By Richard Shpuntoff
Doc Buenos Aires (docBsAs) closed out its twelfth edition this past Monday evening (December 3) with an awards ceremony for pitched projects and docs in progress. The forum which began in 2001 as a workshop for pitching and project development and included a handful of Argentine projects, along with one Chilean doc, has expanded to an impressive range of films from Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, and Peru.
The forum now includes two mentoring programs, a pitch workshop, a docs-in-progress section and, within the framework of the Ventana Sur, the largest documentary film market in Latin America. Non-Latin Americans came from all over Europe and North America to learn about the latest projects including representatives from the Tribeca Film Institute, Sundance, HotDocs, the National Film Board of Canada, Arte France, Vision du Reel and PBS International.
Award winners included: Las flores del Pepe (Uruguay), Hotel Nueva Isla (Cuba/Spain), Jonas e o circo sem lona (Brazil), La quebrada (Ecuador) and Cuando los muertos están más secos (Bolivia). For a complete list of winners and participants, check out the docBsAS home page.
Photos: Above left, award-winners Claudio Araya Silva (director of Cuando los muertos están más secos), Irene Gutierrez (director ofHotel Nueva Isla), Ramiro Ozer Ami (co-director of Las flores del Pepe) and Sebastian Mayayo (co-director of Las flores del Pepe).
Above right, Liliana Mazure, president of INCAA (Intituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales), and Monique Simard of the National Film Board of Canada, with the winners. Photos by Richard Shpuntoff.
