The Brazilian feature film Dry Ground Burning (Mato Seco em Chamas) by Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queirós was the winner of the main prize for Best Latin American Film of the year at the 13th edition of the Cinema Tropical Awards, which took place at the Lincoln Center in New York City. 

The film's story takes place in "the Sol Nascente favela on the suburbs of Brasília, where a group of women hijacks an oil pipeline to sell oil to the community," reads the synopsis of the film performed by non-professional actors.

Cinema Tropical also recognized Argentine filmmaker Maximiliano Schonfeld with the Best Director award for his film, Jesús López; while the Mexican film Dos estaciones, directed by Juan Pablo González, was the winner of the Best First Film Award.

The jury awarded the prize for Best Documentary to Mariner of the Mountains (O Marinheiro das Montanhas) by Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz.

The jury awarded the Best Latin Film Award in the United States to Beba by Rebeca Huntt, and gave a Special Mention to Silent Beauty (Belleza silenciosa) by Jasmín Mara López.

The jury in the Latin American competition was comprised of programmer Cecilia Barrionuevo, former artistic director of the Mar del Plata Film Festival; Andréa Picard, Senior Curator at the Toronto International Film Festival and TIFF Cinematheque; Jose F. Rodríguez, Tribeca Film Festival programmer and filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor (Too Late to Die Young).

The best Latino film in the United States was selected by Ximena Amescua, manager of artist programs at Firelight Media; director Rodrigo Reyes (499, Samson and me); and producer and programmer Vicky Westover, co-director of Cinema Tucson.

All of the films considered for a prize have a minimum runtime of 60 minutes and premiered between April 1, 20201 and March 31, 2022.