The Colombian film Porfirio (pictured) by Alejandro Landes won three main prizes at the Cartagena Film Festival (Festival Internacional de Cartagena de Indias - FICCI) that came to a close today in Colombia. The film, which tells the story of Porfirio Ramírez, won the India Catalina Awards for Best Film and Best Colombian Director in the Colombia al 100% competition, as well as Best Director in the official competition. The jury composed by filmmakers Claire Denis, Hector Babenco and film critic Dennis Lim, gave the top prize in the official competition to the Argentine film El Estudiante / The Student by Santiago Mitre, and gave a special mention to the Mexican film Machete Language / El lenguaje de los machetes by Kyzza Terrazas.
The Mexican film The Tiniest Place / El lugar más pequeño by Tatiana Huezo was awarded the prizes for Best Film and Best Director in the documentary section by the jury composed by Debbie Zimmerman from New York's Women Make Movies, Ricardo Giraldo, director of the Ambulante Film Festival and Ricardo Restrepo from the Colombian Association of Documentary Filmmakers. The Mexican film Cuates de Australia / Draught by Everardo González also received a special mention in the same category.
On its 52nd edition, the Cartagena Film Festival is the longest running film festival in Latin America and Monika Wagenberg, co-founder of Cinema Tropical, has been its director for the second consecutive year.
