A feisty Copa America 2024 ended with Argentina winning their 16th Copa America title. Argentina’s win wasn’t much of a surprise as they were easily the favourites but there were a few pleasant surprises along the way such as the re-emergence of Colombia (reached final and narrowly lost to Argentina in extra-time) and the continuing strength of Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay (finished in 3rd place). However, the biggest surprise was Jesse Marsch’s influence on the Canadian Men’s National Team. Canada were very impressive in their run to the semi-finals and unfortunately faced Argentina twice and lost both games. Still, Canada put on a positive attack-minded display even in the games against Argentina and created many chances but their biggest achilles heel in the tournament was their inability to make those chances count.
On the other hand, Canada had a much more of a favourable outcome in the Copa America 2024 Film Spotlight. When it came to films, Argentina and Brazil did much worse than their soccer counterparts. The points system is similar to that used in the Euro 2024 Film Spotlight: match-ups decided by 5 categories of Acting, Story, Direction, Cinematography and Production Values. The only exception was that 4 categories of Story, Direction, Cinematography and Production Values were used (Acting was dropped) in the case of a match-up between a documentary (Chilean film) vs fictional film. In the group phases, a win for a film was worth 3 points while a tie was 1 point.
Group film results: top 2 films advanced out of group (in green)
Group A
Argentina: Trenque Lauquen (2022, Laura Citarella)
Peru: The Milk of Sorrow (2009, Claudia Llosa)
Chile: My Imaginary Country (2022, Patricio Guzmán)
Canada:The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (2019, Kathleen Hepburn, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers)
Canada (The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open): 9
Chile (My Imaginary Country): 4
Argentina (Trenque Lauquen): 4
Peru (The Milk of Sorrow): 0
The length of the Argentine film worked against it when compared to the Canadian and Chilean films. Trenque Lanquen is multiple films within a single film. If I could have taken a slice of 90 minutes from that film and put it against the other films in this group, then the Argentine film would have come out on top. As it turned out, the tight focus of the Canadian and Chilean films ensured progress out of this group.
Group B
Mexico: New Order (2020, Michel Franco)
Ecuador: Cronicas (2004, Sebastián Cordero)
Venezuela: The Box (2021, Lorenzo Vigas)
Jamaica: The Harder They Come (1972, Perry Henzell)
Mexico (New Order): 7
Venezuela (The Box): 7
Ecuador (Cronicas): 1
Jamaica (The Harder They Come): 1
Unlike the soccer tournament, Mexico advanced easily out of the film competition.
Group C
USA: Showing Up (2022, Kelly Reichardt)
Uruguay: Window Boy Would also Like to Have a Submarine (2020, Alex Piperno)
Panama: The Fists of a Nation (2007, Pituka Ortega-Heilbron)
Bolivia: Viejo calavera/Dark Skull (2016, Kiro Russo)
Bolivia (Dark Skull): 7
Uruguay (Window Boy Would also Like to Have a Submarine): 5
USA (Showing Up): 4
Panama (The Fists of a Nation): 0
Group D
Brazil: Rule 34 (2022, Júlia Murat)
Colombia: Embrace of the Serpent (2015, Ciro Guerra)
Paraguay: EAMI (2022, Paz Encina)
Costa Rica: The Awakening of the Ants (2019, Antonella Sudasassi)
Colombia (Embrace of the Serpent): 9
Costa Rica (The Awakening of the Ants): 6
Brazil (Rule 34): 3
Paraguay (EAMI): 0
This was easily the toughest film group of the four with Group D being a Group of Death.
Quarter-Finals:
Canada (The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open) vs Venezuela (The Box)
Canada won 4-2 over Venezuela.
Chile (My Imaginary Country) vs Mexico (New Order)
Chile won 3-2 and advanced to Semi-finals.
Note: Since the Chilean film is a documentary, only 4 categories were used to judge the films.
Bolivia (Dark Skull) vs Costa Rica (The Awakening of the Ants)
The Costa Rican film won on an emotional penalty shoot-out after both films were tied 4-4.
Colombia (Embrace of the Serpent) vs Uruguay (Window Boy Would also Like to Have a Submarine)
Colombia won 5-1 over Uruguay.
Semi-Finals:
Canada (The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open) vs Chile (My Imaginary Country)
Canada won 4-3 over Chile in a very tight encounter.
Colombia (Embrace of the Serpent) vs Costa Rica (The Awakening of the Ants)
Colombia edged out Costa Rica 4-3 in another close match-up.
Final:
Canada (The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open) vs Colombia (Embrace of the Serpent)
Match of two former #1 End of year films. The Canadian film placed first in my Best Films of 2020 while the Colombian entry was first in 2015.
In the end, Canada won 4-3 over Colombia to take the 2024 Copa America Film title. Incredibly, Colombia finished 2nd in both the soccer tournament and film spotlight.
Copa America 2024 Film Winner: The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (2019, Kathleen Hepburn, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers)
