EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 17 December 2023 — The Mexican film Tótem, by Lila Avilés, was the big winner at the awards gala of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana after obtaining three awards this Friday.
The Mexican film won the Grand Coral for Best Screenplay, Best Fiction Feature Film and Best Artistic Direction on the awards night of the 44th edition of the festival. The Argentine Los delincuentes, [The Delinquents], by Rodrigo Moreno, also won three awards: Best Direction, Best Photography and Best Editing.
The award ceremony, held at the Charles Chaplin cinema, was the culmination of the festival, which, since December 8, has screened hundreds of films in the Cuban capital and officially ends on Sunday.
Among the recognitions was the victory of El mundo de Nelsito [Nelsito’s World] in the category of best poster, by the Cuban Vladimir Pérez. Also, in the second edition of the Arrecife award, for the work that best captures the reality of the LGBTIQ+ community, the award went to the Franco-Colombian Transfariana, by Joris Lachaise.
With the slogan “Lights, Camera, Action!” the event had 199 films selected for competition from a total of 19 countries – the most represented were those of Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Chile – in categories such as fiction shorts, debuts, documentaries and animated works.
There were also tributes made to the Cuban filmmaker Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, co-director