Media (Katherine.Shults@ucf.edu)
WHEN: September 25 – October 30, 2026
TIME & LOCATION: Times and locations vary by film, so please check each film for more details. Films will also be available on-demand on a virtual platform for one week after the in-person screening. Click the RSVP button to register and get access to the films.
COST: Admission is FREE and Open to the Public
PARKING
Main Campus: Please park in any “D” parking lots and garages. “D” parking areas are denoted with GREEN signs. Visit https://parking.ucf.edu/maps/ for a listing of parking areas. If you do not have a UCF parking permit, you will need to purchase a daily parking permit, which can be purchased online.
Almost Paradise (Casi El Paraíso)
Edgar San Juan / Mexico, United States, Italy / 2024 / 114 min
Date: Friday, September 25, 2026
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: UCF/Main Campus/ Visual Arts Building, Room 132
View on the Virtual Platform: One week streaming from 9/26/26 to 10/2/26
Pragda | Almost ParadiseSYNOPSIS
Spanish, Italian, English, with English subtitles
With Andrea Arcangeli, Karol Sevilla, Miguel Rodarte, Esmeralda Pimentel
What happens when a charismatic Italian “count” and social media influencer crashes Mexico’s high society?
Almost Paradise stands out as one of the most incisive and entertaining Mexican comedies of recent years. Based on Luis Spota’s classic satirical novel, the film reimagines its story for the contemporary world of Instagram fame and viral scandals.
Meet Ugo Conti: aristocrat, influencer, and master of reinvention. He arrives in Mexico and effortlessly seduces the country’s elite with impeccable style and European sophistication, becoming the ultimate symbol of malinchismo – the fascination with all things foreign – while exposing entrenched elitism and corruption with delicious irony.
But when he reunites with Frida Becker, the love of his past, Ugo is drawn into a dangerous struggle for political power. Once his secret is revealed, the same circles that once idolized him turn against him with ruthless efficiency.
The Foam of Days (La espuma de los días)
Fernando Timossi / Cuba, Mexico / 2019 / 108 min
Date: Friday, October 2, 2026
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: UCF/Main Campus/ Visual Arts Building, Room 132
View on the Virtual Platform: One week streaming from 10/3/26 to 10/10/26
Pragda | The Foam of DaysSYNOPSIS
Spanish with English subtitles
With Gastón Pauls, Lieter Ledesma, Hugo Reyes, Frank Egusquiza
A man released from prison seeks to recover his old friends and lost love, while threatened by his victim’s brother whom he killed involuntarily. This film tells the story of four friends, inseparable since childhood, in the Casablanca district of old Havana. Their friendship will be battered by difficult trials, but the tragedy will only strengthen their bond: after all, they are like brothers. A dramatic comedy that shows us with splendor the young people and Cuba of today.
Five years in the making, this Cuban story is about camaraderie, friendship, and the human being who lives daily in a reality that conditions him, but does not determine him.
A World for Julius (Un mundo para Julius)
Rossana Díaz Costa / Spain / 2021 / 104 min
Date: Friday, October 9, 2026
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: UCF/Main Campus/ Visual Arts Building, Room 132
View on the Virtual Platform: One week streaming from 10/10/26 to 10/17/26
Pragda | A World for JuliusSYNOPSIS
Spanish with English subtitles
With Rodrigo Barba, Augusto Linares, Fiorella de Ferrari, Mayella Loclla
Based on one of Peru’s most important literary works, A World for Julius by Alfredo Bryce Echenique, this film follows the life of an upper-class child in 1950s Lima. Julius, who lives in a grand mansion with his aristocratic family and a bevy of servants, gradually loses his innocence as he encounters—though never fully comprehends—a world riddled with inequalities and injustices.
Since its publication, A World for Julius has been celebrated as one of the most remarkable depictions of the Peruvian upper class. The novel established Bryce as one of Peru’s most renowned writers. Decades later, the book remains a classic of Latin American literature and a crucial reference for examining the privileged existence of the Peruvian bourgeoisie and its perception of the country’s social life during the first half of the twentieth century.
Boca Chica
Gabriella A. Moses / Dominican Republic / 2023 / 97 min
Date: Friday, October 16, 2026
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: UCF/Main Campus/ Visual Arts Building, Room 132
View on the Virtual Platform: One week streaming from 10/17/26 to 10/24/26
Pragda | Boca ChicaSYNOPSIS
Spanish, English, with English subtitles
With Scarlet Camilo, Lia Chapman, Jean Cruz, Richarson Díaz
Why you must-see this film. Because it is an example of the brilliant New Wave of Dominican Cinema. It tackles an incredibly important theme and it is written by the talented team behind ‘Pelo Malo’ (Mariana Rondón, Marité Ugás). Moreover, the film won the Nora Ephron Award at the latest Tribeca Film Festival.
Beautifully juxtaposing the realities and expectations of a young girl approaching womanhood in the Dominican Republic, Boca Chica shines a light on the insidious child sex trade and the lives it seeks to destroy.
Director Gabriella A. Moses exposes the community’s complicity by way of twelve-year-old Desi who is constantly exposed to unwanted advances and crude comments from older men, both visiting and homegrown. She works at the family restaurant alongside her mother Carmen, who encourages the behavior, in a once serene beachside town now bustling with foreign tourists.
Music is Desi’s escape. She dreams of parlaying her nascent musical talents into a full-fledged singing career. When she stumbles across a group of local rappers that set themselves apart from the scene, her passions begin to boil to the surface. She seeks to avoid the common fate of growing mature before her time and falling prey to the morally bankrupt adults in her life who encourage her to forgo her innocence for profit.
Boca Chica explores themes of identity, family, codependency, and truth, and exposes how local social norms present the sexualization of very young girls as a path to survival.
Zafari
Mariana Rondón / Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela / 2024 / 100 min
Date: Friday, October 23, 2026
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: UCF/Main Campus/ Visual Arts Building, Room 132
View on the Virtual Platform: One week streaming from 10/24/26 to 10/31/26
Pragda | ZafariSYNOPSIS
Spanish, with English subtitles
With Claret Quea, Daniela Ramírez, Francisco Denis, Samantha Castillo
Directed by acclaimed Venezuelan filmmaker Mariana Rondón, Zafari is a bold and unsettling exploration of social fracture, power, and survival in contemporary Latin America. Celebrated at major international film festivals, the film marks Rondón’s return to politically charged storytelling following her Golden Shell–winning Bad Hair (Pelo Malo) at the San Sebastián Film Festival. Blending social realism with fable and allegory, Zafari offers a stark portrait of life amid systemic collapse.
Set around a small, depopulated urban zoo, the arrival of the hippopotamus Zafari is a moment of shared fascination for neighbors from opposing social classes. From the windows of their once-luxurious but now decaying high-rise, Ana, Edgar, and their son Bruno observe the spectacle from a distance, mirroring their growing isolation. As shortages of food, water, and electricity intensify, the family is forced to confront increasingly dire choices: scavenge for survival or abandon their home altogether. Ana’s nocturnal searches through abandoned apartments—punctuated by unsettling sounds and darkened corridors—render domestic space a site of fear and moral uncertainty.
Through this claustrophobic microcosm, Rondón constructs a powerful political allegory of inequality, hunger, and forced displacement. In a world where human beings starve, the well-fed hippopotamus emerges as a disturbing symbol of distorted abundance. Zafari offers rich material for the exploration of Latin American cinema, political allegory, migration studies, and the cinematic representation of social crisis in post-collapse societies.
A Strange Path (Estranho Caminho)
Guto Parente / Brazil / 2023 / 83 min
Date: Sunday, November 1, 2026
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: UCF/Main Campus/ Visual Arts Building, Room 132
View on the Virtual Platform: One week streaming from 11/02/26 to 11/09/26
Pragda | A Strange PathSYNOPSIS
Portuguese with English and Spanish subtitles
With Lucas Limeira, Carlos Francisco, Tarzia Firmino, Rita Cabaço, Renan Capivara, Ana Marlene
Experimental filmmaker David returns to Brazil after a decade, coinciding with the premiere of his feature film at a local festival. However, as the Covid-19 pandemic looms and the threat of lockdown intensifies, his professional plans are derailed. Forced to delay his departure, David’s focus shifts to his estranged relationship with his father, whom he has not seen in ten years.
Without a phone or stable accommodation, David finds himself at his father’s doorstep, initiating an uneasy and fragmented cohabitation. As David attempts to reconnect and understand the enigmatic man, he encounters resistance, navigating his father’s inscrutable and erratic behavior.
Set against the backdrop of an impending global crisis, this award-winning film explores themes of alienation, familial tension, and the struggle for connection. It garnered critical acclaim at the Tribeca Film Festival, winning Best International Narrative Feature, Best Performance, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.