Film series: Colombian Tropical Gothic
The Gothic genre was first developed in Europe in the 1800s, and to this day, it remains mostly associated with European Gothic architecture, abandoned cemeteries, and distant castles nestled in remote Transylvanian forests—think Dracula or Nosferatu. But what would happen if we transported the Gothic to a tropical region like Colombia? Can the Gothic take place in a tropical jungle instead of a European forest? How can the tropical and the Gothic merge—and what does this fusion produce?
In the 1980s, the so-called Cali Group (Grupo de Cali) in Colombia created what has become known as Tropical Gothic. Friends, artists, and directors Carlos Mayolo and Luis Ospina developed the films Pura sangre (Luis Ospina, 1982), Carne de tu carne (Carlos Mayolo, 1983), and La mansión de Araucaima (Carlos Mayolo, 1986). These films transport the Gothic to a tropical context, transforming both the tropical setting and the Gothic genre itself. In the spirit of Halloween and the spooky season, this series aims not only to present viewers with a haunting and eerie experience but also to invite reflection on how the Gothic takes on new, local forms—forms that enable political critique and question the genre itself, imagining new aesthetic and critical possibilities.
Cosponsored by the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program (LACS) at the Einaudi Center for International Studies.
The series is curated by Daniella Prieto, PhD candidate in the Department of Romance Studies with a graduate minor in Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies and LACS Graduate Fellow '25-'26.
