Mexican film Heli (pictured) by Amat Escalante was the big winner of the 31st edition of the Munich Film Festival receiving the ARRI/OSRAM prize for Best International Film. The award comes with a cash prize of €50,000 ($64,000 approximately).
The controversial and violent drama, which was awarded the Best Director prize at Cannes, tells the story of Heli tells the story of a seventeen-year-old boy living with his wife and his sister, Estela. The film follows the arcs of these characters and Estela's boyfriend as they struggle with drugs, violence, and corruption.
Additionally, Halley (pictured right) by Mexican director Sebastián Hofmann was the winner of the 2013 CineVision Award, ex aequo with the Slovak-Czech drama My Dog Killer by Mira Fornay. The award, given to the Best International Newcomer, comes with a cash prize of €12,000 ($15,000 approximately).
Halley tells the story of Alberto, who is decomposing and can no longer hide it, so he decides to withdraw from the world. Before yielding to his living death, Alberto forms an unusual friendship with Silvia, the manager of the gym where he works as a guard.
The 31st edition of the Munich Film Festival, which ran June 28-July 6 in Germany, featured a tribute film retrospective of Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky. The Chilean director was also competing in the main CineMasters competition with his most recent film La danza de la realidad / The Dance of Reality.
