The remarkable films playing at Latin Wave, an annual mini-festival of South American and Latin films that unwind at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston starting April 29 and running until May 2, offer a glimpse of superb foreign movies that otherwise won’t find a venue domestically. Each year offers cinematic surprises, directors in attendance as well as a really cool soiree to top off the opening night.

There’s always heat generated by the films shown in Latin Wave. South American films themselves are in vogue thanks to this year’s Academy Award  for best foreign film that went to Argentina’s The Secret in Their Eyes (El secreto de sus ojos, opening in May at the River Oaks).

One of the films playing this coming Sunday afternoon, Turistas from Chile, shouldn’t be confused with the 2024 horror thriller directed by John  Stockwell that bears the same title. Turistas starts as an idyllic vacation between a middle aged couple. At least until the taciturn husband ditches his wife at a national park and she has to walk to the nearest town.

Carla (Aline Kupperheim) hooks up with a Norwegian backpacker and decides to spend a few days hiking with him. As their journey becomes an odyssey we meet other characters like a former one-hit wonder singer who works as a tour guide and a couple of sleek, dark and sexy look-a-like cousins who take an interest in Carla. Director Alicia Scherson finds ways to let the audience into Carla’s head, for instance the way she pops up cell phone text messages as subtitles. More than once Turistas incorporates nature into the proceedings in a lyrical manner. Turistas offers equal helpings of soul searching and exotic landscapes.

Thematically the eight films in the series focus on unique natural locations integral to their various stories. On Thursday night Latin Wave hosts a party in the museum’s main lobby (from 9:30 to midnight) that’s open to filmgoers. If it’s anything like previous parties the drinks flow and the dance beat grooves.

Click here for a complete list of times and films from the MFAH website.