Four Latin American films—from Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil—took top honors at the 57th edition of the Chicago International Film Festival, including the Gold Hugo Award for Best Film in the International Feature Film Competition, which was presented to the Colombian film Memoria by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
In a written statement the jury vindicated its award decision for “its sense of cinematic poetry and humanism. In this profound and meditative film, the director creates a story that emphasizes the connections people have to the places that they live, to the past and present, and to the terrestrial and beyond. Tilda Swinton’s note-perfect performance embodies Weerasethakul’s faith in cinema, in science, in secular mysticism, and in the possibilities of cross-cultural empathy and understanding.”
In a fascinating collaboration between the acclaimed Thai filmmaker and star Tilda Swinton, the film follows a Scotswoman living in Bogotá, who is disturbed one night by a loud, mysterious sound outside of her apartment—which no one else seems to hear. Haunted by the noise that follows her through the city, she seeks out a young sound engineer to identify the origins of the confounding sonic disturbance. Their search takes them to the interior of the lush Colombian jungle, where past, present, and future blur. Rendered with beguiling beauty, Memoria explores the sublime space between reality, myth, history, and memory in this mesmerizing, sensory meditation on isolation and alienation in the modern world.
Also in the International Feature Film Competition, the Mexican film Prayers for the Stolen / Noche de fuego by Tatiana Huezo received an Honorable Mention. “In a media culture that abounds with stories about Mexican drug cartels that tend to focus on the men involved and the ‘macho’ environments that support them, director Tatiana Huezo offers a different perspective. She concentrates on the women who work in the poppy fields for the cartel and whose daughters are often stolen by the cartel from their homes, never to be seen again. The story of how mothers try to protect their daughters and how those daughters come of age in these threatening and deadly circumstances offers a valuable and indispensable perspective on the costs of the drug trade,” said the jury in a statement.
Set in a solitary town nestled in the Mexican mountains, where the girls wear boyish haircuts and have hiding places underground, Prayers for the Stolen follows Ana and her two best friends who take over the houses of those who have fled and dress up as women when no one is watching. In their own impenetrable universe, magic and joy abound; meanwhile, their mothers train them to flee from those who turn them into slaves or ghosts. But one day, one of the girls doesn’t make it to her hideout in time.
In the New Directors Competition, the Colombian film Amparo, the debut feature by Simón Mesa Soto, received the Silver Hugo. “Set in Colombia in 1998, the film’s captivating tale follows a single mother’s harrowing race against time as she attempts to rescue her son from enforced military service. Titled after the protagonist, Amparo is both a moving portrait of a mother’s love and determination and gripping critique of the patriarchal society and unscrupulous characters she encounters in order to keep her family safe. This debut feature is masterfully rendered through Soto’s lens, which navigates the chaotic and corrupt setting of Medellin from a deeply intimate perspective” said the jury.
And lastly, the Brazilian short film Sideral by Carlos Segundo, was the winner of the Gold Hugo for Best Live Action Short Film Competition. In this film, the launch of a rocket sparks a cleaning woman’s imagination in Northern Brazil.
The 57th edition of the Chicago International Film Festival took place October 13-24.
