The 59th Ariel Awards ceremony, organized by the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences (AMACC) took place on July 11, 2017, at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. During the ceremony, AMACC presented the Ariel Award in 27 categories honoring films released in 2016. The ceremony will be televised in Mexico by Canal 22. La 4ª Compañía was the most awarded film with 10 awards including Best Picture. Tatiana Huezo became the first female director to receive the Best Director award, for the documentary feature Tempestad, which also received three awards. Almacenados received three accolades, for Best Actor, Supporting Actor, and Adapted Screenplay; while La Caridad earned two awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Art designer Lucero Isaac and actress Isela Vega received the Golden Ariel for their outstanding artistic career. Background The Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences (AMAAC) announced that films released in Mexico from January 1 through September 30 should register online for award consideration at the Ariel Awards' official website during the month of October 2016; films released from October 1 to December 31, could register at the same website from December 2016 to January 15, 2017. It was also revealed that the Academy reinstated for the 59th ceremony two former categories, Actor and Actress in a Minor Role, that will be awarded to a performer that "has a smaller participation than a lead protagonist or a co-star and is not the narrative focus but their performance is relevant to the plot. Their performance can be limited to a single sequence." At the press conference held on May 3, 2017 to announce the 2017 Ariel Award nominees, AMAAC Secretary Everardo González informed that 131 films were submitted for consideration, including 11 animated short films, 10 documentary short subject films, 45 live action short films, 18 documentary features, 37 feature films, and 10 Iberoamerican feature films. He also announced that the award ceremony would be held at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and will be dedicated to cinematography in order to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first Ariel Awards. This year the nominees were selected by 174 Academy members. Actors Karina Gidi and Juan Carlos Colombo announced the nominees which included two documentary features nominated for Best Picture, Bellas de Noche, directed by María José Cuevas and Tempestad, by Tatiana Huezo, with both films also being nominated