The Colombian film Tierra en la lengua / Dust on the Tongue (pictured) by Rubén Mendoza was the top winner at the 54th edition of the Cartagena Film Festival, the longest-running film festival in Latin America. The film was the winner for the Best Film award in the official competition, with a cash prize of $15,000.
Shifting between fiction, fake and real documentary, Mendoza's film is the story of Don Silvio, a crude old womanizer -- stubborn, rude, macho and violent. His whole life has been lived under his own terms: abusing his wife and his offspring, fathering children all over the countryside, drinking and not abiding anybody’s rules. When he feels his death is nearing he decides to bring his two urban grandchildren to his ranch to spread the ashes of the grandmother and divide his land between them under the condition that they help him die.
The Argentinean film La tercera orilla / The Third Side of the River by Celina Murga received a Special Jury Mention, while Chilean film Alejandro Fernández Almendras won the award for Best Director for his film Matar a un hombre / To Kill a Man.
The Colombian-American co-production documentary film Marmato by Mark Griego received the award for Best Colombian film, with a cash prize of $30,000, as well as the prize for Best Documentary.
María Gamboa's directorial debut Mateo won a Special Jury Prize, and Mendoza was awarded with the prize for Best Director in the Colombian competition.
The 54th edition of the Cartagena de Indias International Film Festival took place March 13-19 in Colombia.
