Adiós entusiasmo by Vladimir Durán
The Cartagena International Film Festival—the longest running film festival in Latin America, and the most important film festival in Colombia—announced this evening the winners of its 57th edition. In the international competition, the Bolivian film Viejo Calavera by Kiro Russo was the winner of the award for Best Film, while Adiós entusiasmo / So Long, Enthusiasm, the debut feature by Vladimir Durán, was the winner of the awards for Best Director, and Best Colombian Film. The Brazilian film Aquarius Kleber Mendonça Filho by was the winner of the top prize in the Gems competition.
In Russo's debut feature, Elder Mamani is forced to live with his grandmother—far from the city—to stay away from trouble after his father has died, He has to learn to be a worker. His godfather, Francisco has to take care of Elder’s acceptance in the mining company. Francisco and Elder end up working together, but Elder skips work daily.Francisco endures this grudgingly. His co workers mock him because of the behaviour of his godson. When Francisco finds Elder lost in the smokey alleys about to be blasted, he leaves him alone there, because of his survival, the miners that rescue him see him as an amulet of good luck. Now the miners have to travel together to the tropic, in which context the conflict between Elder and Francisco unravels.
A co-production with Argentina, Adiós entusiasmo follows Little Axel and his three sisters who live in an apartment they’ve made their kingdom, governed by the strange rules that they enforce. The agreement between the siblings includes playing prison guards to their own mother, as a way to protect themselves from her.
Filmmaker Rubén Mendoza was the winner of the award for Best Director for his documentary film Miss Maria: Skirting the Mountain / Señorita María: La falda de la montaña, while Clare Weiskopf and Nicolas van Hemelryck's documentary Amazona received the Audience Award.
The winner for Best Documentary was Paz Encina's Memory Exercise / Ejercicios de memoria from Paraguay, and the jury in the documentary competitio gave a Special Mention to Argentine filmmaker Iván Granovski for his film Los territorios.
The 57th edition of the Cartagena Film Festival took place March 1-6 in Colombia.
