A Vanishing Fog by Augusto Sandino
Numerous films by Latinx and Latin American directors, from Chile, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States, were announced as winners of the 2022 edition of the SXSW Film Festival.
The documentary feature What We Leave Behind / Lo que dejamos atrás, the debut feature by Mexican-American director Iliana Sosa was the winner of two prizes: the Fandor New Voices Award and the Louis Black “Lone Star” Award. Sosa’s film unfolds as a love letter to her grandfather Julián, who’s building a house in the empty lot next to his home for his family in rural Mexico, and ultimate becomes an intimate exploration of her own relationship with him and his homeland.
The Colombian film A Vanishing Fog / Entre la niebla by director Augusto Sandino and photographed by Gio Park, in his first feature-length credit, was the winner of the ZEISS Cinematography Award. The visually-stunning and lyrical human parable alchemizes sci-fi and surrealism to comment on Colombia’s pained histories through a sensorial cinematic experience.
The Trinidadian film Chee$e by director Damian Marcano was presented with the Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award, given in honor of the Beastie Boys member and Oscilloscope Laboratories' late founder, in honor of a filmmaker whose work strives to be wholly its own, without regard for norms or desire to conform. The Caribbean film follows restless islander Skimma as he creates and sells a potent new cannabis product while trying to evade the law and support his unborn child.
The award for Best Animated Short was presented to the Chilean film Bestia by Hugo Covarrubias, which is also nominated for an Academy Award in the same category. “Bestia is an exquisite, intimate peek at the dreams and memories of a sadistic secret agent, set in a tactile stop-motion non-wonderland, where a porcelain exterior isn’t enough to keep the damage away” said the jury in a written statement. Another Chilean filmmaker was also awarded in the Animated Short competition, as Marcos Sánchez received a Special Jury Recognition for Visceral Storytelling for his film Something in the Garden.
Three local short films by Latinx filmmakers were also awarded at SXSW: Folk Frontera by Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn won the Award for Best Texas Short, Honeybee by Emilio Vazquez Reyes received the award for Best Texas High School Short, and Sarah Reyes’ It’s Getting Bad Again received a Special Jury Recognition for Artistic Expression. Additionally, Ecuadorean-born artist and designer Juan Miguel Marín was presented with a Special Jury Recognition for this poster for the film The Sentence of Michael Thompson in the SXSW Film Design Awards.
The 2022 edition of the SXSW Film Festival took place March 11-20 with screenings both in person in Austin, Texas, and online.
