A rushed ceremony. This was the film festival that celebrates the best of Mexico’s audiovisual productions, with an edition that—it was announced months ago—was also a tribute to the creations and work of women in the industry. The big winner of the night was Totemby filmmaker Lila Avilés —which portrays death, seen through the eyes of a girl with touches of sweetness and a sense of humor— and which of the 15 nominations in which it appeared, took home five awards: best film, best direction, best new actor (for its protagonist Naíma Santíes), best original script and best female co-performance, a category that has awarded a tie to actress Montserrat Marañón, and also to Ludwika Paleta, for her role in All the silence.
The 66th edition of the awards, which were held on Saturday night at the Santos Degollado Theater in Guadalajara, Jalisco, began with an initial warning about the weather. Its two main presenters, actress Michelle Rodriguez and Kike Vazquez, made it clear in the first minutes of the ceremony that the winners would have only a few minutes to give their thanks and even allowed themselves to joke by making a list of the slogans that could probably be skipped: “Warner has our minutes counted, so I know that they really want to take advantage of the moment to make some important statement, but I am going to take that weight off their shoulders and I am going to help them: it is urgent to reform the film law; stop all types of violence in the set; achieve gender parity in all stages of production… and the president of the Academy will mention some other messages, so don’t worry,” Rodriguez said.
Mexican cinema is going through a difficult time, with budget cuts and the extinction of the Film Investment and Stimulus Fund (Fidecine) in 2020, so the topic was not left off the agenda. During his participation, Armando Casas, the president of the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AMACC) took up the thread and launched the slogan that cinema “must be considered an investment and not an expense.”
The time issue prevented the winners from extending their speeches and only the last categories could have extra minutes. The director of Totem, Avilés broke with the solemnity of the night, shouting and singing on stage when he received the awards for best director and best film.
The other great Mexican productions that obtained several awards were All the silenceby director Diego del Río, starring Adriana Llabrés and Ludwika Paleta, which portrays the importance of empathetic and inclusive communication with people who suffer from hearing impairment. In addition to a tie in the female co-acting category, the film won the award for best first film, best sound and best actress: with the performance of Adriana Llabrés, in the role in which she plays a woman who loses her sense of hearing.
Closely following him Hurricane seasonby Elisa Miller —the film adaptation of Fernanda Melchor’s work—, with three awards: best adapted screenplay, best makeup and best editing. The echoby Tatiana Huezo, also won three categories: best documentary feature, best photography and best original music; for a production filmed in the State of Puebla, which portrays life in the Mexican countryside, an ecosystem that seems to resist the onslaught of time and indifference. And the film Heroicby director David Zonana, which won three statuettes: best art design, best costume design and best male co-acting, for Fernando Cuautle, in a production about the life of recruits in the Mexican Army.
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