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Cineteca Nacional presented FICM’ s winning short films

Araceli Calva translated by Cindy Hawes

The films included La mina de oro (The Gold Mine), by Jacques Bonnavent, Best Fiction Short Film; Ponkina, by Beatriz Herrera, Best Animated Short Film; El venado y la niebla (The Deer and the Fog), by Miguel Ángel Ventura, Studio 5 de Mayo Special Award, and Busco Empleo (Looking for a Job), by Paco Valle, which received a Special Mention.

During the presentation, some of the young directors discussed the processes involved in making their respective works.

La mina de oro is about Betina, a woman in her fifties who finds love through the Internet and decides to leave her monotonous life to go meet her virtual fiancé on the other side of the country.

Ponkina follows the story of a little girl who leaves her home to take a walk in the forest. She finds a cat hidden in the bush and after a while convinces it to come out of hiding and takes it home, without realizing the problems this will cause.

Beatriz Herrera, the director, said this short came from the heart. One day she drew a picture of the character and then wrote a story with her love of animals in mind.

El venado y la niebla is a story about Martin, an unlucky deer hunter. He lacks skill so resorts to the old ways to get what he wants. He follows the legend of the deer’ s stone, and unleashes a host of misfortunes that affect him and those around him.

In Busco empleo, Mariana searches for employment after having been recently fired from her job where she had worked for 10 years. She idealizes the corporate world and wants to be a part of it. During the interview, she comes to realize that this world is built on lies and hypocrisy.

The short’ s cinematographer, Vidblaín Balvás, representing director Paco Valle who died four months ago, said that elaborating this work was a titanic job. Although they lacked funds, they were able to finish thanks to the team’ s effort and the ingenuity of the late director.