Lima Film Festival 2010

The 14th edition of the Lima Film Festival started on August 6th on a cold Friday night. The camera crews from different media outlets were waiting for the festival’s guests to arrive, though I was really more distracted with the lights. Shiny things get me that way. I arrived pretty early, even though I expected delays. However, to my surprise, people started arriving as soon as I got in.

Peruvian actress Delfina Paredes, who was being honored in this edition of the festival, was the first big guest to arrive, but instead of stopping by every outlet, she wooshed by the “red carpet” and entered the venue. Someone noticed, so she returned to talk to a few cameras, but that’s it.

The festival boasted a selection of one hundred feature films, most of them new releases in the country. Plus, the competitions in the documentary and fiction categories, which featured many pieces from Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Cuba, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Uruguay, El Salvador, Paraguay, and even Sweden.

The Lima Film Fest week is certainly a busy one, and a hard one to keep up with. Besides presenting films by Maria Novaro, Jacques Tati, and the Barreto family, they had showings of other Latin American films not in competition, as well as films from Valencia and even special showings of some films shown at Cannes this year. There were workshops, and other activities – including open-air movie showings… those are held in the summer, guys! In the end, there’s so much to do, so much to see and so little hours in your week. If it hadn’t been for the press screenings, I might have missed the whole festival!

The closing night was held on August 14th, this time a cold Saturday night, with even bigger media outlets. Spotting the cameras from ATV Noticias (local) and Televisa (Mexico), tonight seemed like a bigger affair. Every film production seems like a winner. Argentina’s Puzzle (Rompecabezas), Peru’s Undertow (Contracorriente), and Cuba’s Jose Marti: El Ojo del Canario took home the Audience Award, while the International Critic Award was given to Peru’s Paraiso, which also took home Best Debut Film. Best Actor and Actress were given to Pascual Loayza for Southern District (Zona Sur) from Bolivia, and Maria Onetto for Puzzle. Octubre – also from Peru – earned Best Screenplay, so it didn’t leave empty-handed.

amy

YAM Magazine editor, photographer, blogger, translator and part-time web designer. Film junkie, music junkie… and lately series (a.k.a. TV) junkie.

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