"Platino Awards" the Gala of Ibero-American Cinema

Within the last three years, the Platino Awards has become one of the most important film festivals in the world. The third edition was celebrated in Punta del Este, Uruguay. It brought together artists from the film industries of all the Latin American countries, Spain and Portugal. Different films were showcased in a ceremony full of Hispanic culture and fraternity between peoples.

The idea for the awards were created by Miguel Ángel Benzal in a presentation that took place in Panama City on 2012. The first Edition was then celebrated in Panama in 2014 and the second in Marbella in 2015. It is now considered to be a major event in the promotion of Ibero-American cinema, an industry that is gradually crossing boundaries, bringing the culture from Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula to the rest of the world. 

Even the trophy is a symbol of the goals of the awards. In the words of its designer, Javier Mariscal, the trophy is a woman figure that is raising the Earth in an ancestral gesture of offering that is known by all the cultures and continents in world. The figure is naked and displays optimism and elegance. She offers Latin and Hispanic culture to the planet. The figure is reminiscent of the Oscar – symbolic of the festival’s ambition of achieve the international recognition and reputation of the Academy Awards.

This year "El Abrazo de la Serpiente" – The Snake's Embrace – was the leading film of the festival. It was awarded best film, best director, best original music, best montage, best art direction, photography and sound. The movie featured two explores from North America and Germany who travel through the Amazon, discovering the native cultures hidden in the forest.