"I'm No Longer Here" wins big at the Ariel Awards

Mexico's own Oscar-like film awards have been handed out with I'm No Longer Here prevailing with 10 trophies. That's quite a haul. The drama is about a member of a dancing street gang (played by Juan Daniel Garcia Treviño, pictured left) who is forced to immigrate to the US to escape a local cartel. The cast was non-actors, hired for their dancing ability and authenticity. The film is currently streaming on Netflix if you're curious.

ARIEL AWARD NOMINEES & WINNERS

Picture

• Buy Me a Gun
• Dust
• I'm No Longer Here ★
• Suffocation
• This is Not Berlin

We believe all of these* are eligible to be Mexico's submission this year as none were on their finalist list last year for consideration (though some of the other films nominated in craft categories were). This probably means I'm No Longer Here is the likely submission but you never know. Since it does take place partially in the US it has some English in it (movies run into trouble with this particular category if the English dialogue is dominant or roughly equal to the non-English dialogue). * Clarification: All except This is Not Berlin which would not be eligible as it did have a US theatrical run in 2019.

The nominees and winners are after the jump. If we've previously written about the film there's a link...

Director

• Fernando Frias, I'm No Longer Here ★
• Julio Hernandez Cordón, Buy Me a Gun
• Jose Maria Yazpik, Dust
• Kenya Marquez, Suffocation
• Hari Sama, This is Not Berlin

First Work

Debut director David Zonana. His "Workforce" movie has won strong reviews

• Carlos Lenin, Dove and Wolf
• Jose Maria Yazpik, Dust
• Edgar Nito, Gasoline Thieves
• Axel Munoz, July Nights
• David Zonana, Workforce ★

A slightly surprising result here in that Yazpik was the only one of them nominated for Best Director but he lost the first film prize. Also Edgar Nito of The Gasoline Thieves won Best New Narrative Director at Tribeca for this feature last year. 

Latin-American Film (Ibero-American Film)

 

• Heroic Losers (Argentina)
• Invisible Life (Brazil)
• Monos (Colombia)
• Pain and Glory (Spain) ★
• Retablo (Peru)

All five of the nominees were submissions at least year's Oscar for Best International Feature Film. Only Pain and Glory was nominated, though. Peru's Retablo and Brazil's Invisible Life were nominated for Best International Film at the Indie Spirits last year. 

Best Actress

• Cassandra Ciangherotit, Ready to Mingle
• Edwarda Gurrola, Fireflies / Luciérnagas ★
• Veronica Langer, History Lessons
• Mariana Treviño, Dust
• Gioavanna Zacarias, Sonora the Devil's Highway

Fireflies/Luciérnagas is a gay drama about a male Iranian immigrant in Mexico. Not sure how the Best Actress fits in but we need to find this one for viewing! 

Best Actor

• Luis Alberti, Workforce ★
• Benny Emmanuel, Chicuarotes
• Armando Hernandez, Dove and Wolf
• Jose Maria Yazpik, Dust
• Xabiani Ponce de Leon, This is not Berlin

Luis Alberti also co-stars in Fireflies. Chicuarotes, which made a few of the acting nomination lists, was directed by international star Gael García Bernal and was one of the film's Mexico considered last year for their submission so it must be the oldest release among these titles. 

Best Supporting Actress

Suffocation (Asfixia) took both of the supporting acting prizes

• Mónica Del Carmen, Suffocation ★
• Dolores Heredia, Sonora the Devil's Highway
• Dolores Heredia, Chicuarotes
• Barbara Mori, Mongolian Conspiracy
• Ximena Romo, This is Not Berlin

Del Carmen previously won the Ariel in the lead category for her breakout film Leap Year (2010)

Best Supporting Actor

• Red Bras, Buy me a Gun
• Raul Briones, Suffocation ★
• Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Chicuarotes
• Juan Manuel Bernal, Sonora the Devil's Highway
• Adrian Vazquez, Dust

The winner here also has a small role in the current US/Mexico festival hit I Carry You With Me which is an altogether terrific movie -- see it first chance you get! The biggest star in this category is of course the 59 year old Giménez Cacho who you've seen as a headliner in films like Zama  and Blancanieves, and heard as the narrator of Y Tu Mama Tambien. He's won 5 Ariel Awards in his career.

Breakthrough Actor or Actress

• Eduardo Badnda, The Gasoline Thieves
• Coral Bridge, I'm No Longer Here
• Juan Daniel Garcia Treviño, I'm No Longer Here ★
• Johana Fragoso Blendl, Suffocation
• Blue Mangaña Muñiz, Suffocation

Art Direction 

• Belzebuth
• Buy Me a Gun
• Dust
• I'm No Longer Here ★
• This is Not Berlin 

Cinematography

• Dove and Wolf
• Dust
• I'm No Longer Here ★
• Sonora, the Devil's Highway
• This is not Berlin

Costume Design

• Dust
• I'm No Longer Here ★
• Mongolian Conspiracy
• Sonora, the Devil's Highway
• This is not Berlin

Editing

• Buy Me a Gun
• Dust
• I'm No Longer Here ★
• Sonora, the Devil's Highway
• This is not Berlin

Makeup

"This is Not Berlin" received 12 nominations but lost every single one of them. even in the craft categories.

• Belzebuth
• Buy Me a Gun
• I'm No Longer Here ★
• Mongolian Conspiracy
• This is not Berlin

Original Music

• Belzebuth
• Buy Me a Gun
• Sanctorum ★
• Sonora, the Devil's Highway ★
• Suffocation

Adapted Screenplay

• From Your Hell
• Mongolian Conspiracy
• Sonora, the Devil's Highway ★

Original Screenplay

• Buy Me a Gun
• Dust
• I'm No Longer Here ★
• This is not Berlin
• Workforce

Sound

• Belzebuth
• Dove and Wolf
• I'm No Longer Here ★
• Sonora, the Devil's Highway
• This is not Berlin

Special Effects

IMDb lists Belzebuth's first screening as 2017 but somehow it's a 2020 Ariel Award winner

• Belzebuth ★
• Feral
• Gasoline Thieves
• I'm No Longer Here
• Sonora, the Devil's Highway

Visual Effects 

• Belzebuth ★
• Gasoline Thieves
• I'm No Longer Here
• Sanctorum
• This is not Berlin

Belzebuth, which took both of the effects prizes was on Mexico's consideration list last year for Oscar submission though they didn't send it. It's a horror film about the investigation of a school massacre. 

Animated Feature 

• The Big Wish
• Olympia ★

Animated Short 

• Adelina
• Hant Quij Cöipaxi Hac
• A Tiger With No Stripes

I haven't been able to find the winner of this category. Anyone know? The official Ariel Awards site isn't working so I'm pulling from various articles on the web 

Documentary Feature

• Guardian of Memory ★
• Midnight Family
• Noon Cowboy
• Wild Stream

You might recall that Midnight Family was a finalist for the Oscars for Best Documentary Feature last season (though it wasn't nominated)

Documentary Short

• 3 Minute Hug
• Brave Man Sees Death Only Once
• Lorena Light Footed Woman ★
• Open the Earth
• Witch of Texcoco 

Fiction Short 

• 5:03
• Meeting
• A Song for Mary
• Wandering Witch
• We Vanish ★

Comments

[Abe]

I think This Is Not Berlin opened in the US last August, so I assume that means it wouldn't be eligible, correct? It doesn't look like it was on the eligible list for Best Picture for 2019, but can a film still contend for International Feature a year after its US release?

I wish Midnight Family had been nominated for Best Documentary - that was a great film.

[leon]

The English language is not an issue if this stays belong of 50% of the dialogue of the film.

Surprised by the lack of knowledge by pundits and journalists which are still considered "I Care to You with Me" as Mexican submission, when the film has a US director like Heidi Ewing. There have been dozen of examples for disqualification precisely for that. The only exception has been Angelina Jolie, but she had the Cambodian citizenship since 2008. But again, this happens every year related to this category.

At the end, the main fight will be between The New Order vs I'm not Longer Here. But I think if there's a compromise choice, it can be "The Ballad of 41".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFpXV7eYw8E

[leon]

The English language is not an issue if this stays belong of 50% of the dialogue of the film

Sorry - it was BELOW the 50% of the dialogue-

[NATHANIEL R]

Leon -- are pundits really saying "I Carry You With Me" . Yikes, Yeah it's weird that so many journalists don't know the rules. I totally know the 50% rule but i felt it silly to spell out that way in the post since nobody in the Academy is sitting there with a timer counting lines or minutes of dialogue in two separate languages. Nevertheless, I agree that I CARRY YOU WITH ME never would happen as it would have two separate problems (English language and US authorship)

[Marcos]

@abe. If This is Not Berlin was released commercially and was screened for 7 days in the US in August 2020, that would be a good thing for the film. It could be submitted by Mexico AND compete in all other categories.
However, I believe you must refer to 2019, when it was shown in Festivals. That does not count. Eligibility of International Film is determined for the release date in the country of origin. According to the IMDB, This is not Berlin opened in Mexico in December 2019. In the case of International FIlm, eligibility is (I believe) from November 1 through October 31 of the actual year. So the film is eligible.

[Abe]

@Marcos I reviewed the film for its theatrical release a few days ahead of August 25th, 2019. I believe that was LA and it was open a few weeks earlier in NY. This site indicates August 9th and then VOD on November 26th, 2019: http://www.samuelgoldwynfilms.com/press-detail/?filmname=this-is-not-berlin

Again, I'm not sure if a film can still compete for International Feature if it wasn't officially submitted when it was released in the US the year before?

[NATHANIEL R]

Marcos & Abe -- eligibility for oscars is complicated but yes, the US release in 2019 would preclude it from being eligibile this year, even if it would otherwise be eligible for submission because of its home country date of release. Marcos is right that festival releases don't matter in terms of Oscar (well, except in certain categories that dont require regular releases like short films) so like showing at Tribeca in April 2019 (which it did) would not disqualify it for Mexican submission this year but actually showing up in regular theaters for a week long run in 2019 (as it also did) would.

[Abe]

@Nathaniel thanks for the clarification! Makes sense. Hope to see some of these other films.

[leon]

Nathaniel - Some of them are doing that. Even journalists like Carlos Aguilar is confirming cause "the film is having a domestic release", even when this can be lack of awareness of the rules (As if this hasn't happened before). And maybe not considering the domestic release in Mexico can be related for BO prospects (Right now, Mexico has the curve of COVID stable). But yep, this is common every season.

[César Gaytán]

The complete list of nominees in the animated short category are this:

Adelina / Ana Portilla
Dalia sigue aquí (Dalia is Still Here) / Nuria Menchaca (Winner)
Eclosión (Hatching) / Rita Basulto
El tigre sin rayas (The Tiger Without Stripes) / Raúl Morales Reyes
Hant Quij Cölpaxl Hac "La creación del mundo" (The Creation of the World) / Antonio Coello

[César Gaytán]

The reason why the best actress winner doesn't feel that fits in that category is because the role that Edwarda Gurrola plays in Luciérnagas (Firflies) is more a supporting than a leading one.Yes, also in the Arieles exists category fraud.

Speaking specifically from the ceremony it was a pleasure to watch a clip with Enrique Arreola ridding a motorcycle as a delivery man of Arieles resembling his Ariel winner role in Temporada de Patos (Duck Season)

But the highlight of the night was the appearances of Daniel Giménez Cacho struggling with technical difficulties in the interactions to finally arrive to the forum in a bicycle. It was hilarious.

[Jorge Espinoza]

The winner the Best Animated Short category was Dalia Sigue Aquí, which is in the shortlist for the Oscars 2021 animated short film. It is about the enforced disappearance in Mexico.

[NATHANIEL R]

Jorge -- do you have a link to that info anywhere? i can't find info about it and the Ariel Awards page on IMDb doesn't list it as one of the nominees https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000001/2020/1?ref_=ttawd_ev_1

or maybe it goes by another name?