Best Ecuadorian movies

Dedicated to my ex (2019)

The film tells the story of Ariel, a 21-year-old who decides to form a rock band to compete for a prize of ten thousand dollars in a musical band contest, this as a last option when trying to get money to save their relationship and reunite with his ex-girlfriend, which breaks due to the trip she must make to Finland for an internship. Ariel with her friend Ortega, decides to make a casting to find the other members of the band, although they do not know nothing about music, thus forming a band with members that have diverse and opposite personalities.

How Much Further (2006)

A cynical college student and an optimistic tourist, stranded on a bus by a national strike, form an unlikely bond as they decide to hitchhike together to reach their individual destinations, discovering shared lessons and unexpected friendship along the way.

3-03 Rescate (2018)

Pescador (2011)

Blaquito is thirty years old and lives with his mother in El Matal, a small fishing village on the coast of Ecuador. One day, the beach turns up filled with cocaine packets. Blanquito, along with his friend Lorna, decide to travel to Guayaquil, where people will pay five times more per package. Little does Blanquito realize that in the days that follow he will be staring at death in the eye and losing his head for love.

Asier ETA biok (2014)

Asier and I grew up in the Basque Country. But one day he disappeared, later I found out he had joined ETA.

Eyes Wide Open (2009)

In 1971, Uruguayan journalist and writer Eduardo Galeano published his landmark work Open Veins of Latin America, in which he comprehensively described the centuries of economic exploitation of Latin America. Almost 40 years later, filmmaker Gonzalo Arijon reevaluates the situation. His search takes him from the soybean plantations of the Brazilian Amazon to the tin mines of Bolivia to the deep jungles of Ecuador. Arijon’s politically committed film allows the local populations to speak for themselves, interspersing this with archival footage of speeches by Hugo Chávez, Lula da Silva and Evo Morales. Galeano himself also speaks—sometimes in poetic language— about how the rise of socialist governments in the early 21st century is benefitting Latin America, and what more can be done.

Vessel (2014)

A fearless sea captain, Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, sails a ship through loopholes in international law, providing abortions on the high seas, and leaving in her wake a network of emboldened activists who trust women to handle abortion on their own terms.

Estación Polar (2019)

A portrait of of an era, a generation, of one of the most emblematic bands of Ecuador, Mamá Vudú.

Misfit (2021)

Julia, a teenager from Latin America, has lived in the U.S. most of her life. She is popular, a successful Youtuber and wants to become prom queen. Everything changes abruptly when her family has to return to Ecuador. What will she have to face? Getting used to a new culture and a catholic high school will not be easy. The "gringa" becomes the target of "La Reinas", three popular bullies who rule the school. Julia is now a misfit who will have to earn her new friends' affection in order to survive.

The Beach of Enchaquirados (2021)

Vicky is fisherman by day and bar owner at night. When she was a little boy her dream was to be a radio soap opera star, nowadays she dreams of falling in love again. How is it possible that a small, barren place in the third world has managed to achieve this special form of freedom and tolerance?

Afterwork (2017)

Cartoon rabbit lives in an endless loop.

The Death of Jaime Roldós (2013)

A portrait of Jaime Roldos, Ecuador's first democratically elected president, who died with his family when their plane crashed in the mountains.

Fishgirl (2025)

Camila suffers from amnesia and has filled the emptiness in her life with an imaginary world where a giant fish acts as her guardian. She escapes into this dreamlike realm to flee from a blurry past. However, when the boy she loves disappears, she must embark on a journey to find him and uncover what lies hidden between dreams, the fantastical, the past, and the future.

The Swamp of the Ravens (1974)

Dr. Frosta dumps body parts and corpses in the marsh, where they rise up again for vengeance.

Taromenani (2007)

In May 2003, around 30 women and children were murdered in the Ecuadorian jungle. The victims belonged to the Taromenani clan, an uncontacted indigenous group in Ecuador. The massacre was left in impunity and oblivion. This documentary explores the history of contact with the Huaorani decades ago, the death of Alejandro Labaka in 1987 and recent attacks on loggers in the area, to discover that these events are linked to the history of uncontacted peoples in Ecuador.

The Secret of Magdalena (2015)

Miranda, a lesbian photographer from Guayaquil living in Buenos Aires returns to Ecuador for an exhibition of her work. Magdalena, a simple girl after a big fight with her boyfriend decides to go party with Monica, her best friend, little she knew that night she would meet Miranda, a woman that will change the way she concieve her life.

Such Is Life in the Tropics (2016)

Two families dispute a land with a land dealer.

Lo Invisible (2021)

When Luisa, 45, returns from a psychiatric clinic after a bout with severe postpartum depression, she enters a new confinement in her dazzling home, surrounded by family members and a brigade of servants who expect her struggles to remain invisible. Unable to continue playing the role of the perfect housewife, Luisa's only escape is to waltz elegantly into madness.

Behind the Mist (2023)

A well-known filmmaker follows a famous mountain climber to Nepal, documenting the journey. Conversations about their lives lead to philosophical reflections, as the mountain challenges their motives. As days go by, the higher altitude and the depletion of oxygen will raise their debate to interior and transcendental territories, putting at stake their trajectories and their egos when facing the mountain and its millenary depth.

Scraps of Life (2008)

The movie follows four women of different generations and their struggle in the cold world of modeling.

When They Left (2019)

When the colourful ice-cream van rides through the deserted streets of the village, there are no children trailing behind it. In Plazuela, a peaceful hamlet lost in a mountainous region of Ecuador, only a handful of old ladies remain, who are all widows. In the gloom of their houses, photos of those who are gone hang on walls: husbands who have passed away a few years earlier, children gone to work in the big cities or abroad, and grandchildren who have grown up far away from them.

Guañuna (2022)

Chronicle of the judicial process for the murder of 16-year-old student Paúl Guañuna, committed by police officers in 2007. The fight of a father and thousands of young people against racism, authoritarianism and impunity.

Niños (1929)

Children playing

Flowers (2024)

Filmmaker José Cardoso’s deeply personal Flowers is an exercise in sense-making, led by both his conscious and unconscious mind. Navigating the barrage of online news images produced each day, he transforms these into an unexpected web of connections that link an Amazonian community threatened with the destruction of their land to an extreme right-wing Brazilian President who justifies the exploitation of the Amazon by the rising price of resources precipitated by the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hạnh teaches us to make our enemy the object of our compassion, and the filmmaker’s three-year-old son marvels at the frogs and flowers growing in the garden.

Route of the Moon (2012)

Being different is no easy task. And when the difference is so visible, like albinism, or so burdensome, like a heart condition, things get harder. Albino introvert Tito must travel from Panama to Costa Rica to pick up his sick father. Not having spoken to his father in years, their reunion is less than desired. César has always lived on his own terms and would rather deal with his weakness alone. And Tito would rather not deal with anyone. So, the ride back to Panama is a bit heated. They might kill each other but not without first confronting their anxieties and the reasons for the distance kept between them for so long

The Shape of Things to Come (2024)

Teo, an intrepid child, lives with his father Luis in Lima, an electrician devoted to the creation of a strange machine. Lured by a feeling of independence, Teo joins a gang of young criminals, bringing turmoil to the relationship with his father.

De Guayaquil a Quito (1933)

Daily life in the city of Quito, Gauyaquil and Ibarra.

From Core to Sun (2018)

Ecuadorian athlete Millán Ludeña, embarks on his new adventure to be the first athlete to register a new Guinness World Record for his beloved country.

Enchufe sin visa (2016)

Chuzalongo (2024)

At the end of the 19th century, a boy appears in an Andean village. Nicanor, the village priest, discovers that the child’s blood causes the crops to bear fruit magically, but for the boy to live, he must be fed human blood.