CHICAMA Is Named Best Peruvian Film of the Year

The Peruvian Motion Picture Press Association (Asociación Peruana de Prensa Cinematográfica, APRECI) named Chicama (pictured) by director Omar Forero as Best Peruvian Film of the Year.

The film had its world premiere at the last edition of the Lima Film Festival in August where it received five prizes including the awards for Best Peruvian Film and a Special Jury Mention.

It is the first time in the four years of the honor that APRECI selects as Best of the Year a film not made in Lima, as Chicama was produced in Trujillo. Previous winners include Claudia Llosa's La teta asustada / The Milk of Sorrow, Héctor Gálvez's Paraíso and Rosario García-Montero's Las malas intenciones / The Bad Intentions.

Chicama, the third feature film by Forero, tells the story of César a recent graduate of a teacher's college who has a hard time getting a job, so he accepts a position in a rural school in small mountain town.

Chile Reigns at Havana

Chilean films No (pictured) by Pablo Larraín and Violeta se fue a los cielos / Violeta Went to Heaven by Andrés Wood were named the top films at the year's 34th Havana Latin American Film Festival in Cuba. Competing amongst Latin American 19 fiction films, both films from Chile took home the First and Second Coral Prize in the official competition.

No, is the story of Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet's attempt to hold a plebiscite to extend and legitimize his rule in Chile in 1988. It stars Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal as René Saavedra, the brash young advertising executive called upon opposition leaders to spearhead their campaign.  The award was given in honor of the film's ability to take a moment from the Chile's past which permits a greater understanding the film's present.

Winning the Second Coral, Wood's Violeta se fue a los cielos / Violeta Went to Heaven (pictured right) is a biopic based on the life of renowned singer Violeta de la Parra. Violeta joins No as well for the Glauber Rocha Prize, selected by media professional from international news agencies and correspondents from broadcast outlets. Named after the late Brazilian filmmaker, Glauber Rocha, its aim is to encourage the new Latin American film movement.

The third Coral Prize was awarded to the Brazilian film A febre do rato / Rat Fever by Cláudio Assis. Argentine film Días de pesca / Gone Fishing by Carlos Sorín, received the Special Jury Prize while Brazilian film Era uma vez eu, Verônica / Once Upon a Time Was I, Veronica by Marcelo Gómes received a Special Jury Mention.

Mexican director Michel Franco was the recipient for the prize for Best Director for his film Después de Luciá / After Lucía. Spanish director Antonio Méndez Esparza was the winner for the prize for Best Latin American Film Made by a Non-Latin American Director for his debut featue film Aquí y allá / Here and There.

In the First Film category, Colombian film La Sirga by William Vega won the top prize, followed by Argentinean film Los salvajes / The Wild Ones, by Alejandro Fadel and the Chilean film Carne de perro / Dog Flesh (pictured left) by Fernando Guzzoni that won the Second and Third Coral for Best First Films respectively. Cuban film El evangelio según Ramiro / The Gospel According Ramiro by Juan Carlos Calahorra was the winner of the prize for Best Documentary.

Chilean Director Sebastián Lelio Will Premiere His New Work at Berlin

The 63rd Berlin International Festival has announced the first six contenders from its competition lineup, including the world premiere of Gloria (pictured), the most recent film by Chilean director Sebastián Lelio.

Known from previous films such as La Sagrada Familia, Navidad, and El año del tigre, Lelio directs this film about an Gloria, a 58 year-old lonely woman who dreams about a last love and fills her evening attending parties for single adults. Her happiness changes one day when she meets Rodolfo, a recently separated 65 year-old with an unhealthy dependence on his children and ex-wife. This troubled romance will have her confront her last years with different expectations and find new strength with the realization that she's finally getting old.

Lelio's film is a recipient of the San Sebastian Film Festival's Films in Progress, which is aimed at finishing uncompleted South American films. The Berlin International Film Festival runs from February 7-17, 2013.  

Argentine Oscar Contender INFANCIA CLANDESTINA to Open in the U.S. Early 2013

New York-based distribution company Film Movement has announced the U.S. theatrical premiere of Benjamín Ávila's debut feature Infancia clandestina / Clandestine Childhood (pictured), based on true events in his life and produced by acclaimed filmmaker Luis Puenzo, (director of the Academy-Award winning film, The Official Story).

Set in 1979, the film follows Juan, (12), who after years of exile, returns to Argentina with his family under fake identities. Juan's parents and his uncle Beto are members of the Montoneros Organization, who fight against the Military Junta that rules the country. Because of their political activities they are tracked down relentlessly, and the threat of capture and even death is constant.

Yet, Juan's daily life is also full of warmth and humor, and he quickly and easily integrates into his new environment. His friends at school and the girl he has a gigantic crush on, María, know him as Ernesto, a name he must not forget, since his family's survival is at stake.  Juan accepts this reality and follows all of his parents' rules until one day he is told that they need to move again immediately, and leave his friends and Maria behind without any explanation.

An official selection at the Toronto, San Sebastian, Rio de Janeiro, Philadelphia, Abu Dhabi, Denver, and the upcoming Palm Springs Film Festivals, and winner of the top prize for Best Film at the Huelva Film Festival in Spain, Clandestine Childhood offers a fascinating twist to films set during the Argentinean dictatorship. Skillfully incorporating animation into the narrative, Ávila’s debut feature film focuses on the perils of a young boy living under a fake identity trying to carry on with the normal life of a preteen.  

Clandestine Childhood, which premiered at Cannes' Director's Fortnight and is Argentina's official submission to the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, will have its release at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in New York City, starting Friday, January 11, at Laemmle Theaters in Los Angeles beginning on Friday February 8, and followed by select cities across the U.S.

Latino-Themed Films Receive IDA Doc Awards

The International Documentary Association announced the winners of the 2012 IDA Documentary Awards at ceremony last Friday in Los Angeles.The documentary Searching for Sugar Man by Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul that tells the incredible story of Mexican-American musician Sixto Rodriguez, won the top prize as Best Feature, the film also received the Best Music Award.

Mark Kendall's feature La Camioneta (pictured) was the winner of the David L. Wolper Student Documentart Award, which recognizes exceptional achievement in non-fiction film and video production at the university level and brings greater public and industry awareness to the work of students in the documentary field. The film tracks the course of a ten-year-old school bus from its auction in Pennsylvania to its new life in Guatemala to be used as a public transportation van.

Peter Getzels' and Eduardo López's Harvest of Empire was the winner of the ABCNews Videsource Award, given for the best use of news footage as an integral component in a documentary. Based on the book of the same name by columnist Juan González, Harvest of Empire traces the direct connection between the history of U.S. intervention in Latin America and the immigration crisis. 

First Look Selects Groundbreaking Latin American Films

The Museum of Moving Image has announced the participating films in the second edition of their First Look Festival First Look, which prides itself on showcasing the work of 26 innovative feature length and short films from around the world including Mexico, Argentina and Brazil from acclaimed directors such as Nicolás Pereda, Kleber Mendonça Filho and Pedro González-Rubio. 

Mexican filmmaker Nicolás Pereda will present Los mejores temas / The Greatest Hits (pictured) the story of a Emilio, who shows up at the family home after fifteen years of absence and the ramifications of both his departure and return. First Look will present the local premiere of Inori, the most recent production by Mexican film Pedro González-Rubio which he filmed in Japan and in which a small mountain community perform their everyday activities and reflect on their history and the cycles of life. 

Acclaimed Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho will be honored honored with a retrospective of short films including Cold Tropics (Recife Frio) (pictured right), Luz Industrial Mágica, Electrodomestica, Friday Night Saturday Morning, Green Vinyl, and The Little Cotton Girl.

And from Argentina, a couple of short films: Pude ver un puma / I Could See a Puma from director Eduardo Williams, an accident leads a group of young boys from the high roofs of their neighborhood, passing through its destruction, to the deepest part of the earth; and Noelia by María Alché about a is a woman experiencing a city through her little camera, and trying to infiltrate in different places and pretend to have family ties with several women.

First Look will be held from January 3rd through the 13th, 2013, and lmost all of the selections will have their New York premieres and will be accompanied by personal appearances.