Amat Escalante became Sunday the sixth Latin American filmmaker to win the prize for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival since the prize was first awarded in 1946. The first Latin American director to receive the Best Director Award was Spanish-born Mexican director Luis Buñuel for his film Los Olvidados in 1951.
Almost two decades later, Brazilian director Glauber Rocha was awarded the same prize for Antônio das Mortes (shared with the Czechoslovakian director Vojtech Jasny for All My Compatriots) in 1969.
Twenty years later, the Best Director prize went again for a Latin American director, this time to Fernando Solanas from Argentina for his film Sur in 1988. More recently, in the past seven years, three Mexican directors have won the same prize: Alejandro González Iñarritu for Babel in 2006, Carlos Reygadas for Post Tenebras Lux in 2012, and Escalante for his feature film Heli.
Clockwise from top left: Alejandro González Iñarritu; Carlos Reygadas; Amat Escalante; Luis Buñuel; Glauber Rocha, Luchino Visconti and Yves Montand; Béatrice Dalle and Fernando Solanas.
Video Gallery:
Glauber Rocha receives the prize at the 1969 edition of the Cannes from Luchino Visconti and Yves Montand:
French actress Beatrice Dalle and British actor Rupert Everett give the prize for Best Director to Argentinean director Fernando Solanas at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival:
Winners of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, including Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu for Best Director, as reported by French television:
Italian director Nanni Moretti, president of the 2012 Cannes jury announces Carlos Reygadas as recipient of the award for Best Director:
Director Steven Spielberg announces Amat Escalante as the 2013 recipient of Cannes' Best Director Prize, the Mexican director receives the prize from actor Forest Whitaker:
