The Mexican film Nudo Mixteco, the debut feature by actress-director Ángeles Cruz, was announced winner of the New Direction Competition at the 46th annual edition of the Cleveland International Film Festival. The announcement was made in the festival’s closing awards ceremony last Saturday, April 9, at the Connor Palace.
The New Direction Competition, in its seventh edition and with a cash prize of $10,000 for the winner, focuses on debut directors whose innovative films transform the traditional notions of cinematic storytelling. Screening within this competition are films created by emerging filmmakers who the film festival believe will define the future of filmmaking. This year’s jury was composed of film programmers Casey Baron and Karen McCullen, and film critic Chris Feil.
Nudo Mixteco, which had its world premiere at the Miami Film Festival last year, tells three stories that intertwine during the patron saint’s celebration in, a village of the Mixtec Oaxaca. María buries her mother, her father rejects her and, in uncertainty, she proposes to Piedad, her childhood love, to leave with her. Esteban returns after three years to discover that Chabela, his wife, is living with another man; enraged he calls the village people to prosecute her in an assembly. Toña relives her own pain in the face of the abuse of her daughter when she returns to confront her family to protect her.
The 46th annual edition of the Cleveland International Film Festival took place in a hybrid mode, with in-person screenings March 30 – April 9, followed by virtual screenings April 10 – 17.
