Cinema Studies alumae Amalia Cordova (Ph.D. 2015) recently served on the jury panel for the 6th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards. Congrats Amalia!
Press release below.
New York, NY, January 20, 2016. The Argentinean film Jauja by Lisandro Alonso starring Viggo Mortensen was the winner of the top award for Best Latin American Film of the Year at the Sixth Annual Cinema Tropical Awards, which were announced this evening at a special event at The New York Times Company headquarters.
The Panamanian film Invasion by Abner Benaim was named Best Latin American Documentary Film of the Year, while the Guatemalan film Ixcanul by Jayro Bustamante was awarded with the prize for Best First Film. The Cinema Tropical Award for Best U.S. Latino Film Year was presented to Mala Mala by Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles, and the jury decided to give a Special Mention to The Book of Life by Jorge Gutiérrez.
Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín won the award for Best Director of a Fiction Film for The Club, while Mexican filmmaker Betzabé García from Mexico, was the winner of the award for Best Director of a Documentary Film for Kings of Nowhere.
Philip Klint, news anchor at NY1 Noticias, served as MC for the event, which had the attendance of some of the award-winning and nominated filmmakers including Lisandro Alonso, Jayro Bustamante, Betzabé García, Antonio Santini, Karina García Casanova, Nicolás Pereda, Anthony Lucero, and Mathew Ramírez Warren.
The non-profit media arts organization Cinema Tropical also announced that New York audiences will have the chance to see some of the award-winning and nominated films as they will be showcased as part of the Cinema Tropical Festival to take place on February 25-28 2016 at the Museum of the Moving Image, celebrating the organization’s 15th Anniversary.
The winners of this year’s Cinema Tropical Awards were selected by a jury panel composed by Amalia Córdova, film programmer and scholar; Aaron Cutler, film critic and programmer; Paul Dallas, film critic; Vanessa Erazo, Film Editor, Remezcla; Michelle Farrell, film scholar; Sandra Kogut, filmmaker; Dominic Davis, film programmer, Rooftop Films; David Schwartz, Chief Curator, Museum of the Moving Image; Diana Vargas, Artistic Director, Havana Film Festival New York.
The The Cinema Tropical Awards are presented in partnership with The New York Times Company’s Latino Network, the Museum of the Moving Image, and National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), and are made possible with the support of the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York and the Full Circle Post. Media Sponsor: Remezcla and LatAm Cinema. Hotel Sponsor: Hôtel Americano. Wine Sponsor: Wines of Chile. Cinema Tropical’s programs are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Special thanks to Mara Behrens and Andrea Betanzos.
About Cinema Tropical and the Cinema Tropical Awards:
New York-based Cinema Tropical (CT) [www.cinematropical.com] is the leading presenter of Latin American cinema in the U.S. Founded by Carlos A. Gutiérrez and Monika Wagenberg in 2001 with the mission of distributing, programming and promoting what was to become the biggest boom of Latin American cinema in decades, CT brought U.S. audiences some of the first screening of films such as Amores Perros and Y Tu Mamá También. Through a diversity of programs and initiatives, CT is thriving as a dynamic and groundbreaking 501(c)(3) non-profit media arts organization experimenting in the creation of better and more effective strategies for the distribution and exhibition of foreign cinema in this country. The Cinema Tropical AWARDS were created in 2010 to honor excellence in Latin American filmmaking, and it is the only international award entirely dedicated to honoring the artistry of recent Latin American cinema. In its inaugural year, the Awards were given to the Ten Best Latin American Films of the Aughts.