The 11th Cine Las Americas International Film Festival announces the winners of the four categories of its jury competition: Best First or Second Narrative Feature, Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary Feature, and Best Documentary Short.

The Festival also recognizes the winners of Audience Awards.

Best First or Second Narrative Feature Film is NOEL, POETA DA VILA (NOEL, THE SAMBA POET) from the Brazilian director, Ricardo van Steen. LA AMERICANA (THE AMERICAN, Nicholas Bruckman, USA), won the Best Documentary Feature Award.

A complete list of winners and jury members follows.

JURY AWARD WINNERS:

Jury Award for Best First or Second Narrative Feature
NOEL POETA DA VILA (NOEL, THE SAMBA POET), Ricardo van Steen, Brazil, 2006

Jury Award for Best Narrative Short
MEXICAN DREAM, David Michan, Mexico, 2007

Special Jury Mention for Narrative Short
EN TRÁNSITO (IN TRANSIT), Isabel Muñoz Cota Callejas, México, 2007

Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature
LA AMERICANA (THE AMERICAN), Nicholas Bruckman, USA, 2008

Special Jury Mention for Documentary Feature
LOS PUÑOS DE UNA NACIÓN (THE FISTS OF A NATION), Pituka Ortega Heilbron, Panama, 2006

Jury Award for Best Documentary Short
CON EL TOQUE DE LA CHAVETA (WITH A STROKE OF THE CHAVETA), Pamela Sporn, Cuba, USA, 2007

Special Jury Mention for Documentary Short
POR MIS HIJOS (FOR THEM), Aymée Cruzalegui, Spain, 2007

AUDIENCE AWARD WINNERS:

Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
NAO POR ACASO (NOT BY CHANCE), Philippe Barcinski, Brazil, Drama, 2007

Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature
LA AMERICANA (THE AMERICAN), Nicholas Bruckman, USA, 2008

FIRST AND SECOND NARRATIVE FEATURE AND NARRATIVE SHORTS JURY

Alejandro Springall is an award-winning director (SANTITOS, MY MEXICAN SHIVAH) and producer (CRONOS, Dir. By Guillermo del Toro, CASA DE LOS BABYS, directed by John Sayles) based in Mexico City. His newest film, MORIRSE ESTA EN HEBREO (MY MEXICAN SHIVAH), co-written, directed and produced by Springall, and co-produced by John Sayles, will screen at this year's festival.

Chale Nafus taught at Austin Community College for twenty-five years, where he established the RTF department and served as Chair of Humanities for seven years. During that time he created over 80 video programs on Latino culture in central Texas as well as a hip-hop series in 1984-1985. In 1985 he became a founding board member of the Austin Film Society. Nafus presently serves as Director of Programming for the Austin Film Society one of the top film centers in the U.S..

Darlene J. Sadlier has written extensively on Brazilian literature and culture and is most recently the author of Nelson Pereira dos Santos (University of Illinois Press, 2003). Among her forthcoming works are "Leaving Home in Three Films by Walter Salles" (Symploke, spring 2008) and Brazil Imagined: 1500 to the Present (University of Texas Press, October 2008).

DOCUMENTARY AND DOCUMENTARY SHORTS JURY

Paul Espinosa is an award-winning independent filmmaker and producer who has produced, directed, written and executive produced numerous programs for PBS, including: THE BORDER; THE U.S. MEXICAN WAR: 1846-48; THE LEMON GROVE INCIDENT; and films for PBS' The American Experience (THE HUNT FOR PANCHO VILLA, LOS MINEROS) and American Playhouse (... AND THE EARTH DID NOT SWALLOW HIM). Espinosa has served on the National Board of the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers, is a Professor at Arizona State University and holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Stanford University.

Shirley K. Sneve is the Executive Director of Native American Public Telecommunications, whose mission is to share Native stories with the world by supporting the creation, promotion, and distribution of Native public media. A member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota) in South Dakota, Shirley chairs the board of The Association of American Cultures (TAAC) and is secretary of the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA.)

Anne Lewis is an independent documentary filmmaker whose films include: FAST FOOD WOMEN (Judges' Choice London Film Festival), JUSTICE IN THE COALFIELDS (Gold Plaque INTERCOM), BELINDA (CINE Golden Eagle), and ON OUR OWN LAND (duPont-Columbia Award). Anne has recently finished the feature documentary, MORRISTOWN, which looks at immigration and the loss of U.S. Factory jobs as two sides of globalization. Anne is a senior lecturer at the University of Texas Austin, Department of Radio Television and Film.