17 Colombian productions formed part of the 31st edition of the Toulouse Latin America Film Festival -Cinélatino, Rencontres de Toulouse-, where they won three awards.
The Toulouse Latin America Film Festival is a festival devoted to Latin American film that has been held annually in the French city since 1989. This year, Colombia took part with two feature films, two short fiction films and a documentary in the Official Selection, as well as several other films in the event’s various categories.
Rubén Mendoza’s Niña Errante (Wandering Girl) took part in the fiction feature film category. The winner of two awards at the Black Nights International Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia and the prize for Best Fiction Film at the Colombian Film Festival NY, the film also opened the latest edition of the Cartagena Film Festival (FICCI). It competed in the same category as Alejandro Landes’ Monos, fresh from winning the audience award at the 59th edition of the FICCI festival and following its tour of the Berlin and Sundance festivals. In Toulouse, Monos received the Prix Ccas, Prix des Électriciens Gaziers award.
The Documentary category featured The Smiling Lombana by Daniela Abad Lombana, a film that had a successful commercial release in Colombia and was also the opening film and a participant in the Official Documentary Selection and the Official Colombian Film Selection at the 58th FICCI festival; in the Official Family Selection at the 40th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana, Cuba; and in the Official Selection of the Tunja International Film Festival, among others.
Miguel Antonio Zanguña’s En la carretera took part in the Short Fiction Film category and was awarded the section’s Courtoujours prize. It was accompanied by Jamás by Álvaro Vásquez Miranda, Destierra by Juan David Mejía and the co-production Dulce by Guille Isa and Angello Faccini, which took home the Signis short film prize.
The Fiction Discoveries category (Découvertes Fiction) for national releases featured the co-production Cómprame un revolver (Mexico, Colombia) by Julio Hernández Cordón. Avant Premières included Birds of Passage by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra, together with Los Silencios by Beatriz Seigner and Matar a Jesús by Laura Mora, which was in the Official Selection of the festival’s thirtieth edition.
Fullhachede by Carolina Navas and Catalina Torres was included in the Documentary Discoveries category. Simon Vèlez’s La máxima longitud de un puente (Argentina, Colombia) took part in the Short Fiction Film Discoveries category.
Candelaria, by Jhonny Hendrix Hinestroza, the winner of the La Dépêche du Midi Grand Audience Prize at the festival’s 30th edition, returned for several special screenings as part of the Reprises category of this edition.
Carlos Lechuga’s co-production Santa y Andrés (Cuba, Colombia, France) participated in Renouveau du cinéma cubain (Renewal of Cuban Film), part of the special programs at this year’s festival that also featured Santiago Caicedo’s Virus tropical in the Imaginaires animés section (Animated Imaginaries), together with the short films Semáforo by Simón Wilches-Castro and Zapatos y la mágica aventura de su creación (Colombia, Argentina) by Juan Camilo González Moreno and Cho Jim San.
