The first London Latino Film Festival (LoLaFF) closed on 6 October with an awards ceremony at Ciné Lumière in South Kensington, celebrating eight winning films and the filmmakers behind them.
Over five days, the festival brought 60 films from more than 25 countries to venues across London, with screenings, masterclasses, Q&As and social events – many of them sold out. The winning films reflect the breadth of contemporary Latin American cinema, with stories about migration, identity, Indigenous communities, climate and LGBTQ+ experiences.
The 2026 winners
- Best Feature Film: Querido Trópico (Beloved Tropic) – Panama, dir. Ana Endara
- Best Feature Documentary: ¡Quba! – USA, dir. Kim Anno
- Best Animation: Memoria Colectiva (Collective Memory) – Colombia/Peru, dir. Cristina Colmenares and Manuel-Antonio Monteagudo
- Best Short Fiction: Coeur Bleu (Blue Heart) – Haiti/France, dir. Samuel Suffren
- Best Short Documentary: Margarita – UK, dir. Kristin Zimney
- Rising Star Award: Depeyizé – Dominican Republic, dir. Pamela Bencosme
- Best Latino-UK Film: Cielo – UK/Bolivia, dir. Alberto Sciamma
- Best Environmental Film: El viaje del Kokorrdit (The Dance of the Kokorrdit) – Panama/Mexico, dir. Guido Bilbao and Elio Cunampio. The film also received a special award from Isla Verde International Film and Environment Festival, for placing Indigenous culture, biodiversity and the protection of ancestral territories at the heart of its story.
Special mentions
- Cartas a mis padres muertos (Letters to My Dead Parents) – Chile, dir. Ignacio Agüero
- A Procura de Martina (Martina’s Search) – Brazil/Uruguay, dir. Márcia Faria
- Nunkui – Chile/Ecuador/Germany, dir. Verenice Benítez
- Naira – Peru, dir. Gabriela Queiroz
“Our aim for this first edition was to give Latin American filmmakers a home in London, and to bring their stories to the communities they speak to and to audiences discovering them for the first time,” said Ketty Rodriguez, founder and Artistic Director of LoLaFF. “The response has shown us there is a real interest for this cinema in the city, and we are looking forward to building on it.”
Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to our audiences, filmmakers, jury, volunteers and partners – including the BFI through National Lottery funding and the City of London Corporation’s Destination City Partnership Fund – for making our first edition possible.
LoLaFF will continue throughout the year with screenings, filmmaker events and cultural activity ahead of our second edition in 2027. Sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear what’s next.
