Celina Murga’s “The Freshly Cut Grass,” executive produced by Martin Scorsese, is debuting at the Tribeca Festival and Variety has been given exclusive access to its first trailer and poster ahead of its world premiere on June 8.
Penned by Murga, director Juan Villegas (“Las Vegas”) and Lucía Osorio with the collaboration of Gabriela Larralde, the plot centers around two couples who engage in extramarital affairs and how, despite having the same professional position, they are treated differently because of their gender.
An exploration of the sexism and misogyny that permeates relationships both at home and in the workplace, pic offers a timely look at feminism, sexism, and the subtle ways these issues affect both men and women, all through the microcosm of two marriages.
“I like it when films make us question ourselves instead of giving us simple answers. ‘The Freshly Cut Grass’ seeks to reflect about the complex...
Penned by Murga, director Juan Villegas (“Las Vegas”) and Lucía Osorio with the collaboration of Gabriela Larralde, the plot centers around two couples who engage in extramarital affairs and how, despite having the same professional position, they are treated differently because of their gender.
An exploration of the sexism and misogyny that permeates relationships both at home and in the workplace, pic offers a timely look at feminism, sexism, and the subtle ways these issues affect both men and women, all through the microcosm of two marriages.
“I like it when films make us question ourselves instead of giving us simple answers. ‘The Freshly Cut Grass’ seeks to reflect about the complex...
- 6/3/2024
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
The 2024 Tribeca Festival has added even more films, including eight world premieres, to its lineup.
The annual New York event will now include the world premieres of two sports documentaries: Roger Federer’s Twelve Final Days, directed by Asif Kapadia and Joe Sabia, about the 20-time Grand Slam tennis champion’s decision to retire from the sport, and Dawn Porter’s Power of the Dream, about the WNBA’s fights for fair pay, better airtime and social justice. Both docs are set to stream on Amazon’s Prime Video.
And it’s adding the North American premiere of Nanette Burstein’s Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes as well as the world premiere of Sabrina Van Tassel’s Missing From Fire Trail Road, about the efforts to find out what happened to missing Native American woman Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis, who disappeared more than two years ago from the Tulalip Indian reservation near Seattle.
The annual New York event will now include the world premieres of two sports documentaries: Roger Federer’s Twelve Final Days, directed by Asif Kapadia and Joe Sabia, about the 20-time Grand Slam tennis champion’s decision to retire from the sport, and Dawn Porter’s Power of the Dream, about the WNBA’s fights for fair pay, better airtime and social justice. Both docs are set to stream on Amazon’s Prime Video.
And it’s adding the North American premiere of Nanette Burstein’s Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes as well as the world premiere of Sabrina Van Tassel’s Missing From Fire Trail Road, about the efforts to find out what happened to missing Native American woman Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis, who disappeared more than two years ago from the Tulalip Indian reservation near Seattle.
- 5/14/2024
- by Hilary Lewis
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
New York’s Tribeca Festival has added eight world premieres to its 2024 line-up, including Asif Kapadia and Joe Sabia’s Federer: Twelve Final Days.
The behind-the-scenes sports documentary, which will screen in Tribeca’s Spotlight Documentary section, is about tennis champion Roger Federer and his decision to retire from the sport.
Also set for the festival, which runs June 5-16, is the world premiere, in the International Narrative Competition, of The Freshly Cut Grass, a dramedy directed by Celina Murga and executive produced by Martin Scorsese.
Other world premieres joining the programme are: Power of the Dream, a documentary about women’s professional basketball,...
The behind-the-scenes sports documentary, which will screen in Tribeca’s Spotlight Documentary section, is about tennis champion Roger Federer and his decision to retire from the sport.
Also set for the festival, which runs June 5-16, is the world premiere, in the International Narrative Competition, of The Freshly Cut Grass, a dramedy directed by Celina Murga and executive produced by Martin Scorsese.
Other world premieres joining the programme are: Power of the Dream, a documentary about women’s professional basketball,...
- 5/14/2024
- ScreenDaily
Argentina’s right-wing populist president Javier Milei is forging ahead with his administration’s plans to defund the country’s film-tv institute Incaa, which will adversely impact national film festivals such as the Mar del Plata and federal aid for national film releases, state-run cinemas and film schools, among others. It also jeopardizes the prominent Buenos Aires-based film and TV market, Ventana Sur, which is jointly organized by Incaa and Cannes’ Marché du Film.
A March 11 communiqué from Argentina’s Orwellian-sounding Ministry of Human Capital stated that the Culture Ministry had discovered a deficit of $4 million dollars at Incaa and therefore has resolved to dramatically cut the institute’s expenses, “suspending transfers to the provinces, international travel, funding for festivals, payment of overtime, hiring of mobile telephony, per diems, and other expenses.”
“Furthermore, with the aim of reducing the $8 million allocated to staff salaries, no contract for work leases expiring...
A March 11 communiqué from Argentina’s Orwellian-sounding Ministry of Human Capital stated that the Culture Ministry had discovered a deficit of $4 million dollars at Incaa and therefore has resolved to dramatically cut the institute’s expenses, “suspending transfers to the provinces, international travel, funding for festivals, payment of overtime, hiring of mobile telephony, per diems, and other expenses.”
“Furthermore, with the aim of reducing the $8 million allocated to staff salaries, no contract for work leases expiring...
- 3/13/2024
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Argentina’s newly elected president Javier Milei is bent on keeping his chainsaw-wielding campaign promise to cut state spending, including scrapping the country’s national film institute (Incaa) and its film schools (Enerc).
His mega draft bill, aimed at reining in Argentina’s hyper-inflation, has prompted more than 300 directors, producers, actors, critics and colleagues from across the world, led by Academy Award winners Pedro Almodóvar, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Cannes winners Aki Kaurismäki (“Autumn Leaves”) and the Dardenne Brothers (“Rosetta”), to sign a communiqué protesting the far-right libertarian’s proposal.
The other signees include actor-producers Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, Isabelle Huppert, directors Olivier Assayas, Kelly Reichardt, Kleber Mendonca Filho, Juan Antonio Bayona, Pedro Costa, Asif Kapadia, Corneliu Porumboiu, Abel Ferrara, Mira Nair, Roger Corman and Isabel Coixet, among many other prominent figures in the global film community.
In a statement, the newly formed coalition Cine Argentino Unido, spearheaded by film director associations,...
His mega draft bill, aimed at reining in Argentina’s hyper-inflation, has prompted more than 300 directors, producers, actors, critics and colleagues from across the world, led by Academy Award winners Pedro Almodóvar, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Cannes winners Aki Kaurismäki (“Autumn Leaves”) and the Dardenne Brothers (“Rosetta”), to sign a communiqué protesting the far-right libertarian’s proposal.
The other signees include actor-producers Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, Isabelle Huppert, directors Olivier Assayas, Kelly Reichardt, Kleber Mendonca Filho, Juan Antonio Bayona, Pedro Costa, Asif Kapadia, Corneliu Porumboiu, Abel Ferrara, Mira Nair, Roger Corman and Isabel Coixet, among many other prominent figures in the global film community.
In a statement, the newly formed coalition Cine Argentino Unido, spearheaded by film director associations,...
- 1/22/2024
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
This week's episode features:Celina Murga (Argentina), one of the main figures of the New Argentine Cinema. Through a solid filmography that combines fiction and documentary, she has promoted production in her hometown, Entre Ríos, and has portrayed the social tensions that run beneath the calm of rural daily life. Since 2008, after participating in the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, Murga's work has been executive produced by the legendary American director Martin Scorsese and his works have been presented at festivals around the world, such as the Venice Critics' Week, Rotterdam, Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival, and the main competition at the Berlinale.Marina De Tavira (Mexico), an actress with a lengthy career on stage and screen. She was internationally recognized in the film industry for her role in the 2018 film Roma, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Heiress of an important theatrical legacy,...
- 8/31/2023
- MUBI
Martin Scorsese is executive producing “Escape,” the next film from Spanish writer-director Rodrigo Cortés, who burst onto the international scene directing Ryan Reynolds in the 2010 Sundance hit “Buried.”
Set to go into production at the end of May, Cortés’ first Spanish-language film since his debut feature, 2007 madcap dark comedy “The Contestant,” “Escape” stars Mario Casas, a Spanish Academy Award Goya winner for 2020’s “Cross the Line.”
One of Spain’s biggest film-tv stars, Casas leads a top-notch Spanish cast in “Escape” which takes in Anna Castillo, José Garcia (“Bastille Day”), Guillermo Toledo (“I’m So Excited”), Josep Maria Pou (“The Realm”), Blanca Portillo (“Maixabel”), and Jose Sacristán (“Velvet”).
Produced by Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls at Barcelona-based Nostromo Pictures, “Escape” is a free adaptation of the same-title novel penned by Spanish author Enrique Rubio.
“Escape” turns on N., a young man who wants to live in prison and will do whatever...
Set to go into production at the end of May, Cortés’ first Spanish-language film since his debut feature, 2007 madcap dark comedy “The Contestant,” “Escape” stars Mario Casas, a Spanish Academy Award Goya winner for 2020’s “Cross the Line.”
One of Spain’s biggest film-tv stars, Casas leads a top-notch Spanish cast in “Escape” which takes in Anna Castillo, José Garcia (“Bastille Day”), Guillermo Toledo (“I’m So Excited”), Josep Maria Pou (“The Realm”), Blanca Portillo (“Maixabel”), and Jose Sacristán (“Velvet”).
Produced by Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls at Barcelona-based Nostromo Pictures, “Escape” is a free adaptation of the same-title novel penned by Spanish author Enrique Rubio.
“Escape” turns on N., a young man who wants to live in prison and will do whatever...
- 5/24/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Martin Scorsese is executive producing Argentine filmmaker Celina Murga’s latest drama, “The Freshly Cut Grass,” which has begun production.
Produced by “Argentina, 1985” producers Infinity Hill, the film stars Oscar nominee Marina de Tavira (“Roma”) who plays opposite Argentina’s Joaquin Furriel in what is described as “an exploration of love, desire, relationships and how society applies double standards for men and women.”
“I came to know Celina [Murga] through Rolex’s arts mentorship program, in which I’d agreed to participate for the 2008-2009 year,” said Scorsese. “I chose Celina among the candidates that were sent my way because I was greatly impressed by her two features ‘Ana and the Others’ and ‘A Week Alone,’” he added.
“I try to see as many pictures from around the world as I can, and I found both films unusual in subject matter, extremely subtle on a dramatic level, closely tied to...
Produced by “Argentina, 1985” producers Infinity Hill, the film stars Oscar nominee Marina de Tavira (“Roma”) who plays opposite Argentina’s Joaquin Furriel in what is described as “an exploration of love, desire, relationships and how society applies double standards for men and women.”
“I came to know Celina [Murga] through Rolex’s arts mentorship program, in which I’d agreed to participate for the 2008-2009 year,” said Scorsese. “I chose Celina among the candidates that were sent my way because I was greatly impressed by her two features ‘Ana and the Others’ and ‘A Week Alone,’” he added.
“I try to see as many pictures from around the world as I can, and I found both films unusual in subject matter, extremely subtle on a dramatic level, closely tied to...
- 2/24/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
International projects already have at least 70 of funding in place.
The Venice Film Festival’s Gap-Financing Market has selected 33 international feature and documentary projects for its ninth edition this year, which runs from September 2-4.
The international projects nearing completion will have the chance to close their financing through one-to-one meetings at the Market, which is part of the Venice Production Bridge.
Each of the feature and documentary projects has at least 70 of its funding in place.
The countries in focus at this year’s event are France and Taiwan, with a number of projects from each country receiving a special invite to the Market.
The Venice Film Festival’s Gap-Financing Market has selected 33 international feature and documentary projects for its ninth edition this year, which runs from September 2-4.
The international projects nearing completion will have the chance to close their financing through one-to-one meetings at the Market, which is part of the Venice Production Bridge.
Each of the feature and documentary projects has at least 70 of its funding in place.
The countries in focus at this year’s event are France and Taiwan, with a number of projects from each country receiving a special invite to the Market.
- 7/1/2022
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Eight projects and nine producers to receive showcase.
TIFF award-winning filmmaker Yanillys Pérez and up-and-coming Ecuadorian director Ana Cristina Barragán are among those set to present projects at this year’s edition of the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors programme.
The initiative, aimed at supporting independent cinema from the global south and east, is entering the first of a three-year cycle focused on Latin America and the Caribbean.
It will present eight projects in its co-production hub and a further nine participants will join its producer lab. Countries represented in this first year include the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Paraguay,...
TIFF award-winning filmmaker Yanillys Pérez and up-and-coming Ecuadorian director Ana Cristina Barragán are among those set to present projects at this year’s edition of the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors programme.
The initiative, aimed at supporting independent cinema from the global south and east, is entering the first of a three-year cycle focused on Latin America and the Caribbean.
It will present eight projects in its co-production hub and a further nine participants will join its producer lab. Countries represented in this first year include the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Paraguay,...
- 6/2/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
The forum, which will run exceptionally online from September 19-21, will include works from Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, Hungary, Mexico, Paraguay, Spain and Uruguay. Eighteen projects from nine countries have been selected for the IX Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum. Set within the San Sebastian International Film Festival’s 68th edition, the activity will take place from 19 to 21 September, will run exclusively online due to the pandemic. The market has recorded a total of 235 submissions this year. As usual, thanks to the festival's collaboration with Ventana Sur, the Marché du Film and Argentina's Incaa (National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts), European projects selected for the forum have the opportunity to participate in Ventana Sur's Proyecta programme. Regarding this year's selection, a few filmmakers of recognised career will be present with their latest projects: Argentina's Celina Murga (whose latest work The Third Side of the River premiered in...
Three of Argentina’s foremost auteurs – “Rojo’s” Benjamin Naishtat, “The Third Side of the River’s” Celina Murga, and “Two Shots Fired’s” Martin Rejtman – will present new movie projects at a 9th Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, the industry centerpiece at this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival.
They will be joined by up-and-coming directors such as “The Heiresses’” Marcelo Martinessi, “The Sharks’” Lucia Garibaldi and “The Future Perfect’s” Nele Wohlatz in a lineup that is long on strong and fairly established Argentine talent, has a clutch of new Colombian directors, and presses the urgent social-issue concerns that have come to characterize Latin American cinema.
Catapulted to fame when Martin Scorsese executive produced “The Third Side of the River,” Murga will present “The Smell of Freshly Cut Grass,” a high-concept gender drama starring “Paulina’s” Dolores Fonzi and co-written with partner and fellow film director Juan Villegas (“Las...
They will be joined by up-and-coming directors such as “The Heiresses’” Marcelo Martinessi, “The Sharks’” Lucia Garibaldi and “The Future Perfect’s” Nele Wohlatz in a lineup that is long on strong and fairly established Argentine talent, has a clutch of new Colombian directors, and presses the urgent social-issue concerns that have come to characterize Latin American cinema.
Catapulted to fame when Martin Scorsese executive produced “The Third Side of the River,” Murga will present “The Smell of Freshly Cut Grass,” a high-concept gender drama starring “Paulina’s” Dolores Fonzi and co-written with partner and fellow film director Juan Villegas (“Las...
- 8/13/2020
- by John Hopewell and Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Berlin-based Weydemann Bros. is expanding its international co-production activities with new projects from Argentina and Malaysia.
Argentinean director-producer team Celina Murga and Juan Villegas are partnering with Jakob and Jonas Weydemann on the upcoming relationship drama “El olor del pasto recien cortado” (“The Smell of Freshly Cut Grass”).
Directed by Murga and written and produced by Villegas, the film follows a married couple, Pablo and Natalia, both university professors, who each embark on entangled affairs with their respective students, Luciana and Gonzalo. Like two sides of the same coin, the first half of the film revolves around Pablo and Luciana, with the second half centering on Natalia and Gonzalo.
Dolores Fonzi is set play the lead role of Natalia.
Murga’s works include the 2014 Berlin competition player “The Third Side of the River,” which was exec produced Martin Scorsese, and 2008’s award-winning “A Week Alone,” which Murga co-wrote with Villegas.
Argentinean director-producer team Celina Murga and Juan Villegas are partnering with Jakob and Jonas Weydemann on the upcoming relationship drama “El olor del pasto recien cortado” (“The Smell of Freshly Cut Grass”).
Directed by Murga and written and produced by Villegas, the film follows a married couple, Pablo and Natalia, both university professors, who each embark on entangled affairs with their respective students, Luciana and Gonzalo. Like two sides of the same coin, the first half of the film revolves around Pablo and Luciana, with the second half centering on Natalia and Gonzalo.
Dolores Fonzi is set play the lead role of Natalia.
Murga’s works include the 2014 Berlin competition player “The Third Side of the River,” which was exec produced Martin Scorsese, and 2008’s award-winning “A Week Alone,” which Murga co-wrote with Villegas.
- 2/23/2020
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Cannes – Buenos Aires’ director-producer Juan Villegas presented his debut “Saturday” at the Venice Festival and won awards at the Rotterdam and Sarajevo film festivals. “Suicidals” screened at San Sebastián. “Idleness,” his third feature, co-directed with Alejando Lingenti, screened at the Berinale.
Produced by Salvador del Solar at Argentina’s Cepa Audiovisual and by Villegas’ production outfit Tresmilmundos Cine, Villegas’ last feature “Las Vegas,” a naturalistic indie comedy, forms part of an Argentina focus at Acid Trip #3– organized by France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (Acid) in partnership with the Pci (Association of Argentinian Film Directors) at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
“Las Vegas” revolves around the accidental encounter of a separated couple with their son. This unchains a quietly comic entanglement… Tell me a bit about the story…
I was interested in expressing the conflicts at two different stages of life: of those who are reaching 40 years of...
Produced by Salvador del Solar at Argentina’s Cepa Audiovisual and by Villegas’ production outfit Tresmilmundos Cine, Villegas’ last feature “Las Vegas,” a naturalistic indie comedy, forms part of an Argentina focus at Acid Trip #3– organized by France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (Acid) in partnership with the Pci (Association of Argentinian Film Directors) at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
“Las Vegas” revolves around the accidental encounter of a separated couple with their son. This unchains a quietly comic entanglement… Tell me a bit about the story…
I was interested in expressing the conflicts at two different stages of life: of those who are reaching 40 years of...
- 5/22/2019
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Feature, documentary, Vr, TV projects set for Venice industry strand.
Venice Film Festival industry strand Venice Production Bridge has confirmed the 47 projects that will take part in this year’s edition of the Gap-Financing Market (September 1-3).
Now in its fourth year, the market will welcome 25 feature film and documentary projects, 15 virtual reality, interactive, web and TV projects, as well as seven Vr projects from previous editions of the talent development lab Biennale College, which are in various stages of development and production.
The teams behind each project will take part in one-ot-one meetings with producers, financiers, distributors, sales agents and further industry attending the Production Bridge.
Full list of projects:
Fiction features (Europe)
All The Pretty Little Horses dir. Michalis Konstantatos (Greece, Germany, Netherlands), Horsefly Productions
Bodyguard Of Lies dir. Charles Matthau (Spain, United States), Babieka Films
Brighton 4 dir. Levan Koguashvili (Georgia, Bulgaria, Greece), Kino Iberica
Cook, Fuck, Kill dir. Mira Fornay (Czech...
Venice Film Festival industry strand Venice Production Bridge has confirmed the 47 projects that will take part in this year’s edition of the Gap-Financing Market (September 1-3).
Now in its fourth year, the market will welcome 25 feature film and documentary projects, 15 virtual reality, interactive, web and TV projects, as well as seven Vr projects from previous editions of the talent development lab Biennale College, which are in various stages of development and production.
The teams behind each project will take part in one-ot-one meetings with producers, financiers, distributors, sales agents and further industry attending the Production Bridge.
Full list of projects:
Fiction features (Europe)
All The Pretty Little Horses dir. Michalis Konstantatos (Greece, Germany, Netherlands), Horsefly Productions
Bodyguard Of Lies dir. Charles Matthau (Spain, United States), Babieka Films
Brighton 4 dir. Levan Koguashvili (Georgia, Bulgaria, Greece), Kino Iberica
Cook, Fuck, Kill dir. Mira Fornay (Czech...
- 7/14/2017
- by tom.grater@screendaily.com (Tom Grater)
- ScreenDaily
Director Tom Shoval is planning his second feature, which will shoot in Israel and France.
Israeli film-maker Tom Shoval is gearing up to shoot his second film Shake Your Cares Away, about a wealthy young idealist hell-bent on solving allof Israeli society’s ills.
“The plan is to start shooting at the beginning of next year, mainly in Israel with a short shoot in France,” said producer Gal Greenspan of Tel Aviv-based Green Production.
Sol Bondy of Berlin-based One Two Films, who also co-produced Shoval’s debut feature Youth, is attached and Greenspan is in final talks with potential French co-producers.
The tale of a kidnap attempt that goes farcically wrong because the victim’s Shabbat-observing family will not pick up the phone, Youth won three prizes at the 2013 Jerusalem Film Festival including best Israeli film.
Shake Your Cares Away revolves around the figure of Alma, the daughter of the richest family in Israel, who lives a...
Israeli film-maker Tom Shoval is gearing up to shoot his second film Shake Your Cares Away, about a wealthy young idealist hell-bent on solving allof Israeli society’s ills.
“The plan is to start shooting at the beginning of next year, mainly in Israel with a short shoot in France,” said producer Gal Greenspan of Tel Aviv-based Green Production.
Sol Bondy of Berlin-based One Two Films, who also co-produced Shoval’s debut feature Youth, is attached and Greenspan is in final talks with potential French co-producers.
The tale of a kidnap attempt that goes farcically wrong because the victim’s Shabbat-observing family will not pick up the phone, Youth won three prizes at the 2013 Jerusalem Film Festival including best Israeli film.
Shake Your Cares Away revolves around the figure of Alma, the daughter of the richest family in Israel, who lives a...
- 7/14/2015
- ScreenDaily
The festival’s 25th edition will feature a contribution from Ai Weiwei and competition titles including Whiplash, Nightcrawler and Foxcatcher.
The Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 5-16) is to present its Achievement Award to Us actress Uma Thurman.
The Kill Bill star will will visit Stockholm to receive the prestigious Bronze Horse and meet the audience during an exclusive “Face2Face”.
Thurman will also take part in the inauguration ceremony, which will include the unveiling of an ice sculpture by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.
Weiwei was a Stockholm jury member last year but since he wasn’t allowed to leave China, he sent an empty chair named ”The Chair for Non-attendance” as symbol of his absence.
He is still not allowed to leave China so will send a design that will be portrayed in the form of a large ice sculpture symbolising this years’ Spotlight theme - Hope.
Brazil
The festival will focus this year on Brazil...
The Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 5-16) is to present its Achievement Award to Us actress Uma Thurman.
The Kill Bill star will will visit Stockholm to receive the prestigious Bronze Horse and meet the audience during an exclusive “Face2Face”.
Thurman will also take part in the inauguration ceremony, which will include the unveiling of an ice sculpture by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.
Weiwei was a Stockholm jury member last year but since he wasn’t allowed to leave China, he sent an empty chair named ”The Chair for Non-attendance” as symbol of his absence.
He is still not allowed to leave China so will send a design that will be portrayed in the form of a large ice sculpture symbolising this years’ Spotlight theme - Hope.
Brazil
The festival will focus this year on Brazil...
- 10/16/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The 16th edition of the Mumbai Film Festival announced its line-up in a press conference today.
Here is the complete list of films which will be screened at the festival:-
International Competition
Difret
Dir.: Zeresenay Berhane Mehari (Ethiopia / 2014 / Col / 99)
History of Fear (Historia del miedo)
Dir.: Benjamin Naishtat (Argentina-France-Germany-Qatar-Uruguay / 2014 / Col / 79)
With Others (Ba Digaran)
Dir.: Nasser Zamiri (Iran / 2014 / Col / 85)
The Tree (Drevo)
Dir.: Sonja Prosenc (Slovenia / 2014 / Col / 90)
Next to Her (At li layla)
Dir.: Asaf Korman (Israel / 2014 / Col / 90)
Schimbare
Dir.: Alex Sampayo (Spain / 2014 / Col / 87)
Fever
Dir.: Raphaël Neal (France / 2014 / Col / 81)
Court
Dir.: Chaitanya Tamhane (India (Marathi-Gujarati-English-Hindi) / 2014 / Col / 116)
Macondo
Dir.: Sudabeh Mortezai (Austria / 2014 / Col / 98)
India Gold Competition 2014
The Fort (Killa)
Dir.: Avinash Arun (India (Marathi) / 2014 / Col / 107)
Unto the Dusk
Dir.: Sajin Baabu (India (Malayalam) / 2014 / Col / 118)
Names Unknown (Perariyathavar)
Dir.: Dr. Biju (India (Malayalam) / 2014 / Col / 110)
Buddha In a Traffic Jam
Dir.
Here is the complete list of films which will be screened at the festival:-
International Competition
Difret
Dir.: Zeresenay Berhane Mehari (Ethiopia / 2014 / Col / 99)
History of Fear (Historia del miedo)
Dir.: Benjamin Naishtat (Argentina-France-Germany-Qatar-Uruguay / 2014 / Col / 79)
With Others (Ba Digaran)
Dir.: Nasser Zamiri (Iran / 2014 / Col / 85)
The Tree (Drevo)
Dir.: Sonja Prosenc (Slovenia / 2014 / Col / 90)
Next to Her (At li layla)
Dir.: Asaf Korman (Israel / 2014 / Col / 90)
Schimbare
Dir.: Alex Sampayo (Spain / 2014 / Col / 87)
Fever
Dir.: Raphaël Neal (France / 2014 / Col / 81)
Court
Dir.: Chaitanya Tamhane (India (Marathi-Gujarati-English-Hindi) / 2014 / Col / 116)
Macondo
Dir.: Sudabeh Mortezai (Austria / 2014 / Col / 98)
India Gold Competition 2014
The Fort (Killa)
Dir.: Avinash Arun (India (Marathi) / 2014 / Col / 107)
Unto the Dusk
Dir.: Sajin Baabu (India (Malayalam) / 2014 / Col / 118)
Names Unknown (Perariyathavar)
Dir.: Dr. Biju (India (Malayalam) / 2014 / Col / 110)
Buddha In a Traffic Jam
Dir.
- 9/17/2014
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Once again the San Sebastian Festival will showcase the best Latin American productions of the year. The program of the Horizontes Latinos section at the 62nd edition includes fourteen productions from Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia. Films that have competed or been presented at important international festivals, but which have not yet been seen at a Spanish festival or commercially released in the country.
The selected films compete for the Horizontes Award, decided by a specific jury and carrying €35,000, of which €10,000 go to the director of the winning film, and the remaining €25,000 to its distributor in Spain.
"Casa Grande"Fellipe Barbosa (Brazil - U.S.A.)Set within Rio's social elite, a teenage boy struggles to escape his overprotective parents as his family spirals into bankruptcy. This second movie by Brazil's Fellipe Barbosa was presented in the Official Selection at the Rotterdam Festival.
"Natural Sciences" (Ciencias Naturales)
Matías Lucchesi (Argentina - France)Presented in the Generation section of the Berlin Festival and winner of the Award for Best Ibero-American Film at the Guadalajara Festival, the first film by Matías Luchesi revolves around a girl who, starting to become a woman, feels the profound need to discover her true identity. She does not know who her father is and she is determined to find him.
"Two Gun Shots" (Dos Disparos)
Martín Rejtman (Argentina - Chile - Netherlands - Germany)The Argentinian filmmaker Martín Rejtman competed at the Locarno Festival with his latest film. Early one morning, 16 year-old Mariano finds a gun in his house and proceeds to shoot himself twice without giving it a second thought. He survives. Dos disparos (Two Shots Fired) is the tale of how Mariano and his family react to the situation.
"Gente de Bien"Franco Lolli (France - Colombia)The feature film debut of Franco Lolli, following several short films to have won awards at several festivals, was presented in the Critics' Week at Cannes. Ten year-old Eric finds himself almost overnight living with Gabriel, his father, who he barely knows. Maria Isabel, the woman Gabriel works for as a carpenter, decides to help and invites them both to the country to spend Christmas with her and her family. However, she fails to foresee all the consequences of taking the child under her wing.
"Güeros"Alonso Ruiz Palacios (Mexico)A road movie and coming of age comedy which pays homage to the French new wave, winner of Panorama's First Feature Award in Berlin Film Festival and of Best Cinematography Award and Special Jury Mention in Tribeca Festival. Since the teenager Tomás is clearly too much of a handful for his mother, she packs him off to stay with his big brother who is studying in Mexico City.Tomás has brought a cassette along with him; the tape is part of his father’s legacy and contains the music of Epigmenio Cruz. When the trio learns that their idol is in hospital fading fast and alone, they set off in their rusty heap of a car to pay their last respects to this one-time rock star.
"History of Fear" (Historia del Miedo)
Benjamín Naishtat (Argentina - France - Germany - Uruguay - Qatar)Following its screening in Films in Progress at last year's San Sebastian Festival, Benjamín Naishtat's first film competed at the Berlin Festival and won Best Film at the Jeonju Festival. When a heat wave grips the suburbs, blackouts and waves of pollution push the social order to the brink of collapse, forcing each inhabitant to confront his own motives, instincts and fears.
"Jauja"
Lisandro Alonso (Argentina - U.S.A. - Mexico - Netherlands - France - Denmark- Germany)Viggo Mortensen stars in a film by Lisandro Alonso that competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Festival and won the Fipresci Award. In 1882, Captain Dinesen arrives in Patagonia from Denmark with his 15 year old daughter Ingeborg to take up an engineering post with the Argentinian army. When Ingeborg falls in love with a young soldier and runs away with him, the Captain ventures into enemy territory to find the couple. A solitary quest that takes us to a place beyond time.
"The Princess of France"(La Princesa de Francia)
Matías Piñeiro (Argentina)Matías Piñeiro returns to his reflections on the theatre world in this competitor in the Official Selection of the Locarno Festival. A year after his father's death in Mexico, Víctor returns to Buenos Aires with a job for his former theatre company: to make a Latin American series of radio dramas by recording a pilote episode of the last play they put on together.
"La Salada"Juán Martín Hsu (Argentina - Spain)The winning film of the Films in Progress Industry Award at last year's Festival is a mosaic of experiences for new immigrants in Argentina. Three tales of people from different races who struggle with loneliness and alienation during "La feria de La Salada".
"The Third Side of the River" (La Tercera Orilla)
Celina Murga (Argentina- Germany - The Netherlands)The Argentinian director Celina Murga competed in Berlin's Official Selection with this film focused on the seventeen-year-old Nicolas, who lives with his mother and younger siblings in a small provincial city. When his entranged father returns to his life, tensions rise between father and son. Nicolas realizes he has to make radical choices for his own future.
"To Kill a Man" (Matar a un Hombre)
Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile - France)The third film from Chile's Alejandro Fernández Almendras participated in Films in Progress last year and has won awards at several international festivals, including Sundance and Rotterdam. Jorge, a hardworking man, is muggled by Kalule, a neighbourhood delinquent. Jorge’s son, in an attemp to defend his father, is shot by Kalule for what Kalule is sent to prision. When he is released, only wants one thing: revenge.
"Futuro Beach" (Praia do Futuro)
Karim Ainouz (Brazil - Germany)A love story directed by Karim Aïnouz which competed in the Official Selection at the Berlin Festival. Donato works as a life guard patrolling the spectacular but treacherous Praia do Futuro beach. When he dives into the sea after two men caught in the undercurrent, he saves Konrad, a German vacationing in Brazil, but Konrad’s friend is lost to the sea. While waiting for the body to resurface, a bond grows between donato and Konrad and the initial sexual sparks give way to a deeper,emotional connection. Winner of the Sebastiane Latino Award.
"Refugiado"Diego Lerman (Argentina- Colombia - France - Poland - Germany)Presented at the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes, the latest film from Diego Lerman opens when Matías, a 7 year-old boy, finds his mother, Laura, unconscious on the floor on coming home from a birthday party. When Laura comes round, she decides to flee with her son to a shelter for battered women. Seen through the eyes of Matías, we follow their escape and the way everything he knew turns into danger, while Laura looks for a safe place to live.
"August Winds" (Ventos de Agosto)
Gabriel Mascaro (Brazil)The arrival to a small coastal village in Brazil of a researcher registering the sound of the trade winds and a surprise discovery take Shirley and Jeison on a journey that confronts them with the duel between life and death, loss and memory, the wind and the sea. A first film by Gabriel Mascaró, winner of a special mention at the Locarno Festival.
The selected films compete for the Horizontes Award, decided by a specific jury and carrying €35,000, of which €10,000 go to the director of the winning film, and the remaining €25,000 to its distributor in Spain.
"Casa Grande"Fellipe Barbosa (Brazil - U.S.A.)Set within Rio's social elite, a teenage boy struggles to escape his overprotective parents as his family spirals into bankruptcy. This second movie by Brazil's Fellipe Barbosa was presented in the Official Selection at the Rotterdam Festival.
"Natural Sciences" (Ciencias Naturales)
Matías Lucchesi (Argentina - France)Presented in the Generation section of the Berlin Festival and winner of the Award for Best Ibero-American Film at the Guadalajara Festival, the first film by Matías Luchesi revolves around a girl who, starting to become a woman, feels the profound need to discover her true identity. She does not know who her father is and she is determined to find him.
"Two Gun Shots" (Dos Disparos)
Martín Rejtman (Argentina - Chile - Netherlands - Germany)The Argentinian filmmaker Martín Rejtman competed at the Locarno Festival with his latest film. Early one morning, 16 year-old Mariano finds a gun in his house and proceeds to shoot himself twice without giving it a second thought. He survives. Dos disparos (Two Shots Fired) is the tale of how Mariano and his family react to the situation.
"Gente de Bien"Franco Lolli (France - Colombia)The feature film debut of Franco Lolli, following several short films to have won awards at several festivals, was presented in the Critics' Week at Cannes. Ten year-old Eric finds himself almost overnight living with Gabriel, his father, who he barely knows. Maria Isabel, the woman Gabriel works for as a carpenter, decides to help and invites them both to the country to spend Christmas with her and her family. However, she fails to foresee all the consequences of taking the child under her wing.
"Güeros"Alonso Ruiz Palacios (Mexico)A road movie and coming of age comedy which pays homage to the French new wave, winner of Panorama's First Feature Award in Berlin Film Festival and of Best Cinematography Award and Special Jury Mention in Tribeca Festival. Since the teenager Tomás is clearly too much of a handful for his mother, she packs him off to stay with his big brother who is studying in Mexico City.Tomás has brought a cassette along with him; the tape is part of his father’s legacy and contains the music of Epigmenio Cruz. When the trio learns that their idol is in hospital fading fast and alone, they set off in their rusty heap of a car to pay their last respects to this one-time rock star.
"History of Fear" (Historia del Miedo)
Benjamín Naishtat (Argentina - France - Germany - Uruguay - Qatar)Following its screening in Films in Progress at last year's San Sebastian Festival, Benjamín Naishtat's first film competed at the Berlin Festival and won Best Film at the Jeonju Festival. When a heat wave grips the suburbs, blackouts and waves of pollution push the social order to the brink of collapse, forcing each inhabitant to confront his own motives, instincts and fears.
"Jauja"
Lisandro Alonso (Argentina - U.S.A. - Mexico - Netherlands - France - Denmark- Germany)Viggo Mortensen stars in a film by Lisandro Alonso that competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Festival and won the Fipresci Award. In 1882, Captain Dinesen arrives in Patagonia from Denmark with his 15 year old daughter Ingeborg to take up an engineering post with the Argentinian army. When Ingeborg falls in love with a young soldier and runs away with him, the Captain ventures into enemy territory to find the couple. A solitary quest that takes us to a place beyond time.
"The Princess of France"(La Princesa de Francia)
Matías Piñeiro (Argentina)Matías Piñeiro returns to his reflections on the theatre world in this competitor in the Official Selection of the Locarno Festival. A year after his father's death in Mexico, Víctor returns to Buenos Aires with a job for his former theatre company: to make a Latin American series of radio dramas by recording a pilote episode of the last play they put on together.
"La Salada"Juán Martín Hsu (Argentina - Spain)The winning film of the Films in Progress Industry Award at last year's Festival is a mosaic of experiences for new immigrants in Argentina. Three tales of people from different races who struggle with loneliness and alienation during "La feria de La Salada".
"The Third Side of the River" (La Tercera Orilla)
Celina Murga (Argentina- Germany - The Netherlands)The Argentinian director Celina Murga competed in Berlin's Official Selection with this film focused on the seventeen-year-old Nicolas, who lives with his mother and younger siblings in a small provincial city. When his entranged father returns to his life, tensions rise between father and son. Nicolas realizes he has to make radical choices for his own future.
"To Kill a Man" (Matar a un Hombre)
Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile - France)The third film from Chile's Alejandro Fernández Almendras participated in Films in Progress last year and has won awards at several international festivals, including Sundance and Rotterdam. Jorge, a hardworking man, is muggled by Kalule, a neighbourhood delinquent. Jorge’s son, in an attemp to defend his father, is shot by Kalule for what Kalule is sent to prision. When he is released, only wants one thing: revenge.
"Futuro Beach" (Praia do Futuro)
Karim Ainouz (Brazil - Germany)A love story directed by Karim Aïnouz which competed in the Official Selection at the Berlin Festival. Donato works as a life guard patrolling the spectacular but treacherous Praia do Futuro beach. When he dives into the sea after two men caught in the undercurrent, he saves Konrad, a German vacationing in Brazil, but Konrad’s friend is lost to the sea. While waiting for the body to resurface, a bond grows between donato and Konrad and the initial sexual sparks give way to a deeper,emotional connection. Winner of the Sebastiane Latino Award.
"Refugiado"Diego Lerman (Argentina- Colombia - France - Poland - Germany)Presented at the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes, the latest film from Diego Lerman opens when Matías, a 7 year-old boy, finds his mother, Laura, unconscious on the floor on coming home from a birthday party. When Laura comes round, she decides to flee with her son to a shelter for battered women. Seen through the eyes of Matías, we follow their escape and the way everything he knew turns into danger, while Laura looks for a safe place to live.
"August Winds" (Ventos de Agosto)
Gabriel Mascaro (Brazil)The arrival to a small coastal village in Brazil of a researcher registering the sound of the trade winds and a surprise discovery take Shirley and Jeison on a journey that confronts them with the duel between life and death, loss and memory, the wind and the sea. A first film by Gabriel Mascaró, winner of a special mention at the Locarno Festival.
- 9/9/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Competitive strand will feature 14 films, including Jauja starring Viggo Mortensen.
A total of 14 titles have been selected to compete in Horizontes Latinos at the 62nd San Sebastian Festival (Sept 19-27).
The strand comprises productions from Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia that have competed or screneed at international festivals but have yet to be seen in Spain.
The selected films compete for the Horizontes Award, decided by a jury and including a prize of €35,000 ($46,000), of which €10,000 ($13,000) goes to the director of the winning film, and the remaining €25,000 ($33,000) to its distributor in Spain.
Casa Grande
Fellipe Barbosa (Brazil - USA)
Set within Rio’s social elite, a teenage boy struggles to escape his overprotective parents as his family spirals into bankruptcy. This second movie by Brazil’s Fellipe Barbosa was presented in the Official Selection at the Rotterdam Festival.
Ciencias naturales (Natural Sciences)
Matías Lucchesi (Argentina - France)
Presented in the Generation section of the Berlin Festival...
A total of 14 titles have been selected to compete in Horizontes Latinos at the 62nd San Sebastian Festival (Sept 19-27).
The strand comprises productions from Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia that have competed or screneed at international festivals but have yet to be seen in Spain.
The selected films compete for the Horizontes Award, decided by a jury and including a prize of €35,000 ($46,000), of which €10,000 ($13,000) goes to the director of the winning film, and the remaining €25,000 ($33,000) to its distributor in Spain.
Casa Grande
Fellipe Barbosa (Brazil - USA)
Set within Rio’s social elite, a teenage boy struggles to escape his overprotective parents as his family spirals into bankruptcy. This second movie by Brazil’s Fellipe Barbosa was presented in the Official Selection at the Rotterdam Festival.
Ciencias naturales (Natural Sciences)
Matías Lucchesi (Argentina - France)
Presented in the Generation section of the Berlin Festival...
- 8/28/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
As a film fan, self-professed cinenerd, and an ex-film programmer at the New York International Latino Film Festival, the closure of the long-running fest last year was soul crushing. There are very few spaces dedicated to exhibiting Latino cinema and a lot of the remaining ones are on shaky ground.
Simultaneously though — as many U.S. Latino film institutions are on their last legs — movies directed by Latin American-born filmmakers are circling the globe at prestigious film festivals, winning awards, and garnering praise from critics. Production numbers, south of our border, have risen astronomically. It’s a renewal, renaissance, new wave — whatever you want to call it — that began in the mid-nineties. The Film Society of Lincoln Center, with its eye on this rebirth, founded a film series in 1997. A yearly showcase of the newest voices in Latin American cinema, it would eventually be called Latinbeat.
This year’s Latinbeat, running July 11 – 20, carries on with its mission of presenting emerging directors and film trends from across Latin America with movies from powerhouses like Argentina, Mexico, Chile, and Brazil plus countries with smaller film industries like Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. From films about a Mexican garage band ("We Are Mari Pepa") to heavy metal in the Andes ("Holiday") and from first-time directors as well as established ones, this year’s lineup is centered on young protagonists.
In advance of the series’ opening night, I got the chance to chat with Marcela Goglio — Latinbeat’s film programmer since 1999 — about the origins of the longstanding showcase, how she ended up at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and the constant rebirth of Latin American cinema. Plus, there are some good stories about the struggles of getting filmmakers to their screenings on time. Spoiler alert: if something can go wrong, it will.
When did the Latinbeat series start? Was there something specific that motivated the creation of the series?
Latinbeat started in 1997, conceived by Richard Peña, the Programming Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center at the time (and until the end of 2012.) He actually programmed that first edition. I came in as an intern that year and helped with the marketing, outreach, and with Q&As. He came up with the idea mainly because at the time there was a very evident explosion or renaissance of film in Latin America, mainly Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico (the so called “New Argentine Cinema” started in the mid 90s). By explosion I mean not only a spike in quantity but mainly there was some really interesting formal exploration going on and new kinds of films emerging as a reaction to drastically changing socio-political realities — end of dictatorships in some countries, devastating economic crises that changed the social landscape in others — in a film landscape that, up until then, had become rather stale. It was the perfect time and there was a real need, as no other venues existed that were showcasing that cinema in New York. Latinbeat was the very first to showcase these new emerging filmmakers that later became such symbols of their time.
Where did the name Latinbeat come from?
Richard Peña chose the name. I think it was a reference to precisely an urgent, watershed moment, urgent films, something palpitating in the air that the festival wanted to capture. Also, it was a reference to a new rhythm or language that was being created.
How did you end up programming the series?
Newly arrived in New York City in 1997, after having lived in Costa Rica for four years where I worked as a journalist and programmed a series of Latin American cinema at the Spanish Cultural Center, I heard that Richard Peña, whom I had studied under at Columbia University before moving to Costa Rica, was organizing a Latin American film festival. (At the time it was called “Latin American Cinema Now.”) I called him up and volunteered to help on that festival that he programmed. So I became an intern at the Film Society helping with Latin American outreach and other stuff. In 1998, he asked me and a fellow colleague, Cord Dueppe, to program the following edition in 1999 (it was biannual back then) and we programmed the subsequent editions together. Ines Aslan, from the Public Relations department, joined our team around 2003 under Richard’s guidance. In 2007, I became the sole programmer (Ines and Cord left the Film Society) and have programmed it since.
Richard Peña, former Programming Director at the Film Society of Lincoln Center
Can you describe the process of discovering and selecting the films each year? How is the process different now than when you first started?
I take submissions — and I watch everything that is sent to me — but I don’t do an open call for entries. Up until recently, I had traveled to the Havana Film Festival almost every year since 1996 and to every Bafici (Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival) since its first edition 12 years ago and I go to a few other festivals. Distribution companies send me titles and screeners but mostly the process involves keeping up to date with productions in the region through connections with film schools, institutes, filmmakers, and producers with whom I have developed a relationship with over the years. Also, of course, I follow the programming at all the other festivals.
The process now is different in that there are many more films to watch because, amongst other things, of an explosion in production in other countries in the region (and more production too in the aforementioned strongest countries: Argentina, Mexico, Brazil). The programming, necessarily, must become more complex because there is more to choose from and more variety but also more festivals that compete for the same films. There are more films to watch but because of technology it is also easier, in a sense, since viewing links get sent quickly instead of having to wait for screeners or videos via mail.
What was the biggest challenge in the first year of the series?
Getting a crossover audience, in terms of nationality.
Marcela Goglio with Yamandu Ross, co-director of '3 Million'
What years do you feel were the heyday of the series? What are some of your favorite memories of that time?
Definitely 2003 – 2004, when the festival was hugely successful — we had sold out screenings back to back — and longer, it ran for three weeks. We had a lot of Cuban cinema and my very favorite sidebar (in 2003) was these fabulous archival Cuban music documentaries (from the 50s, 60s, 70s) that we brought back from Havana and were never again shown in the city, or the U.S. The theater was packed and now, looking back, I realize we should have repeated that program. It was also the first year that I started to notice some crossover amongst audiences — Mexicans coming to see Chilean films, Argentines to see Cuban, etc — and that was thrilling.
One of my favorite memories is recognizing a Mexican bus boy from a neighborhood restaurant who came to see Carlos Sorin’s "Intimate Stories" (a small independent film from Argentina). He was standing in the back — there were no empty seats in the theater — laughing like crazy. One of the great things of those years too was that this “renaissance of Latin American cinema” that had started in the early/mid 90s was starting to come into its own and become more well known and popular abroad. Seeing such a new independent cinema gain popularity and fill the theaters — at least in NY, it definitely was not happening in Latin America, which made it even more exciting and special — was very gratifying. It felt like we were really a part of that big change that Latin America was experiencing cinematically.
Have you ever had trouble getting filmmakers to New York for their screenings?
In 2011, we opened the festival with Gustavo Taretto’s "Sidewalls" from Argentina. Taretto, who is of Italian descent and had a beard at the time, was coming for opening night and he almost didn’t make it because he was held up at the airport and being questioned. He claimed it was because of his “Middle Eastern” appearance. The irony is that Coca Cola was one of his clients; when the officers stopped him at the airport (because of his beard) and asked him his profession he made a joke about how he actually helped the American Empire — I’m paraphrasing — impose its products on the rest of the world.
Gustavo Taretto and Marcela Goglio
Something similar happened to another opening night guest, Roxana Blanco, coming to introduce the Uruguayan film "Kill Them All", a political thriller set in Uruguay. This time it was not because of her appearance, but because of the title of the film.
It also happened to the director and producer (Kenya Marquez and Karla Uribe) of Expiration Date, the opening night film in 2012. There was a storm so they were delayed arriving from the airport and couldn’t introduce the film. They finally showed up as the film was ending, direct from the airport and soaking wet, and practically changed in the lobby before marching into the theater to do the Q&A.
To Gustavo Taretto, it actually happened twice in that trip. After opening night (a Friday, I think) he had to travel to Mexico for a publicity gig. On his way back to New York, where he had to introduce his second screening, he was singled out in the immigration line (supposedly again because of his beard) and questioned right there.
Are there filmmakers who screened their first film at Latinbeat and are now big names? Do you feel like you took part in discovering them?
None of these are “big names” but are well known now in the Latin American film world, with a respected body of work; I feel like we took part in discovering many of them, but not all: Celina Murga, Argentina ("Ana y los otros," ‘04), Damian Szifron, Argentina ("En el fondo del mar," ‘03 ), Matias Bize, Chile ("Sabado" ‘04), Marite Ugas and Mariana Rondon from Venezuela ("A la medianoche y media," ‘01), Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll from Uruguay ("25 Watts," ‘01), Everardo Gonzalez, Mexico ("Cancion del pulque," ‘04), Nicolas Pereda, Mexico ( "Perpetuum Mobile"— his second feature film, ‘09), Matias Meyer, Mexico ("Wadley," ‘08 ), Martin Rejtman, Argentina ("Silvia Prieto" — his second film, ‘99), Mercedes Moncada, Mexico/Nicaragua ("La pasion de Maria Elena," ‘03), Pedro Gonzales Rubio and Carlos Armella, Mexico ( "Toro Negro," ‘05), and finally Juan Jose Campanella from Argentina, we showed his "El mismo amor, la misma lluvia" in 1999. He went on to win an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2009 for "El secreto de sus ojos."
Matias Meyer, director of 'The Cramp' with Marcela Goglio
How does film production compare now to when Latinbeat started?
Numbers of films have increased twenty fold or more, in most countries — a lot. Mexico, Argentina and Brazil continue to produce the most but the main difference is that countries like Chile, Uruguay, Colombia and Venezuela — though Venezuela always had a high production — underwent their own explosion in the last years, as you might have heard. So, they are also important players. Another big difference is precisely the variety of themes, formal approaches and, storylines — political and personal, different genres — though the “independent”, low budget, formal exploration strain continues to be strong in all the countries, which is what is so fascinating. It’s as if the cinema in the region is constantly renewing itself. Also, the fact that there is this variety of genres, levels of production, styles — and the fact that there are some solid commercial films produced and consumed regularly in some of these countries — to me is an indication that there is an industry that’s getting strong. That is really great, even if we may not love everything that is being produced.
Have you ever considered including U.S. Latino films in Latinbeat?
We did include a few over the years — the Dominican-American "Red Passport" and the films of U.S.-based Puerto Rican director Mario Diaz. But, we focused on Latin America mostly and we understood that as separate from “Latino”. Also, the New York International Latino Film Festival seemed to have that area covered those years. [The Nyilff launched in 1999.] Now that that festival is gone [Nyilff], I would want to consider more Latino films. I also don’t see the “Latino” and “Latin American” as that separate anymore.
What is your favorite part of being a film programmer?
I love almost all aspects of it: watching the films (even when they’re not always great); choosing them and finding the best ways to make them work together; and finally, meeting the filmmakers and having conversations with them and the audience, onstage, brings everything full circle.
Pablo Cerda, director of 'P.E.' with Marcela Goglio
When you want to just sit on the couch and unwind what sort of films do you watch in your spare time?
I generally don’t watch films to unwind — I prefer to read. But these days I enjoy watching Argentine public television — many filmmakers are directing great series.
Did you ever want to be a filmmaker?
I did, a screenwriter. But wasn’t 100% sure. I went to film school briefly at the Universidad del Cine, in Buenos Aires, while I studied Journalism at Universidad de Buenos Aires.
This year, there are lots of films about young people, from "Somos Mari Pepa" (Mexico) to "Holiday" (Ecuador) and "Mateo" (Colombia). The opening night film "Casa Grande" also centers on a teenager but in Brazil. Was this on purpose? Is it a reflection of a larger trend in Latin American filmmaking?
"The Militant," "Root," "The Summer of Flying Fish" and "Natural Sciences" are also about young people and are a variation of “coming of age” stories. So it is definitely a recurring theme in the program. Yes, it’s on purpose. Most of our past editions have had many young first-time directors; it has been like this from the start. We look to reflect the region’s new trends with the program, to highlight emerging talents always, even if they might have imperfect films. And some of these titles mentioned are definitely by filmmakers to watch.
Latinbeat runs July 11 – 20 at The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater.
Simultaneously though — as many U.S. Latino film institutions are on their last legs — movies directed by Latin American-born filmmakers are circling the globe at prestigious film festivals, winning awards, and garnering praise from critics. Production numbers, south of our border, have risen astronomically. It’s a renewal, renaissance, new wave — whatever you want to call it — that began in the mid-nineties. The Film Society of Lincoln Center, with its eye on this rebirth, founded a film series in 1997. A yearly showcase of the newest voices in Latin American cinema, it would eventually be called Latinbeat.
This year’s Latinbeat, running July 11 – 20, carries on with its mission of presenting emerging directors and film trends from across Latin America with movies from powerhouses like Argentina, Mexico, Chile, and Brazil plus countries with smaller film industries like Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. From films about a Mexican garage band ("We Are Mari Pepa") to heavy metal in the Andes ("Holiday") and from first-time directors as well as established ones, this year’s lineup is centered on young protagonists.
In advance of the series’ opening night, I got the chance to chat with Marcela Goglio — Latinbeat’s film programmer since 1999 — about the origins of the longstanding showcase, how she ended up at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and the constant rebirth of Latin American cinema. Plus, there are some good stories about the struggles of getting filmmakers to their screenings on time. Spoiler alert: if something can go wrong, it will.
When did the Latinbeat series start? Was there something specific that motivated the creation of the series?
Latinbeat started in 1997, conceived by Richard Peña, the Programming Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center at the time (and until the end of 2012.) He actually programmed that first edition. I came in as an intern that year and helped with the marketing, outreach, and with Q&As. He came up with the idea mainly because at the time there was a very evident explosion or renaissance of film in Latin America, mainly Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico (the so called “New Argentine Cinema” started in the mid 90s). By explosion I mean not only a spike in quantity but mainly there was some really interesting formal exploration going on and new kinds of films emerging as a reaction to drastically changing socio-political realities — end of dictatorships in some countries, devastating economic crises that changed the social landscape in others — in a film landscape that, up until then, had become rather stale. It was the perfect time and there was a real need, as no other venues existed that were showcasing that cinema in New York. Latinbeat was the very first to showcase these new emerging filmmakers that later became such symbols of their time.
Where did the name Latinbeat come from?
Richard Peña chose the name. I think it was a reference to precisely an urgent, watershed moment, urgent films, something palpitating in the air that the festival wanted to capture. Also, it was a reference to a new rhythm or language that was being created.
How did you end up programming the series?
Newly arrived in New York City in 1997, after having lived in Costa Rica for four years where I worked as a journalist and programmed a series of Latin American cinema at the Spanish Cultural Center, I heard that Richard Peña, whom I had studied under at Columbia University before moving to Costa Rica, was organizing a Latin American film festival. (At the time it was called “Latin American Cinema Now.”) I called him up and volunteered to help on that festival that he programmed. So I became an intern at the Film Society helping with Latin American outreach and other stuff. In 1998, he asked me and a fellow colleague, Cord Dueppe, to program the following edition in 1999 (it was biannual back then) and we programmed the subsequent editions together. Ines Aslan, from the Public Relations department, joined our team around 2003 under Richard’s guidance. In 2007, I became the sole programmer (Ines and Cord left the Film Society) and have programmed it since.
Richard Peña, former Programming Director at the Film Society of Lincoln Center
Can you describe the process of discovering and selecting the films each year? How is the process different now than when you first started?
I take submissions — and I watch everything that is sent to me — but I don’t do an open call for entries. Up until recently, I had traveled to the Havana Film Festival almost every year since 1996 and to every Bafici (Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival) since its first edition 12 years ago and I go to a few other festivals. Distribution companies send me titles and screeners but mostly the process involves keeping up to date with productions in the region through connections with film schools, institutes, filmmakers, and producers with whom I have developed a relationship with over the years. Also, of course, I follow the programming at all the other festivals.
The process now is different in that there are many more films to watch because, amongst other things, of an explosion in production in other countries in the region (and more production too in the aforementioned strongest countries: Argentina, Mexico, Brazil). The programming, necessarily, must become more complex because there is more to choose from and more variety but also more festivals that compete for the same films. There are more films to watch but because of technology it is also easier, in a sense, since viewing links get sent quickly instead of having to wait for screeners or videos via mail.
What was the biggest challenge in the first year of the series?
Getting a crossover audience, in terms of nationality.
Marcela Goglio with Yamandu Ross, co-director of '3 Million'
What years do you feel were the heyday of the series? What are some of your favorite memories of that time?
Definitely 2003 – 2004, when the festival was hugely successful — we had sold out screenings back to back — and longer, it ran for three weeks. We had a lot of Cuban cinema and my very favorite sidebar (in 2003) was these fabulous archival Cuban music documentaries (from the 50s, 60s, 70s) that we brought back from Havana and were never again shown in the city, or the U.S. The theater was packed and now, looking back, I realize we should have repeated that program. It was also the first year that I started to notice some crossover amongst audiences — Mexicans coming to see Chilean films, Argentines to see Cuban, etc — and that was thrilling.
One of my favorite memories is recognizing a Mexican bus boy from a neighborhood restaurant who came to see Carlos Sorin’s "Intimate Stories" (a small independent film from Argentina). He was standing in the back — there were no empty seats in the theater — laughing like crazy. One of the great things of those years too was that this “renaissance of Latin American cinema” that had started in the early/mid 90s was starting to come into its own and become more well known and popular abroad. Seeing such a new independent cinema gain popularity and fill the theaters — at least in NY, it definitely was not happening in Latin America, which made it even more exciting and special — was very gratifying. It felt like we were really a part of that big change that Latin America was experiencing cinematically.
Have you ever had trouble getting filmmakers to New York for their screenings?
In 2011, we opened the festival with Gustavo Taretto’s "Sidewalls" from Argentina. Taretto, who is of Italian descent and had a beard at the time, was coming for opening night and he almost didn’t make it because he was held up at the airport and being questioned. He claimed it was because of his “Middle Eastern” appearance. The irony is that Coca Cola was one of his clients; when the officers stopped him at the airport (because of his beard) and asked him his profession he made a joke about how he actually helped the American Empire — I’m paraphrasing — impose its products on the rest of the world.
Gustavo Taretto and Marcela Goglio
Something similar happened to another opening night guest, Roxana Blanco, coming to introduce the Uruguayan film "Kill Them All", a political thriller set in Uruguay. This time it was not because of her appearance, but because of the title of the film.
It also happened to the director and producer (Kenya Marquez and Karla Uribe) of Expiration Date, the opening night film in 2012. There was a storm so they were delayed arriving from the airport and couldn’t introduce the film. They finally showed up as the film was ending, direct from the airport and soaking wet, and practically changed in the lobby before marching into the theater to do the Q&A.
To Gustavo Taretto, it actually happened twice in that trip. After opening night (a Friday, I think) he had to travel to Mexico for a publicity gig. On his way back to New York, where he had to introduce his second screening, he was singled out in the immigration line (supposedly again because of his beard) and questioned right there.
Are there filmmakers who screened their first film at Latinbeat and are now big names? Do you feel like you took part in discovering them?
None of these are “big names” but are well known now in the Latin American film world, with a respected body of work; I feel like we took part in discovering many of them, but not all: Celina Murga, Argentina ("Ana y los otros," ‘04), Damian Szifron, Argentina ("En el fondo del mar," ‘03 ), Matias Bize, Chile ("Sabado" ‘04), Marite Ugas and Mariana Rondon from Venezuela ("A la medianoche y media," ‘01), Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll from Uruguay ("25 Watts," ‘01), Everardo Gonzalez, Mexico ("Cancion del pulque," ‘04), Nicolas Pereda, Mexico ( "Perpetuum Mobile"— his second feature film, ‘09), Matias Meyer, Mexico ("Wadley," ‘08 ), Martin Rejtman, Argentina ("Silvia Prieto" — his second film, ‘99), Mercedes Moncada, Mexico/Nicaragua ("La pasion de Maria Elena," ‘03), Pedro Gonzales Rubio and Carlos Armella, Mexico ( "Toro Negro," ‘05), and finally Juan Jose Campanella from Argentina, we showed his "El mismo amor, la misma lluvia" in 1999. He went on to win an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2009 for "El secreto de sus ojos."
Matias Meyer, director of 'The Cramp' with Marcela Goglio
How does film production compare now to when Latinbeat started?
Numbers of films have increased twenty fold or more, in most countries — a lot. Mexico, Argentina and Brazil continue to produce the most but the main difference is that countries like Chile, Uruguay, Colombia and Venezuela — though Venezuela always had a high production — underwent their own explosion in the last years, as you might have heard. So, they are also important players. Another big difference is precisely the variety of themes, formal approaches and, storylines — political and personal, different genres — though the “independent”, low budget, formal exploration strain continues to be strong in all the countries, which is what is so fascinating. It’s as if the cinema in the region is constantly renewing itself. Also, the fact that there is this variety of genres, levels of production, styles — and the fact that there are some solid commercial films produced and consumed regularly in some of these countries — to me is an indication that there is an industry that’s getting strong. That is really great, even if we may not love everything that is being produced.
Have you ever considered including U.S. Latino films in Latinbeat?
We did include a few over the years — the Dominican-American "Red Passport" and the films of U.S.-based Puerto Rican director Mario Diaz. But, we focused on Latin America mostly and we understood that as separate from “Latino”. Also, the New York International Latino Film Festival seemed to have that area covered those years. [The Nyilff launched in 1999.] Now that that festival is gone [Nyilff], I would want to consider more Latino films. I also don’t see the “Latino” and “Latin American” as that separate anymore.
What is your favorite part of being a film programmer?
I love almost all aspects of it: watching the films (even when they’re not always great); choosing them and finding the best ways to make them work together; and finally, meeting the filmmakers and having conversations with them and the audience, onstage, brings everything full circle.
Pablo Cerda, director of 'P.E.' with Marcela Goglio
When you want to just sit on the couch and unwind what sort of films do you watch in your spare time?
I generally don’t watch films to unwind — I prefer to read. But these days I enjoy watching Argentine public television — many filmmakers are directing great series.
Did you ever want to be a filmmaker?
I did, a screenwriter. But wasn’t 100% sure. I went to film school briefly at the Universidad del Cine, in Buenos Aires, while I studied Journalism at Universidad de Buenos Aires.
This year, there are lots of films about young people, from "Somos Mari Pepa" (Mexico) to "Holiday" (Ecuador) and "Mateo" (Colombia). The opening night film "Casa Grande" also centers on a teenager but in Brazil. Was this on purpose? Is it a reflection of a larger trend in Latin American filmmaking?
"The Militant," "Root," "The Summer of Flying Fish" and "Natural Sciences" are also about young people and are a variation of “coming of age” stories. So it is definitely a recurring theme in the program. Yes, it’s on purpose. Most of our past editions have had many young first-time directors; it has been like this from the start. We look to reflect the region’s new trends with the program, to highlight emerging talents always, even if they might have imperfect films. And some of these titles mentioned are definitely by filmmakers to watch.
Latinbeat runs July 11 – 20 at The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater.
- 7/16/2014
- by Vanessa Erazo
- Sydney's Buzz
Today I am writing from Cartagena, Colombia where I attended Ficci, the Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias.
This former colonial jewel in the crown of Spain offers a huge array of delights, film-wise, art-wise, food-wise and people-wise. Gorgeous arts and gorgeous people, sweet, polite and proud. As much as I love Havana, Cartagena is how Havana should look.
And as much as I loved Careyes where I was last week, the art and artisanal scope here is so wide; from the Colombian painter and sculptor, Botero to indigenous palm weaving – décor for homes (not cheap!), bags, designer clothing, linen and rubies.
Aside from films, my big discoveries of the day are Ruby Rumie, a Colombian artist who spends much of her time here in her studio in the Getsemaní section of town and in Chile. Coincidentally (again) Gary Meyer (Telluride Film Festival) and his wife Cathy who are here with Gary on the Documentary Competition Jury (I just left them in Careyas!) also just discovered her as well. The other artist, Olga Amaral, works in indigenous styles of weaving and textile production and now is favoring gold leaf displays of woven wall tapestries. Stunning. Both are available at the Nh Gallery, a place I just happened to wander into as I was walking from the theater to my equally stunning hotel Casa Pestagua.
The courteous and helpful people here are a proud mix of white, brown and black. They say the blacks will never follow the orders of a white. They say the blood of slaves is embedded in the wall fortifications of the city. The Inquisition here was very powerful, and they say the Jews (Conversos) coming in the conquistadors’ ships went to settle Medellín and the Catholics to Bogotá. Cartagena was the last city to be free of the Spanish crown and as such, it was extremely conservative.
It would take days to visit all the museums throughout the city. The Art Biennale is now in many of them (free entry) including the Museum of the Inquisition with its torture machines. The Museum of Gold with pre-Colombian gold artworks is astounding. All the gold of Latin America (and emeralds, diamonds and silver) went from here in the Spanish galleons back to Spain until the city declared its independence in 1811. We in the North know this history but from a different perspective. Eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins of Latin America and Gonzalo Arijon’s documentary Eyes Wide Open, an update of Galeano’s ideas are good starting points for understanding this part of the world. Eye opening indeed!
The beauty of the city and its people is matched by the food. There is great food here here and some very haute cuisine restaurants. Ceviches of many kinds, new sweet fruits like the pitaya and the drink mixing limeade and coconut milk delight the palate. The festival invites enough but not too many industry folks so it can host lunches and dinners in wonderful venues along with cocktail hours where we can all meet and talk. Talk among us is of food and film, film and food…even of food film festivals that are cropping up from Berlin, San Sebastian, here and in Northern California…stay tuned.
The Colombian government is aware of the need for the public to rediscover their own stories and to this end all the festival screenings are free, and all are packed Sro. The government also supports filmmakers with a deliberate, well-planned and well executed strategy to increase production and create an infrastructure.
Colombian films’ biggest challenge is to increase their share of their rapidly growing domestic market, worth $182.3 million in box office in 2012. One way forward is international co-production, where Bam (Bogotá Audiovisual Market) July 14-18, 2014 plays a large role. There is a mini version of this here (Encuentros Cartagena), centering on French and Colombian co-production, but not limited to that, with guests like George Goldenstern from Cinefondation (Cannes), producer/ international sales agent Marie-Pierre Masia and and the ever present Thierry Lenouvel of Cine-Sud whose film Tierra en la lengua aka Dust on the Tongue won the Best Picture Award in Competition. Vincenzo Bugno of World Cinema Fund of the Berlinale is always here too as is Jose Maria Riba on the Jury of the Competition and programmer for San Sebastian and Directors Fortnight. Also on the jury are Wendy Mitchel and Pawel Pawlikowski whose film Ida (Isa: Portobello Film Sales) is playing (outside of the Competition). A look at the winning competition films shows the strength of co-productions today.
Best Picture: Dust on the Tongue of Ruben Mendoza (Colombia) Colombia Film of $15,000. Special Jury Prize: The Third Side of the River (La tercera orilla) which premiered in Competition at the Berlinale, by Celina Murga (Argentina, Netherlands, Germany) (Isa: The Match Factory) Best Director: Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To kill a man (Matar a un hombre) which premiered in Sundance (Chile, France). Film Factory is selling international rights and Film Movement has U.S. It also won the Fipresci or International Critics’ Award. Best Actor: Fernando Bacilio by El Mudo (Peru, Mexico, France), Urban Distribution International is the sales agent.
Cinema in Colombia continues its steep ascent in the international production world. The reasons, according to Bugno, lie in “new political decisions, funding structures, and the developing of a new producing environment that also has to do with new emerging young talent.”
A visit to the festival headquarters proves the point of the extensive government support of film not only for its own sake, but for the sake of all the people, dispossessed, abused, Lgbt, children and women. It is a beautiful sight to see such support, and the people seem to reciprocate; I hear more praise than complaints about the government and everyone seems cautiously optimistic, aware of its current position vis à vis what has thankfully become recent history with the guerillas who had been waging war with the government for the past 40 years and the current elections and competing points of view between the former President Uribe and the current President Juan Manuel Santos.
Aecid , Association Espagnola de Cooperacon Internacional para el Desarrollo (The Spanish Association for International Cooperation for Development), a festival sponsor supports social cohesion, equality of genders, construction of peace, respect for cultural diversity and the reduction of poverty.
Currently in Colombia, national cinema holds a 10% share of the Colombian market and 8% of the box office. In 2012, 213 films were produced in Colombia, a huge increase since 2009 when 19 were produced according to Ocal, the Observotario del Cine f nCl [sic]. In 2012, 23 of the 213 domestic films were released theatrically, a tremendous increase from the 6 Colombian films released in the year 2000. [1],[2] This number surpasses every record in Colombia’s film history
This 10 day spectacular film festival gives free entry to all at 8 theaters and, proving the point that people love the movies, every single screening is packed solid, Sro. More than 135 films come from 27 countries. 48 daily screenings include 14 open air screenings in great locations. There are 40 world premieres and 26 Latin American premieres.
150 invited guests included Abbas Kiarostami, Clive Owen, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Pavel Pawlikowsky with his film Ida, John Sayles with whom I had an interesting talk about U.S. current distribution and of Return of Seacaucus Seven and Sunshine State. The screening of his film Go For Sisters has received an enthusiastic response from the audiences.
Since 2013, coproductions between the U.S. and Colombia with variations on the theme are on the rise. With its 40% cash rebate, Colombia is proving to be a great place to make movies.
Colombians such as Simon Brand are making English language genre films such as this year’s festival debuting Default (Isa: Wild Bunch). For budgets under Us$1 million, action, thrillers and horror genres can cross borders, and can recoup costs and even profit.
The reverse is also notable. Four films screening here are Colombian films made by Americans. The winner to three prizes here for Best Director, Best Documentary and the Audience Prize, Marmato by Marc Grieco was workshopped twice at Sundance where it premiered this January 2014. It is represented internationally by Ro*co and its U.S. representative is Ben Weiss at Paradigm. The other three remarkable debut films are Mambo Cool by Chris Gude,Manos Sucias by Josef Wladyka (a Japanese-Polish American) and Parador Hungaro by Patrick Alexander and Aseneth Suarez Ruiz. Look for upcoming interviews with these four directors who came to Colombia and, because of their experiences here, decided to make these exceptional movies. My next blog will be interviews with each of these films’ directors.
Secundaria , the first film I saw here was not shot here although it too was directed by an American who made 21 trips to Cuba to make it. Documenting the high school ballet training and competitions held by Cuba’s world famous National Ballet School -- Watch the trailer here -- it was not only beautiful but it magically captured the ever-present economic issues of Cuba. I can’t wait to see Primaria about the grade school of the Nbs.
Director and coproducer Mary Jane Doherty has been an Associate Professor of Film at Boston University since 1990. Proud of her lineage as a student of iconic documentarian Ricky Leacock, she developed B.U.’s Narrative Documentary Program: a novel approach to non-fiction storytelling using the building blocks of fiction film. Lyda Kuth , the coproducer, is founding board member and executive director of the Lef Foundation, which supports independent filmmakers through the Lef Moving Image Fund. In 2005, she established Nadita Productions and was producer/director on her first feature documentary, Love and Other Anxieties.
A cocktail party is given daily at the festival where we can all meet up. It was there I met Gail Gendler VP of Acquisitions for AMC/ Sundance Channel Global (international not domestic) and Gus
Dinner one night was with the jury for Nuevos Creadores (New Creators). Cynthia Garcia Calvo, Editor in Chief of LatamCinema.com, a Latino equivalent to Indiewire.com out of Chile and Argentina and I spoke of possible ways to cooperate. The third member of the jury, Javier Mejia, director of Colombia’s best film of 2008 Apocalypsur also has a documentary here, Duni, about a Chilean filmmaker who left Chile during the dictatorship and came to Colombia where he made political films in Medellin but never discussed his reasons for coming or even his Chilean roots. How happy I was that I had seen and enjoyed the films of the third jury member, Daniel Vega, who with his brother Diego made The Mute aka El Mudo (Isa: Urban Media) which played in Toronto and San Sebastian and his earlier film October, both dark comedies or perhaps dramadies dealing with subjective realities in unique environs of Peru we have never seen. He promised to help me with the Peru chapter of my upcoming book. Peru is in the lower middle of countries which support filmmaking. Their film fund is a rather laid back affair administered by the Ministry of Culture who receives money from the Ministry of Finance when they “get around to it”.
Jury for New Creators: Javier Mejía, Cynthia García Calvo and Diego Vega,displaying the winner for the Best Short Film: Alen Natalia Imery (Universidad del Valle) who won a Sony video camera, 2,000, 000 pesos of in kind services from Shock Magazin, and a scholarship for graduate Project Management and Film Production at the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga
Second prize went to The murmur of the earth Alejandro Daza (National University) - Win a Sony camera, and a Fellowship for Graduate Record Audio and Sound Design of the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga.
Other winners are:
Official Colombian Film Competition
Jurors: David Melo - Alissa Simon - Daniela Michel
Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA) Winner of the I.Sat Award for $30K and the Cinecolor Award for $11k in deliveries
Special Jury Prize: Mateo by María Gamboa
Best Director: Rubén Mendoza for Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua). Winner of Hangar Films Award for $30K in film equipment to produce his next film.
Additional Awards
Audience Award Colombia: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of $15K
Official Documentary Competition
Jurors: Gary Meyer- Luis Ospina - Laurie Collyer
Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of the Cinecolor Award for $13Kin post-production services.
Special Jury Prize: What Now? Remind Me (E Agora? Lembra-me) by Joaquim Pinto (Portugal)
Best Director: Justin Webster for I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) (Spain, Denmark, U.K.)
Official Short Film Competition
JurorsOswaldo Osorio -Pacho Bottia - Denis de la Roca
Best Short Film: Statues (Estatuas) by Roberto Fiesco (Mexico). Winner of a professional Sony camera and $3K from Cinecolor in post-production services for his next project.
Special Jury Prize: About a Month (Pouco Mais de um Mês) by André Novais Oliveira (Brazil)
Best Director: Manuel Camacho Bustillo for Blackout chapter 4 "A Call to Neverland" (Blackout capítulo 4 "Una llamada a Neverland") (Mexico). Winner of a Sony photographic camera.
Gems
Jurors: Mauricio Reina - Manuel Kalmanowitz - Sofia Gomez Gonzalez
Best Film: Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Koreeda (Japan). Winner of the Rcn Award for $50 to promote the release of the film in Colombia.
Special Jury Prize: Ilo Ilo by Anthony Chen (Singapore)
[1] http://www.cinelatinoamericano.org/ocal/cifras.aspx
[2] http://www.mincultura.gov.co/areas/cinematografia/estadisticas-del-sector/Documents/Anuario%202012.p...
This former colonial jewel in the crown of Spain offers a huge array of delights, film-wise, art-wise, food-wise and people-wise. Gorgeous arts and gorgeous people, sweet, polite and proud. As much as I love Havana, Cartagena is how Havana should look.
And as much as I loved Careyes where I was last week, the art and artisanal scope here is so wide; from the Colombian painter and sculptor, Botero to indigenous palm weaving – décor for homes (not cheap!), bags, designer clothing, linen and rubies.
Aside from films, my big discoveries of the day are Ruby Rumie, a Colombian artist who spends much of her time here in her studio in the Getsemaní section of town and in Chile. Coincidentally (again) Gary Meyer (Telluride Film Festival) and his wife Cathy who are here with Gary on the Documentary Competition Jury (I just left them in Careyas!) also just discovered her as well. The other artist, Olga Amaral, works in indigenous styles of weaving and textile production and now is favoring gold leaf displays of woven wall tapestries. Stunning. Both are available at the Nh Gallery, a place I just happened to wander into as I was walking from the theater to my equally stunning hotel Casa Pestagua.
The courteous and helpful people here are a proud mix of white, brown and black. They say the blacks will never follow the orders of a white. They say the blood of slaves is embedded in the wall fortifications of the city. The Inquisition here was very powerful, and they say the Jews (Conversos) coming in the conquistadors’ ships went to settle Medellín and the Catholics to Bogotá. Cartagena was the last city to be free of the Spanish crown and as such, it was extremely conservative.
It would take days to visit all the museums throughout the city. The Art Biennale is now in many of them (free entry) including the Museum of the Inquisition with its torture machines. The Museum of Gold with pre-Colombian gold artworks is astounding. All the gold of Latin America (and emeralds, diamonds and silver) went from here in the Spanish galleons back to Spain until the city declared its independence in 1811. We in the North know this history but from a different perspective. Eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins of Latin America and Gonzalo Arijon’s documentary Eyes Wide Open, an update of Galeano’s ideas are good starting points for understanding this part of the world. Eye opening indeed!
The beauty of the city and its people is matched by the food. There is great food here here and some very haute cuisine restaurants. Ceviches of many kinds, new sweet fruits like the pitaya and the drink mixing limeade and coconut milk delight the palate. The festival invites enough but not too many industry folks so it can host lunches and dinners in wonderful venues along with cocktail hours where we can all meet and talk. Talk among us is of food and film, film and food…even of food film festivals that are cropping up from Berlin, San Sebastian, here and in Northern California…stay tuned.
The Colombian government is aware of the need for the public to rediscover their own stories and to this end all the festival screenings are free, and all are packed Sro. The government also supports filmmakers with a deliberate, well-planned and well executed strategy to increase production and create an infrastructure.
Colombian films’ biggest challenge is to increase their share of their rapidly growing domestic market, worth $182.3 million in box office in 2012. One way forward is international co-production, where Bam (Bogotá Audiovisual Market) July 14-18, 2014 plays a large role. There is a mini version of this here (Encuentros Cartagena), centering on French and Colombian co-production, but not limited to that, with guests like George Goldenstern from Cinefondation (Cannes), producer/ international sales agent Marie-Pierre Masia and and the ever present Thierry Lenouvel of Cine-Sud whose film Tierra en la lengua aka Dust on the Tongue won the Best Picture Award in Competition. Vincenzo Bugno of World Cinema Fund of the Berlinale is always here too as is Jose Maria Riba on the Jury of the Competition and programmer for San Sebastian and Directors Fortnight. Also on the jury are Wendy Mitchel and Pawel Pawlikowski whose film Ida (Isa: Portobello Film Sales) is playing (outside of the Competition). A look at the winning competition films shows the strength of co-productions today.
Best Picture: Dust on the Tongue of Ruben Mendoza (Colombia) Colombia Film of $15,000. Special Jury Prize: The Third Side of the River (La tercera orilla) which premiered in Competition at the Berlinale, by Celina Murga (Argentina, Netherlands, Germany) (Isa: The Match Factory) Best Director: Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To kill a man (Matar a un hombre) which premiered in Sundance (Chile, France). Film Factory is selling international rights and Film Movement has U.S. It also won the Fipresci or International Critics’ Award. Best Actor: Fernando Bacilio by El Mudo (Peru, Mexico, France), Urban Distribution International is the sales agent.
Cinema in Colombia continues its steep ascent in the international production world. The reasons, according to Bugno, lie in “new political decisions, funding structures, and the developing of a new producing environment that also has to do with new emerging young talent.”
A visit to the festival headquarters proves the point of the extensive government support of film not only for its own sake, but for the sake of all the people, dispossessed, abused, Lgbt, children and women. It is a beautiful sight to see such support, and the people seem to reciprocate; I hear more praise than complaints about the government and everyone seems cautiously optimistic, aware of its current position vis à vis what has thankfully become recent history with the guerillas who had been waging war with the government for the past 40 years and the current elections and competing points of view between the former President Uribe and the current President Juan Manuel Santos.
Aecid , Association Espagnola de Cooperacon Internacional para el Desarrollo (The Spanish Association for International Cooperation for Development), a festival sponsor supports social cohesion, equality of genders, construction of peace, respect for cultural diversity and the reduction of poverty.
Currently in Colombia, national cinema holds a 10% share of the Colombian market and 8% of the box office. In 2012, 213 films were produced in Colombia, a huge increase since 2009 when 19 were produced according to Ocal, the Observotario del Cine f nCl [sic]. In 2012, 23 of the 213 domestic films were released theatrically, a tremendous increase from the 6 Colombian films released in the year 2000. [1],[2] This number surpasses every record in Colombia’s film history
This 10 day spectacular film festival gives free entry to all at 8 theaters and, proving the point that people love the movies, every single screening is packed solid, Sro. More than 135 films come from 27 countries. 48 daily screenings include 14 open air screenings in great locations. There are 40 world premieres and 26 Latin American premieres.
150 invited guests included Abbas Kiarostami, Clive Owen, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Pavel Pawlikowsky with his film Ida, John Sayles with whom I had an interesting talk about U.S. current distribution and of Return of Seacaucus Seven and Sunshine State. The screening of his film Go For Sisters has received an enthusiastic response from the audiences.
Since 2013, coproductions between the U.S. and Colombia with variations on the theme are on the rise. With its 40% cash rebate, Colombia is proving to be a great place to make movies.
Colombians such as Simon Brand are making English language genre films such as this year’s festival debuting Default (Isa: Wild Bunch). For budgets under Us$1 million, action, thrillers and horror genres can cross borders, and can recoup costs and even profit.
The reverse is also notable. Four films screening here are Colombian films made by Americans. The winner to three prizes here for Best Director, Best Documentary and the Audience Prize, Marmato by Marc Grieco was workshopped twice at Sundance where it premiered this January 2014. It is represented internationally by Ro*co and its U.S. representative is Ben Weiss at Paradigm. The other three remarkable debut films are Mambo Cool by Chris Gude,Manos Sucias by Josef Wladyka (a Japanese-Polish American) and Parador Hungaro by Patrick Alexander and Aseneth Suarez Ruiz. Look for upcoming interviews with these four directors who came to Colombia and, because of their experiences here, decided to make these exceptional movies. My next blog will be interviews with each of these films’ directors.
Secundaria , the first film I saw here was not shot here although it too was directed by an American who made 21 trips to Cuba to make it. Documenting the high school ballet training and competitions held by Cuba’s world famous National Ballet School -- Watch the trailer here -- it was not only beautiful but it magically captured the ever-present economic issues of Cuba. I can’t wait to see Primaria about the grade school of the Nbs.
Director and coproducer Mary Jane Doherty has been an Associate Professor of Film at Boston University since 1990. Proud of her lineage as a student of iconic documentarian Ricky Leacock, she developed B.U.’s Narrative Documentary Program: a novel approach to non-fiction storytelling using the building blocks of fiction film. Lyda Kuth , the coproducer, is founding board member and executive director of the Lef Foundation, which supports independent filmmakers through the Lef Moving Image Fund. In 2005, she established Nadita Productions and was producer/director on her first feature documentary, Love and Other Anxieties.
A cocktail party is given daily at the festival where we can all meet up. It was there I met Gail Gendler VP of Acquisitions for AMC/ Sundance Channel Global (international not domestic) and Gus
Dinner one night was with the jury for Nuevos Creadores (New Creators). Cynthia Garcia Calvo, Editor in Chief of LatamCinema.com, a Latino equivalent to Indiewire.com out of Chile and Argentina and I spoke of possible ways to cooperate. The third member of the jury, Javier Mejia, director of Colombia’s best film of 2008 Apocalypsur also has a documentary here, Duni, about a Chilean filmmaker who left Chile during the dictatorship and came to Colombia where he made political films in Medellin but never discussed his reasons for coming or even his Chilean roots. How happy I was that I had seen and enjoyed the films of the third jury member, Daniel Vega, who with his brother Diego made The Mute aka El Mudo (Isa: Urban Media) which played in Toronto and San Sebastian and his earlier film October, both dark comedies or perhaps dramadies dealing with subjective realities in unique environs of Peru we have never seen. He promised to help me with the Peru chapter of my upcoming book. Peru is in the lower middle of countries which support filmmaking. Their film fund is a rather laid back affair administered by the Ministry of Culture who receives money from the Ministry of Finance when they “get around to it”.
Jury for New Creators: Javier Mejía, Cynthia García Calvo and Diego Vega,displaying the winner for the Best Short Film: Alen Natalia Imery (Universidad del Valle) who won a Sony video camera, 2,000, 000 pesos of in kind services from Shock Magazin, and a scholarship for graduate Project Management and Film Production at the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga
Second prize went to The murmur of the earth Alejandro Daza (National University) - Win a Sony camera, and a Fellowship for Graduate Record Audio and Sound Design of the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga.
Other winners are:
Official Colombian Film Competition
Jurors: David Melo - Alissa Simon - Daniela Michel
Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA) Winner of the I.Sat Award for $30K and the Cinecolor Award for $11k in deliveries
Special Jury Prize: Mateo by María Gamboa
Best Director: Rubén Mendoza for Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua). Winner of Hangar Films Award for $30K in film equipment to produce his next film.
Additional Awards
Audience Award Colombia: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of $15K
Official Documentary Competition
Jurors: Gary Meyer- Luis Ospina - Laurie Collyer
Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of the Cinecolor Award for $13Kin post-production services.
Special Jury Prize: What Now? Remind Me (E Agora? Lembra-me) by Joaquim Pinto (Portugal)
Best Director: Justin Webster for I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) (Spain, Denmark, U.K.)
Official Short Film Competition
JurorsOswaldo Osorio -Pacho Bottia - Denis de la Roca
Best Short Film: Statues (Estatuas) by Roberto Fiesco (Mexico). Winner of a professional Sony camera and $3K from Cinecolor in post-production services for his next project.
Special Jury Prize: About a Month (Pouco Mais de um Mês) by André Novais Oliveira (Brazil)
Best Director: Manuel Camacho Bustillo for Blackout chapter 4 "A Call to Neverland" (Blackout capítulo 4 "Una llamada a Neverland") (Mexico). Winner of a Sony photographic camera.
Gems
Jurors: Mauricio Reina - Manuel Kalmanowitz - Sofia Gomez Gonzalez
Best Film: Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Koreeda (Japan). Winner of the Rcn Award for $50 to promote the release of the film in Colombia.
Special Jury Prize: Ilo Ilo by Anthony Chen (Singapore)
[1] http://www.cinelatinoamericano.org/ocal/cifras.aspx
[2] http://www.mincultura.gov.co/areas/cinematografia/estadisticas-del-sector/Documents/Anuario%202012.p...
- 3/26/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The 54th Edition of the Cartagena Film Festival has come to an end and the winners have been announced. The indisputable protagonists this year were Marmato by Mark Grieco, winning three awards, Rubén Mendoza's Dust on the Tongue, and the Chilean film To Kill a Man by Alejandro Fernández Almendras, with two awards each. Surely these three films and several other winners will become important works at other upcoming festivals since many of them have already done well at Sundance, Rotterdam, and Berlin.
Official Competition: Narrative Feature
Members of the Jury: Wendy Mitchell - Jose Maria Riba - Pawel Pawlikowski
Best Film: Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la Lengua) by Rubén Mendoza (Colombia- Winner of $15K
Special Jury Prize: The Third Side of the River (La Tercera Orilla) by Celina Murga (Argentina, The Netherlands, Germany)
Best Director: Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To Kill a Man (Matar a un hombre) (Chile, France)
Best Actor: Fernando Bacilio for El Mudo (Peru, Mexico, France)
Fipresci
Members of the Jury: Carlos Heredero - Hiroaki Saitô - Michal Oleszczyk
Best Film: To Kill a Man by Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile, France)
Other Awards
Oclacc Award (Catholic Organization of Communications for Latin America and the Caribbean)
Special Mention: Mateo by María Gamboa (Colombia
Official Competition: Colombian Cinema
Members of the Jury: David Melo - Alissa Simon - Daniela Michel
Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA) Winner of the I.Sat Award for $30K and the Cinecolor Award for $11k in deliveries
Special Jury Prize: Mateo by María Gamboa
Best Director: Rubén Mendoza for Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua). Winner of Hangar Films Award for $30K in film equipment to produce his next film.
Additional Awards
Audience Award Colombia: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of $15K
Official Competition: Documentary
Members of the Jury: Gary Meyer- Luis Ospina - Laurie Collyer
Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of the Cinecolor Award for $13Kin post-production services.
Special Jury Prize: What Now? Remind Me (E Agora? Lembra-me) by Joaquim Pinto (Portugal)
Best Director: Justin Webster for I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) (Spain, Denmark, U.K.)
Official Competition: Short Film
Members of the Jury: Oswaldo Osorio - Pacho Bottia - Denis de la Roca
Best Short Film: Statues (Estatuas) by Roberto Fiesco (Mexico). Winner of a professional Sony camera and $3K from Cinecolor in post-production services for his next project.
Special Jury Prize: About a Month (Pouco Mais de um Mês) by André Novais Oliveira (Brazil)
Best Director: Manuel Camacho Bustillo for Blackout chapter 4 "A Call to Neverland" (Blackout capítulo 4 "Una llamada a Neverland") (Mexico). Winner of a Sony photographic camera.
Gems
Members of the Jury:Mauricio Reina - Manuel Kalmanowitz - Sofia Gomez Gonzalez
Best Film: Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Koreeda (Japan). Winner of the Rcn Award for $50 to promote the release of the film in Colombia.
Special Jury Prize: Ilo Ilo by Anthony Chen (Singapore)
New Creators
Members of the Jury: Javier Mejía- Diego Vega - Cynthia García Calvo
Best Short Film: Alén by Natalia Imery (Universidad del Valle).
Runner-up: The Earth's Whisper (El murmullo de la tierra) by Alejandro Daza (Universidad Nacional)...
Official Competition: Narrative Feature
Members of the Jury: Wendy Mitchell - Jose Maria Riba - Pawel Pawlikowski
Best Film: Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la Lengua) by Rubén Mendoza (Colombia- Winner of $15K
Special Jury Prize: The Third Side of the River (La Tercera Orilla) by Celina Murga (Argentina, The Netherlands, Germany)
Best Director: Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To Kill a Man (Matar a un hombre) (Chile, France)
Best Actor: Fernando Bacilio for El Mudo (Peru, Mexico, France)
Fipresci
Members of the Jury: Carlos Heredero - Hiroaki Saitô - Michal Oleszczyk
Best Film: To Kill a Man by Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile, France)
Other Awards
Oclacc Award (Catholic Organization of Communications for Latin America and the Caribbean)
Special Mention: Mateo by María Gamboa (Colombia
Official Competition: Colombian Cinema
Members of the Jury: David Melo - Alissa Simon - Daniela Michel
Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA) Winner of the I.Sat Award for $30K and the Cinecolor Award for $11k in deliveries
Special Jury Prize: Mateo by María Gamboa
Best Director: Rubén Mendoza for Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua). Winner of Hangar Films Award for $30K in film equipment to produce his next film.
Additional Awards
Audience Award Colombia: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of $15K
Official Competition: Documentary
Members of the Jury: Gary Meyer- Luis Ospina - Laurie Collyer
Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of the Cinecolor Award for $13Kin post-production services.
Special Jury Prize: What Now? Remind Me (E Agora? Lembra-me) by Joaquim Pinto (Portugal)
Best Director: Justin Webster for I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) (Spain, Denmark, U.K.)
Official Competition: Short Film
Members of the Jury: Oswaldo Osorio - Pacho Bottia - Denis de la Roca
Best Short Film: Statues (Estatuas) by Roberto Fiesco (Mexico). Winner of a professional Sony camera and $3K from Cinecolor in post-production services for his next project.
Special Jury Prize: About a Month (Pouco Mais de um Mês) by André Novais Oliveira (Brazil)
Best Director: Manuel Camacho Bustillo for Blackout chapter 4 "A Call to Neverland" (Blackout capítulo 4 "Una llamada a Neverland") (Mexico). Winner of a Sony photographic camera.
Gems
Members of the Jury:Mauricio Reina - Manuel Kalmanowitz - Sofia Gomez Gonzalez
Best Film: Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Koreeda (Japan). Winner of the Rcn Award for $50 to promote the release of the film in Colombia.
Special Jury Prize: Ilo Ilo by Anthony Chen (Singapore)
New Creators
Members of the Jury: Javier Mejía- Diego Vega - Cynthia García Calvo
Best Short Film: Alén by Natalia Imery (Universidad del Valle).
Runner-up: The Earth's Whisper (El murmullo de la tierra) by Alejandro Daza (Universidad Nacional)...
- 3/22/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Dust On The Tongue [pictured], Marmato, To Kill A Man take home prizes.
The 54th edition of the Cartagena Film Festival wrapped tonight in Colombia, with the festival’s main Latin American competition prize going to a local film, Ruben Mendoza’s Dust On The Tounge (Tierra En La Lengua). The award comes with $15,000.
The film blends fake documentary and fiction in the story of a crude, violent patriarch (Jairo Salcedo) who brings his cityslicker grandchildren to his ranch to help him die.
The jury gave its best director prize to Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To Kill A Man (Matar a un hombre), a Chilean dark dramatic thriller that also took home Cartagena’s Fipresci prize.
Best actor was Fernando Bacilio for The Mute (El Mudo) by Daniel and Diego Vega from Peru. The special jury prize went to Celina Murga’s The Third Side of the River (La tercera orilla) from Argentina.
Best documentary...
The 54th edition of the Cartagena Film Festival wrapped tonight in Colombia, with the festival’s main Latin American competition prize going to a local film, Ruben Mendoza’s Dust On The Tounge (Tierra En La Lengua). The award comes with $15,000.
The film blends fake documentary and fiction in the story of a crude, violent patriarch (Jairo Salcedo) who brings his cityslicker grandchildren to his ranch to help him die.
The jury gave its best director prize to Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To Kill A Man (Matar a un hombre), a Chilean dark dramatic thriller that also took home Cartagena’s Fipresci prize.
Best actor was Fernando Bacilio for The Mute (El Mudo) by Daniel and Diego Vega from Peru. The special jury prize went to Celina Murga’s The Third Side of the River (La tercera orilla) from Argentina.
Best documentary...
- 3/20/2014
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
The 54th International Film Festival of Cartagena de Indias in Colombia has invited me to attend March 13 - 19, 2014.
One of Ficci's main goals is supporting the development of Colombian cinema. With that in mind, the festival will open with the world premiere of Ciudad Delirio, inviting the audience to get to know Cali, the only city in Latin America that loves all Latin American music, a center of creative development for Colombia's cinema, splendidly and authentically presented through the passion and flavor of salsa. Ficci is once again betting on the kind of cinema that speaks locally and globally, cinema that invites, seduces and embraces all kinds of audiences.
Starring Carolina Ramírez , Cauca Valley dancer and actress renown for her performance in soap operas such as La hija del mariachiand La Pola and Spaniard Julián Villagrán, winner of a Goya for his performance in Grupo 7, Ciudad Delirio also features Colombian actors of such caliber as Vicky Hernández Jorge Herrera , Margarita Ortega and John Alex Castillo. Thanks to a world-class team lead by Spanish dancer, choreographer and filmmaker Blanca Li, who has worked for The Berlin State Ballet, Kylie Minogue, Beyoncé and Daft Punk, and by multiple time Salsa World Champion Viviana Vargas, Cartagena will get to experience the madness of one of the most sensual dances on earth.
Ciudad Delirio was produced by Diego F. Ramírez, head of 64-a Films in Colombia, which has produced such films as Perro come perro,Todos tus muertos, Dr. Alemán, En coma, and180 segundos and Spaniard Elena Manrique, founder of Film Fatal and renown for her production of movies such asEl laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth), El orfanato and Transsiberiano, to name just a few.
For seven weeks during the making of Ciudad delirio, 45 locations in Cali, Colombia and Madrid, Spain were overrun by salsa. More than 3,200 extras from Cauca Valley helped to tell this love story that revolves around the show Delirio, a long-standing cultural tradition in Sultana del Valle.
In Ciudad Delirio, Javier, a shy, reserved Spanish doctor, attends a medical conference in Cali, Colombia. There, through a chance meeting, he shares a magical night with Angie, a dancer and choreographer who dreams of being part of the world's most famous salsa show, Delirio, if only she can pass the audition. Javier and Angie begin an impossible romance full of obstacles, surrounded by salsa, and accompanied by a cast of characters that are as authentic as they are hilarious.
The festival's guest of honor will be the prolific British actor Clive Owen, who is known for his diverse roles in films like Closer Children of Men, and The International . The Latin American premier of his latest film, Guillaume Canet's Blood Ties (2013), will be a highlight of the Friday, March 14th event, taking place at 6:00 pm in the Adolfo Mejía Theater, where, after being presented with the India Catalina prize, the actor will be interviewed by Ficci's director, Monika Wagenberg.
Another special honoree will be Mexican director Alejando Gonazlez Iñárritu, who has garnered international acclaim throughout the years with films such as Amores Perros , 21 Grams , Babel, and Biutiful . Established within the film industry as one of Latin America's most important directors of the new century, Iñárritu is currently in-production for Birdman (2014), a film he wrote and directed starring Emma Stone and Edward Norton . Participants of the 54th Ficci will have the opportunity to attend the Tribute honoring this Academy Award-nominated filmmaker on Sunday, March 16th, as well as his Master class the following day during Salón Ficci – the festival's academic program.
In regards to the festival's line-up, it is interesting to note that several of the filmmakers that will take part in the Dramatic Competition are directors who have participated at Ficci with their previous films and have established themselves in the international festival circuit winning prestigious awards. Others will arrive to Cartagena for the first time with their operas primas.
"2014 promises to be a good year for Iberoamerican cinema and we are proud to feature several of the most recent films of the region in our Official Dramatic Competition, in which half of the chosen movies are Latin American Premieres (movies that come directly to Cartagena after their world premieres at Sundance and Berlin Festivals). Eight of the twelve films in the Colombian Official Competition (known before as Colombia al 100%) are World Premieres. This way, we have managed to achieve the goal we set four years ago: becoming the main national and international launching platform of local films", stated Ficci's Director Monika Wagenberg.
Wagenberg also addressed some chances in the festival's rules that will allow for more experience filmmakers to partake in the event.
"One of the big news of Ficci 54 is that this time we have not limited the Official Dramatic Competition to first, second and third time Ibero-American films. Ending this restriction will make possible for those directors from this region who are producing feature films at a fast pace not, to be excluded from the competition" Wagenberg added.
The Official Dramatic Competition will feature the Latin American premieres The Lock Charmer (El Cerrajero) by Natalia Smirnoff (Argentina), Natural Sciences (Ciencias Naturales) by Matías Lucchesi(Argentina), The Way He Looks (Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho) by Daniel Ribeiro(Brazil), Celina Murga's Berlin Official Competition, The Three Sides of the River (La tercera orilla) (Argentina), recent Sundance and Rotterdam winner, To Kill a Man (Matar a un hombre) by Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile), Mateo, first film by Maria Gamboa (Colombia), and the world premiere of Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua) by Ruben Mendoza (Colombia).
This section also includes other outstanding films such as Bad Hair (Pelo malo), written and directed by Mariana Rondón (Venezuela) which comes to Ficci after its triumph at the San Sebastián Film Festival; The Mute (El Mudo), directed by brothers Daniel and Diego Vega (Perú), which had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival and are coming back to Ficci after competing winning Best Director award in 2010; premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and awarded the Concha de Plata for Best Director in San Sebastián, comes Club Sándwich by Fernando Eimbcke(México), and the 12th film in this section is Root (Raíz) by Matías Rojas Valencia (Chile), the winner of Best Chilean Film winner at the Valdivia Film Festival.
The Official Documentary Competition will showcase the world premieres of El color que cayó del cielo by Sergio Wolf (Argentina) and Heaven or Hell (Infierno o paraíso) de German Piffano(Colombia); as well as the Latin American premiere of The Silence of the Flies (El silencio de las moscas) by Eliezer Arias (Venezuela), Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA), and Apples, Chickens and Chimeras (Manzanas, pollos y quimeras) de Inés París (España). The rest of the program includes Argentine Street Years (Años de calle) by Alejandra Grinschpun, I Feel Much Better Now (E-agora? Lembra me) by Joaquim Pinto(Portugal), Naomi Campbel by icolas Videla and Camila José Donoso (Chile), Cesar's Grill (El Grill de Cesar) by Dario Aguirre, I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) by Justin Webster (Spain), Mexican documentary, Elevator (Elevador) by Adrián Ortizl and the most recent work by talented Brazilian documentary film director Maria Ramos , Hills of Pleasures (Morro dos Prazeres).
Lastly, in the Colombian Official Competition we will present the world premieres of Banished (Desterrada) by Diego Guerra, Manos sucias by Joseph Wladyka, Memorias del calavero and Tierra en la lengua by Rubén Mendoza, Monte adentro by Nicolás Macario Alonso, Parador Húngaro by Aseneth Suarez and Patrick Alexander, Infierno o paraíso by Germán Piffano; as well as the Latin American premieres of Inés, memorias de una vida by Luisa Sossa; Gente de papel, con el alma en la selva by Andrés Felipe Vásquez, Mateo by Maria Gamboa, Marmato by Mark Grieco and the Colombian premiere of Mambo Cool by Chris Gude.
One of Ficci's main goals is supporting the development of Colombian cinema. With that in mind, the festival will open with the world premiere of Ciudad Delirio, inviting the audience to get to know Cali, the only city in Latin America that loves all Latin American music, a center of creative development for Colombia's cinema, splendidly and authentically presented through the passion and flavor of salsa. Ficci is once again betting on the kind of cinema that speaks locally and globally, cinema that invites, seduces and embraces all kinds of audiences.
Starring Carolina Ramírez , Cauca Valley dancer and actress renown for her performance in soap operas such as La hija del mariachiand La Pola and Spaniard Julián Villagrán, winner of a Goya for his performance in Grupo 7, Ciudad Delirio also features Colombian actors of such caliber as Vicky Hernández Jorge Herrera , Margarita Ortega and John Alex Castillo. Thanks to a world-class team lead by Spanish dancer, choreographer and filmmaker Blanca Li, who has worked for The Berlin State Ballet, Kylie Minogue, Beyoncé and Daft Punk, and by multiple time Salsa World Champion Viviana Vargas, Cartagena will get to experience the madness of one of the most sensual dances on earth.
Ciudad Delirio was produced by Diego F. Ramírez, head of 64-a Films in Colombia, which has produced such films as Perro come perro,Todos tus muertos, Dr. Alemán, En coma, and180 segundos and Spaniard Elena Manrique, founder of Film Fatal and renown for her production of movies such asEl laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth), El orfanato and Transsiberiano, to name just a few.
For seven weeks during the making of Ciudad delirio, 45 locations in Cali, Colombia and Madrid, Spain were overrun by salsa. More than 3,200 extras from Cauca Valley helped to tell this love story that revolves around the show Delirio, a long-standing cultural tradition in Sultana del Valle.
In Ciudad Delirio, Javier, a shy, reserved Spanish doctor, attends a medical conference in Cali, Colombia. There, through a chance meeting, he shares a magical night with Angie, a dancer and choreographer who dreams of being part of the world's most famous salsa show, Delirio, if only she can pass the audition. Javier and Angie begin an impossible romance full of obstacles, surrounded by salsa, and accompanied by a cast of characters that are as authentic as they are hilarious.
The festival's guest of honor will be the prolific British actor Clive Owen, who is known for his diverse roles in films like Closer Children of Men, and The International . The Latin American premier of his latest film, Guillaume Canet's Blood Ties (2013), will be a highlight of the Friday, March 14th event, taking place at 6:00 pm in the Adolfo Mejía Theater, where, after being presented with the India Catalina prize, the actor will be interviewed by Ficci's director, Monika Wagenberg.
Another special honoree will be Mexican director Alejando Gonazlez Iñárritu, who has garnered international acclaim throughout the years with films such as Amores Perros , 21 Grams , Babel, and Biutiful . Established within the film industry as one of Latin America's most important directors of the new century, Iñárritu is currently in-production for Birdman (2014), a film he wrote and directed starring Emma Stone and Edward Norton . Participants of the 54th Ficci will have the opportunity to attend the Tribute honoring this Academy Award-nominated filmmaker on Sunday, March 16th, as well as his Master class the following day during Salón Ficci – the festival's academic program.
In regards to the festival's line-up, it is interesting to note that several of the filmmakers that will take part in the Dramatic Competition are directors who have participated at Ficci with their previous films and have established themselves in the international festival circuit winning prestigious awards. Others will arrive to Cartagena for the first time with their operas primas.
"2014 promises to be a good year for Iberoamerican cinema and we are proud to feature several of the most recent films of the region in our Official Dramatic Competition, in which half of the chosen movies are Latin American Premieres (movies that come directly to Cartagena after their world premieres at Sundance and Berlin Festivals). Eight of the twelve films in the Colombian Official Competition (known before as Colombia al 100%) are World Premieres. This way, we have managed to achieve the goal we set four years ago: becoming the main national and international launching platform of local films", stated Ficci's Director Monika Wagenberg.
Wagenberg also addressed some chances in the festival's rules that will allow for more experience filmmakers to partake in the event.
"One of the big news of Ficci 54 is that this time we have not limited the Official Dramatic Competition to first, second and third time Ibero-American films. Ending this restriction will make possible for those directors from this region who are producing feature films at a fast pace not, to be excluded from the competition" Wagenberg added.
The Official Dramatic Competition will feature the Latin American premieres The Lock Charmer (El Cerrajero) by Natalia Smirnoff (Argentina), Natural Sciences (Ciencias Naturales) by Matías Lucchesi(Argentina), The Way He Looks (Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho) by Daniel Ribeiro(Brazil), Celina Murga's Berlin Official Competition, The Three Sides of the River (La tercera orilla) (Argentina), recent Sundance and Rotterdam winner, To Kill a Man (Matar a un hombre) by Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile), Mateo, first film by Maria Gamboa (Colombia), and the world premiere of Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua) by Ruben Mendoza (Colombia).
This section also includes other outstanding films such as Bad Hair (Pelo malo), written and directed by Mariana Rondón (Venezuela) which comes to Ficci after its triumph at the San Sebastián Film Festival; The Mute (El Mudo), directed by brothers Daniel and Diego Vega (Perú), which had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival and are coming back to Ficci after competing winning Best Director award in 2010; premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and awarded the Concha de Plata for Best Director in San Sebastián, comes Club Sándwich by Fernando Eimbcke(México), and the 12th film in this section is Root (Raíz) by Matías Rojas Valencia (Chile), the winner of Best Chilean Film winner at the Valdivia Film Festival.
The Official Documentary Competition will showcase the world premieres of El color que cayó del cielo by Sergio Wolf (Argentina) and Heaven or Hell (Infierno o paraíso) de German Piffano(Colombia); as well as the Latin American premiere of The Silence of the Flies (El silencio de las moscas) by Eliezer Arias (Venezuela), Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA), and Apples, Chickens and Chimeras (Manzanas, pollos y quimeras) de Inés París (España). The rest of the program includes Argentine Street Years (Años de calle) by Alejandra Grinschpun, I Feel Much Better Now (E-agora? Lembra me) by Joaquim Pinto(Portugal), Naomi Campbel by icolas Videla and Camila José Donoso (Chile), Cesar's Grill (El Grill de Cesar) by Dario Aguirre, I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) by Justin Webster (Spain), Mexican documentary, Elevator (Elevador) by Adrián Ortizl and the most recent work by talented Brazilian documentary film director Maria Ramos , Hills of Pleasures (Morro dos Prazeres).
Lastly, in the Colombian Official Competition we will present the world premieres of Banished (Desterrada) by Diego Guerra, Manos sucias by Joseph Wladyka, Memorias del calavero and Tierra en la lengua by Rubén Mendoza, Monte adentro by Nicolás Macario Alonso, Parador Húngaro by Aseneth Suarez and Patrick Alexander, Infierno o paraíso by Germán Piffano; as well as the Latin American premieres of Inés, memorias de una vida by Luisa Sossa; Gente de papel, con el alma en la selva by Andrés Felipe Vásquez, Mateo by Maria Gamboa, Marmato by Mark Grieco and the Colombian premiere of Mambo Cool by Chris Gude.
- 2/27/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Though the annual Berlin Film Festival may have reached its 64th year, this year’s event is the very first HeyUGuys have had the distinct pleasure of covering. We can also proudly boast to having seen all 20 of this year’s films in Competition. So, with the award ceremony taking place tonight, to see which feature will take home the much coveted, prestigious Golden Bear, we’ve provided a run-down of all competing productions…
The Unmissable
The festival certainly got off to a good start, as the opening night film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, by American auteur Wes Anderson is one of the very best on offer. The quaint, whimsicality that alleviates the director’s work is matched on this occasion by a tender, emotional core to create one of his finest pieces yet. Polarising he may be, given his often contrived stylistic approach, but this seems to be a...
The Unmissable
The festival certainly got off to a good start, as the opening night film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, by American auteur Wes Anderson is one of the very best on offer. The quaint, whimsicality that alleviates the director’s work is matched on this occasion by a tender, emotional core to create one of his finest pieces yet. Polarising he may be, given his often contrived stylistic approach, but this seems to be a...
- 2/15/2014
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
★★★☆☆Produced by Martin Scorsese, Argentinian director Celina Murga's The Third Side of the River (2014) is an oblique and slow-burning study of patriarchal oppression that aims to depict a certain truth about domestic intimidation. A beautifully observed father, son drama, Murga's pressure-cooker of familial disquiet and indirect masochism asks a lot of question, yet provides very few answers. Nicolás is nearing adulthood, working hard at school and taking on extra work to help further his studies. He lives with his mother and younger brother and sister in a household haunted by the trace memory of family annulment.
- 2/13/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Taking place tomorrow [Feb 12], the day will see two panel discussions and the presentation of the Imcine Award.
The World Cinema Fund (Wcf) has unveiled the schedule for their Wcf Day, taking place tomorrow [Feb 12] at the Filmhaus Berlin.
Festival director Dieter Kosslick and Wcf project managers Sonha Heinen and Vincenzo Bugno [pictured] will open the day, before the presentation of the Imcine Award by Jorge Sánchez, director of the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía.
The Imcine Award is awarded to all Mexican films that receive funding from the Wcf in the next three years.
Two panel discussions will also take place: Argentian Cinema of the 21st Century, with participants including Celina Murga and Peter Rommel, and History and Innovation Fit Together, with participants include Lorna Tee and Viola Shafik.
Bugno will moderate both panels.
The World Cinema Fund (Wcf) has unveiled the schedule for their Wcf Day, taking place tomorrow [Feb 12] at the Filmhaus Berlin.
Festival director Dieter Kosslick and Wcf project managers Sonha Heinen and Vincenzo Bugno [pictured] will open the day, before the presentation of the Imcine Award by Jorge Sánchez, director of the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía.
The Imcine Award is awarded to all Mexican films that receive funding from the Wcf in the next three years.
Two panel discussions will also take place: Argentian Cinema of the 21st Century, with participants including Celina Murga and Peter Rommel, and History and Innovation Fit Together, with participants include Lorna Tee and Viola Shafik.
Bugno will moderate both panels.
- 2/11/2014
- by ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
- ScreenDaily
54th edition of Ficci to feature eight world premieres in Colombian official competition.
The 54th International Film Festival of Cartagena de Indias (Ficci) in Colombia has unveiled its competition lineup.
Eight of the twelve films in the Colombian Official Competition are world premieres, while half of the films selected for the festival’s Official Dramatic Competition are Latin American Premieres.
Speaking at the launch in Bogota, Ficci’s director Monika Wagenberg commented: “We have managed to achieve the goal we set four years ago: becoming the main national and international launching platform of local films.”
This year’s Official Dramatic Competition features the Latin American premieres of the likes of Celina Murga’s Berlinale entry La Tercera Orilla and Alejandro Fernández’s Sundance winner Matar A Un Hombre [pictured], as well as the world premiere of Rubén Mendoza’s Tierra En La Lengua.
World premieres of Sergio Wolf’s El Color Que Cayó Del Cielo and Germán Piffano...
The 54th International Film Festival of Cartagena de Indias (Ficci) in Colombia has unveiled its competition lineup.
Eight of the twelve films in the Colombian Official Competition are world premieres, while half of the films selected for the festival’s Official Dramatic Competition are Latin American Premieres.
Speaking at the launch in Bogota, Ficci’s director Monika Wagenberg commented: “We have managed to achieve the goal we set four years ago: becoming the main national and international launching platform of local films.”
This year’s Official Dramatic Competition features the Latin American premieres of the likes of Celina Murga’s Berlinale entry La Tercera Orilla and Alejandro Fernández’s Sundance winner Matar A Un Hombre [pictured], as well as the world premiere of Rubén Mendoza’s Tierra En La Lengua.
World premieres of Sergio Wolf’s El Color Que Cayó Del Cielo and Germán Piffano...
- 2/11/2014
- by ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
- ScreenDaily
Richard Lormand has been a friend on the circuit of ours for may years.
He has an exciting new lineup of women directed films at Berlin.
Wow!!
Can't wait to see them all!
Following is his press release on them. Now you now what to watch (and buy!!) at Berlin!!
from Richard -
Hola Film Lovers!
I've been prepping my Berlinale films in sunny, sumptuous Buenos Aires, but I'm still excited to get back to the European winter. After recent debates about the sparse presence of female directors in competition at major film festivals, I'm pleased to announce that I'm handling three Berlinale Competition films directed by women! Here's my bottom line on all four of my Berlinale 2014 films (in order of appearance):
Goran Hugo Olsson's Concerning Violence: Swedish filmmaker Goran Hugo Olsson is a true talent at turning archival footage into thought-provoking pertinent films, as in the 2011 Sundance hit The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975. His new film Concerning Violence was just shown at Sundance and will be presented in the Berlinale's Panorama Doc section. Based on radical political writer Frantz Fanon's post-colonial studies work, the film shows how the price of freedom in Africa has usually been paid with violence. Ms. Lauryn Hill's distinctive and asssertive voice bring extra force to the texts. Unique style and editing add to the powerful experience this important film offers.
Feo Aladag's Inbetween Worlds (Zwischen Welten): I admire directors for the persistence, focus and stamina the best of them demonstrate in sticking to the long and multifaceted process of making a film. Berlin-based director Feo Aladag is a fine example of a writer-director-producer's unshakeable commitment to a project. Feo puts the same passionate talent for cross-cultural interconnection into Inbetween Worlds as she did in the Tribeca winner When We Leave (Die Fremde). Ronald Zehrfeld (Christian Petzold's Barbara) as the troubled German soldier and the mostly non-professional Afghani cast are all terrific in this smart and compassionate human drama.
Celina Murga's The Third Side Of The River (La Tercera Orilla): Argentinian director Celina Murga gives us a tight exercise in teenage tension in her new film La Tercera Orilla (lit. The Third Bank). This rigorously-constructed film boasts a smoldering performance by first-timer Alian Devetec as the broody Nicolas. Celina keeps us guessing about her main character's path as his overbearing father begins to dictate Nicolas' future. Celina previously showed her knack for films about youth in her acclaimed features A Week Alone and Ana And The Others. Her former Rolex Arts Initiative mentor Martin Scorsese executive produced.
Sudabeh Mortezai's MacOndo: It's always a surprise when a first film makes it into Competition at a major festival. It's the prestigious festival way of saying "You must check out this amazing new filmmaker!" I definitely agree that's the case for Vienna-based Iranian Sudabeh Mortezai. She has successfully captured the heart and soul of the refugee condition in her touching first fiction feature. In the leading role, 11-year-old Ramasan Minkailov is phenomenal - sensitive, strong, charismatic.
Richard Lormand - Film|Press|Plus
www.FilmPressPlus.com...
He has an exciting new lineup of women directed films at Berlin.
Wow!!
Can't wait to see them all!
Following is his press release on them. Now you now what to watch (and buy!!) at Berlin!!
from Richard -
Hola Film Lovers!
I've been prepping my Berlinale films in sunny, sumptuous Buenos Aires, but I'm still excited to get back to the European winter. After recent debates about the sparse presence of female directors in competition at major film festivals, I'm pleased to announce that I'm handling three Berlinale Competition films directed by women! Here's my bottom line on all four of my Berlinale 2014 films (in order of appearance):
Goran Hugo Olsson's Concerning Violence: Swedish filmmaker Goran Hugo Olsson is a true talent at turning archival footage into thought-provoking pertinent films, as in the 2011 Sundance hit The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975. His new film Concerning Violence was just shown at Sundance and will be presented in the Berlinale's Panorama Doc section. Based on radical political writer Frantz Fanon's post-colonial studies work, the film shows how the price of freedom in Africa has usually been paid with violence. Ms. Lauryn Hill's distinctive and asssertive voice bring extra force to the texts. Unique style and editing add to the powerful experience this important film offers.
Feo Aladag's Inbetween Worlds (Zwischen Welten): I admire directors for the persistence, focus and stamina the best of them demonstrate in sticking to the long and multifaceted process of making a film. Berlin-based director Feo Aladag is a fine example of a writer-director-producer's unshakeable commitment to a project. Feo puts the same passionate talent for cross-cultural interconnection into Inbetween Worlds as she did in the Tribeca winner When We Leave (Die Fremde). Ronald Zehrfeld (Christian Petzold's Barbara) as the troubled German soldier and the mostly non-professional Afghani cast are all terrific in this smart and compassionate human drama.
Celina Murga's The Third Side Of The River (La Tercera Orilla): Argentinian director Celina Murga gives us a tight exercise in teenage tension in her new film La Tercera Orilla (lit. The Third Bank). This rigorously-constructed film boasts a smoldering performance by first-timer Alian Devetec as the broody Nicolas. Celina keeps us guessing about her main character's path as his overbearing father begins to dictate Nicolas' future. Celina previously showed her knack for films about youth in her acclaimed features A Week Alone and Ana And The Others. Her former Rolex Arts Initiative mentor Martin Scorsese executive produced.
Sudabeh Mortezai's MacOndo: It's always a surprise when a first film makes it into Competition at a major festival. It's the prestigious festival way of saying "You must check out this amazing new filmmaker!" I definitely agree that's the case for Vienna-based Iranian Sudabeh Mortezai. She has successfully captured the heart and soul of the refugee condition in her touching first fiction feature. In the leading role, 11-year-old Ramasan Minkailov is phenomenal - sensitive, strong, charismatic.
Richard Lormand - Film|Press|Plus
www.FilmPressPlus.com...
- 1/31/2014
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
Exclusive: The return of the Zoo-Palast cinema to the Berlinale’s roster of screening venues is “the greatest challenge facing us this year,” according to festival director Dieter Kosslick.
Kosslick spoke exclusively to ScreenDaily less than three weeks before the 64th edition (Feb 6-16) kicks off with the world premiere of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel on Feb 6, explaining that the festival will now have three centres throughout the city: at the Zoo-Palast where the Berlinale was based until 1999; at the Berlinale-Palast at Potsdamer Platz; and at the Friedrichstadtpalast in the former East Berlin.
“We now have a focus in the Western part of the city which is something we had always wanted: the Berlinale is back in the West! We have a balanced cinema situation in the whole of the city,” he said.
“We had to abandon the original idea of having the Friedrichstadtpalast only as a temporary venue while the Zoo-Palast was being...
Kosslick spoke exclusively to ScreenDaily less than three weeks before the 64th edition (Feb 6-16) kicks off with the world premiere of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel on Feb 6, explaining that the festival will now have three centres throughout the city: at the Zoo-Palast where the Berlinale was based until 1999; at the Berlinale-Palast at Potsdamer Platz; and at the Friedrichstadtpalast in the former East Berlin.
“We now have a focus in the Western part of the city which is something we had always wanted: the Berlinale is back in the West! We have a balanced cinema situation in the whole of the city,” he said.
“We had to abandon the original idea of having the Friedrichstadtpalast only as a temporary venue while the Zoo-Palast was being...
- 1/20/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Joining the titles already announced—including films by Alain Resnais and Dominik Graf—the following films complete the lineup for the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival's Competition section.
Bai Ri Yan Huo (Black Coal, Thin Ice)
People’s Republic of China
By Yinan Diao (Night Train, Uniform)
With Fan Liao, Lun Mei Gwei, Xuebing Wang
World premiere
Boyhood
USA
By Richard Linklater (Before Midnight, Me & Orson Welles)
With Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater
International premiere
Chiisai Ouchi (The Little House)
Japan
By Yoji Yamada (Tokyo Family, About Her Brother)
With Takako Matsu, Haru Kuroki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Chieko Baisho
International premiere
Historia del miedo (History of Fear)
Argentina / Uruguay / Germany / France
By Benjamin Naishtat - feature debut
With Jonathan Da Rosa, Claudia Cantero, Mirella Pascual, Cesar Bordon, Tatiana Gimenez
World premiere
Jack
Germany
By Edward Berger
With Ivo Pietzcker, Georg Arms, Luise Heyer, Vincent Redetzki, Jacob Matschenz,...
Bai Ri Yan Huo (Black Coal, Thin Ice)
People’s Republic of China
By Yinan Diao (Night Train, Uniform)
With Fan Liao, Lun Mei Gwei, Xuebing Wang
World premiere
Boyhood
USA
By Richard Linklater (Before Midnight, Me & Orson Welles)
With Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater
International premiere
Chiisai Ouchi (The Little House)
Japan
By Yoji Yamada (Tokyo Family, About Her Brother)
With Takako Matsu, Haru Kuroki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Chieko Baisho
International premiere
Historia del miedo (History of Fear)
Argentina / Uruguay / Germany / France
By Benjamin Naishtat - feature debut
With Jonathan Da Rosa, Claudia Cantero, Mirella Pascual, Cesar Bordon, Tatiana Gimenez
World premiere
Jack
Germany
By Edward Berger
With Ivo Pietzcker, Georg Arms, Luise Heyer, Vincent Redetzki, Jacob Matschenz,...
- 1/15/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Richard Linklater’s Boyhood to compete for the Golden Bear; Beauty and the Beast, starring Vincent Cassel and Léa Seydoux, to play out of competition.
The 64th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 6-16) has added 15 titles to its Competition programme, completing the line-up of 23 films - of which 20 will vye for the Golden Bear and Silver Bears.
The programme includes 18 world premieres and three feature debuts.
The line-up includes the international premiere of Boyhood, from Before Midnight director Richard Linklater. The film, which will premiere at Sundance, was shot over short periods from 2002 to 2013 and covers 12 years in the life of a family, featuring Mason and his sister Samantha. Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater star.
World premieres include In Order of Disappearance, directed by Hans Petter Moland, which stars Stellan Skarsgård as a snow plough driver whose son’s sudden death puts him in the middle of a drug war between theNorwegian mafia and the...
The 64th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 6-16) has added 15 titles to its Competition programme, completing the line-up of 23 films - of which 20 will vye for the Golden Bear and Silver Bears.
The programme includes 18 world premieres and three feature debuts.
The line-up includes the international premiere of Boyhood, from Before Midnight director Richard Linklater. The film, which will premiere at Sundance, was shot over short periods from 2002 to 2013 and covers 12 years in the life of a family, featuring Mason and his sister Samantha. Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater star.
World premieres include In Order of Disappearance, directed by Hans Petter Moland, which stars Stellan Skarsgård as a snow plough driver whose son’s sudden death puts him in the middle of a drug war between theNorwegian mafia and the...
- 1/15/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Shadow Dancer
Directed by James Marsh
Written by Tom Bradby
2012, UK, Ireland
There’s no real reason to believe that the artistry required in the making of a documentary is vastly different to that required in the making of a fictional narrative. Nonetheless it is always interesting to watch filmmakers transition from one to the other, sometimes permanently, sometimes as one-off dabblings. Martin Scorsese and Werner Herzog, both consummate documentarians, have been swinging back and forth between both forms for as long as they’ve been making films, and to the benefit of both their filmographies there has been some very productive crossbreeding during the span of their respective careers. Then you have those old and new masters of fictional narrative filmmaking, from Antonioni and Resnais to the Dardennes, who cut their teeth making documentaries before they settled on crafting their own very particular realities, while the Wisemans and Morrises...
Directed by James Marsh
Written by Tom Bradby
2012, UK, Ireland
There’s no real reason to believe that the artistry required in the making of a documentary is vastly different to that required in the making of a fictional narrative. Nonetheless it is always interesting to watch filmmakers transition from one to the other, sometimes permanently, sometimes as one-off dabblings. Martin Scorsese and Werner Herzog, both consummate documentarians, have been swinging back and forth between both forms for as long as they’ve been making films, and to the benefit of both their filmographies there has been some very productive crossbreeding during the span of their respective careers. Then you have those old and new masters of fictional narrative filmmaking, from Antonioni and Resnais to the Dardennes, who cut their teeth making documentaries before they settled on crafting their own very particular realities, while the Wisemans and Morrises...
- 5/31/2013
- by Tope
- SoundOnSight
★★★☆☆ Lff veteran Celina Murga returns to the festival this year (after previous appearances in 2003 and 2008) with non-fiction outing Normal School (Escuela Normal, 2012), a calm and non-intrusive documentary set in an Argentine state school. Whilst there's nothing particularly new or innovative about Murga's latest, the opportunity to witness the next generation showing a genuine interest in their country's political future - as well as a spot of high jinks involving water bombs - is undeniably appealing and cosy.
Read more »...
Read more »...
- 10/10/2012
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Shadow Dancer
Directed by James Marsh
Written by Tom Bradby
2012, UK, Ireland
There’s no real reason to believe that the artistry required in the making of a documentary is vastly different to that required in the making of a fictional narrative. Nonetheless it is always interesting to watch filmmakers transition from one to the other, sometimes permanently, sometimes as one-off dabblings. Martin Scorsese and Werner Herzog, both consummate documentarians, have been swinging back and forth between both forms for as long as they’ve been making films, and to the benefit of both their filmographies there has been some very productive crossbreeding during the span of their respective careers. Then you have those old and new masters of fictional narrative filmmaking, from Antonioni and Resnais to the Dardennes, who cut their teeth making documentaries before they settled on crafting their own very particular realities, while the Wisemans and Morrises...
Directed by James Marsh
Written by Tom Bradby
2012, UK, Ireland
There’s no real reason to believe that the artistry required in the making of a documentary is vastly different to that required in the making of a fictional narrative. Nonetheless it is always interesting to watch filmmakers transition from one to the other, sometimes permanently, sometimes as one-off dabblings. Martin Scorsese and Werner Herzog, both consummate documentarians, have been swinging back and forth between both forms for as long as they’ve been making films, and to the benefit of both their filmographies there has been some very productive crossbreeding during the span of their respective careers. Then you have those old and new masters of fictional narrative filmmaking, from Antonioni and Resnais to the Dardennes, who cut their teeth making documentaries before they settled on crafting their own very particular realities, while the Wisemans and Morrises...
- 8/16/2012
- by Tope
- SoundOnSight
Normal School (Escuela Normal)
Directed by Celina Murga
Written by Celina Murga, Juan Villegas
2012, Argentina
Any time a narrative film or documentary, or any art form for that matter, attempts to portray a well-defined social entity, whether it be a community or an institution contained within walls, there can be moments of giddying excitements as uncanny parallels begin to surface, acting as mirrors by which society as a concept and a reality, or aspects of both, are seen anew, as if through a pair of virgin eyes. And even if there is never a eureka moment or instance of epiphanic revelation, it is at least always interesting to see how certain constants always prevail, certain modes and patterns of order, even in the midst of apparent chaos.
Celina Murga’s Normal School is true fly-on-the-wall filmmaking; sometimes fly-on –the-back, fly-on-the-shoulder or fly-all-over-the-place. Set during the final trimester of the year in 5th School Parana,...
Directed by Celina Murga
Written by Celina Murga, Juan Villegas
2012, Argentina
Any time a narrative film or documentary, or any art form for that matter, attempts to portray a well-defined social entity, whether it be a community or an institution contained within walls, there can be moments of giddying excitements as uncanny parallels begin to surface, acting as mirrors by which society as a concept and a reality, or aspects of both, are seen anew, as if through a pair of virgin eyes. And even if there is never a eureka moment or instance of epiphanic revelation, it is at least always interesting to see how certain constants always prevail, certain modes and patterns of order, even in the midst of apparent chaos.
Celina Murga’s Normal School is true fly-on-the-wall filmmaking; sometimes fly-on –the-back, fly-on-the-shoulder or fly-all-over-the-place. Set during the final trimester of the year in 5th School Parana,...
- 8/11/2012
- by Tope
- SoundOnSight
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani's Caesar Must Die has won the Golden Bear at this year's Berlinale. The other awards, presented by Mike Leigh and his International Jury (Anton Corbijn, Asghar Farhadi, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jake Gyllenhaal, François Ozon, Boualem Sansal and Barbara Sukowa):
The first Silver Bear, the Jury Grand Prix, goes to Bence Fliegauf's Just the Wind. (Last year, this prize went to a Hungarian as well, to Béla Tarr for The Turin Horse.)
Silver Bear for Best Director: Christian Petzold for Barbara.
Silver Bear for Best Actress: Rachel Mwanza for her performance in War Witch.
Silver Bear for Best Actor: Mikkel Følsgaard for A Royal Affair.
The Silver Bear for an Outstanding Artistic Contribution goes to Director of Photography Lutz Reitemeier for his work on White Deer Plain.
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg for A Royal Affair.
The Alfred Bauer Award...
The first Silver Bear, the Jury Grand Prix, goes to Bence Fliegauf's Just the Wind. (Last year, this prize went to a Hungarian as well, to Béla Tarr for The Turin Horse.)
Silver Bear for Best Director: Christian Petzold for Barbara.
Silver Bear for Best Actress: Rachel Mwanza for her performance in War Witch.
Silver Bear for Best Actor: Mikkel Følsgaard for A Royal Affair.
The Silver Bear for an Outstanding Artistic Contribution goes to Director of Photography Lutz Reitemeier for his work on White Deer Plain.
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg for A Royal Affair.
The Alfred Bauer Award...
- 2/18/2012
- MUBI
Die Lage (Condition)
For many, myself included, this is the Berlinale lineup we anticipate most each year: "The 42nd Berlinale Forum will be showing 38 films in its main program, including 26 world premieres and 8 international premieres." There'll be special screenings, too, which we'll be hearing about later, but for now, the main program with synopses from the festival:
Al Juma Al Akheira (The Last Friday) by Yahya Alabdallah, Jordan/United Arab Emirates - International Premiere. "Taxi driver Yousef is forced to bring some order into his failed existence. This lovingly photographed film casts a laconic and occasionally humorous gaze on daily life in the Jordanian capital Amman."
Ang Babae sa Septic Tank (The Woman in the Septic Tank) by Marlon N Rivera, the Philippines. "In this biting satire, three young filmmakers do everything in their power to obtain international fame. They are all too aware of foreign audiences' expectations of Philippine cinema: prostitution,...
For many, myself included, this is the Berlinale lineup we anticipate most each year: "The 42nd Berlinale Forum will be showing 38 films in its main program, including 26 world premieres and 8 international premieres." There'll be special screenings, too, which we'll be hearing about later, but for now, the main program with synopses from the festival:
Al Juma Al Akheira (The Last Friday) by Yahya Alabdallah, Jordan/United Arab Emirates - International Premiere. "Taxi driver Yousef is forced to bring some order into his failed existence. This lovingly photographed film casts a laconic and occasionally humorous gaze on daily life in the Jordanian capital Amman."
Ang Babae sa Septic Tank (The Woman in the Septic Tank) by Marlon N Rivera, the Philippines. "In this biting satire, three young filmmakers do everything in their power to obtain international fame. They are all too aware of foreign audiences' expectations of Philippine cinema: prostitution,...
- 1/20/2012
- MUBI
Hubert Bals Fund Plus: Dutch co producers for films Celina Murga and Jazmín López Dutch film production companies Lemming Film and Waterland Film each receive € 50,000 in the Spring 2011 Round of Hubert Bals Fund Plus, a joint programme of the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the Netherlands Film Fund. Both companies will get involved in the co-production of Argentinean feature films. Hubert Bals Fund Plus was established in 2006 to promote the international involvement of Dutch producers with films already supported by the Iffr’s Hubert Bals Fund. Hubert Bals Fund Plus Spring Selection 2011: Amsterdam-based Lemming Film coproduces…...
- 5/15/2011
- Sydney's Buzz
In case you didn't know, the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative paired young Argentinian director Celina Murga with iconic filmmaker Martin Scorsese for a year of creative collaboration. During that time Scorsese provided extensive advice on a treatment and script that Murga was developing. Sounds like the ultimate film school to me! Now a helpful learning experience might be turning into a lucrative career boost as we've been told Scorsese will executive produce La Tercer Orilla (or The Third Side of the River) which tells the story of a16-year-old forced to choose between his father's wishes and his own freedom. Read on! In addition to executive producing the film, Scorsese has also provided some great exposure to the international film community as she searches for funding on La Tercer Orilla, which is actually her third feature film. Apparently Scorsese is also interested in editing the film once the...
- 11/29/2010
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
If you remember, last March I posted a story including a diary from the set of Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island written by Argentinean filmmaker Celine Murga as she was able to observe the whole of the entire shot as a laureate of the 2008 Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative. Now Scorsese is taking Celina under his wing as I just received the following press release: Leading film director Martin Scorsese has agreed to be the executive producer on a feature film by his protegee young Argentinean director Celina Murga. The two were paired for a year of creative collaboration through the Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative.
The two became very close during their year together and Scorsese even provided detailed advice on the treatment and script that Celina developed. Martin's support and letter of introduction to the international film community is opening many new doors as Celina asks...
The two became very close during their year together and Scorsese even provided detailed advice on the treatment and script that Celina developed. Martin's support and letter of introduction to the international film community is opening many new doors as Celina asks...
- 11/29/2010
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
We unfortunately don't put enough of the spotlight on film activity in countries such as Argentina (something we'd like to change) so whenever there is a piece of news about filmmakers, especially those that have presented their work in the big five festivals then we like to make a mention of it here. Argentinean actress and filmmaker Ana Katz, who Variety describes with fellow filmmakers Lucia Puenzo and Celina Murga, as belonging to the Second Wave of New Argentine Cinema, is getting ready to lense Los Marziano in the new year (Feb. 15 in Buenos Aires to be exact). - We unfortunately don't put enough of the spotlight on film activity in countries such as Argentina (something we'd like to change) so whenever there is a piece of news about filmmakers, especially those that have presented their work in the big five festivals then we like to make a mention of it here.
- 12/13/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
The San Sebastian International Film Festival and the Toulouse Rencontres Cinemas Amerique Latine have announced the five films that will screen in the third session of the Films in Progress forum. The unfinished films will unspool March 27-28 at the Cervantes Institute in Toulouse, France, as part of the 15th Recontres Cinemas d'Amerique Latine. The independent Argentine productions tapped for the program are Celina Murga's "Ana y los otros", Daniel Burak's "Bar El Chino", Fernan Rudnik's "Pueblo chico", Esteban Menis' "El transcurso de las cosas" and Alejandro Malowicki's "Pyme (Sitiados)." In addition, two features presented at last year's Films in Progress will screen during the forum -- "Siete dias, siete noches", directed by Joel Cano (Cuba) and "Capital Rancho", directed by Gabriel Bertini (Argentina).
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