Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival unveiled award winners this past weekend and Argentine Diego Lerman’s drama
A Sort of Family (Una especie de familia) won the top award – the Grand Jury Prize for Best Film. The film is currently nominated for 8 Argentinian Academy Awards (Premios Sur), including Best Picture and Best Director.
The Festival’s Audience Award for Best Feature went to the Argentina-Spain co-production
The Last Suit (El último traje), written and directed by Argentine Pablo Solarz. The film is being released theatrically in the US by Outsider Pictures on March 23rd. “
The Driver is Red”, a true crime documentary set in Argentina in 1960, directed by American filmmaker Randall Christopher, won the Audience Award for Best Short Film.
The $10,000 Knight Documentary Achievement Award, voted on by the public, was split equally between three US films in a race that Festival Director Jaie Laplante said was simply “too close to call”. The winning films included two films that world premiered at the Festival:
When The Beat Drops, directed by celebrity choreographer and first time filmmaker Jamal Sims; and
Amigo Skate, Cuba, directed by first-time feature director Vanesa Wilkey-Escobar. The films share the cash award and title with a third film,
Liyana (a co-production with Swaziland), directed by Aaron Kopp and Amanda Kopp.
Mateo Gil won the Knight Competition Best Director award and $5,000 cash for
The Laws of Thermodynamics (Las leyes de la termodinámica), which world premiered at the Festival on the same day Netflix announced that it had acquired worldwide SVOD rights to the title. Rodrigo Sorogoyen, recent winner of Spain’s Goya (Academy Award) for Best Short Film with “Mother” (“Madre”), repeated that feat at Miami Film Festival as Grand Jury Winner of the IMDbPro Short Film Competition.
The acclaimed Venezuelan feature
La familia written and directed by Gustavo Rondón Córdova, won two awards: the $10,000 HBO Ibero-American Feature Film Award, and the Rene Rodriguez Critics Award.
The $10,000 Jordan Ressler Screenwriting Award for best first-produced screenplay in the Festival went to France’s Xavier Legrand, for the film
Custody (Jusqu’à la garde). The film will be released theatrically in the US by Kino Lorber. The $5,000 Knight Competition Best Performance Award went to Cesar Troncoso from Uruguay’s
Another Story of the World (Otra historia del mundo).
The Festival’s inaugural $10,000 Knight Made in MIA Competition, sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, open to any film – short or feature, documentary or narrative – in the Festival’s Official Selection that features a qualitatively/quantitatively substantial portion of its content (story, setting and actual filming location) in South Florida, from West Palm Beach to the Florida Keys, and that most universally demonstrates a common ground of pride, emotion, and faith for the South Florida community, went to David Abel’s Gladesmen: The Last of the Sawgrass Cowboys.
The $5,000 Zeno Mountain Award is a $5,000 cash prize established at Miami Film Festival’s 2017 edition and funded by Miami-based Fringe Partners, seeking to reward a film of any length or genre in the Festival’s Official Selection which helps break down barriers to our understanding of people living with disabilities, went to the short documentary about the legacy of a Miami Beach high school educator whose incredible achievements were undaunted by his affliction with multiple sclerosis: “Carry That Weight: A Rockumentary” by Brian J. Leitten.
The Jordan Ressler Screenwriting Award, sponsored by the family of the late Jordan Alexander Ressler, an aspiring screenwriter and Cornell film studies graduate who died in a tragic hiking accident at the age of 23, before realizing his dream, was presented by Ressler family member Gary Ressler, after the winner was unveiled by jury members, filmmaker Matthew Porterfield (Sollers Point), international programmer Jane Schoettle, and Miami-based writer, actor and storyteller Rudi Goblen. The Jordan Ressler jury also elected to give an Honorable Mention for Audacity of Vision to Georgian screenwriter and filmmaker Ana Urushadze for her debut
Scary Mother.
Earlier in the week, the Festival’s CinemaSlam competition for work of undergraduate and graduate students in Miami/South Florida film schools was unveiled by jury members, artist Omilani Alarcón and filmmaker Michael Arcos, speaking on behalf of fellow jury member and filmmaker Jessica Kavana Dornbusch. This year’s winning film was “Rene de Dios and the South Beach Shark Club” by Miami Dade College student Robert Requejo Ramos.
2018 Miami Film Festival Award Winners
KNIGHT COMPETITION
BEST FILM: $30,000 GRAND PRIZE –
A Sort of Family (Una especie de familia) (ARGENTINA, Campo Cine – Directed by Diego Lerman)
BEST DIRECTOR: $5,000 PRIZE–
MATEO GIL for
The Laws of Thermodynamics (Las leyes de la termodinámica) (SPAIN)
BEST PERFORMANCE: $5,000 PRIZE –
Cesar Troncoso for
Another Story of the World (Otra historia del mundo) (URUGUAY)
KNIGHT MADE IN MIA AWARD
BEST FILM: $10,000 PRIZE –
Gladesmen: The Last of the Sawgrass Cowboys (USA, directed by David Abel)
HBO IBERO-AMERICAN FEATURE FILM COMPETITION
BEST FILM: $10,000 PRIZE –
La familia (VENEZUELA/CHILE/
NORWAY, La Pandilla Producciones, directed by Gustavo Rondón Córdova)
JORDAN RESSLER SCREENWRITING COMPETITION
BEST SCREENPLAY: $10,000 PRIZE –
XAVIER LEGRAND for
Custody (FRANCE)
Honorable Mention: Ana Urushadze for
Scary Mother (GEORGIA/ESTONIA)
KNIGHT DOCUMENTARY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
BEST FILM: $10,000 PRIZE (3-WAY TIE):
- When The Beat Drops (USA), directed by Jamal Sims
- Amigo Skate, Cuba (USA) directed by Vanesa Wilkey-Escobar
- Liyana (USA/Swaziland/Qatar), directed by Aaron Kopp and Amanda Kopp
ZENO MOUNTAIN AWARD:
$5,000 Prize –
“Carry That Weight: A Rockumentary” (USA), directed by Brian J. Leitten
AUDIENCE AWARD (FEATURE FILM):
THE LAST SUIT (ARGENTINA/SPAIN), directed by Pablo Solarz
IMDB PRO SHORT FILM AWARD:
BEST FILM: $2,500 PRIZE –
MOTHER (SPAIN), directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen
AUDIENCE AWARD (SHORT FILM):
THE DRIVER IS RED (USA) directed by Randall Christopher
RENE RODRIGUEZ CRITICS AWARD:
BEST FILM:
La familia (VENEZUELA/CHILE/
NORWAY, La Pandilla Producciones, directed by
Gustavo Rondón Córdova)
CINEMASLAM
CINEMASLAM CHAMPION –RENE DE DIOS AND THE SOUTH BEACH SHARK CLUB (Miami Dade College)
Best Narrative Film:
P.R.A. NATION – Jorge L. Martinez F. (University of Miami)
Best Director: Robert Ramos –
RENE DE DIOS AND THE SOUTH BEACH SHARK CLUB (Miami Dade College)
Best Writing: Robert Ramos –
RENE DE DIOS AND THE SOUTH BEACH SHARK CLUB (Miami Dade College)
Best Actor: Jaydev Hemrajani –
ZINDAGI (University of Miami)
Best Actress: Samantha Miller –
CHERRY (University of Miami)
Best Technical Achievement:
RENE DE DIOS AND THE SOUTH BEACH SHARK CLUB (Miami Dade College)
Cinemaslam Audience Award –
Opposite Sex by Lidia Rosa Hernandez from Center of Cinematography, Arts, and Television
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THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS (Las leyes de la termodinámica)[/caption]
Filmmakers Jean-Marc Barr and Mateo Gil have been confirmed as headliners of the first two Marquee events of the upcoming 35th anniversary edition of the Miami Film Festival to be held March 9 to 18, 2018. The Festival’s Marquee series features film screenings accompanied by on-stage conversations with major film personalities of the moment, discussing their career and sharing an exciting new work.
Spanish filmmaker Mateo Gil will present the World premiere of his latest film, The Laws of Thermodynamics (Las leyes de la termodinámica), a unique romantic comedy co-produced by Spain’s Zeta Cinema and Atresmedia. The film stars Vito Sanz (Maria (and the Others)) as a Sciences graduate student who blames his disastrous love life, such as being dumped by his girlfriend (played by Berta Vázquez of Palm Trees in the Snow), on the mysteriously comic laws of cosmic thermodynamics.
Prior to presenting his high-profile new film, Gil will participate in an extended conversation about his career, which includes such highlights as co-writing the Academy Award-winning film The Sea Inside, co-writing Open Your Eyes, later remade as Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise; and his numerous Goya Award wins from Spain’s Academy of Cinematographic Arts & Sciences. As a director, Gil’s films “Allanamiento de morada”, Nobody Knows Anybody, Blackthorn and Realive have all been presented in the US by Miami Film Festival.
“The Laws of Thermodynamics is Mateo Gil’s most astoundingly original creation yet, in which he brilliantly dissects the romantic comedy genre at the same time he elevates it with explosive new levels of movie-star chemistry and expertly-timed wit,” said Festival director Jaie Laplante. “We could not be more honored to present the world premiere of a film that will be the talk of 2018 in Spain and beyond.”
French-American actor and filmmaker Jean-Marc Barr will attend the North American premiere of the new documentary Dolphin Man, about the life and legacy of the French free diving legend Jacques Mayol, whom Barr played in Luc Besson’s 1988 international blockbuster hit, The Big Blue. Barr is featured prominently in Dolphin Man, which is directed by Lefteris Charitos and includes prominent coverage of the beginning of Mayol’s career working with dolphins at Miami Seaquarium in the 1950s. The Marquee evening will feature an extended conversation with Barr, and be paired with a 4K digital retrospective screening of The Big Blue.
After the international success of The Big Blue, Barr continued to make an international mark in a long association with Danish provocateur Lars von Trier, as the star of such films as Europa, Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville and many others. As a director, screenwriter and producer he has made numerous films in collaboration with Pascal Arnold, including Lovers and American Translation. His most recent film is Grain, winner of the 2017 Grand Prize at Tokyo Film Festival.
“After making Jacques Mayol’s incredible life known the world over in the 1980s, Jean-Marc Barr honors Mayol and Miami by personally presenting this wonderous new documentary about Mayol,” added Laplante. “Presenting the film to North America for the first time in the same community that Mayol began his journey is all the more special for Miami.”
In addition to The Laws of Thermodynamics, the Festival also announced two more high-profile new Spanish films which will screen for the first time to US audiences.
DOLPHIN MAN (Greece, Canada, France / Directed by Lefteris Charitos)
Tells the life story of Jacques Mayol, the greatest free-diver in recorded history, whose life became the inspiration for Luc Besson’s cult-movie The Big Blue (Le Grand Bleu). Dolphin Man will additionally compete for the audience-voted Knight Documentary Achievement Award, and as a Canadian co-production, is in part presented in Miami by Telefilm Canada.
THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS (Las leyes de la termodinámica) (Spain / Directed by Mateo Gil)
A unique romantic comedy about a Sciences graduate student who blames his disastrous love life, such as being dumped by his girlfriend (played by Berta Vázquez of Palm Trees in the Snow), on the mysteriously comic laws of cosmic thermodynamics. The Laws of Thermodynamics will additionally compete in Knight Competition and HBO Ibero-American Feature Film Competition.
THE WARNING (El aviso) (Spain / Directed by Daniel Calparsoro)
A high-octane thriller from Chris Sparling, the American screenwriter of Ryan Reynolds’ hit film Buried, and Alex de la Iglesia’s frequent screenwriter Jorge Guerricaechevarría, directed by Daniel Calparsoro, and starring Raúl Arévalo and Aura Garrido, will premiere in Miami just a week following its opening in Spanish theaters. The supernatural thriller is being compared to the Brad Pitt-Terry Gilliam hit 12 Monkeys, and will debut in two of the Festival’s competition sections, Knight Competition and HBO Ibero-American Feature Film Competition. Calparsoro’s most recent film, Cien años de perdón, was an official selection of Miami Film Festival in 2016.
THE SKIN OF THE WOLF (Bajo la piel de lobo) (Spain / Directed by Samu Fuentes)
A dramatic thriller with stunning wide-screen photography set in Spain’s spectacular Asturias-Huescas region from first-time feature writer-director Samu Fuentes, will debut in the Festival’s Jordan Ressler Screenwriting Competition, as well as the HBO Ibero-American Feature Film Competition. Starring Spanish mega-star Mario Casas, Ruth Díaz (The Fury of a Patient Man) and Irene Escolar, The Skin of the Wolf is a film of sparse dialogue connected to a complex visual storytelling design, making it a top contender for the Ressler Award.