“The Golden Dream” road movie tops Fenix Awards

PanARMENIAN.Net - Diego Quemada-Diez's The Golden Dream (La Jaula de Oro), a road movie about Central American immigrants, won best picture at the Fenix Awards, a new ceremony honoring the best in Latin American and Iberian cinema.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, some of the biggest names in Spanish- and Portuguese-language film walked the red carpet Thursday, Oct 30 night, including Gael Garcia Bernal (Amores Perros), Alice Braga (City of God), Mia Maestro (The Motorcycle Diaries) and Eugenio Derbez (Instructions Not Included).

E! Entertainment Television aired a live transmission of the event from Mexico City. Best director and screenplay went to Mexico's Amat Escalante for his brutal drug war drama Heli, which earned him best director at Cannes.

Another Cannes title and Fenix winner for best actor was Argentine cult director Lisandro Alonso's Land of Plenty (Jauja), which features Viggo Mortensen as a 19th-century army captain searching for his lost daughter in the wilds of Patagonia. Mortensen spoke a perfect Spanish while giving his acceptance speech.

Brazil's Leandra Leal walked away with best actress for her performance in the Brazilian crime drama Wolf at the Door (O Lobo Atras da Porta).

Many attending the event had stamps of a red (symbolizing blood) Mexico on their hands to protest the disappearance of 43 students who went missing a month ago and are feared dead after clashing with police in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero.

Actors Daniel Gimenez Cacho and Maribel Verdu kicked off the ceremony reading a complete list of the disappeared, and throughout the ceremony actors and filmmakers used the podium to demand justice for the missing students.

Association Cinema 23 created the Fenix Awards to promote cinema from Latin America, Spain and Portugal.