Panamanian Félix “Trillo” Guardia’s debut function documentary “The Sorcerer: Julio Zachrisson” (“El Brujo”), who had his world premiere in IFF Panama, chopped the prestigious audience prize from the festival “Pepe” “Sujo” and Venice “Sujo” and Winer “and Winer” and Winer “and Winer” and Winer “and Winer” and Winer “and Winer” and Winer “and Winer” and Winer “and Winer” and Winer “and Winer” and Winer “and Winer” and Winer “and Winer” and Winer “and Winer” and Winer ” Venice Winer “Sujo” and Venice winer “Sujo” and Venice winer “Sujo” and Venice winer “Sujo”.
Produced by Tomás Cortés from Cine Animal and supported by Panama’s Ministry of Culture, weaves the film animation, archive images and interviews to trace the personal journey of Guardia, fed by his childhood memories of provocative Panamanian artist Julio Zachrisson’s strange artworks.
News also broke during the festival that the ‘Sugar Island’ by Dominican Johanné Gómez, which participated in the Audience Award, had sold all North American rights to Artmattan Prods. By his sales agent, Patra Spanou. Gómez’s award-winning feature debut, a docu fiction hybrid, turns around Makenya, a Dominican-Haitian teenager from a slum for sugar cane workers, whose non-planned pregnancy forces her to grow up.
Guardia said his thanks to IFF Panama and his audience for the honor: “Receiving the audience prize is a dream come true for our entire team.”
“As I gazed upon the faces in the crowd, I confirmed what I knew to be true in my heart: following one’s calling—no matter how insane it might seem—is the path to creating something that truly connects. To me, that is the greatest reward a filmmaker, or any artist, can receive,” he told VarietyAdding: “As a Latin -American and Panamanian, I believe that our stories – rich, raw and urgent – are heard and preserved. Art has the power to build bridges and to defy time.”
“We devote this prize to the memory of Julio Zachrisson – our friend, mentor and an extraordinary artist. We hope that ‘El Brujo’ will continue to travel, touch hearts and bring the audience closer to the powerful legacy of this remarkable person,” he continued.
The industrial part of the festival also handed out the long -awaited cash prizes during the closing of 6 April, including new cash prizes for Panamanian projects of the National Film Institute of the Land, Dicine, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture.
Vice -Minister of Culture Arianne Benedetti, who leads new initiatives for local cinema, came on stage to present a certificate for $ 5,000 to Martin Proaño for his mysterious drama ‘Cabeza de Ratón’, who participated in the Primera Mirada section).
Panama’s Xochil Vergara, whose mother-daughter drama in post “Nosotras Las Niñas” participated in the Women-oriented Su Mirada (her appearance) section, took $ 5,000 home, while Mariel García Spooner won $ 3,000 for her film in development, “Alma”, also in Su Mirada.
“We come forward with many initiatives, with a new law and a stronger, more empowered industry – not only for foreigners who come to Panama, but most important for the Panamania productions. We bet on success,” said Benedetti.
The Primera Mirada Jury, led by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Gregory Nava (“El Norte”, “Selena”), selected “Nosotros”, the feature debut of Guatemalan Joaquin Ruano. Drama concentrates on a bored Tuk-Tuk driver who leaves his family in the highlands to work in the city. There he works as a guard and he meets Nubia, an older transwoman. Their impossible relationship leads to his death and Nubia is now confronted with the test to bring back the body of the man she loved to his abandoned wife and child.
Alejandro Alonso from Cuba won the secondary Primera Mirada price for his debut function, “Bahia Honda”, who focuses on Pitufo, a young Cuban who dreams of escaping the remote bay where he spends his days with the dismantling of ships on fire and metal. In search of freedom, he ventures at the shiphof of the ship where his plans start to take shape.
Female filmmakers from the Dominican Republic, who have contributed the most projects to the sections of the festival, Hoezed Prices in both the development and post-production categories of Su Mirada.
These were documentaries “Yubarta” by Nayibe Tavares-alabel in the development category and “Niñas Escarlata” by Paula Cury Melo, in Post.
Praised by the SU Mirada jury under the leadership of film industry Strategist Renee Robinson for “linking migration and cyclical striving for a better future and the use of the poetic symbolism of the migrating bultruggen to connect ancestors”, “Yubarta” the Doma-Ab. Tavares-alable is planning to use Stop Motion Animation to tell the story of the migration trial of her ancestor.
“Niñas Escarlata” by Paula Cury Melo portrays the intimate stories of women who experience forced motherhood and clandestine abortion in the Dominican Republic, where abortion remains illegal without exceptions.
The 13th IFF Panama ran from 3-6 April.