RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The film “Karnawal”, by Argentine director Juan Pablo Félix, won this Saturday the Golden Biznaga for best Ibero-American feature film at the Málaga Film Festival, where “El vientre del mar”, directed by Spanish Agustí Villaronga, won six awards, becoming the most awarded film in the history of this event.
“Karnawal”, a co-production with Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Norway, and Bolivia, also won the award for best supporting male performance for Chilean actor Alfredo Castro.
In the Zonazine section, the best Ibero-American feature film went to the Argentine production “Las motitos”, directed by Inés Barrionuevo and Gabriela Vidal.
In the same section, the Peruvian Mauricio Franco Tosso was awarded best director for “Samichay, en busca de la felicidad”, and best actress Carla Gusolfino for “Las motitos”.
The jury wanted to mention the cast of the Colombian film “Leading ladies”, directed by Ruth Caudeli.
In the official documentary section, the best feature film was the Uruguayan-Italian co-production “Bosco”, directed by Alicia Cano Menoni. The award for best director went to Mo Scarpelli for “El Father como sí mismo”, co-produced by Venezuela, the United Kingdom, and Italy.
The jury awarded a special mention to the Spanish-Colombian documentary “Del otro lado”, by Iván Guarnizo, which also won the audience award in this section.
In the rest of the Festival sections, the special award went to “Destello bravío”, the first fiction feature film by Spanish director Ainhoa Rodríguez, which also won the best editing award José Luis Picado.
In this edition of the competition, the best actress was Tamara Casellas for her work in the film “Ama”, directed by Júlia de Paz Solvas.
For the best supporting female performance, young María Romanillos was recognized for “Las consecuencias”, a film directed by Claudia Pinto Emperador, which also won the critics’ award.
The winners in the official feature film section are completed with the Audience Award, which went to “Chavalas”, the “opera prima” of Spanish director Carol Rodríguez Colás.
The director of the Festival, Juan Antonio Vigar, recalled at the awards ceremony that this edition had repeated the format of 2020, “leaving aside the social event”, since, although the health situation has improved, “the normality” expected after covid-19 has not yet arrived.
For Vigar, the Málaga Festival has shown for the second consecutive year that “culture is safe” and has once again become “the door to normality that will arrive soon”.
He advanced that the 2022 edition will be held from March 18 to 27 and will be “celebratory”, because of the expected return to normality. The Festival will reach twenty-five editions since its birth in 1998.