A child actor from the Colombian film “Los Colores de la Montaña” (The Colors of the Mountain) has been awarded the Best Actor in South American Film prize, El Espectador reported on Tuesday.
Hernan Ocampo, who plays Manuel in the film, was awarded the top honour at the XIII South American Film Encounters festival held in France. The 12 year old humbly accepted his award, saying “I feel very good because it is a great recognition. I am very happy, I’ve never had one before.”
Ocampo was cast for the role from over 3,000 other young boys from the Antioquia region of Colombia.
“It seemed like the movie was made about him and not that he had acted in my script,” commented director Carlos Cesar Arbelaez.
The movie is a portrait of daily life in a rural Colombian town. It is narrated from the perspective of the children of the town, who will come to face the violent reality around them little by little, until the defining moment which will test their friendship.
“If it was not through the eyes of a child, I would not have made this movie. I wanted to give the conflict a psychological point of view rather than political, and thanks to the child, I could show violent scenes outside the box,” said Arbelaez.
The film opened the Cartagena Film Festival earlier this year and has since received critical acclaim at numerous film festivals around the world.