Dust, Marmato take top prizes in Cartagena

The 54th edition of the Cartagena Film Festival wrapped tonight in Colombia, with the festival’s main Latin American competition prize going to a local film, Ruben Mendoza’s Dust On The Tounge (Tierra En La Lengua). The award comes with $15,000.

The film blends fake documentary and fiction in the story of a crude, violent patriarch (Jairo Salcedo) who brings his cityslicker grandchildren to his ranch to help him die.

The jury gave its best director prize to Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To Kill A Man (Matar a un hombre), a Chilean dark dramatic thriller that also took home Cartagena’s Fipresci prize.

Best actor was Fernando Bacilio for The Mute (El Mudo) by Daniel and Diego Vega from Peru. The special jury prize went to Celina Murga’s The Third Side of the River (La tercera orilla) from Argentina.

Best documentary was awarded to Mark Grieco’s Marmato, about miners struggling with multinational corporations in a small town. Justin Webster won best documentary director for I Will Be Murdered (Sere Asesinado).

The documentary special jury prize went to Joaquim Pinto’s And Now? Remind Me (y ahora recuerdame).

The Colombian competition prize also went to Marmato, with Mendoza winning best director for Dust on The Tongue. The Colombian jury’s special prize went to Maria Gamboa’s Mateo.

In the Gems competition of international films, which is backed by RCN, the special jury prize went to Ilo Ilo by Antony Chen from Singapore and best film went to Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Koreeda from Japan.

The short film prizes were awarded to Poco más de un mes by André Novais Oliveira (special jury prize); Manuel Camacho Bustillo for Blackout capítulo 4: Una llamada a Neverland (best director); and Estatuas by Roberto Fiesco (best short).

The audience award, sponsored by beer company Club Colombia, went to Marmato.

In the Nuevos Creadores competition for students, the winner was Alén by Natalia Imery from the Universidad del Valle with second prize to El Murmullo De La Tierra by Alejandro Daza from the Universidad Nacional.

The jurors across the sections included filmmakers Pawel Pawlikowski, Laurie Collyer, Luis Fernando Bottia, Diego Vega and Luis Ospina; Jose Maria Riba from Cannes Directors Fortnight; Spanish journalist Carlos Heredero; and Morelia festival founder Daniela Michel.

The festival hosted more than 260 screenings, capped off with closing night film Fading Gigolo directed by John Turturro, with a cast including Colombia’s Sofia Vergara. Turturro was unable to attend the festival because he is working in Rome, but he sent a special video message to the festival.