'The Distinguished Citizen' wins best film at Platino Awards

The Distinguished Citizen converted three of its four nominations at the Platino Awards in Madrid on Saturday honouring the best of Ibero-American cinema.

The feature won best film, best screenplay and best actor for Óscar Martínez, crowning almost a year of prizes and box office success for this acute comedy directed by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat.

The film premiered last year at the Venice Film Festival, where Óscar Martínez won the prize for best actor, playing a Nobel prize-winning writer who returns to his hometown in Argentina after years away and discovers the dangers of revisiting the past.

Winners of the fourth edition of the Platinos also included prizes for Julieta and A Monster Calls.

Pedro Almodóvar was named best director of for Julieta. In tune with political statements on the night referring to the Venezuelan crisis and the need to build bridges, not walls (in reference to Trump’s policy towards Mexico), Almodóvar delivered a weighty acceptance speech.

He dedicated his prize to all the families in Spain who are still claiming their right to identify the bodies of the relatives they lost in the Spanish Civil War whose remains were buried in mass graves.

“Some people say this claim will reopen wounds, but on the contrary, it will help to close them,” Almodóvar said. Julieta, nominated for four awards, took a second Platino for Alberto Iglesias’ score.

J.A. Bayona’s A Monster Calls began the night with seven nods – more than any other film – and  won four: best art direcion, best edit, best cinematography and best sound. Pablo Larraín’s Neruda, nominated for five awards, left empty-handed.

Sonia Braga’s performance as a strong-minded former music journalist, the driving force in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Aquarius, earned her the Platino for best actress. Lorenzo Vigas’ 2015 Golden Lion Venice winner From Afar got the award for best first film.

A visibly moved Edward James Olmos, who collected the lifetime achievement award for his career, closed his acceptance speach by saying: “I have always been proud to be Latino, now I’m proud to be Platino.”

The Platinos – organised by EGEDA, the Spain-based Management Association of Audiovisual Producers’ Rights with FIPCA, the Ibero-American Federation of Film and Audiovisual Producers – were launched in 2014 to recognise the cinema of Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking Latin American and European countries.

After the editions held in Panama, Marbella and Punta del Este, Madrid was chosen to host the fourth annual celebration of the Ibero-American film industry. The 2018 edition will take place in Mexico.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

Best Ibero-American fiction film
The Distinguished Citizen (Argentina-Spain)

Best director
Pedro Almodóvar, Julieta

Best actor
Óscar Martínez, The Distinguished Citizen

Best actress
Sonia Braga, Aquarius

Best screenplay
Andrés Duprat, The Distinguished Citizen

Best cinematography
Óscar Faura, A Monster Calls

Best original music
Alberto Iglesias, Julieta

Best sound
Peter Glossop, Oriol Tarragó and Marc Orts, A Monster Calls

Best editing
Bernat Vilaplana and Jaume Martí, A Monster Calls

Best art direction
Eugenio Caballero, A Montser Calls

Best animation film
Psiconautas, Los Niños Olvidados (Spain)

Best documentary
Nacido en Siria (Spain)

Best first film
From Afar (Venezuela-Mexico)

Best Educational Film
Esteban (Cuba-Spain)

Best TV Series
Cuatro Estaciones En La Habana (Cuba-Spain)