New horror movies are headed to Shudder next month, including horror anthology Satanic Hispanics and tense Australian horror movie You’ll Never Find Me. And that doesn’t even touch on the repertory additions, including rare ’90s gem Ghostwatch.
Look for Satanic Hispanics to arrive on Shudder on March 8. The horror movie assembles five tales of terror from Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider), Alejandro Brugués (Juan of the Dead), Gigi Saul Guerrero (Culture Shock), Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project), and Demian Rugna (When Evil Lurks, Terrified) unite in the first all-Latino horror anthology.
An isolated man living at the back of a desolate caravan park is visited by a desperate young woman seeking shelter from a violent storm in You’ll Never Find Me. As the savage storm worsens, these solitary souls begin to feel threatened – but who should really be afraid? Find out on March 22.
Shudder Original Special The Last...
Look for Satanic Hispanics to arrive on Shudder on March 8. The horror movie assembles five tales of terror from Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider), Alejandro Brugués (Juan of the Dead), Gigi Saul Guerrero (Culture Shock), Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project), and Demian Rugna (When Evil Lurks, Terrified) unite in the first all-Latino horror anthology.
An isolated man living at the back of a desolate caravan park is visited by a desperate young woman seeking shelter from a violent storm in You’ll Never Find Me. As the savage storm worsens, these solitary souls begin to feel threatened – but who should really be afraid? Find out on March 22.
Shudder Original Special The Last...
- 2/20/2024
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
The Dominican Republic’s Bou Group is in production on its latest pic under its unprecedented multi-year distribution deal with The Walt Disney Company, “Cazatesoros.”
According to the adventure caper’s director, Héctor Manuel Valdez, who co-founded Bou Group with José Ramón Alamá and Vicente Alamá, the pact with Disney came about following several years as regional box office leaders. “They contacted us in 2020 after our company had previously produced commercial successes such as ‘Todos los hombres son iguales,’ ‘Colao,’ ‘Trabajo sucio’ and ‘Que león,’ (the highest-grossing film in the history of the Dominican Republic), among others,” said Valdez.
Like most of the producers in the country, Bou Group finances its films by tapping into Article 34 of the Dominican Republic’s tax incentives, which allows companies in the Dr to allocate 25% of their projected taxes towards local production.
As a result of this partnership with Disney, Bou Group’s “El...
According to the adventure caper’s director, Héctor Manuel Valdez, who co-founded Bou Group with José Ramón Alamá and Vicente Alamá, the pact with Disney came about following several years as regional box office leaders. “They contacted us in 2020 after our company had previously produced commercial successes such as ‘Todos los hombres son iguales,’ ‘Colao,’ ‘Trabajo sucio’ and ‘Que león,’ (the highest-grossing film in the history of the Dominican Republic), among others,” said Valdez.
Like most of the producers in the country, Bou Group finances its films by tapping into Article 34 of the Dominican Republic’s tax incentives, which allows companies in the Dr to allocate 25% of their projected taxes towards local production.
As a result of this partnership with Disney, Bou Group’s “El...
- 11/21/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
An event 16 years in the making, Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving finally becomes a real movie this week, but it’s not the only new horror movie keeping us company on the road to Thanksgiving.
Here’s all the new horror releasing November 14 – November 19, 2023!
For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.
Just when you marked yourself safe from the Sharknado film franchise, Uncork’d Entertainment has now unleashed a storm of their own with Monsternado this week.
Monsternado, which fills a tornado with All of the scariest creatures, is now available on Digital platforms. And yes, it’s a real movie. You can watch the trailer down below.
“A tornado, infested with prehistoric monsters, has formed in the Bermuda Triangle, and is making its way towards land. Megalodon, Pterodactyls, Giant Octopuses, Crocodiles, and more attack – now the city must fight to survive against these deadly creatures.”
“Another fantastic film from Tyler James,...
Here’s all the new horror releasing November 14 – November 19, 2023!
For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.
Just when you marked yourself safe from the Sharknado film franchise, Uncork’d Entertainment has now unleashed a storm of their own with Monsternado this week.
Monsternado, which fills a tornado with All of the scariest creatures, is now available on Digital platforms. And yes, it’s a real movie. You can watch the trailer down below.
“A tornado, infested with prehistoric monsters, has formed in the Bermuda Triangle, and is making its way towards land. Megalodon, Pterodactyls, Giant Octopuses, Crocodiles, and more attack – now the city must fight to survive against these deadly creatures.”
“Another fantastic film from Tyler James,...
- 11/14/2023
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
What do you get when you bring five of the most talented Hispanic genre filmmakers in the indie space together on a horrorific anthology project? A whole lot of bloody fun, and that’s exactly what Satanic Hispanics delivers. Four very different spooky stories connected by a fun wraparound from a variety of voices explore the diversity of the Latin American horror scene, from Argentina to Cuba to Mexico to Los Angeles, it’s a smorgasbord of guts and gore – and more than a few laughs – sure to entertain genre fans no matter where their preferences lay. The project, a brainchild of Mike Mendez and Alejandro Brugués,...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 9/14/2023
- Screen Anarchy
Horror anthology Satanic Hispanics assembles five Latin American horror filmmakers to celebrate Hispanic talent in front of and behind the camera, curating tales that spotlight Hispanic myths and legends. Uniting four tales of terror is Satanic Hispanics‘ wraparound from producer/director Mike Mendez.
In Mendez’s wraparound, a police raid uncovers a grisly crime scene full of dead bodies. They take the sole survivor, a man that refers to himself as “The Traveler” (Efren Ramirez), into custody for answers. The Traveler attempts to explain the bizarre events that led up to his capture to skeptical detectives Gibbons (Sonya Eddy) and Arden (Greg Grunberg). He entertains them with four tales of supernatural encounters, hoping to persuade them to let him go.
Ahead of the film’s theatrical release on September 14 (tickets on sale now), Bloody Disgusting spoke with the filmmaker about the challenges of curating an anthology and helming a wraparound...
In Mendez’s wraparound, a police raid uncovers a grisly crime scene full of dead bodies. They take the sole survivor, a man that refers to himself as “The Traveler” (Efren Ramirez), into custody for answers. The Traveler attempts to explain the bizarre events that led up to his capture to skeptical detectives Gibbons (Sonya Eddy) and Arden (Greg Grunberg). He entertains them with four tales of supernatural encounters, hoping to persuade them to let him go.
Ahead of the film’s theatrical release on September 14 (tickets on sale now), Bloody Disgusting spoke with the filmmaker about the challenges of curating an anthology and helming a wraparound...
- 9/12/2023
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
Five Latino filmmakers have come together for the horror anthology Satanic Hispanics, releasing in theaters on Friday, September 14, 2023. Ahead of the release, Bloody Disgusting has been provided an exclusive clip introducing the anthology’s enigmatic storyteller.
In the film, “When police raid a house in El Paso, they find it full of dead Latinos, and only one survivor. He’s known as The Traveler, and when they take him to the station for questioning he tells them those lands are full of magic and talks about the horrors he’s encountered in his long time on this earth, about portals to other worlds, mythical creatures, demons and the undead. Stories about Latin American legends.”
Meet the Traveler, played by Efren Ramirez, in the clip below. Helmed by director Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider!), the Traveler is featured in the wraparound that connects four other tales of terror.
“From the jungles...
In the film, “When police raid a house in El Paso, they find it full of dead Latinos, and only one survivor. He’s known as The Traveler, and when they take him to the station for questioning he tells them those lands are full of magic and talks about the horrors he’s encountered in his long time on this earth, about portals to other worlds, mythical creatures, demons and the undead. Stories about Latin American legends.”
Meet the Traveler, played by Efren Ramirez, in the clip below. Helmed by director Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider!), the Traveler is featured in the wraparound that connects four other tales of terror.
“From the jungles...
- 9/11/2023
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
September heralds in the start of Halloween season, and that means it’s officially that time of year where streaming platforms go all in on horror. Whether you’re looking for brand new releases or an endless sea of horror options to pad out your Halloween watchlists, this month has it all. So, here’s a quick, handy guide for horror streaming in September 2023.
This month’s noteworthy streaming titles spotlight new exclusives, repertory offerings that’ll help you prepare for upcoming releases, and so much more.
Here are ten noteworthy horror titles available for streaming in September 2023 on some of the most popular streaming services, along with when/where you can watch them.
Crabs! – Screambox
A horde of mutant crustaceans descend on a small coastal town in this wacky horror comedy. There’s no pretense with Crabs!; it’s abundantly clear upfront exactly what type of movie it is...
This month’s noteworthy streaming titles spotlight new exclusives, repertory offerings that’ll help you prepare for upcoming releases, and so much more.
Here are ten noteworthy horror titles available for streaming in September 2023 on some of the most popular streaming services, along with when/where you can watch them.
Crabs! – Screambox
A horde of mutant crustaceans descend on a small coastal town in this wacky horror comedy. There’s no pretense with Crabs!; it’s abundantly clear upfront exactly what type of movie it is...
- 9/6/2023
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
A brand new “The Boys” spinoff series, the second season of “Wheel of Time” and football highlight a robust lineup of new movies and shows coming to Amazon Prime Video in September. “Gen V,” a spinoff of “The Boys” set at a college, premieres on Sept. 29, while new episodes of “The Wheel of Time” Season 2 are rolling out all month long after the season premiere on Sept. 1.
Thursday Night Football is streaming starting Sept. 14, and a whole host of library movies worth checking out – from “Four Weddings and a Funeral” to “Dracula” to “10 Things I Hate About You” – are now streaming.
There’s also the premiere of the original film “Cassandro” starring Gael Garcia Bernal as a gay wrestler, and the acclaimed drama “A Thousand and One” comes to Prime Video on Sept. 19.
Check out the full list of what’s new on Amazon Prime Video in September 2023 below.
Thursday Night Football is streaming starting Sept. 14, and a whole host of library movies worth checking out – from “Four Weddings and a Funeral” to “Dracula” to “10 Things I Hate About You” – are now streaming.
There’s also the premiere of the original film “Cassandro” starring Gael Garcia Bernal as a gay wrestler, and the acclaimed drama “A Thousand and One” comes to Prime Video on Sept. 19.
Check out the full list of what’s new on Amazon Prime Video in September 2023 below.
- 9/3/2023
- by Adam Chitwood
- The Wrap
Earlier this year, Dread and Iconic Events announced they are teaming up to give the horror anthology Satanic Hispanics a theatrical release on 800 screens in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It has since been confirmed that the specific release date is September 14th – and with that date just a month away, the full trailer for Satanic Hispanics has arrived online! You can check it out in the embed above.
The film consists of segments that were directed by five different Latin filmmakers: Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider!), Alejandro Brugués (Juan of the Dead), Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project), Demián Rugna (Terrified), and Gigi Saul Guerrero (Into the Dark: Culture Shock). The stories were written by Alejandro Mendez, Demian Rugna, Adam Cesare, and Lino K. Villa. It all begins when police raid a house in El Paso, full of dead Latinos, and with only one survivor: The Traveler. When...
The film consists of segments that were directed by five different Latin filmmakers: Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider!), Alejandro Brugués (Juan of the Dead), Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project), Demián Rugna (Terrified), and Gigi Saul Guerrero (Into the Dark: Culture Shock). The stories were written by Alejandro Mendez, Demian Rugna, Adam Cesare, and Lino K. Villa. It all begins when police raid a house in El Paso, full of dead Latinos, and with only one survivor: The Traveler. When...
- 8/2/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
A teaser trailer for the horror anthology Satanic Hispanics arrived online last September, and now Deadline has broken the news that horror fans will have the chance to see Satanic Hispanics on the big screen in North America this September! Dread and Iconic Events are teaming up to give the film a theatrical release on 800 screens in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
The film consists of segments that were directed by five different Latin filmmakers: Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider!), Alejandro Brugués (Juan of the Dead), Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project), Demián Rugna (Terrified), and Gigi Saul Guerrero (Into the Dark: Culture Shock). The stories were written by Alejandro Mendez, Demian Rugna, Adam Cesare, and Lino K. Villa. It all begins when police raid a house in El Paso, full of dead Latinos, and with only one survivor: The Traveler. When the cops him to the station for questioning,...
The film consists of segments that were directed by five different Latin filmmakers: Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider!), Alejandro Brugués (Juan of the Dead), Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project), Demián Rugna (Terrified), and Gigi Saul Guerrero (Into the Dark: Culture Shock). The stories were written by Alejandro Mendez, Demian Rugna, Adam Cesare, and Lino K. Villa. It all begins when police raid a house in El Paso, full of dead Latinos, and with only one survivor: The Traveler. When the cops him to the station for questioning,...
- 2/16/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
A day behind on this news but also too important not to share, the Latin American horror anthology Satanic Hispanics is coming to over eight hundred screens across North America. The real North America- Canada, U.S. and Mexico - not 'Only the U.S. North America' you typically find a lot of distributors really mean. Satanic Hispanics is the horror anthology made up of five segments directed by LatAm filmmakers Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead), Gigi Saul Guerrero (Bingo Hell), Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider!), Demián Rugna (Terrified), and Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project). It had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest, played a couple more stops then went into holding until yesterday's announcement. The release is courtesy of the folks at...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 2/16/2023
- Screen Anarchy
"The Last of Us" is a bit of a deceiving game. At first glance, there doesn't seem to be any immediate thing that separates this from, well, any of the other dozens of zombie shows and movies from the past few decades. This is no groundbreaking mix of genres like "Juan of the Dead," or "Shaun of the Dead," or even an inventive romp like the zombie musicals "Anna and the Apocalypse" and "The Happiness of the Katakuris." The game doesn't necessarily add something drastically new to the mythology of the zombie like the fast zombies in "28 Days Later" or giant mutant ones from "Resident Evil."
And yet, the games, and now the HBO adaptation, take what you know about the zombie genre and make small but significant changes that quickly add up to a very special and unique story. "The Last of Us" is more than a story about surviving the apocalypse,...
And yet, the games, and now the HBO adaptation, take what you know about the zombie genre and make small but significant changes that quickly add up to a very special and unique story. "The Last of Us" is more than a story about surviving the apocalypse,...
- 2/11/2023
- by Rafael Motamayor
- Slash Film
A trailer has arrived online for Satanic Hispanics, a horror anthology that’s set to have its world premiere at Fantastic Fest later this month. The film consists of segments that were directed by five different Latin filmmakers: Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider!), Alejandro Brugués (Juan of the Dead), Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project), Demián Rugna (Terrified), and Gigi Saul Guerrero (Into the Dark: Culture Shock).
Coming to us from Epic Pictures and Dread, Satanic Hispanics was written by Alejandro Mendez, Demian Rugna, Adam Cesare, and Lino K. Villa. The film begins when
police raid a house in El Paso, full of dead Latinos, and with only one survivor: The Traveler. When the cops him to the station for questioning, he tells them about the horrors he’s encountered in his long time on this earth.
Efren Ramirez, Greg Grunberg, Jonah Ray Rodrigues, Jacob Vargas, Hemky Madera, Patricia Velasquez,...
Coming to us from Epic Pictures and Dread, Satanic Hispanics was written by Alejandro Mendez, Demian Rugna, Adam Cesare, and Lino K. Villa. The film begins when
police raid a house in El Paso, full of dead Latinos, and with only one survivor: The Traveler. When the cops him to the station for questioning, he tells them about the horrors he’s encountered in his long time on this earth.
Efren Ramirez, Greg Grunberg, Jonah Ray Rodrigues, Jacob Vargas, Hemky Madera, Patricia Velasquez,...
- 9/16/2022
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Five Latino filmmakers have come together for the upcoming horror anthology Satanic Hispanics, which not only has one hell of a title but it also comes with Five new horror stories.
The filmmakers, you ask? The list includes Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider), Alejandro Brugués (Juan of the Dead), Gigi Saul Guerrero (Culture Shock), Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project), and Demian Rugna (Terrified), which makes for a killer horror anthology lineup.
“In the film, police raid a house in El Paso, full of dead Latinos, and with only one survivor: The Traveler. When the cops him to the station for questioning, he tells them about the horrors he’s encountered in his long time on this earth.”
Learn more and watch the trailer over on Entertainment Weekly!
Satanic Hispanics will World Premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas.
Efren Ramirez, Greg Grunberg, Jonah Ray Rodrigues, Jacob Vargas, Hemky Madera,...
The filmmakers, you ask? The list includes Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider), Alejandro Brugués (Juan of the Dead), Gigi Saul Guerrero (Culture Shock), Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project), and Demian Rugna (Terrified), which makes for a killer horror anthology lineup.
“In the film, police raid a house in El Paso, full of dead Latinos, and with only one survivor: The Traveler. When the cops him to the station for questioning, he tells them about the horrors he’s encountered in his long time on this earth.”
Learn more and watch the trailer over on Entertainment Weekly!
Satanic Hispanics will World Premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas.
Efren Ramirez, Greg Grunberg, Jonah Ray Rodrigues, Jacob Vargas, Hemky Madera,...
- 9/15/2022
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
In a bid to support the fast-growing Latin American genre market, an inaugural residency for screenwriters, Residencia Fantástica, will take place in Jalisco, Mexico from Oct. 17 to 21.
The first of its kind in Latin America, the genre residency is an initiative of Agavia Studios, Buenos Aires-based industry market Ventana Sur and its genre platform, Blood Window, Cannes’s Marché du Film as well as the Jalisco state film commission, Filma Jalisco.
Program aims to help writers of fantasy/horror content to elevate their projects, providing training, advice and reviews. The objective is to generate a meeting space that motivates the exchange of creative, professional and strategic experiences.
The residency is part of the Tinta Oscura contest, which received a total of 262 scripts from 13 countries. An international jury made up of prominent members of the film industry, Blood Window and Agavia Studios, will select a winner out of five completed scripts...
The first of its kind in Latin America, the genre residency is an initiative of Agavia Studios, Buenos Aires-based industry market Ventana Sur and its genre platform, Blood Window, Cannes’s Marché du Film as well as the Jalisco state film commission, Filma Jalisco.
Program aims to help writers of fantasy/horror content to elevate their projects, providing training, advice and reviews. The objective is to generate a meeting space that motivates the exchange of creative, professional and strategic experiences.
The residency is part of the Tinta Oscura contest, which received a total of 262 scripts from 13 countries. An international jury made up of prominent members of the film industry, Blood Window and Agavia Studios, will select a winner out of five completed scripts...
- 9/8/2022
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Prime Video has no shortage of shows or movies arriving in September. The biggest new show on the block for Amazon Studios is “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” which is a prequel based on the work of J.R.R. Tolkien that’s set thousands of years before the events of “The Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings.” Several new 2022 films will be available on the streamer as well: including Channing Tatum’s “Dog,” Michael Bay’s “Ambulance,” Zac Efron’s “Firestarter,” Dylan O’Brien’s “The Outfit,” and more.
Noteworthy library titles arriving this month include “Fight Club” (1999), “Legally Blonde” (2001) and “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991).
Here’s everything new on Amazon Prime Video and Freevee in September.
Also Read:
Here’s What’s Leaving Netflix in September 2022 September 1
American Ninja Warriors S12-13 (2022)
Friday Night Lights S1-5 (2007)
Texicanas (2019)
Wags Miami S1-2 (2022)
21 Grams (2004)
23:59 (2011)
A Family Thing...
Noteworthy library titles arriving this month include “Fight Club” (1999), “Legally Blonde” (2001) and “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991).
Here’s everything new on Amazon Prime Video and Freevee in September.
Also Read:
Here’s What’s Leaving Netflix in September 2022 September 1
American Ninja Warriors S12-13 (2022)
Friday Night Lights S1-5 (2007)
Texicanas (2019)
Wags Miami S1-2 (2022)
21 Grams (2004)
23:59 (2011)
A Family Thing...
- 9/2/2022
- by Dessi Gomez
- The Wrap
With its list of new releases for September 2022, Prime Video is finally unveiling the most anticipated (and expensive) series in the streamer’s history.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will arrive to Prime Video’s servers on Sept. 2, 2022. This Lord of the Rings prequel, set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Second Age, is in many ways the kind of TV property that Prime Video must have always wanted. It’s certainly the TV property most fitting with the company’s largesse and riches. The Rings of Power will cover the creation of the titular rings and many important events from Tolkien’s lore (condensed into a more TV-appropriate timeframe).
Middle-earth is going to be the happening spot on Amazon and the streaming world at large this month, but Prime Video does have a handful of other originals for the fantasy-phobic. Flight/Risk, a documentary about the Boeing 737 Max design disasters,...
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will arrive to Prime Video’s servers on Sept. 2, 2022. This Lord of the Rings prequel, set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Second Age, is in many ways the kind of TV property that Prime Video must have always wanted. It’s certainly the TV property most fitting with the company’s largesse and riches. The Rings of Power will cover the creation of the titular rings and many important events from Tolkien’s lore (condensed into a more TV-appropriate timeframe).
Middle-earth is going to be the happening spot on Amazon and the streaming world at large this month, but Prime Video does have a handful of other originals for the fantasy-phobic. Flight/Risk, a documentary about the Boeing 737 Max design disasters,...
- 9/1/2022
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
The Fangoria Chainsaw Awards Return to Shudder Sunday, May 15: "Fangoria, Fangoria Studios and Shudder announced today that the 2022 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards will premiere on Sunday, May 15th at 7pm Et, exclusively on Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thrillers, and the supernatural.
The ceremony, which recognizes outstanding achievements in horror film and television, will once again be hosted by actor and writer David Dastmalchian, and will feature Dee Wallace, Joe Lo Truglio, Joe Dante, Tracie Thoms, Jim Cummings, Rachel True and the directing team known as Radio Silence among its presenters. (See below for the full presenters list.) This year’s nominees include Candyman, Last Night in Soho, Titane, Chucky, and Midnight Mass. The special is produced by Armen Aghaeian, produced and directed by Ama Lea, and written by Michael Varrati. Executive Producers are Tara Ansley, Abhi Goel, and Phil Nobile Jr.
“Last year’s Chainsaw Awards...
The ceremony, which recognizes outstanding achievements in horror film and television, will once again be hosted by actor and writer David Dastmalchian, and will feature Dee Wallace, Joe Lo Truglio, Joe Dante, Tracie Thoms, Jim Cummings, Rachel True and the directing team known as Radio Silence among its presenters. (See below for the full presenters list.) This year’s nominees include Candyman, Last Night in Soho, Titane, Chucky, and Midnight Mass. The special is produced by Armen Aghaeian, produced and directed by Ama Lea, and written by Michael Varrati. Executive Producers are Tara Ansley, Abhi Goel, and Phil Nobile Jr.
“Last year’s Chainsaw Awards...
- 4/20/2022
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Alejandro Brugués, director of the awesome Juan of the Dead and the best segment in the Nightmare Cinema anthology, is putting everything on the line in The Inheritance, a new horror from Netflix. The Inheritance sounds absolutely crazy… “On the eve of his 75th birthday, billionaire Charles Abernathy invites his four estranged children back home […]
The post ‘The Inheritance’: Netflix Must Survive the Night With ‘Juan of the Dead’ Director Alejandro Brugués! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
The post ‘The Inheritance’: Netflix Must Survive the Night With ‘Juan of the Dead’ Director Alejandro Brugués! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
- 2/3/2022
- by Brad Miska
- bloody-disgusting.com
Exclusive: We hear that Sony has picked up the Gabino Iglesias novel The Devil Takes You Home in a competitive situation, a project that Cuban filmmaker Alejandro Brugués will adapt and direct. Brugués is a director on El Rey’s From Dusk Till Dawn series and recently helmed the thriller The Last Will and Testament of Charles Abernathy starring Peyton List, Rachel Nichols and Austin Stowell.
While the project and its storyline are still in early development, the Iglesias novel follows Mario who has but no choice, but to be a hitman to cover his family’s bills, especially his daughter’s medical tab. He’s presented with an offer: One last score that will either pull him out of poverty forever or put a bullet in the back of his skull. A man named Juanca needs help stealing $2 million dollars from a drug cartel. Together, they begin a journey...
While the project and its storyline are still in early development, the Iglesias novel follows Mario who has but no choice, but to be a hitman to cover his family’s bills, especially his daughter’s medical tab. He’s presented with an offer: One last score that will either pull him out of poverty forever or put a bullet in the back of his skull. A man named Juanca needs help stealing $2 million dollars from a drug cartel. Together, they begin a journey...
- 12/16/2021
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Argentinian filmmaker Alejandro Brugués is attached to direct the Netflix horror film The Last Will and Testament of Charles Abernathy. It’s based on Chris Lamont and Joe Russo’s original screenplay that was featured on the 2018 BloodList and sold to the streamer.
Paul Schiff, who collaborated with Netflix on the Sam Worthington-starring thriller Fractured, is producing the pic for Paul Schiff Productions.
The story follows billionaire Charles Abernathy who, on the eve of his 75th birthday, invites his four estranged children back home out of fear that tonight someone – or something – is coming to kill him. To ensure his family will help protect him from whatever’s coming, Abernathy puts each of their inheritances on the line – they’ll get nothing if he’s found dead by dawn.
Dan Clarke will serve as executive producer.
Brugués directed the 2012 movie Juan of the Dead; 2018’s Nightmare Cinema, on which...
Paul Schiff, who collaborated with Netflix on the Sam Worthington-starring thriller Fractured, is producing the pic for Paul Schiff Productions.
The story follows billionaire Charles Abernathy who, on the eve of his 75th birthday, invites his four estranged children back home out of fear that tonight someone – or something – is coming to kill him. To ensure his family will help protect him from whatever’s coming, Abernathy puts each of their inheritances on the line – they’ll get nothing if he’s found dead by dawn.
Dan Clarke will serve as executive producer.
Brugués directed the 2012 movie Juan of the Dead; 2018’s Nightmare Cinema, on which...
- 4/21/2021
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Quibi, the Jeffrey Katzenberg-backed 2020-launching streaming platform designed for short-form stories, has announced a most intriguing offering amongst its deep backlog, a horror anthology series, titled 50 States of Fright, which has corralled quite the cast and crew, notably with genre legend Sam Raimi–the movie maestro of the Evil Dead cinematic and television franchise and crucial comic book cinema of the Spider-Man Trilogy–tapped to develop and even direct an entry.
Rachel Brosnahan, Travis Fimmel, Christina Ricci, Asa Butterfield, Jacob Batalon, Ming-Na Wen, Taissa Farmiga, John Marshall Jones and Ron Livingston are just some of the names lined up to fill 50 States of Fright’s anthology episodes. With the average runtime of approximately 10 minutes, each episode culls content from American urban legends and folklore.
50 States of Fright will manifest via Gunpowder & Sky’s horror brand, Alter, which will produce with Diga Studios and Pod 3.
50 States of Fright...
Rachel Brosnahan, Travis Fimmel, Christina Ricci, Asa Butterfield, Jacob Batalon, Ming-Na Wen, Taissa Farmiga, John Marshall Jones and Ron Livingston are just some of the names lined up to fill 50 States of Fright’s anthology episodes. With the average runtime of approximately 10 minutes, each episode culls content from American urban legends and folklore.
50 States of Fright will manifest via Gunpowder & Sky’s horror brand, Alter, which will produce with Diga Studios and Pod 3.
50 States of Fright...
- 4/3/2020
- by jbindeck2015
- Den of Geek
Berlin — Teaming two of the most energetic players on the new Spanish-language content scene, El Estudio and Infinity Hill are teaming to produce “Amor es Amor,” Rob Schneider’s Spanish-language movie debut as both an actor and director.
A comedy, “Amor es Amor” turns on Enrique Juarez, an up-and-coming Mexican telenovela actor on the verge of breakthrough as a leading man, who has to hide his true self in order to achieve stardom.
That includes creating a fake relationship with former pop sensation, Sofia. The mastermind behind the whole scheme is Julian Rodin (Schneider), a big TV network honcho, who is secretly having an affair with Sofia.
“Amor es amor” marks the latest turn in a career which saw Schneider debut in 1990 as a writer and soon after cast member on “SNL,” then break out out in movies in “Deuce Bigalow – Male Gigolo” in which he created one of his most famed characters,...
A comedy, “Amor es Amor” turns on Enrique Juarez, an up-and-coming Mexican telenovela actor on the verge of breakthrough as a leading man, who has to hide his true self in order to achieve stardom.
That includes creating a fake relationship with former pop sensation, Sofia. The mastermind behind the whole scheme is Julian Rodin (Schneider), a big TV network honcho, who is secretly having an affair with Sofia.
“Amor es amor” marks the latest turn in a career which saw Schneider debut in 1990 as a writer and soon after cast member on “SNL,” then break out out in movies in “Deuce Bigalow – Male Gigolo” in which he created one of his most famed characters,...
- 2/26/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Sony Pictures Intl. Prods. and El Estudio, a major new independent production player in the Spanish-speaking world, are teaming to produce a Mexican version of breakout Cuban feature “Juan of the Dead,” with Emilio Portés directing.
Chronicling a U.S. zombie invasion of Mexico, the remake marks one in a strong first slate of titles from El Estudio, launched at the Berlin Festival by three of the most connected producers in the Spanish-speaking world: Ex-Canana producer-partner Pablo Cruz, “The Impossible” producer Enrique López Lavigne and former Sony Pictures Intl. Prods. head Diego Suárez Chialvo.
Based out of Mexico, Los Angeles and Madrid, El Estudio has 63 projects in development or production. El Estudio is represented by CAA. Partners on early titles include Sony Pictures Intl. Prods., Netflix, HBO, Lionsgate, Viacom Intl. Pictures, Movistar Plus and Beta Film, El Estudio told Variety, announcing some of its 2020-21 projects:
“Verguenza” stars Mexico’s...
Chronicling a U.S. zombie invasion of Mexico, the remake marks one in a strong first slate of titles from El Estudio, launched at the Berlin Festival by three of the most connected producers in the Spanish-speaking world: Ex-Canana producer-partner Pablo Cruz, “The Impossible” producer Enrique López Lavigne and former Sony Pictures Intl. Prods. head Diego Suárez Chialvo.
Based out of Mexico, Los Angeles and Madrid, El Estudio has 63 projects in development or production. El Estudio is represented by CAA. Partners on early titles include Sony Pictures Intl. Prods., Netflix, HBO, Lionsgate, Viacom Intl. Pictures, Movistar Plus and Beta Film, El Estudio told Variety, announcing some of its 2020-21 projects:
“Verguenza” stars Mexico’s...
- 2/21/2020
- by John Hopewell and Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Joseph Baxter Michael Ahr Dec 18, 2019
50 States of Fright, an urban legends-based horror anthology series bound for Quibi, reveals an impressive cast roster.
Quibi, the Jeffrey Katzenberg-backed 2020-launching streaming platform designed for short-form stories, has announced a most intriguing offering amongst its 40-project-deep backlog, a horror anthology series, titled 50 States of Fright, which has corralled quite the cast and crew, notably with genre legend Sam Raimi – the movie maestro of the Evil Dead cinematic and television franchise and crucial comic book cinema of the Spider-Man Trilogy – tapped to develop and even direct an entry.
Rachel Brosnahan, Travis Fimmel, Christina Ricci, Asa Butterfield, Jacob Batalon, Ming-Na Wen, Taissa Farmiga, John Marshall Jones and Ron Livingston are just some of the names lined up to fill 50 States of Fright’s anthology episodes, which each culling content from American urban legends and folklore.
The official greenlight has been given for 50 States of Fright,...
50 States of Fright, an urban legends-based horror anthology series bound for Quibi, reveals an impressive cast roster.
Quibi, the Jeffrey Katzenberg-backed 2020-launching streaming platform designed for short-form stories, has announced a most intriguing offering amongst its 40-project-deep backlog, a horror anthology series, titled 50 States of Fright, which has corralled quite the cast and crew, notably with genre legend Sam Raimi – the movie maestro of the Evil Dead cinematic and television franchise and crucial comic book cinema of the Spider-Man Trilogy – tapped to develop and even direct an entry.
Rachel Brosnahan, Travis Fimmel, Christina Ricci, Asa Butterfield, Jacob Batalon, Ming-Na Wen, Taissa Farmiga, John Marshall Jones and Ron Livingston are just some of the names lined up to fill 50 States of Fright’s anthology episodes, which each culling content from American urban legends and folklore.
The official greenlight has been given for 50 States of Fright,...
- 10/3/2019
- Den of Geek
Writer, producer, director and horror mega-fan Mick Garris assembles a cadre of like minds to create “Nightmare Cinema.” This anthology feature is basically a two-hour, big-screen version of the several macabre TV anthology series he’s been involved with since the mid-’80s “Amazing Stories.” Comprising five directors’ tales linked by the inimitable Mickey Rourke as a diabolical projectionist, this feature falls short of Garris’ greatest effort in that vein: His all-star 2005-07 cable pet project “Masters of Horror.” Each segment here has strengths and weaknesses. If there are no outright duds, there’s no real triumph either. But the whole is certainly diverse, lively and reference-packed enough to please horror fans attracted to this kind of enterprise, which are so often (see last year’s “Tales From the Hood 2”) so, so much worse. Cranked Up Films is releasing to 25 U.S. screens and on demand June 21.
Things get off...
Things get off...
- 6/21/2019
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die presupposes you, the audience, have never watched a zombie comedy before. As if The Return Of The Living Dead, Zombieland, Shaun Of The Dead, Juan Of The Dead – so *flipping* many examples – vanished from existence. The Dead Don’t Die believes itself an invention of subgenre genius, but in actuality, offers nothing new nor furthers zombie cinema by the length of a rotten tooth. A loaded but (widely) misused cast, deadpan atmospheres like a vacuous tonal black hole, and lacking satirical wit assures that The Dead Don’t Die is more lifeless than Iggy Pop’s decapitated corpse.
Cliff (Bill Murray) and Ronnie (Adam Driver) are rural Pennsylvania law enforcers. Zelda (Tilda Swinton), the town’s samurai mortician. Bobby (Caleb Landry Jones), the local gas station horror movie buff. All “simple” folk caught in the middle of a fracking phenomenon that throws Earth off its axis,...
Cliff (Bill Murray) and Ronnie (Adam Driver) are rural Pennsylvania law enforcers. Zelda (Tilda Swinton), the town’s samurai mortician. Bobby (Caleb Landry Jones), the local gas station horror movie buff. All “simple” folk caught in the middle of a fracking phenomenon that throws Earth off its axis,...
- 6/5/2019
- by Matt Donato
- We Got This Covered
Bringing memorable horror movies from the past back to life on the big screen, Cranked Up Films and Shudder are teaming up for An Evening of Nightmares screening series. To celebrate the June 21st theatrical release of the new horror anthology Nightmare Cinema (ahead of its release later this year on Shudder), the retrospective series will kick off on Friday, June 14th with screenings of Mick Garris' Sleepwalkers, Alejandro Brugués' Juan of the Dead, and Joe Dante's Piranha, followed by Q&As with the filmmakers at Los Angeles' Dynasty Typewriter at the Hayworth Theater.
Press Release: Los Angeles, CA – May 24, 2019: Cranked Up Films, Good Deed Entertainment’s genre-leaning distribution arm, and Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, announced today they will be launching a new curated screening series featuring top genre talent presenting and discussing both their own work and...
Press Release: Los Angeles, CA – May 24, 2019: Cranked Up Films, Good Deed Entertainment’s genre-leaning distribution arm, and Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, announced today they will be launching a new curated screening series featuring top genre talent presenting and discussing both their own work and...
- 5/27/2019
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Last year, Daily Dead was proud to once again sponsor and experience The Overlook Film Festival, which took place in the historic (and quite possibly haunted) confines of New Orleans. We're looking forward to sponsoring the third Overlook Film Festival, which is returning to The Big Easy May 30th–June 2nd for another round of immersive events, essential screenings, and live performances, and this year's killer lineup has now been announced!
Featuring The Dead Don't Die as the opening night film and The Lodge as the closing night movie, with plenty of must-see screenings and events in between, including episode two of Swamp Thing, a master class presentation by Robert Rodriguez, two live presentations by author Grady Hendrix, a live recording of Post Mortem With Mick Garris, The Pumpkin Pie Show one-on-ones by Clay McLeod Chapman, and the world premiere of Fangoria's Satanic Panic (directed by Chelsea Stardust).
The third...
Featuring The Dead Don't Die as the opening night film and The Lodge as the closing night movie, with plenty of must-see screenings and events in between, including episode two of Swamp Thing, a master class presentation by Robert Rodriguez, two live presentations by author Grady Hendrix, a live recording of Post Mortem With Mick Garris, The Pumpkin Pie Show one-on-ones by Clay McLeod Chapman, and the world premiere of Fangoria's Satanic Panic (directed by Chelsea Stardust).
The third...
- 4/26/2019
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
I enjoy a good horror anthology series and we’ve got a trailer for a new one coming called Nightmare Cinema, which looks like it will be filled with a lot of creepy fun! This is something that I know I’ll enjoy watching!
The five segments featured in Nightmare Cinema were directed by Mick Garris, Joe Dante, David Slade (30 Days of Night), Ryuhei Kitamura and Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead).
Here’s the synopsis that was shared for it:
A series of down-on-their-luck individuals enter the decrepit and spine-chilling Rialto theater, only to have their deepest and darkest fears brought to life on the silver screen by The Projectionist – a mysterious, ghostly figure who holds the nightmarish futures of all who attend his screenings. By the time our patrons realize the truth, escape is no longer an option. For once the ticket is torn, their fate is sealed at Nightmare Cinema.
The five segments featured in Nightmare Cinema were directed by Mick Garris, Joe Dante, David Slade (30 Days of Night), Ryuhei Kitamura and Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead).
Here’s the synopsis that was shared for it:
A series of down-on-their-luck individuals enter the decrepit and spine-chilling Rialto theater, only to have their deepest and darkest fears brought to life on the silver screen by The Projectionist – a mysterious, ghostly figure who holds the nightmarish futures of all who attend his screenings. By the time our patrons realize the truth, escape is no longer an option. For once the ticket is torn, their fate is sealed at Nightmare Cinema.
- 4/25/2019
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
This morning, Bloody Disgusting exclusively shared trailer for the horror anthology Nightmare Cinema, which features shorts from five genre directors: Mick Garris (Critters 2, Sleepwalkers, “The Shining” miniseries), Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling, Piranha, The Hole), David Slade (30 Days of Night), Ryuhei Kitamura (Downrange, Versus) and Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead). We’ve now landed the official poster art for the film releasing through […]...
- 4/23/2019
- by Brad Miska
- bloody-disgusting.com
Bloody Disgusting has the exclusive trailer for the horror anthology Nightmare Cinema, which features shorts from five genre directors: Mick Garris (Critters 2, Sleepwalkers, “The Shining” miniseries), Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling, Piranha, The Hole), David Slade (30 Days of Night), Ryuhei Kitamura (Downrange, Versus) and Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead). We’ve also learned that Cranked Up Films will be releasing it in limited […]...
- 4/23/2019
- by Brad Miska
- bloody-disgusting.com
A new trailer has been discovered for the horror anthology Nightmare Cinema, which features shorts from five genre directors: Mick Garris (Critters 2, Sleepwalkers, “The Shining” miniseries), Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling, Piranha, The Hole), David Slade (30 Days of Night), Ryuhei Kitamura (Downrange, Versus) and Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead). Meagan reviewed the film out of the World Premiere and explained that it attempts to revive “Masters […]...
- 1/25/2019
- by Brad Miska
- bloody-disgusting.com
We've been excited for Daily Dead readers to watch Nightmare Cinema since Heather Wixson called it "a quintet of terror-filled tales" in her Fantasia review, and horror fans can now look forward to seeing the horror anthology early next year, as Cranked Up Films and Shudder have acquired North American distribution rights to the film that features segments directed by Mick Garris, Joe Dante, David Slade, Ryuhei Kitamura, and Alejandro Brugues:
Press Release: Los Angeles, CA: Cranked Up Films, Good Deed Entertainment’s recently launched genre label, announced today from Afm that, in partnership with Shudder, AMC Network’s genre streaming platform, they have acquired North American distribution rights to Cinelou Films’ Nightmare Cinema. The film is a horror anthology comprised of five shorts and a wrap-around storyline from directors Mick Garris (The Shining), Joe Dante (The Howling), David Slade (Hannibal), Ryuhei Kitamura (Midnight Meat Train) and Alejandro Brugues (Juan Of The Dead...
Press Release: Los Angeles, CA: Cranked Up Films, Good Deed Entertainment’s recently launched genre label, announced today from Afm that, in partnership with Shudder, AMC Network’s genre streaming platform, they have acquired North American distribution rights to Cinelou Films’ Nightmare Cinema. The film is a horror anthology comprised of five shorts and a wrap-around storyline from directors Mick Garris (The Shining), Joe Dante (The Howling), David Slade (Hannibal), Ryuhei Kitamura (Midnight Meat Train) and Alejandro Brugues (Juan Of The Dead...
- 11/9/2018
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
After premiering at Fantasia, Cranked Up Films has acquired Nightmare Cinema, which features shorts from five genre directors: Mick Garris (Critters 2, Sleepwalkers, “The Shining” miniseries), Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling, Piranha, The Hole), David Slade (30 Days of Night), Ryuhei Kitamura (Downrange, Versus) and Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead). Meagan reviewed the film out of the World Premiere and explained that it attempts to […]...
- 11/8/2018
- by Brad Miska
- bloody-disgusting.com
After premiering at Fantasia, Bloody Disgusting has carved out two new shots from Nightmare Cinema, which features shorts from five genre directors: Mick Garris (Critters 2, Sleepwalkers, “The Shining” miniseries), Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling, Piranha, The Hole), David Slade (30 Days of Night), Ryuhei Kitamura (Downrange, Versus) and Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead). Meagan reviewed the film out of the World Premiere and explained that […]...
- 10/2/2018
- by Brad Miska
- bloody-disgusting.com
Tiff's Midnight Madness programming definitely gets a lot of buzz for its genre programming every September, but Toronto After Dark is an event horror fans won't want to miss in Toronto next month. The festival recently announced an impressive first wave of films, featuring a number of genre festival hits you won't want to miss, including Anna and the Apocalypse, Luz, The Ranger, Nightmare Cinema, and more:
From the Press Release: Toronto After Dark Film Festival is thrilled to officially unveil its first wave of exciting film announcements for 2018! Included in the lineup are some of the most critically acclaimed and eagerly anticipated new horror, sci-fi and action films from this year’s international film festival circuit. These 10 new movies will all screen at Toronto After Dark Film Festival as part of its spooktacular 13th Annual Edition this October 11-19, 2018 at the Scotiabank Theatre, in the heart of downtown Toronto.
From the Press Release: Toronto After Dark Film Festival is thrilled to officially unveil its first wave of exciting film announcements for 2018! Included in the lineup are some of the most critically acclaimed and eagerly anticipated new horror, sci-fi and action films from this year’s international film festival circuit. These 10 new movies will all screen at Toronto After Dark Film Festival as part of its spooktacular 13th Annual Edition this October 11-19, 2018 at the Scotiabank Theatre, in the heart of downtown Toronto.
- 9/17/2018
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Five tales of horror. Five masters of horror. After premiering at Fantasia, Bloody Disgusting has carved out a new shot from Nightmare Cinema, which features shorts from five genre directors: Mick Garris (Critters 2, Sleepwalkers, “The Shining” miniseries), Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling, Piranha, The Hole), David Slade (30 Days of Night), Ryuhei Kitamura (Downrange, Versus) and Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead). Meagan reviewed the film […]...
- 9/11/2018
- by Brad Miska
- bloody-disgusting.com
Five tales of horror. Five masters of horror. After premiering at Fantasia, Bloody Disgusting has a handful of new images from Nightmare Cinema, which features shorts from five genre directors: Mick Garris (Critters 2, Sleepwalkers, “The Shining” miniseries), Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling, Piranha, The Hole), David Slade (30 Days of Night), Ryuhei Kitamura (Downrange, Versus) and Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead). Meagan reviewed the […]...
- 9/5/2018
- by Brad Miska
- bloody-disgusting.com
For Nightmare Cinema, five Masters of Horror have assembled to immerse fans in five tales of terror, all told within the confines of a haunted movie theatre inhabited by The Projectionist (Mickey Rourke), a mysterious entity who oversees the facility, showing those who dare enter its doors their deepest fears and darkest secrets. Nightmare Cinema directors include Mick Garris, Joe Dante, David Slade, Alejandro Brugués, and Ryûhei Kitamura, and it features performances from the likes of Richard Chamberlain, Elizabeth Reaser, Belinda Balaski, Patrick Wilson, and Annabeth Gish, to name a few.
The wraparound segment in Nightmare Cinema is called “The Projectionist,” and it acts as the glue that brings all these different stories and cinematic visions together through the Rialto Theatre. Garris provides his directorial expertise for these various interstitial segments, and he sets a nice, eerie tone for all the stories to come. Rourke pops in for a few of the wraparound scenes,...
The wraparound segment in Nightmare Cinema is called “The Projectionist,” and it acts as the glue that brings all these different stories and cinematic visions together through the Rialto Theatre. Garris provides his directorial expertise for these various interstitial segments, and he sets a nice, eerie tone for all the stories to come. Rourke pops in for a few of the wraparound scenes,...
- 7/14/2018
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Five tales of horror. Five masters of horror. Premiering at Fantasia this Friday night is Cinelou Films’ Nightmare Cinema, which features shorts from five genre directors: Mick Garris (Critters 2, Sleepwalkers, “The Shining” miniseries), Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling, Piranha, The Hole), David Slade (30 Days of Night), Ryuhei Kitamura (Downrange, Versus) and Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead). Check out the teaser trailer below and check […]...
- 7/11/2018
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
The next in a plethora of horror anthologies is Cinelou Films’ Nightmare Cinema, which features shorts from five genre directors: Mick Garris (Critters 2, Sleepwalkers, “The Shining” miniseries), Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling, Piranha, The Hole), David Slade (30 Days of Night), Ryuhei Kitamura (Downrange, Versus) and Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead). Centering on a group of down-on-their-luck individuals who enter the decrepit Rialto Theatre, […]...
- 1/24/2018
- by Brad Miska
- bloody-disgusting.com
Academy Award Submission for Nomination Best Foreign Language Film: Cuba: ‘The Companion’ Interview…
Academy Award Submission for Nomination Best Foreign Language Film: Cuba: ‘The Companion’ Interview with Pavel Giroud1988, Cuba, those infected with HIV or suffering from AIDS were given free room, board and medical treatment at a beautiful facility called “Los Cocos”. Except for the criminals who shared prison cells, the patients shared apartments with other patients. These apartments were so comfortable that some healthy people wanted to have AIDS so they could live in such conditions. But the patients were also treated as prisoners, living under military guard. One day a week they were allowed a day of freedom when they could leave the facility, but they had to have a companion assigned to be with them at all times.
“The Companion”/ “El acompañante” is a very Cuban film because the government’s treatment and control over the spread of AIDS was very particular to Cuba. The story is based on...
“The Companion”/ “El acompañante” is a very Cuban film because the government’s treatment and control over the spread of AIDS was very particular to Cuba. The story is based on...
- 11/5/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Hello, horror fans, and welcome to our new home here on Dread Central! For those of you who have been keeping up, I have maintained some podcast silence as we have prepared for our busiest year yet with Horrible Imaginings… Continue Reading →
The post Horrible Imaginings Podcast #160: Back from the Grave with a New Home, a Mission, and Bonus Juan of the Dead! appeared first on Dread Central.
The post Horrible Imaginings Podcast #160: Back from the Grave with a New Home, a Mission, and Bonus Juan of the Dead! appeared first on Dread Central.
- 10/21/2016
- by Miguel Rodriguez
- DreadCentral.com
Culebras stalk the night in search of something to satiate their bottomless hunger. With the ability to strike their prey with an uncanny speed akin to a viper (the snake they share a nickname with), culebras are used to being at the top of the food chain. But the venomous vamps are the ones who are hunted in “Protect & Serve,” the latest episode of From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series Season 3, airing tonight at 9:00pm Et on El Rey Network.
As the Peacekeeper who does his best to keep order between humans, culebras, and anything else that would raise the eyebrows of Mulder and Scully, Freddie Gonzalez (Jesse Garcia) has a lot of lines to cross out on his to-do list. Combined with the danger of dealing with the underworld, Gonzalez’s hectic schedule doesn’t leave enough room for family time, and his wife and young child are...
As the Peacekeeper who does his best to keep order between humans, culebras, and anything else that would raise the eyebrows of Mulder and Scully, Freddie Gonzalez (Jesse Garcia) has a lot of lines to cross out on his to-do list. Combined with the danger of dealing with the underworld, Gonzalez’s hectic schedule doesn’t leave enough room for family time, and his wife and young child are...
- 9/13/2016
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
2011’s Juan of the Dead is cited as Cuba’s first feature-length zombie film, and now the first English-language horror film shot in that country is heading our way: Havana Darkness, a Bulgarian-u.S. co-production being filmed on location in New York… Continue Reading →
The post More Details on Havana Darkness – First English-Language Horror Film Shot in Cuba! appeared first on Dread Central.
The post More Details on Havana Darkness – First English-Language Horror Film Shot in Cuba! appeared first on Dread Central.
- 7/11/2016
- by Debi Moore
- DreadCentral.com
The characters fortunate enough to survive the blood-splattered brawl at the end of Season 2 will return in the upcoming third season of From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, and to help hold over fans with a culebra-like thirst for new episodes, Miramax and El Rey Network have revealed Season 3’s directors and additional cast members.
Press Release: June 7, 2016 (Los Angeles, CA / Austin, TX) – Miramax® and El Rey Network released today the list of directors that will helm the 10 episodes of From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series season three. Additionally, Nicky Whelan (House of Lies, The Wedding Ringer) and Maurice Compte (Breaking Bad, Narcos) have joined the cast of season three. Compte will play Brassa a mysterious Rasputin-like figure who takes on the Gecko brothers. Whelan’s character will be revealed on air.
The list of directors includes several newcomers to the series including Eagle Egilsson, who is known for...
Press Release: June 7, 2016 (Los Angeles, CA / Austin, TX) – Miramax® and El Rey Network released today the list of directors that will helm the 10 episodes of From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series season three. Additionally, Nicky Whelan (House of Lies, The Wedding Ringer) and Maurice Compte (Breaking Bad, Narcos) have joined the cast of season three. Compte will play Brassa a mysterious Rasputin-like figure who takes on the Gecko brothers. Whelan’s character will be revealed on air.
The list of directors includes several newcomers to the series including Eagle Egilsson, who is known for...
- 6/7/2016
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Latino television shows are on the rise.
After successes from shows revolving African-American experiences like “Power” and “Survivor’s Remorse,” Starz CEO Chris Albrecht announced at the Television Critics Association’s press tour that the cable programming network will push for a Hispanic initiative for new shows.
Starz will partner with Televisa USA, an arm of Grupo Televisa, to develop the English-language version of the telenova “El Malefico” that ran for 320 episodes in Mexico from 1983-1984. The story is about a powerful businessman who makes a deal with the devil.
Mauricio Katz will be the showrunner. Katz co-created A&E Network’s “Nino Santo” and worked on FX’s “The Bridge."
Haxan Films’ Eduardo Sanchez teamed with Cuban writer-director Alejandro Brugues for supernatural drama “Santeria.” The story follows undercover agents investigating strange murders against the backdrop of Cuban faith tradition.
Brugues is known for “Juan of the Dead” and Sanchez...
After successes from shows revolving African-American experiences like “Power” and “Survivor’s Remorse,” Starz CEO Chris Albrecht announced at the Television Critics Association’s press tour that the cable programming network will push for a Hispanic initiative for new shows.
Starz will partner with Televisa USA, an arm of Grupo Televisa, to develop the English-language version of the telenova “El Malefico” that ran for 320 episodes in Mexico from 1983-1984. The story is about a powerful businessman who makes a deal with the devil.
Mauricio Katz will be the showrunner. Katz co-created A&E Network’s “Nino Santo” and worked on FX’s “The Bridge."
Haxan Films’ Eduardo Sanchez teamed with Cuban writer-director Alejandro Brugues for supernatural drama “Santeria.” The story follows undercover agents investigating strange murders against the backdrop of Cuban faith tradition.
Brugues is known for “Juan of the Dead” and Sanchez...
- 1/9/2016
- by Gig Patta
- LRMonline.com
Starz Chief Executive Officer Chris Albrecht announced at today's Starz Television Critics Association (TCA) presentation that Starz' diverse programming strategy continues with the development of "Santeria," a "supernatural series" from Cuban writer and director Alejandro Brugues ("From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series," "Juan of the Dead") and Eduardo Sanchez ("The Blair Witch Project," "From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series") who will executive produce and direct, with Gregg Hale ("The Blair Witch Project") serving as executive producer. Per the press release, the description of the series reads: "Cuba, its doors finally...
- 1/8/2016
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
** New Update: Two more American films have come to my attention through readers of the blog:
Alison Klayman wrote to say "I know you said at least two films, but I wanted specifically to alert you to the fact that my film "The 100 Years Show" is also playing in the Panorama Documental sections (same as Pj Letofsky's film). "The 100 Years Show" is about 100-year old Cuban-American artist Carmen Herrera, and was produced with RatPac (Brett Ratner) Documentary Films. I'll be attending the festival too.
Alex Mallis wrote in to say: "Our short narrative, "La Noche buena" (the first American-directed since the embargo) is also screening at the festival.
Original Blog:
At least two films by American filmmakers will screen this year at the Havana Film Festival, whose official name is Festival de Cine Nuevo Latinamericano. As the Centerpiece Film, Bob Yari, producer of almost 50 films, will screen his second directed film “Papa” about Ernest Hemingway. It can be called “the first [official or legal] American film made in Havana in the last fifty years”, though underground films have been made (e.g., “Love & Suicide”). “Papa” is being sold at Afm by Elias Axume’s Premiere Entertainment.
Doc filmmaker Pj Letofsky will also be screening his film “ Tarkovsky: Time Within Time” which just premiered at the Sao Paolo Film Festival.
Many U.S. citizens are now interested in going to Havana. To give an in-depth look at Cuba’s film business, I am publishing a [long] chapter of what I hope will soon be published, my book on Iberoamerican film business. I will also be publishing another [shorter] interview here soon with Havana Film Festival Director, Ivan Giroud.
Cuba (Chapter Seven)
Officially the Republic of Cuba, or in Spanish, República de Cuba, the nation is comprised of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. To the north of Cuba lies the United States; the Bahamas are to the northeast, México to the west, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica to the south, and Haiti and the Dominican Republic are to the southeast.
Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, and with over 11 million inhabitants.
Cuba is undergoing a transition into a market, entrepreneurial economy under the Presidency of Raul Castro. With this transition, the cinema industry is also undergoing great changes. The state mandated organization, Icaic, which has been running the cinema industry, is now under scrutiny. New legislation concerning the film industry is slowly underway as a result of discussions ongoing within the film community. Hopefully the establishment of diplomatic relations will the U.S. last October will propel changes, though without lifting the embargo, it may not.
History of Cinema of Cuba
Cuba’s elite has always stayed in touch with the latest in culture as it developed in Europe during the Spanish colonial era. Cuba’s tradition of cinema dates back to 1897 when the Lumiére Brothers representative from France stopped in Havana to show their films on a tour of the Antilles Islands, México, Venezuela, and the Guineas. Cuba’s particular style of cinema, called the “Cinema of the Greater Antilles”, evolved from the theater of melodrama and comedy and from the radio dramas of Felix B. Caignet, all of which formed the popular melodramas and comedies we still see today.
Mexican coproductions and U.S. filmmakers escaping the monopolistic Edison came to Cuba as well as to California in the early days of film. Federico Garcia Lorca arrived in Cuba in 1930 with a screenplay, “Voyage of the Moon”, and a print of “Un Chien Andalou” hoping to break from the Paris-Berlin monopoly, but his plans never took shape. Many films from Spain, México, Argentina and Uruguay also played in Cuba. Some leading Cuban actors had a strong presence in México and Argentina. Musicians such as Ernesto Lecuona, Bola de Nieve and Rita Montaner performed in movies in several countries.
Cuba, along with Mexico and Argentina, has the most developed cinema culture of Latin America. At its most prosperous, it had the third largest number of theaters in Latin America until the special period when Ussr withdrew its support. Today it has 39 movie theaters. Three of them, including the Yara in Havana, had been built especially for 3D in the 1950s.
Movie going is one of Cuba’s national pastimes, rating perhaps as high as baseball. The average Cuban sees one and a half films a year. However, the lack of international appeal for most of its comedies and melodramas has held its international growth in check up to today. That is now changing.
The international nature of Cuban cinema was consciously defined after the Revolution of 1959 when the Institute for Cuban Art and Industry Cinematography (Icaic) was created by Fidel Castro and entrusted to his university classmate, Alfredo Guevara. The law creating Icaic was incorporated into the Cuban Constitution itself just three months after the Revolution and was an important part of the Nuevo Cine Latinoamerico, a movement throughout Latin America as the Latin American nations threw off their dictatorships. Film, according to this law, is "the most powerful and provocative form of artistic expression, and the most direct and widespread vehicle for education and bringing ideas to the public.”
Cinema was created for theatrical exhibition, for individuals and groups to share in smaller collectives, and for television.
The law ordaining Icaic to control every cinematographic activity created no further rules about financing, about submitting, reading and approving project proposals or regarding any required time frames. Icaic functions very internally with no outside surveillance.
Actually it is possible to make films without Icaic participation, the point is that without Icaic a film cannot get national distribution.
Over the past decade Icaic has loosened its monopolistic administration. Every sector and every level of cinema is discussing the concept of a new Law of Cinema with the government’s interest in formalizing as law a more inclusive infrastructure with more transparent rules and regulations.
Under the leadership of Raul Castro, the island has been undergoing a gradual economic reform process allowing entrepreneurs to license their own businesses after decades of state monopoly. The measures include the authorization of self-employment in more than 200 small trades and activities. According to the government, there are currently 442,000 registered as “self-employed”. The Castro administration hopes for this emerging sector to absorb over a million state workers to be laid off in the coming years.[ii]
In October 2014, the state closed down many private cinemas which had emerged avowing to the love of cinema of the people. Many were 3D “salons” in homes or in separate rooms in restaurants. Authorities pressed for "order, discipline and obedience" in the growing small business sector. Needless to say, the films shown were pirated and not licensed by the rights holders. Nor was there ever any official licensing to privately owned theaters (yet).
However, these could provide a good source of taxation. It needs to be decided what shall be taxed, how tax monies should be apportioned for film funding, film education, what tax incentives the government might offer, how distribution will be subsidized, how archives may be maintained and presented, how to regulate screenings, dvd, TV and online platforms, what cash incentives might bring in production from the outside, what joint ventures within the Caribbean might be developed and how Icaic is approaching and incorporating the changing environment. The Director of Icaic, Robert Smith de Castro. is facing more challenges than its previous longtime Director, Alfredo Guevera, ever faced when the government provided everything. Now it must find answers from its neighbors and its own internal producers and procedures.
In general, funding a film, renting equipment and shooting in Cuba all need to be approved by Icaic. This has changed somewhat as other players have come to take a role, like Rtv Commercial, which is in fact the production company of Cuban National Television.
Rtv Commercial coproduced the newest Cuban hit, “Conducta” (“Behavior”) with Icaic. It premiered at Ficg 2014 (Guadalajara International Film Festival) and played at Tiff 2014 and other festivals such as the Málaga Spanish Film Festival 2014 where it won five awards.
New Developments in Cuban Cinema
In 2014 there were 14 productions and coproductions made, compared to seven in 2009 and 4 in 2000 according to FnCl and Ocal, databases of Latin American film.
At Cannes’ Cinema du Monde in May 2014 and in San Sebastian’s Coproduction Forum, “ August” (“Agosto”) was one of 15 projects selected to be seen and discussed by the international community of sales, distribution and financial executives. Directed by Armando Capó Ramos and produced by La Feria Producciones’ Marcella Esquivel, it is a coproduction between Costa Rica and Cuba. It will shoot next year in Havana and is now raising funds through crowdfunding. Also featured among the 15 in San Sebastian was “Wolfdog” (“Hombre entre perro y lobo”) directed by Irene Gutiérrez and produced by El Viaje Films, a Spain-Cuba coproduction.
Seeking modes of financing outside of government funding began in 2002 with the Festival of New Filmmakers showcasing projects was created by young people outside the Icaic system. As a result of the 2002 event, five years later, a funding mechanism called Hacienda Cine was created by pulling productions from Icaic Cuban television into centers and foundations that have other areas for audiovisual production. Pitch sessions for each selected entity were set up. The prize for production services worth 20,000 Convertible Cuban Pesos (equivalent to Us $20,000) was set up by Icaic Production. There are currently also smaller groups creating smaller formats, scientific or otherwise who are fomenting alternative forms of financing as well.
Lia Rodriguez Nieto is an attorney who was mentored by and worked fourteen years, until his death, with Camilo Vives, Icaic’s head of production, first as an attorney and then as a producer. She has now taken charge of the industry section at the Havana Film Festival which Vives began in 2009. She and Antonio López, recently produced a Cuba-Panama-France coproduction “ El Acompañante” (“The Companion”) directed by Pavel Giroud. She states that over the last five to seven years, private (not state institutional) productions have co-existed with institutional production. However, it would be important for independent producers to have a more regulated and confident relationship with Icaic in a more normalized fashion in order to have easier access to filming permits, forms of financing, banking relations, coproduction treaties, and a number of other elements which are essential to film production.
Rebeca Chávez is a director and a member of one of the groups pushing for a new cinema law which will, in principle, establish a new system incorporating the democratic participation of all people in the business, including techs, writers, directors, producers, actors, etc. and where all will have a democratically designed access to funds. In1984 she began her career as documentary director and her work has been given different national and international awards. She is the second woman in Cuba who has made feature films. She has taught several seminars on theory and practice of documentary cinema and on the Cuban experience in the genre in different institutions in the United States, Puerto Rico, England and Spain. She has worked as advisor for scripts of documentaries and feature films.
It is most important that the state has the will to make these changes, and it has stated it is open to changing the laws. Omar González who succeeded Alfredo Guevara as the head of the Icaic was replaced in 2013 by 30 year Icaic employee Roberto Smith de Castro who is now faced with reorganizing Icaic and implementing new laws which are yet to be formulated. He is considered to be a patient and attentive man who listens and will work to incorporate the diverse opinions into a new working reality.
The son of the famed director Daniel Diaz Torres whose controversial film “Alicia en el pueblo de Maravillas” (“Alice in the City of Wonders”) in 1991 was so critical of the bureaucracy of the government at the time of the Soviet collapse that it caused the resignation of Icaic’s director Espinosa, independent producer Daniel Diaz Ravelo points out that the independent producer is neither legal nor illegal but exists in a sort of limbo, free to produce whatever he or she wants but needing legal sanctions to access necessary permits, equipment, etc. And a filmmaker has no bank account so fiscal responsibility is difficult. One must get a certificate from Icaic but there is no registration rule on how this is to be done.
And it gets more complicated. It is difficult to raise a Us$400,000 budget without networking with filmmakers from other countries and yet travel is not easy for Cubans. They can travel -- Cuba no longer has a problem with that -– but often they cannot get the visa required from the country they want or need to travel to. Daniel’s father had a problem in traveling to find financing for his last film, “La Pelicula de Ana” (“Ana's Movie”), from former producers of his films. It did receive some funding from Icaic and from former funding friend, Icestorm in Germany, and a loan from Ibermedia. Unfortunately Daniel Diaz Torres, Sr. recently died an early death and did not see the fruits of his labor in the 2013 Havana premiere.
The new generation today in Cuba is highly independent; it knows that diversity of film subjects and of filmmakers is key to Cuban cinema today and it is finding diverse sources of financing and distribution. It needs more information as well because everything depends upon contacts. Cineastes traveling to Cuba will find a vibrant group open to coproducing.
2015 marks the eighth year of the Havana Film Festival’s Works in Progress. The Post Production Award, Nuestra América Primera Copia, is an international competition for films from Latin America and from Cuba, with no restrictions; films can be produced by Icaic or independently. For example, in 2013 awards went to four films, one from Chile, “I’m Not Lorena” (“No Soy Lorena”), which premiered at Tiff 2014; one from Argentina, “La Salada”, which premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival 2014 and Tiff 2014; and two from Cuba -- one Icaic film, “His Wedding Dress” (“Vestido de novia”), and the independent, “Venice” which was also Tiff 2014.
Thanks to an initiative by La Muestra, a group of Cuban production companies (including several independent ones), once a year support is awarded to four or five projects by young filmmakers. The independent film “Melaza” by Carlos Lechuga with the 5ta Avenida Productions premiered on October 3, 2013.
Rubén Padrón Astorga, writing for On Cuba [iii], November-December 2013 [1] writes:
The best prospects for our cinema today emerged like an earthquake in late April of this year, when Kiki Álvarez, the director of “Jirafas”, “La ola” and “Marina” and “Venezia”, initiated a debate on the problems that the country has with two vital filmmaking processes (production and distribution). Close to 60 audiovisual makers responded with a meeting where they formed a Filmmakers Committee to represent the rest of the country’s professionals.
Soon after its creation, the Committee announced that its objectives included ensuring the active participation of Cuban filmmakers in every decision that was made about [our] cinema, and protecting and developing its production at the industrial and independent levels. At this time, they are working together with Icaic and the Ministry of Culture to pass a decree-law defining the autonomous audiovisual creator, which would legitimize filmmakers as a legal concept, with full rights to exercise their profession. However, the decree-law, which was drafted seven years ago and ratified by the most recent Uneac Congress, was rewritten by the Filmmakers Committee so that it is not limited to recognizing audiovisual practice as individual work, but as collective, and so that it legally protects independent producers.
This committee, together with the so-called Ministry of Culture Temporary Working Group for the Transformation of Icaic, is actively participating in drawing up a diagnosis of Cuban cinema’s problems, which will be followed with the drafting of policies and actions for solving those problems. This step will clear the way for the long-term creation of a comprehensive film law. This law, which would involve widening the scope of the law passed in 1959 for Icaic’s founding, or drafting a new one, would include the creation of a film commission that would support production and make it viable; a promotion fund that would be governed by an arts council, and to which all independent and institutional artists could aspire; financial incentives that would promote the support of private and state companies and sponsors; and a general legal framework that conceives of cinema systemically, inspired by the useful experiences that have taken place in other countries in the region, such as Colombia, Argentina, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic.
A convocation of cinema directors was held May 4, 2013 in Strawberry and Chocolate Cultural Center, Havana to address the need to participate in all plans and activities planned for Cuban cinema. The meeting chose a working group composed of Enrique Kiki Álvarez, Enrique Colina, Rebeca Chávez Lourdes de los Santos, Daniel Diaz Ravelo, Pavel Giroud, Magda González Grau, Inti Herrera, Senel Paz, Fernando Perez, Manuel Perez and Pedro L. Rodríguez.
The main objective of this group is to represent the filmmakers at all levels and events, promote and ensure the active participation of the same in all decisions and projects that relate to Cuban cinema, and strive for the protection and development of these arts and industries and their makers, which is our right and duty as protagonists of this art. At its first meeting, the group reached the following conclusions and agreements (verbatim):
1 -. We recognize the Cuban Film Institute and the Film Industry (Icaic) as the rector of the Cuban film industry state agency; born with the revolution and its long history is a legacy that belongs to all filmmakers. At the same time, we believe that the problems and projections of Cuban cinema today do not concern only the Icaic, but also other institutions and institutional groups or independently involved in their production, without whose help and commitment is not possible to achieve meaningful and lasting solutions. For that reason, its reorganization and promotion can not be done only in the context of this organism.
2 -. We understand the Cuban film produced through institutional, independent mechanisms, co-production with third or mixed formulas, and as filmmakers to all creators, technicians and Cuban specialists of these arts and industries that do their work inside or outside the institutions , whatever they may be aesthetic, content or affinity group. Consequently, it is imperative the adoption of Decree Law Media Creator recognition. This decree should be enriched with all additional legal supplements necessary.
3 -. We consider essential enacting a Film Law, whose production and given all participate and to be the legal body to order and protect the artistic and economic activity in the country.
4 -. We consider it important to study and implement a Film Development Fund, to which all authors in accessing equal rights and conditions, and open call to an independent jury whose selection parameter is the quality and feasibility of the whole project.
5 -. At this stage, the filmmakers give priority to the organization and remodeling of the methods of production and realization of works, the concept that these are, first and last instance being essentially the way we express ourselves and connect with the public. Similarly, we propose a systemic boost our activity covering the organization and remodeling of the forms of production, distribution, exhibition and national and international projection of Cuban cinema.
6 -. Start work, reviewing and updating the document "Proposals for a renewal of Cuban cinema", adopted at the Seventh Congress of the Uneac in 2008. As progress is made, they will be sharing all the proposals with the filmmakers.
7 -. Exchanging proposals and views with the State Commission working on the development of proposals for the transformation of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry.
8 -. To express our deep concern for all matters concerning international relations and Cuban cinema projection, which was a revolutionary vanguard movement in the Latin American and global context. We strive for a quick recovery and exchange relationships with filmmakers from Latin America and the world, and the continuity of the Festival of New Latin American Cinema, in its next edition turns 35.
9 -. This representation group performed their work in ongoing dialogue and communication with all filmmakers through regular meetings, which shall have the power to ratify or renew the group members, making decisions of common interest and to identify priorities and lines of job.
Filmmakers Group in the Assembly elected Cuban Filmmakers Saturday May 4 at the Centro Cultural Fresa y Chocolate, after its first meeting on May 8.
Havana, May 8, 2013. This was a verbatim article in Cubarte Magazine. [iv]
Festivals/ Markets
In 1979 Icaic created the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema aka Havana Film Festival as a way to disseminate its ethical convictions about developing film that was nonconformist, irreverent, critical of social injustice and rebellious against the pressures of the market across the continent. The event hosted over 600 filmmakers from Latin America and had as presidents of juries Gabriel García Márquez (Fiction ) and Santiago Álvarez (Documentaries and Cartoons.) The Coral Grand Prize winners were Geraldo Sarno (“Colonel Delmiro Gouveia”, Brazil) and Sergio Giral (“Maluala”, Cuba), in Fiction, Patricio Guzmán (“The Battle of Chile: the Struggle a People Without Arms”, Chile), Documentary, and Juan Padrón (“Elpidio Valdés”, Cuba) in Animation.
However, the contradiction of Icaic’s exercising a central control over maverick innovations is obvious since it controlled the production criteria and the right to decide what type of film was convenient to make and what was not.
An official competition of unpublished scripts for feature films is held by International Festival of New Latin American Cinema for authors from Latin America and the Caribbean for original scripts (no literary adaptations), written in Spanish and with Latin American themes. Scripts whose production rights have been transferred to third parties are not eligible. [v]
Icaic also supports the Festival Internacional de Cine Pobre de Humberto Solas[vi] for low budget films and Festival Internacional de Documentales “Santiago Alvarez in Memoriam”[vii].
Muestra Joven is a festival for Cuban youth with premiere fiction, doc and animated films. It has collateral activities of debates about the films in the festivals, master classes, meetings about contemporary issues and themes in the audiovisual community, workshps and onferences, poster exhibitions and homages.
In April 2014 the Mediateque of Women Directors, based in Cuba formally affiliated with The Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival in creating the the Caribbean Film Market. The project is also in association with The Foundation for Global Democracy and Development of the Dominican Republic, The Association for The Development of Art and Commercial Cinematography of Guadalupe, The Foundation for New Latinamerican Cinema, The Regional and International Film Festival of Guadalupe and the Mediateque of Women Directors.
Education
Icaic was in charge of training and promotion of talented young people not only in cinema but in other arts like music for which it created the Experimental Sound Group.
Isa
Most of the new independent filmmakers are young graduates of the Higher Art Institute’s (Isa) Faculty of Audiovisual Communication Media and its provincial affiliates. The University of Arts of Cuba - (Isa), Instituto Superior de Arte - was established on September 1, 1976 by the Cuban government as a school for the arts. Its original structure had three schools: Music, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts. At present the Isa has four schools, the previous three and the one for Arts and Audiovisual Communication Media. There are also four teaching schools in the provinces, one in Camagüey, two in Holguín and one in Santiago de Cuba. Isa offers pre-degree and post-degree courses, as well as a wide spectrum of brief and extension courses, including preparation for Cuban and foreign professors for a degree of Doctor on Sciences in Art. Predegree education has increased to five careers: Music, Visual Arts, Theatre Arts, Dance Arts and Arts and Audiovisual Communication Media. In 1996, the Isa established the National Award of Artistic Teaching, conceived for recognizing a lifework devoted to arts teaching.
Eictv
Eictv, the International School of Cinema and Television was founded December 15, 1986 at the Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana with the support of then-President Fidel Castro on the initiative of Latin American cultural figures such as Argentine director, “Father of the New Latin American Cinema”, Fernando Birri, Julio and Gabo and Colombian Nobel Prize winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez who donated his prize money to establish the school.. It is located in San Antonio de los Baños near Havana, on land donated by the Cuban government.
Hundreds of young students from all over Latin America have studied direction, script, photography and edition. Since its founding , 810 students have graduated and it has become one of the region’s most important and well-grounded cultural projects.
Students pay 15,000 euros (about $19,700) to attend for the full three-year program. The fee includes food, lodging and equipment. Tuition income accounts for just 15 percent of the school's budget. Funding comes from international agencies such as Ibermedia; countries including Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Panama; and regional organizations like the Alba alliance of leftist Latin American nations.
For the past eight years, Nuevas Miradas, organized by the Eictv Production Department has held its presentations at the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema for bringing new projects to the attention of international professionals.
Also in the late 1980s, Cuba created the Third World Film School to train students from various third world countries in the art of filmmaking.
Film Funding
Icaic has been the only body to fund films. How the selection of what films would receive funding has never been a public matter.
There are no instruments for private companies or individuals to contribute to film production in Cuba yet. There are however, international funds that may help finance films, such as Hubert Bals Fund from The Netherlands, World Cinema Fund from Germany, Fonds Sud from France, the Norwegian Fund, Sor Fond, Acp, etc. The best actively kept lists are found in Ocal[viii] and Online Film Financing [ix].
Coproduction with Cuba
As early as 1948 coproductions were common between Cuba and México. During the 70s and 80s Russian coproductions included Mikhail Kalatozov’s classic 1964 film “I Am Cuba” (“Soy Cuba”). Spain has played a role in coproducing Latin American and Cuban films since the 30s but in the 1990s it began to invest more heavily. In 1997 Ibermedia was created for the purpose of promoting coproduction between Spain and Latin American countries. Cuba is one of the fourteen countries involved in this organization.
In addition, Cuba has bilateral coproduction treaties with Italy, Canada, Venezuela, Spain and Chile. So far nothing has resulted from the Chile accord.
Two examples of Cuban coproduced films are Humberto Solás’ 1982 film “Cecilia” (Cuba - Spain) and Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío’s 1992 Academy Award-nominated “Strawberry and Chocolate” (“Fresa y chocolate”) (Cuba – México – Spain - U.S.).
In September 2013 at San Sebastian International Film Festival’s 2nd Europe-Latin America Coproduction Forum, “The Companion”/ "El Acompañante" won the Best Project Award sponsored by Spain’s Audiovisual Producers’ Rights Management Association Egeda and carrying a 10,000 Euros (Us$13,000) cash award.
This is the third feature of Giroud after “The Silly Age” and “Omerta”. It is a coproduction of Cuba, Venezuela’s NativaPro Cinematográfica and France’s Tu Vas Voir owned by Edgard Tenembaum who produced Walter Salles’ “The Motorcycle Diaries”. The film also obtained the collaboration of Programa Ibermedia and was selected for Cinemas du Monde.
Pavel Giroud is one of the most promising of young Cuban filmmakers today. “The Companion”/ "El Acompañante" is set in 1988 Havana and tells the story of the friendship which develops between Horacio Romero, a Cuban boxer who fails a drug test and a defiant patient at an AIDS center under military rule for whom Romero must serve as a warden or, in Cuban government parlance, a “companion”. Playing the role of Horacio is Yotuel Romero (Latin Grammy Award-winning and founding member of Cuban rap group Orishas). Orishas is one of the world’s most critically hailed Latin-urban artists. The co-protagonist is Cuban actor Armando Miguel Gómez who has received international recognition for his role in the recent films "Behavior”/ “Conducta" and “Melaza”. International sales are handled by the Brazil-based international sales agency, Habanero, which, coincidently is owned by Cuban Alfredo Calvino and Brazilian Patricial Martin who handle such outstanding films as “Juan on the Dead”, Carlos Lechuga’s “Melaza”, Sebastian Cordero’s “Pescador” and Francisco Franco’s “Last Call”. Habanero also sponsors distribution awards at Ficg and Ventana Sur’s Primer Corte, a showcase for pictures in post-production. All the updated information about these films, including festivals and awards is available at: www.habanerofilmsales.com.
Case Study of the Producer, Inti Hererra
Cuba’s first English language film, “Eating the Sun”, a coproduction with Canada, is being produced by Inti Herrera who also is heading the new night spot of avant garde popular entertainment, La Fabrica de Arte Cubano.
Inti Herrera, formerly of 5ta Avenida Productions and I first met in 2003 through the international sales agent Alfredo Calvino whose then-company Latinofusion was selling Inti’s first fiction feature, “Viva Cuba”, a road movie of two kids traveling across Cuba in search of one’s father.
Inti graduated Eictv and worked for a long time as an independent producer of documentaries.
In 2009, when Camilo Vives, Icaic’s head of production created the Industry Sector of the Havana Film Festival Inti became its director and managed it until 2010. In 2010 when he was still running the industry space he invited me to speak about New Media, and I spoke of Peter Broderick who was then invited to do a workshop at Eictv.
As an executive producer, Inti must raise financing from the development through the completion of film projects. Each project is of course different from the last. He and Alejandro Brugués were originally discussing working on a different sort of film, “Melaza”, but put it on hold and in 2010 and 2011 he worked instead on the commercial film, “Juan of the Dead”, which is the most exhibited film of Cuba.
“Juan of the Dead”, Cuba’s first truly independent movie, a zombie horror comedy was coproduced in 2011 by Spain's La Zanfoña Producciones, where it was post-produced, and Cuba's first independent production company Producciones de la 5ta Avenida which also produced “Personal Belongings” in 2006 and “Melaza” in 2012. The film was written and directed by Alejandro Brugués (“Personal Belongings”). It was executive produced by Inti Herrera, Claudia Calviño and Gervasio Iglesias.
The film was represented for international sales by Latinofusion, a Guadalajara based company sponsored by Universidad de Guadalajara and managed by Alfredo Calvino. It was shown in more than 50 festivals worldwide, winning 10 audience awards and the Spanish Film Academy’s Goya Award of the for best Iberoamerican film. It sold to 42 territories.
“Juan of the Dead” distributors:
Argentina (Condor/ Mirada), Bolivia (Londra Films P&D), Brazil (Imovision), Canada (A-z Films), Chile (Arcadia Films), Germany (Pandastorm Pictures), Hong Kong and Macau (Sundream Motion Pictures), Hungary (Ads Service), Italy ( Moviemax Media Group Spa), Japan (Fine Films), Latin American Pay TV (HBO Latin America), México and Central America (Canana), Netherlands (Filmfreak), Norway (Tromso International Film Festival), Puerto Rico (Wiesner), Russia and Cis territories (Cinema Prestige), Spain (Avalon), Switzerland (Ascot Elite), U.K and Ireland (Metrodome), U.S.(Theatrical Distributor Outsider Pictures, all other rights Focus World)
Today Inti is working with a new director, Alfredo Ureta on the Canadian coproduction and the first Cuban film in English. “Eating the Sun” is about a Canadian-Cuban couple who decides to live in Cuba. Before settling in they make a tour of the country and become involved in a psychological thriller. The Canadian producer is Gordon Weiske of Canwood Entertainment. They are discussing the male lead role with Kris Holden-Ried. The goal is to find new markets for this film, markets which Cuba has not targeted before.
Top 10 Films of Cuba is a selection of my own:
1. “Memorias del subdesarrollo” (“Memories of Underdevelopment”) (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, 1968)
2. “Lucia” (Humberto Solás, 1969)
3. “Vampiros en La Habana” (“Vampires in Havana”) (Juan Padrón, 1983)
4. “Soy Cuba” (“I am Cuba”) ( Mikhail Kalatozov, 1964)
5. “La bella del Alhambra” (“The beauty of the Alhambra”) (Enrique Pineda Barnet, 1989)
6. “Fresa y Chocolate” (“Strawberry and Chocolate”) (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío, 1993)
7. “Lista de Espera” (“The waiting list”) (Juan Carlos Tabío, 2000)
8. “Havana Suite” (“Suite Havana”) (Fernando Pérez, 2003)
9. “Juan of the Dead” (Alejandro Brugués, 2011)
10. “Melaza” (Carlos Lechuga, 2013)
[1] http://www.oncubamagazine.com/magazine/for-independent-and-industrial-cuban-cinema/
Cubacine. El Portal del Cine Cubano. http://www.cubacine.cu/index.html.
[ii] http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=99785#sthash.yCWbyCcU.dpuf
[iii] http://oncubamagazine.com/magazine-articles/for-independent-and-industrial-cuban-cinema/ Cubacine. El Portal del Cine Cubano. http://www.cubacine.cu/index.html.
[iv] http://www.cubarte.cult.cu/periodico/opinion/cineastas-cubanos-por-el-cine-cubano/24423.html
[v] http://www.cinelatinoamericano.org/ocal/direct.aspx?cod=1234
[vi] www.festivalcinepobre.org , www.cubacine.cu/cinepobre
[vii] www.cubacine.cu/festivalsantiagoalvarez/index.html
[viii] http://www.cinelatinoamericano.org/ocal/directorios.aspx?cod=8&par=2
[ix] www.olffi.com/...
Alison Klayman wrote to say "I know you said at least two films, but I wanted specifically to alert you to the fact that my film "The 100 Years Show" is also playing in the Panorama Documental sections (same as Pj Letofsky's film). "The 100 Years Show" is about 100-year old Cuban-American artist Carmen Herrera, and was produced with RatPac (Brett Ratner) Documentary Films. I'll be attending the festival too.
Alex Mallis wrote in to say: "Our short narrative, "La Noche buena" (the first American-directed since the embargo) is also screening at the festival.
Original Blog:
At least two films by American filmmakers will screen this year at the Havana Film Festival, whose official name is Festival de Cine Nuevo Latinamericano. As the Centerpiece Film, Bob Yari, producer of almost 50 films, will screen his second directed film “Papa” about Ernest Hemingway. It can be called “the first [official or legal] American film made in Havana in the last fifty years”, though underground films have been made (e.g., “Love & Suicide”). “Papa” is being sold at Afm by Elias Axume’s Premiere Entertainment.
Doc filmmaker Pj Letofsky will also be screening his film “ Tarkovsky: Time Within Time” which just premiered at the Sao Paolo Film Festival.
Many U.S. citizens are now interested in going to Havana. To give an in-depth look at Cuba’s film business, I am publishing a [long] chapter of what I hope will soon be published, my book on Iberoamerican film business. I will also be publishing another [shorter] interview here soon with Havana Film Festival Director, Ivan Giroud.
Cuba (Chapter Seven)
Officially the Republic of Cuba, or in Spanish, República de Cuba, the nation is comprised of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. To the north of Cuba lies the United States; the Bahamas are to the northeast, México to the west, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica to the south, and Haiti and the Dominican Republic are to the southeast.
Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, and with over 11 million inhabitants.
Cuba is undergoing a transition into a market, entrepreneurial economy under the Presidency of Raul Castro. With this transition, the cinema industry is also undergoing great changes. The state mandated organization, Icaic, which has been running the cinema industry, is now under scrutiny. New legislation concerning the film industry is slowly underway as a result of discussions ongoing within the film community. Hopefully the establishment of diplomatic relations will the U.S. last October will propel changes, though without lifting the embargo, it may not.
History of Cinema of Cuba
Cuba’s elite has always stayed in touch with the latest in culture as it developed in Europe during the Spanish colonial era. Cuba’s tradition of cinema dates back to 1897 when the Lumiére Brothers representative from France stopped in Havana to show their films on a tour of the Antilles Islands, México, Venezuela, and the Guineas. Cuba’s particular style of cinema, called the “Cinema of the Greater Antilles”, evolved from the theater of melodrama and comedy and from the radio dramas of Felix B. Caignet, all of which formed the popular melodramas and comedies we still see today.
Mexican coproductions and U.S. filmmakers escaping the monopolistic Edison came to Cuba as well as to California in the early days of film. Federico Garcia Lorca arrived in Cuba in 1930 with a screenplay, “Voyage of the Moon”, and a print of “Un Chien Andalou” hoping to break from the Paris-Berlin monopoly, but his plans never took shape. Many films from Spain, México, Argentina and Uruguay also played in Cuba. Some leading Cuban actors had a strong presence in México and Argentina. Musicians such as Ernesto Lecuona, Bola de Nieve and Rita Montaner performed in movies in several countries.
Cuba, along with Mexico and Argentina, has the most developed cinema culture of Latin America. At its most prosperous, it had the third largest number of theaters in Latin America until the special period when Ussr withdrew its support. Today it has 39 movie theaters. Three of them, including the Yara in Havana, had been built especially for 3D in the 1950s.
Movie going is one of Cuba’s national pastimes, rating perhaps as high as baseball. The average Cuban sees one and a half films a year. However, the lack of international appeal for most of its comedies and melodramas has held its international growth in check up to today. That is now changing.
The international nature of Cuban cinema was consciously defined after the Revolution of 1959 when the Institute for Cuban Art and Industry Cinematography (Icaic) was created by Fidel Castro and entrusted to his university classmate, Alfredo Guevara. The law creating Icaic was incorporated into the Cuban Constitution itself just three months after the Revolution and was an important part of the Nuevo Cine Latinoamerico, a movement throughout Latin America as the Latin American nations threw off their dictatorships. Film, according to this law, is "the most powerful and provocative form of artistic expression, and the most direct and widespread vehicle for education and bringing ideas to the public.”
Cinema was created for theatrical exhibition, for individuals and groups to share in smaller collectives, and for television.
The law ordaining Icaic to control every cinematographic activity created no further rules about financing, about submitting, reading and approving project proposals or regarding any required time frames. Icaic functions very internally with no outside surveillance.
Actually it is possible to make films without Icaic participation, the point is that without Icaic a film cannot get national distribution.
Over the past decade Icaic has loosened its monopolistic administration. Every sector and every level of cinema is discussing the concept of a new Law of Cinema with the government’s interest in formalizing as law a more inclusive infrastructure with more transparent rules and regulations.
Under the leadership of Raul Castro, the island has been undergoing a gradual economic reform process allowing entrepreneurs to license their own businesses after decades of state monopoly. The measures include the authorization of self-employment in more than 200 small trades and activities. According to the government, there are currently 442,000 registered as “self-employed”. The Castro administration hopes for this emerging sector to absorb over a million state workers to be laid off in the coming years.[ii]
In October 2014, the state closed down many private cinemas which had emerged avowing to the love of cinema of the people. Many were 3D “salons” in homes or in separate rooms in restaurants. Authorities pressed for "order, discipline and obedience" in the growing small business sector. Needless to say, the films shown were pirated and not licensed by the rights holders. Nor was there ever any official licensing to privately owned theaters (yet).
However, these could provide a good source of taxation. It needs to be decided what shall be taxed, how tax monies should be apportioned for film funding, film education, what tax incentives the government might offer, how distribution will be subsidized, how archives may be maintained and presented, how to regulate screenings, dvd, TV and online platforms, what cash incentives might bring in production from the outside, what joint ventures within the Caribbean might be developed and how Icaic is approaching and incorporating the changing environment. The Director of Icaic, Robert Smith de Castro. is facing more challenges than its previous longtime Director, Alfredo Guevera, ever faced when the government provided everything. Now it must find answers from its neighbors and its own internal producers and procedures.
In general, funding a film, renting equipment and shooting in Cuba all need to be approved by Icaic. This has changed somewhat as other players have come to take a role, like Rtv Commercial, which is in fact the production company of Cuban National Television.
Rtv Commercial coproduced the newest Cuban hit, “Conducta” (“Behavior”) with Icaic. It premiered at Ficg 2014 (Guadalajara International Film Festival) and played at Tiff 2014 and other festivals such as the Málaga Spanish Film Festival 2014 where it won five awards.
New Developments in Cuban Cinema
In 2014 there were 14 productions and coproductions made, compared to seven in 2009 and 4 in 2000 according to FnCl and Ocal, databases of Latin American film.
At Cannes’ Cinema du Monde in May 2014 and in San Sebastian’s Coproduction Forum, “ August” (“Agosto”) was one of 15 projects selected to be seen and discussed by the international community of sales, distribution and financial executives. Directed by Armando Capó Ramos and produced by La Feria Producciones’ Marcella Esquivel, it is a coproduction between Costa Rica and Cuba. It will shoot next year in Havana and is now raising funds through crowdfunding. Also featured among the 15 in San Sebastian was “Wolfdog” (“Hombre entre perro y lobo”) directed by Irene Gutiérrez and produced by El Viaje Films, a Spain-Cuba coproduction.
Seeking modes of financing outside of government funding began in 2002 with the Festival of New Filmmakers showcasing projects was created by young people outside the Icaic system. As a result of the 2002 event, five years later, a funding mechanism called Hacienda Cine was created by pulling productions from Icaic Cuban television into centers and foundations that have other areas for audiovisual production. Pitch sessions for each selected entity were set up. The prize for production services worth 20,000 Convertible Cuban Pesos (equivalent to Us $20,000) was set up by Icaic Production. There are currently also smaller groups creating smaller formats, scientific or otherwise who are fomenting alternative forms of financing as well.
Lia Rodriguez Nieto is an attorney who was mentored by and worked fourteen years, until his death, with Camilo Vives, Icaic’s head of production, first as an attorney and then as a producer. She has now taken charge of the industry section at the Havana Film Festival which Vives began in 2009. She and Antonio López, recently produced a Cuba-Panama-France coproduction “ El Acompañante” (“The Companion”) directed by Pavel Giroud. She states that over the last five to seven years, private (not state institutional) productions have co-existed with institutional production. However, it would be important for independent producers to have a more regulated and confident relationship with Icaic in a more normalized fashion in order to have easier access to filming permits, forms of financing, banking relations, coproduction treaties, and a number of other elements which are essential to film production.
Rebeca Chávez is a director and a member of one of the groups pushing for a new cinema law which will, in principle, establish a new system incorporating the democratic participation of all people in the business, including techs, writers, directors, producers, actors, etc. and where all will have a democratically designed access to funds. In1984 she began her career as documentary director and her work has been given different national and international awards. She is the second woman in Cuba who has made feature films. She has taught several seminars on theory and practice of documentary cinema and on the Cuban experience in the genre in different institutions in the United States, Puerto Rico, England and Spain. She has worked as advisor for scripts of documentaries and feature films.
It is most important that the state has the will to make these changes, and it has stated it is open to changing the laws. Omar González who succeeded Alfredo Guevara as the head of the Icaic was replaced in 2013 by 30 year Icaic employee Roberto Smith de Castro who is now faced with reorganizing Icaic and implementing new laws which are yet to be formulated. He is considered to be a patient and attentive man who listens and will work to incorporate the diverse opinions into a new working reality.
The son of the famed director Daniel Diaz Torres whose controversial film “Alicia en el pueblo de Maravillas” (“Alice in the City of Wonders”) in 1991 was so critical of the bureaucracy of the government at the time of the Soviet collapse that it caused the resignation of Icaic’s director Espinosa, independent producer Daniel Diaz Ravelo points out that the independent producer is neither legal nor illegal but exists in a sort of limbo, free to produce whatever he or she wants but needing legal sanctions to access necessary permits, equipment, etc. And a filmmaker has no bank account so fiscal responsibility is difficult. One must get a certificate from Icaic but there is no registration rule on how this is to be done.
And it gets more complicated. It is difficult to raise a Us$400,000 budget without networking with filmmakers from other countries and yet travel is not easy for Cubans. They can travel -- Cuba no longer has a problem with that -– but often they cannot get the visa required from the country they want or need to travel to. Daniel’s father had a problem in traveling to find financing for his last film, “La Pelicula de Ana” (“Ana's Movie”), from former producers of his films. It did receive some funding from Icaic and from former funding friend, Icestorm in Germany, and a loan from Ibermedia. Unfortunately Daniel Diaz Torres, Sr. recently died an early death and did not see the fruits of his labor in the 2013 Havana premiere.
The new generation today in Cuba is highly independent; it knows that diversity of film subjects and of filmmakers is key to Cuban cinema today and it is finding diverse sources of financing and distribution. It needs more information as well because everything depends upon contacts. Cineastes traveling to Cuba will find a vibrant group open to coproducing.
2015 marks the eighth year of the Havana Film Festival’s Works in Progress. The Post Production Award, Nuestra América Primera Copia, is an international competition for films from Latin America and from Cuba, with no restrictions; films can be produced by Icaic or independently. For example, in 2013 awards went to four films, one from Chile, “I’m Not Lorena” (“No Soy Lorena”), which premiered at Tiff 2014; one from Argentina, “La Salada”, which premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival 2014 and Tiff 2014; and two from Cuba -- one Icaic film, “His Wedding Dress” (“Vestido de novia”), and the independent, “Venice” which was also Tiff 2014.
Thanks to an initiative by La Muestra, a group of Cuban production companies (including several independent ones), once a year support is awarded to four or five projects by young filmmakers. The independent film “Melaza” by Carlos Lechuga with the 5ta Avenida Productions premiered on October 3, 2013.
Rubén Padrón Astorga, writing for On Cuba [iii], November-December 2013 [1] writes:
The best prospects for our cinema today emerged like an earthquake in late April of this year, when Kiki Álvarez, the director of “Jirafas”, “La ola” and “Marina” and “Venezia”, initiated a debate on the problems that the country has with two vital filmmaking processes (production and distribution). Close to 60 audiovisual makers responded with a meeting where they formed a Filmmakers Committee to represent the rest of the country’s professionals.
Soon after its creation, the Committee announced that its objectives included ensuring the active participation of Cuban filmmakers in every decision that was made about [our] cinema, and protecting and developing its production at the industrial and independent levels. At this time, they are working together with Icaic and the Ministry of Culture to pass a decree-law defining the autonomous audiovisual creator, which would legitimize filmmakers as a legal concept, with full rights to exercise their profession. However, the decree-law, which was drafted seven years ago and ratified by the most recent Uneac Congress, was rewritten by the Filmmakers Committee so that it is not limited to recognizing audiovisual practice as individual work, but as collective, and so that it legally protects independent producers.
This committee, together with the so-called Ministry of Culture Temporary Working Group for the Transformation of Icaic, is actively participating in drawing up a diagnosis of Cuban cinema’s problems, which will be followed with the drafting of policies and actions for solving those problems. This step will clear the way for the long-term creation of a comprehensive film law. This law, which would involve widening the scope of the law passed in 1959 for Icaic’s founding, or drafting a new one, would include the creation of a film commission that would support production and make it viable; a promotion fund that would be governed by an arts council, and to which all independent and institutional artists could aspire; financial incentives that would promote the support of private and state companies and sponsors; and a general legal framework that conceives of cinema systemically, inspired by the useful experiences that have taken place in other countries in the region, such as Colombia, Argentina, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic.
A convocation of cinema directors was held May 4, 2013 in Strawberry and Chocolate Cultural Center, Havana to address the need to participate in all plans and activities planned for Cuban cinema. The meeting chose a working group composed of Enrique Kiki Álvarez, Enrique Colina, Rebeca Chávez Lourdes de los Santos, Daniel Diaz Ravelo, Pavel Giroud, Magda González Grau, Inti Herrera, Senel Paz, Fernando Perez, Manuel Perez and Pedro L. Rodríguez.
The main objective of this group is to represent the filmmakers at all levels and events, promote and ensure the active participation of the same in all decisions and projects that relate to Cuban cinema, and strive for the protection and development of these arts and industries and their makers, which is our right and duty as protagonists of this art. At its first meeting, the group reached the following conclusions and agreements (verbatim):
1 -. We recognize the Cuban Film Institute and the Film Industry (Icaic) as the rector of the Cuban film industry state agency; born with the revolution and its long history is a legacy that belongs to all filmmakers. At the same time, we believe that the problems and projections of Cuban cinema today do not concern only the Icaic, but also other institutions and institutional groups or independently involved in their production, without whose help and commitment is not possible to achieve meaningful and lasting solutions. For that reason, its reorganization and promotion can not be done only in the context of this organism.
2 -. We understand the Cuban film produced through institutional, independent mechanisms, co-production with third or mixed formulas, and as filmmakers to all creators, technicians and Cuban specialists of these arts and industries that do their work inside or outside the institutions , whatever they may be aesthetic, content or affinity group. Consequently, it is imperative the adoption of Decree Law Media Creator recognition. This decree should be enriched with all additional legal supplements necessary.
3 -. We consider essential enacting a Film Law, whose production and given all participate and to be the legal body to order and protect the artistic and economic activity in the country.
4 -. We consider it important to study and implement a Film Development Fund, to which all authors in accessing equal rights and conditions, and open call to an independent jury whose selection parameter is the quality and feasibility of the whole project.
5 -. At this stage, the filmmakers give priority to the organization and remodeling of the methods of production and realization of works, the concept that these are, first and last instance being essentially the way we express ourselves and connect with the public. Similarly, we propose a systemic boost our activity covering the organization and remodeling of the forms of production, distribution, exhibition and national and international projection of Cuban cinema.
6 -. Start work, reviewing and updating the document "Proposals for a renewal of Cuban cinema", adopted at the Seventh Congress of the Uneac in 2008. As progress is made, they will be sharing all the proposals with the filmmakers.
7 -. Exchanging proposals and views with the State Commission working on the development of proposals for the transformation of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry.
8 -. To express our deep concern for all matters concerning international relations and Cuban cinema projection, which was a revolutionary vanguard movement in the Latin American and global context. We strive for a quick recovery and exchange relationships with filmmakers from Latin America and the world, and the continuity of the Festival of New Latin American Cinema, in its next edition turns 35.
9 -. This representation group performed their work in ongoing dialogue and communication with all filmmakers through regular meetings, which shall have the power to ratify or renew the group members, making decisions of common interest and to identify priorities and lines of job.
Filmmakers Group in the Assembly elected Cuban Filmmakers Saturday May 4 at the Centro Cultural Fresa y Chocolate, after its first meeting on May 8.
Havana, May 8, 2013. This was a verbatim article in Cubarte Magazine. [iv]
Festivals/ Markets
In 1979 Icaic created the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema aka Havana Film Festival as a way to disseminate its ethical convictions about developing film that was nonconformist, irreverent, critical of social injustice and rebellious against the pressures of the market across the continent. The event hosted over 600 filmmakers from Latin America and had as presidents of juries Gabriel García Márquez (Fiction ) and Santiago Álvarez (Documentaries and Cartoons.) The Coral Grand Prize winners were Geraldo Sarno (“Colonel Delmiro Gouveia”, Brazil) and Sergio Giral (“Maluala”, Cuba), in Fiction, Patricio Guzmán (“The Battle of Chile: the Struggle a People Without Arms”, Chile), Documentary, and Juan Padrón (“Elpidio Valdés”, Cuba) in Animation.
However, the contradiction of Icaic’s exercising a central control over maverick innovations is obvious since it controlled the production criteria and the right to decide what type of film was convenient to make and what was not.
An official competition of unpublished scripts for feature films is held by International Festival of New Latin American Cinema for authors from Latin America and the Caribbean for original scripts (no literary adaptations), written in Spanish and with Latin American themes. Scripts whose production rights have been transferred to third parties are not eligible. [v]
Icaic also supports the Festival Internacional de Cine Pobre de Humberto Solas[vi] for low budget films and Festival Internacional de Documentales “Santiago Alvarez in Memoriam”[vii].
Muestra Joven is a festival for Cuban youth with premiere fiction, doc and animated films. It has collateral activities of debates about the films in the festivals, master classes, meetings about contemporary issues and themes in the audiovisual community, workshps and onferences, poster exhibitions and homages.
In April 2014 the Mediateque of Women Directors, based in Cuba formally affiliated with The Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival in creating the the Caribbean Film Market. The project is also in association with The Foundation for Global Democracy and Development of the Dominican Republic, The Association for The Development of Art and Commercial Cinematography of Guadalupe, The Foundation for New Latinamerican Cinema, The Regional and International Film Festival of Guadalupe and the Mediateque of Women Directors.
Education
Icaic was in charge of training and promotion of talented young people not only in cinema but in other arts like music for which it created the Experimental Sound Group.
Isa
Most of the new independent filmmakers are young graduates of the Higher Art Institute’s (Isa) Faculty of Audiovisual Communication Media and its provincial affiliates. The University of Arts of Cuba - (Isa), Instituto Superior de Arte - was established on September 1, 1976 by the Cuban government as a school for the arts. Its original structure had three schools: Music, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts. At present the Isa has four schools, the previous three and the one for Arts and Audiovisual Communication Media. There are also four teaching schools in the provinces, one in Camagüey, two in Holguín and one in Santiago de Cuba. Isa offers pre-degree and post-degree courses, as well as a wide spectrum of brief and extension courses, including preparation for Cuban and foreign professors for a degree of Doctor on Sciences in Art. Predegree education has increased to five careers: Music, Visual Arts, Theatre Arts, Dance Arts and Arts and Audiovisual Communication Media. In 1996, the Isa established the National Award of Artistic Teaching, conceived for recognizing a lifework devoted to arts teaching.
Eictv
Eictv, the International School of Cinema and Television was founded December 15, 1986 at the Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana with the support of then-President Fidel Castro on the initiative of Latin American cultural figures such as Argentine director, “Father of the New Latin American Cinema”, Fernando Birri, Julio and Gabo and Colombian Nobel Prize winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez who donated his prize money to establish the school.. It is located in San Antonio de los Baños near Havana, on land donated by the Cuban government.
Hundreds of young students from all over Latin America have studied direction, script, photography and edition. Since its founding , 810 students have graduated and it has become one of the region’s most important and well-grounded cultural projects.
Students pay 15,000 euros (about $19,700) to attend for the full three-year program. The fee includes food, lodging and equipment. Tuition income accounts for just 15 percent of the school's budget. Funding comes from international agencies such as Ibermedia; countries including Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Panama; and regional organizations like the Alba alliance of leftist Latin American nations.
For the past eight years, Nuevas Miradas, organized by the Eictv Production Department has held its presentations at the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema for bringing new projects to the attention of international professionals.
Also in the late 1980s, Cuba created the Third World Film School to train students from various third world countries in the art of filmmaking.
Film Funding
Icaic has been the only body to fund films. How the selection of what films would receive funding has never been a public matter.
There are no instruments for private companies or individuals to contribute to film production in Cuba yet. There are however, international funds that may help finance films, such as Hubert Bals Fund from The Netherlands, World Cinema Fund from Germany, Fonds Sud from France, the Norwegian Fund, Sor Fond, Acp, etc. The best actively kept lists are found in Ocal[viii] and Online Film Financing [ix].
Coproduction with Cuba
As early as 1948 coproductions were common between Cuba and México. During the 70s and 80s Russian coproductions included Mikhail Kalatozov’s classic 1964 film “I Am Cuba” (“Soy Cuba”). Spain has played a role in coproducing Latin American and Cuban films since the 30s but in the 1990s it began to invest more heavily. In 1997 Ibermedia was created for the purpose of promoting coproduction between Spain and Latin American countries. Cuba is one of the fourteen countries involved in this organization.
In addition, Cuba has bilateral coproduction treaties with Italy, Canada, Venezuela, Spain and Chile. So far nothing has resulted from the Chile accord.
Two examples of Cuban coproduced films are Humberto Solás’ 1982 film “Cecilia” (Cuba - Spain) and Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío’s 1992 Academy Award-nominated “Strawberry and Chocolate” (“Fresa y chocolate”) (Cuba – México – Spain - U.S.).
In September 2013 at San Sebastian International Film Festival’s 2nd Europe-Latin America Coproduction Forum, “The Companion”/ "El Acompañante" won the Best Project Award sponsored by Spain’s Audiovisual Producers’ Rights Management Association Egeda and carrying a 10,000 Euros (Us$13,000) cash award.
This is the third feature of Giroud after “The Silly Age” and “Omerta”. It is a coproduction of Cuba, Venezuela’s NativaPro Cinematográfica and France’s Tu Vas Voir owned by Edgard Tenembaum who produced Walter Salles’ “The Motorcycle Diaries”. The film also obtained the collaboration of Programa Ibermedia and was selected for Cinemas du Monde.
Pavel Giroud is one of the most promising of young Cuban filmmakers today. “The Companion”/ "El Acompañante" is set in 1988 Havana and tells the story of the friendship which develops between Horacio Romero, a Cuban boxer who fails a drug test and a defiant patient at an AIDS center under military rule for whom Romero must serve as a warden or, in Cuban government parlance, a “companion”. Playing the role of Horacio is Yotuel Romero (Latin Grammy Award-winning and founding member of Cuban rap group Orishas). Orishas is one of the world’s most critically hailed Latin-urban artists. The co-protagonist is Cuban actor Armando Miguel Gómez who has received international recognition for his role in the recent films "Behavior”/ “Conducta" and “Melaza”. International sales are handled by the Brazil-based international sales agency, Habanero, which, coincidently is owned by Cuban Alfredo Calvino and Brazilian Patricial Martin who handle such outstanding films as “Juan on the Dead”, Carlos Lechuga’s “Melaza”, Sebastian Cordero’s “Pescador” and Francisco Franco’s “Last Call”. Habanero also sponsors distribution awards at Ficg and Ventana Sur’s Primer Corte, a showcase for pictures in post-production. All the updated information about these films, including festivals and awards is available at: www.habanerofilmsales.com.
Case Study of the Producer, Inti Hererra
Cuba’s first English language film, “Eating the Sun”, a coproduction with Canada, is being produced by Inti Herrera who also is heading the new night spot of avant garde popular entertainment, La Fabrica de Arte Cubano.
Inti Herrera, formerly of 5ta Avenida Productions and I first met in 2003 through the international sales agent Alfredo Calvino whose then-company Latinofusion was selling Inti’s first fiction feature, “Viva Cuba”, a road movie of two kids traveling across Cuba in search of one’s father.
Inti graduated Eictv and worked for a long time as an independent producer of documentaries.
In 2009, when Camilo Vives, Icaic’s head of production created the Industry Sector of the Havana Film Festival Inti became its director and managed it until 2010. In 2010 when he was still running the industry space he invited me to speak about New Media, and I spoke of Peter Broderick who was then invited to do a workshop at Eictv.
As an executive producer, Inti must raise financing from the development through the completion of film projects. Each project is of course different from the last. He and Alejandro Brugués were originally discussing working on a different sort of film, “Melaza”, but put it on hold and in 2010 and 2011 he worked instead on the commercial film, “Juan of the Dead”, which is the most exhibited film of Cuba.
“Juan of the Dead”, Cuba’s first truly independent movie, a zombie horror comedy was coproduced in 2011 by Spain's La Zanfoña Producciones, where it was post-produced, and Cuba's first independent production company Producciones de la 5ta Avenida which also produced “Personal Belongings” in 2006 and “Melaza” in 2012. The film was written and directed by Alejandro Brugués (“Personal Belongings”). It was executive produced by Inti Herrera, Claudia Calviño and Gervasio Iglesias.
The film was represented for international sales by Latinofusion, a Guadalajara based company sponsored by Universidad de Guadalajara and managed by Alfredo Calvino. It was shown in more than 50 festivals worldwide, winning 10 audience awards and the Spanish Film Academy’s Goya Award of the for best Iberoamerican film. It sold to 42 territories.
“Juan of the Dead” distributors:
Argentina (Condor/ Mirada), Bolivia (Londra Films P&D), Brazil (Imovision), Canada (A-z Films), Chile (Arcadia Films), Germany (Pandastorm Pictures), Hong Kong and Macau (Sundream Motion Pictures), Hungary (Ads Service), Italy ( Moviemax Media Group Spa), Japan (Fine Films), Latin American Pay TV (HBO Latin America), México and Central America (Canana), Netherlands (Filmfreak), Norway (Tromso International Film Festival), Puerto Rico (Wiesner), Russia and Cis territories (Cinema Prestige), Spain (Avalon), Switzerland (Ascot Elite), U.K and Ireland (Metrodome), U.S.(Theatrical Distributor Outsider Pictures, all other rights Focus World)
Today Inti is working with a new director, Alfredo Ureta on the Canadian coproduction and the first Cuban film in English. “Eating the Sun” is about a Canadian-Cuban couple who decides to live in Cuba. Before settling in they make a tour of the country and become involved in a psychological thriller. The Canadian producer is Gordon Weiske of Canwood Entertainment. They are discussing the male lead role with Kris Holden-Ried. The goal is to find new markets for this film, markets which Cuba has not targeted before.
Top 10 Films of Cuba is a selection of my own:
1. “Memorias del subdesarrollo” (“Memories of Underdevelopment”) (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, 1968)
2. “Lucia” (Humberto Solás, 1969)
3. “Vampiros en La Habana” (“Vampires in Havana”) (Juan Padrón, 1983)
4. “Soy Cuba” (“I am Cuba”) ( Mikhail Kalatozov, 1964)
5. “La bella del Alhambra” (“The beauty of the Alhambra”) (Enrique Pineda Barnet, 1989)
6. “Fresa y Chocolate” (“Strawberry and Chocolate”) (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío, 1993)
7. “Lista de Espera” (“The waiting list”) (Juan Carlos Tabío, 2000)
8. “Havana Suite” (“Suite Havana”) (Fernando Pérez, 2003)
9. “Juan of the Dead” (Alejandro Brugués, 2011)
10. “Melaza” (Carlos Lechuga, 2013)
[1] http://www.oncubamagazine.com/magazine/for-independent-and-industrial-cuban-cinema/
Cubacine. El Portal del Cine Cubano. http://www.cubacine.cu/index.html.
[ii] http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=99785#sthash.yCWbyCcU.dpuf
[iii] http://oncubamagazine.com/magazine-articles/for-independent-and-industrial-cuban-cinema/ Cubacine. El Portal del Cine Cubano. http://www.cubacine.cu/index.html.
[iv] http://www.cubarte.cult.cu/periodico/opinion/cineastas-cubanos-por-el-cine-cubano/24423.html
[v] http://www.cinelatinoamericano.org/ocal/direct.aspx?cod=1234
[vi] www.festivalcinepobre.org , www.cubacine.cu/cinepobre
[vii] www.cubacine.cu/festivalsantiagoalvarez/index.html
[viii] http://www.cinelatinoamericano.org/ocal/directorios.aspx?cod=8&par=2
[ix] www.olffi.com/...
- 11/19/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
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