PLAYA DEL CARMEN, MEXICO – Inside the Gran Tlachco Theater of Xcaret, the humid heat of the Riviera Maya reminded the p first scene from “O Secret Agent”, in which Wagner Moura's character to refuel gasoline under a scorched sun r somewhere between Sao Paulo and Recife. And it's that the Brazilian film by Kleber Mendonça Filho made history in the X III Platinum Awards winning seven statuettes, among them Best Film, Best Director, Best Script and Best Actor.

“This award is for Wagner Moura, a great friend, a great actor. What a pleasure working with him! I wanted to share with friends who are here and all s the people who saw “O Secret Agent”. It was an adventure,” Mendonça Filho said about the stage when receiving the best director award.

The Brazilian filmmaker was in charge of reading a message from Moura, the great absent of the night, who is filming in Spain.

“I want to dedicate this award to the spokesperson of this message, that genius director, great friend, great artist, that handsome, sensual man... I love you Kleber,” Mendonça Filho read with amusement.

Prominence of Argentina

The gala -which this year returned to the Xcaret parks and hotels complex, sponsor of the awards- also recognized the Argentine production “El Eternauta” with the award for Best Miniseries, Best Actor in Miniseries -won Ricardo Darín, also absent- and Best Supporting Actor for the Uruguayan César Troncoso.

The one who was present was the Argentine actor Guillermo Francella, recognised with the 2026 Platinum Honorary Award for his entire career, which he received from the president of the awards, Enrique Cerezo.

Francella said that what he maintains as an actor is “passion, even when things don't go”.

“That passion is what makes everyday the profession of an actor recover its meaning. The honor that represents the mission of being an actor excites me,” he said.

The 71 year-old actor considered this distinction “a pause to look back” and continue: “Beyond the awards, what remains is what one put from their heart in each step.”

The actresses put the emotion

The gala, divided into the four elements —water, fire, earth and air— represented by actors such as the Colombian Natalia Reyes and the a Argentina Griselda Siciliani, didn't arrive at two hours, thanks to the fact that some prizes had been delivered in a previous session on Thursday.

The musical performances came from the hand of the Argentinian María Becerra, who opened the ceremony with ‘I remember that never existed’, the Spanish Manuel Carrasco with ‘I have power’, and the Colombian Camilo with ‘A past life’.

Of all those who came up to collect awards, those who showed the most emotion were the actresses Blanca Soroa, winner of Best Female Performance for “Los Domingos”, and Paulina Gaitán, Best Female Performance in Miniserie for “Las Muertas”.

“'Los Domingos' is a wonderful trip, but it wouldn't have been like this if it weren't for the people who have accompanied me. I've had an extremely good time”, said the Spanish actress when collecting the award.

"It's done!", shouted on stage the Mexican Gaitán, who later confessed to us that he hadn't prepared a speech because he didn't expect to win the award.

The shadow of politics

In these Platinum Awards, not everything was red carpet and glamour. There was also talk about politics.

The absence of Isabel Díaz Ayuso —the president of the Community of Madrid, one of the sponsors of the awards— was much commented upon.

Xcaret decided withdraw the invitation to prevent the event from becoming a political battlefield after the crossing of accusations between the Madrid regional government and the administration of the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum.

The Spanish director Manuel Gómez Pereira was elegant about it in his thank you speech after winning with “La Cena” the award for Best Ibero-American Comedy cana of fiction: “I want to celebrate our cinema in Mexico, which is a country that we love and respect a lot and where I've spent the best moments of my life.”

With controversy or not, Madrid will be the headquarters in 2027 to close a 5-year contract in which Xcaret and the Spanish capital agreed with the organization of the altern awards arse as headquarters. It is still not known where they will take place in 2028, although Panama -where the first edition was held in 2014-, Guadalajara and Miami are considered as options.