Mexican films triumph at Sundance

The most important independent film festival of the United States, Sundance , took place from January 23 to February 2, 2020 .

In the last edition of the festival founded by Robert Redford , the Mexican films Identifying Features and I Carry You With Me won two awards each.

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In Identifying Features , director, writer, and producer Fernanda Valadez portrays the painful issue of migrants disappearing on their way to the U.S. On her debut feature, Valadez traverses across a varied contemporary Mexican landscape stressing a contemplation of family and loss with fleeting moments of human connection, allowing one woman’s aching personal story to encapsulate the weight of a tremendous real-world humanitarian crisis.

Valadez’s short 400 Maletas was nominated for a Silver Ariel and a Student Academy Award . She produced Astrid Rondero's The Darkest Days of Us, a film supported by Tribeca Film Institute, Berlinale Talents , and Women in Film, which was nominated for two Silver Ariels. Identifying Features is her debut feature-length film as a director. As a producer, she is preparing Sujo , a new collaboration with Rondero.

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Valadez

and Rondero won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Screenplay .

Identifying Features

also won the Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic .

For its part, the film I Carry You With Me won the Audience Award: NEXT and the NEXT Innovator Award presented by Adobe.

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After co-directing many award-winning documentaries, many of which have screened at the Sundance Film Festival, Heidi Ewing returned with her solo directorial narrative debut . This bittersweet American Dream is based on an acclaimed New York City chef, whose cuisine pays homage to his beloved country. Lensed by the impressive and fast-rising Mexican cinematographer Juan Pablo Ramírez , Iván’s memory is rendered indelible, making Iván’s predicament of not being able to return to Mexico all the more disheartening. The film is a tender romance and a complicated journey beautifully captured.

Heidi Ewing, the co-owner of Brooklyn-based Loki Films , has enjoyed an illustrious career as a documentary film director. Her films include the Academy Award-nominated Jesus Camp , The Boys of Baraka , 12th & Delaware , Detropia , Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You , and 2017 Netflix Original One of Us .

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