Cinema Tropical recently announced the nominees for the 4th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards, celebrating the best of Latin American films of the year. The winners will be announced at a special event on Wednesday, January 29 at The New York Times Company headquarters.
This edition promises to be as competitive as ever, as some seasoned filmmakers including Cannes-winner Carlos Reygadas and Sundance-winner Sebastián Silva, are joined by newcomers in the nominations. Three films from Chile (all produced by the Larraín brothers' Fabula company), an Argentine film and Uruguayan film vie for the top prize as Best Latin American Film of the Year. Coincidentally, for this fourth edition, four out of the five nominated films are the director's fourth feature film (for Reygadas, Larraín, Piñeiro and Silva).
Fiction Category Nominees
CRYSTAL FAIRY & THE MAGICAL CACTUS
A film by Sebastián Silva (Chile, 2013)
Nominated for Best Director
U.S. distributor: IFC Films
The fourth feature film by U.S.-based Chilean director Sebastián Silva (The Maid) follows Jamie (played by Michael Cera), an American that travels in Chile. He invites Crystal Fairy (played by Gaby Hoffmann) an eccentric woman to join his group's quest to score a fabled hallucinogen, a move that finds him at odds with his new companion, until they drink the magic brew on a beach at the edge of the desert. Produced by Pablo Larraín (No), and Juan de Dios Larraín, the film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award. Crystal Fairy was released in U.S. theaters by IFC Films last summer.
GLORIA
A film by Sebastián Lelio (Chile/Spain, 2013)
Nominated for Best Film
U.S. distributor: Roadside Attractions
Winner of the Silver Bear prize for Best Actress, Sebastián Lelio's Gloria is a wonderful character study magisterially performed by Paulina García. Gloria is "woman of a certain age," but still feels young. Though lonely, she makes the best of her situation and fills her nights love at social dance clubs for single adults. Her fragile happiness changes the day she meets Rodolfo. Their intense passion, to which Gloria gives her all, leaves her vacillating between hope and despair -- until she uncovers a new strength and realizes that, in her golden years, she can shine brighter than ever. The film opens in U.S. theaters this coming January 24.
NO
A film by Pablo Larraín (Chile/USA/France/Mexico, 2012)
Nominated for Best Film and Best Director
U.S. distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
In 1988, Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet, due to international pressure, is forced to call a plebiscite on his presidency. The country will vote YES or NO to Pinochet extending his rule for another eight years. Opposition leaders for the NO persuade a brash young advertising executive, Rene Saavedra (played by Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal), to spearhead their campaign. Against all odds, with scant resources and under scrutiny by the despot's minions, Saavedra and his team devise an audacious plan to win the election and set Chile free. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and a favorite at the 2012 Cannes' Directors Fortnight, Pablo Larraín's No is a powerful mediation on politics, history, and advertising.
POST TENEBRAS LUX
A film by Carlos Reygadas
Nominated for Best Film and Best Director
U.S. distributor: Strand Releasing
Post Tenebras Lux ("light after darkness"), the most recent film by Mexican director Carlos Reygadas (Silent Light) is a stunningly photographed, impressionistic psychological portrait of a family and their place within the sublime, unforgiving natural world. Reygadas was awarded the prize for Best Director at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival for this film which palpably explores the primal conflicts of the human condition. The film was released by Strand Releasing in the U.S. and played at Film Forum in New York City
TANTA AGUA / SO MUCH WATER
Nominated for Best Film, Best Director, and Best First Film
U.S. distributor: Film Movement
What could be worse than being 14 and on vacation with your father, stuck indoors during a seemingly endless rainstorm? Alberto and his two children, Lucia and Federico, set off to a hot springs resort for a short vacation. Alberto, who doesn't see his kids much since the divorce, refuses to allow anything to ruin his plans. But the springs are closed until further notice due to heavy rains, and Lucia's adolescent rebellion clashes against her father's enthusiastic efforts for family quality time. Winner of multiple awards at different international film festivals, the debut feature film by the directing duo of Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge, extends the artistry of recent Uruguayan cinema.
VIOLA
A film by Matías Piñeiro (Argentina, 2012)
Nominated for Best Film and Best Director
U.S. distributor: Cinema Guild
Directed by Matías Piñeiro, one of Argentina's most sensuous and daring new voices, Viola is a mystery of romantic entanglements and intrigues among a troupe of young actors in a small theater in Buenos Aires performing Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night." Acclaimed by the New York Times' Manohla Dargis as "a triumph of narrative imagination and bottom-line ingenuity," the film landed on several top best lists of the year.
