Yesterday, (on Wednesday April 18), before midnight, was unveiled the award-winning documentary short film in the competition of the 2018 European Film Festival of the Alliance Française de Puerto Rico. The prize voted on by the public, went to “El hombre que nadie conoció” (The man that nobody knew) by Oswaldo Colón, a moving and funny portrait of Enriquelo, owner of a flea market at home, devout Catholic and street performer, whose passion is to go dancing to Old San Juan, stopping the traffic with his “pick up”, to the sound of music by Michael Jackson at full volume.
Colón, who graduated from the Higher School of Cinema and Audiovisuals of Catalonia (ESCAC) in Barcelona, won two tickets and a stay for two people to go to a European film festival.
In this edition, there was no jury, but the public was responsible for choosing the winner through votes that were made in the 3 rounds of these short films in competition during the Festival week. This award is traditionally given by the main sponsor Total Petroleum Puerto Rico.
To promote local talent
The European Film Festival which made possible by the support, among others, of Total Petroleum Puerto Rico, UBS Financial Services of Puerto Rico, the Programme for the Film Industry Development of DDEC, Liberty and WIPR, has been promoting for more than six years the development of film industry in the country with calls for local talent in different types of projects.
The other two documentaries in competition were “Corazón Loíza” by the directors Llaima Sanfiorenzo and Margaret Mair and “Anthony Legrand” by the artist and director Gisela Rosario. Although the headquarters of the Festival was the Miramar Fine Arts Cinema, because of the big blackout yesterday (on Wednesday April 18), the award ceremony had to move to a Fine Arts room of Popular Center.
When the counting of votes was taking place last night, the audience could also enjoy the short documentary “La Perla After María” by director Clari del Pilar Lewis, a poetic tribute to the people of Puerto Rico and their ability to recover and join forces after the hard onslaught of Hurricane Maria.
