After nine full days of screenings and in a totally unpublished edition, the International Film Festival of the Heights came to an end, but before The sidewalk tells you who were the big winners of the traditional meeting.

Through an online gala ceremony, artistic director Daniel Desaloms said that this edition was “the result of the 6 years of work, maintaining the main objective of promoting, spread and support Andean cinema, our cinematography and industry ”and added that this year“ we found a way to provide continuity, adapting to the unfortunate context of the global pandemic that we are going through. It was an edition that allowed us to reach the countries, we managed to fall in love, get to know each other and feel part of this continent, with the stories and testimonies collected by its directors and directors ".

On the other hand, the artistic co-director Marcelo Pont said that it was “a wonderful festival” where “we were able to reflect and analyze various topics with the three film meetings that we carried out with great and prestigious workers of the film industry. As well also, the academic activities that are the added value to continue training filmmakers in the industry ".

Winners list

Andes Awards

As in all editions, the Festival delivered the Andes awards to the best film productions in the region, then, we review the juries and winners of the official competitions:

The International Competition of Fiction Feature Films had Miguel Ferrari as a jury, Juan Bautista Stagnaro and Julia Solomonoff, who after a difficult task, they chose the winning films.

The film that won the top prize in this competition was "The Sleepwalkers" by Argentine director Paula Hernández. In addition to the statuette, the film won an award from 200 A thousand pesos.

further, its director was awarded the Andes award for Best Direction for her work in this film.

Another Andes award that this film won was for one of its protagonists, Ornella D’Elía who was recognized as the best actress of this edition.

The Chilean production "Araña" also obtained outstanding awards, was awarded as Best Script and Best Photography Direction of this edition.

In regards to the best male performance, The jury awarded the award to Argentine actor Diego Velázquez, for his work in "El maestro".

further, the jury decided to give two special mentions: one for the film “Hogar” by Maura Delpero and another for the Colombian production “Una madre” by Diógenes Cuevas.

The International Documentary Feature Film Competition had Fernando Spiner as a jury, Judith Vélez and Álvaro de la Barra, who decided to award a shared prize to the best documentary of the edition to: "Sacachún" by the Ecuadorian director Gabriel Páez and "Juan" by the Venezuelan director Adrián Geyer.

further, The jury awarded a special mention to “La Vuelta de San Perón” by Carlos Muller.

The jury of the NOA Short Competition had Javier Rodríguez as president, who, with Aldana Loiseau and Juan Pablo Di Bitonto, they chose as the best short film in the region “El florecer de un bombisto” by Nicolás Stefanazzi. In this case, the monetary award was 90 A thousand pesos.

Another of the shorts that the jury distinguished was “Viento Norte” by Jujuy director Daniel Biondi, who was awarded a Special Mention.

Like every year the public also voted and chose their favorite productions of each competition, thus the films that received the Audience Award were: Bolivian "Strong" fiction by Oscar Salazar and Franco Traverso, “Sembradoras de vida” Peruvian documentary by the brothers Diego and Álvaro Sarmiento and “El florecer de un bombisto” short film by Nicolás Stefanazzi (Santiago del Estero).

Institution Awards

In addition to the Andes awards, during the award ceremony, the institutions that support the Festival also chose their winners.

The General Society of Authors of Argentina (ARGENTORES) chose as the best script in the international fiction feature film competition “Los sonámbulos” by Paula Hernández, giving him a plaque and 50.000 Argentine pesos.

The SAGAI Foundation, recognized Marta Lubos with the award for the best female performance for the film “Hogar” and Diego Velázquez for his work in “El maestro”. Both received the Patacón award and 25 A thousand pesos.

The Argentine Association of Audiovisual Editors (EDA) awarded Valeria Racioppi for her work in “Planta Permanente” as the best montage in an international fiction competition, and to Gabriel Páez Hernández and Isabel Rodas León for their montage in the documentary "Sacachún".

The winning film of the Argentine Association of Art Directors award went to “Los somnambulos” by Paula Hernández, with the art direction of Ailí Chen. At the same time, awarded a special mention to “Una madre” by Diógenes Cuevas with the art direction of Camila Agudelo.

Meanwhile, the Association of Directors and Producers of Independent Documentary Film of Argentina chose as the best documentary “Liliana Bodoc, the mother of the confines ”by director Diego Ávalos.

In both ADF (Of Cinematographers Argentina) They awarded a diploma to “Araña” for the best cinematographic direction in the fiction feature film competition. further, They gave special mentions to "The Sleepwalkers" and "La Botara" by Sabrina Blanco.

The Association of Cinematographic Chroniclers of Argentina chose "La Botara" as the best Argentine film in international competitions.

The Jujuy Film Commission and Stratford Languaje Solutions awarded two prizes for subtitling in English for the short films from Jujuy that participated in the NOA Shorts competition of this 6th edition, rewarding a: "North Wind” by Daniel Biondi and “Guanuqueando” by Francisco Vila and María Zinn.

It should be noted that the winning films for the best film of each official competition will be available on the Festival website throughout Sunday. 20 to close the 6th. Edition with a luxury programming. Movies will be enabled: "The sleepwalkers" by Paula Hernández, "Sacachún" by Gabriel Páez, “Juan” by Adrián Geyer and the short film “El florecer de un bombisto” by Nicolás Stefanazzi.