A handful of U.S. Latinx and Latin American Filmmakers were awarded at the 12th annual edition of the DOC NYC film festival, taking top honors both in the U.S. and International Competitions.
Once Upon a Time in Uganda co-directed by Cuban-American filmmaker Hugo Pérez and Cathryne Czubek, was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Competition. The film is a comedy adventure documentary tale that tells the story of the friendship between comedy action filmmaker Isaac Nabwana and film nerd Alan Hofmanis, two guys from opposite sides of the world who meet over their shared love of action movies.
“We choose Once Upon a Time in Uganda for illustrating the transformative capacity of film to bridge cultures and change lives. We are inspired by the charming, original method the filmmakers took in documenting the creative joy of Wakaliwood, a community that relies on ingenuity and imagination to overcome the economic obstacles of global audiovisual production; and we appreciate how Once Upon a Time in Uganda demonstrates the connective power of international film festivals in asserting that ‘the audience is our family,’” said the jury in a statement.
The winner of the Grand Jury Prize in the International Competition was the Colombian film On the Other Side / Del otro lado, the debut feature film by Iván Guarnizo produced by Jorge Caballero. The documentary follows filmmaker Guarnizo and his brother in their pursue of the truth behind their mom’s kidnapping at the hands of a guerrilla group and struggle to understand how she was able to forgive her captors in the last years of her life.
“With its exquisite directorial vision and restraint, On the Other Side deeply affected us, the jury. The film is a testament to a courageous, emotional, and deeply personal endeavor by filmmaker Iván Guarnizo, elegantly bypassing the heavy handed tropes of trauma and violence to instead craft a work of art that is poetic and profound. In a world increasingly polarized, where constant battlelines are being drawn, the nuances of this film’s journey and care towards its participants show us the power and hope of redemption, forgiveness, and humanity,” said the jury in a statement.
Additionally, the Paraguayan documentary film Nothing but the Sun / Apenas el sol by Arami Ullón received a Special Jury Mention. In a statement the jury decided to give the special mention “to a film that provides a gateway to a diverse and complex history, and helps to salvage and give a form to a common memory. This is a choral film, one full of speaking that prioritizes the collective, rather than an individual voice, and explores the fragility of media in preserving oral histories, encounters, emotions, and the residue of trauma.”
Additionally, the film American Scar by Daniel Lombroso on the environmental impact of the abandoned US-Mexico border wall, received the Special Jury Recognition in the Shorts Competition; and Ethiopian-Mexican director Jessica Beshir was the winner of the Cinematography Award for her work in her documentary feature Faya Dayi.
