- The feature by director María Aparicio obtained the highest distinction.
- 1976, by Manuela Martelli, took first place in the Chilean Feature category.
- Actress Blanca Lewin hosted the Closing Ceremony, which was held at Cervantes Theater, in the Regional Capital of Los Ríos, with authorities and general public in attendance.
- The event was broadcast on TVN, ATV Valdivia, and Río en Línea.
- Among the announcements, the public learned the date of the 30th edition of FICValdivia, which will be held between October 9 and 15, 2023.
Valdivia, October 15. For the third consecutive year, the Closing Ceremony of the Valdivia International Film Festival was opened by the Valdivia Chamber Orchestra (OCV), which played the score for the experimental short film Étude cinégraphique sur une arabesque (1929), by French filmmaker Germaine Dulac. This time, the world’s southernmost chamber orchestra invited music conductor Christian Lorca to lead the piece. The film was scored as part of the 3rd Music Composition Contest for Heritage Short Films, which was held this year by organizers FICValdivia, the Valdivia Chamber Orchestra, and the School of Musical and Sound Arts at UACh.
The award ceremony, which took place at 6pm on Saturday, October 15, was held at the Cervantes Theater and was attended by local and regional authorities, academics, and the general public. In addition, the activity was broadcast online on FICValdivia and media partner platforms.
During the gala, competition winners in the categories of International Feature, Best Chilean Feature, International Youth Feature, Latin American Short Film, Latin American Children’s Short Film, and Future Chilean Cinema were announced, along with the results of the Explora el Cine Micro Movie Contest.
FEATURE FILM COMPETITION
The award-winning film in the International Feature Competition of the 29th Valdivia International Film Festival was the Argentinean film SOBRE LAS NUBES, by María Aparicio.
The Special Jury Prize in this category went to the Chilean documentary TAN INMUNDA Y TAN FELIZ, by Wincy Oyarce.
The jury also awarded two special mentions to the pictures NOUS, ÉTUDIANTS!, by Rafiki Farialai (Central African Republic) and A WOMAN ESCAPES, by Sofia Bohdanowicz, Burak Cervik, and Blake Williams (Canada).
The jury was made up of director Teresa Arredondo; Cintial Gil, curator and member of the Board of Directors of the Portuguese Documentary Association; and José Sarmiento, critic, curator, and current co-director/editor of Desistfil.com.
CHILEAN FEATURE COMPETITION
The Best Chilean Feature this year was 1976, by Manuela Martelli, which received the 2022 Pudú Award.
This year’s jury for the national feature competition was Paola Buontempo, Argentine filmmaker and programmer; James Lattimer, critic and programmer of the Berlinale Forum; and Susana Santos Rodrigues, co-director of Indie Lisboa.
INTERNATIONAL YOUTH FEATURE COMPETITION
The winner of the competition was the Danish picture TSUMU- WHERE DO YOU GO WITH YOUR DREAMS?, by Karper Kiertzner.
The Special Jury Prize in the International Youth Feature category went to the Portuguese feature movie LOBO E CÄO, by Claudia Varejao.
On this occasion, the Jury was composed of Amal Medina, student of Audiovisual Creation at UACh; Francisca Morales, 3rd year student at Instituto Gracia y Paz de Valdivia, and Antonia Sheihing, 3rd year student at Liceo Bicentenario de Valdivia.
LATIN AMERICAN SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Fourteen works from Bolivia, the United States, Mexico, Chile, France, Argentina, Peru, Spain, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Colombia were part of the Official Latin American Short Film Selection.
The Colombian film LOS MAYORES RÍOS SE DESLIPAN BAJO TIERRA, by Simón Vélez, collected first prize, this year.
The Special Jury Prize went to LAS CRIATURAS QUE SE DERRITEN BAJO EL SOL, by Chilean director Diego Céspedes.
The jury also decided to award a Special Mention to the film TRAZOS DE SILENCIO, by Valentina Pelayo (Mexico, Spain, Portugal).
The jurors for this year’s competition included filmmaker and graphic artist Rodrigo Jara Lizana, programmer for Frontera Sur Festival; Elena López Riera, Spanish visual artist and filmmaker who had a focus on this edition of the festival; and Ana Poliak, Argentine filmmaker who showed her films and met with audiences this year.
LATIN AMERICAN CHILDREN’S SHORT FILM COMPETITION
TODOS LOS SEGUIDORES DE NESS, by Bruna Steudel, took away the top accolade in the Latin American Children’s Short Film Competition, at FICvaldivia 2022.
In the same category, the Special Jury Prize went to EL CUERVO Y EL VENADO, by Mauricio Calderón Rico.
The jury was made up of Martín Labra, a 7th grade student from the Alemania School, in Paillaco, and Martín Quilodrán, an 8th grader from the Santo Cura de Ars Technical School, in Máfil.
FUTURE CHILEAN CINEMA
The Future Chilean Cinema Category aims to be a window that welcomes national and Latin American filmmakers and producers, to generate ties that allow them to professionalize and realize their audiovisual projects.
This was deepened during the third version of Austral Meetings held this year. This space for training, dialog, and collaboration from the South, selected 15 projects, in different stages of completion, to represent the national audiovisual sector at FICValdivia. In addition, 20 audiovisual professionals provided advisory services, addressing various creative and artistic aspects in each project.
The jury in charge of awarding these film projects was formed by Paola Buontempo, Argentine filmmaker and programmer; James Lattimer, critic and programmer of the Berlinale Forum; and Susana Santos Rodrigues, co-director of Indie Lisboa.
The Future Chilean film that won in the Postproduction Category was LA REBELIÓN INTERIOR, by Sofía Paloma Gómez. The prize consists of CLP 1,250,000.
In the First Cut Category, the award went to ECLIPSE EN EL CAOS, by Dubi Cano and Samantha Cabrera. It received CLP 1,250,000, granted by FICValdivia and Universidad Austral de Chile. The film also received the Atómica Postproduction Award, which consists of 6 days of color work and the production of a DCP Master.
The Sonamos Award, consisting of 3 days of sound mixing, went to LA REBELION INTERIOR, by Sofía Paloma Gómez.
The Development Project Award, granting CLP 800,000, went to MUESTRARIO, by Sofía Hansen.
2020 AWARDED FILMMAKERS
In this 29th edition of FICValdivia, awards were also presented to the winners of the 2020 edition, which was held completely online.
The Best International Feature Film was MES CHERS ESPIONS, by French-based Russian filmmaker Vladimir Léon.
The Best International Youth Feature was NIÑA MAMÁ, by Argentina’s Andrea Testa.
The award for Best Latin American Children’s Short Film went to NAPO, by Brazilian director Gustavo Ribeiro.
UNOFFICIAL AWARDS
EXPLORA EL CINE
The sixth edition of the Explora el Cine Micro Movie Contest is organized within the framework of FICValdivia, between the Valdivia Cultural Center for Film Promotion and PAR Explora Los Ríos, of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge, and Innovation.
28 works participated this year, coming from all the municipalities in Los Ríos Region: of these, nine micro movies were selected, all of them under the theme of this version: “My Story, My Rights”, which focused on the rights of children and teens against abuse and discrimination.
The winning micro movie was GUARDIÁN, by Andrei Alexandru Mancilla Gheorghe, from Valdivia.
The jury also awarded an honorable mention to the work HOGAR, DULCE HOGAR!, by Sofía Esparza Sandoval, from Mariquina.
THIRD MUSIC COMPOSITION CONTEST FOR HERITAGE SHORT FILMS
The winning composition was BLUES FOR AQUILES, by Francisco Núñez Palacios, who received CLP 500,000, from Qué Leo Bookstore, in Valdivia. An Honorable Mention was also awarded to PRIMAVERA, by Aníbal Rodríguez Torres.
FICValdivia is funded and organized by Universidad Austral de Chile; produced by the Valdivia Cultural Center for Film Promotion; convened by the Great City of Valdivia, the Los Ríos Regional Government, and Codeproval; financed by the Audiovisual Fund, the Collaborating Festivals Program of the Audiovisual Arts and Industry Council (Call 2021-2022), and the Collaborating Cultural Organizations Program of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage.
