“State of Silence,” (“Estado de Silencio”), the fourth documentary feature by Mexican filmmaker Santiago Maza (“The Thunder Feast”), a passion project produced by Diego Luna at Mexico-based label La Corriente del Golfo where he collaborates with Gael García Bernal, has won the coveted best feature award at this year’s Sanfic Festival in Santiago de Chile.

Further big winners were Agustín Toscano’s “I Trust You,” which took best direction in Sanfic International Competition and “Our Memory” from Matías Rojas Valencia and “The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine,” from Alfredo Pourally, which shared top best feature honors in Sanfic’s Chilean Film Competition.

Major winners at Sanfic Industria , Sanfic's bustling industry gathering, were led by Caye Casas' “El Show del Gran Luciferio,” his follow-up to “The Coffee Table,” which Stephen King lauded by praising it as “horrible and also horribly funny. Think the Coen Brothers' darkest dream.”

“Water Never Hurt,” from Argentina's Ana Clara Bustelo, and “Concert for a Single Voice,” directed by Peru's Alejandra Carpio, earned double wins in Sanfic Industria's Ibero-American Work in Progress, its industry centerpiece.

‘State of Silence’: What Marks It Apart

Documentaries have been made before on Mexico's staggering death toll of journalists: from 2000 to the beginning of 2024, 163 have been murdered and 32 remain missing, a pre-credit roll statistic notes in “State of Silence.”

What makes “State of Silence” stand out, however, is its sense of intimacy as it follows the lives of four journalists who refuse to remain silent about Mexico's crux: the toxic blend of organized crime syndicates and local governments, or narco-politics.

Two reporters chose to leave their country, one is moved to a new location, another sends his spouse and children to live with his mother, fearing for their safety. Two of them come back, though, to high-risk regions to keep reporting.

World premiering at Tribeca this June, and recently picked up by Netflix for North and Latin America, with Rosa Bosch International representing overseas sales, “State of Silence”is fast-paced in its interviews and achieves an aesthetic cinematographic finish with the idea of ennobling the extraordinary courage of journalists portrayed, Maza explained to Variety.

The documentary culminates in scenes showcasing the obstacles they face with the outgoing president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In a press conference, he exhibits paranoia in dismissing journalists' criticism of his disregard for their safety, labeling their concerns as the opinions of paid agents working for the opposing PRI party.

Other Prizes: Humanity & Inventiveness

The capacity of documentary films to humanize social situations was highlighted in “The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine,” directed by Alfredo Pourally.

The filmmaker spent several years exploring the remote Tierra del Fuego region until he encountered Toto, a charismatic artisanal gold miner. Toto's devoted son is constructing a gold harvesting machine - almost entirely on his own - to assist his ailing father. Their touching expressions of relief at the completion and successful operation of the machine are truly heartwarming.

Sanfic awards also emphasize the sheer creativity of Latin American filmmakers. “Our Memory” (“Aullido de invierno”) interweaves aspect ratios, fiction, and documentary elements with striking cinematography to recount the true story of two victims of the neo-Nazi colony Colonia Dignidad and a fictional woman (Paulina García) attempting to make amends for wrongdoing there.

A world premiere in “I Trust You” blends a high-profile real-life crime – the murder of 45-year-old teacher Angela Beatriz “Betty” Argañaraz in 2006 – with documentary, fictional elements, and a musical score to suggest the potential innocence of Susana Acosta and Nélida Fernández, sentenced to 20 years in prison for her murder in 2006. The audience's interpretation of the film's format – is it staged theater? – influences their judgment of their guilt.

New Talent Reigns

Above all, however, the Sanfic and Sanfic Industria awards highlight the surge of new talent emerging in Latin America and Spain. 11 out of the 13 winning films at this year's Sanfic are either first or second feature films, be it fiction, documentary, or solo projects. Three of the four major winners at Santiago Ibero-American WIP and Santiago Lab Fiction And Documentary were first-time fiction features.

At the Lab, documentary “Southern Channels,” by Chilean filmmaker Pilar Higuera, follows young Patagonians who utilize radios, makeshift devices, and the natural sound of water to connect. The second fictional feature from pioneering Chilean LGBT director Wincy Oyarce, “The Queer Riots” chronicles the struggles of homosexuals and transvestites for survival in early 1970s Chile.

“Water Never Hurt” portrays a young daughter’s defiance against her parents’ instructions for her recovery following a horse-riding accident. From Carpio, another first-time director, “Concert for a Single Voice” depicts the personal consequences of Peru’s armed conflict as a young Peruvian architect, now residing in Paris, returns to Lima to confront his mother, recently released from prison, for abandoning him in favor of political activism. These issues are highly intricate, director Carpio told Variety: No single perspective holds a monopoly on truth.

Of other prizes at Sanfic, in the International Competition, Spanish writer-director-star Itsaso Arana won a best direction special mention for “The Girls Are Alright,” “a gentle study of female friendship that blows in on a warm summer breeze,” said Variety.

“ A sumptuous homage to Hitchcock packaged as a metaphysical noir,” according to Variety , German Tim Kröger’s “The Universal Theory” scooped a special mention in Sanfic’s International Competition. Otherwise, Spanish-language voices prevailed at this year’s Sanfic.

SANFIC AWARDS, 2024

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

Best Performance (ex aequo)

Lorenzo Ferro, (“Simon of the Mountain”)

Franklin Aro, (“The Dog Thief”)

Best Director

Agustín Toscano, (“I Trust You”)

Special Mention

Itsaso Arana (“The Girls are Alright”)

Best Film

“State of Silence,” (Santiago Maza)

Special Mention

“The Universal Theory,” (Timm Kröger)

CHILEAN FILM COMPETITION

Best Performance

Gastón Salgado, (“The Affections”)

Special Mention

Paola Lattus por (“Sariri,” “Las Cenizas”)

Best Director

Roberto Salinas, (“La Primera Dosis”)

Special Mention

Alberto Hayden, (“Una Luz Negra”)

Best Film

Shared by “The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine,” (Alfredo Pourally)

and “Our Memory,” (Matías Rojas Valencia)

Special Mention

“Las Cenizas,” (Stejpan Ostoic)

SANFIC INDUSTRIA , 2024

IBERO-AMERICAN WORK IN PROGRESS

Malaga Work In Progress Award

“Water Never Hurts,” (Ana Clara Bustelo, Argentina, Uruguay)

Yagan Films & Chemistry Award

“The Clearing,” (Maira Carrasco, Chile)

Marketing Movie Runner Award

“A Concert for a Single Voice,” (Alejandra Carpio Valdeavellano, Peru)

E-28 Award

“Concert for a Single Voice,”

Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana Award

“Laureano,” (Claudia Ccapatinta, Peru)

LatAm Cinema Award

“Water Never Hurt”

SANTIAGO LAB FICTION AND DOCUMENTARY

SAPCINE Award

“Southern channels,” (Pilar Higuera, Chile)

Atómica Award

“Southern channels,”

Malaga Festival Industry Zone (MAFIZ) Award

“The Queers Riots,” (Wincy Oyarce, Chile)

Festival Intl. de Cine Documental de Buenos Aires (FIDBA) Award

“Madame Wittmann's Criminal Record,” (Anastasia Benavente, Nicolás Videla, Chile)

Guadalajara Film Festival Co-Production Meeting Industry Award

“Cupid’s Arrow,” (Ernesto Meléndez, Chile)

Cine Qua Non Lab Award

“Arde un reino,” (Catalina Arroyave, Colombia)

Bogotá Audiovisual Market (BAM) Award

“The Queers Riots,”

Nuevas Miradas – EICTV Award

“The Shorn Sheep,” (Rossana Castillo, Chile)

SANFIC MORBIDO LAB

Morbido Award 30%

“El Show del Gran Luciferio,” (Caye Casas. Mexico, Spain)

Morbido Award 10%

“El Silencio es la Musica del Diablo,” (Cremance, Mexico)

Fantastic Pavilion Award

“El Show del Gran Luciferio,”

“Loved Ones,” (Guillermo Amoedo, Mexico, España)

Lahaye Media Award

“Loved Ones,”