Central American/Andean Challenge (Official, January 2021)

flavo5000 · #1

CENTRAL AMERICAN/ANDEAN CHALLENGE

GOAL:
Watch as many films from Central America and the Andean region of South America (plus Chile and Venezuela) as you can possible muster. Bask in the warm glow of your filmic vocabulary's expansion.

Eligible Latin American countries:
Bolivia
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Ecuador
El Salvador
French Guiana
Guatemala
Honduras
Nicaragua
Panama
Peru
Venezuela

RULES
Each feature film (over 40 minutes) counts as one entry.
- 80 minutes of short films or miniseries/TV episodes counts as one entry.
- Films must be watched one at a time and at single speed (not sped up).
- Rewatches are allowed and are good for the soul.
- Please include year of release when listing your viewings.
- Please indicate each film's country when listing your viewings otherwise your score will NOT be included in the leaderboard.
-Just a quick note but please think about whether the film submitted qualifies for the challenge. I'm fairly lax with this sort of thing and generally rely on the countries listed on IMDB to determine whether it counts.

Official Lists:
CineChile's 50 Best Chilean Movies of All Time

These lists also focus on these regions but additionally include Mexico, Cuba, Brazil and several other excluded countries:
Cien años sin soledad: Greatest Latin American Films
Cinema Tropical 2000-2009/21st Century All Eligibie Films List (Thanks max-sci!)
UNESCO (Includes Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela)

Leaderboard

Rank	Participant	Count
1	Lu-chin	67
2	jeroeno	36
3	sol	27
3	Mario Gaborović	27
5	jdidaco	22
6	ororama	20
7	flavo5000	16
8	Fergenaprido	14
9	outdoorcats	7
10	max-sci	6
11	maxwelldeux	4
11	blocho	4
11	AB537	4
14	mightysparks	3
14	hurluberlu	3
14	DudeLanez	3
14	AssOnFire	3
18	zzzorf	2
18	pitchorneirda	2
18	Obgeoff	2
21	frbrown	1

BONUS CHALLENGE
I decided to go the easy route and have the Bonus Challenge to be as diverse in your country watches as you can. If you watch one movie from each eligible country, you earn a Complete Run. The end goal is to try to have as many complete runs as possible!

Bonus Leaderboard

Person	Complete Runs	Bolivia	Chile	Columbia	Costa Rica	Ecuador	El Salvador	Guatemala	Honduras	Nicaragua	Panama	Peru	Venezuela
sol	1	1	2	6	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1
Lu-Chin	3	3	28	8	3	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
ororama		1	9	8				1				1
Mario Gaborović	1	4	5	6	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	3
jeroeno		2	15	6	2	2	1	3		1		2	2
max-sci			3	1				1				1
maxwelldeux			2		1			1
jdidaco		1	5	3	1	1		2				5	1
flavo5000		1	6	1		1		1		1	1	1	1
outdoorcats		1		1	1	1					1	1	1
hurluberlu			2		1
Fergenaprido	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2
mightysparks		1							1		1
blocho			1	1								2
zzzorf				1								1
Obgeoff			2
frbrown			1
DudeLanez			3
pitchorneirda			1									1
AssOnFire			1	2
AB537				4

flavo5000 · #2

I'll try to add a bonus challenge tomorrow. It's just been a long day for me today. Also if anyone has suggestions for either other official lists to add to the OP I may have missed or unofficial lists that would fit the topic, let me know and I can add them.

flavo5000 · #3

Also this is my first time hosting a country challenge, so if I do anything weird or forget something, just call me out on it.

sol · #4

Looking good (the countries you've listed are corrected). Did you want me to generate a better map for you if I get the chance?

Fergenaprido · #5

Is Paraguay supposed to be included here or later with Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay?

Surprised French Guiana is included, but I see it was omitted from the Caribbean challenge for some reason, so makes sense to include it here.

sol · #6

Fergenaprido wrote: ↑January 1st, 2021, 2:45 am Is Paraguay supposed to be included here or later with Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay?

See max-scl's request here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5121&start=120#p679950

And here's the post where I asked for feedback regard Paraguay: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=544&start=3120#p680226

Fergenaprido wrote: ↑January 1st, 2021, 2:45 am Surprised French Guiana is included, but I see it was omitted from the Caribbean challenge for some reason, so makes sense to include it here.

I wanted to include it as part of the Caribbean Challenge last month, but I was encouraged to leave it for Latin America.

Languages aside, there is also the fact that Suriname and Guyana identify as Caribbean whereas French Guiana (which is French) doesn't.

sol · #7

Possible alternative map for the OP:

Spoiler

Feel free to use or ignore.

Country names blend in a little bit but this does get everything on a single map.

sol · #8

It starts! First in.

1. Viaje (2015) Costa Rica

Shot in gorgeous black and white, the jungle scenery looks terrific here and the bond between the protagonists always feels very real despite being near complete strangers only hours before taking their viaje (journey) together. In a curious turn of events, it is only in the final half-hour that the pair actually discuss whether they have boyfriends or girlfriends and want they are doing with their lives, having completely circumvented small talk early on.

Fergenaprido · #9

sol wrote: ↑January 1st, 2021, 2:49 am
Fergenaprido wrote: ↑January 1st, 2021, 2:45 am Is Paraguay supposed to be included here or later with Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay?
See max-scl's request here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5121&start=120#p679950

And here's the post where I asked for feedback regard Paraguay: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=544&start=3120#p680226

Fergenaprido wrote: ↑January 1st, 2021, 2:45 am Surprised French Guiana is included, but I see it was omitted from the Caribbean challenge for some reason, so makes sense to include it here.
I wanted to include it as part of the Caribbean Challenge last month, but I was encouraged to leave it for Latin America.

Languages aside, there is also the fact that Suriname and Guyana identify as Caribbean whereas French Guiana (which is French) doesn't.

Ah, okay. I missed that request. All good (though I disagree with you about French Guiana not being Caribbean

).

sol · #10

Fergenaprido wrote: ↑January 1st, 2021, 4:48 am Ah, okay. I missed that request. All good (though I disagree with you about French Guiana not being Caribbean ).

Well yeah, it's a tricky one. The reason why we included Belize, Suriname and Guyana in the Caribbean Challenge is because they are all CARICOM countries. French Guiana isn't, then again, as a French dependency, it's probably no surprise that it isn't. Technically, we could probably also include Venezuela as Caribbean if we wanted to go down that pathway (no, I don't think we should).

That said, I think that we when we run a Caribbean Challenge again, we should include French Guiana. It was less of an issue when this challenge was originally called "Latin America minus a number of countries", but now that we have changed the name to Central America/Andean (great idea, by the way), it would make more sense for French Guiana to be included in the Caribbean. And it's not like we only included Caribbean countries. We also ended up including Bermuda in December because there was no other logical other challenge where it could be included.

Coryn · #11

Is there a way to cross check which movies are also on the 1001mymsbyd or tspdt 21st list ?

flavo5000 · #12

sol wrote: ↑January 1st, 2021, 4:26 am Possible alternative map for the OP:

Spoiler
Feel free to use or ignore. Country names blend in a little bit but this does get everything on a single map.

Groovy, I've added it!

maxwelldeux · #13

Coryn wrote: ↑January 1st, 2021, 9:42 am Is there a way to cross check which movies are also on the 1001mymsbyd or tspdt 21st list ?

The ICM Enhanced script - install that and go to "list cross-reference"

Fergenaprido · #14

Coryn wrote: ↑January 1st, 2021, 9:42 am Is there a way to cross check which movies are also on the 1001mymsbyd or tspdt 21st list ?

Mario Gaborović · #15

01. The Hammock (2004) + Jerry Moomaw: A Video Portrait from Belize (2010) + The OceanMaker (2014) + Chillin' on the Caye (2015) - Belize + Zachrisson (2016) - Panama

flavo5000 · #16

Hey folks! I just added the bonus challenge. Pretty typical for these country challenges but hopefully you'll find some gems!

flavo5000 · #17

Mario Gaborović wrote: ↑January 1st, 2021, 8:30 pm 01. The Hammock (2004) + Jerry Moomaw: A Video Portrait from Belize (2010) + The OceanMaker (2014) + Chillin' on the Caye (2015) - Belize + Zachrisson (2016) - Panama

Hey sorry, but Belize isn't part of this challenge. It was part of the Caribbean Challenge last month.

Mario Gaborović · #18

Hey sorry, but Belize isn't part of this challenge. It was part of the Caribbean Challenge last month.

It's all screwed up anyway. Why don't you folks just look up to CONCACAF qualifiers when it comes to regionalizations?

flavo5000 · #19

Mario Gaborović wrote: ↑January 1st, 2021, 9:12 pm
Hey sorry, but Belize isn't part of this challenge. It was part of the Caribbean Challenge last month.
It's all screwed up anyway. Why don't you folks just look up to CONCACAF qualifiers when it comes to regionalizations?

I mean, I wasn't involved in the discussions about splitting up the countries and don't really care too much about it. I'm just running the challenge since no one else signed up. I'm sure it'll be revisited at the end of this year when the next block of country challenges are being discussed.

I will say having watched a couple of movies from Belize, they feel much more similar to other Caribbean films I've watched than any Central or South American movies I've seen.

Coryn · #20

Thanks Fergenaprido

@max

I do have ICM enhanced but I can't find the cross search button to be fair.

Fergenaprido · #21

flavo5000 wrote: ↑January 1st, 2021, 8:42 pm Hey folks! I just added the bonus challenge. Pretty typical for these country challenges but hopefully you'll find some gems!

You're missing Colombia from that table.

Edit: Oh, and I'll participate in this challenge. My goal will be to see 12 films, one from each country (excluding French Guiana).

flavo5000 · #22

Fergenaprido wrote: ↑January 1st, 2021, 10:23 pm
flavo5000 wrote: ↑January 1st, 2021, 8:42 pm Hey folks! I just added the bonus challenge. Pretty typical for these country challenges but hopefully you'll find some gems!
You're missing Colombia from that table.

Edit: Oh, and I'll participate in this challenge. My goal will be to see 12 films, one from each country (excluding French Guiana).

Updated, thanks for the catch.

maxwelldeux · #23

Coryn wrote: ↑January 1st, 2021, 9:40 pm Thanks Fergenaprido

@max

I do have ICM enhanced but I can't find the cross search button to be fair.

Been a while since I used it and forgot how clunky it is. Easiest way I've found to use it:

0. Make sure it's activated in your ICM Enhanced settings.
1. Mark the lists you want to cross reference as a Favorite.
2. Go to your Favorited Lists.
3. You'll see a "Active CR" button - click that. (You'll see a "Deactive" button appear and a "Cross-reference" tab appear.)
4. Click on the lists you want to cross-reference (i.e., at least two)
5. Click on the "Cross-reference" tab. (You'll see only the lists you clicked in the above step. You'll also see a "Cross-reference" button appear next to "Deactivate")
6. Click on the "Cross-reference" button.
7. Wait. This takes several seconds.
8. Results!

Lu-Chin · #24

1. El astuto mono Pinochet contra la moneda de los cerdos (2004) 8/10 Chile
2. El agente topo (2020) 7/10 Chile
3. Bonsái (2011) 4/10 Chile
4. ¡Qué hacer! (1972) 7/10 Chile
5. Niña errante (2018) 4/10 Colombia

sol · #25

Mario Gaborović wrote: ↑January 1st, 2021, 9:12 pm
Hey sorry, but Belize isn't part of this challenge. It was part of the Caribbean Challenge last month.
It's all screwed up anyway. Why don't you folks just look up to CONCACAF qualifiers when it comes to regionalizations?

I think most folks are fine with Belize (and Suriname and Guyana) being considered as Caribbean. I mean, I have had the reasoning for including these countries being Caribbean in the OP for that challenge for over a month and nobody has complained or ever objected to the reasoning.

sol · #26

Latin America Minus Minus

1. Viaje (2015) Costa Rica

2. Ixcanul (2015) Guatemala

Set near the base of a volcano, this paints a vivid picture of life in the rural regions of the Central American nation - scenes of which starkly contrast to some big city shots later on. It is an intriguing choice to have the lead actress as expressionless as possible throughout, whilst also saying very little, to show just how subjugated she is. On the same account though, I found that this emotional distance made her pretty hard to relate to as individual.

ororama · #27

1. Mujeres Arriba/ Women on Top (2020) * 98 min. (Chile)

Okay sex comedy with three friends at different stages of their romantic relationships trying to overcome different problems with their partners. The three lead actresses were likable and sympathetic, the characters of their partners were underdeveloped.

* First time viewing.

Mario Gaborović · #28

01. Zachrisson (2016) + De hermano a hermano (2017) + Inesperado (2018) + Paladins vs Overwatch (2018) - Panama

jeroeno · #29

01. La muerte del maestro (2018) (Ecuador)

It's only 62 minutes AND an official check so better watch it here : https://ok.ru/video/1596338539039

02. Viaje (2015) (Costa Rica)

Three movies by Jayro Bustamante:
03. Ixcanul (2015) (Guatemala)
04. La llorona (2019) (Guatemala)
05. Temblores (2019) (Guatemala)

Mario Gaborović · #30

02. La muerte del maestro (2018) - Ecuador
03. La Yuma (2009) - Nicaragua

Spoiler

01. Zachrisson (2016) + De hermano a hermano (2017) + Inesperado (2018) + Paladins vs Overwatch (2018) - Panama

Lu-Chin · #31

Spoiler

1. El astuto mono Pinochet contra la moneda de los cerdos (2004) 8/10 Chile
2. El agente topo (2020) 7/10 Chile
3. Bonsái (2011) 4/10 Chile
4. ¡Qué hacer! (1972) 7/10 Chile
5. Niña errante (2018) 4/10 Colombia

6. Ukamau (1966) 5/10 Bolivia
7. Verano (2011) 7/10 Chile
8. La llorona (2019) 6/10 Guatemala
9. La muerte del maestro (2018) 4/10 Ecuador
10. Postales de Leningrado (2007) 7/10 Venezuela

flavo5000 · #32

Hey folks. I just updated the OP. Let me know if any scores are wonky.

Also here's the current breakdown by country. Not surprisingly Chile is in the lead so far with upstart Guatemala close behind.

jeroeno · #33

Wait, Venezuela and Bolivia have the same color? My autism can't handle this.

flavo5000 · #34

jeroeno wrote: ↑January 3rd, 2021, 6:30 am Wait, Venezuela and Bolivia have the same color? My autism can't handle this.

Oh gross. I just noticed that. I'll fix it in the next update.

Mario Gaborović · #35

04. La ciudad y los perros (1985) - Peru

Spoiler

01. Zachrisson (2016) + De hermano a hermano (2017) + Inesperado (2018) + Paladins vs Overwatch (2018) - Panama
02. La muerte del maestro (2018) - Ecuador
03. La Yuma (2009) - Nicaragua

ororama · #36

2. Juego siniestro/ Sinister Circle (2016) * 87 min. (Peru)

A ouija board (which they don't use properly), a demon which only appears briefly, some ghosts and plenty of jump scares.

Spoiler

1. Mujeres Arriba/ Women on Top (2020) * 98 min. (Chile)

*First time viewing.

Mario Gaborović · #37

05. El camino (2008) - Costa Rica
06. Temblores (2019) - Guatemala

Spoiler

01. Zachrisson (2016) + De hermano a hermano (2017) + Inesperado (2018) + Paladins vs Overwatch (2018) - Panama
02. La muerte del maestro (2018) - Ecuador
03. La Yuma (2009) - Nicaragua
04. La ciudad y los perros (1985) - Peru

max-scl · #38

1. The Mole Agent (2020) Chile. This year's Chilean submission for the Oscars and Goyas, I've liked every movie from Maite Alberdi so far, this is a strong film too but I needed a harder punch after all the bittersweet moment the film has to offer. Still a very good film that I recommend.

max-scl · #39

And made this list for this chllenge which contains all the elegible titles from both Cinema Tropical lists:

https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/cine ... e/max-scl/

ororama · #40

3. Natalia Valdebenito: El Especial (2018) * 69 min. (Chile)

Not many laughs for me, but I think my problem is that it is different having a very general idea of the culture that she is reacting to, as I do, and living in that culture, as her very enthusiastic audience does. I don't watch much stand-up comedy, but wanted to see her show after seeing her in Mujeres Arriba, which also explores romantic relationships in a non-traditional (for Chile) way.

Spoiler

1. Mujeres Arriba/ Women on Top (2020) * 98 min. (Chile)
2. Juego siniestro/ Sinister Circle (2016) * 87 min. (Peru)

*First time viewing.