Pablo Larraín (pictured) and Maite Alberdi were the winners of Chile's Altazor Award of the National Arts for Best Director, Fiction and Documentary, respectively. The winners were announced at a ceremony yesterday in Santiago, Chile. Larraín was nominated for his film No, and he was competing against Cristián Jiménez for his film Bonsái and Sebastián Silva and Pedro Peirano for their film Gatos viejos / Old Cats.
Alberdi won the prize for her documentary film El salvavidas / The Lifeguard, and she had been nominated with Teresa Arredondo for her film Sibila and Carlos Klein with Donde vuelan los cóndores.
The Altazor Award, named in honor of Vicente Huidobro's epic poem, is an annual prize which recognizes the best of Chilean arts, including film. Other winners of the Chilean National Arts prize in the Film category this year were Jaime Vadell for Best Actor for his role on No, Bélgica Castro for Best Actress in Silva and Peirano's Gatos viejos, and Peirano and Silva for Best Screenplany for the same film. Peirano was competing against himself as he had also been nominated in the Best Screenplay documentary for Joven y alocada / Young and Wild and Larraín's No.
Past winners include Andrés Wood for Violeta se fue a los cielos / Violeta Went to Heaven in 2012, and Machuca in 2005; Matía Bize for La vida de los peces / The Life of Fish in 2011, Silva for La nana / The Maid in 2010, and La vida me mata / Life Kills Me in 2008, and Patricio Guzmán for Nostalgia de la luz / Nostalgia for the Light in 2011, and Salvador Allende in 2006.
