Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Brazil shine at Sundance
From Mexico to Cuba via Brazil and Puerto Rico, Latin cinema triumphed at the Sundance Film Festival, which today announced its list of winners for its 2020 edition.
From Mexico to Cuba via Brazil and Puerto Rico, Latin cinema triumphed at the Sundance Film Festival (Park City, USA), which today announced the winners of its 2020 edition. The Mexican-Spanish co-production "Sin señas particulares", directed by Mexican filmmaker Fernanda Valadez, won the special jury award for best script and also public recognition, both in the Sundance International Fiction Competition.
"I wanted to put my reflection on the spiral of violence: how is it that, suddenly, a whole generation of Mexicans are involved not only in crime but in situations of violence that are very extreme. What is happening to us," Valadez argued in an interview with Efe about this shocking film about the disappeared in Mexico. In addition, "Epicentro," an amazing and poetic documentary about Cuba by Austrian filmmaker Hubert Sauper (produced by Austria, France, and the U.S.), won the jury's grand prize in the international documentary category.
"The history of Europe, America, and Africa is a story of hundreds of years of imperialism and anti-imperialism, of colonization and anti-colonization (...). Cuba deals with the same issues and is the 'epicenter' of the Americas: it is geographically in the center, it was the collision line in the Americas between communism and capitalism, and it was the epicenter of the Spanish Empire," Sauper told Efe.
On the other hand, the film "I Carry You With Me," by American filmmaker Heidi Ewing and produced by Mexico and the United States, won the audience and innovation awards in the Next section of Sundance
And Brazilian Edson Oda won the Waldo Salt Award for Best Screenplay in an American Film for "Nine Days", a film he wrote and directed. Finally, the film "Charm City Kings" by Puerto Rican director Angel Manuel Soto won a special distinction from the jury for the best cast of an American film.
"At Sundance, we believe that art can make its way through noise and polarization. In volatile times like these, democracy and stories are not separate: they are inextricably linked. Congratulations to each and every one of the winners and all of the extraordinary artists who came to the festival," Sundance Executive Director Keri Putnam said today.
