CubaPLUS Magazine

Glauber Rocha: excellence award of new Latin American cinema

By: Prensa Latina service
Dec 16, 2017
Glauber Rocha: excellence award of new Latin American cinema

The Prensa Latina (PL) agency and foreign journalists accredited to the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema will give the Glauber Rocha Award to one of the movies in competition in the film festival underway in the Cuban capital. This prize, which will be announced next Thursday at the 39th Havana festival, was established 32 years ago -in 1985-, with the aim of encouraging the movement of the new Latin American cinema, which burst with singular force in the 1960s proposing a search for a decolonized visual image. Inspired by the memory of Brazilian filmmaker Glauber Rocha, one of the pioneers of the moviemaking movement in the region, this prize given by Prensa Latina awards the fiction feature film that shows the social reality of Latin America, with a high degree of rigor and artistic authenticity. At a meeting promoted by PL, correspondents from several international media will select the film that deserves a certificate and work of art by a renowned Cuban plastic artist. Argentina’s Fernando Birri and Mexican Arturo Ripstein stand out among the winners of the Glauber Rocha Award since it was established. They were given the prize in 1985 and 1996, respectively, for their cinematographic works.

Directors Víctor Gaviria from Colombia and Chilean Andrés Wood have two awards to their credit; the former with Rodrigo D-No Futuro (1990) and La vendedora de rosas (1998); and the latter with Machuca (2004) and Violeta se fue a los cielos (2012). Brazilians Suzana Amaral (La hora de la estrella, 1986); Fernando Meirelles (Ciudad de dios, 2002); and Héctor Babenco (Carandirú, 2003) have also been awarded. Other winners of the Glauber Rocha prize include Mexican filmmakers Luis Carlos Carrera (La mujer de Benjamín, 1991); María Novaro (El jardín del Edén, 1994); Jorge Fons (El callejón de los milagros, 1995); Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores perros, 2000); and Diego Quemada (La jaula de oro, 2013). From Argentina, Fernando Solanas (El viaje, 1992); Lita Stantic (Un muro de silencio, 1993); Adolfo Aristarain (Martin (Hache), 1997); Marcos Bechis (Garaje Olimpo, 1999); and Damín Szifrón (Relatos salvajes, 2014) have won the award. The list of award-winners also includes Venezuelan directors Alberto Arvelo (Una casa con vista al mar, 2001); and Román Chalbaud (El Caracazo, 2005); and Cubans Pavel Giroud (La edad de la peseta, 2006) and Ian Padrón (Habanastation, 2011). The list of winners of the Glauber Rocha is completed by Chicano filmmaker Cheek Marín (Vivir en Los ángeles, 1987); Peruvian Francisco Lombardi (La boca del lobo, 1988); Bolivian Jorge Sanjines (La nación clandestina, 1989); and Uruguayans Enrique Fernández and Cesar Charlone (El baño del Papa, 2007). The prize was not awarded in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2016. Award-winning Brazilian filmmaker Glauber Rocha (1939-1981) was an influential director, actor and screenwriter, known especially for the impact on Latin American filmmaking for his trilogy Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol (1964), Terra em Transe (1967) and Antonio Das Mortes (1969). He was the author of several full-length feature films and shorts and is considered one of the best Brazilian directors of all time. He led the Cinema Novo movement, of significant influence in the region. He won various awards for his magnificent work and died on August 22, 1981, at the age of 42.

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