Director Simón Mesa Soto (center) with producers Manuel Ruiz and Juan Sarmiento. Photo Natalia Hernández Moreno, Cinema Tropical
Two South American films took top honors in the Un Certain Regard competition at the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. The top prize went to the Chilean film The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo / La misteriosa mirada del flamenco, the debut feature by Diego Céspedes, while the Colombian dark comedy A Poet / Un poeta by Simón Mesa Soto received the Jury Prize.
Chilean director Céspedes achieved a remarkable feat with his debut, set in early 1980s Chile. The film follows a queer family navigating the onset of the AIDS epidemic in a remote mining town haunted by a mythic disease said to spread when men fall in love—through a mere glance. Eight-year-old Lidia watches as her two brothers are quarantined following a raid on a clandestine gay speakeasy. As paranoia mounts, she is forced to confront the town’s fear and prejudice. Céspedes previously won the Cinéfondation First Prize in 2018 for his short film The Summer of the Electric Lion.
In his acceptance speech, Céspedes emphasized that the award celebrates authenticity and resilience: “This award doesn't celebrate perfection. It celebrates that fear, that stubbornness to exist just as we are, even when it makes others uncomfortable.”
Starring Ubeimar Rios, Rebeca Andrade, Guillermo Cardona, Allison Correa, Margarita Soto, and Humberto Restrepo, A Poet follows Óscar Restrepo, whose obsession with poetry has brought him no glory. Aging and erratic, he has become the cliché of the poet in the shadows. Meeting a humble teenager and helping her cultivate her talent brings a flicker of light to his days, but dragging her into the world of poets may not be the right path.
This is Mesa Soto’s fourth participation at Cannes and his second win, after his short film Leidi won the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film in 2014. He also premiered his 2017 short Madre in the Palme d’Or Short Film competition, and his 2021 debut feature Amparo had its world premiere in the Critics’ Week section.
The double win is a significant achievement for Latin American cinema—particularly considering that only three Latin American films were selected for this year’s Cannes lineup. The third was A Secret Agent, the latest by Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho.
The 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival took place May 13-24 in France.
