Awards News

The story about three children set during Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship took home e5,000 ($7,923) in cash from France's Canal Arte in the Procuire au Sud section.

Benjamin Avila directed "Childhood," a followup to his 2004 documentary "Nietos (Identidad y memorial)" about people who lost family and friends during the dictatorship. Gema Juarez Allen produced "Childhood" through Habitacion 1520 Prods.

"Sentados frente al fuego" (Sitting by the Fire), a passing-of-age drama directed by Chilean Alejandro Fernandez Almendras, picked up first prize in the Co-Production Meetings Section, winning services from Kodak and Argentine post-house Cinecolor.

Helmer Diego Lerman's "La preceptora del nacional" (The Monitor), the tale of a school monitor in a high school in Buenos Aires, won second prize in the section. It was produced by Lerman and Nicolas Avruj's Campo Cine.

Work-in-progress prizes, also consisting of production services, went to Argentine features: Jose Luis Cancio's father-and-child documentary "La hormiga Argentina" (The Argentine Ant); Francisco Pedemonte's squatter drama "Las voces" (The Voices); and Julia Solomonoff's coming-into-puberty drama "El ultimo verano de La Boyita" (The Last Summer of La Boyita).

A special mention went to Chilean Cristian Leighton's docu "Kawase-san, una historia Japonesa" (Kawase-san, a Japanese Film).

The Nandu award for post-production went to Chilean Marcela Said's "El verano de los peces voladores" (The Summer of Flying Fish), a comedy about a man's quest to kill the fish in an artificial pond.