No Place to Go Lands in Miami

No Place to Go by Oskar Roehler beat out 23 others to win the Prize of the International Film Critics (FIPRESCI Prize). The jury praised the "dramatic intensity with which it depicts a woman in crisis both personal and historical." The short film award went to The Heart of the World by Guy Maddin (Canada, 2000) for "its loving and comic homage to the cinemas of Eisenstein and Pudovkin and silent cinema in general."

Peru's Lombardi Named HBO Latin America Group's 'Golden Reel' Winner

Director Francisco Lombardi has been named the second recipient of the HBO Latin America GroupSM Golden Reel Award for Outstanding Achievement, FIU Miami Film Festival director Nat Chediak announced today. Lombardi, 51, will receive the award onstage at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday March 1, 9:30 p.m., prior to the U. S. premiere of his latest opus, Red Ink (Tinta roja), a scathing exposé of yellow journalism. The award, presented annually at the FIU Miami Film Festival, was bestowed last year on Brazil's Carlos Diegues, founding father of Cinema Novo.

"He's the most consistent of all Latin American filmmakers. In the last 15 years, he has not made a wrong move - or movie - that I know of," said Chediak. The Festival director attributes Lombardi's track record not only to talent, but to the overwhelming difficulty of quality filmmaking anywhere in Latin America. "In order to continue making films, at various points in his professional career, Mr. Lombardi has had to direct TV soap operas and even preside over a soccer team (Sporting Cristal). We're all the richer for his perseverance," Chediak added.

Even though his first feature film, Death at Dawn (Muerte al amanecer) received a Special Mention at the Locarno Film Festival in 1977, it was not until Lombardi adapted Vargas Llosa's celebrated novel The City and the Dogs (La ciudad y los perros) that he first gained widespread international recognition. Mr. Lombardi's second adaptation of a Vargas Llosa novel was last year's highly acclaimed Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (Pantaleón y las visitadoras).

"It will be an honor to bestow the second HBO Latin America Group SM Golden Reel Award for Outstanding Achievement to director Francisco Lombardi," said Gaston Comas, CEO of HBO Latin America Group SM. "We are not only committed to offering excellent programming but also to the advancement of Latin American film in the world. We believe it is our responsibility to actively contribute to events like the FIU Miami Film Festival, so that we may provide a platform for rising filmmakers and, as always, support the established ones," Comas added.

Lombardi's films wrestle with pressing social issues, pulling no punches. In spite of the frequent gravity of the subject matter, the films are riveting entertainments to a fault. Not one to turn his back to the audience, Lombardi adapted the novel "Don't Tell Anyone" ("No se lo digas a nadie") by talk show host Jaime Bayly two years ago, and that became his first runaway hit in Peru, allowing Lombardi the opportunity to devote his time entirely to his art.

Even when his films have failed to break box-office records, they have garnered dozens of international prizes. Last year, he served on the jury of the Montreal World Film Festival, whose Grand Prize he had won in 1990 with Fallen from Heaven (Caídos del cielo), a grim black comedy reminiscent of Buñuel's early Mexican films at the beginning of the 1950s. Lombardi's frequent collaborators include ex-wife Giovanna Pollarolo, the author of his screenplays for the past decade, and Spain's Gerardo Herrero, who has co-produced most of his recent films.

Reserved and soft-spoken, Francisco Lombardi will confide only if pressed that there's always one scene that is special for him in all of his movies, a scene that he labors over and polishes until it gleams brightly. One would be hard-pressed, however, to guess which one. Generally, they're all graced with an unmistakable sheen of perfection.