The City of Wild Beasts by Henry E. Rincón
Four U.S. Latinx and Latin American films were announced as some of the top winners at the 25th anniversary edition of the Urbanworld Film Festival, the nation’s largest competitive multicultural film festival that took place September 29 - October 3.
The award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature was presented to 7th and Union by Anthony Nardolillo. The film starring Omar Chaparro, Edy Ganem, Greg Daniels, and Felipe Esparza, follows Raymundo, a Mexican ex-fighter who forms an unlikely bond with a disgruntled African-American man, whose life and relationship with his daughter are unraveling. The two men join forces to win a fight that could very well save Raymundo, his wife and their child.
The winner of the Best World Cinema Narrative Feature was the Colombian film The City of Wild Bests / La ciudad de las fieras by Henry E. Rincón. The film tells the story of Tato , an orphan with no direction, a young rap lover. Together with his friends Pitu and La Crespa, he seeks to resist and find a different alternative to death and crime through the art of hip hop and street rap battles. Tato must flee his neighborhood. His only option is to leave the city, and live with Octavio, a grandfather, a flower farmer, whom he does not know and who wishes to inherit his farming tradition from the countryside. Two generations, two ways of life and a continuous sense of loss, death, and loneliness mark Tato's life.
Latinx director Maya Cueva received the Best Documentary Short Award for her film Ale Libre, about a criminalized organizer and unapologetic immigrant. While Alejandra prepares for one of the biggest moments of her life—her deportation case—she is forced to reckon with a past mistake and a system that could tear her apart from her family and the only home she has ever known.
And lastly Latinx director Lissette Feliciano was the winner of the Best Female Director Award in the U.S. Narrative Feature competition for her film Women Is Losers. Set in 1960's San Francisco, the film follows a bright and talented Catholic school girl named Celina Guerrera, who survives a difficult home life by following the rules. That is until an indiscretion creates a series of devastating consequences. As Celina faces the compounded obstacles of being young and alone, she sets out to rise above the oppression of poverty and invest in a future that sets new precedents for the time.
