Country guide · North America
10 Essential Films from Costa Rica + 1 Movie Set in or About Costa Rica
Costa Rica on the atlas: the strongest films of its own cinema, and the films the rest of the world has set there. Every list is curated and ranked by hand.
10 Essential Films from Costa Rica
Native cinema in Costa Rica’s own creative voice — the passport route that earns visas and citizenship.
-
1. Maikol Yordan de Viaje Perdido
When the bank threatens to seize his beloved family farm, a bumbling, good-hearted country man sets off on a globe-trotting scramble of contests and schemes to raise the money in time. A hugely popular Costa Rican slapstick comedy.
Curator’s note: Curator validation: native Costa Rica cinema candidate with Spanish original-language evidence.
-
2. Hombre de fe
This biographical drama traces the journey of Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas from his humble small-town beginnings to the heights of elite football, sustained by his faith. An inspirational sports story.
Curator’s note: Hombre de fe ranked among the strongest verified Costa Rica-authored features for craft, enduring reputation, influence, and importance within the national cinema.
-
3. Maikol Yordan 2: La cura lejana
Having saved the family farm, the lovable bumbler sets off again on a far-flung adventure — this time to find a cure for his ailing grandmother's mysterious illness. A broad Costa Rican comedy sequel.
Curator’s note: Maikol Yordan 2: La cura lejana ranked among the strongest verified Costa Rica-authored features for craft, enduring reputation, influence, and importance within the national cinema.
-
4. Two Waters
A Costa Rican boy dreams of attending a soccer school his family cannot afford, and his devoted older brother resolves to get him there by any means necessary. A tender drama about brotherhood and sacrifice.
Curator’s note: Two Waters ranked among the strongest verified Costa Rica-authored features for craft, enduring reputation, influence, and importance within the national cinema.
-
5. Murder at El Meneo
Two bumbling detectives try to crack a murder case without getting killed, seduced, or outsmarted along the way. A Costa Rican crime parody.
Curator’s note: Candidate native film held back by curator: missing accepted native-language fit, sole country-origin evidence, or explicit web-curated primary-country evidence.
-
6. I Have Electric Dreams
A sixteen-year-old girl caught between her mother's household and her volatile, estranged father clings fiercely to him, navigating the tenderness and turbulence of adolescence. A raw, intimate coming-of-age drama.
Curator’s note: Candidate native film held back by curator: missing accepted native-language fit, sole country-origin evidence, or explicit web-curated primary-country evidence.
-
7. Memories of a Burning Body
Weaving together the testimonies of three women raised in an era when female sexuality was taboo, this film gives their long-silenced desires and awakenings voice through a single 65-year-old woman. A sensual, liberating docudrama.
Curator’s note: Candidate native film held back by curator: missing accepted native-language fit, sole country-origin evidence, or explicit web-curated primary-country evidence.
-
8. Of Love and Other Demons
In colonial Cartagena, a young noble girl bitten by a rabid dog is believed to be possessed and shut away in a convent to be exorcised, where she and a troubled young priest are drawn to each other. Adapted from Gabriel García Márquez.
Curator’s note: Candidate native film held back by curator: missing accepted native-language fit, sole country-origin evidence, or explicit web-curated primary-country evidence.
-
9. Land of Ashes
On the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, a thirteen-year-old girl left in the care of her grandfather confronts loss and the mystery of death, imagining that the dead simply shed their skins to become something else. A dreamlike coming-of-age drama.
Curator’s note: Curator validation: native Costa Rica cinema candidate with Spanish original-language evidence.
-
10. The Awakening of the Ants
A young Costa Rican mother stretched thin by two children and a household she runs alone begins to quietly rebel when her husband insists on a third child, sensing that something in her life must change. A subtle drama of awakening.
Curator’s note: Curator validation: native Costa Rica cinema candidate with Spanish original-language evidence.
1 Movie Set in or About Costa Rica
Outside filmmakers looking toward Costa Rica: optional perspectives for a wider journey.
-
1. Island of the Sharks
This large-format documentary plunges into the teeming waters around Cocos Island, far off the Costa Rican coast, showcasing its sharks, rays, and other misunderstood predators in one of the ocean's richest sanctuaries.
Curator’s note: Island of the Sharks is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Costa Rica.
Selected by the FilmsAroundThe.World editorial desk
Lists are ranked for craft, enduring reputation, influence, and depth of engagement with place. Native selections require a verified creative relationship to the country; souvenir selections require an outside creative lead and a country-centered story. Read the methodology.
Editorial review: 2026-07-13
Nearby on the atlas
More North America guides: