Peruvian/Colombian co-production Climas (pictured left and below right) by Enrica Pérez took home the Grand Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the 18th edition of Cine Las Américas Film Festival in Austin, Texas.
Climas follows three women of different ages, origins and regions of Peru. Eva, a young girl from the Amazonian jungle struggles with a forbidden relationship with her uncle. Victoria, a wealthy socialite from Lima, holds in a terrible secret which renders her life as grey and melancholy as the city she lives in and Zoraida, an elder peasant who resides in an impoverished village in the Andean Mountains faces the unexpected return of her estranged son. The three unconnected women, regions and ways of life shape the different geographies, societies and cultures of the same fragmented country, Peru.
Pérez was born in Lima and studied Communications at the University of Lima. She obtained her Masters Degree in Film Direction at Columbia University in New York City. Climas marks Pérez’s feature debut.
Other winners included the Paraguayan-French-Italian documentary Power and Impotence: A Drama in 3 Acts / Poder e impotencia, un drama en 3 actos for Best Documentary Feature. Anna Recalde Miranda’s documentary intimately follows Former President of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, in his team’s hopes and disappointments until their fall from power.
Spanish-Cuban film, Hotel Nueva Isla, won Best Cinematography in the Documentary section. Directors Irene Gutierrez and Javier Labrador create a portrait of Jorge of those still living in the ruined Old Havana Hotel. The only thing that keeps Jorge going is his theory that the former owners of the Hotel left valuable objects before fleeing with the onset of the Cuban Revolution.
The Cine Las Americas Festival is a five-day festival in April which screened ninety-five films from twenty-eight different countries. The festival’s mission is to promote cross-cultural understanding and growth by education and entertainment in the diverse Central Texas community through film and media arts. This year’s top winners not only hailed from three different Latin America countries but are all women.
The 18th edition of the Cine Las Americas Festival took place April 22-26 in Austin, Texas.
