The Brazilian film Neon Bull by Gabriel Mascaro was the winner of the top award for Best Latin American Film of the Year at the 7th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards, which were announced this evening at a special event at The New York Times Company headquarters.

The Mexican film Tempestad by Tatiana Huezo was named Best Latin American Documentary Film of the Year, while the feature film Santa Teresa and Other Stories directed by the Dominican filmmaker Nelson Carlo de los Santos was the winner of the award for Best First Film. The Cinema Tropical Award for Best U.S. Latino Film Year was for Bernardo Britto’s Jacqueline (Argentine), and the jury decided to give a Special Mention to the documentary film Los Sures by Diego Echeverría.

Two Mexican filmmakers were the winners for Best Director of the Year: Arturo Ripstein won the award for Best Director of a Fiction Film for Bleak Street, while Maya Goded, was the winner of the award for Best Director of a Documentary Film for Plaza de la Soledad. 

The non-profit media arts organization Cinema Tropical also announced that New York audiences will have the chance to see some of the award-winning and nominated films as they will be showcased as part of the Cinema Tropical Festival to take place on February 24-26 2017 at Museum of the Moving Image.

The winners of this year’s Cinema Tropical Awards were selected by a jury panel composed by Carlos Aguilar, film critic and journalist; Fábio Andrade, film critic and screenwriter; Ela Bittencourt, film critic and programmer; Eric Hynes, Associate Curator of Film, Museum of the Moving Image; Toby Lee, film scholar, NYU; Ruth Somalo, Associate Programmer, DOC NYC; Michael Gibbons, Director of Digital Platforms, Film Society of Lincoln Center; Manuel Betancourt, film critic and journalist; Cynthia López, film creative strategist and Former Commissioner, NYC Mayors Office of Media and Entertainment.


All the films under consideration for this year's edition of the Cinema Tropical Awards had a minimum of 60 minutes in length and premiered between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016.

The Cinema Tropical Awards are presented in partnership with The New York Times Company’s Latino Network, and Museum of the Moving Image, and are made possible with the support of Vilma Vale-Brennan, and the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York. Hotel Sponsor: Hôtel Americano. Wine Sponsor: Wines of Chile. Beer Sponsor: Cusqueña. Special thanks to Andrea Betanzos, Clementina Mantellini, Mara Behrens, Tatiana García-Altagracia, and Carlos Rossini.  Cinema Tropical’s programs are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. 

About Cinema Tropical and the Cinema Tropical Awards:
New York-based Cinema Tropical (CT) is the leading presenter of Latin American cinema in the U.S. Founded by Carlos A. Gutiérrez and Monika Wagenberg in 2001 with the mission of distributing, programming and promoting what was to become the biggest boom of Latin American cinema in decades, CT brought U.S. audiences some of the first screening of films such as Amores Perros and Y Tu Mamá También. Through a diversity of programs and initiatives, CT is thriving as a dynamic and groundbreaking 501(c)(3) non-profit media arts organization experimenting in the creation of better and more effective strategies for the distribution and exhibition of foreign cinema in this country.  The Cinema Tropical AWARDS were created in 2010 to honor excellence in Latin American filmmaking, and it is the only international award entirely dedicated to honoring the artistry of recent Latin American cinema. In its inaugural year, the Awards were given to the Ten Best Latin American Films of the Aughts. 


COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS
AT THE 7th ANNUAL CINEMA TROPICAL AWARDS:

•    Best Feature Film:Neon Bull (Boi Neon, Gabriel Mascaro, Brazil)
•    Best Documentary Film: Tempestad (Tatiana Huezo, Mexico) 
•    Best First Fiction Film: Santa Teresa and Other Stories (Santa Teresa y otras historias, Nelson Carlo de los Santos, Dominican Republic/Mexico)
•    Best Director, Feature Film:Arturo Ripstein, Bleak Street (La calle de la amargura, Mexico) 
•    Best Director, Documentary Film: Maya Goded, Plaza de la Soledad (Mexico)
•    Best U.S. Latino Film: Jacqueline (Argentine) (Bernardo Britto, USA)
•    Special Mention, Best U.S. Latino Film: Los Sures (Diego Echeverría, USA) 
 

For more information visit
www.cinematropical.com/awards7

Pictured above: Neon Bull by Gabriel Mascaro. Photo courtesy of Kino Lorber.