Country guide · North America
1 Essential Film from Nicaragua + 5 Movies Set in or About Nicaragua
Nicaragua 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.
1 Essential Film from Nicaragua
Native cinema in Nicaragua’s own creative voice — the passport route that earns visas and citizenship.
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1. Days of Light
Six interwoven stories unfold across Central America during a single day of a total eclipse, connecting strangers from the forests of Guatemala to the towers of Panama City. An ambitious regional collaboration, and Nicaragua's part in a shared cinematic tapestry.
Curator’s note: A Central American anthology with a Nicaraguan segment and regional Spanish-language production context.
5 Movies Set in or About Nicaragua
Outside filmmakers looking toward Nicaragua: optional perspectives for a wider journey.
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1. Under Fire
During the 1979 Sandinista revolution, three American journalists covering the conflict in Nicaragua find their professional detachment collapsing as they are drawn personally into the war and its moral stakes. A gripping political drama.
Curator’s note: A foreign-journalist drama centered on the Nicaraguan Revolution and fall of Somoza.
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2. Walker
In the mid-19th century, the American adventurer William Walker leads a band of mercenaries into Nicaragua and seizes power, declaring himself president in an increasingly deranged colonial fantasy. Alex Cox's wild, anachronistic anti-imperialist satire based on true events.
Curator’s note: A historical satire about American filibuster William Walker's seizure of Nicaragua.
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3. Latino
A Latino U.S. Green Beret sent to train Contra rebels fighting Nicaragua's Sandinista government confronts a crisis of conscience as he sees the human cost of the covert war. Haskell Wexler's impassioned political drama.
Curator’s note: Latino is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Nicaragua.
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4. Striker
A tough mercenary is hired to spring a journalist from a Sandinista prison in Nicaragua, teaming with a local woman for the mission — only to be captured and betrayed. A pulpy 1980s action film.
Curator’s note: Striker is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Nicaragua.
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5. Stars at Noon
In present-day Nicaragua, a stranded American journalist and an enigmatic English businessman fall into a feverish affair, only to find themselves ensnared in a web of surveillance, lies, and danger they must flee. Claire Denis's sultry, paranoid romance.
Curator’s note: Stars at Noon is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Nicaragua.
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
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