Chilean filmmakers Cristian Jiménez and Alicia Scherson’s Family Life (Vida De Familia) won the Knight Competition Grand Jury Prize of the 34th annual Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival.

Family Life, which had its World Premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival,  stars Jorge Becker, Gabriela Arancibia, Blanca Lewin, Cristián Carvajal.  In the film, Bruno and his family leave their Santiago home for a three-month visit to France. Bruno’s cousin Martín is left in charge of the house and cat. The cat goes missing, which leads Martín to meet Pachi. A romance begins, albeit one based on false pretenses: Martín claims the house is his, and that he’s a father and divorcé. Martín invents a whole new life—but when happens when real life comes back from holiday?

The awards ceremony capped a stellar edition of the Festival featuring a total of 140 films from 41 countries, including 17 World Premieres.

2017  MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL AWARD WINNERS

KNIGHT COMPETITION

BEST FILM: $30,000 Prize
Family Life / Director: Cristian Jiménez, Alicia Scherson (Chile)

BEST DIRECTOR: $5,000 Prize
Daniel Hendler for The Candidate (Uruguay)

BEST ACTOR: $5,000 Prize (shared)
Lola Amores and Eduardo Martinez for Santa y Andres (Cuba)

HBO IBERO-AMERICAN FEATURE FILM COMPETITION

BEST FILM: $10,000 Prize
Maria (And Everyone Else) / Frida Films – Director: Nely Reguera) (Spain)

HONORABLE MENTION
Marc Crehuet for The One Eyed King (El Rey Tuerto) (Spain)

JORDAN RESSLER SCREENWRITING COMPETITION

BEST SCRIPT: $10,000 Prize
Tomas Alzamora for Little White Lie (La mentirita blanca) (Chile)

KNIGHT DOCUMENTARY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD:
Take My Nose…Please! / Director: Joan Kron (USA, Mexico)

ZENO MOUNTAIN AWARD

BEST FILM: $5,000 PREMIO –
The Grown-Ups (Los Niños) / Director: Maite Alberdi (Chile)

AUDIENCE FAVORITE

La Soledad by Jorge Thielen Armand (Venezuela)

AUDIENCE FAVORITE SHORT

Havana House by Gaspar González (USA)

SHORTS COMPETITION AWARD

BEST FILM: $2,500 Prize
The Head Vanishes / Director: Frank Dion (Canada, France)

RENE RODRIGUEZ CRITICS AWARD

BEST FILM:
Harmonium / Director: Kôji Fukada (Japan)

ENCUENTROS AWARD (WORKS-IN-PROGRESS)

$10,000 Prize (shared) –
Tigre (Argentina, Pucará Cine) & Camocim (Brazil, Ponte Produções)

MIAMI FILM 2017 $5,000 each to:

And The Whole Sky Fit in the Dead Cow’s Eye (Y todo el cielo cupo en el ojo de la vaca) by Francisca Alegria (Chile)

Connection (CONECTIFAI) by Zoe Garcia (Cuba)

The Inconvenience (El Inconveniente) by Adriana Yurcovich (Argentina)