Hernán Jiménez's EL REGRESO Wins Icaro Film Fest

The Costa Rican film El regreso / The Return (pictured) by Hernán Jiménez was the big winner at the 15th edition of the Icaro Film Festival focused on Central American cinema, which was held in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Jiménez's debut feature was awarded the prizes for Best Film, Best Actor and Best Actress.

The film tells the story of Antonio, played by Hernán Jiménez himself, who after a decade abroad returns to Costa Rica for a short visit. Unable to run away as usual, he is confronted with everything he has desperately struggled to put in the past: a broken family, an ailing father, a violent country and long lost friends.

Acclaimed Guatemala filmmaker Julio Hernández Cordón received the prize for Best Director for both of his feature films that were screened at the festival: Polvo / Dust and Hasta el sol tiene manchas / Even the Sun Has Spots. The prize for Best Screenplay was awarded to the Costa Rican film Tres Marías by Francisco González. Other Costa Rican film, the documentary feature Ergonomía para Diana / Ergonomy for Diana by Marcos Machado received a Special Jury Mention.

The award for Best Short Film was presented to Nicté by Andrea Dardón from Guatemala, while the award for Best Experimental Short was presented to the Nicaraguan short film El Globo de Ninette by Jeonathan Aguilar.

Mar del Plata Announces Winners

The Chilean film Las cosas como son / Things the Way they Are (pictured) by Fernando Lavanderos was the winner of the prize for Best Latin American Film at the 27th edition of the Mar del Plata Film Festival, which took ran November 17-25 at the coastal Argentinean city.

Lavanderos' sophomore film follows Jerónimo, an antisocial guy who rents out rooms to foreign people and goes through their belongings. An attractive Scandinavian girl arrives to his house, and he falls for her. But just when it seems he’s won her over, he starts to get suspicious. She is hiding something in the house, something that raises Jerónimo’s worst fears.

The jury gave two Special Mentions to Alicia Cano's El Bella Vista from Uruguay and Carlos Reygadas' Post Tenebras Lux from Mexico. Reality 2.0 by Víctor Orozco Ramírez from Mexico received the prize for Best Latin American Short Film, and Amir Admoni's Linear from Brazil receives a Special Jury Mention in the same category.

In the Argentinean competition, the prize for Best Film went to Hermanos de sangre / Blood Brothers by Daniel de la Vega. José Celestino Campusano was awarded the Best Director prize for his film Fango. Pablo Gonzalo Pérez's Ojos / Eyes was selected as Best Argentinean Short Film, and Geraldine Barón received the prize for Best Director of Short Film for her film Hotel Y.

TODOS TUS MUERTOS Tops Macondo Awards

The film Todos tus muertos / All Your Dead Ones (pictured) by Carlos Moreno was the big winner at the second annual edition of the Macondo Awards that were given by the Colombian Academy of Film Arts and Sciences at a ceremony last night in Bogotá, Colombia.

Moreno's sophomore film took home five awards, out of seven nominations, for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor, beating Andi Baiz's La cara oculta / The Hidden Face by which had been nominated in nine categories. Baiz's film won the prizes for Best Supporting Actress and Best Sound.

Todos tus muertos, which had its World Premiere at the 2011 edition of the Sundance Film Festival, follows when simple farmer Salvador sets off for work one morning, only to be shocked by the discovery of a huge pile of bodies dumped in the middle of his cornfield. Grabbing his bicycle, he dashes into town to alert the authorities. Easier said than done since it’s Election Day, and the powers that be have other things on their minds. Issuing denials and shrugging the matter off, the mayor and chief of the militia attempt to go about the business at hand, but a mountain of corpses doesn’t just vanish, even in Colombia. Gradually the news leaks out and a national scandal soon looms.

Other awarded films include Jairo Carrillo and Óscar Andrade's Pequeñas Voces / Little Voices winner of the prize for Best Feature Film, José Luis Rugele's García for Best Actress and Best Costume Design, and Jaime Osorio's El Páramo / The Squad.

Complete List of Winners

Best Film: Todos tus muertos / All Your Dead Ones
Best Director: Carlos Moreno, Todos tus muertos / All Your Dead Ones
Best Screenplay: Carlos Moreno and Alonso Torres, Todos tus muertos / All Your Dead Ones
Best Actor: Álvaro Rodríguez, Todos tus muertos / All Your Dead Ones
Best Actress: Margarita Rosa de Francisco, García
Best Supporting Actor: Jorge Herrera, Todos tus muertos / All Your Dead Ones
Best Supporting Actress: Clara Lago, La cara oculta / The Hidden Face
Best Cinematography: Mauricio Vidal, Apaporis
Best Edition: Sebastián Hernández and Felipe Guerrero, El Páramo / The Squad
Best Art Direction: Sara Millán, Saluda al diablo de mi parte / Greetings to the Devil
Best Music: Alejandro Ramírez Rojas, Apaporis
Best Sound: Eduardo Castro and César Salazar, La cara oculta / The Hidden Face
Best Makeup: Andrés Ramírez, El Páramo / The Squad
Best Costume Design: Angélica Perea, García
Best Short Film: Los retratos / The Portraits
Best Animated Film: Jairo Carrillo and Óscar Andrade, Pequeñas Voces / Little Voices

AQUÍ ESTOY, AQUÍ NO and POLVO Awarded at Antofagasta

The Chilean film Aquí estoy, aquí no / Here I Am, Here I'm Not (pictured) by Elisa Eliash was awarded the prizes for Best Film, Best Director and the Audience Award at the sixth edition of the Antofagasta Film Festival which ran November 13-18 in the northern Chilean city.

Eliash's sophomore film follows Ramiro, a journalist that after being on a car accident, develops phobia to speed. Suspended from his job, a mysterious publisher commissioned him to write the unauthorized biography of Ana Patricia Jones Ahumada, a Chilean rock legend. The investigation leads them to start a relationship, until one day she dies in a car accident. Devastated, Ramiro meets a woman of identical features and try to reconstruct it the image of his beloved.

The Guatemalan film Polvo / Dust (pictured right) by Julio Hernández Cordón was awarded the prize for Best International Film. The film explores the weight of the past, including the desire for vengeance, in the wake of the Guatemalan Civil War.

In the Chilean Documentary competition, the prize for Best Documentary went to El otro día / The Other Day by Ignacio Agüero, while Pachi Bustos received the prize for Best Director for her film Cuentos sobre el futuro / Tales about the Future. All of the awarded films receive a cash prize of $2,000 USD.

Baja Announces Winners of its First Edition

The Chilean production No by Pablo Larraín starring Mexican actor Gael García Bernal was awarded the prize for Best International Film at the first edition of the Baja International Film Festival which ran November 14-17 at Los Cabos in Mexico. Revolving around Chile's 1988 referendum on the Pinochet regime, Larraín's behind-the-scenes drama tracks with engaging detail the unfolding of a political marketing campaign that succeeded against all odds.

The prize for Best Mexican film was awarded to Nicolás Pereda's Los mejores temas / The Greatest Hits (pictured left). Drifting from fiction to documentary, Los mejores temas tells the story of Emilio, a man in his fifties, who shows up at his family home after fifteen years of absence. The prize for Best Mexican Documentary was shared by two films: Carlos Rossini's El alcalde / The Mayor (pictured below, right) and Luciana Kaplan's La revolución de los alcatraces / Eufrosina's Revolution.

El alcalde tells the story of Mauricio Férnandez, the polemic mayor of the wealthiest municipality in Latin America, located in the North of Mexico, while Kaplan's documentary is about Eufrosina Cruz Mendoza, a native of Santa Maria Quiegolani, an indigenous community located in the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca.

In its launching edition, the festival showcased 80 films from 18 countries,and it bestowed tribute awards to two-time Academy Award-nominee Edward Norton for Outstanding Achievement in Acting; Academy Award-winner Melissa Leo for Excellence in Acting; celebrated actor Diego Luna for Excellence in Acting; Academy Award-nominee Virginia Madsen for Excellence in Acting; Academy Award-nominee Matt Dillon for Outstanding Contribution to Cinema; acclaimed director Nicolas Echeverría, for Excellence in Director and iconic filmmaker and Secretary-Treasurer of the Directors Guild of America Michael Apted for Outstanding Achievement in Directing.

THE LAST CANGACEIROS and MI AMIGA BETY Winners at DocsDF

The Brazilian film Os últimos cangaçeiros / The Last Cangaceiros by Wolney Oliveira received the top prize for Best Ibero-American Documentary Film at the 7th edition of DocsDF in Mexico City, which ran November 8-18. The awarded film tells the story of Durvinha and Moreno, a couple from the northeast of Brazil that have kept their true identities for over 50 years. They were part of the group of outlaws of Lampião: the most famous and controversial Brazilian bandit of his time.

The Ibero-American competition jury gave a Special Mention to the Ecuadorean documentary film Con mi corazón en Yambo / With My Heart in Yambo by Fernanda Restrepo.

Diana Garay's Mi amiga Bety / My Friend Bety won the prize for Best Mexican Documentary Film. The film tells the story of Bety, a childhood friend of the filmmaker who is in jail accused of having killed her mother. Mariela Zunino's Hasta ahí te mueves / You Move Till There received a Special Jury Mention in the same competiton.