Caribe’ Movie Earns Three More Awards

THE Costa Rican film “Caribe” wonthree more awards at the latest internationalfilm festival it entered, the HuelvaFestival in Spain. It has had unprecedentedsuccess at home, ranking number-oneat Costa Rican box offices and attractingmore than 30,000 viewers since it openedNov. 5.Costa Rican director EstebanRamírez, Cuban actor Jorge Perugorríaand Spanish actress Cuca Escribanoreceived the awards at the XXX LatinAmerican-Iberian Film Festival inHuelva.It won the People’s Choice Award forthe best feature-length film, the “FreedomKey” Award, granted by inmates in theprovincial prison of Huelva for the bestfeature-length film of the OfficialSection, and the Architects’ AssociationAward, granted by the Huelva Architects’Association to the film that best highlightsarchitectural and environmentalvalues.“This is super important, for a countrythat doesn’t have a film industry tobeat countries that are incredibly strongin filmmaking, such as Argentina,Mexico, Brazil, and even Spain,” saidGabriel González, Costa Rican independenttheater director and public relationsmanager for Caribe.Film festival “judges may alwayshave their influences, but the Spanishpublic gave its approval,” he added.“They considered it the best.”It entered the festival as a veterancompetitor among international films andis the first Costa Rican film to show intheaters outside of Central America. Itshowed in the Bogotá Film Festival inColombia, the Viña del Mar Film Festivalin Chile, and the Latin American FilmFestival in Trieste, Italy, where directorRamírez won Best Director (TT, Nov. 5).The film was shot on Costa Rica’sCaribbean coast, around the port cityLimón and the beaches and banana plantationsto the south. It is a fictional portrayalof that community’s real struggleagainst a foreign company attempting toexploit offshore oil reserves, and about alove triangle between a banana plantationowner, his wife, and his wife’s long-lostsister. For more information seewww.caribelapelicula.com.The movie is showing in major theatersaround the country.