'Sujo', by Mexican directors Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez, wins the award for best international film at Sundance

The film

Sujo

, by Mexican directors Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez, was announced this Friday as the winner of the Grand Jury Prize in the

World Cinema Dramatic

category (International Dramatic Film) at the Sundance Festival in the United States, one of the most outstanding and prestigious in the world that recognizes and rewards the cinematographic work of independent creators for almost 50 years.

The film, a co-production with the United States and France, beat nine other films in the competition category from China, Norway, Brazil and the United Kingdom, among others.

The synopsis of the film says that when a cartel hitman is killed, he leaves behind Sujo, his beloved 4-year-old son.

The shadow of violence surrounds him during every stage of his life in the isolated Mexican countryside.

As he grows into a man, Sujo discovers that fulfilling his father's destiny may be inescapable.

In its ruling, the competition jury highlighted the film's "impressive creation of its own unique cinematographic vocabulary: that of a childhood born around violence but protected by the embrace of women, strangers and family alike."

“The story was brought to life with extraordinary cinematography that captured a lyrical intensity of darkness, nature and aspiration.

The filmmakers brought us a still unpublished story, with an originality and power that is deeply moving and transcendent,” the jury's verdict continues.

The film is co-directed by Valadez (

Sin señas particulars

) and Astrid Rondero (

The darkest days of us

), and features the participation of Juan Jesús Varela who plays the main character.

According to information from the Trust for the Promotion and Development of Mexican Cinema in Mexico City (PROCINE), the rest of the cast is mostly made up of natural actors and some professionals such as Carla Garrido, as well as the writer and professor Sandra Lorenzano .

Rondero explains that Sujo

's idea

is not to glorify someone who has emerged from organized crime, a sensitive issue for Mexican society, but quite the opposite.

“As the humanitarian crisis deepens in Mexico due to drug cartel violence, we wonder who is a 'good orphan' and who is a 'bad' one.

Who deserves a bright future and who doesn't.

So

Sujo

is an exploration of that.

It is a portrait of this young man's life, his hopes, dreams and fears.

About who he wants to be, but it is also like a story of him coming to terms with who he is,” the co-director elaborates in a conversation during the festival.

According to PROCINE, the story takes place in Tierra Caliente, Michoacán, in a town where drug traffickers have total control and power;

However, filming took place in Guanajuato.

Although much of the plot has violence as its axis, the central axis lies in self-discovery in a tormented world.

The premiere of

Sujo

in Utah, where the festival takes place, marked the return of the creative couple to Sundance.

Rondero and Valadez, who have been working together for 15 years, previously released

Sin Señas Particulares

in 2020, the year it won the Audience Award for International Dramatic Film and the Special Jury Award for Best Screenplay.

The film, which also won the highest recognition at the Morelia Film Festival, addressed the mass kidnappings in trucks and recruitment of organized crime, as well as the open wound of the victims of violence in Mexico.

Sujo

marks the first time that both have shared the director's chair.

🏆 The Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: US Documentary goes to Carla Gutiérrez (@CarlitaGu) for FRIDA.

#Sundance pic.twitter.com/q7aoFX9zPO

— Sundance Film Festival (@sundancefest) January 26, 2024

Within the framework of the festival, another Mexican was also recognized.

Director Carla Gutiérrez was the winner of the Jonathan Oppenheim Award for Best Editing for the documentary

FRIDA

, in which the Mexican artist narrates her life through her own words for the first time, drawn from her diary, revealing letters, essays, and printed interviews. , and brought vividly to life through lyrical animation inspired by his unforgettable artwork.

"This movie

[

FRIDA

]

“It was directed with a strong and clear vision, and its imaginative editing interweaves archival material, photographs, images and animation to bring that vision to life,” reads the jury's ruling on Gutiérrez's recognition.

The non-fiction film is scheduled to premiere in March through the Amazon Prime Video platform.

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