Aruba Jury Split Over 'Ballplayer: Pelotero' and 'Ghett'a Life'

The third outing of the Aruba International Film Festival continues through Thursday, but the jury has already given its top honor to two films.

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The Caribbean Spotlight Competition handed out the Jury Award  to both the Dominican Republic documentary Ballplayer: Pelotero and Jamaican feature Ghett'a Life -- a drama about boxing and Kingston crime from director Chris Browne.

Puerto Rico's América also received a special mention.

Among the audience kudos, the CSS Audience Award went to Daphne Schmon's locally produced wind surfing documentary Children of the Wind. The audience's choice for a short was Awa Brak, from directors Francisco Pardo and Ryan Oduber.

The jury choose Ken Wolff's animated Wake Up as the short film winner.

Aruba's CSC jury was led by last year's Audience Award winner, Bahamian filmmaker Kareem Mortimer.