In October, the Biarritz, Sitges, Dok Leipzig, and Chicago festivals recognized several Colombian productions with some of their top awards.
From October 17 to 23, the 65th edition of the Leipzig International Documentary and Animation Film Festival -DOK Leipzig- took place. The annual event celebrates cinema and promotes debate by focusing on peace, tolerance, human dignity, freedom of expression, and the filmmakers' solid individual artistic signature. For more than 65 years, the festival has featured documentary and animated films from around the world, hosting more than 40,000 visitors.
This year, Anhell69 by Theo Montoya received the Golden Dove in the International Competition, the highest award given by this festival, which has become one of the world's most noteworthy events for documentary filmmaking. It is the first time a Colombian film has won this award. The film also received a Special Jury Mention, the Mario Serandrei - Hotel Saturnia Award, and the Most Innovative Film Award granted by the Verona Film Club, all during the most recent edition of the Venice International Critics' Week.
The Chicago International Film Festival, the longest-running competitive festival in North America, celebrated its 58th edition from October 12 to 23. The Golden Hugo, the top award in the International Documentary Competition, went to Alis by Clare Weiskopf and Nicolás Van Hemelryck. Jury members included documentary filmmaker Tirtza Even, Brazilian director Marcelo Gomes and Marjon Javadi, vice president of documentaries and docuseries for Disney.
In Chicago, the Colombian film also received a Special Mention in the Out-Look Competition, highlighting the importance of gay-themed films in contemporary international cinema. These two awards add to a long list that includes the Crystal Bear in the Generation 14Plus section of the Berlin International Film Festival - Berlinale 2022, the Forum Award for Best Project at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam - IDFA, the Young Jury Award at the Sheffield DocFest, and the Best Ibero-American Feature Documentary Award at the Guadalajara International Film Festival - FICG, among others.
In the International Fiction Competition, the Silver Hugo for Best Production Design went to Marcela Gómez (production designer) and Daniel Rincón (art director) for their work on Laura Mora's Los reyes del mundo. As stated by the festival: "the film is a road movie through forests and across paths paved and unpaved, with the various and incredibly detailed interior locations offering shelter from the harsh outside world in different ways, even if finding definitive shelter might forever prove elusive for the film's young protagonists."
At the 55th Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, held from October 6 to 16, the animated feature film La otra forma by Diego Guzmán, produced by Hierroanimación and Smith & Smith, received the Award for Best Animated Feature Film in the Anima't section. Created in 1968, Sitges has become an unmissable event for moviegoers and audiences who want to see the latest trends and new technologies applied to fantasy and horror cinema, making it the most prominent festival in the world in this genre.
A recipient of the Film Development Fund (FDC) in the Animated Feature Film Production category, La otra forma adds this award to the Best Feature Film Award from Latin America and Spain in the 11th edition of the Chilemonos International Animation Festival and its world premiere in the Long métrage contrechamp category of the 60th edition of the Annecy Festival.
Finally, Los reyes del mundo was awarded at the 31st edition of the Biarritz Amérique Latine Festival. This annual event started in 1979, aiming to create an art and culture exchange point between Latin America and Europe and to present distribution and co-production opportunities to Latin American filmmakers. The feature film, a recipient of the FDC's Integral Stimulus for the production and promotion of films, directed by Laura Mora, won the Embrace for Best Feature Film in the Fiction Competition after winning the Golden Shell at the 70th edition of the San Sebastian Festival and participating in the Toronto Festival.
Meanwhile, Alis received the Audience Award and the Student Jury Award from the Institute of Higher Latin American Studies. Also, two Colombian projects were awarded in the professional meetings section of the festival, running since 2018 as Biarritz Amérique Latine Lab / BAL-LAB. Todo esto eran mangas (This used to be grasslands) by Daniela Abad won the BAL-LAB Award for fiction, allowing its script to be translated into French. The €5,000 development grant from the Centro Nacional del Cine y la Imagen Animada - CNC went to the project Los pájaros (The Birds) by Fabián Hernández.
