This month, the Ajaccio Spanish and Latin American Film Festival reached the ripe old age of 22 and, from 15-22 February, celebrated a week dedicated entirely to Spanish-language cinema. The gathering, organised by the Latinità Association (chaired by Marie-Claire Lucena) in the Corsican capital’s Espace Diamant, welcomed a selection of 17 features that offered an overview of current film output from both Spain and Latin America, clearly geared towards mainstream audiences.

As is customary, the festival’s competition included a varied selection of genres and countries of origin, from Spain (Champions [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] by Javier Fesser, Jean-François and the Meaning of Life [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] by Sergi Portabella and Petra [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Jaime Rosales
scheda film] by Jaime Rosales), through Cuba (Candelaria [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Jhonny Hendrix Hinestroza
scheda film] by Jhonny Hendrix Hinestroza), to Argentina (My Masterpiece [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Gastón Duprat
scheda film] by Gastón Duprat) and Uruguay (A Twelve-Year Night [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Álvaro Brechner
scheda film] by Álvaro Brechner). The professional jury tasked with handing out the event’s main award, comprising French actor-director Thomas Chabrol (the son of Claude Chabrol), and Corsicans Patrizia Poli (actress-musician), Dominique Tiberi (producer-screenwriter-director), Lavinie Boffy (screenwriter-director-playwright) and Jean-Laurent Albertini (painter), decided to plump for the most political and moving film of all, A Twelve-Year Night.

The festival also displays a clear will to educate its guests, as it works in close collaboration with the University of Corsica and reserves a special spot for students. Once again this year, a student jury was formed and gave out their award, which also went to the movie about the period that José Mujica and his comrades Mauricio Rosencof and Eleuterio Fernández Huidobro spent in captivity during the Uruguayan military dictatorship.

The other big buzz-generating title at this edition was the recent Goya winner by Javier Fesser, Champions, which, as widely expected, scooped the Audience Award as well as the prize handed out by the CCAS (Activités Sociales de l’Energie de Corse) jury.

The festival, an event that seeks to strengthen cultural ties between Corsica and Spanish-speaking countries, also screened several features out of competition, complete with special presentations, such as the documentary on the victims of the Franco dictatorship The Silence of Others [+leggi anche:
recensione
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intervista: Almudena Carracedo, Esther…
scheda film] by Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar, among others.

Here is the complete list of award winners:

Professional Jury Award 
A Twelve-Year Night [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Álvaro Brechner
scheda film] – Álvaro Brechner (Uruguay/Spain/Argentina/France/Germany)

Student Jury Award 
A Twelve-Year Night – Álvaro Brechner

CCAS Jury Award
Champions [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] – Javier Fesser (Spain)

Audience Award 
Champions – Javier Fesser