The Brazilian feature Dry Ground Burning (Mato Seco em Chamas) by Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queirós was announced as the winner of the top award for Best Latin American Film of the Year at the 13th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards, which were announced on Thursday, January 12 in a special event at Film at Lincoln Center in New York City.
The Argentine filmmaker Maximiliano Schonfeld was the winner of the Cinema Tropical Award for Best Director for Jesús López, while the Mexican film Dos Estaciones by Juan Pablo González was the winner of the award for Best First Film. The jury gave the award for Best Documentary to Mariner of the Mountains (O Marinheiro das Montanhas) by Karim Aïnouz, marking a second win for the Brazilian filmmaker after winning the Cinema Tropical Award for Best Director for Invisible Life in 2021.
In the U.S. Latinx Film competition, the winner for was the documentary film Beba by Rebeca Huntt, while Silent Beauty by Jasmin Mara López won a Special Jury Mention.
The Latin American winners of this year’s Cinema Tropical Awards were selected by a jury panel composed by 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, programmer at the Tribeca Film Festival; and filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor (Too Late to Die Young).
The winners of the U.S. Latinx Film Awards were selected by Ximena Amescua, Manager of Artist Programs at Firelight Media; director Rodrigo Reyes (499, Sansón and Me); and producer and programmer Vicky Westover, co-director of Cinema Tucsón.
All the films under consideration had a minimum of 60 minutes in length and premiered between April 1, 2021, and April 30, 2022.
New York-based Cinema Tropical (CT) is the leading presenter of Latin American cinema in the U.S. Founded by Carlos A. Gutiérrez and Monika Wagenberg in 2001 with the mission of distributing, programming and promoting what was to become the biggest boom of Latin American cinema in decades, CT brought U.S. audiences some of the first screening of films such as Amores Perros and Y Tu Mamá También. Through a diversity of programs and initiatives, CT is thriving as a dynamic and groundbreaking 501(c)(3) non-profit media arts organization experimenting in the creation of better and more effective strategies for the distribution and exhibition of foreign cinema in this country.
The Cinema Tropical Awards were created in 2010 to honor excellence in Latin American filmmaking, and it became the first international award entirely dedicated to honoring the artistry of recent Latin American cinema. In its inaugural year, the Awards were given to the Ten Best Latin American Films of the Aughts.
Complete List of Winners — 13th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards:
Best Film: Dry Ground Burning (Mato Seco em Chamas) by Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queirós, Brazil
Best Director: Jesús López by Maximiliano Schonfeld, Argentina
Best First Film: Dos Estaciones by Juan Pablo González, Mexico
Best Documentary: Mariner of the Mountains (O Marinherio das Montanhas) by Karim Aïnouz, Brazil
Best U.S. Latinx Film: Beba by Rebeca Huntt
Special Jury Mention, U.S. Latinx Film: Silent Beauty by Jasmin Mara López
For more information visit: www.cinematropical.com/awards13
