The Americas Film Festival NY Announced the Winners of Its 2020 Virtual Cinema

Thousands tuned in June 25-29, 2020 for the 7th annual The Americas Film Festival New York (www.TAFFNY.com), as it took the stories of Americas online in its first ever virtual festival. In addition to digital screenings of major feature films and documentaries, TAFFNY's Virtual Cinema presented 28 short films, selected from over 200 submissions from independent filmmakers and top film schools of the Americas, to compete in its Americas Film Festival Short Films Competition. On Sunday, June 28, TAFFNY announced The Americas Award Winners in a virtual Closing Night Ceremony that broke record numbers in attendance.

Special thanks go to the exceptional members of our Jury; in the documentary and animation categories: Marisol Gonzalez and Alvaro Baquero. In Fiction and Experimental: Carlos Velasquez, Marina Fernandez and Federico Guaracio.

CAMBIA TUTTO by Ana Mouyis (USA / Italy) won The Americas Award for Best Short Experimental for "It's ability to make a wise use of the cinematographic medium, capable of poetically summarizing the beauty of a magical land like Italy where everything changes while remaining crystallized in an eternal present."

Best Short Animation was awarded to Argentine film IAN, UNA HISTORIA QUE NOS MOVILIZARÁ (IAN A MOVING STORY) Abel Goldfarb "for the way its layered and impactful messages are delivered through expert animation and storytelling, and the importance of sharing these messages of diversity and inclusion in the cannon of Latin American children's film."

Best Short Documentary went to ESPERÁBAMOS A QUE ANOCHECIERA (WE WAIT UNTIL NIGHTFALLS) by Wendy Muñiz and Guillermo Zouain (Dominican Republic) "for the way it captures a collective history through personal reflection and serves as a visual archive of something that is close to all of us- movie theaters."

Argentine production HAY COCA (COCA HERE) by Jose Issa won Best Short Fiction "for its beautiful cinematography and masterful acting, in addition, for showing a magical aspect of the traditional Andean life linked to coca leaves. This wonderful journey to the core of the Andes way of life, in the midst of a repressive dictatorship, is a tribute to friendship and life itself."

A Special Jury Mention was awarded to the short animated film GIRASOL by Maria Victoria Sánchez (Venezuela) and to the short fiction film AFTER THE BEEP by Florian Bison (Germany / USA).

TAFFNY Closing Night was presented in partnership with the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), and following The Americas Award Ceremony was the NY Premiere of SISTERS RISING, a powerful documentary that tells the story of six Native American women fighting to restore personal and tribal sovereignty in the face of ongoing sexual violence against Indigenous women in the United States. Directors Willow O'Feral and Brad Heck, and producer Jaida Grey Eagle answered audience questions after the film in a live-streamed Q&A moderated by Justin Mugits, Program Specialist at NMAI.

The seventh edition of The Americas Film Festival New York gave its audience the opportunity to enjoy and celebrate the rich diversity of the stories, languages, and cultures of the Americas from the comfort of their room. Its Virtual Cinema ran June 25-29, 2020, and the Festival presented six feature films and 28 short films of exceptional quality online and free of charge. TAFFNY is a cultural initiative of the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Center for Worker Education of the City College of New York (CCNY) and the collaboration of prestigious institutions such as the NY Cervantes Institute, the National Museum of the American Indian and media sponsor Telemundo 47, with the purpose of creating a cinematographic appreciation space focused on multiculturalism, diversity and new societies around Las Americas, as well as to encourage the work of new film directors. TAFFNY's Executive Director is CCNY-CWE's Dean Juan Carlos Mercado and its Artistic Director is film programmer and producer Diana Vargas.

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