The drama La Llorona, the third feature film by Guatemalan director Jayro Bustamante, has won the top prize for Best Film at the Venice Days (Giornate degli Autori), the independent competitive section of the Venice Film Festival. The Guatemalan film was the winner over the eleven entries in the competition.
The jury, headed by Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz over 28 young European cinephiles, released a statement stating that “Jayro Bustamante, one of Latin American cinema's most unique voices, weaves a portrait of Guatemala's tragic history and its open wounds inspired by the legendary folk-tale of the same name. The combination of poetics and politics forges a haunting and acute fable not only about the past but of the present. La Llorona is an intimate ghost story told through a vivid female figure. It expends on the themes of loss, denial and acceptance. As the song 'La Llorona' says: Dicen que no tengo duelo, Llorona, porque no me ven llorar. Hay muertos que no hacen ruido, Llorona !Y es mas grande su penar! May the weeps of sadness but also of strength be felt across the world.
The GdA Director's Award carries a cash prize of €20,000, to be split equally between the director and Film Factory Entertainment, the international sales agency for the film, with the aim of promoting the circulation of the film around the world.
