'Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building' Wins Top Prize at Morelia

By Elena Vasquez

Bruno Santamaría Razo's fiction debut "Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building" ("Seis meses en el edificio rosa con azul") has won the top Ojo award at the 24th Morelia Film Festival (FICM), which closed October 25. The film also took the National Audience Award for fiction — a strong signal of its box office potential.

Morelia's international jury, led by J.A. Bayona ("Society of the Snow"), praised the coming-of-age drama for "courageously exploring the past, embracing pain and transforming it … into an expression of pure, unbound beauty." Variety hailed it as a "lush, poetic film rooted in memories." It was the first Mexican feature to compete at Cannes' Critics' Week in 20 years.

The film draws on the director's own life. It traces back to the year he turned eleven, when his father was diagnosed with HIV.

What did the rest of the juries decide?

Joaquín del Paso's "The Garden We Dreamed," about a Haitian family traveling north in search of a better future, won two prizes: a Special Mention and Best Cinematography for DP Gökhan Tiryaki. "Sad Girlz," a buzz title at the festival, took the Casa Wabis-Escine award for best debut feature. The jury lauded its "genuine performances" and "impeccable exploration of a young modern teen's life, with all its complexities and contradictions."

Nicolás Pereda won Best Director for the absurdist comedy "Everything Else Is Noise." Its lead, Teresa Sánchez ("Flies"), won the Best Actress Ojo for playing Tere, a cellist and composer whose colleague Rosa arranges her first television interview in her apartment. Sam Louwyck won Best Actor as a gay hairdresser in Nathalia Acevedo's "Beauty Salon," where his salon serves as a refuge for marginalized people. Santiago Maza, whose "Black Shine" ran in the short film competition, received the ECAM award — a scholarship for a Master's degree in distribution from Madrid's ECAM film school.

Who came to Morelia?

Cinépolis CEO and FICM president Alejandro Ramírez called the 24th edition a particularly Mexican celebration. Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, Carlos Reygadas, Jonás Cuarón, Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal, Demián Bichir, Diego Boneta and Luis Gerardo Méndez all attended. James Gray presented his crime drama "Paper Tiger." Bayona, the jury president, also presented "Beyond Society," a three-part documentary on the making of "Society of the Snow."

"I think the films this year represent the wide diversity of Mexican cinematic imagination," festival director Daniel Michel said. "Mexico is not a country one can easily summarize, but, rather, a vast territory with many differences which, I believe, our official selection has tried to gather in a single place." He added: "We're also very pleased to have had directors from very different backgrounds and identities who have brought their perspectives and very singular ideas on filmmaking to our festival."

Why did 'Naza' stun its audience?

Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor's documentary "Naza" — the word means collateral damage — played to a packed Teatro Matamoros and won the International Audience Award. At the 83rd Venice Film Festival it won the Special Jury Prize and a record-breaking standing ovation; in Morelia, it met stunned silence as the credits rolled. Festival VP Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Batel, who presented the screening, noted the Israeli filmmakers cannot return to their country after being accused of treason, and said such accusations by a "criminal government" are a source of pride for those working toward peaceful solutions. He called for an end to the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. Critic Alonso Díaz de la Vega described the film as "deeply moving" and said: "The most important thing this screening can inspire is not silence, but the words 'Free Palestine.'" The film opens in select Mexican theaters on October 22.

What did del Toro and Cuarón say?

Presenting the 3D re-release of "Pan's Labyrinth," Guillermo del Toro grew emotional at his press conference: "It pains me deeply to see one, two, or three generations fail the next. We're handing down a world in ruins, morally, socially and spiritually fractured, with the very fabric that once allowed us to tell fables and parables falling apart."

Under the FICM–Cannes Critics' Week partnership established in 2003, artistic director Ava Cahen presented eight films and one short from last May's sidebar, including Aina Clotet's "Viva," Alexander Murphy's "Tin Castle" and Zou Jing's "A Girl Unknown." Marking 200 years of Mexico-France diplomatic relations, French ambassador Delphine Borione awarded Alfonso Cuarón the insignia of Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters, calling him "one of the greatest filmmakers of our time." Cuarón described cinema as "not a narrative art, but a musical art," and, quoting Pascal Quignard, closed: "I do not believe art can ever be negative. It ignores negation because it ignores time."

Full list of Ojo winners

• Best Feature Film: "Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building," Bruno Santamaría Razo
• Special Mention: "The Garden We Dreamed," Joaquín del Paso
• Casa Wabis-Escine Best Debut Feature: "Sad Girlz," Fernanda Tovar
• Best Director: Nicolás Pereda, "Everything Else Is Noise"
• Best Screenplay: Joaquín Ruano, "Us"
• Best Cinematography: Gökhan Tiryaki, "The Garden We Dreamed"
• Best Actress: Teresa Sánchez, "Everything Else Is Noise"
• Best Actor: Sam Louwyck, "Beauty Salon"
• Best Documentary: "Forensita," Pablo Vaca
• Documentary Special Mention: "The Lost Mariachis," Francisco Ohem
• Best Fiction Short: "Cuerda Manual," Gustavo Obregón
• Fiction Short Special Mention: "Albatross," Amandine Thomas
• Best Documentary Short: "Voces en el bosque," Teresa Camous Guerrero, Arturo López Pio
• Documentary Short Special Mention: "Nadie recuerde ese film," Andrés Pulido Esteva
• Best Animated Short: "Cuna de lobos," Emilia Schettino Bustamante
• Animated Short Special Mention: "Cartas a los perdidos," Adriana Monteforte Lahera
• International Audience Award: "Naza," Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor
• National Audience Award: "Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building"
• Documentary Feature Audience Award: "Yātrā," Alejandro Rugama
• ECAM Award: Santiago Maza ("Black Shine")

Next year, FICM moves its dates back to the last week before the Day of the Dead and gears up for its 25th anniversary, promising major guests, bold retrospectives and a stellar lineup.