Miami Film Festival Selections Earn Recognition in Mexico’s 58th Ariel Awards Nominations
A Monster With a Thousand Heads actress Jana Raluy
Here at Miami Film Festival, we pride ourselves on bringing you the best of world cinema, with a special focus on Ibero-American programming. So it’s no surprise to see that two of our acclaimed Mexican films that screened at the 2016 Festival are receiving the recognition they deserve at the 58th Ariel Awards, Mexico’s version of the Academy Awards.
2016 Festival title A Monster With a Thousand Heads made a strong showing in the nominations, earning 7 nods, including Best Picture.
Rodrigo Plá’s A Monster With a Thousand Heads is about what happens when people are driven to the brink of insanity due to social injustices, and the length one will go to protect their family. When Sonia (Jana Raluy) finds out that her husband has terminal cancer, she immediately enlists the help of their insurance company to make sure he gets the treatment he’ll need. Even though his condition is severe and seems to be worsening, his insurance company refuses to green-light his request to undertake a new treatment. This triggers a series of increasingly violent and extreme events, as Sonia goes to whatever lengths necessary to save her husband. Utterly intense and ripe with socio-political commentary, A Monster With A Thousand Heads is a timely film that needs to be experienced. The tremendous Jana Raluy, who joined us at this year’s Festival in support of the intense Mexican thriller, was also nominated for Best Actress.
Another Festival title that received nominations is I Promise You Anarchy, an LGBT drama about young lovers and skateboarders Johnny and Miguel, who are desperate to escape their current life. When they get a hot tip that promises quick and easy money, it seems like things are finally looking up for them — until the deal goes horribly wrong.
I Promise You Anarchy earned two Ariel Award nominations, including Best Director for our 2016 Festival guest Julio Hernández Cordón, and Best Cinematography for Maria Secco, who participated in our Google Seminar Series on Gender & Racial Gaps in Film & Tech.
Lastly, our 2015 Festival title, Sand Dollars, received three nominations.
Sand Dollars tells the story of Noelia (Yanet Mojica), a beautiful young Dominican girl who is involved in a love-for-money relationship with Anne (Geraldine Chaplin), an older wealthy French woman.
Geraldine Chaplin recieved a Best Actress nomination for her powerful performance, putting her up against Jana Raluy for A Monster With a Thousand Heads. Sand Dollars also raked in nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Breakthrough Female Performance for Yanet Mojica.
If you missed these unforgettable films during their Miami Film Festival premieres, you have yet another opportunity to catch them. A Monster With a Thousand Heads is being released in the U.S. on May 11th; I Promise You Anarchy will next screen in Miami on April 24th at the Miami Beach Cinematheque as part of the MiFo LGBT Film Festival; and Sand Dollars is now available on Netflix, VOD and DVD.
Check out the full list of Ariel Awards nominations.
