25/03/2013 - The 23rd edition of "Cinéma en construction" rewarded Chilean director Marcela Said while Argentinean director Rubén Guzmán received the TLT’s subsidy

The 25th Cinélatino Festival in Toulouse  ended with the victory of Polvo by Julio Hernández Cordón (photo), coproduced with Guatemala and Chile by the Spanish company Tic Tac producciones. A Special Mention went to Las lágrimas, the first feature film by Mexican director Pablo Delgado Sánchez.

Hernández Cordón, to whom we owe Marimbas from Hell, the very first film to be distributed in several European countries via the EDEN network, here delivers a raw drama about the wounds of the Guatemalan people, still fresh after the civil war. The hero is Juan who, behind a correct appearance, is in fact a profoundly tormented man, trying to end his suffering with several suicide attempts and plans to obtain revenge from those who sequestrated his father, who has now passed away. Cordón shows how a small and humble people has been destroyed by proceeding like a documentary filmmaker within his fictional story.

In the documentary section, the winning title was the Colombian-Brazilian film La eterna noche de las doce lunas by Priscila Padilla. Toulouse's local television channel, which actively participates in funding and broadcasting Ibero-American documentaries and contributes towards stimulating the local cultural industry, awarded its prize to the Argentinean movie Civilización by Rubén Guzmán, who was also distinguished by a second prize from the TLT for his next project, presented in the Cinéma en développement section: Lejos de la locura del mundo. The BrLAB Prize in the eighth edition of this event went to Donde sueñan los salvajes by Peruvian director Adrián Saba.

Finally, the 23rd edition of Cinéma en construction, which filled the theatre with industry professionals at each of its sessions presenting projects in post-production and looking for a final little boost towards their completion, rewarded Marcela Said for the coproduction between Chile and France (Cinemadefacto), El verano de los peces voladores. An intriguing exercise in the creation of a tense atmosphere in the midst of Nature, through the conflict between a big landlord and a small Mapuche community, this project also won the Ciné+ Special Prize. The prize awarded by European distributors and exhibitors went to Climas by Enrica Pérez.

Click here for the complete list of laureates. 

(Translated from Spanish)