The Colombian film Tierra en la lengua / Dust on the Tongue (pictured) by Rubén Mendoza was the top winner at the 54th edition of the Cartagena Film Festival, the longest-running film festival in Latin America. The film was the winner for the Best Film award in the official competition, with a cash prize of $15,000.
Shifting between fiction, fake and real documentary, Mendoza's film is the story of Don Silvio, a crude old womanizer -- stubborn, rude, macho and violent. His whole life has been lived under his own terms: abusing his wife and his offspring, fathering children all over the countryside, drinking and not abiding anybody’s rules. When he feels his death is nearing he decides to bring his two urban grandchildren to his ranch to spread the ashes of the grandmother and divide his land between them under the condition that they help him die.
The Argentinean film La tercera orilla / The Third Side of the River by Celina Murga received a Special Jury Mention, while Chilean film Alejandro Fernández Almendras won the award for Best Director for his film Matar a un hombre / To Kill a Man.
The Colombian-American co-production documentary film Marmato by Mark Griego received the award for Best Colombian film, with a cash prize of $30,000, as well as the prize for Best Documentary.
María Gamboa's directorial debut Mateo won a Special Jury Prize, and Mendoza was awarded with the prize for Best Director in the Colombian competition.
The 54th edition of the Cartagena de Indias International Film Festival took place March 13-19 in Colombia.
Cesar Chavez (pictured), Diego Luna's biopic of the Mexican-American civil rights leader, was the winner of the audience award in the Narrative Spotlight section of the 2014 edition of the SXSW Festival in Austin. The film, which had its U.S. premiere at the Texan festival, chronicles the birth of a modern American movement led by famed civil rights leader and labor organizer. 
Café (pictured right) by Hatuey Viveros and Navajazo (pictured below) by Ricardo Silva were the top winners in the 3rd edition of the Riviera Maya Film Festival winning the Kukulkán award ex-aequo for Best Film in the Mexican platform section. 
Silva's debut feature Navajazo is an imaginary apocalypse is presented to us through the portraits of people struggling to survive in a hostile environment where they have no one but themselves and the only thing they share is a wish for keep on living, no matter what the cost might be. A home video director, a junkie who lives by the Tijuana River, a collector of toys, and an old Satanist who plays songs in a Casio keyboard are some of these survivors. The film mixes documentary with fiction to present a portrait of some outcasts living in Tijuana, a border city in northern Mexico. 
Fernando Coimbra's O Lobo atrás da Porta / Wolf at the Door (pictured left) was the top winner at the 31st edition of the Miami Film Festival winning the Knight Grand Jury Prize for Best Film, and the prize for Best Director. Miami's main Knight competition focuses on debut feature films from Latin America, Spain and Portugal. 
María Gamboa's directorial debut Mateo (pictured right) from Colombia was awarded the Lexus Ibero-American Opera Prima Award at Miami, while Mexican film Somos Mari Pepa / We Are Mari Pepa, by Samuel Kishi Leopo won a Special Honorable Jury Mention. 
The Chilean film Gloria by Sebastián Lelio and the Argentine film The German Doctor / Wakolda by Lucía Puenzo lead the nominations, along with the Spanish film Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados by David Trueba, of the first edition of the Platino Awards with four nominations each. The Latin American films are competing for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress. 
The Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival (BAFICI) has announced the lineup for its 16th edition. In the official competition, eight Latin American films will participate: the Argentine film Algunas chicas (pictured below) by Santiago Palavecino, La Salada by Juan Martín Hsu, and Mauro by Hernán Rosselli; the Brazilian film Castanha by Davi Pretto; the Chilean films Naomi Campbell – No es fácil convertirse en otra persona by Nicolás Videla and Camila Donoso, and Volantín cortao by Diego Ayala and Aníbal Jofre; the Ecuadorean film Carlitos by José Antonio Guayasamín; and the Peruvian film El mudo by Daniel and Diego Vega.
In the Argentinean competition, 15 productions have been selected: David Rubio's 13 puertas, Inés María Barrionuevo's Atlántida, Edgardo Cozarinsky's Carta a un padre, Matías Lucchesi's Ciencias naturales, Alejo Moguillansky and Fia-Stina Sandlund's El escarabajo de oro, Benjamín Naishtat's Historia del miedo / History of Fear, Martín Shanly's Juana a los 12, Julián Montero Ciancio's Mientras estoy cantando, Daniel de la Vega's Necrofobia en 3D, Rodrigo Moreno's Réimon, Gustavo Fontán's El rostro, Santiago Loza's Si je suis perdu, c’est pas grave, Rosendo Ruiz's Tred D, Leandro Naranjo's El último verano, and Gustavo Tarrío and Yael Tujsnaider's Una canción coreana.
