# Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema

The Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI, Spanish: Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente) is an international festival of independent films organized each year in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

## History

The festival had its first edition in April 1999 and it was organized by the Secretaryship of Culture of the Government of Buenos Aires City. The festival is held in the most important movie theatres of Buenos Aires, but also feature free open-air screenings in parks and squares all over the city.
In the first year the festival had 146 guests, among them Francis Ford Coppola, Todd Haynes, Paul Morrissey and others. That year the festival screened more than 150 national and international films and had approximately 120,000 spectators. Since then the festival has been growing, reaching an audience of 1.1 million spectators in the 2013 edition.
Nowadays the BAFICI feature more than 400 films, several activities were added over the years and many conferences and workshops are held every year. With a great number of spectators and guests, the festival is permanently added into the Buenos Aires list of cultural events.
The festival is managed by the Ministry of Culture of the City of Buenos Aires.

## Awards

The festival has several competitive sections of which the "International Competition" and the "Argentinian Competition" are the most important ones. Inside each competitive section a jury evaluates the films and select the winners of several awards, including: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Special Mentions. In the BAFICI the audiences vote, the feature-length film with the highest ratings given by the audience receives the Audience Award.
Since the third edition of the festival, there have been awards given to short films, which include Best Short Subject Film and Best Director.

### International Competition Best Film Winners

| Year | Film | Original Title | Director | Country |
| 1999 | After Life | Wandafuru Raifu | Hirokazu Koreeda | Japan |
| 2000 | Human Resources | Ressources humaines | Laurent Cantet | France |
| 2001 | Platform | Zhantai | Jia Zhangke | China |
| 2002 | Sailing Home | Tornando a casa | Vincenzo Marra | Italy |
| 2003 | Waiting for Happiness | Heremakono | Abderrahmane Sissako | Mauritania |
| 2004 | Pin Boy | Parapalos | Ana Poliak | Argentina |
| 2005 | The Sky Turns | El Cielo Gira | Mercedes Álvarez | Spain |
| 2006 | In the Pit | En el Hoyo | Juan Carlos Rulfo | Mexico |
| 2007 | In Between Days | 방황의 날들 | So Yong Kim | South Korea |
| 2008 | Intimidades de Shakespeare y Víctor Hugo | | Yulene Olaizola | Mexico |
| 2009 | Our Beloved Month of August | Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto | Miguel Gomes | Portugal |
| 2010 | Alamar | | Pedro González-Rubio | Mexico |
| 2011 | May they rest in revolt (Figures of wars) | Qu'ils reposent en révolte (Des figures de guerre) | Sylvain George | France |
| 2012 | Policeman | Ha-shoter | Nadav Lapid | Israel |
| 2013 | Berberian Sound Studio | | Peter Strickland | United Kingdom |
| 2014 | Fifi Howls from Happiness | Fifi az khoshhali zooze mikeshad | Mitra Farahani | Iran |
| 2015 | Court | Tribunal | Chaitanya Tamhane | India |
| 2016 | The Long Night of Francisco Sanctis | La Larga Noche de Francisco Sanctis | Francisco Márquez, Andrea Testa | Argentina |
| 2017 | Niñato | | Adrián Orr | Spain |
| 2018 | La Flor | | Mariano Llinás | Argentina |
| 2019 | The Unicorn | | Isabelle Dupuis, Tim Geraghty | United States |
| 2020 | Suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic | Suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic | Suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic | Suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | Implosion | Implosión | Javier van de Couter | Argentina / Chile |
| 2022 | Clementina | | Constanza Feldman, Agustín Mendilaharzu | Argentina |
| 2023 | The New Greatness Case | | Anna Shishova | Finland / Norway / Croatia |
| 2024 | A Paixão Segundo G.H. | | Luiz Fernando Carvalho | Brazil |
| 2024 | El placer es mío | | Sacha Amaral | Argentina |

### Complete List of winners

| Year | Winners |
| 2019 | Best Film: The Unicorn, by Isabelle Dupuis and Tim Geraghty (United States) Best Director: Louis Garrel, for A Faithful Man (France) Best Actress: Ella Smith for Ray & Liz (United Kingdom) Best Actor: Keita Nimomiya, for We Are Little Zombies (Japan) Best Original Music: Mica Levi, for Monos (Film) (Colombia) Special Jury Award: Los tiburones, by Lucía Garibaldi (Uruguay) Best Argentinian Film: Fin de siglo, by Lucio Castro (Argentina) Best Argentinian Director: Eloísa Solaas, for Las facultades Argentinian Special Mention: Brief Story from the Green Planet, by Santiago Loza Best Latin-American Film: La fundición del tiempo, by Juan Álvarez Neme (Uruguay) Audience Award for Foreign Film: La asfixia, by Ana Isabel Bustamante (Guatemala) Audience Award for National Film: Método Livingston, by Sofía Mora (Argentina) |
| 2018 | Best Film: La Flor, by Mariano Llinás (Argentina) Best Director: Tiago Melo, for Azougue Nazaré (Brazil) Best Actress: Pilar Gamboa, Elisa Carricajo, Valeria Correa and Laura Paredes, for La Flor (Argentina) Best Actor: Anders Juul, for A Horrible Woman (Denmark) Special Jury Award: Violence Voyager, by Ujicha (Japan) Special Mention: A Tiger in Winter, by Lee Kwang-kuk (South Korea); As boas maneiras, by Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra (Brazil) Best Argentinian Film: Las hijas del fuego, by Albertina Carri (Argentina) Best Latin-American Film: Averno, by Marcos Loayza (Bolivia) Audience Award for Foreign Film: Virus Tropical, by Santiago Ciacedo (Colombia) Audience Award for National Film: Foto Estudio Luisita, by Sol Miraglia and Hugo Manso (Argentina) |
| 2017 | Best Film: Niñato, by Adrián Orr (Spain) Best Director: Carla Simón, for Estiu 1993 (Spain) Best Individual Acting: Daniela Castillo, for Reinos (Chile) Best Cast: Hoy partido a las 3, by Clarisa Navas (Argentina) Special Jury Award: Viejo Calavera, by Kiro Russo (Bolivia) Special Mention: Arábia, by Affonso Uchoa and João Dumans (Brazil) Best Argentinian Film: La vendedora de fósforos, by Alejo Moguillansky (Argentina) Best Latin-American Film: A Cidade do Futuro, by Marília Hughes Guerreiro and Cláudio Marques (Brazil) Audience Award for Foreign Film: Estiu 1993, by Carla Simón (Spain) Audience Award for National Film: Las cinéphilas, by María Álvarez (Argentina) |
| 2016 | Best Film: La Larga Noche de Francisco Sanctis, by Francisco Márquez and Andrea Testa (Argentina) Best Director: Tamer El Said, for Akher ayam el madina (Egypt) Best Actor: Diego Velázquez, for La Larga Noche de Francisco Sanctis (Argentina) Best Actress: Liliana Trujillo, for Rosa Chumbe (Peru) Special Jury Award: La noche, by Edgardo Castro (Argentina) Special Mention: Rosa Chumbe, by Jonatan Relayze (Peru) Special Mention: John From, by João Nicolau (Portugal) Best Argentinian Film: Primero enero, by Darío Mascambroni (Argentina) Best Latin-American Film: Inmortal, by Homer Etminani (Colombia) Audience Award for Foreign Film: Not awarded Audience Award for National Film: Raídos, by Diego Marcone |
| 2015 | Best Film: Best Director: Best Actor: Best Actress: Special Jury Award: Special Mention: Best Argentinian Film: Audience Award for Foreign Film: Audience Award for National Film: |
| 2014 | Best Film: Best Director: Best Actor: Best Actress: Special Jury Award: Special Mention: Best Argentinian Film: Audience Award for Foreign Film: Audience Award for National Film: |
| 2013 | Best Film: Best Director: Best Actor: Best Actress: Special Jury Award: Special Mention: Best Argentinian Film: Audience Award for Foreign Film: Audience Award for National Film: |
| 2012 | Best Film: Best Director: Best Actor: Best Actress: Special Jury Award: Special Mention: Best Argentinian Film: Audience Award for Foreign Film: Audience Award for National Film: |
| 2011 | Best Film: Best Director: Best Actor: Best Actress: Special Jury Award: Special Mention: Best Argentinian Film: Audience Award for Foreign Film: Audience Award for National Film: |
| 2010 | Best Film: Best Director: Best Actor: Best Actress: Special Jury Award: Special Mention: Best Argentinian Film: Audience Award for Foreign Film: Audience Award for National Film: |
| 2009 | Best Film: Best Director: Best Actor: Best Actress: Special Jury Award: Special Mention: Best Argentinian Film: Audience Award for Foreign Film: Audience Award for National Film: |
| 2008 | Best Film: Intimidades de Shakespeare y Víctor Hugo, by Yulene Olaizola (Mexico) Best Director: Lance Hammer, for Ballast (United States) Best Actor: Lee Kang-sheng, for Help Me Eros (Taiwan) Best Actress: Dan Liu, for Night Train (China) Special Jury Award: Night Train (China) Special Mention: Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind, by John Gianvito (United States) Best Argentinian Film: Unidad 25, by Alejo Hoijman (Argentina) |
| 2007 | Best Film: Best Director: Best Actor: Best Actress: Special Jury Award: Special Mention: Best Argentinian Film: Audience Award for Foreign Film: Audience Award for National Film: |
| 2006 | Best Film: En el hoyo, by Juan Carlos Rulfo (Mexico) Special Jury Award: Sehnsucht, by Valeska Grisebach (Germany) Best Argentinian Film: Glue, by Alexis Dos Santos (Argentina) |
| 2005 | Best Film: El Cielo Gira, by Mercedes Álvarez (Spain) Best Director: Ilya Khrzhanovsky, for 4 (Russia) Best Actor: Mohammed Bakri, for Private (Italy) Best Actress: Eva Löbau, for Der wald vor lauter Bäumen (Germany) Special jury Award: L'Esquive, by Abdellatif Kechiche (France) Special Mention: Frakchi, by Cheol-Mean Wang (South Korea) and Monobloc, by Luis Ortega (Argentina) Best Argentinian Film: Como un avión estrellado, by Ezequiel Acuña (Argentina) Audience Award for Foreign Film: El Cielo Gira by Mercedes Álvarez (Spain) Audience Award for National Film: Cándido López - Los campos de batalla, by José Luis García (Argentina) |
| 2004 | Best Film: Parapalos, by Ana Poliak (Argentina) Best Director: Royston Tan, for 15 (Singapore) Best Actor: Pietro Sibille, for Días de Santiago (Peru) Best Actress: Hwang Jeong-min, for Jigureul jikyeora! (South Korea) Special Jury Award: Las horas del día, by Jaime Rosales (Spain) Special Mention: Not awarded Audience Award for Foreign Film: The Story of the Weeping Camel, by Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni (Germany) Audience Award for National Film: Whisky Romeo Zulu, by Enrique Piñeyro (Argentina) |
| 2003 | Best Film: Heremakono, by Abderrahmane Sissako (Mauritania) Best Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul, for Sud sanaeha (Thailand) Best Actor: Alejandro Ferretis, for Japón (Mexico) Best Actress: Séverine Caneele, for Une part du ciel (France/Belgium/Luxembourg) Special Jury Award: Ana y los otros, by Celina Murga (Argentina) Special Mention: Los rubios, by Albertina Carri (Argentina) Audience Award: Los rubios, by Albertina Carri (Argentina) |
| 2002 | Best Film: Tornando a casa, by Vincenzo Marra (Italy) Best Director: Michael Gilio, for Kwik Stop (United States) Best Actor: Lennie Burmeister, for Bungalow (Germany) Best Actress: Ronit Elkabetz, for Hatuna Meuheret (Israel/France) Special Jury Award: Tan de repente, by Diego Lerman (Argentina) Special Mention: Lavoura Arcaica, by Luiz Fernando Carvalho (Brazil) Audience Award: Tan de repente, by Diego Lerman (Argentina) and Lavoura Arcaica, by Luiz Fernando Carvalho (Brazil) |
| 2001 | Best Film: Zhantai, by Jia Zhangke (China) Best Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan, for Mayis sikintisi (Turkey) Best Actor: Daniel Hendler, Jorge Temponi and Alfonso Tort for 25 watts (Uruguay) Best Actress: Yuko Nakamura, for Hotaru (Japan) Special Jury Award: The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein, by John Gianvito (United States) Special Mention: Takhté siah, by Samira Makhmalbaf (Iran) Audience Award: Jigsaw Venus] by Dean Kapsalis (United States) |
| 2000 | Best Film: Ressources humaines, by Laurent Cantet (France) Best Director: Noémie Lvovsky, for La vie ne me fait pas peur (France) Best Script: Sasa Gedeon, for Návrat idiota (Czech Republic) Best Actor: Ewen Bremner, for Julien Donkey-Boy (United States) Best Actress: Anna Geislerová and Tatiana Vilhelmová, for Návrat idiota (Czech Republic) Special Mention: Enrique Piñeyro (For his acting performance), for Esperando al Mesías (Spain/Italy/Argentina) Audience Award: Ressources humaines by Laurent Cantet (France) |
| 1999 | Best Film: After Life, by Koreeda Hirokazu (Japan) Best Director: Pablo Trapero, for Mundo Grúa (Argentina) Best Script: After Life, by Koreeda Hirokazu (Japan) Best Actor: Luis Margani, for Mundo Grúa (Argentina) Best Actress: Monic Hendrickx, for De poolse bruid (Netherlands) Audience Award: Sib, by Samira Makhmalbaf (Iran) |