# 59th Ariel Awards

The 59th Ariel Awards ceremony, organized by the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences (AMACC) took place on July 11, 2017, at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. During the ceremony, AMACC presented the Ariel Award in 27 categories honoring films released in 2016. The ceremony will be televised in Mexico by Canal 22.
La 4ª Compañía was the most awarded film with 10 awards including Best Picture. Tatiana Huezo became the first female director to receive the Best Director award, for the documentary feature Tempestad, which also received three awards. Almacenados received three accolades, for Best Actor, Supporting Actor, and Adapted Screenplay; while La Caridad earned two awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Art designer Lucero Isaac and actress Isela Vega received the Golden Ariel for their outstanding artistic career.

## Background

The Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences (AMAAC) announced that films released in Mexico from January 1 through September 30 should register online for award consideration at the Ariel Awards' official website during the month of October 2016; films released from October 1 to December 31, could register at the same website from December 2016 to January 15, 2017. It was also revealed that the Academy reinstated for the 59th ceremony two former categories, Actor and Actress in a Minor Role, that will be awarded to a performer that "has a smaller participation than a lead protagonist or a co-star and is not the narrative focus but their performance is relevant to the plot. Their performance can be limited to a single sequence."
At the press conference held on May 3, 2017 to announce the 2017 Ariel Award nominees, AMAAC Secretary Everardo González informed that 131 films were submitted for consideration, including 11 animated short films, 10 documentary short subject films, 45 live action short films, 18 documentary features, 37 feature films, and 10 Iberoamerican feature films. He also announced that the award ceremony would be held at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and will be dedicated to cinematography in order to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first Ariel Awards. This year the nominees were selected by 174 Academy members.
Actors Karina Gidi and Juan Carlos Colombo announced the nominees which included two documentary features nominated for Best Picture, Bellas de Noche, directed by María José Cuevas and Tempestad, by Tatiana Huezo, with both films also being nominated for Best Documentary Feature. La 4ª Compañía is the most nominated film, with 20 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best First Feature Film, and seven acting nominations in the Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Actor in a Minor Role, categories. Art director Lucero Isaac and Mexican actress Isela Vega received the Golden Ariel to recognize their artistic career.
On June 22, 2017, the President of the AMACC, Dolores Heredia, announced that the award ceremony would go on despite a 77% cut to the academy's budget. "Let us make use of our imagination and creativity to have a dignified and solemn ceremony," Heredia declared. The ceremony will be produced by actor Daniel Giménez Cacho and televised by Canal 22, since the academy had several problems with Canal Once the previous year.

### Awards

The following list includes nominees and winners which are first and highlighted with boldface.
| Best Picture La 4ª Compañía – Pulsación Creadora Films, Fondo de Inversión y Estímulos al Cine (FIDECINE), Alebrije Cine y Video, Arte Mecánica Producciones, Astronauta Producciones, Sabor Para Llevar, Renta Imagen, Estudios Churubusco Azteca, Terminal Films, Polar Studio, and Metacube Tecnología y Entretenimiento Bellas de Noche – Cinepantera and Detalle Films Desde Allá – Factor RH, Lucía Films, and Malandro Films Desierto – Esperanto Kino, Ítaca Films, Orange Studio, and CG Cinema El Sueño del Mara'akame – Fondo para la Producción Cinematográfica de Calidad (FOPROCINE) and Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos (CUEC) Me Estás Matando Susana – Cuevano Films Tempestad – Pimienta Films, Cactus Films, and Terminal | Best Director Tatiana Huezo – Tempestad Mitzi Vanessa Arreola and Amir Galván – La 4ª Compañía Jonás Cuarón – Desierto Federico Cecchetti – El Sueño del Mara'akame Roberto Sneider – Me Estás Matando Susana |
| Best Actor Adrián Ladrón – La 4ª Compañía as Zambrano José Carlos Ruiz – Almacenados as Lino Gael García Bernal – Me Estás Matando Susana as Eligio Danny Glover – Mr. Pig as Ambrose Noé Hernández – Tenemos la Carne as Mariano | Best Actress Verónica Langer – La Caridad as Angélica Adriana Barraza – Todo lo Demás as Flor Ludwika Paleta – Rumbos Paralelos as Gaby Maya Rudolph – Mr. Pig as Eunice Claudia Sainte-Luce – La Caja Vacía as Jazmín |
| Best Supporting Actor Hoze Meléndez – Almacenados as Nin Diego Cataño – Desierto as Mechas Mauricio Isaac – Distancias Cortas as Ramón Antonio Parra – El Sueño del Mara'akame as Papá / Mara'akame Darío T. Pie – La 4ª Compañía as Florecita Manuel Ojeda – La 4ª Compañía as Chaparro Carlos Valencia – La 4ª Compañía as El Tripas | Best Supporting Actress Adriana Paz – La Caridad as Eva Carmen Beato – Los Parecidos as Gertrudis Xochiquetzal Rodríguez – La Carga as Esposa de Coyolli Tiaré Scanda – El Cumple de la Abuela as Diana Mariana Treviño – La vida inmoral de la pareja ideal as Beatríz |
| Best Actor in a Minor Role Hernán Mendoza – La 4ª Compañía as Palafox Andoni Gracia – La 4ª Compañía as Combate Gabino Rodríguez – La 4ª Compañía as Quinto Gerardo Taracena – La Carga as Itzmin Harold Torres – La Carga as Coyolli | Best Actress in a Minor Role Martha Claudia Moreno – Distancias Cortas as Rosaura Angélica Aragón – Mr. Pig as Chila Arcelia Ramírez – Jirón de Niebla as Irasema Norma Reyna – La Carga as Citlalli Mariana Treviño – El Sueño del Mara'akame as Prostitute #1 |
| Breakthrough Male Performance Paco de la Fuente – El Alien y Yo as Pepe El Alien Luciano Bautista – El Sueño del Mara'akame as Niereme Luis Carlos Ortega – Distancias Cortas as Fede Luis Silva – Desde Allá as Elder Aliocha Sotnikoff Ramos – Las Tinieblas as Argel | Breakthrough Female Performance María Evoli – Tenemos la Carne as Fauna Natasha Dupeyrón – Treintona, Soltera y Fantástica as Regina Gloria Carina López – La Casa Más Grande del Mundo as Rocío Camila Robertson Glennie – Las Tinieblas as Luciana Irene Ramírez – Panamerican Machinery as Soledad |
| Best Original Screenplay Panamerican Machinery – Joaquín del Paso and Lucy Pawlak Desierto – Jonás Cuarón and Mateo García Distancias Cortas – Itzel Lara El Sueño del Mara'akame – Federico Cecchetti La 4ª Compañía – Mitzi Vanessa Arreola Tempestad – Tatiana Huezo | Best Adapted Screenplay Almacenados – David Desola based on his play El Alien y Yo – Fernando del Razo, Jesús Magaña, and Emiliano Flores from El Alien Agropecuario by Carlos Velázquez Jirón de Niebla – Julio César Estrada, Gustavo Moheno, and Ángel Pulido from the film by Carlos Enrique Taboada Las Aparicio – Leticia López, Verónica Bellver, Natassja Ybarra, and Lucía Carreras from the TV series by Leticia López and Verónica Bellver Me Estás Matando Susana – Luis Cámara and Roberto Sneider from Ciudades Desiertas by José Agustín |
| Best Ibero-American Film El Ciudadano Ilustre (Argentina) – Gastón Duprat & Mariano Cohn Una Segunda Madre (Brazil) – Anna Muylaert Anna (Colombia) – Jacques Toulemonde Sin Muertos No Hay Carnaval (Ecuador) – Sebastián Cordero Tarde Para la Ira (Spain) – Raúl Arévalo | Best First Feature Film El Sueño del Mara'akame – Federico Cecchetti Bellas de Noche – María José Cuevas Desde Allá – Lorenzo Vigas Distancias Cortas – Alejandro Guzmán La 4ª Compañía – Mitzi Vanessa Arreola and Amir Galván Panamerican Machinery – Joaquín del Paso |
| Best Documentary Feature Tempestad – Tatiana Huezo Bellas de Noche – María José Cuevas La Balada del Oppenheimer Park – Juan Manuel Sepúlveda Somos Lengua – Kyzza Terrazas The Weekend Sailor – Bernardo Arsuaga | Best Documentary Short Subject Aurelia y Pedro – José Permar and Omar Robles 13,500 Volts – Mónica Blumen Club Amazonas – Roberto Fiesco La Casa de los Lúpulos – Paula Hopf Memorias del Table Dance – Silvana Lázaro Semillas de Guamúchil – Carolina Corral |
| Best Animated Short Los Aeronautas – León Rodrigo Fernández Ascensión – Davy Giorgi and Samantha Pineda Elena y las Sombras – César Gabriel Cepeda Los Gatos – Víctor Alejandro Ríos Taller de Corazones – León Rodrigo Fernández | Best Original Score El Sueño del Mara'akame – Emiliano Motta La 4ª Compañía – Ramiro del Real, Renato del Real, Takaakira "Taka" Goto, and Javier Umpierrez Desierto – Yoann Lemoine Las Tinieblas – Carlo Ayhllón Tempestad – Leonardo Heiblum and Jacobo Lieberman |
| Best Live Action Short El Ocaso de Juan – Omar Deneb Juárez Australia – Rodrigo Ruiz El Tigre y la Flor – Fabiola Denisse Quintero Fisuras – Roberto Fiesco Verde – Alonso Ruizpalacios | Best Sound La 4ª Compañía – Javier Umpierrez, Isabel Muñoz, Jaime Baksht, and Michelle Couttolenc Tempestad – Federico González Jordán, Lena Esquenazi, and Carlos Cortés 7:19 – Christian Giraud and Pablo Lach El Sueño del Mara'akame – Daniel Rojo and Alicia Segovia Me Estás Matando Susana – Fernando Cámara, Stan Mak, Jaime Baksht, Steven Avila, Trip Brock, and Michelle Couttolenc |
| Best Film Editing La 4ª Compañía – Camilo Abadía, Mitzi Vanessa Arreola, and Francisco X. Rivera Bellas de Noche – Ximena Cuevas Desierto – Jonás Cuarón El Sueño del Mara'akame – Pierre Saint Martin Castellanos and Raúl Zendejas Tempestad – Lucrecia Gutiérrez and Tatiana Huezo | Best Art Direction La 4ª Compañía – Jay Aroesty and Carlos Cosío 7:19 – Alejandro García La Carga – Jay Aroesty Las Tinieblas – Alisarine Ducolomb Me Estás Matando Susana – Eugenio Caballero |
| Best Cinematography Tempestad – Ernesto Pardo Desierto – Damián García Epitafio – Emiliano Fernández La 4ª Compañía – Miguel López Mr. Pig – Damián García | Best Makeup La 4ª Compañía – Carla Tinoco and Alfredo García 7:19 – Gerardo Muñoz El Sueño del Mara'akame – Roberto Ortíz La Carga – Felipe Salazar and Antón Garfias Los Parecidos – Marco Hernández, Cristian Pérez, and Gerardo Muñoz |
| Best Costume Design La 4ª Compañía – Bertha Romero and José Guadalupe López Epitafio – Alisarine Ducolomb El Sueño del Mara'akame – Xihuitl Mariana Gandía La Carga – Adela Cortázar Macho – Natalia Seligson, Juan de Dios Ramírez, Alberto Escamilla, and Gianfranco Reni | Best Special Effects La 4ª Compañía – Luis Eduardo Ambriz 7:19 – José Manuel Martínez Desierto – José Manuel Martínez KM 31–2 – Ricardo Arvizu Fernández and Ricardo Arvizu Solís Tenemos la Carne – Adrián Durán |
| Best Visual Effects La 4ª Compañía – Ricardo Robles 7:19 – Omar Molina Desierto – Anthony Lestramau KM 31–2 – Rodrigo Echevarría and Eduardo Viladoms Las Tinieblas – Gustavo Bellón, Benoit Manequinn, Andrés Palma, and David Camiro |

## Multiple nominations and awards

| Nominations | Film |
| 20 | La 4ª Compañía |
| 12 | El Sueño del Mara'akame |
| 9 | Desierto |
| 8 | Tempestad |
| 7 | La Carga |
| 6 | Me Estás Matando Susana |
| 5 | 7:19 |
| 5 | Las Tinieblas |
| 4 | Bellas de Noche |
| 4 | Distancias Cortas |
| 4 | Mr. Pig |
| 3 | Almacenados |
| 3 | Desde Allá |
| 3 | Maquinaria Panamericana |
| 3 | Tenemos la Carne |
| 2 | El Alien y Yo |
| 2 | Epitafio |
| 2 | KM 31–2 |
| 2 | La Caridad |
| 2 | Los Parecidos |
| Awards | Film |
| 10 | La 4ª Compañía |
| 4 | Tempestad |
| 3 | Almacenados |
| 2 | La Caridad |
| 2 | El Sueño del Mara'akame |