Shira Geffen and Etgar Keret's Jellyfish won the Golden Puntano prize for best film at San Luis International Film Festival first edition, which closed on Sunday in the small and prosperous city located 800 km far from Buenos Aires.

The Israeli-French co-production, which won the Camera d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, received the $50,000 cash award at the third major film event in Argentina after Mar del Plata and Buenos Aires.

The jury, headed by actress Geraldine Chaplin, awarded the Best Direction prize to Eastern Promises. David Cronenberg's new thriller also received the Best Screenplay for Steven Knight's script.

The two acting prizes went to Uruguayian Cesar Troncoso for Cesar Charlone and Enrique Fernandez's The Pope's Toilet and German Maren Kroymann for her work in Angelina Maccarone's Verfolgt (Hounded).

Nadine Labaki's Caramel won the award for the best first film, while Echoes of Home, by German Stefan Schwietert, received the $10,000 cash prize for best feature documentary.

Film festival artistic director Julio Marbiz said the $ 0.7m event, which has attracted European guests such as actresses Catherine Deneuve, Emma Suarez and Maria Grazia Cucinotta, is part of a strategy to show off the production capabilities of the province, called the Hollywood of Argentina.


The local government launched seven years ago incentives to attract local and overseas productions. San Luis Cine, the province's film council, has invest $40m into more than 50 local and international productions. It also opened a $2.2m film studio, one of the biggest in Argentina.

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