Mexico’s Piano, which is the producer of Abel Ferrara’s “Siberia” and upcoming films from Leos Carax, Mia Hansen-Love and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, is expanding into Germany and Colombia, incorporating Diana Bustamante and Ingmar Trost as producer partners.
Julio Chavezmontes heads Piano.
Piano’s initial focus will be to establish itself as a creator of premium television content for international audiences, and as a provider of top-level production services in all three countries, said Chavezmontes. It was also continue to make high-profile, auteur-driven, festival-winning movies.
Both Bustamante and Trost are well-known figures on the international production scene. Bustamante — whose credits include “The Wind Journeys,” “Crab Trap” and Cannes Camera d’Or and Critics’ Week winner “Land and Shade” — will head up Piano Colombia.
Trost, producer of Ilian Metev’s Locarno Golden Leopard winner “3/4,” Benjamin Naishtat’s San Sebastian-prized “Rojo” and Kristi Jacobson’s News & Documentary Emmy-winning “Solitary,” will run Piano’s German office in Cologne,...
Julio Chavezmontes heads Piano.
Piano’s initial focus will be to establish itself as a creator of premium television content for international audiences, and as a provider of top-level production services in all three countries, said Chavezmontes. It was also continue to make high-profile, auteur-driven, festival-winning movies.
Both Bustamante and Trost are well-known figures on the international production scene. Bustamante — whose credits include “The Wind Journeys,” “Crab Trap” and Cannes Camera d’Or and Critics’ Week winner “Land and Shade” — will head up Piano Colombia.
Trost, producer of Ilian Metev’s Locarno Golden Leopard winner “3/4,” Benjamin Naishtat’s San Sebastian-prized “Rojo” and Kristi Jacobson’s News & Documentary Emmy-winning “Solitary,” will run Piano’s German office in Cologne,...
- 2/22/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Guerra and Cristina Gallego’s ’Birds Of Passage’ opened Directors’ Fortnight last year.
Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerra has been appointed jury president for the Critics’ Week section at Cannes 2019.
Alongside Guerra on the Critics’ Week jury are French-British actress Amira Casar; French producer Marianne Slot; Congolese film journalist and critic Djia Mambu; and Italian screenwriter and director Jonas Carpignano.
The jury will award the Critics’ Week grand prize for best feature, the discovery prize for short film and the rising star award for best actor or actress.
Guerra has made four shorts and four features, often exploring questions of society...
Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerra has been appointed jury president for the Critics’ Week section at Cannes 2019.
Alongside Guerra on the Critics’ Week jury are French-British actress Amira Casar; French producer Marianne Slot; Congolese film journalist and critic Djia Mambu; and Italian screenwriter and director Jonas Carpignano.
The jury will award the Critics’ Week grand prize for best feature, the discovery prize for short film and the rising star award for best actor or actress.
Guerra has made four shorts and four features, often exploring questions of society...
- 4/9/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The 2015 release of “Embrace of the Serpent,” a psychedelic exploration of Colombian tribes in the Amazon, went a lot further than the filmmakers expected. Director Ciro Guerra and his wife, producer Cristina Gallego, traveled from Cannes to Sundance with their acclaimed movie, which ultimately landed a foreign-language Oscar submission. The newfound attention and modest commercial success enabled them to make a longtime passion project, “Birds of Passage.” That movie uncovers the roots of Colombia’s drug war in the rise of illegal trading within the remote Wayyu tribes, which were emboldened — and then nearly destroyed — by criminal enterprises across several decades.
The project took years of research, as well as delicate maneuvers to gain the approval of the Wayyu community, members of which comprised 30 percent of the production. Gallego took on co-directing duties with her husband for the first time, juggling long days that required tricky on-location shoots in rugged...
The project took years of research, as well as delicate maneuvers to gain the approval of the Wayyu community, members of which comprised 30 percent of the production. Gallego took on co-directing duties with her husband for the first time, juggling long days that required tricky on-location shoots in rugged...
- 1/12/2019
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Directed by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra, filmmakers of ‘Embrace of the Serpent’, the first Colombian film ever to be nominated for an Oscar®, comes ‘Birds of Passage’ / ‘Pajaros de Verano’.Interviews with Christina Gallego and Ciro Guerra
A sprawling epic about the erosion of tradition in pursuit of material wealth, a a native Wayúu family in the mountains of Colombia discovers that only as long as they adhere to the matriarch’s dictates according to their oral traditions, they will prosper.
Set in 1970s Colombia among the Wayúu indigenous people, this mystical epic centers on Rapayet, a man torn between the desire to be powerful and his duty to uphold his culture’s values. Ignoring ancient omens, his tribe enters the drug trafficking business getting caught up in a conflict where honor is the highest currency and debts are paid with blood.
In three generations the ancient wisdom rooted...
A sprawling epic about the erosion of tradition in pursuit of material wealth, a a native Wayúu family in the mountains of Colombia discovers that only as long as they adhere to the matriarch’s dictates according to their oral traditions, they will prosper.
Set in 1970s Colombia among the Wayúu indigenous people, this mystical epic centers on Rapayet, a man torn between the desire to be powerful and his duty to uphold his culture’s values. Ignoring ancient omens, his tribe enters the drug trafficking business getting caught up in a conflict where honor is the highest currency and debts are paid with blood.
In three generations the ancient wisdom rooted...
- 1/1/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Practically everything audiences know about the Colombian drug trade they learned from movies, U.S. news reports or shows like Netflix’s popular “Narcos” — in which cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar is played by a Brazilian actor who speaks Spanish with a ridiculously thick Portuguese accent.
“The story of the foreign misrepresentation of Colombia goes way back. I think the most offensive example is the Brad Pitt movie ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith,’ which presents Bogotá — which is a very big, high-altitude city — as a tropical village,” says Colombian director Ciro Guerra. “You see similar problems in films like ‘Romancing the Stone’ and ‘Clear and Present Danger,’ which are usually shot in Mexico.”
So, when it came to identifying the bad guys in Colombian drug-running epic “Birds of Passage,” Guerra and co-director Cristina Gallego don’t blame Escobar, but a trio of American Peace Corps workers who saw an opportunity to smuggle marijuana in the 1970s.
“The story of the foreign misrepresentation of Colombia goes way back. I think the most offensive example is the Brad Pitt movie ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith,’ which presents Bogotá — which is a very big, high-altitude city — as a tropical village,” says Colombian director Ciro Guerra. “You see similar problems in films like ‘Romancing the Stone’ and ‘Clear and Present Danger,’ which are usually shot in Mexico.”
So, when it came to identifying the bad guys in Colombian drug-running epic “Birds of Passage,” Guerra and co-director Cristina Gallego don’t blame Escobar, but a trio of American Peace Corps workers who saw an opportunity to smuggle marijuana in the 1970s.
- 12/6/2018
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Directed by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra, filmmakers of ‘Embrace of the Serpent’, the first Colombian film ever to be nominated for an Oscar®, comes ‘Birds of Passage’ / ‘Pajaros de Verano’.Interviews with Christina Gallego and Ciro Guerra from press notes.
A sprawling epic about the erosion of tradition in pursuit of material wealth, a a native Wayúu family in the mountains of Colombia discovers that only as long as they adhere to the matriarch’s dictates according to their oral traditions, they will prosper.
Set in 1970s Colombia among the Wayúu indigenous people, this mystical epic centers on Rapayet, a man torn between the desire to be powerful and his duty to uphold his culture’s values. Ignoring ancient omens, his tribe enters the drug trafficking business getting caught up in a conflict where honor is the highest currency and debts are paid with blood.
In three generations the...
A sprawling epic about the erosion of tradition in pursuit of material wealth, a a native Wayúu family in the mountains of Colombia discovers that only as long as they adhere to the matriarch’s dictates according to their oral traditions, they will prosper.
Set in 1970s Colombia among the Wayúu indigenous people, this mystical epic centers on Rapayet, a man torn between the desire to be powerful and his duty to uphold his culture’s values. Ignoring ancient omens, his tribe enters the drug trafficking business getting caught up in a conflict where honor is the highest currency and debts are paid with blood.
In three generations the...
- 11/13/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Depp would join Mark Rylance and Robert Pattinson in the film, which is being lined up to shoot this year.
Johnny Depp has reached out to Colombian director Ciro Guerra to work with him, possibly on his next film, Jm Coetzee adaptation Waiting For The Barbarians.
Guerra’s Birds Of Passage opened Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival this year. He also directed the Oscar-nominated Embrace Of The Serpent.
Depp would join Mark Rylance and Robert Pattinson in the project. The producers include Michael Fitzgerald (Three Burials). The film will be Guerra’s English-language debut and was first announced in...
Johnny Depp has reached out to Colombian director Ciro Guerra to work with him, possibly on his next film, Jm Coetzee adaptation Waiting For The Barbarians.
Guerra’s Birds Of Passage opened Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival this year. He also directed the Oscar-nominated Embrace Of The Serpent.
Depp would join Mark Rylance and Robert Pattinson in the project. The producers include Michael Fitzgerald (Three Burials). The film will be Guerra’s English-language debut and was first announced in...
- 5/14/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
"Ask yourself, where does your loyalty lie?" Another appealing new trailer for a film that is premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar. Birds of Passage is the latest film made by Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerra, co-directed with Cristina Gallego. The film's cast is a mixture of professional and non-professional actors, including Natalia Reyes, Carmiña Martínez, José Acosta, and José Vicente Cotes. The film is shot in the La Guajira desert in northern Columbia and tells the story of an indigenous Wayúu family throughout the smuggling and cannabis boom of the 70s. Guerra says, "it was a major production, we had thousands of extras, a large crew. It's an epic story. We have never attempted something so complex before. It demanded a lot from everyone." This trailer is an incredible introduction, with some seriously impressive footage here. Here's the first trailer (+ poster) for Cristina Gallego & Ciro...
- 4/18/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
This morning the Colombian Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences announced that Ciro Guerra's "Embrace of the Serpent" (El Abrazo de la Serpiente) will represent the South American nation in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 88th Academy Awards. The selected film was chosen from a list of four candidates that included "Gente de Bien," "Land & Shade," and "Ella."
Read More: Turkey Selects Venice Winner 'Sivas' as Oscar Submission
Showcasing striking black-and-white cinematography, Guerra's period piece deals with the clash between two civilizations. An Amazonian shaman and a European explorer develop a unique bond as the foreigner attempts to make sense of the region's ancient knowledge. "Embrace of the Serpent" received the Cinema Award at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight earlier this year and garnered critical acclaim.
Oscilloscope Laboratories will distribute the film in the U.S. International sales are being handled by Films Boutique. Oscilloscope has now two Oscar hopefuls in his catalog, the other being Anna Muylaert's "The Second Mother," which was chosen last week as Brazil official submission.
Read More: Peru Chooses Héctor Gálvez' Forensic Mystery 'Nn' as Oscar Entry
Guerra has represented Colombia at the Oscar in two previous occasions with "Wandering Shadows" (La Sombra del Caminate) and "The Wind Journeys" (Los Viajes del Viento). To date country has never been nominated for the award.
Read More: Turkey Selects Venice Winner 'Sivas' as Oscar Submission
Showcasing striking black-and-white cinematography, Guerra's period piece deals with the clash between two civilizations. An Amazonian shaman and a European explorer develop a unique bond as the foreigner attempts to make sense of the region's ancient knowledge. "Embrace of the Serpent" received the Cinema Award at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight earlier this year and garnered critical acclaim.
Oscilloscope Laboratories will distribute the film in the U.S. International sales are being handled by Films Boutique. Oscilloscope has now two Oscar hopefuls in his catalog, the other being Anna Muylaert's "The Second Mother," which was chosen last week as Brazil official submission.
Read More: Peru Chooses Héctor Gálvez' Forensic Mystery 'Nn' as Oscar Entry
Guerra has represented Colombia at the Oscar in two previous occasions with "Wandering Shadows" (La Sombra del Caminate) and "The Wind Journeys" (Los Viajes del Viento). To date country has never been nominated for the award.
- 9/16/2015
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Following the unveling of the Official Selection, news from the Cannes Film Festival (May 13-24) continues to arrive. The prestigious Critics' Week –aimed at discovering the world's most interesting directors– announced the list of films to be included in the 54th edition of this event, one of the Festival's most important, along with the Directors' Fortnight.
The big news for Colombia is the selection of director/screenwriter César Augusto Acevedo's first film, "La Tierra y la Sombra" (Land and Shade), one of the seven feature films chosen to compete from among 1,100 submissions from around the world. The film was produced by Jorge Forero, Paola Pérez Nieto and Diana Bustamante, partners and founding members of Burning Blue, the production company responsible for some of the most internationally recognized films to come out of Colombia in recent years ("El vuelco del Cangrejo," "La Playa D.C," "La Sirga," "Solecito," "Los Hongos," "Climas," "Refugiado," and many others).
In "La Tierra y la Sombra," a woman refuses to give up the land she has fought to defend all her life; a son is incapable of leaving his mother, to the point of risking his own life; a father must confront past mistakes in order to recover the loved ones he abandoned; a brave wife fights to save her family; and a child grows up in the midst of devastation. Staged in a family microcosm –a tiny house and a tree surrounded by a formidable sugar cane filed–, the film presents the final days of these characters intent on repairing the fragile ties that bind them as they face their own imminent demise in the overwhelming wake of progress. Out of this situation comes a cruel story, densely populated with metaphors and allegories for culture, the fatality of alienation and oblivion, the fragility of memory, the inevitability of family breakdown, and the solitude it provokes.
The film was produced by Burning Blue (Colombia) in co-production with Ciné-Sud Promotion (France), Tokapi Films (Holland), Rampante Films (Chile), and Preta Portê Filmes (Brazil). In addition to director/screenwriter Cesar Acevedo, the film's crew included cinematographer Mateo Guzmán; editor Miguel Schverdfinger; art director Marcela Gómez; actor trainer Fátima Toledo; and soundman Felipe Rayo. The film stars Haimer Leal as Alfonso; Hilda Ruiz as Alicia; Edison Raigosa as Alfonso's and Alicia's son Gerardo; Marleyda Soto as Gerardo's wife Esperanza; and Felipe Cárdenas as Gerardo's and Esperanza's son Manuel.
According to César Acevedo: "The idea for this film was born of personal pain. At the time I began writing the screenplay my mother was dead, my father was a ghost, and given my inability to generate memories, they seemed completely lost to me. Thus arose my need to make a film that would allow me to recover the two most important people in my life, using the language of film. What I intended at the time was a reflection on our lives together, and what they might have been, based on the most private, the most important elements of this relationship. I believed that only by returning to my roots would I be able to face what I'd forgotten. This led to my decision to create a microcosm consisting of a small house and a tree, where I could somehow be reunited with those I loved most."
That was just the beginning, however, and the film couldn't remain tied to this initial concept with time tugging it in another direction. Acevedo continues: "As I began writing the screenplay I realized that the house was inhabited by ghosts, who drifted through the rooms, incapable of speech, unrecognizable to each other. It took a long time to accept that what I was trying to accomplish was impossible, simply because everything I was looking for had disappeared with them. So I distanced myself from the original intention with the sole purpose of better developing my characters and the film's conflict and the idea arose of telling the story of a dysfunctional family's attempt to repair the ties that bind them, just before being separated for good. Not only are they forced to confront the feelings of others, but, more challenging still, they discover feelings they never knew existed, or never suspected they harbored. "
Burning Blue: Spearheading the Internationalization of Colombian Cinema
After participating in the 65th Berlin Film Festival's Forum less than two months ago with Jorge Forero's film "Violence," Burning Blue is proud to announces the inclusion of "La Tierra y la Sombra" in the Cannes Festival's Critics' Week. This selection confirms Burning Blue's role as key Colombian representative in major film events around the world.
Burning Blue's efforts to produce daring films focusing on the value and power of stories, and construction of self-sustaining formats to achieve significant results internationally, allowing Colombian films to be seen worldwide, are examples of the creativity and innovation in Latin America productions and prove that Burning Blue has succeeded in asserting itself in a depressed market with a new vision that provides transcendent stories.
The successful start-up of a co-production model allowing films to work with partners in France, Germany, Poland and Holland –not to mention Latin America, where they have co-produced with Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Peru and Brazil; the presence of the company's films in more than 200 festivals, with commercial releases in countries like the Us, Greece, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Eastern Europe, and several African nations (as well as co-producing countries); an the company's presence at the Cannes Film Festival in four consecutive years (co-producers of Argentine director Diego Lerman's "Refugiado" in 2014; co-producers of Oscar Ruíz Navia's short film "Solecito" at the 2013 Director's Fortnight; and producers of William Vega's "La Sirga" and Juan Andrés Arango's "La Playa D.C." included in the 2012 Director's Fortnight and Certain Regard sections, respectively) make Burning Blue Colombia's most visible presence on the global film market.
Although Burning Blue has achieved major recognition for its films on the international market, the company aspires, above all, to participate in the creation of films by and for Colombians and, in even more romantically ambitious terms, the creation of Latin American cinema for the Latin American subcontinent. The stories told, therefore, speak profoundly of the continent's many different peoples and uncover the traditions, imagery, dreams, desires, fears and problems facing these richly diverse, passionate, and complex cultures. To this end, Burning Blue hopes to harness the favorable international attention garnered to date to continually ignite local interest, using international platforms as a springboard to its natural audience: Colombia.
Burning Blue, led by Diana Bustamante, Jorge Forero and Paola Pérez Nieto, is currently developing the feature films "Asilo" (Jaime Osorio Márquez), in co-production with Rhayuela Cine, "Desobsesión" (Jorge Navas), and the co-production "Niño Nadie" (Fernando Guzzoni), produced for Chile's Rampante Films.
Diana Bustamante produced Ciro Guerra's "Los Viajes del Viento" (included in the 2009 Cannes Festival's Certain Regard section) and Oscar Ruiz Navia's "El vuelco del cangrejo" (2009 Toronto Film Festival premiere and Fripresci Award at the 2010 Berlinale Festival and Forum). She also designed and managed Caracol Television's film department from 2008 to 2012, taking more than 20 Colombian feature films from the financing to final promotion stages. She recently became the artistic director of the Cartagena International Film Festival (Ficci), contributing to the success of the festival's 55th edition last March, and is currently working on the 2016 festival.
"La Tierra y la Sombra" - Nothing But Success
The process of creating and financing "La Tierra y la Sombra" allowed the film to mature with assistance from specialists, tutors, and evaluation committees at a number of national and international institutions and festivals, each of them helping to move the film towards its world premiere at the upcoming Cannes Festival.
During the project's development stage it won a development grant from Colombia's Film Development Fund in 2009 and was selected the following year to participate in the Pitch Workshop at Colombia's Cali Film Festival. The project also took part in the Ibero-American Films Crossing Borders event at the 2010 Havana Film Festival and the 2012 Ibero-American Co-Production Meeting at the Huelva Film Festival in Spain.
It was, however, in 2013 that the project became a reality, winning at the Cartagena International Film Festival's Co-Production Meeting, which made it possible to attend the Cannes Marché Du Film. The film went on to win a Casa de las Américas Film Project Development grant from the Carolina Foundation and a production grant from Colombia's Film Development Fund. Also in 2013, the Hubert Bals Fund awarded the project a development grant and the San Sebastian Film Festival selected it for the Co-Production Forum.
The final push came in 2014 when the project was invited to participate in Boost! at the Rotterdam Film Festival in Holland and received production grants from both the Ibermedia and Hubert Bals Funds. Shooting took place in late 2014 with post-production following in early 2015 and, finally, the film's submission, in the company of another 1,100 feature films, to the Cannes Festival.
The big news for Colombia is the selection of director/screenwriter César Augusto Acevedo's first film, "La Tierra y la Sombra" (Land and Shade), one of the seven feature films chosen to compete from among 1,100 submissions from around the world. The film was produced by Jorge Forero, Paola Pérez Nieto and Diana Bustamante, partners and founding members of Burning Blue, the production company responsible for some of the most internationally recognized films to come out of Colombia in recent years ("El vuelco del Cangrejo," "La Playa D.C," "La Sirga," "Solecito," "Los Hongos," "Climas," "Refugiado," and many others).
In "La Tierra y la Sombra," a woman refuses to give up the land she has fought to defend all her life; a son is incapable of leaving his mother, to the point of risking his own life; a father must confront past mistakes in order to recover the loved ones he abandoned; a brave wife fights to save her family; and a child grows up in the midst of devastation. Staged in a family microcosm –a tiny house and a tree surrounded by a formidable sugar cane filed–, the film presents the final days of these characters intent on repairing the fragile ties that bind them as they face their own imminent demise in the overwhelming wake of progress. Out of this situation comes a cruel story, densely populated with metaphors and allegories for culture, the fatality of alienation and oblivion, the fragility of memory, the inevitability of family breakdown, and the solitude it provokes.
The film was produced by Burning Blue (Colombia) in co-production with Ciné-Sud Promotion (France), Tokapi Films (Holland), Rampante Films (Chile), and Preta Portê Filmes (Brazil). In addition to director/screenwriter Cesar Acevedo, the film's crew included cinematographer Mateo Guzmán; editor Miguel Schverdfinger; art director Marcela Gómez; actor trainer Fátima Toledo; and soundman Felipe Rayo. The film stars Haimer Leal as Alfonso; Hilda Ruiz as Alicia; Edison Raigosa as Alfonso's and Alicia's son Gerardo; Marleyda Soto as Gerardo's wife Esperanza; and Felipe Cárdenas as Gerardo's and Esperanza's son Manuel.
According to César Acevedo: "The idea for this film was born of personal pain. At the time I began writing the screenplay my mother was dead, my father was a ghost, and given my inability to generate memories, they seemed completely lost to me. Thus arose my need to make a film that would allow me to recover the two most important people in my life, using the language of film. What I intended at the time was a reflection on our lives together, and what they might have been, based on the most private, the most important elements of this relationship. I believed that only by returning to my roots would I be able to face what I'd forgotten. This led to my decision to create a microcosm consisting of a small house and a tree, where I could somehow be reunited with those I loved most."
That was just the beginning, however, and the film couldn't remain tied to this initial concept with time tugging it in another direction. Acevedo continues: "As I began writing the screenplay I realized that the house was inhabited by ghosts, who drifted through the rooms, incapable of speech, unrecognizable to each other. It took a long time to accept that what I was trying to accomplish was impossible, simply because everything I was looking for had disappeared with them. So I distanced myself from the original intention with the sole purpose of better developing my characters and the film's conflict and the idea arose of telling the story of a dysfunctional family's attempt to repair the ties that bind them, just before being separated for good. Not only are they forced to confront the feelings of others, but, more challenging still, they discover feelings they never knew existed, or never suspected they harbored. "
Burning Blue: Spearheading the Internationalization of Colombian Cinema
After participating in the 65th Berlin Film Festival's Forum less than two months ago with Jorge Forero's film "Violence," Burning Blue is proud to announces the inclusion of "La Tierra y la Sombra" in the Cannes Festival's Critics' Week. This selection confirms Burning Blue's role as key Colombian representative in major film events around the world.
Burning Blue's efforts to produce daring films focusing on the value and power of stories, and construction of self-sustaining formats to achieve significant results internationally, allowing Colombian films to be seen worldwide, are examples of the creativity and innovation in Latin America productions and prove that Burning Blue has succeeded in asserting itself in a depressed market with a new vision that provides transcendent stories.
The successful start-up of a co-production model allowing films to work with partners in France, Germany, Poland and Holland –not to mention Latin America, where they have co-produced with Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Peru and Brazil; the presence of the company's films in more than 200 festivals, with commercial releases in countries like the Us, Greece, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Eastern Europe, and several African nations (as well as co-producing countries); an the company's presence at the Cannes Film Festival in four consecutive years (co-producers of Argentine director Diego Lerman's "Refugiado" in 2014; co-producers of Oscar Ruíz Navia's short film "Solecito" at the 2013 Director's Fortnight; and producers of William Vega's "La Sirga" and Juan Andrés Arango's "La Playa D.C." included in the 2012 Director's Fortnight and Certain Regard sections, respectively) make Burning Blue Colombia's most visible presence on the global film market.
Although Burning Blue has achieved major recognition for its films on the international market, the company aspires, above all, to participate in the creation of films by and for Colombians and, in even more romantically ambitious terms, the creation of Latin American cinema for the Latin American subcontinent. The stories told, therefore, speak profoundly of the continent's many different peoples and uncover the traditions, imagery, dreams, desires, fears and problems facing these richly diverse, passionate, and complex cultures. To this end, Burning Blue hopes to harness the favorable international attention garnered to date to continually ignite local interest, using international platforms as a springboard to its natural audience: Colombia.
Burning Blue, led by Diana Bustamante, Jorge Forero and Paola Pérez Nieto, is currently developing the feature films "Asilo" (Jaime Osorio Márquez), in co-production with Rhayuela Cine, "Desobsesión" (Jorge Navas), and the co-production "Niño Nadie" (Fernando Guzzoni), produced for Chile's Rampante Films.
Diana Bustamante produced Ciro Guerra's "Los Viajes del Viento" (included in the 2009 Cannes Festival's Certain Regard section) and Oscar Ruiz Navia's "El vuelco del cangrejo" (2009 Toronto Film Festival premiere and Fripresci Award at the 2010 Berlinale Festival and Forum). She also designed and managed Caracol Television's film department from 2008 to 2012, taking more than 20 Colombian feature films from the financing to final promotion stages. She recently became the artistic director of the Cartagena International Film Festival (Ficci), contributing to the success of the festival's 55th edition last March, and is currently working on the 2016 festival.
"La Tierra y la Sombra" - Nothing But Success
The process of creating and financing "La Tierra y la Sombra" allowed the film to mature with assistance from specialists, tutors, and evaluation committees at a number of national and international institutions and festivals, each of them helping to move the film towards its world premiere at the upcoming Cannes Festival.
During the project's development stage it won a development grant from Colombia's Film Development Fund in 2009 and was selected the following year to participate in the Pitch Workshop at Colombia's Cali Film Festival. The project also took part in the Ibero-American Films Crossing Borders event at the 2010 Havana Film Festival and the 2012 Ibero-American Co-Production Meeting at the Huelva Film Festival in Spain.
It was, however, in 2013 that the project became a reality, winning at the Cartagena International Film Festival's Co-Production Meeting, which made it possible to attend the Cannes Marché Du Film. The film went on to win a Casa de las Américas Film Project Development grant from the Carolina Foundation and a production grant from Colombia's Film Development Fund. Also in 2013, the Hubert Bals Fund awarded the project a development grant and the San Sebastian Film Festival selected it for the Co-Production Forum.
The final push came in 2014 when the project was invited to participate in Boost! at the Rotterdam Film Festival in Holland and received production grants from both the Ibermedia and Hubert Bals Funds. Shooting took place in late 2014 with post-production following in early 2015 and, finally, the film's submission, in the company of another 1,100 feature films, to the Cannes Festival.
- 4/27/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Cannes's 6th Cinefondation Atelier has a lineup of directors which this year includes more known auteurs than previously. It has also joined with Mexico's Expresion den Corto for a summer residence program in Guanajuato, Mexico. Both programs include a dozen of the best young filmmakers in the world, offering them a platform designed to propel their careers with master's classes, workshops and meetings with public and private organizaitons to help obtain financing for their film projects.
The Cannes lineup of 15 films this year includes 4 films by first time directors one of whom is a woman and 2 Latino filmmakers.
Debuting directors:
Taiwan based former actress Show-Chun Lee from France, a protege of Claude Miller with Shanghai-Belleville
Karoly Ujj Meszaros from Hungary with Liza, the Fox-Fairy, a comedic serial killer nurse romp
Diego Quemada-Diez from Mexico with La Jaula de oro
Ruben Sierra Salles from Venezuela with Lucia
A third Latino filmmaker...
The Cannes lineup of 15 films this year includes 4 films by first time directors one of whom is a woman and 2 Latino filmmakers.
Debuting directors:
Taiwan based former actress Show-Chun Lee from France, a protege of Claude Miller with Shanghai-Belleville
Karoly Ujj Meszaros from Hungary with Liza, the Fox-Fairy, a comedic serial killer nurse romp
Diego Quemada-Diez from Mexico with La Jaula de oro
Ruben Sierra Salles from Venezuela with Lucia
A third Latino filmmaker...
- 4/15/2010
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Before going into my Women Directors Tracking which I have vowed to continue until women reach a parity with men in the film business and Latino Directors groove, I want to thank Howard Feinstein for watching the most obscure films of Rotterdam to find the jewels! Scratching Below the Surface for Some Rotterdam Fest Gems - indieWIRE. Kudos! I wish I could have seen these!
Howard spotted this one: "A young woman named Rusudan Pirveli brought to the 'Bright Future' section Susa, another story of hard financial times. 'The Lost Generation' is represented here by the absent father of an adolescent boy, who, working for his mother, sells bootleg vodka in bottles. Sadly, he lives under the delusion that dad’s return would ease his and his mom’s hardship. Like Koguashvili, Pirveli eschews unnecessary authorial intervention: Both directors understand all too well that they are living amidst powerful,...
Howard spotted this one: "A young woman named Rusudan Pirveli brought to the 'Bright Future' section Susa, another story of hard financial times. 'The Lost Generation' is represented here by the absent father of an adolescent boy, who, working for his mother, sells bootleg vodka in bottles. Sadly, he lives under the delusion that dad’s return would ease his and his mom’s hardship. Like Koguashvili, Pirveli eschews unnecessary authorial intervention: Both directors understand all too well that they are living amidst powerful,...
- 2/10/2010
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
There is more here than meets the eye, mainly because the festival organization is so loose that events are not announced, nor are films announced until the day before they show and nobody goes out of his or her way to be especially helpful. It helps somewhat to speak Spanish, but even the Cubans are at sea when it comes to knowing what is going on.
Winners were announced today. The Coral Award for best picture went to Peru's submission for Best Foreign Language Oscar Nomination, La Teta Asustada aka The Milk of Sorrow which premiered in Berlin, special mention and best of Caribean animation went to stop-motion 20 Anos. Association of Cuban cinematographers' prize went to El Secreto de sus Ojos Argentina's submission to the Academy and a Sony Pictures Classics pickup. The prize for the best of revolutionary culture went to La Perdida a Spanish Argentian documentary which premiered in San Sebastian,...
Winners were announced today. The Coral Award for best picture went to Peru's submission for Best Foreign Language Oscar Nomination, La Teta Asustada aka The Milk of Sorrow which premiered in Berlin, special mention and best of Caribean animation went to stop-motion 20 Anos. Association of Cuban cinematographers' prize went to El Secreto de sus Ojos Argentina's submission to the Academy and a Sony Pictures Classics pickup. The prize for the best of revolutionary culture went to La Perdida a Spanish Argentian documentary which premiered in San Sebastian,...
- 12/14/2009
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Film Movement has acquired North American rights to Ciro Guerra's Spanish-language drama "The Wind Journeys," which follows an older musician and his young acolyte through the Colombian countryside.
"Journeys" is Colombia's official submission in the foreign-language film Oscar race.
A spring theatrical release is planned, followed by a DVD and VOD release in the summer.
The acquisition was negotiated by Film Movement president Adley Gartenstein and vp of acquisitions and distribution Rebeca Conget and Elle Driver's Eva Diederix and Adeline Fontan Tessaur.
"Journeys" is Colombia's official submission in the foreign-language film Oscar race.
A spring theatrical release is planned, followed by a DVD and VOD release in the summer.
The acquisition was negotiated by Film Movement president Adley Gartenstein and vp of acquisitions and distribution Rebeca Conget and Elle Driver's Eva Diederix and Adeline Fontan Tessaur.
- 10/28/2009
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hnr's Michael Stevens reporting from Toronto: Thanks go out to Martin & Ingrid's Tiff 09 Kick-Off Party, Wednesday, September 9th @ the Gat + M.Link Festival headquarters in downtown Toronto's Yorkville, providing select wines from Bryan J. Robertson's Kingsway Brokerage Ltd., on behalf of Wild Bunch, Elle Driver, Celluloid Dreams, Film&Doc, Capri Films, The Works International & UMedia, supporting the following films screening at this year's Toronto International Film Festival: Contemporary Cinema : Rabia directed by Sebastian Cordero, will screen a world premiere with Cordero in attendance. "...South American immigrants working in Spain, builder José María and housekeeper Rosa have been together for a few weeks and are very much in love. Rosa's bosses, Señor and Señora Torres, leave their home on a trip, and the volatile José María spends a few days at the run-down mansion, fantasizing about what life with Rosa could be. When a violent confrontation with his foreman results in the other man's death,...
- 9/9/2009
- HollywoodNorthReport.com
Los viajes del viente, the second film (after La sombra del caminante), of Ciro Guerra is one to see in Cannes. There is no attached international sales agent nor is any distribution deal set as yet. A musician travels a great distance throughout Colombia to return an instrument to his elderly teacher. It is one of two coproductions by Berlin based producer Razor Film which will be screening in the Official Cannes Film Festival sidebar Un Certain Regard.
Los viajes del viente Official site shows its prizes, awards and showings:
Selection for L'Atelier (Ace), Cannes Int'l Film's A Certain Regard
World Cinema Fund, Berlin Int'l Film Festival
Hubert Bals Fund, Rotterdam Int'l Film Festival
Latino Screenwriters Award, Festival de Cine Latino de Los Angeles
Programa Ibermedia
Fondo para el Desarrollo Cinematográfico (Fund for developing filmmakers)...
Los viajes del viente Official site shows its prizes, awards and showings:
Selection for L'Atelier (Ace), Cannes Int'l Film's A Certain Regard
World Cinema Fund, Berlin Int'l Film Festival
Hubert Bals Fund, Rotterdam Int'l Film Festival
Latino Screenwriters Award, Festival de Cine Latino de Los Angeles
Programa Ibermedia
Fondo para el Desarrollo Cinematográfico (Fund for developing filmmakers)...
- 5/9/2009
- by Sydney@SydneysBuzz.com (Sydney)
- Sydney's Buzz
Germany seems to already be the winner for having the most coproductions represented in the Cannes Film Festival and its sidebars.
The Berlin production company X-Filme Creative Pool has Competition film The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band) by the Munich-born director Michael Haneke (a German-Austrian-French-Italian coproduction).
Zehnte Babelsberg Film, a division of Studio Babelsberg AG, is the German producer of the competition entry from Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (a US-German coproduction).
Also screening in this year's Competition is Lars von Trier's Antichrist (a Danish-German-French-Swedish-Italian coproduction). The film's German co-producer is Zentropa International, with Heimatfilm as service producer.
The Israeli-French-German coproduction Jaffa by Keren Yedaya will be shown in the Official Program's Special Screenings . The German producer is Rohfilm.
The co-production Eyes Wide Open by Haim Tabakman (Israeli-German-French) will be presented in the Official Program's Un Certain Regard . Riva Film is the German co-producer of the film.
Independencia by Raya Martin (a French-German-Philippine coproduction) and The Wind Journeys (Los Viajes del Viento) by Ciro Guerra (a Colombia-German-Dutch coproduction) can also be seen in this section, both co-produced by Germany's Razor Film Produktion.
27 Films Production, is the German producer of Un Certain Regard entry, Le pere de mes enfants, by Mia Hansen-Løve (a French-German coproduction).
The Critics’ Week will be presenting Cologne-based Pandora Film's co-production Huacho by Alejandro Fernández Almendras (a French-Chilean-German coproduction).
Altiplano, the first breakout film of Helen Loveridge's new international sales agency Meridiana by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth (a Belgian-German-Dutch coproduction), co-produced by ma.ja.de fiction, will also be screened in The Critics' Week.
Another co-production in the Critics’ Week is Lost Persons Area by Caroline Strubbe (a Belgian-Dutch-Hungarian-German coproduction), ZDF/Arte and Network Movie are the German partners.
Also screening in this section is the short Together by Eicke Bettinga (a German-UK coproduction), Piggott-Bettinga Filmproduktion.
This year will also see the Critics’ Week presenting the results of the workshop for European filmmakers CINETRAIN. Filmmakers from different countries worked together on six shorts on a specific subject. Florian Krebs from Germany is one of the three directors of the short McRussia.
The Directors’ Fortnight is showing the Israeli-German coproduction Ajami by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani. German coproducer is Berlin based Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion.
The Berlin production company X-Filme Creative Pool has Competition film The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band) by the Munich-born director Michael Haneke (a German-Austrian-French-Italian coproduction).
Zehnte Babelsberg Film, a division of Studio Babelsberg AG, is the German producer of the competition entry from Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (a US-German coproduction).
Also screening in this year's Competition is Lars von Trier's Antichrist (a Danish-German-French-Swedish-Italian coproduction). The film's German co-producer is Zentropa International, with Heimatfilm as service producer.
The Israeli-French-German coproduction Jaffa by Keren Yedaya will be shown in the Official Program's Special Screenings . The German producer is Rohfilm.
The co-production Eyes Wide Open by Haim Tabakman (Israeli-German-French) will be presented in the Official Program's Un Certain Regard . Riva Film is the German co-producer of the film.
Independencia by Raya Martin (a French-German-Philippine coproduction) and The Wind Journeys (Los Viajes del Viento) by Ciro Guerra (a Colombia-German-Dutch coproduction) can also be seen in this section, both co-produced by Germany's Razor Film Produktion.
27 Films Production, is the German producer of Un Certain Regard entry, Le pere de mes enfants, by Mia Hansen-Løve (a French-German coproduction).
The Critics’ Week will be presenting Cologne-based Pandora Film's co-production Huacho by Alejandro Fernández Almendras (a French-Chilean-German coproduction).
Altiplano, the first breakout film of Helen Loveridge's new international sales agency Meridiana by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth (a Belgian-German-Dutch coproduction), co-produced by ma.ja.de fiction, will also be screened in The Critics' Week.
Another co-production in the Critics’ Week is Lost Persons Area by Caroline Strubbe (a Belgian-Dutch-Hungarian-German coproduction), ZDF/Arte and Network Movie are the German partners.
Also screening in this section is the short Together by Eicke Bettinga (a German-UK coproduction), Piggott-Bettinga Filmproduktion.
This year will also see the Critics’ Week presenting the results of the workshop for European filmmakers CINETRAIN. Filmmakers from different countries worked together on six shorts on a specific subject. Florian Krebs from Germany is one of the three directors of the short McRussia.
The Directors’ Fortnight is showing the Israeli-German coproduction Ajami by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani. German coproducer is Berlin based Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion.
- 5/7/2009
- Sydney's Buzz
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.