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The Sydney Latin American Film Festival eNews

Hola amantes del buen cine! Welcome to the final SLAFF newsletter for 2009. Since the festival ended, the crew have been busy with the mammoth job of collating your feedback and counting thousands of votes for the 2009 Sydney Latin American Film Festival Audience Awards. We are thrilled to announce the results, so read on! But first we’d like to send out a huge thank you to all of the filmmakers, volunteers, sponsors, special guests, artists, venues and our audience for contributing to the festival to make it such a success.

2009 Sydney Latin American Film Festival Audience Award Winners
We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2009 Sydney Latin American Film Festival Audience Award for most popular Feature film, Documentary and Short film. The vote was hotly contested with all Official Selection films rating highly with you, our audience. The winners are:

PACHAMAMA - Feature Film winner and $1500 cash prize
Toshifumi Matsushita, 2008, Bolivia, Japan, 104min
The charming coming-of-age Quechua language film which tracks the experiences of a young boy and his father as they embark upon the Bolivian salt route through the Andes, won the hearts of our audience, and has been a favorite at festivals screenings across the globe. Read more

The Circle (El Circulo) - Documentary Film winner and $1000 cash prize
José Pedro Charlo & Aldo Garay, 2008, Argentina, Germany, Uruguay, 96min
This powerful Uruguayan testimonial about former Tupamaro guerilla, Henry Engler’s survival of solitary confinement during the dirty war was your vote for Best Documentary 2009. The film has received multiple awards on the festival circuit. Read more

La Oroya: Full Metal Air (La Oroya: Aire Metalico) - Short Film winner and $500 cash prize Alvaro Sarmiento Pagan, 2008, Peru, 28min
Shot on a small budget, this hard hitting short provides a snapshot into one of the worlds most contaminated towns situated next to a North American-owned refinery in Oroya, Peru. Read more

Congratulations to all filmmakers and their crews. We look forward to screening these films and many others from the 2009 program throughout next year as part of our Cine Lounge screenings. Stay tuned for details.

Community Support Program Success With 2009 audience attendance numbers reaching new heights this year, we are delighted to be able to be gifting record ticket sales to the three worthy recipients of our Community Support funding program; Misión México, a refuge for children in Tapachula, Mexico, the Argentine Institute for Sustainable Construction (IARCOS), a non-profit NGO dedicated to providing sustainable solutions to humanitarian issues at a community level in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Peru’s Challenge, a non-profit NGO that assists over 1,300 community members each year in rural areas surrounding Cuzco. For more information about these organisations visit the Community Support pages on our website.

CINE BARRIO It has been a huge year for the Cine Barrio program. Thanks to support from the City of Sydney we were able to set up a mobile cinema to take into the community. This year we have shared inspiration stories from Latin America with a diverse range of community groups including:

The Homeless ‘Socceroos’ at The Big Issue
Students at Sydney University Research Community for Latin America (SURLCA)
A Women’s Place, Refuge, Potts Point
The Cliff Noble Senior Citizens Centre Alexandria
Students at Alexandria Park School
The Factory Youth Centre, Waterloo ( in collaboration with SLASA )
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Australia (PRA), Surry Hills Centre
Also next Tuesday, Cine Barrio will present films at The Big Issue end of year celebration at Pine St Creative Arts Centre

Do you want to collaborate with us in 2010 to bring Cine Barrio to your community? Send us an expression of interest to cinebarrio@sydneylatinofilmfestival.org

LAN Airlines Audience Prize winner Congratulations to Stephanie Figueroa of Randwick, who was drawn as the lucky winner of the LAN Airlines audience prize. Thanks to LAN airlines Stephanie and a friend are now planning their trip to Buenos Aires! Thank you to everyone who voted this year, your response to the films screened was overwhelmingly positive and your feedback is always appreciated.

Raffle winners Congratulations to our nine raffle winners, who have taken home some fantastic prizes. With thanks to Valdes Fine Leather, Music Front, Ocean Press, Agave Mexican restaurant, Sydney Theatre Company, Mayan Coffee, Campbelltown City Lawyers, Sagatiba, Flor de Cana Rum, Campbelltown Art Supplies, Westfield and Lion d’or Patisserie, Fairfield

Want to get involved in 2010? The Sydney Latin American Film Festival organising committee operates year-round, running film screenings as well as organising the annual festival. So if you have an interest in film, community development or if you’d like to gain some new skills – drop us a line at helpout@sydneylatinofilmfestival.org

Community Notice Board Support the reconstruction of Casa Latinoamericana! We were devastated to hear that the well-loved Latin-American Community Centre (Casa Latinoamericana) in Marrickville was accidently destroyed by fire in early October. The Centre was organised as a form of central contact and activity for Latin American and Spanish-speaking communities in Sydney and has operated for nearly 20 years. A fundraising Art Auction is taking place at 6pm on Saturday 5 December to help raise funds to assist with reconstruction of the Centre and will be held at the Addison Road Gallery, 147 Addison Road, Marrickville. Artwork will be on display at the gallery from 1st -5th December between 10am and 5pm. Artists are invited to donate works for auction by contacting Anton antonolea@yahoo.com.au or phone 0424431412. A fiesta will be held at Casa Latinoamericana from 10am on Sunday 6 December. For more information contact casalatina2010@yahoo.com.au

We'd like to introduce - and thank - some of our sponsors who have so generously helped make this festival a reality

JOHN BARRY SALES For over 40 years John Barry Sales has been the premier supplier of production film and television equipment in Australia. We supply everything for location production including Video Cameras, Lighting, Sound, Production and Expendables; as well as an extensive (and ever growing) range of post-production equipment and non-linear editing solutions. http://www.johnbarry.com.au

SOUTH WESTERN RURAL ADVERTISER Reaches homes in the residential and rural suburbs from Cecil Hills through to Oran Park and provides residents with accurate coverage of issues affecting their communities. With impending future residential growth of this region, the advertiser is committed to providing readers with accurate editorial and comment on issues that directly affect them. http://www.southwestruraladvertiser.com.au

FAIRFIELD CITY CHAMPION Residents of Fairfield depend on the Fairfield City Champion as the leading newspaper for news, entertainment, shopping information, real estate and classifieds. From Smithfield to Carramar, Horsley Park to Yennora and Cabramatta to Cecil Park, the Fairfield City Champion comprehensively hits every corner. http://www.fairfieldchampion.com.au

VIVAZ NIGHTCLUB Host of this year's Opening Night Fiesta, Vivaz is Sydney's premier Latin club and makes an ideal venue for group functions, corporate events and special occasions. For more details visit http://www.vivaz.net.au

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Un fuerte abrazo!
The Sydney Latin American Film Festival Team