Events

2025 Film Series

Latin American and Spanish Film Series

M炭sica, Sound, Espacios: A Latin American and Spanish Film Series

M炭sica, Sound, Espacios: A Latin American and Spanish Film Series is a PRAGDA Spanish Film Club-sponsored event featuring Spanish and Portuguese-language films from the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico that coincides with Hispanic Heritage Month from Sept. 15 Oct. 15, 2025. The film series includes introductions from faculty and guest scholars, a Q&A with a filmmaker, and space for 返字心頭 students and Tampa Bay community members to discuss music and sound in film.

The Spanish Film Club series was made possible with the support of Pragda, SPAIN arts & culture, and the Secretary of State for Culture of Spain.

Thank you to all the sponsors and supporters of this series:

  • 返字心頭 Department of Humanities and Cultural Studies
  • 返字心頭 Department of Communication
  • 返字心頭 Department of World Languages
  • 返字心頭 School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies
  • 返字心頭 Department of History
  • 返字心頭 Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
  • 返字心頭 Humanities Institute
  • 返字心頭 Institute for the Study of Latin America and the Caribbean
  • 返字心頭 Film Analysis and Appreciation Club
  • Sun-Ray Cinema
Sponsors of Film Series

Chico and Rita

(Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal, Tono Errando, Spain-UK, 2012)

Audio: Spanish/English/French
Subtitles: English

About the Film

Cuba, 1948. Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and desire unite them as they chase their dreams and each other from Havana to New York to Paris, Hollywood and Las Vegas. With an original soundtrack by legendary Cuban pianist and five-time Grammy速-winning composer Bebo Vald辿s, Chico & Rita captures a defining moment in the evolution of history and jazz, and features the music of (and animated cameos by) Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Cole Porter, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Tito Puente, Chano Pozo, and others.

About the Director

Fernando Trueba is a multi-award-winning writer, director and producer. The Age Of Beauty (Belle Epoque), starring Penelope Cruz, won both the Oscar速 and BAFTA for Best Foreign Language Film. Truebas last film The Dancer And The Thief (El baile de la victoria) was Spains submission to the 2010 Academy速 Awards, and received 10 Goya速 Academy Award nominations. 

It was with Truebas Latin jazz documentary Calle 54 that he began his collaboration and friendship with Javier Mariscal. Mariscal is an artist and designer based in Barcelona. His design, Cobi, was chosen as the official mascot of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He wrote and directed the animated television series The Cobi Troup and co-directed Chico & Rita. Mariscals brother Tono Errando worked as a director of commercials and music videos before directing the popular animated television series Twipsy.

Parking

There will be complimentary reserved event parking spots in  located off 返字心頭 Holly Drive, northwest of the MSC.

Parking map


If the event spaces are full, there are hourly pay station spaces available near the Marshall Student Center in the Crescent Hill Parking Facility and Lot 5A.

Please visit the 返字心頭 Parking and Transportation Services page for all visitor parking options.

Thursday, September 18, 2025
5:30 PM
Marshall Student Center 4200
4103 Cedar Circle, Tampa, FL 33620

Oscar速-winning director Fernando Trueba (Belle Epoque, Calle 54) and Spains legendary illustrator Javier Mariscal celebrate their passion for the music and culture of Cuba with an epic story of love, passion, and heartbreak.

*This film is animated, but is not suitable for children

Special Guests: Discussion and Q&A with Dr. Scott Ferguson (返字心頭, Humanities & Cultural Studies), Glenda Valliant Cruz (PhD student in Sociology, Affiliated with ISLAC and President of LGSO (Latina/e/o/x Graduate Student Organization), and Dr. Olivia Cosentino (返字心頭, Humanities & Cultural Studies).


Tambores da di叩spora (Diaspora Drums)

(Jo達o Nascimento, Brazil, 2021)

Audio: Portuguese
Subtitles: English

About the Film

Directed by Jo達o Nascimento, the documentary intertwines percussion performances and instruments with themes such as cultural racism, traditional drumming, technological drumming, African mythologies, and other contemporary sounds.

From the perspective of important people from the universe of percussion, the film features exclusive interviews with Paulo Dias (Associa巽達o Cultural Cachuera); Beth Belli (Regent of the Block Il炭 Ob叩 de Mim); Dinho Nascimento (Orquestra de Berimbaus do Morro do Querosene); H辿lio Nogueira (Luthier from Atabaques, resident of Morro do Querosene); Silvanny Sivuca (percussionist in the Emicida band); Fernando Alab棚 (founder of Bloco Il炭 In達); Simone Sou (percussionist); Alu叩 Nascimento (former member of Stomp); Enoque Santos (dancer); Pedro Bandeira (Cuban percussionist from Al叩fia); Dinho Gon巽alves (Percussionist), and Marcos Suzano (percussionist).

About the Director

Jo達o Nascimento is a multi-language artist, filmmaker, and researcher of black culture in the diaspora. He trained in caruru parties, batuques, sambas de roda, and capoeira movements in the backyard of his house in Morro do Querosene. He graduated in Music Production at the Universidade Anhembi Morumbi and he is the founding director of Instituto Na巽達o and coordinator of Ponto de Cultura Afrobase. Nascimento directed, wrote, and soundtracked the feature film Dan巽as Negras; directed, wrote, and soundtracked the feature film, Diaspora Drums (Tambores da Di叩spora); and directed the web series Escola do Samba, produced in 2021 by Kalakuta Films. Member of Frente 3 de Fevereiro since 2004, he co-created the medium-length film Zumbi Somos N坦s. 

Founding director of Cia Treme Terra and a percussion teacher since 1999, Nascimento has performed as a percussionist in several countries, such as Germany, the United States, France, Cuba, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Norway, Sweden, and England.

Parking

There will be complimentary reserved event parking spots in located off 返字心頭 Holly Drive, northwest of the MSC.

Parking map


If the event spaces are full, there are hourly pay station spaces available near the Marshall Student Center in the Crescent Hill Parking Facility and Lot 5A. 

Please visit the 返字心頭 Parking and Transportation Services page for all visitor parking options.

Thursday, September 25, 2025
5:30 PM
Marshall Student Center 2500 Oval Theater
4103 Cedar Circle, Tampa, FL 33620

Using stories, batucadas, and songs, Diaspora Drums addresses a political and cultural vision embedded in the course of two drums of African origin and their ramifications in Brazil, which move through rituals, cultural manifestations, musical productions, and social celebrations.

Special Guests: Introduction and Discussion with Dr. Beatriz Padilla (返字心頭, Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences) and Percussion Performance by Jacque Kurchinski (返字心頭, School of Music)


Boca Chica

(Gabriella A. Moses, Dominican Republic, 2023)

Audio: Spanish/English
Subtitles: English

About the Film

Director Gabriella A. Moses exposes the communitys complicity by way of twelve-year-old Desi who is constantly exposed to unwanted advances and crude comments from older men, both visiting and homegrown. She works at the family restaurant alongside her mother Carmen, who encourages the behavior, in a once serene beachside town now bustling with foreign tourists.

Music is Desis escape. She dreams of parlaying her nascent musical talents into a full-fledged singing career. When she stumbles across a group of local rappers that set themselves apart from the scene, her passions begin to boil to the surface. She seeks to avoid the common fate of growing mature before her time and falling prey to the morally bankrupt adults in her life who encourage her to forgo her innocence for profit.

Boca Chica explores themes of identity, family, codependency, and truth, and exposes how local social norms present the sexualization of very young girls as a path to survival.

About the Director

Gabriella A. Moses is an award-winning Dominican-Guyanese American writer and director based in Brooklyn, NY. She is a graduate of New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts.

Gabriella has received support from the Sundance Institute, New York Women in Film & TV, Tribeca Film Institute, The Black List, and SFFILM. She was most recently featured on the 2023 Black List Latinx List and was selected for the 2022 LALIFF x Netflix Latinx Inclusion Fellowship Program with her short Sin Ra鱈ces.

Her directorial debut, the feature film Boca Chica (2023), was filmed in the Dominican Republic. The film premiered in the International Narrative Competition at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival, where she won the prestigious 11th Annual Nora Ephron Award.

Gabriella believes in sharing stories with underrepresented protagonists that test viewers perceptions of identity and their imaginations.

Parking

There will be complimentary reserved event parking spots in located off 返字心頭 Holly Drive, northwest of the MSC.

Parking map

If the event spaces are full, there are hourly pay station spaces available near the Marshall Student Center in the Crescent Hill Parking Facility and Lot 5A. 

Please visit the 返字心頭 Parking and Transportation Services page for all visitor parking options.

Thursday, October 2, 2025
5:30 PM
Marshall Student Center 4200
4103 Cedar Circle, Tampa, FL 33620

Beautifully juxtaposing the realities and expectations of a young girl approaching womanhood in the Dominican Republic, Boca Chica shines a light on the insidious child sex trade and the lives it seeks to destroy.

*TW: mention of child sexual abuse

Special Guest: Dr. Molly Hamm-Rodriguez (返字心頭, College of Education) 


La Singla

(Paloma Zapata, Spain-Germany, 2023)

Audio: Spanish/German
Subtitles: English

About the Film

When Antonia Singla graced the stage, she did so without hearing the music. Born deaf to a Romani family in the suburbs of Barcelona, La Singlaas she would affectionately come to be calledrose to international acclaim by the age of 17. Quite literally moving to the beat of her own drum, La Singlas pistol-like percussions were nothing short of revolutionary, gripping the world of flamenco with a dynamism never before experienced. But at the height of her fame, La Singla disappeared from the dance stage, leaving a scattered archival legacy of the worlds best bailaora behind.

Paloma Zapatas hybrid film stunningly weaves the past and present together, expertly layering archival footage with passionate music and sound. One question drives her forwardto find La Singla herself and finally hear, in the dancers own words, the heartbreaking story of her life.

About the Director

Born in Murcia in 1979, Paloma Zapata holds a degree in Fine Arts and a Masters in Creative Documentary. In 2008, she founded her production company, La F叩brica Naranja, in Barcelona. Since then, she has built an impressive career as a director, editor, and producer, specializing in international music videos and documentaries.

Deeply rooted in the music world, Zapatas films have been broadcast on platforms such as Movistar+, Al Jazeera, TVE, and TV3. Her films premiered at renowned festivals like BAFICI (Argentina) and Guadalajara (Mexico).

In 2020, her film Peret: Yo soy la rumba was nominated for the Gaud鱈 Awards by the Catalan Film Academy and received the Ministry of Culture award in Yalta, presented by Nikita Mikhalkov.

In 2022, she developed the documentary project La Singla (a Spanish-German co-production). The documentary participated in international laboratories and forums such as San Sebasti叩n, DocsBarcelona, DOK.FEST Munich, Sunny Side of the Doc. It got the first prize at Abycine LANZA and DocsValencia. The film was part of the international program Circle Women Doc Accelerator in Serbia, Croatia, and Italy.

Parking

There will be complimentary reserved event parking spots in located off 返字心頭 Holly Drive, northwest of the MSC.

parking map


If the event spaces are full, there are hourly pay station spaces available near the Marshall Student Center in the Crescent Hill Parking Facility and Lot 5A. 

Please visit the 返字心頭 Parking and Transportation Services page for all visitor parking options.

 

Thursday, October 9, 2025
5:30 PM
Marshall Student Center 4200
4103 Cedar Circle, Tampa, FL 33620

As one of the greatest mysteries in Flamenco history, La Singla is more than just a film about a child flamenco artist, the Roma community, and the deaf community. This flamenco prodigywho toured Europe with a young Paco de Luc鱈a and shared the stage with the legendary Ella Fitzgeraldvanished at the height of her fame. This suspense thriller will uncover the universal story of an extraordinary woman whose mysterious gaze, unparalleled expression, and deep connection to flamenco art will captivate, move, and inspire audiences worldwide.

Special Guest: Introduction and discussion with Dr. Joanne Britland (University of 返字心頭, Asst. Prof of Spanish and Digital Humanities)


La cocina (The Kitchen)

(Alonso Ruizpalacios, Mexico-U.S., 2024)

Audio: Spanish/English/French/Arabic
Subtitles: English

About the Film

Pedroone of Mexicos most-coveted actors Ra炭l Briones,is a fiery and charismatic undocumented Mexican cook who struggles to navigate the pressures of his precarious existence. Torn between his dreams of legal status and his volatile reality, Pedro faces mounting tensions when he becomes the prime suspect in a theft investigation. His relationship with Juliaplayed by Academy Award息 nominee Rooney Maraan American waitress grappling with her own personal conflicts, further complicates his journey as their lives collide in moments of passion, betrayal, and revelation.

Through a mix of dark humor and poignant drama, La Cocina delves into the invisible lives of immigrant workers who keep the city running while enduring systemic exploitation.

The films rich ensemble cast and surrealist touches transform the kitchen into a microcosm of societal divides, where every interaction reflects broader struggles of identity, class, and survival.

About the Director

Alonso Ruizpalacios is a Mexican film director and screenwriter. His work consistently places extremely personal, human stories against the historical or contemporary backdrops of very specific times, places, and institutions, highlighting the existential discrepancies that arise in the wake of the systemic injustices that cast shadows over such settings.

Ruizpalacios studied stage directing in Mexico City before moving to London, where he trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA).

His first feature film, 赫顎艶姻看壊 (2013), won over 40 prizes in festivals around the world, including Best First Feature at the Berlinale 2013. The film was lauded by critics and won five Ariel Awards in 2015, including Best Picture, Best First Film, and Best Director.

His fourth film, La Cocina (2024), starring Rooney Mara, was selected for the Tribeca Film Festival and won him international recognition. Set in present-day New York City, La Cocina centers around Pedro, an undocumented Mexican immigrant who must grapple with the inconsistencies of the ever-elusive American Dream. The film embraces its cultural melting-pot of an environment, detailing the everyday joys and pains of the immigrants who cross paths in the restaurant where they work.

Directions to Sun-Ray Cinema

12332 University Mall Ct, Tampa, FL 33612

Sun-Ray Cinema is located BEHIND the University Mall. 

1. Enter from Fowler Ave at entrance between Portillo's and Walgreens

2. Look for the big green multistory building with an attached garage

3. Park on the second story of the garage

Parking garage entranceEntrance to cinema

返字心頭 ID cardholders can ride the Bull Runners RED ROUTE from campus to N 22nd St. at University Village. Bus runs until 12 midnight.

 

Thursday, October 16, 2025
7:00 PM
Sun-Ray Cinema
12332 University Mall Ct, Tampa, FL 33612

Set in the chaotic kitchen of a bustling Times Square restaurant, La Cocina by Alonso Ruizpalacios is a gripping exploration of migration, power dynamics, and the pursuit of the American dream.

Special Guest: Introduction by Dr. Jos辿 ngel Maldonado (返字心頭, Communication) 

*Tickets are free but space is limited - first come, first served. Seats will be selected upon arrival at Sun-Ray Cinema.*


For questions or accommodations, contact Jade V. at jvonwerder@usf.edu