Bogotá Story by Esteban Pedraza
The Colombian short film Bogotá Story by director Esteban Pedraza won the Best of the Festival Award at the 30th edition of the Palm Springs International ShortFest, an Oscar-qualifying award that comes with a $5,000 cash prize. Pedraza, a Colombian-American filmmaker, graduated from NYU Film in 2013 and has developed his career as a writer, director, and editor.
Bogotá Story, which had its world premiere in the Orizzonti competition at the Venice Film Festival last year, is set in 1992, during an era of drug violence, car bombs, and daily power outages in Colombia. The film tells the story of a young mother in Bogotá who receives an internship opportunity in the U.S. and must eventually decide between her dreams and her family. Bogotá Story has also screened at numerous film festivals, including the Hamptons International Film Festival, Havana, Macao, Aspen Shortsfest, Washington DC, Busan, San Francisco, Bogoshorts, and San Diego Latino, among others.
Other Latin American winners at this year’s Palm Springs International ShortFest include the Brazilian film Where Insects Hide at Night / Onde os Insetos se Escondem à Noite by Lucas Acher, winner of the Best Student International Short, and the Puerto Rican film Primos by Ricardo Varona, winner of the Best Student U.S. Short.
Where Insects Hide at Night follows a 12-year-old boy's obsession with insects and a borrowed MiniDV camera, taking him on an unexpected journey during a countryside vacation in 2006, revealing hidden secrets within his family and challenging his perception of innocence. In Primos, during a teenage road trip to the west coast of Puerto Rico, 16-year-old Cristóbal begins to suspect that his crush, Yazmín, and cousin Marcos are secretly seeing each other.
The 30th edition of the Palm Springs International ShortFest took place from June 18-24.
