The Brazilian film The secret agent (Kleber Mendonça Filho) and the Colombian a poet (Simón Mesa Soto) this Friday monopolized the largest amount and the main prizes of the Havana Latin American Film Festival.
The Coral Awards ceremony took place on Saturday afternoon at the iconic Charles Chaplin cinema, in the Havana neighborhood of Vedado. In it, the film written and directed by Mendonça Filho, with three nominations for the Golden Globe, won five awards, including the Coral for Direction, Screenplay and Artistic Direction.
The secret agent, Set in the 1970s, it tells of the return of a university professor—played by Wagner Moura—to Recife to reunite with his youngest son during the military dictatorship (1964-1985). According to Latin Pressthe film came in second place last Sunday in the Los Angeles critics award, a good sign for possible aspirations for the Best Picture Oscar.
The award for Fiction Feature Film went to the film that will represent Colombia at the next Oscars. a poet He obtained three other awards, of which the Coral for best male performance stood out for Ubeimar Ríos.
In the post-production section, The devil’s pitsby Jairo Boisier (Chile, Brazil, Argentina and France), received the Coral Prize awarded by Aracne Films and Tauro Digital, in addition to the poster prize awarded by Boogieman Media. Other technical recognitions included awards for sound editing, trailer consulting, and institutional support for projects in Cuba, Brazil, and other countries in the region.
Meanwhile, the Festival Poster Award he deserved it Livingby renowned designer Edel Rodríguez, while in the unpublished script category it won Christmas Eveby Dailyn Sucel A. Barroso (Cuba), along with the Coral Arrecife Award for twice beastby Luis Esguerra Cifuentes (Colombia).
The Other Territories section recognized The origin of the worldby Jazmín López (Argentina), with the Special Jury Prize, and awarded the Choral Prize to Chromaby Manuel Abramovich (Argentina, Germany and Sweden). Likewise, the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños presented the Birri Award to Elena Vilardell, executive of Ibermedia.
Animation had a prominent place with prizes for Raptusby Ivette Ávila (Cuba); Sapphoby Rosana Urbes (Brazil); and heart of darknessby Rogerio Nunes (Brazil). In the short and medium-length film sectionsboth documentary and fiction, works from Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, Italy and other countries were recognized.
In the First Film categorythe jury distinguished The mysterious look of flamencoby Diego Céspedes (Chile and France), with the Coral Prize, in addition to granting special prizes and mentions to filmmakers from Brazil, Honduras and Colombia.
The documentary also stood out with the Choral Award for Documentary Feature Film for The Prince of Nanawaby Clarisa Navas (Argentina), and special recognitions for productions from Cuba, Panama and Colombia.
The doors of the Havana cinemas will remain open as part of the festival until tomorrow, Sunday.
An edition with more than 220 works from 42 countries
In this edition, the 46th, the event had a selection of 222 works on display from 42 countries, among which, in addition to Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia, stand out.
On the other hand, Mexico was the highlighted country. In this context, the Festival awarded the Coral of Honor award to the Churubusco Studios of Mexico for its 80th anniversary. and the acclaimed actor Gael García Bernal.
In addition, around twenty movie posters made by the Spanish-Mexican filmmaker Luis Buñuel were exhibited in the Cuban capital and some of his most famous films were screened during the event.
The Havana International Festival of New Latin American Cinema opened its doors for the first time on December 3, 1979, conceived as a continuation of the festivals in Viña del Mar (1967 and 1969), Mérida (1968 and 1977) and Caracas (1974).
Since then, the Havana event, now the longest running, has brought together prestigious Cuban filmmakers and from other parts of the world around Latin American filmography, consolidating itself as one of the sector’s benchmarks in the region and the so-called Global South.
Its drawing power has been endorsed by stars and personalities of world and regional cinema.
Among those who have attended the event are figures such as Juliette Binoche, Pedro Almodóvar, Francis Ford Coppola, Gregory Peck, Isabel Coixet, Benicio del Toro and Lucrecia Martel, who are joined by icons of Cuban cinema such as Alfredo Guevara himself, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Julio García Espinosa and Fernando Pérez.
OnCuba/EFE.
