Premios Ariel

I’m No Longer Here / Ya no estoy aquí by Fernando Frías was the big winner at the 62nd edition of the Ariel Awards, presented by the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences, winning 10 of the 13 awards for which it was nominated including Best Film and Best Director, and Breakthrough Performance for its protagonist Juan Daniel García.

Frías’s second feature follows a street gang from Monterrey named “Los Terkos.” Spending their days listening to slowed-down cumbia music, attending dance parties, and showing off their outfits, hairstyles, and gang alliances, the members call themselves Kolombianos for their mix of cholo culture with Colombian music. Ulises, their leader, tries to protect his friends from a quickly evolving drug-political war, but after a misunderstanding with a local cartel he’s forced to migrate to New York City. There he tries to assimilate, but when Ulises learns that his gang and the whole Kolombia culture is under threat, he questions his place in America and longs to return home.

The film also won the Ariel Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Original Script, Best Production Design, Best Editing, Best Make-up, Best Sound, and Best Costume Design.

Other winners include David Zonana’ Workforce / Mano de obra for Best First Film and Best Actor; Flor Edwarda Gurrola for Best Actress for her performace in Luciérnagas, Marcela Arteaga’s The Guardian of Memory / El guardián de la memoria for Best Documentary; Alejandro Springall’s Sonora for Best Adapted Screenplay; José Manuel Cravioto’s Olimpia for Best Animated Film; and Kenya Márquez’s Asfixia for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

In the short film categories the winners were Nuria Menchaca’s Dalia Sigue Aquí for Best Animated Short, Juan Carlos Rulfo’s Lorena, la de Pies Ligeros for Best Documentary Short, and Astrid Domínguez’s Las desaparecidas for Best Fiction Short. The winners were announced last night in a broadcast ceremony with the winners joining in online to accept their awards.