Pablo Sandoval and John Hopewell (Variety) shared the news that Puerto Rican actor Benicio del Toro received an honorary Platino Award for Ibero-American Film [Premios Platino del Cine Iberoamericano] this past weekend. So well-deserved! I was also thrilled to hear that one of my favorite films this year, Santiago Mitre’s Argentina, 1985, won the top prizes for Best Feature film, Best Screenplay, Art Direction, Film & Education in Values, and Lead Performance (Ricardo Darín). Here are excerpts:

Santiago Mitre’s “Argentina, 1985” and “News of a Kidnapping,” created by Andrés Wood and Rodrigo García, swept the top prizes for best picture and series respectively on Saturday night at Madrid’s 2023 Platino Awards, in a sign of how the global streamers – here Amazon Studios and Prime Video – have lured top-of-their-class talent in Latin America.

One highlight of the ceremony, dedicated to films and TV shows in the Spanish-speaking world, was Benicio del Toro’s acceptance speech of an honorary Platino in which he reflected on being typecast for many years in Hollywood as a Latino actor. 

“If I had to play stereotypes, I tried to find the character’s humanity, a sense of complicity, so that audiences felt what my character felt and whilst they’re watching, didn’t forget who I am and where I come from,” he said. “What’s important is to share more than be divided,” he added. 

Del Toro was received with a standing ovation by an audience made up of some of the best actors in Spain, who hung on his every word. 

Directed by Mitre, who broke out to attention with 2011 debut “The Student,” then conquered Cannes’ Critics’ Week with 2015’s “Paulina,” the Academy Award-nominated “Argentina, 1985” – produced by Amazon Studios, Infinity Hill, Mitre’s label Unión de los Rios and star Ricardo Darín’s Kenya Films – swept best picture, screenplay (Mitre, Mariano Llinás) and lead actor (Darín), among five Platino Awards. [. . .]

For full article and full list of winners, see https://variety.com/2023/awards/global/benicio-del-toro-ricardo-darin-platino-awards-1235591644/

Also read Natalia Junquera (El País) “Benicio del Toro: ‘I’m still afraid that the phone won’t ring. Rejection is part of the formation of the actor’” (subscription needed) at https://elpais.com/cultura/2023-04-22/benicio-del-toro-aun-tengo-miedo-a-que-no-suene-el-telefono-el-rechazo-es-parte-de-la-formacion-del-actor.html  

[Benicio del Toro in a video (EPV) by Samuel Sánchez accessed via https://elpais.com/cultura/2023-04-22/benicio-del-toro-aun-tengo-miedo-a-que-no-suene-el-telefono-el-rechazo-es-parte-de-la-formacion-del-actor.html.]