Natural Arpajou, Carlos Martinez and Gaston Siriczman at the Award Ceremony.

The 24th edition of the Mar del Plata International Film Festival has passed, and the awards were given out. With the joy of a record-breaking attendance at the theaters, the Festival's director, Jose Martinez Suarez, thanked his staff and confirmed this year's slogan: the movies were the stars.

The Annual Program Without Frontiers Award to the Best Short Argentinean Film was for Ana y Mateo, by Natural Arpajou. This film shows a sister and a brother sharing the adventure of being home alone, and their particular view of family and the every day world. The director, native of Mar del Plata, received the Official Certificate as well as the Selection Certificate for the 2010 San Francisco Short Film Festival and the 2010 Festival du Cinema de Paris.

The Special Mention went to Marcela, by Gaston Siriczman, a complex animation about a frustrated middle age woman. The director spent one year dedicated to the concretion of the project, of 8 minutes 40 seconds. The film is also included in the selection of the previously named Festivals.

The Awards were given out by the Program's director, Carlos Martinez, in accordance with the decision of the Official Jury of the Argentine Section on the Mar del Plata International Film Festival. The Jury was conformed by Jerry Carlson, independent filmmaker, Ryszard Mietkiewicz, programmer of the Warsaw Film Festival, and Hugo Gamarra Etcheverry, Paraguayan filmmaker and director of the Asunción International Film Festival.