Chilean film El club, directed by Pablo Larraín, took the Coral Award for Best Feature Film at the awards ceremony of the 37th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, held in Havana last night.
In closing remarks, Iván Giroud, president of the event, said that the first obligation of the festival is to showcase the region’s cinema, revealing its many connections to our societies and our times.
“Today new Latin American cinema is the new cinema, and this is because its development is permeated by the vision of those young filmmakers: Alfredo, Glauber, Birri, Titón, Santiago, Gabo, Julio, who first dreamed and then created,” he added.
Within the fiction category, with the judges led by British actress Geraldine Chaplin, a special Coral went to the Brazilian feature Toro de neón, while the Best Director Award was given to Sandra Kogut for the film Campo Grande, also from Brazil. The awards for Photography and Artistic Director went to Argentine film La luz incidente.
The co-production El abrazo de la serpiente (Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina) won the Coral for Editing and Original Music, and the Sound Award went to Mexican film Yo.The Best Short Fiction prize went to Cuban Marcel Beltrán, for La nube, and the Coral for Best Script to Mexico’s Julio Hernández Cordón, for Te prometo anarquía, whose two lead actors, Diego Calva and Eduardo Eliseo Martínez, shared the prize for Best Male Performance. Best Actress went to Jana Raluy, from Mexico, for Un monstruo de mil cabezas.
In the directorial debut category, the judges decided to award a Prize for Artistic Contribution to Colombian film Manos sucias, and the Coral to Desde allá (Venezuela, Mexico).
In the documentary category, a special prize went to La pasión de JL (Brazil) and the Corals to the short Tripido (Colombia), and the feature Casa Blanca (Cuba, México, Polonia).
In the animation category, winners included the Brazilian short Guida (Special Prize), Los ases del corral(Coral Award for Short Film) and Las aventuras de Juan Quin Quin (Coral for Medium-Length Film), and designer Pepe Menéndez took the award for Best Film Poster for Cuba libre.
The Coral for Popularity, which is decided each year according to audience feedback, was awarded to Argentina's El clan, by Pablo Trapero.
