The Colombian documentary film project Nuestro Monte Luna (pictured) by Pablo Álvarez-Mesa has been awarded with funds from the Sundance Film Institute's Documentary Film Program, the organization announced last Monday as it unveiled the winners of the program's Spring 2014 grants.
The film, which is in its post-production stages, follows a group of teenaged Colombian matadors. Through everyday gestures, sounds, images, and rituals, an intimate camera interprets bullfighting as a living metaphor for the personal, cultural and historical struggles of these group of matadors.
Born in Medellín, Pablo Álvarez-Mesa/s short films have played extensively at international film festivals including Sheffield, Hot Docs, Silverdocs, and RIDM. His last documentary, Jelena’s Song, won the Pierre and Yolanda Perrault award at the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois in Montreal. Pablo now resides in Montreal, Quebec where he is currently a Film Production MFA candidate at Concordia University.
The Sundance Film Insitute also awarded funds to Pamela Yates' most recent documentary film 500 Years. The film documents the 2013 genocide trial of former Guatemalan president Efrain Rios Montt, and its aftermath. Rios Montt stood trial for the killing of 1,700 Maya Ixil people from 1982-1983 – the first trial in the history of the Americas for the genocide of indigenous people. When Rios Montt is found guilty, a higher Guatemalan court vacates the verdict – and 500 Years follows the diverse responses among various members of Guatemalan society.
