The AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center announced today the full slate of films for the 2025 AFI Latin American Film Festival, which will take place September 18–October 9 at the historic AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD. Now in its 36th year, the festival is one of the largest and longest-running showcases of Latin American cinema in the United States, dedicated to presenting Latin America’s prolific and versatile talent during National Hispanic Heritage Month. This year’s wide-ranging selection of 42 films from 20 countries spans international festival favorites and award winners, local box-office hits and dynamic debuts from a new generation of Latin American filmmakers and includes 11 U.S. and North American premieres.

The festival will open with the acclaimed Cannes Film Festival award-winning THE SECRET AGENT. Filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho (AQUARIUS, BACURAU, NEIGHBORING SOUNDS) puts his distinctive stamp on the growing genre of films wrestling with the history of the Brazilian dictatorship, deploying an Altman-esque ensemble of colorful characters (including Wagner Moura as a former scientist on the run); zesty needle drops of disco and pop; and carefully curated late ‘70s vintage clothing, cars and design not merely for nostalgic or comedic purposes but as a method of historical recapture and reconnection. THE SECRET AGENT is a NEON release.

The Centerpiece selections are the U.S. premiere of Uruguayan filmmaker Daniel Hendler’s (THE CANDIDATE, THE MONEYCHANGER) comic caper A LOOSE END, direct from its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, which follows a cheese-loving cop on the lam in Uruguay, and KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, a dazzling Technicolor-hued fantasy starring Diego Luna, Tonatiuh and Jennifer Lopez, which marks DREAMGIRLS director Bill Condon’s return to the movie musical.

LAFF closes with the Argentine actress-turned-director Dolores Fonzi’s BELÉN, a stirring blend of courtroom drama, legal thriller and social commentary, which shines a rousing light on systemic injustice, celebrating the strength, solidarity and resilience of women and serving as a topical and timely reminder — both in Argentina, where abortion was finally legalized in 2021, and the United States, where Roe vs. Wade was overturned just a year later — that the fight for women’s reproductive rights is far from over. BELÉN is an Amazon MGM Studios release.

The festival presents the local Washington, DC-area premieres of several titles that debuted at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, including Oliver Laxe’s Jury Prize winner SIRÂT, a bombastic, adrenaline-filled journey through the depths of grief and destruction; THE WAVE, a bold, emotionally charged feminist musical that marks Academy Award^® winner Sebastián Lelio’s (A FANTASTIC WOMAN) return to Spanish-language cinema; winner of the Un Certain Regard Grand Prix THE MYSTERIOUS GAZE OF THE FLAMINGO, an audacious debut melding elements of melodrama and western with a queer twist; Simón Mesa Soto’s deadpan comedy, A POET, the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize winner; and I ONLY REST IN THE STORM, Pedro Pinho’s provocative, sprawling drama following a Portuguese NGO worker sent to Guinea-Bissau.

LAFF also features the U.S. premieres of several recent favorites from the international festival circuit, including intimate thriller IT WOULD BE NIGHT IN CARACAS, direct from its premieres at the Venice and Toronto film festivals and featuring performances by Natalia Reyes and Édgar Ramírez; Gabriel Mascaro’s Berlinale Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize winner THE BLUE TRAIL, a rollicking coming-of-old-age tale set in a dystopian near-future; Locarno premiere ELDER SON, a brilliant examination of identity and generational healing from first-time narrative feature filmmaker Cecilia Kang; THE MESSAGE, Iván Fund’s warmly comic road-trip film which won Berlin’s Silver Bear Jury Prize; FIPRESCI Prize winner at Visions du Réel TO THE WEST, IN ZAPATA, an empathetic documentary following a family who must go to extreme lengths to survive in Cuba; surreal Bolivian fairytale CIELO, the Best Cinematography winner at the Fantasporto Film Festival; and LEONORA IN THE MORNING LIGHT, a biopic about British painter turned Mexican national Leonora Carrington, which premiered earlier this year at the Munich and Guadalajara film festivals. Additional highlights include Michael Franco’s DREAMS, starring Academy Award^® winner Jessica Chastain; SXSW Audience Award winner CORINA, a playful charmer from Urzula Barba Hopfner; Sundance favorites MAD BILLS TO PAY (OR DESTINY, DILE QUE NO SOY MALO) and THE VIRGIN OF THE QUARRY LAKE; Tribeca award winners THIS ISLAND, A BRIGHT FUTURE, RUNA SIMI and CUERPO CELESTE; and music documentaries LA SALSA VIVE and THE FLAMENCO GUITAR OF YERAI CORTÉS. View the full lineup here.

The AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center is one of the nation’s premier film theaters, building an appreciation of the art and artists through exploring and celebrating new and classic films and filmmakers from around the globe. AFI Silver offers a year-round program of the best in American and international cinema, featuring a dynamic mix of retrospectives, special events, tributes, on-stage guest appearances, specialty first-run movies, festivals, premieres and education and community-based programs in a theatrical setting of the highest standards. Anchored by the stunningly restored 1938 Silver Theatre, the three-screen AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center is a state-of-the-art film and digital media exhibition venue that serves as a national model for preserving and honoring our shared film and film-going heritage. Read about all of these programs and more at AFI.com/Silver.