4th The Americas Film Festival NY Announces The Americas Award Winners

In addition to the New York premieres of major feature films and documentaries from throughout the Americas, the 4th edition of The Americas Film Festival NY -TAFFNY- organized the Americas Film Festival Short Films competition. More than 200 films from 19 countries were submitted, including works from independent filmmakers and top film schools of the Americas. On Friday June 16th, TAFFNY announced The Americas Award Winners to a packed audience at its Closing Night Ceremony at the National Museum of American Indian (NMAI):

El mes del amigo. Una comedia con atletas (The Friends' Month. A Comedy with Athletes) by Florencia Percia (Argentina) won The Americas Award for Best Short Fiction for "its humor, wit, and skilled performances."

Best Short Animation was awarded to Argentine film CORP. by Pablo Polledri "for being informative, tongue in cheek, and necessary." The animated short Alto el juego directed by Walter Tournier (Uruguay) also received a Special Jury Mention in the animation category.

Best Short Documentary went to USA-Spain co-production The Fourth Kingdom by Adan Aliaga and Alex Lora "for its take on issues of immigration, race and environment in a globalized world."

Best Short Experimental went to Tupianas by Marcos Bonisson and Khalil Charif (Brazil) "for being highly aesthetic and seductively vague."

The Documentary and Animation Jury included Alvaro Baquero, Assistant Professor of World Languages and Literatures at CUNY; Cynthia Benitez, Film Programming Manager at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian; and Wilson Reyes, Emmy award winning producer, editor, and director. The Fiction and Experimental Jury included Michelle Farrell, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Fairfield University; Kevin Moore, independent advisor, curator, and writer; and Juan Zapata, acclaimed Colombian filmmaker.

A full house attended the Closing Night Ceremony and Awards Presentation, followed by the screening of award-winning documentary Angry Inuk, a deftly realized work of investigation and exploration that re-contextualizes the role of ethics and activism in anti seal hunting campaigns. Director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuk) was present to give a Q&A moderated by Audra Simpson, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University following the film.

The fourth edition of The Americas Film Festival of New York took place in various locations of the city on June 8-16, 2017, showcasing feature films in fiction and documentary as well as shorts and animations that represent the rich diversity of cultures, languages and stories of the Americas. TAFFNY is a cultural project of the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Center for Worker Education of the City College of New York (CUNY), in collaboration with the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, The Cervantes Institute, NY, BMCC, NYU's King Juan Carlos of Spain Center, the CCNY Division of Humanities and the Arts, and the CCNY Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership.

For more information on The Americas Film Festival New York visit www.taffny.com.