Hispanic Film Festival: Beloved Tropic

Set against the humid, emerald backdrop of Panama City, this atmospheric drama explores the collision of two isolated worlds. Ana María, an undocumented Colombian immigrant harboring a desperate secret, finds work as a caregiver for Mercedes, a formidable woman whose identity is being slowly dismantled by dementia. Emotionally powerful yet socially relevant, the film invites conversation about identity, belonging, inequality, and the need for connection. 

The 2026 Hispanic Film Festival, possible thanks to the Spanish Film Club Grant from Pragda and the Spanish Ministry of Culture, brings together seven highly awarded films from Spain, Panama-Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, and Guatemala. These films serve as vehicles for timely discussions that, although situated in Latin America and the Iberic Peninsula, extend to realities experienced beyond these geographies. Additionally, their cinematographic relevance and media/medium experimentation promote urgent discussions of creativity, mediation, and technological innovation. As a whole, this festival seeks to promote general themes of interrogating existing power structures and promoting an alternative lens through which to view hegemonic inequities. 

Organized by Revista de Estudios Hispánicos in partnership with the Latin American Studies Program and the Romance Languages and Literatures Department.