Give A Hand to Latin America Films: Poster 2023 Gold Winners

Gold is gorgeous with these Poster 2023 winners, all of which support the arts by promoting music, film, and video.

Who knew there was such an appreciation for Latin American movies in Europe? Founded in 1999 and based in Geneva, FILMAR en América Latina is the most important festival dedicated to Latin American cinema and cultures in Switzerland. The program reflects the richness, diversity, and memories of the Latin American continent, focusing on committed films, testimonials, retrospectives of cinema personalities, and new work from emerging talents.

WePlayDesign, a Swiss design firm, looked into the past to celebrate present contributions with “Festival FILMAR en América Latina 20” (above), a series of promotional posters for the festival. The ancient Mayans, whose culture still influences Latin America to this day, had a glyphic writing system and language that was, and is, highly visible in public spaces. Powerful and easily recognizable, these symbols easily translate to the surface of the poster in the form of large stylized hands in bright, eye-catching colors. Each hand is posed differently in gestures that reference actions related to movies, like framing, shooting, or recording. Impossible to ignore, the posters were well received and helped bring in new festival visitors.

Describing herself as a “cocktail of being half Assyrian-Iraqi… half German,” Regina Kelaita is a Berlin artist who got her start in analog photography before switching to digital in 2003. Kelaita’s style focuses on odd combinations and everyday contradictions as she looks for “the abstract in the ordinary” and encourages her viewers to think about the balance between order and chaos. That balance informs “Regina Kelaita – Fugue State” (above, left), a poster created by fellow German Sven Lindhorst-Emme of Studio Lindhorst-Emme+Hinrichs that advertises one of Kelaita’s video and photography exhibitions. The design is based on the familiar rainbow test image from television or video editing. However, blocks of black and white stripes and images of buildings are mixed in, referring to Kelaita’s mixed aesthetic. While not revealing what will be on display, Lindhorst-Emme’s poster piques people’s curiosity to come see the show.

Taking place in the Matera region of Italy, the Festival Duni, named after the composer Egidio Duni, celebrates the cultural relationships between various Mediterranean countries, focusing particularly on the period between the 13th and 18th centuries. Various musicians from around the world perform in numerous events and exhibits to celebrate the territory’s musical history. Though Italian design firm Venti Caratteruzzi did not play at the festival, they definitely contributed to it with their “Festival Duni 2021” (above, right) poster. Visualizing the Festival Duni as a “musical offering,” Venti Caratteruzzi designer Carlo Fiore photographed different historic plates and used each as a metaphor for a particular musician. The plates pop against the black backdrop, and the white and yellow text stands out and makes clear who is performing and when.

To see other Poster 2023 winners, click here. And if you want to enter our Poster 2024 competition, click here.