Now for something truly remarkable from the neglected Spanish cinema. Luis García Berlanga's wicked satire is a humanistic black comedy, free of cynicism. The borderline Kafkaesque situation of an everyman forced into a profession that horrifies him is funny and warm hearted - but with a ruthless logic that points to universal issues beyond Franco Fascism. The Executioner Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 840 1963 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 92 min. / El Verdugo / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 25, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Nino Manfredi, Emma Penella, José Isbert . Cinematography Tonino Delli Colli Film Editor Afonso Santacana Original Music Miguel Asins Arbó Written by Luis García Berlanga, Rafael Azcona, Ennio Flaiano Produced by Nazario Belmar Directed by Luis García Berlanga
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Criterion brings us 1963's The Executioner (El Verdugo), a major discovery for film fans that thought Spanish cinema began and ended with Luis Buñuel. I've seen politically-charged Spanish films from...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Criterion brings us 1963's The Executioner (El Verdugo), a major discovery for film fans that thought Spanish cinema began and ended with Luis Buñuel. I've seen politically-charged Spanish films from...
- 10/25/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
We here at The CriterionCast wear our admiration for The Criterion Collection squarely on our sleeves. Not only is it in the very title of this website and the podcast from which it spawned, but it is in the very DNA of what we strive to do through both ventures. At their very best, The Criterion Collection doesn’t so much bring to light gloriously dense home video releases of beloved, crystal clear classics from the history of film, but instead highlights lesser known masterpieces from throughout the world and spanning the entirety of film’s history as an artform. Be it esoteric experimental works like that of director Jean Painleve to baroque world cinema classics like La Cienaga, Criterion’s greatest achievement is giving the world a new glimpse at world history through the lens of those directors commenting on it through their films.
And few films quite hit...
And few films quite hit...
- 10/24/2016
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
I have been visiting Cuba since 2000 when I went there to perfect my Spanish. My Spanish is still far from perfect but I have grown to love Cuba. Since I went there to learn and happened upon the Havana Film Festival which is held this year December 3rd to 13th, I have returned to the Festival every year and have found a world of great talent which increasingly is raring to get out into the world.
Ivan Giroud is a part of that Festival world and actually is now its most important part (aside from the films and filmmakers that is). Starting from zero, he is now considered one of the most qualified specialists in Latin American Cinema.
Read on to see who he is and how he sees Cuban and Latin American Cinema.
How did you get into film?
I was born in Havana in 1957.
I have loved cinema since I was very young. However I did not study film as there was no cinema school in Cuba until 1986.
I had a general education and graduated in Civil
Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Havana in 1981.
I am self-taught in film – what’s that called?
You are an autodidact.
Yes, an autodidact.
In the 70s, Cuba had the best cinema in the world and the best posters as well. These posters remained the finest posters in the world throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Yes, they are silk-screened and on display and for sale. I myself treasure the poster of one o my favorite fims, “Suite Habana” by Fernando Pérez .
In my last year working as a civil engineer I contacted Icaic seeking employment. In 1981 friends in film, like Daisy Granados, the star of “Cecilia” gave me work on her film. I met her husband, Pastor Vega, a filmmaker who was also the first Director of the Festival from 1979 to 1990, a post he took after finishing “Portrait of Teresa” Pastor said ‘Come work with me’ and so in 1988 I entered the industry at the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (Icaic), as a senior specialist and organizer of Cuban and Latin American cinema destined for Europe and North America. The job was like a programming job.
The International Festival of the New Latin American Film in Havana (aka Havana Film Festival) had sections for auteurs, socialist countries, American films and docs. It had the best films, was the preeminent film festival for Latin American cinema and was the only market where all of Latin America gathered to consider the films. It still remains a gathering place for the cineastes throughout Latin America and includes a well-respected coterie of the pioneers of Latin American cinema who created the films that best defined Latin America Cinema in the 60s and then were silenced by the dictatorships which prevailed until the 90s….like Raúl Ruiz, Aldo Francia, Patricio Guzmán and Miguel Littin from Chile, Glauber Rocha, Nelson Pereira dos Santos from Brazil Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino from Argentina.
At the time of the Soviet collapse in 1991 (known in Cuba as “The Special Period”), I entered the Directorate of the Festival and Vega left and returned to filmmaking. There were other Directors, and in 1994 I became the Director. Alfredo Guevera, the public face of the festival for many years came back to Cuba and became President; we worked together from 1994 to 2010, my first term as the Festival Director.
The Special Period was very, very difficult, the worst of times for everyone and for all Latin American cinema. Brazilian cinema nearly disappeared. The state film organization Embrafilme had been producing 800 films a year and that disappeared for a long time.
Argentina declined in the 90s. Mexico remained active but also declined in the quality of its films. When I began as Director, Cuba was very poor, both economically and creatively. But there was also a generational change and I learned that every decline gives birth to a new generation and new creativity, and so it was.
Schools of films began training new talent. Eictv, the International Film School, funded by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Nobel Prize money opened its doors in 1987. New schools opened in Argentina and Brazil as well. The Havana Film Festival stood as a testimony to this growing generation as it showed the first works and shorts of the likes of Trapero and others in whom you could see new Latam talent developing.
The Havana Film Festival catalogs are a history of cinema as it was the biggest programmer of films. It still gives the best view of Latam cinema today. It is still important as it gives a full picture of Latam cinema and the people in Latam cinema. Eictv is producing the most interesting film makers in the world. For 37 years the Festival was the best, though today there are not many Latam fests. This one was different. You could get to know the whole cineaste community. It never lost a generation; the older members still make movies and the festival helps them to be seen and known.
In 2010 I went to Madrid where I spent five years. In 2002 I began working on a Dictionary of Iberoamerican Cinema. This 1,000 page book was finished in 2008. From 2008 to 2010 I was the director of the festival from Spain. I also ran an arthouse theater in Madrid, the Sala Berlanga, named after a very important Spanish director a little younger than Bunuel.
In 2012 I wanted to return to Cuba where I worked on the Cuban Dictionary of Film. In April Guevera died and Icaic pulled me back to be President and Director.
Since May 2013 I have been Director of the Casa del Festival and President of the International Festival of New Cinema in Havana.
What about the filmmaker Pavel Giroud? Is he your brother?
No, he’s my nephew. He came into the business a different way, through design. He began producing music clips and then went to Eictv. From a painter he evolved into a moviemaker. He has made three films. His newest, “El Acompañante” (“The Companion”) won the best project award at San Sebastian’s 2nd Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum in 2013.
This is Giroud’s third solo film after “The Silly Age” and “Omerta”. The producers: Luis Pacheco’s Jaguar Films is Panama’s best-known production/services company. The Cuban producer is Lia Rodriguez who also runs the industry section of the Havana Film Festival. It is also produced by the Cuba/ Panama-based Arete Audiovisual, Panama’s Jaguar Films, Venezuela’s Trampolin Impulso Creativo and France’s Tu Vas Voir (Edgard Tenembaum) who produced Walter Salles’ “The Motorcycle Diaries”.
Set in 1988 Cuba, “The Companion” is about a friendship between a disgraced boxer forced to serve as a warden – in Cuban government jingo-speak, a “companion” – for an HIV victim.
What is different about the current state of your festival?
Now there are many Latin American Film Festivals, but ours was and still is different because it allows you to know the whole cineaste community. We never lost a generation. The older generation still is making movies and the younger generation is very present. The Festival helps make them known.
What about the new developments between USA and Cuba?
That is the most asked question today.
We have always had U.S. films and U.S. citizens have always visited in cultural exchanges. We’ve had Gregory Peck, Jack Lemmon in the earliest years. We’ve invited Arthur Penn, Sean Penn, John Sayles, the Coen Brothers. Danny Glover and Benecio del Toro are frequent visitors. Annette Benning and Koch Hawk of the Academy were guests. We were always well connected to the U.S. independents so that is nothing new.
The change is that It will be easier for Americans to visit and to learn.
When I went to Cuba the first time, I was actually surprised to see so many Afro-Cubans. For some reason I assumed USA was the only nation with former slaves. I should have realized the Spanish also traded in slaves but only when I was in Cuba did I “get” it. Now I see the world so differently.
In Cuba black and white races mixed and the mixture (the mulatto) is what is a Cuban today. U.S. has segregation by and large. Latinos live together, Asian, African-Americans are all separated and that creates a totally different mentality.
I am very interested in African Diaspora films and Cuba has a lot. I have always enjoyed the documentaries. You can’t see them anywhere else.
This year there is a great documentary, “They are We" (“Ellos son nosotros”). It is anthropological about the Cuban town Matanza. Matanza has some of the best music in Cuba. It investigates their African roots in Sierra Leone and identifies ancestors and where they were from. Determined to find the exact origin of songs coming from there, the Australian filmmaker - researcher spent two years showing images throughout the region in Sierra Leonie until he confirmed that the Cubans were singing songs similar to the language of an ethnic group made extinct because of the slave trade.
I’ll send you the BBC article. (Read it here)
Thank you Ivan for this hour of your time. I am so happy to have finally connected with you after seeing you for so many years in Havana and in Toronto (where you stay with Helga Stephenson, the subject of an earlier post: Read it here )
More on Ivan:
Ivan has provided advice to other Latin American film festivals and has collaborated on research projects and screenplays, as well as in the production of theater and classical music. In 2008 he was invited to speak at the seminar Contributions of Latin American cinema to world cinema in the first American Film Congress held in Mexico City in the Congress book stories presented in common 40 years / 50 movies of Latin American cinema, of which he is one of its editors.
He was a visiting professor of the Master in Management of the Film Industry Carlos III University courses in 2010, 2011 and 2012. He is one of four directors of the Dictionary of Latin American Cinema; with Carlos F. Heredero, Eduardo Rodríguez Merchán, Benard da Costa and João project Sgae of Spain, consisting of 10 volumes and 16 thousand entries. Between 2008 and 2012 he was Director of audiovisual programming and Berlanga Room Buñuel Institute Foundation Author of Spain, a period in which he was international adviser Icaic.
Ivan Giroud is a part of that Festival world and actually is now its most important part (aside from the films and filmmakers that is). Starting from zero, he is now considered one of the most qualified specialists in Latin American Cinema.
Read on to see who he is and how he sees Cuban and Latin American Cinema.
How did you get into film?
I was born in Havana in 1957.
I have loved cinema since I was very young. However I did not study film as there was no cinema school in Cuba until 1986.
I had a general education and graduated in Civil
Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Havana in 1981.
I am self-taught in film – what’s that called?
You are an autodidact.
Yes, an autodidact.
In the 70s, Cuba had the best cinema in the world and the best posters as well. These posters remained the finest posters in the world throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Yes, they are silk-screened and on display and for sale. I myself treasure the poster of one o my favorite fims, “Suite Habana” by Fernando Pérez .
In my last year working as a civil engineer I contacted Icaic seeking employment. In 1981 friends in film, like Daisy Granados, the star of “Cecilia” gave me work on her film. I met her husband, Pastor Vega, a filmmaker who was also the first Director of the Festival from 1979 to 1990, a post he took after finishing “Portrait of Teresa” Pastor said ‘Come work with me’ and so in 1988 I entered the industry at the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (Icaic), as a senior specialist and organizer of Cuban and Latin American cinema destined for Europe and North America. The job was like a programming job.
The International Festival of the New Latin American Film in Havana (aka Havana Film Festival) had sections for auteurs, socialist countries, American films and docs. It had the best films, was the preeminent film festival for Latin American cinema and was the only market where all of Latin America gathered to consider the films. It still remains a gathering place for the cineastes throughout Latin America and includes a well-respected coterie of the pioneers of Latin American cinema who created the films that best defined Latin America Cinema in the 60s and then were silenced by the dictatorships which prevailed until the 90s….like Raúl Ruiz, Aldo Francia, Patricio Guzmán and Miguel Littin from Chile, Glauber Rocha, Nelson Pereira dos Santos from Brazil Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino from Argentina.
At the time of the Soviet collapse in 1991 (known in Cuba as “The Special Period”), I entered the Directorate of the Festival and Vega left and returned to filmmaking. There were other Directors, and in 1994 I became the Director. Alfredo Guevera, the public face of the festival for many years came back to Cuba and became President; we worked together from 1994 to 2010, my first term as the Festival Director.
The Special Period was very, very difficult, the worst of times for everyone and for all Latin American cinema. Brazilian cinema nearly disappeared. The state film organization Embrafilme had been producing 800 films a year and that disappeared for a long time.
Argentina declined in the 90s. Mexico remained active but also declined in the quality of its films. When I began as Director, Cuba was very poor, both economically and creatively. But there was also a generational change and I learned that every decline gives birth to a new generation and new creativity, and so it was.
Schools of films began training new talent. Eictv, the International Film School, funded by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Nobel Prize money opened its doors in 1987. New schools opened in Argentina and Brazil as well. The Havana Film Festival stood as a testimony to this growing generation as it showed the first works and shorts of the likes of Trapero and others in whom you could see new Latam talent developing.
The Havana Film Festival catalogs are a history of cinema as it was the biggest programmer of films. It still gives the best view of Latam cinema today. It is still important as it gives a full picture of Latam cinema and the people in Latam cinema. Eictv is producing the most interesting film makers in the world. For 37 years the Festival was the best, though today there are not many Latam fests. This one was different. You could get to know the whole cineaste community. It never lost a generation; the older members still make movies and the festival helps them to be seen and known.
In 2010 I went to Madrid where I spent five years. In 2002 I began working on a Dictionary of Iberoamerican Cinema. This 1,000 page book was finished in 2008. From 2008 to 2010 I was the director of the festival from Spain. I also ran an arthouse theater in Madrid, the Sala Berlanga, named after a very important Spanish director a little younger than Bunuel.
In 2012 I wanted to return to Cuba where I worked on the Cuban Dictionary of Film. In April Guevera died and Icaic pulled me back to be President and Director.
Since May 2013 I have been Director of the Casa del Festival and President of the International Festival of New Cinema in Havana.
What about the filmmaker Pavel Giroud? Is he your brother?
No, he’s my nephew. He came into the business a different way, through design. He began producing music clips and then went to Eictv. From a painter he evolved into a moviemaker. He has made three films. His newest, “El Acompañante” (“The Companion”) won the best project award at San Sebastian’s 2nd Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum in 2013.
This is Giroud’s third solo film after “The Silly Age” and “Omerta”. The producers: Luis Pacheco’s Jaguar Films is Panama’s best-known production/services company. The Cuban producer is Lia Rodriguez who also runs the industry section of the Havana Film Festival. It is also produced by the Cuba/ Panama-based Arete Audiovisual, Panama’s Jaguar Films, Venezuela’s Trampolin Impulso Creativo and France’s Tu Vas Voir (Edgard Tenembaum) who produced Walter Salles’ “The Motorcycle Diaries”.
Set in 1988 Cuba, “The Companion” is about a friendship between a disgraced boxer forced to serve as a warden – in Cuban government jingo-speak, a “companion” – for an HIV victim.
What is different about the current state of your festival?
Now there are many Latin American Film Festivals, but ours was and still is different because it allows you to know the whole cineaste community. We never lost a generation. The older generation still is making movies and the younger generation is very present. The Festival helps make them known.
What about the new developments between USA and Cuba?
That is the most asked question today.
We have always had U.S. films and U.S. citizens have always visited in cultural exchanges. We’ve had Gregory Peck, Jack Lemmon in the earliest years. We’ve invited Arthur Penn, Sean Penn, John Sayles, the Coen Brothers. Danny Glover and Benecio del Toro are frequent visitors. Annette Benning and Koch Hawk of the Academy were guests. We were always well connected to the U.S. independents so that is nothing new.
The change is that It will be easier for Americans to visit and to learn.
When I went to Cuba the first time, I was actually surprised to see so many Afro-Cubans. For some reason I assumed USA was the only nation with former slaves. I should have realized the Spanish also traded in slaves but only when I was in Cuba did I “get” it. Now I see the world so differently.
In Cuba black and white races mixed and the mixture (the mulatto) is what is a Cuban today. U.S. has segregation by and large. Latinos live together, Asian, African-Americans are all separated and that creates a totally different mentality.
I am very interested in African Diaspora films and Cuba has a lot. I have always enjoyed the documentaries. You can’t see them anywhere else.
This year there is a great documentary, “They are We" (“Ellos son nosotros”). It is anthropological about the Cuban town Matanza. Matanza has some of the best music in Cuba. It investigates their African roots in Sierra Leone and identifies ancestors and where they were from. Determined to find the exact origin of songs coming from there, the Australian filmmaker - researcher spent two years showing images throughout the region in Sierra Leonie until he confirmed that the Cubans were singing songs similar to the language of an ethnic group made extinct because of the slave trade.
I’ll send you the BBC article. (Read it here)
Thank you Ivan for this hour of your time. I am so happy to have finally connected with you after seeing you for so many years in Havana and in Toronto (where you stay with Helga Stephenson, the subject of an earlier post: Read it here )
More on Ivan:
Ivan has provided advice to other Latin American film festivals and has collaborated on research projects and screenplays, as well as in the production of theater and classical music. In 2008 he was invited to speak at the seminar Contributions of Latin American cinema to world cinema in the first American Film Congress held in Mexico City in the Congress book stories presented in common 40 years / 50 movies of Latin American cinema, of which he is one of its editors.
He was a visiting professor of the Master in Management of the Film Industry Carlos III University courses in 2010, 2011 and 2012. He is one of four directors of the Dictionary of Latin American Cinema; with Carlos F. Heredero, Eduardo Rodríguez Merchán, Benard da Costa and João project Sgae of Spain, consisting of 10 volumes and 16 thousand entries. Between 2008 and 2012 he was Director of audiovisual programming and Berlanga Room Buñuel Institute Foundation Author of Spain, a period in which he was international adviser Icaic.
- 11/19/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Final grades were officially tallied up after the repeat screenings on Sunday, and while the 1-2-3-4 positions haven’t changed, Todd Haynes’ Carol further cemented it’s status as the best from the 2015 In Comp class with a final 3.9 grade.
We’d like to once again thank our group of sixteen: Nicholas Bell, Blake Williams and Yama Rahimi from Ioncinema.com were joined by Christophe Beney, Dave Calhoun, Per Juul Carlsen, Paola Casella, Mike D’Angelo, Jean-Philippe Guerand, Carlos F. Heredero, Aaron Hillis, Fabien Lemercier, Marc-André Lussier, Liu Min, Isabelle Regnier and Cédric Succivalli. We already look forward to next year with Haneke, Pedro, Dolan and the Dardennes in the mix. Click on the grid below for a larger version.
We’d like to once again thank our group of sixteen: Nicholas Bell, Blake Williams and Yama Rahimi from Ioncinema.com were joined by Christophe Beney, Dave Calhoun, Per Juul Carlsen, Paola Casella, Mike D’Angelo, Jean-Philippe Guerand, Carlos F. Heredero, Aaron Hillis, Fabien Lemercier, Marc-André Lussier, Liu Min, Isabelle Regnier and Cédric Succivalli. We already look forward to next year with Haneke, Pedro, Dolan and the Dardennes in the mix. Click on the grid below for a larger version.
- 5/26/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Recently during the 67th Edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Cinema23, an association created in 2012 to promote Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese film culture, announced the Fénix Film Awards (Premio Iberoamericano de Cine Fénix). This unique event will take place for the first time in Mexico City in October 2014.
The Mexican actor, director and producer Gael García Bernal (in absentia because of his duties on the jury for Cannes Competition), Portuguese director and actress Maria de Medeiros, Brazilian actress Alice Braga, Spanish actress Paz Vega and Mexican actress Ana de la Reguera, presented the Fénix Film Awards to the international media as one of the key strategies of Cinema23 to provide visibility and recognition of the cinema made in the region.
“There is great variety in our region´s cinema with different forms and languages that in many cases reflect part of who we are. However we are not always able to enjoy it in our own countries, much less worldwide. The activities carried out by Cinema23 aim to develop a closer engagement between the filmmakers and their audiences. It is extremely important to have more visibility in order to gain recognition for the diversity of cinema. This is the premise under which we organized the Fénix Film Awards, commented Ricardo Giraldo, Director of Cinema23.
Ana de la Reguera added: “We have great talent in the region, but it is barely known outside film festivals; it’s important to find another way to reach a broader audience and I believe the Fénix Film Awards is a great strategy and opportunity to achieve it.”
“It is very important for us to get together, allowing us to get closer to the work of our colleagues in order to discover, meet and recognize the voices that make us so different. A celebration like this one opens up a space for us to meet and get to know each other. More importantly it will set the basis for a more profound way for us to share our ideas, create, and cooperate”, added Alice Braga.
María de Medeiros also mentioned: “We are creating a film community that has not existed till now. A community that aims to be inclusive by integrating not only those who make films but also those who study, promote, teach, distribute and exhibit films; so that we all help, support and communicate with each another, allowing our work to be shared both within and outside the region.”
Paz Vega commented: “Collaboration provides an opportunity for creative exchange that strengthens and nourishes our film culture. This collaboration and integration allows our industries to grow without losing their identity and create better opportunities. In the end, difference is what unites us.”
For the past two years, Cinema23 has been shaping a diverse film community from the 22 countries of the region and those who work closely with the region’s filmmaking. The tasks of this community include movie promotion, study, reviews, festivals, distribution, exhibition and filmmaking. The editorial project Cinema23 Notebooks, the conferences during festivals and the student program Classroom Cinema are developed throughout the year, seeking a creative, cultural and knowledge exchange between the different film cultures. These strategies are complemented and strengthened for the general audience through the Fénix Film Awards.
The Fénix Film Awards granted by more than 350 film professionals from Mexico, Latin America, USA, Europe and Canada, will award 12 categories and 4 special recognitions.
It is worth noting that the members of Cinema23 all have an active role in the selection, nomination and voting process for the Fénix Film Awards. Members include:
Karim Ainouz, Elena Anaya, José Carlos Avellar, Héctor Babenco, Luiz Carlos Barreto, Alice Braga, Brigitte Broch, Demián Bichir, Eugenio Caballero, Javier Cámara, Sebastián Cordero, Enrique Chediak, Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón, María de Medeiros, Guillermo del Toro, Amat Escalante, Dolores Fonzi, Gael García Bernal, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Iván Giroud, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Salma Hayek, Carlos F. Heredero, Dolores Heredia, Pablo Larraín, Juan de Dios Larraín, Sebastián Lelio, Fernando León de Aranoa, Mónica Lozano, Emmanuel Lubezki, Diego Luna, Fernando Meirelles, Daniela Michel, Luis Miñarro, Wagner Moura, Bertha Navarro, Luis Ospina, Fito Páez, Marisa Paredes, Rodrigo Plá, Alejandro Ramírez, Édgar Ramírez, José Luis Rebordinos, Ana de la Reguera, Carlos Reygadas, José María Riba, Erica Rivas, Catalina Sandino, Ilda Santiago, Rodrigo Santoro, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Albert Serra, Juan Carlos Tabío, Paz Vega, Maribel Verdú & Monika Wagenberg.
Other international members that participate in the various activities of the association include:
Cameron Bailey (Artistic Director Toronto International Film Festival), Frederic Boyer (Artistic Director Tribeca Film Festival), Klaus Eder (President Fipresci), Robert Koehler (Film Critic), Claudia Landsberger (Vice-President Eye Film Institute) and Sydney Levine (Indiewire Blog Sydneys Buzz).
The award ceremony will be held in October 2014 in Mexico City and will be broadcast live on E! Entertainment Television to over 200 million people worldwide with the support of Mexico City’s Government.
To view Cinema23’s promotional video, click on the following link:
www.vimeo.com/81518414
To find out more about Cinema23 and the Fénix Film Awards please visit:
http://www.cinema23.com
About Cinema23
Cinema23 is an association created in 2012 to promote, support and raise awareness for the Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese film culture. It is formed by a diverse group of people with outstanding career trajectories from the film community mainly from the 22 countries of the region and those who work closely with the region’s filmmaking: directors, producers, actors, screenwriters, cinematographers, editors, art directors, sound designers, music composers, costume designers, festival directors and programmers, critics, researchers, distributors and film exhibitors.
Cinema23 seeks a more participative community amongst it members and provides a forum for creative and cultural exchange and cooperation among filmmakers from the region. Its yearly strategies and projects aim to promote and safeguard contemporary Ibero-American film culture, reaching new audiences, sharing ideas and enhancing the visibility and fostering the work of those who make films in Ibero-America.
About the Premio iberoamericano de cine Fénix®, (Fénix Film Awards)
The Fénix Film Awards is the key strategy to further Cinema23’s aims. It celebrates and emphasizes the work of film professionals, provides international visibility and strengthens bonds from the region’s film industry besides captivating and reaching a broader audience.
The first Fénix Film Awards’ gala will award 12 categories and 4 special recognitions. It will be held in October 2014 in Mexico City and will be broadcasted live on E! Entertainment Television to over 200 million people worldwide with the support of Mexico City’s Government.
The Mexican actor, director and producer Gael García Bernal (in absentia because of his duties on the jury for Cannes Competition), Portuguese director and actress Maria de Medeiros, Brazilian actress Alice Braga, Spanish actress Paz Vega and Mexican actress Ana de la Reguera, presented the Fénix Film Awards to the international media as one of the key strategies of Cinema23 to provide visibility and recognition of the cinema made in the region.
“There is great variety in our region´s cinema with different forms and languages that in many cases reflect part of who we are. However we are not always able to enjoy it in our own countries, much less worldwide. The activities carried out by Cinema23 aim to develop a closer engagement between the filmmakers and their audiences. It is extremely important to have more visibility in order to gain recognition for the diversity of cinema. This is the premise under which we organized the Fénix Film Awards, commented Ricardo Giraldo, Director of Cinema23.
Ana de la Reguera added: “We have great talent in the region, but it is barely known outside film festivals; it’s important to find another way to reach a broader audience and I believe the Fénix Film Awards is a great strategy and opportunity to achieve it.”
“It is very important for us to get together, allowing us to get closer to the work of our colleagues in order to discover, meet and recognize the voices that make us so different. A celebration like this one opens up a space for us to meet and get to know each other. More importantly it will set the basis for a more profound way for us to share our ideas, create, and cooperate”, added Alice Braga.
María de Medeiros also mentioned: “We are creating a film community that has not existed till now. A community that aims to be inclusive by integrating not only those who make films but also those who study, promote, teach, distribute and exhibit films; so that we all help, support and communicate with each another, allowing our work to be shared both within and outside the region.”
Paz Vega commented: “Collaboration provides an opportunity for creative exchange that strengthens and nourishes our film culture. This collaboration and integration allows our industries to grow without losing their identity and create better opportunities. In the end, difference is what unites us.”
For the past two years, Cinema23 has been shaping a diverse film community from the 22 countries of the region and those who work closely with the region’s filmmaking. The tasks of this community include movie promotion, study, reviews, festivals, distribution, exhibition and filmmaking. The editorial project Cinema23 Notebooks, the conferences during festivals and the student program Classroom Cinema are developed throughout the year, seeking a creative, cultural and knowledge exchange between the different film cultures. These strategies are complemented and strengthened for the general audience through the Fénix Film Awards.
The Fénix Film Awards granted by more than 350 film professionals from Mexico, Latin America, USA, Europe and Canada, will award 12 categories and 4 special recognitions.
It is worth noting that the members of Cinema23 all have an active role in the selection, nomination and voting process for the Fénix Film Awards. Members include:
Karim Ainouz, Elena Anaya, José Carlos Avellar, Héctor Babenco, Luiz Carlos Barreto, Alice Braga, Brigitte Broch, Demián Bichir, Eugenio Caballero, Javier Cámara, Sebastián Cordero, Enrique Chediak, Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón, María de Medeiros, Guillermo del Toro, Amat Escalante, Dolores Fonzi, Gael García Bernal, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Iván Giroud, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Salma Hayek, Carlos F. Heredero, Dolores Heredia, Pablo Larraín, Juan de Dios Larraín, Sebastián Lelio, Fernando León de Aranoa, Mónica Lozano, Emmanuel Lubezki, Diego Luna, Fernando Meirelles, Daniela Michel, Luis Miñarro, Wagner Moura, Bertha Navarro, Luis Ospina, Fito Páez, Marisa Paredes, Rodrigo Plá, Alejandro Ramírez, Édgar Ramírez, José Luis Rebordinos, Ana de la Reguera, Carlos Reygadas, José María Riba, Erica Rivas, Catalina Sandino, Ilda Santiago, Rodrigo Santoro, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Albert Serra, Juan Carlos Tabío, Paz Vega, Maribel Verdú & Monika Wagenberg.
Other international members that participate in the various activities of the association include:
Cameron Bailey (Artistic Director Toronto International Film Festival), Frederic Boyer (Artistic Director Tribeca Film Festival), Klaus Eder (President Fipresci), Robert Koehler (Film Critic), Claudia Landsberger (Vice-President Eye Film Institute) and Sydney Levine (Indiewire Blog Sydneys Buzz).
The award ceremony will be held in October 2014 in Mexico City and will be broadcast live on E! Entertainment Television to over 200 million people worldwide with the support of Mexico City’s Government.
To view Cinema23’s promotional video, click on the following link:
www.vimeo.com/81518414
To find out more about Cinema23 and the Fénix Film Awards please visit:
http://www.cinema23.com
About Cinema23
Cinema23 is an association created in 2012 to promote, support and raise awareness for the Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese film culture. It is formed by a diverse group of people with outstanding career trajectories from the film community mainly from the 22 countries of the region and those who work closely with the region’s filmmaking: directors, producers, actors, screenwriters, cinematographers, editors, art directors, sound designers, music composers, costume designers, festival directors and programmers, critics, researchers, distributors and film exhibitors.
Cinema23 seeks a more participative community amongst it members and provides a forum for creative and cultural exchange and cooperation among filmmakers from the region. Its yearly strategies and projects aim to promote and safeguard contemporary Ibero-American film culture, reaching new audiences, sharing ideas and enhancing the visibility and fostering the work of those who make films in Ibero-America.
About the Premio iberoamericano de cine Fénix®, (Fénix Film Awards)
The Fénix Film Awards is the key strategy to further Cinema23’s aims. It celebrates and emphasizes the work of film professionals, provides international visibility and strengthens bonds from the region’s film industry besides captivating and reaching a broader audience.
The first Fénix Film Awards’ gala will award 12 categories and 4 special recognitions. It will be held in October 2014 in Mexico City and will be broadcasted live on E! Entertainment Television to over 200 million people worldwide with the support of Mexico City’s Government.
- 6/4/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Jeez. Time sure does fly by. It’s hard to fathom that we’re now in year number four with our world film critic on the La Croisette gallop poll, which we conveniently refer to simply as: our Cannes Critics’ Panel. I’m proud to say that a good dozen of us have remained a tight bunch. Back in 2011, our critics decided to “vote for Pedro” and La piel que habito over Von Trier, Kaurismäki, Dardennes and Palme d’Or winner Terrence Malick. In 2012, Haneke’s golden Amour won by a nose over 2nd place vote getter Holy Motors while last year’s Blue is the Warmest Color (aka La Vie d’Adèle – Chapitres 1 et 2) was the unanimous pick (and tallied the highest score ever) not only by the Spielberg jury, but our own collective. How will the stars align for the eighteen Palme hopefuls? Where will our set of...
- 5/14/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
For a third consecutive year, we bring back our twice daily, five-star system, critical snapshot of the Main Competition selected films (16 films in all) as rated by our group of 16 film critics. Joining Ioncinema.com’s Nicholas Bell, Blake Williams and I, we once again find Christophe Beney, David Calhoun, Per Juul Carlsen, Mike D’Angelo, Carlos F. Heredero, Eric Kohn, Fabien Lemercier, Guy Lodge, Lin Min, Isabelle Regnier and Cedric Succivalli. Added to the group, we’d like to welcome Aaron Hillis and Neil Young to the ’13 edition of esteemed critics.
Technically not the first title out of the gate (as Amat Escalante’s Heli received an early preview the night before) this morning’s first 8:30a.m screening belonged to a contempo “Belle de Jour” with director-screenwriter Francois Ozon’s Young & Beautiful (Jeune & Jolie) which stars the exceptionally beautiful Marine Vacth in the role of a seventeen...
Technically not the first title out of the gate (as Amat Escalante’s Heli received an early preview the night before) this morning’s first 8:30a.m screening belonged to a contempo “Belle de Jour” with director-screenwriter Francois Ozon’s Young & Beautiful (Jeune & Jolie) which stars the exceptionally beautiful Marine Vacth in the role of a seventeen...
- 5/16/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
And the tradition continues here on Ioncinema.com. Our twice daily critical snapshot of the Main Competition selected films (22 films in all, plus the closing film) as rated by 16 film critics is in its sophomore year. Other than switching a four to five star grading system, not much has changed. Over the course of the next twelve days, our critics will supply star ratings (which will fill out the grid-like format below) and will then be converted into one final grade. It acts as a barometer or a snapshot of what the film critics like best in real time.
Last year’s top vote getter was a film that didn’t collect any awards in Cannes. Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In was the consensus favorite beating out the likes of Melancholia, Le Havre, The Kid With a Bike, Drive and Palme d’Or winner, The Tree of Life.
Last year’s top vote getter was a film that didn’t collect any awards in Cannes. Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In was the consensus favorite beating out the likes of Melancholia, Le Havre, The Kid With a Bike, Drive and Palme d’Or winner, The Tree of Life.
- 5/16/2012
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
With 14 of 16 members in our 2011 Critics' Panel voting, we naturally had to come to a gridlock. We have a two way tie with four votes apiece for The Tree of Life and Le Havre winning the Palme D'Or and in second place we have Pedro with three votes apiece for The Skin I Live In. We have one vote for The Artist, one for The Kid With a Bike and one person voted for Drive -- which must have crazy Vegas odds. I asked our 2011 panel to submit their winner predictions for the top three prizes and if they wanted to add anything further then we'd mention them as well. We'll have this on a grid shortly, but here is how we voted. Christophe Beney Palme d'Or: The Kid with the Bike Grand Prix: This Must Be the Place Jury Prize: The Tree Of Life David Calhoun Palme d'Or: Le...
- 5/22/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
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