Antonio Mendez Esparza’s Spanish emigration drama, Aqui y alla, won the 2019 Critics’ Week top award, at the Cannes Film Fest.
“Aqui y alla,” Esparza’s feature debut, centers on a man who returns to his mountain village in Mexico after having lived in the U.S. for years and struggles to reclaim his place in society.
The picture is produced by Aqui y Alli in Spain and Torch Films in the U.S. New French sales agent Alpha Violet is handling international sales.
The film was chosen by a jury headed by French helmer Bertrand Bonello.
The new Visionary Prize, backed by pubcaster France 4, went to Bulgarian Ilian Metev’s “Sofia’s Last Ambulance,” a darkly-comedic documentary following three overworked paramedics in Sofia, a city of more than 2 million people where there are only a dozen ambulances.
The docu sheds light on Burgaria’s crumbling medical system. It is produced by Sia, in association with Chaconna Films, Sutor Kolonko and Nukleus Film.
The Visionary jury was headed by French director Celine Sciamma and was made up of young film critics.
The ACID/CCAS support for distribution was awarded to “The Wild Ones,” the directorial debut of Argentinean screenwriter Alejandro Fadel, who co-wrote Pablo Trapero’s “White Elephant.”
A platform for emerging talents, this year’s Critics’ Week was the first under the new artistic director Charles Tesson. Only selecting first and second films, Critics’ Week has discovered numerous helmers, notably Olivier Assayas and Jeff Nichols, whose “Take Shelter” won last year’s Critics’ Week Grand Prize. Nichols’ second film, “Mud,” screens in Cannes Fest’s Main Competition on Saturday.
