For the second time, the Cinema Tropical Awards presented a prize for Best U.S. Latino Film Year and the jury decided to give the award to two films, also NALIPsters, Las Marthas by Cristina Ibarra, and Purgatorio: Journey into the Heart of the Border by Rodrigo Reyes. 

The Uruguayan film The Militant by Manuel Nieto Zas was the winner of the top award for Best Latin American Film of the Year at the 5th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards which were announced this evening at a special event at The New York Times Company headquarters.

The Mexican film Coffee (Chants of Smoke) by Hatuey Viveros was named Best Latin American Documentary Film of the Year, while the Chilean film The Quispe Girls by Sebastián Sepúlveda was awarded with the prize for Best First Film. 

Argentinean filmmaker Gustavo Fontán received the award for Best Director of a Fiction Film for The Face, while filmmakers Camila José Donoso and Nicolas Videla from Chile, were the winner of the award for Best Director of a Documentary Film for Naomi Campbel.

Philip Klint, news anchor at NY1 Noticias, served as MC for the event, which had the attendance of some of the award-winning and nominated filmmakers including Hatuey Viveros, Rodrigo Reyes, Yolanda Pividal, Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini.

The non-profit media arts organization Cinema Tropical also announced that New York audiences will have the chance to see the award-winning films as they will be showcased as part of the Cinema Tropical Festival to take place on February 6-8, 2015 at the Museum of the Moving Image.

The winners of this year’s Cinema Tropical Awards were selected by a jury panel composed by Daniela Alatorre, producer, Morelia Film Festival; Gustavo Beck, filmmaker and film programmer; Marcela Goglio, film programmer; Lucila Moctezuma, Executive Producing Director UnionDocs; Tamir Muhammad, Director Content and Artists Development for Time Warner; Rachael Rakes, film programmer; José Rodriguez, Manager, Documentary Programming, Tribeca Film Institute; Bernardo Ruiz, filmmaker; and Naief Yehya, film and culture critic, writer. 

The Cinema Tropical Awards are presented in partnership with The New York Times Company’s Latino Network, the Museum of the Moving Image, and National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), and are made possible with the support of the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York and the Embassy of Chile. Media Sponsor: Remezcla. Hotel Sponsor: Hôtel Americano. Wine Sponsor: Wines of Chile. 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. Special thanks to Mara Behrens and Fabián Caballero.

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.