This summer, Y Tu Mamá También (Mexico 2002) scored the biggest box–office hit in the UK for any Spanish–language film ever. This confirmed an already very visible trend: a Latin American cinema torn from its roots in the new Latin American Cinema.

For more than two decades, the new cinema movement, officially launched in Viña del Mar, Chile, in 1967, staunchly fought off the Hollywood model of production and audience reception. Alternatives were devised to distribution and exhibition, which challenged and altered the dominant patterns of cinematic culture. Their influence is still felt today, not only in film production, but also in the established academies, amongst the critics and in the state–funded agencies for the development of national cinemas.

Y Tu Mamá También (And your Mother Too) is the latest high point in the spreading international success of Latin American commercial cinema; another opportunity for traditional advocates of the region’s cinema to bemoan its overt ties with giants such as Fox, or Miramax, backer of Walter Salles, the Brazilian who directed such feature films as City of God and the Oscar–winning Central Station in 1999.

Despite Latin America’s unstable economies, this international reputation was further consolidated when Amores Perros (Mexico, 2000) became a major foreign–language hit.

For the nearly 100,000 Latin Americans living in London (exact figures are difficult to obtain, as many do not have proper visas) the 13th Latin American Film Festival (LAFF) this September was a landmark, highlighting their growing presence in the city, as well as reflecting the already enormous impact of everything Latin on US society and culture, the precondition for this kind of rapid global impact.

From the margins to the centre

There was a bit of everything in the latest LAFF, always held during the last days of summer as a reminder that warmer winds still sweep through other parts of the world. From Paraguayan shorts to Colombian features, from satires to documentaries, the region was represented in its strong contrasts and diversity, as well as reflecting the increasing trend of successful commercial cinema, something that had been deemed impossible less than a decade ago.

Yet the Festival aimed at broader selection criteria than commercial success. As Eva Tarr Kirkhope, Cuban–born organiser and original conceiver of the LAFF, explained at the opening event, this year’s selection was purposefully diverse, a metaphor of the region’s vast differences, which resist labelling under that all–encompassing term Latin America.

Documentaries from Cuba, Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, Canada, UK and the US were in evidence enough. Three of the best included Justifiable Homicide (USA 2001) – an examination of the Bronx murder of two Puerto Ricans in police custody – Resistencia: Hip–Hop Colombia (Colombia 2001) and Cuban Fire (Canada 2001) – two films very different in style and objectives, beautifully portraying the deep and complex emotions around music as a cultural form of expression.

Playing and Dying with Land and Water(France 2001), sponsored by Action Aid, dealt with the unstoppable urbanisation Latin America is notorious for, and the migration of landless peasants, forced by poverty to move from the north of Brazil to the deplorable conditions of the inner cities.

Many of the feature films had already been extremely successful in their home countries and in the region, yet did not rely on the support of oil companies, or giant US distribution companies. 25 Watts (Uruguay 2001) by Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll has been the greatest box–office hit in Uruguay’s cinema history. It won a prize at the Rotterdam International Film Festival and was screened in November 2001 during the 49th London Film Festival. Another example is the Chilean Orlando Lubbert’s Taxi for Three (Chile 2001), prize–winner at the San Sebastian Film Festival which opened the festival with bitter reflections yet much rueful laughter about crime, urban poverty and family ties.

The Trespasser (Brazil 2001), by Brazilian Beto Brant, not only won several prizes in its home country, but was also selected as the Best Latin American Film at the Sundance Film Festival 2002 and the Berlin Festival. Preceding Amores Perros by two years, the energy and vitality of this Mexican movie shines. Yet without LAFF, most of these splendid movies would remain unknown, far beyond the reach of Londoners.

But if you missed the 13th LAFF and cannot wait until next year’s festival, stay alert to the forthcoming screenings in the 50th London Film Festival and, of course, don’t be surprised if in your nearest multiplex you find more than an occasional Latin American screening in the following months.