The Cine Las Americas International Film Festival presented awards to winning films Sunday evening at a ceremony at the Regal Metropolitan Theater in South Austin. The documentary and dramatic film jury panels named the best films in five categories and awarded special jury mentions to three films. Two audience awards were granted in the categories of Best First Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature Film.

DOCUMENTARY FILM AWARDS

Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature:
Relatos desde el encierro (Tales From The Inside, Guadalupe Miranda, Mexico, 2004)

Jury Award for Best Documentary Short:
La Requisa (The Embargo, Martín Boege Pare, Mexico, 2003)
Special Jury Mention: I Wonder What You Will Remember of September (Cecilia Kotz Cornejo, Chile/USA, 2004)

Audience Award for Documentary Feature:
La Cueca Sola (Marilu Mallet, Chile/Canada, 2003)


DRAMATIC FILM AWARDS

Jury Award for Best First Feature Film:
Sábado (Saturday, Matias Bize, Chile, 2003)
Special Jury Mention for First Feature: 5th World (Blackhorse Lowe USA/Navajo, 2004)

Jury Award for Best Dramatic Short:
Un Viaje (One Trip, Gabriela Monroy, Mexico, 2004)
Special Jury Mention: Vinil Verde (Green Vinyl, Kleber Mendoça Filho, Brazil, 2004)

Jury Award for Best Film Made in Texas:
Test Day (David Fabelo, USA, 2004)

Audience Award for First Feature Film:
Residencia (Residence: Dogme#33, Artemio Espeinoza Mc., Chile, 2004)


DOCUMENTARY FILM JURORS

Mexican Filmmaker Nicolás Echevarría started making documentaries related to the indigenous world in Mexico in 1973. His titles include: Judea, Semana Santa entre los Coras (1974); Híkuri Tame (1977), depicting the Peyote pilgrimage of the Huichol Indians; María Sabina, Mujer Espíritu (1979); Teshuinada (1980); Poetas Campesinos (1980), and Niño Fidencio, el Taumaturgo de Espinazo (1981). He has won several international awards and is one of the Mexico’s most important and prolific documentary filmmakers.

Ryan Polomski is a recent MFA graduate from the University of Texas at Austin’s film production program. His previous work includes a 23-minute documentary about three Mayan communities in Guatemala: Hecho a mano: Trés historias de Guatemala. Currently, Ryan is teaching film classes to Austin youth.

Sandra Guardado has worked as a documentary film editor and producer since 1995. As coordinating producer, she won an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Research on the film George Wallace: Settin’ the Woods on Fire, which also won a Special Jury Prize for Writing at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. She edited and co-produced Last Man Standing and is currently editing the documentary segments for a KLRU-TV series, Special Session, as well as the documentary Third Ward, about Houston’s Project Row Houses.

NARRATIVE FILM JURORS

Marta Sanchez, Theatrical and International Sales Manager at Women Make Movies, a non-profit distribution agency. Sanchez is also the director of ShortMetraje, the first Spanish Short Film series in New York City. She has produced and directed a number of short films, TV programs, and music videos. Currently she is completing her first documentary feature.

Becky Glupczynski, who started working in television on the acclaimed show Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. Since 1996, she has worked in various production positions in films such as Requiem for a Dream, Restaurant, World Traveler, The Opportunists, and Brooklyn Babylon. Most recently, she has worked as line producer for Frida, directed by Julie Taymor, and Maria Full of Grace, directed by Joshua Martson.

Matt Dentler, South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival Producer. He has worked in radio, television and film in various roles and is currently a curator for New York-based distribution company Film Movement, as well as Toronto-based distribution company Films We Like.