Last night’s Platino Awards in Madrid brought new recognitions for Chilean cinema! The Mole Agent by Maite Alberdi won two prizes while the actor Alfredo Castro won for his role in The prince by Sebastián Muñoz.
Maite Alberdi’s moving speech
We want to share the moving words that Maite Alberdi said when she received the Platinum Award for Cinema and Education in Values and then the award for Best Ibero-American Documentary. We firmly believe that his words reflect the importance of cinema and the impact that art has on our society.
Platinum Award for Cinema and Education in Values Speech
“The pandemic has highlighted the need to review our relationship with old age. When we were making The Mole Agent we realized that there was already a pandemic in nursing homes-- the pandemic of loneliness.”
“In our current society, life expectancy has increased, but not with it the desire to live. Art and cinema are one of the few spaces in society where people can be together to share and reflect on a common experience, even if that means seeing the world in radically different ways.”
“I hope that our documentary will be a source of inspiration for politicians and activists, so that we can defend a dignified and respected eldery community, where they are not relegated to oblivion, either in family or institutional settings. Thank you.”
Best Iberoamerican Documentary Speech
“Since we released The Mole Agent, many have asked us how we made the protagonists act or how they learned the script. And we had to clarify that all the experiences and stories that we see on the screen are real. THEY ARE NOT ACTORS, THERE IS NO SCRIPT. THEY ARE REAL PEOPLE.
“Documentaries are films, just like any other, the only difference being that we work with reality as our raw material. The Mole Agent looks like a FICTION movie thanks to a talented team searching for new cinematographic forms: an editor who edited 300 hours of film, MATERIAL THAT WAS OBSERVATIONAL AND PAUSED, a cinematographer who spent 4 months patiently waiting for the action, a soundman who rescued every whispered word, a producer, Marcela who was able to co-produce WITH 5 countries and be a creative voice together. Above all, our co-producers gave universality to this story, each one trying to make it RESONATE in their own country.”
“Thank you very much, this award belongs to all of them, and I hope that tomorrow the barriers of film genres that separate documentary from fiction will be broken, and that any film can be nominated in the category in which they deserve to be in. So anyone can dream of winning their own Goya, Oscar or any other cinematographic award.”
Alfredo Castro sigue sumando reconocimientos
2021 has been a powerful year for Alfredo Castro, one of the most emblematic Chilean actors; a distinguished face of fiction series and of national and global cinema. During these months he has been honored in Toulouse and has won the award for Best Supporting Actor in Malága. Last night a new recognition was added: Platinum Award for Best Male Supporting Performance, for his role in The prince, by Sebastián Muñoz.
The film, based on a novel of the same name by the author Mario Cruz, brings us closer to prison reality. The award was received by Muñoz, who also read some words that Castro wrote in gratitude: “Thank you for this recognition that I receive with joy, on behalf of all who made The Prince possible. Grateful to Sebastián Muñoz, and to all my colleagues. I am grateful for this gathering of talents and sensibilities, multiple, multinational, joint, heterogeneous, portraying common and diverse realities. Our territories celebrate this meeting of humanity, creation, so necessary and loving ”.
This film is the first feature film by Muñoz, who has been an art director in films by Alicia Scherson and Pablo Larraín. The film was produced by El Otro Film (Chile) and Niña Niño Films (Chile) and co-produced by Le Tiro Films (Argentina) and Be Revolution Pictures (Belgium).
Esta cinta es el primer largometraje de Muñoz, quien ha sido director de arte en películas de Alicia Scherson y Pablo Larraín. El filme fue producido El Otro Film (Chile)y NiñaNiño Films (Chile) y coproducida por Le tiro Films (Argentina) y Be Revolution Pictures (Bélgica).
