The 2022 Cine Las Americas International Film Festival (CLAIFF) announced the filmmaker award winners with the top jury prizes going to Joaquín Peñagaricano and Pablo Abdala’s Mateína for Best Narrative Feature, and Anaïs Taracena’s El Silencio del Topo (The Silence of the Mole) for Best Documentary Feature. Films winning the Audience Awards were topped by Bretten Hannam’s Wildhood for Narrative Feature, and Jeff Adachi and Chihiro Wimbush’s Ricochet for Documentary Feature.

The 24th edition of Cine Las Americas showcased films and videos from Latin America (North, Central, South America, and the Caribbean) and the Iberian Peninsula, celebrating films and videos made by or about Latinx in the U.S. or the rest of the world, with films and videos by or about indigenous groups of the Americas also featured.

Cine Las Americas Executive Director Gabriel Ornelas, said, “The platform we create for these films and filmmakers and the connection that is made to the audiences here in Austin are vital for both the filmmaker and the film lover. Our team worked hard to ensure we had great screenings, presentations and events focused on our films and attending filmmakers, and we could not have been more pleased with the result of those efforts. This year’s edition reaffirmed how much Cine Las Americas is an important part of the cultural fabric in a city that continues to be a central hub for filmmaking here in Texas and the Southwest.”

Regarding the selection of Joaquín Peñagaricano and Pablo Abdala’s Mateína for the Best Narrative Feature Jury Prize, Jury member Chale Nafus (Austin Film Society), said, “This socio-political satire launched by a 2045 American-Uruguayan treaty to ban the growing and consumption of yerba mate – the national drink of Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina – serves as a comedic comment on the decades-old War on Drugs. Mateína is a perfectly directed, acted, filmed, edited, and structured road movie brimming over with absurdities, obstacles, and unforgettable characters as the two heroes travel backroads to acquire mate seeds in neighboring Paraguay.”

On the documentary side, Claudia Puig (Los Angeles Film Critics Association) described Anais Taracena’s The Silence of the Mole(El Silencio del Topo) as “powerful and illuminating”. She added, “With a distinctive filmmaking style that incorporates both the political and the personal, marked by stunning visuals and moving narration, Taracena documents critical events during a horrifying period of genocide in Guatemala during the 1970s and ’80s. Artfully blending archival footage and revealing interviews, she tells the story of Elias Barahona, a heroic local journalist who infiltrated the heart of the massively repressive Guatemalan government and passed information to the resistance.”

Jury prize winners in the Shorts Competition included Yolanda Centeno’s Imposible Decirte Adiós (Attached) (Best Narrative Short), and Carmina Balaguer’s La pantalla andina (The Andean Screen) (Best Documentary Short). In the Hecho En Tejas Competition, Esmeralda Hernandez’ Dream Carriers took the Jury Prize, with Alexander Rosales’ Tejano Night winning the Audience Award. The Jury prize for Best Music Video went to David Brocca’s Nobody’s Clown. Cody Salais’ Sol took both the Jury prize and the Audience Award in the Emergencia Youth Film Competition.

CLA2022 Filmmaker Award Winners

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION

JURY AWARD FOR BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
Mateína
Directors: Joaquín Peñagaricano, Pablo Abdala
Countries: Uruguay/Argentina/Brazil

AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
Wildhood
Director: Bretten Hannam
Country: Canada

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION

JURY AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
El Silencio del Topo (The Silence of the Mole)
Director: Anaïs Taracena
Country: Guatemala

AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Ricochet
Director: Jeff Adachi, Chihiro Wimbush
Country: United States

SHORTS COMPETITION

JURY AWARD FOR BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
Imposible Decirte Adiós (Attached)
Director: Yolanda Centeno
Country: Spain

JURY AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
La pantalla andina (The Andean Screen)
Director: Carmina Balaguer
Country: Argentina

HECHO EN TEJAS COMPETITION

JURY AWARD FOR BEST HECHO EN TEJAS FILM
Dream Carriers
Director: Esmeralda Hernandez
Country: United States

AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST HECHO EN TEJAS FILM
Tejano Night
Director: Alexander Rosales
Country: United States

MUSIC VIDEO COMPETITION

AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Nobody’s Clown
Director: David Brocca
Artist: Los Yesterdays
Country: United States

EMERGENCIA YOUTH FILM COMPETITION

AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST EMERGENCIA YOUTH FILM
Sol
Director: Cody Salais
Country: United States

JURY AWARD FOR BEST EMERGENCIA YOUTH FILM
Sol
Director: Cody Salais
Country: United States