Escalante Becomes the 6th Latin American to Win Best Director Prize at Cannes

     

Amat Escalante became Sunday the sixth Latin American filmmaker to win the prize for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival since the prize was first awarded in 1946. The first Latin American director to receive the Best Director Award was Spanish-born Mexican director Luis Buñuel for his film Los Olvidados in 1951.

Almost two decades later, Brazilian director Glauber Rocha was awarded the same prize for Antônio das Mortes (shared with the Czechoslovakian director Vojtech Jasny for All My Compatriots) in 1969.

Twenty years later, the Best Director prize went again for a Latin American director, this time to Fernando Solanas from Argentina for his film Sur in 1988. More recently, in the past seven years, three Mexican directors have won the same prize: Alejandro González Iñarritu for Babel in 2006, Carlos Reygadas for Post Tenebras Lux in 2012, and Escalante for his feature film Heli.

        

Clockwise from top left: Alejandro González Iñarritu; Carlos Reygadas; Amat Escalante; Luis Buñuel; Glauber Rocha, Luchino Visconti and Yves Montand; Béatrice Dalle and Fernando Solanas.

Video Gallery:

Glauber Rocha receives the prize at the 1969 edition of the Cannes from Luchino Visconti and Yves Montand:

French actress Beatrice Dalle and British actor Rupert Everett give the prize for Best Director to Argentinean director Fernando Solanas at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival:

Winners of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, including Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu for Best Director, as reported by French television:

Italian director Nanni Moretti, president of the 2012 Cannes jury announces Carlos Reygadas as recipient of the award for Best Director:

Director Steven Spielberg announces Amat Escalante as the 2013 recipient of Cannes' Best Director Prize, the Mexican director receives the prize from actor Forest Whitaker: 

Mexican Cinema Rocks at Cannes

For second consecutive year, Mexican cinema had a stellar performance at the Cannes Film Festival winning for second time in a row the prize for Best Director. Last year Carlos Reygadas took home the prize for his controversial film Post Tenebras Lux while this year Amat Escalante (pictured left) was the winner with his equally controversial film Heli (pictured below right). Escalante thus becomes the fourth Mexican filmmaker to win the prize for Best Director at Cannes following in the footsteps of Luis Buñuel (Los Olvidados, 1951), Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel, 2006), and Reygadas (2012).

After receiving his award from American actor Forest Whitaker, Escalante said: "I’d like to thank this Jury for making this brave decision. It is a sign of hope for Mexico. Hopefully our suffering will come to an end very soon." This year's Cannes jury was composed by Steven Spielberg, actors Daniel Auteuil, Vidya Balan, Nicole Kidman, Christopher Waltz, and directors Ang Lee, Cristian Mungiu and Lynne Ramsay.

Heli, Escalante's third film after Sangre (2005) and Los Bastardos (2008, both of which were premiered at Cannes' Un Certain Regard) and his first time participating at Cannes' Official Selection, tells the story of Estela is a 12 year old girl who has just fallen crazy in love with a young police cadet who wants to run away with her and get married. Trying to achieve this dream, her family will have to live the violence that is devastating the region.

Additionally, the ensemble cast of non-professional actors (pictured below left) of the Mexican film La jaula de oro / The Golden Cage by Spanish director Diego Quemada-Diez won the Un Certain Talent award in the Un Certain Regard competition. The cast is formed by the 17-year-olds Karen Martínez and Brandon López from Guatemala and Rodolfo Domínguez, 16, from Mexico. The film was also presented with the Gilles Pontecorvo Award by an independent jury.

Last year, in addition to Reygadas' prize, Michel Franco won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section for his film Después de Lucía / After Lucía, while the Mexican co-production films No, directed by the Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín and Aquí y Allá directed by the Spanish director Antonio Méndez Esparza won the top prizes in the Directors' Fortnight and Critics' Week sections respectively. The first time ever Mexican cinema won prizes in all of Cannes' competitive sections.

Other Latin American winners at the 66th edition of the Cannes Film Festival were the Argentinean film Los dueños / The Owners, the directorial debut by Agustín Toscano and Ezequiel Radusky, which received a Special Jury Mention in the Critics' Week section, and the Brazilian short film Pouco mais de um mês / About a Month by André Novais Oliveira which also won a Special Jury Mention in the Directors' Fortnight section.

Bolado's TLATELOLCO, VERANO DE 68 Wins Audience Award at Hola Mexico

The film Tlatelolco, Verano del 68 / Tlatelolco Summer of 68 (pictured) directed by Carlos Bolado was named winner of the Audience Award at the fifth year of the Hola Mexico Festival, chosen among 13 feature films and six documentaries by Mexican filmmakers.

Set in a city of great heroes as well as villains, Tlatelolco is a love story between two students of different social backgrounds. As the first developing country to host the Olympic Games in 1968, México City was under a magnifying glass. Under pressure, the Mexican government strove to advance the city and present it as stable, but a student movement confronted the government with riots and demonstrations. With characters from all walks of life, Tlatelolco is full of emotion and surprises. This epic love story is set against the backdrop of a time that remains controversial to date.

The Hola Mexico Festival took place during May 15 - 22nd in Los Angeles, California, dedicated to bringing the best in Mexican cinema, food and music.

Cannes: Argentinean Film LOS DUEÑOS Gets Jury Mention at Critics' Week

The Argentinean film Los dueños / The Owners (pictured), the directorial debut by Agustín Toscano and Ezequiel Radusky received a Special Jury Mention in the competition of the 52nd edition of the Critics' Week parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival.

Starring Rosario Bléfari and German de Siva, the film tells the story of Sergio, who works in a estate in Argentina’s northern region with his family. When their employers aren’t home, they occupy the main house and emulate the life of the owners. Pia, the eldest daughter of the owner, arrives at the estate with the intention of staying a few days until her father’s marriage.

The jury composed by Portuguese director Miguel Gomes, film programmers Dennis Lim and Neil Young, and journalists Alin Tasciyan and Alex Vicente gave the top award to the Italian mafia thriller Salvo by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza. Last year, the film Aquí y Alláby Antonio Méndez Esparza won the top prize at Critics' Week.

Film Society of Lincoln Center to Feature a Matías Piñeiro Retrospective

The Film Society of Lincoln Center (FSLC) announced today that it will showcase the work of Argentinean filmmaker Matías Piñeiro during the upcoming Latinbeat film festival that will take place July 12 – 21 in New York, and will simultaneously open two of his films, Viola (pictured) and Rosalinda, theatrically on July 12th.

Latinbeat will play host to the NY premiere of Piñeiro’s 2007 film The Stolen Man / El hombre robado and 2009 filmThey All Lie / Todos mienten. Viola returns to the Film Society after debuting at this year’s New Directors/New Films and will be released in the US through Cinema Guild. All screenings of Viola at the Film Society of Lincoln Center will be followed by his short film Rosalinda.

"Only 31, Matías Piñeiro has already established himself as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary world cinema," said Dennis Lim, FSLC Director of Programming, Cinematheque. "His playful, mysterious films, about the power of desire and of language draw freely on theater and literature while remaining fully cinematic, at times calling to mind the youthful works of the French New Wave masters Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer. We are delighted to be tracing the evolution of Piñeiro's career to date by supplementing the theatrical release of Viola with a complete retrospective of his work."

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1982, Matías Piñeiro studied at the Universidad del Cine, where he went on to teach filmmaking and film history. In 2011 he received the Radcliffe Institute Fellowship from Harvard University for his new film project, Sarmiento, Translator. He currently lives in New York on a New York University scholarship in creative writing. His films include El hombre robado (2007), Todos mienten (2009), Rosalinda (2010), and Viola (2012). He is currently developing the third installment of his Shakespearean project, The Princess of France.

Iván Giroud Reappointed Director of the Havana Film Fest

The Havana Film Festival announced that it was reappointing Iván Giroud (pictured) as its director for the 35th edition of the festival which will take placeDecember 3-13 in Cuba. Giroud had been director of the festival between 1994 and 2010, and was currently serving as an advisor to the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC).

The Havana Film Festival also announced that for its 35th edition it will pay tribute to the founder and president of the festival Alfredo Guevara who died last April.

Created in 1979, the festival was created with the mission of promote films with artistic values that advance and enrich the Latin American and Caribbean identity.