Cold Metal Receives Special Mention and Shares the Best Mexican Feature Film Award at FIC Los Cabos
The Mexican Feature Film Competition at the Los Cabos International Film Festival brought together an outstanding selection of films that showcased the diverse perspectives and narrative forms of contemporary Mexican cinema. This section included titles such as Cold Metal by Clemente Castor, Isleño by César Talamantes, A Roof Without a Sky by Diego Hernández, The Guardian by Nuria Ibáñez, The Reserve by Pablo Pérez Lombardini, Magdo by Racomelia, Lovers Say Goodbye with a Gaze by Rigoberto Pérezcano, Say Goodbye by Paloma López Carrillo, and The Hill of Dust and Its 20 Surroundings by Grupo Cinema Biocultural.
The jury, composed of Mariana Monroy, Matías Meyer, Courtney Stievels, and Ana Ladín, congratulated all the participating filmmakers, emphasizing that the festival allowed them to discover diverse sensibilities, interests, and passions through cinema, and acknowledging the difficulty of choosing a single winning film.
As part of their deliberations, the jury awarded a special mention to Clemente Castor’s *Frío Metal* for its evocative use of camera, sound, and mise-en-scène—elements that, they noted, suggest the role of chance and the unconscious in the course of life. Upon receiving the recognition, the director thanked the festival, the programming team, and the jury for their sensitivity and the opportunity provided.
The competition’s main prize was shared between two films that address the theme of grief from distinct but complementary perspectives. Say Goodbye, by Paloma López Carrillo, and A Roof Without a Sky, by Diego Hernández, were recognized for exploring absence, memory, and disappearance, as well as for their strong formal approaches and the way in which cinematic form reflects the emotional experience of their characters.
Both filmmakers thanked the jury and the festival, emphasizing the importance of continuing to believe in cinema as a collective ritual and in the experience of the movie theater as a living space for sharing stories and emotions.