Bruno Santamaría Razo's Debut Takes Top Prize at Morelia

A first fiction film has taken the top prize at the Morelia International Film Festival in Mexico. "Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building," directed by Bruno Santamaría Razo, won the Ojo, the festival's main award. The word means "eye" in Spanish, and it is the name Morelia gives its prizes. Variety reported the results on 24 October.

The film's Spanish title is "Seis meses en el edificio rosa con azul." It is Santamaría Razo's fiction debut, and it follows Bruno, an 11-year-old boy in Mexico City in the 1990s. On the day he turns 11, he falls in love with his best friend, Vladimir. Jade Reyes plays the lead, with Lázaro Gabino Rodríguez, Sofía Espinosa and Teresa Sánchez in supporting roles.

The film also won the audience prize for fiction films at the festival. Earlier this year it became the first Mexican feature in 20 years to compete in Critics' Week at the Cannes Film Festival, a parallel section that showcases first and second features.

The rest of the prize list spread the honours across several films. Nicolás Pereda won Best Director for "Everything Else Is Noise," and Teresa Sanchez took the Best Actress Ojo for the same film. Sam Louwyck won Best Actor for "Beauty Salon." Gökhan Tiryaki was named Best Cinematographer for "The Garden We Dreamed," which also received a Special Mention for Joaquin del Paso. "Sad Girlz" won the Casa Wabis-Escine award for best fiction debut.

The international jury was led by J.A. Bayona, the Spanish director of "A Monster Calls." The festival's competition includes 96 films. The 24th edition ends on 25 October.

For anyone hoping to catch the winners on a big screen, the festival releases screening tickets for online and box-office presale two days before each show, starting at 10:00. Accredited guests can redeem 6 or 11 tickets, depending on the level of their accreditation. Some screenings are still open to general purchase.

Santamaría Razo's film is now the festival's best-known title, and the win gives it a clear profile at a moment when many festival films are still looking for distributors. The festival's own pages describe the winning films as the ones that will be seen by audiences and programmers after the event, which is where the next chapter of most of these films will be written.