Puntos de Vista documentary film festival announces 2012 winners

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
April 27, 2012

“El Muro Chileno (The Chilean Wall)” from Universidad del Desarrollo in Chile, won first place April 27 at the 3rd International Spanish-language Documentary Festival Puntos de Vista 2012 held at Texas State University-San Marcos.

Mathias Meier Surrey and Maria Paz Salas produced “El Muro Chileno,” a documentary asking was the Berlin Wall, symbolically speaking, also a Chilean Wall? With the support of historical registries and through interview with Chilean and German people linked to the history of the Berlin Wall and life in the former German Democratic Republic, this documentary presented an interesting narrative that analyzed the often forgotten relationship between both countries. Both Meier and Paz were in San Marcos to receive the Puntos de Vista first place award of $2,000.

“Tierradorada,” produced by Laura Patricia Clavijo Mantilla, Melissa Lombana Díaz, Valeria Andrea Mosquera Pedraza, María Fernanda Bayona Arevalo, Nathalie Espinosa Caceres, Maria Constanza Jimenez Jacome, Liliana Patricia Garzon Sepulveda and Jessica Alejandra Perez Ovalle, of the Universidad Autonoma de Bucaramanga in Colombia, secured Puntos de Vista 2012’s second place prize of $1,000. The documentary explored how multinational mining is said to have helped develop countries in Latin America. However, in Colombia the citizens realized that this is far from the truth. The question “gold or life?” clearly sums up the options and reality for Colombia, as natural resources such as water and the environment in general were threatened and exploited.

“Patricios: Historia de una Frontera (Patricios: Story of a Border)" produced by Teresa Lucia Chamorro Bernuy, Franco Finocchiaro, Luciano Rocio Masias Romero, Sofia Alvarez Capunay and Claudia Sanguineti Rose of Universidad de Lima, in Lima, Peru, received the third place award of $500. The filmmakers narrated the story of the people living in the border of Inapari in Peru and Assis, Brazil, where national boundaries separating people have disappeared. They demonstrated how language and country’s differences bring them closer, thus creating a stronger bond through their own diversity. The strong bond developed between Peruvians and Brazilian led to the creation of the term “Patricio” coined by them to call one another.

Puntos de Vista 2012 International Spanish-language Documentary Festival was produced by the Center for the Study of Latino Media and Markets of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State. Fourteen documentaries were selected to participate in the third edition of the competition held both online for the popular vote and judged by competent and experienced professionals. Participating countries include Peru, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Spain and the United States.

For more information, contact Olga Wilson at (787) 306-0448 or via email at ow11@txstate.edu.

About El Centro

The center, at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, was developed as a response to the university’s recognition of the increase in the Latino and the growth of Latino-oriented media in the United States. The center also emerged from the recognition of the expansion of the number of media corporations venturing into Latin America, and in the linkages between Latin American and U.S. Latino-oriented communication industries. The university understands the importance and need to educate future professionals who can best comprehend, analyze and work in or with industries and markets that cater to Latinos and Latin Americans in the U.S. and abroad.