Alejandro A. Riera

‘The Eternal Memory,’ by chilena documentarian Maite Alberdi, tells the story of one brave couple that courageously faced both a dictatorship and then a terrible disease—and is the most moving love story you’ll see on any screen this year.

From 1998 to 2005, 49 elderly women were robbed and strangled in their homes in Mexico City by a serial killer dubbed the “Mataviejitas” (The Little Old Lady Killer), the subject of a Netflix documentary by director María José Cuevas.

‘Chile ’76’ and ‘The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future’ not only announce the arrival of two distinctive, idiosyncratic voices, but directors Manuela Martelli and Francisca Alegría are harbingers of what is yet to come from Latin American cinema.

In ‘Sansón and Me,’ a documentary that follows the story of a young man sentenced to life in prison for his role in a gang-related shooting, Mexican filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes’ voice overpowers and undermines his well-meaning intentions.