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Following a successful return to in-theater screenings, Cine Las Americas announced the filmmaker award winners for the recently concluded 2022 Cine Las Americas International Film Festival (CLAIFF) Leading the list of films winning jury prizes were Joaquín Peñagaricano and Pablo Abdala’s Mateína (Best Narrative Feature), and Anaïs Taracena’s El Silencio del Topo (The Silence of the Mole) (Best Documentary Feature). Films taking the Audience Awards were topped by Bretten Hannam’s Wildhood (Narrative Feature), and Jeff Adachi and Chihiro Wimbush’s Ricochet (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.
 
Jury members for this year’s edition of Cine Las Americas included:

• Narrative Features: Chale Nafus (Austin Film Society)
• Documentary Features: Claudia Puig (Los Angeles Film Critics Association)
• Shorts Competition: Chantal Lackan (Scientist, Photographer, and Film aficionado), Joseph Ornelas (Davis Graham & Stubb), Paul K. Smith (Professor of Exercise Science, Yoga Instructor)
• Hecho En Tejas: Sharon Arteaga (When You Clean a Stranger’s Home)
• Emergencia: Christian D. Nelson (Austin Film Society)

Opening Night featured Fernando León de Aranoa’s El Buen Patrón (The Good Boss) starring Javier Bardem, on a night that had much excitement as the film festival returned to an in-theater screening for the first time since the pandemic began two years ago. The celebratory nature of the event truly took on the personality of a homecoming for everyone involved with organization, the attending filmmakers and the film fans.  
 
Cine Las Americas’ signature programming track, “Hecho en Tejas,” which showcases local filmmaking talent with varied backgrounds via films and videos shot and/or produced in Texas, also was a genuine highlight with packed houses, as well as representatives from the Texas Film Commission welcoming the attending filmmakers, led by the HET Centerpiece presentation of Iliana Sosa’s documentary Lo Que Dejamos Atrás (What We Leave Behind). The Emergencia youth film focus celebrating the work of student filmmakers was another major highlight for filmmakers and audiences alike, as the film festival’s dedication toward its educational tracks and focus on youth was clearly rewarded by the pubic turning out for those events.
 
For more information about Cine Las Americas, visit https://cinelasamericas.org/.

 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
 

 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
 

 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
 

 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
 

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

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
 
 
About CINE LAS AMERICAS
Cine Las Americas is a multi-cultural, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Austin Texas, offering theatrical screenings of films made by and/or about Latinos or Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Films from Spain and Portugal are also included, enhancing a truly Pan-American cinematic experience. The mission of Cine Las Americas is to promote cross-cultural understanding and growth by educating, entertaining and challenging the diverse Central Texas community through film and media arts.