Mexico's fourth documentary, “State of Silence” (“Estado de Silencio”) by director Santiago Maza (“The Thunder Feast”), a passion project of producer Diego Luna at Mexico-based La Corriente del Golfo where he collaborates with Gael García Bernal, won Best Film at this year's Sanfic Festival in Santiago de Chile.
Other big winners included “I Trust You” by Agustin Toscano, which won Best Director at the Sanfic International Competition, “Our Memory” by Matías Rojas Valencia, and “The Magnificent Gold Harvester” by Alfredo Boralli, which shared Best Film at the Sanfic Chilean Film Competition.
Among the major winners at Sanfic Industria, Sanfic's vibrant industrial forum, was Kay Casas' “El Show del Gran Luciferio,” which followed “The Coffee Table,” and which Stephen King praised as “horrific and very funny. Imagine the Cohen brothers' darkest dream.”
The Argentine film “Water Never Hurts” by Ana Clara Bustillo and the Peruvian film “Concert for One Voice” by Alejandra Carpio won two awards in the framework of the Ibero-American work in progress of the Sanvic Industria association, the industry hub.
“State of Silence”: What makes it special?
Documentaries have been made before about the appalling death toll of journalists in Mexico: from 2000 to the beginning of 2024, 163 journalists were killed and 32 others are still missing, according to a pre-credits count of the film “State of Silence.”
But what sets “State of Silence” apart is its sense of familiarity as it follows the lives of four journalists who refuse to stay silent about the heart of the problem in Mexico: the toxic mix of organized crime gangs, local governments, and drug policy.
Two journalists went into exile, one was deported, and another sent his wife and children to live with his mother out of fear for their safety. But two of them returned to high-risk areas to continue reporting.
“State of Silence,” which premieres globally at Tribeca this June and was recently picked up by Netflix for North and Latin America, with Rosa Bush International representing overseas sales, is fast-paced in interviews and achieves an aesthetic cinematic ending with the idea of honoring the extraordinary courage of the journalists filmed, Maza explained to diverse.
The documentary culminates in scenes that show what he is now up against with outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador at a press conference where he frantically dismisses journalists' criticism of his indifference to the fates of journalists as the opinions of paid subordinates of the opposition PRI party.
State of silence
Courtesy: La Corrente del Golfo
Other Awards: Humanity and Creativity
The ability of documentaries to give a human face to the social context was underlined in Alfredo Burali's The Great Gold Harvester.
The director visits the remote Tierra del Fuego region for years until he meets artisanal gold miner Toto, whose devoted son builds a gold-harvesting machine—almost single-handedly—to help his ailing father. Their touching expressions of relief at the end when they finally get the machine up and running are worth their weight in gold.
The Sanvic Awards also underscore the sheer creativity of Latin American filmmakers. Our Memories blends perspective, fiction, documentary and stunning camerawork to tell the true story of two victims of the neo-Nazi colony Colonia Dignidad and a fictional woman (Paulina Garcia) trying to atone for a wrong she committed there.
The premiere of “I Trust You” blends a high-profile true crime — the 2006 murder of 45-year-old teacher Angela Beatriz “Betty” Argañaraz — with documentary, fiction and music to tease out the possible innocence of Susana Acosta and Nelida Fernandez, who were sentenced to 20 years in prison for her 2006 murder. The audience’s decision about the film’s form — is it a play? — determines their guilt.
New talent prevails
But more than anything else, the Sanvic and Sanvic Industria awards are a testament to the new talent that continues to emerge in Latin America and Spain. Eleven of the 13 winning films at this year’s Sanvic were first or second feature films, documentaries, or solo films. Three of the four biggest winners at the Santiago Ibero-American World of Santiago Fiction & Doctorate were first feature films.
In the lab, Chilean director Pilar Higuera’s documentary Southern Channels follows young Patagonians who use radios, makeshift devices, and the natural sound of water to communicate. The second feature from Chilean LGBT pioneer Yenci Oyarz follows the struggle of gay and trans people to survive in Chile in the early 1970s.
“Water Never Hurts” depicts a young daughter’s rebellion against her parents’ dictates to recover from a horse-riding accident. Directed by Carpio, another debutant, “A Concert for One Voice” depicts the personal fallout from Peru’s armed conflict when a young Peruvian architect now living in Paris returns to Lima to confront his mother, who has just been released from prison, for abandoning him in favor of political activism. “These are very complex issues,” Carpio said. diverse: No single voice has a monopoly on the right.
Among other awards at Sanvic, in the international competition, Spanish writer, director and star Itsasu Arana won Best Director for “The Girls Are Fine,” which Arana said was “a gentle study of female friendship that blows in a warm summer breeze.” diverse.
““A sumptuous homage to Hitchcock in the form of a metaphysical film noir,” according to diverseGerman Tim Krüger's novel “The World Theory” received a special mention in the Sanvik International Competition. Otherwise, Spanish-speaking voices dominated this year's Sanvik Competition.
Sanvik Awards 2024
International Competition
Best performance (ex aequo)
Lorenzo Ferro, (“Simon of the Mountain”)
Franklin Arrow, (“Dog Thief”)
Best Director
Agustin Toscano (“I Trust You”)
Special mention
Itsaso Arana (“The girls are fine”)
Best movie
“State of Silence” (Santiago Maza)
Special mention
“Cosmological Theory” (Tim Kruger)
Chilean Film Competition
Best performance
Gaston Salgado (“Emotions”)
Special mention
Paula Latos Bor (“Sariri”, “Las Cenizas”)
Best Director
Roberto Salinas (“The Primer Dosis”)
Special mention
Alberto Haydn (“Una Luz Negra”)
Best movie
Shared by “The Amazing Gold Harvester” (Alfredo Borali)
And “Our Memory” (Matias Rojas Valencia)
Special mention
“Las Cenizas” (Stepan Ostvik)
Sanvic Industry, 2024
Ibero-American work in progress
Malaga Prize for Work in Progress
“Water never hurts” (Ana Clara Bustillo, Argentina, Uruguay)
Yagan Award for Film and Chemistry
“The Clearinghouse” (Mayra Carrasco, Chile)
Film Marketing Award
“A Concert for One Voice” (Alejandra Carpio Valdevillano, Peru)
E-28 Award
“Party for One Voice”
International Latin American Film Festival Award in La Habana
“Laureano” (Claudia Capatinta, Peru)
Latin American Cinema Award
“Water never hurts”
Santiago Laboratory of Fiction and Documentary Films
SAPCINE Award
“Southern Channels” (Pilar Higuera, Chile)
Atomica Award
“Southern Channels”
Malaga Festival Industry Zone Award (MAFIZ)
“Gay Riots” (Wency Oyars, Chile)
International Documentary Film Award Festival of Buenos Aires (FIDBA).
“Mrs. Whitman's Criminal Record” (Anastasia Benavente, Nicolás Videla, Chile)
Guadalajara Film Festival Co-Production Meeting Industry Award
“Cupid's Arrow” (Ernesto Melendez, Chile)
Cine Qua Non Lab Award
“Arde un reino” (Catalina Arroyave, Colombia)
Bogota Audiovisual Market Award
“gay riots”
Nueva Miradas – EICTV Award
“The Sheared Lamb” (Rossana Castillo, Chile)
Sanvic Morbido Laboratory
Morbido Prize 30%
“El Show del Gran Luciferio” (Cay Casas, Mexico, Spain)
Morbido 10% Reward
“El Silencio es la Musica del Diablo” (Cremanes, Mexico)
Outstanding Wing Award
“The Show of Gran Luciferio”
“Lovers” (Guillermo Amoedo, Mexico, Spain)
The Hague Media Award
“Beloved”
