After a month of deliberation, judges from around the world, including ‘Taxi Driver’ screenwriter Paul Schrader, on Wednesday picked winners from a scintillating sampling of movies shown at the 53rd International Film Festival of Cartagena de Indias.
The 15 films in the Gems category was composed of films which have recieved special recognition in other festivals around the world. “Searching for Sugarman” — a Swedish-British documentary “details the efforts of two Cape Town fans in the late 1990’s to find out if the rumored death of American musician Sixto Rodriguez was true, and, if not, to discover what had become of him” won the award, adding to its impressive list of accolades which includes an Academy Award.
A Portugese film, “Tabu” took home best picture and a hefty purse of $15 thousand.
MORE: Cartagena film festival draws Hollywood stars, world class cinema
Official Competition: Drama
- Best actor: the entire cast of “Aqui y alla” (Spain, US, Mexico)
- Special jury prize for unique cinematographic vision: “Blancanieves de Pablo Berger” (Spain)
- Best director and script writer: Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schembori, “7 Cajas” (Paraguay)
- Best picture: “Tabu” (Portugal)
International critic’s prize
- Best picture: “Tanta agua de Ana Guevara y Leticia Jorge” (Uruguay)
100% Colombia
- Best actor: Alejandro Buitrago in “Deshora” (Colombia, Argentina, Norway)
- Jury special prize: “La eterna noche de las doce lunas”
- Best director: Alfredo Soderguit for “Anina”
- Best Picture: “Anina”
Offical Competition: Documentary
- Jury’s special mention: “Sibila” (Chile, Spain)
- Best director: Alejo Hoijman for “El ojo del tiburon” (Nicaragua, Argentina, Spain)
- Best documentary: “El alcalde de Emiliano Altuna” (Mexico)
Official Competition: Short
- Jury’s special mention: “Rodri” (France, Colombia)
- Best short: “El tiple de Ivan D. Gaona” (Colombia)
Gems
- Jury’s special mention: “Our Children” (Belguim)
- Jury’s special mention: “Meteora de Spiros Stathoulopoulos” (Greece, Germany)
- Best picture: “Searching for Sugarman” (United Kingdom)
Sources
- Press release (53 FICCI – Festival Cine Cartagena)
- Searching for Sugar Man (Wikipedia)