Guilty Men / Pariente by Ivan Gaona
San Diego Latino Film Festival wrapped up over the weekend announcing its top winners, Ivan Gaona’s Guilty Men / Pariente for Best Narrative Feature and Tatiana Huezo’s Tempestad Best Documentary Feature.
In Colombian feature Pariente a town leader in rural Colombia plays a risky game with the local right-wing paramilitary group with a cache of cash at stake, in this gripping crime story about ordinary people caught in a situation that rapidly slips out of their control.
From Mexico Tatiana Huezo’s Tempestad is the emotional journey of two women victimized by corruption and injustice in Mexico, and how they used love, dignity and resistance to survive.
Best Directorial Effort went to Ecuador’s Sebastián Cordero for his film Such is Life in the Tropics / Sin Muertos No Hay Carnival. Guayaquil is Ecuador’s populous city. It is also the most afflicted with class disparity. Such is Life in the Tropics focuses on a wealthy young man struggling to evict 250 families who have been squatting on the land he has inherited from his father. The appointed leader of the squatters is willing to negotiate—but can this high-tension conflict, so emblematic of the city’s fraught economic imbalances, be resolved without bloodshed?
Best Narrative Short went to Alonso Ruizpalacios’ Green / Verde from Mexico. Ariel, a silent security guard in charge of transporting other people’s millions every day, has just discovered he’s about to be a first-time father. While deciding what to do about his imminent paternity, through a bizarre fault in the system, he suddenly finds himself before the possibility of fleeing with the loot he transports.
Other notable winners were Maria Novaro’s Tesoros (Mexico) for Best Family Film, Agustin Castañeda’s Ruta Madre (U.S.A./Mexico) for Best Frontera Feature and Audience Award which went to Peter Bratt’s Dolores (U.S.A) for Best Documentary and Ruta Madre for Best Narrative Feature. For a complete list of winners click here.
The 24th edition of the San Diego Latino Film Festival took place March 16 -26, 2017 in San Diego, California.
