By Mark Saldana
Source: CineLasAmericas.org
The twentieth annual Cine Las Americas International Film Festival concluded Sunday night (May 8) with a reception, awards ceremony and screening of the film Sueño En Otro Idioma at the Blanton Museum of Art. After presenting a total of 172 films (both short and feature length) in six different Austin venues, it was unfortunately time for the festival conclude. Before the critically acclaimed final film screened on Sunday, the wonderful people behind Cine Las Americas presented both the jury and audience awards for the fest. This has been my seventh year to cover the festival and every year it is a great pleasure to view some of the awesome films in the program. So, without any further ado, her are the award winners in both the jury and audience categories, as well as my top five feature films of the ones I watched at the festival.
Jury Awards
Best Narrative Feature: EL TECHO / ON THE ROOF -Dir. Patricia Ramos, Cuba/Nicaragua
Honorable Mention: EL SUEÑO DEL MARA’AKAME / MARA’AKAME’S DREAM – Dir. Federico Cecchetti, Mexico
Best Documentary Feature: FRÁGIL EQUILIBRIO / DELICATE BALANCE – Dir. Guillermo García López, Spain/Uruguay/USA/Morocco/Mexico/Jordan/Japan/Hong Kong/Chile
Honorable Mention: JONAS E O CIRCO SEM LONA / JONAS AND THE BACKYARD CIRCUS – Dir. Paula Gomes, Brazil
Best Narrative Short Film: PISCINA / POOL – Dir. Leandro Goddinho, Brazil
Honorable Mention: SHINAAB – Dir. Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr., USA
Best Documentary Short: EL BUZO / THE DIVER – Dir. Esteban Arrangoiz, Mexico
Honorable Mention for Celebrating Underrepresented Voices in Film: EVEN WITH THEIR NAILS: WOMEN FILMMAKERS IN NICARAGUA – Dir. Tania Romero, Nicaragua/USA
Honorable Mention for Cinematography: DAS ÁGUAS QUE PASSAM / RUNNING WATERS – Dir. Diego Zon, Brazil
Audience Awards
Best Narrative Feature: EL SUEÑO DEL MARA’AKAME / MARA’AKAME’S DREAM – Dir. Federico Cecchetti, Mexico
Best Documentary Feature: FRÁGIL EQUILIBRIO / DELICATE BALANCE – Dir. Guillermo García López, Spain/Uruguay/USA/Morocco/
Best Music Video: QUEMAYAMA – Dir. Javier Garcia, Mexico, Music by: Patricio Hidalgo
Audience Award for Best “Emergencia” Youth Film (Tie): THE FRUIT LEATHER GANG & THE CASE OF THE HAUNTED DOUGHNUT – Dir. Zinnia, Ramon, Alina, Javier – Austin Film School, Austin, TX, USA; SOVEREIGN’S WATER – Dir. Verel Moon, On Native Ground, Forestville, CA, USA
Hecho en Texas Competition
Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) Award: THE HISTORY OF MAGIC: ENSUEÑO – Dir. Jose Luis Gonzalez, USA
Audience Award: AFTER FIRE – Dir. Brittany Huckabee, USA
InkTip Award
EL TECHO / ON THE ROOF and EL SUEÑO DEL MARA’AKAME / MARA’AKAME’S DREAM are also winners of an InkTip Script Listing.
Mark’s Top Five Films:
- Sueño en otro idioma/I Dream in Another Language – Dir. Ernesto Contreras, Mexico/Netherlands
- La habitación/Tales of Mexico -Directors: Carlos Carrera, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Carlos Bolado, Ernesto Contreras, Alfonso Pineda Ulloa, Alejandro Valle, Iván Ávila Dueñas, Natalia Beristáin, Mexico/ Poland
- El ciudadano ilustre/The Distinguished Citizen – Directors: Gastón Duprat, Mariano Cohn, Argentina/ Spain
- Me estás matando Susana/You’re Killing Me Susana – Dir. Roberto Sneider, Mexico/ Canada
- De chica en chica/Girl Gets Girl – Dir. Sonia Sebastián, Spain