The 49th edition of Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival, Spain’s largest confab for films from Latin America, Spain and Portugal, will honor Mexican star Cecilia Suárez with its City of Huelva Award.
With leading roles in Netflix’s “The House of Flowers” and HBO Latin America’s “Capadocia,” Suárez has also be seen in ABC’s drama “The Promised Land” and has worked on films by as Tommy Lee Jones (“The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada”), James L. Brooks (“Spanglish”), Ernesto Contreras (“Párpados azules”), Antonio Serrano and Fernando Colomo (“Cuidado con lo que deseas”).
The new edition of Huelva runs Nov. 10-18.
Andalusia’s oldest film festival, Huelva will also grant a Light Award to Spanish actress Natalia de Molina, a two-time Goya winner, delivering acclaimed performance in films such as David Trueba’s “Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed” and Juan Miguel del Castillo’s “Food and Shelter.”
Another...
With leading roles in Netflix’s “The House of Flowers” and HBO Latin America’s “Capadocia,” Suárez has also be seen in ABC’s drama “The Promised Land” and has worked on films by as Tommy Lee Jones (“The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada”), James L. Brooks (“Spanglish”), Ernesto Contreras (“Párpados azules”), Antonio Serrano and Fernando Colomo (“Cuidado con lo que deseas”).
The new edition of Huelva runs Nov. 10-18.
Andalusia’s oldest film festival, Huelva will also grant a Light Award to Spanish actress Natalia de Molina, a two-time Goya winner, delivering acclaimed performance in films such as David Trueba’s “Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed” and Juan Miguel del Castillo’s “Food and Shelter.”
Another...
- 11/10/2023
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Coming-of-age films are the most endearing of all the genres across the spectrum. It allows the viewers to see a person transform into a better person, not just for society but for themselves. Their personal growth is their biggest victory. Where the Tracks end, directed by Ernesto Contreras, is a Mexican Netflix original about a boy who is keen on learning and reading, and he finally gets someone to help him with it. Will the boy succeed in reaching his goal, or will he give up because of the obstacles? Released on May 27, 2023, the movie is an endearing tale of growth and compassion.
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Synopsis: What Happens In ‘Where The Tracks End’ Film?
Where the Tracks end begins with Ikal getting familiar with his new surroundings. The boy is not used to making friends because his father’s job involves his family having to live like nomads. This...
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Synopsis: What Happens In ‘Where The Tracks End’ Film?
Where the Tracks end begins with Ikal getting familiar with his new surroundings. The boy is not used to making friends because his father’s job involves his family having to live like nomads. This...
- 5/28/2023
- by Smriti Kannan
- Film Fugitives
Ernesto Contreras has the ability to spot poetry in the smallest of things. Even the title of his 2017 film, I Dream in Another Language, speaks volumes about the kind of world it engages in. However, it is one thing to spot poetry and completely another to be able to capture it. He is able to spot tenderness and truth in the world around him, but what appears to be the problem is the translation of that poetic truth on screen. His 2017 film suffered from the same problem of not being able to take a moment of truth to the next level, and that’s what happens in Where the Tracks End. It is the story of a boy named Ikal living in a railcar in rural Mexico and how he manages to scrape through the troubles of living a life on the margins.
There are multiple ‘tracks’ that the story...
There are multiple ‘tracks’ that the story...
- 5/28/2023
- by Shreyas Pande
- Film Fugitives
The Last Wagon is a Mexican movie directed by Ernesto Contreras and starring Adriana Barraza and Guillermo Villegas.
This movie is all about education and the importance of being a dedicated teacher. It’s the kind of film that has a strong message to teach us and inspire us to learn. If you’re someone who enjoys learning life lessons and exploring themes of compassion, fairness, and the goodness of people, then you’ll definitely want to check this movie out.
About the film
This film is technically well-made, but it doesn’t focus on displaying its technical virtues. Instead, it aims to teach us about life and evoke a range of emotions. It pays tribute to teachers and uses melodrama to achieve its goals.
Although this may not appeal to everyone, the film has a good screenplay and takes us on an interesting journey of discovery. The attention to...
This movie is all about education and the importance of being a dedicated teacher. It’s the kind of film that has a strong message to teach us and inspire us to learn. If you’re someone who enjoys learning life lessons and exploring themes of compassion, fairness, and the goodness of people, then you’ll definitely want to check this movie out.
About the film
This film is technically well-made, but it doesn’t focus on displaying its technical virtues. Instead, it aims to teach us about life and evoke a range of emotions. It pays tribute to teachers and uses melodrama to achieve its goals.
Although this may not appeal to everyone, the film has a good screenplay and takes us on an interesting journey of discovery. The attention to...
- 5/26/2023
- by Veronica Loop
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
Federation Studios has nabbed worldwide distribution rights to French political comedy and Series Mania winner Under Control.
The six-part series took home the award for Best Series in the French category at the Lille festival last week. Federation, which had Bardot and Six Women in competition for the same award, will now take it to the international market.
It follows Marie Tessier, a 45-year-old director of the fictional Ngo Doctors of the World, who is appointed France’s Secretary of State, just as five Europeans, including two French people, are taken hostage by terrorists in Sahel. She immediately goes rogue while striving to make it look like everything’s under control.
The show is produced by Ex Nihilo and written by Charly Delward in collaboration with Erwan Le Duc and César Award nominee Benjamin Charbit. Cast includes Léa Drucker, Samir Guesmi and Laurent Stocker.
The six-part series took home the award for Best Series in the French category at the Lille festival last week. Federation, which had Bardot and Six Women in competition for the same award, will now take it to the international market.
It follows Marie Tessier, a 45-year-old director of the fictional Ngo Doctors of the World, who is appointed France’s Secretary of State, just as five Europeans, including two French people, are taken hostage by terrorists in Sahel. She immediately goes rogue while striving to make it look like everything’s under control.
The show is produced by Ex Nihilo and written by Charly Delward in collaboration with Erwan Le Duc and César Award nominee Benjamin Charbit. Cast includes Léa Drucker, Samir Guesmi and Laurent Stocker.
- 3/27/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
With Series Mania 2023 coming to a close, the event’s founder and general director Laurence Herszberg announced the winners of the Series Mania Festival today.
”We would first like to thank the public and the professionals who attended this edition, which brought together more than 85,000 participants for the Festival and 3,800 participants from 64 countries for the Forum. We are delighted to announce our prize list and figures that have far exceeded our expectations,” said Herszberg.
With the rise of streaming across the world, Series Mania has become one of the most attractive events in the global TV calendar. It’s largely looked at as a place where writers, distributors and producers can liase with each other in a less formal setting than compared to a TV sales market. It includes not just the festival, the Forum, key conferences, keynotes, and pitching sessions.
This year the festival screened 54 unreleased series, with 32 world premieres and 10 international premieres.
”We would first like to thank the public and the professionals who attended this edition, which brought together more than 85,000 participants for the Festival and 3,800 participants from 64 countries for the Forum. We are delighted to announce our prize list and figures that have far exceeded our expectations,” said Herszberg.
With the rise of streaming across the world, Series Mania has become one of the most attractive events in the global TV calendar. It’s largely looked at as a place where writers, distributors and producers can liase with each other in a less formal setting than compared to a TV sales market. It includes not just the festival, the Forum, key conferences, keynotes, and pitching sessions.
This year the festival screened 54 unreleased series, with 32 world premieres and 10 international premieres.
- 3/24/2023
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
The Iranian series The Actor from director Nima Javidi picked up the top Grand Prize jury award at Series Mania, the international TV festival that wrapped in Lille, France on Friday night.
The drama from Iran is led by the Venice best actor winner Navid Mohammadzadeh and follows two down and out actors struggling to make ends meet as they run a derelict theater in Tehran with wealthy Iranians as patrons.
The international jury, led by screenwriter and producer Lisa Joy, also gave its best actor trophy to Michael Sheen for his performance the U.K. series Best Interests, while the best actress prize went to Margot Mancilhon for her star turn in the French series Haven of Grace.
The Series Mania international jury also gave the best writing trophy to John Kâre Raake for The Fortress series from Norway.
In other prize giving, the International Panorama jury, led by French writer Herve Le Tellier,...
The drama from Iran is led by the Venice best actor winner Navid Mohammadzadeh and follows two down and out actors struggling to make ends meet as they run a derelict theater in Tehran with wealthy Iranians as patrons.
The international jury, led by screenwriter and producer Lisa Joy, also gave its best actor trophy to Michael Sheen for his performance the U.K. series Best Interests, while the best actress prize went to Margot Mancilhon for her star turn in the French series Haven of Grace.
The Series Mania international jury also gave the best writing trophy to John Kâre Raake for The Fortress series from Norway.
In other prize giving, the International Panorama jury, led by French writer Herve Le Tellier,...
- 3/24/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Lille, France — Headed by a commanding performance from Navid Mohammadzadeh, superbly shot and packing arguably the best opening scene of any series in Series Mania main competition, Navid Javidi’s “The Actor” won the Grand Prize at Series Mania on Friday night.
The top Series Mania award for the “The Actor” also proves vindication for the Festival which this year has broadened its geographical reach in an effort to discover new narrative modes and styles. Consistently subordinating narrative to mood, “The Actor” certainly wins on that score.
Main scribe John Kåre Raake (“The Quake”) and co-scribe Linn-Jeanethe Kyed (“Bø”) scooped best writing for “The Fortress,” a banner upcoming Viaplay title produced by Norway’s Maipo Film and sold by TrustNordisk, which delivers a telling political cautionary tale for our times, a chic isolationist parable thriller set in an alternative Norway which has built a wall to keep foreigners out. When a virus strikes,...
The top Series Mania award for the “The Actor” also proves vindication for the Festival which this year has broadened its geographical reach in an effort to discover new narrative modes and styles. Consistently subordinating narrative to mood, “The Actor” certainly wins on that score.
Main scribe John Kåre Raake (“The Quake”) and co-scribe Linn-Jeanethe Kyed (“Bø”) scooped best writing for “The Fortress,” a banner upcoming Viaplay title produced by Norway’s Maipo Film and sold by TrustNordisk, which delivers a telling political cautionary tale for our times, a chic isolationist parable thriller set in an alternative Norway which has built a wall to keep foreigners out. When a virus strikes,...
- 3/24/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Event wrapped in Lille against backdrop of nationwide unrest in France.
Navid Javidi’s The Actor starring Navid Mohammadzadeh was awarded the International Competition grand prize at 2023 Series Mania in the first year in which content from Iran participated in the event in Lille, France.
Series Mania founder and general director Laurence Herszberg summed up the event as it came to a close, noting that this year’s edition drew more than 85,000 festival participants – representing a significant increase on last year’s 70,000 – and around 3,800 from 64 countries for the industry forum.
Besides Iran, debutant participating countries included Japan, Argentina, UAE, Turkey,...
Navid Javidi’s The Actor starring Navid Mohammadzadeh was awarded the International Competition grand prize at 2023 Series Mania in the first year in which content from Iran participated in the event in Lille, France.
Series Mania founder and general director Laurence Herszberg summed up the event as it came to a close, noting that this year’s edition drew more than 85,000 festival participants – representing a significant increase on last year’s 70,000 – and around 3,800 from 64 countries for the industry forum.
Besides Iran, debutant participating countries included Japan, Argentina, UAE, Turkey,...
- 3/24/2023
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Series Mania has always been about discovery: Of drama series as an art form, in its early days from launch in 2009; then of key players on a burgeoning international premium TV scene.
Series Mania’s International Panorama now catches a new wave of creatives transitioning from film to scripted TV – Israel’s Yaron Shani with “Innermost,” Spain’s Isaki Lacuesta and Isa Campo with episodes of “Apagón”; and highlights notable emerging auteurs: Denmark’s Kasper Møller Rask, Canada’s Alexis Durand-Brault, Spain’s Fran Araujo, Pakistan’s Assim Abassi and Germany’s Jakob and Jonas Weydemann.
But for having already bowed at national festivals, some of the 12 titles below could well have been in the running for a Competition berth.
Below, the Series Mania’s rich 2023 International Panorama:
“Apagón,” (“Offworld,” Spain)
One of Variety’s Best International TV Shows of 2022, a realistic, sophisticated disaster thriller from Movistar+ and Buendía Estudios...
Series Mania’s International Panorama now catches a new wave of creatives transitioning from film to scripted TV – Israel’s Yaron Shani with “Innermost,” Spain’s Isaki Lacuesta and Isa Campo with episodes of “Apagón”; and highlights notable emerging auteurs: Denmark’s Kasper Møller Rask, Canada’s Alexis Durand-Brault, Spain’s Fran Araujo, Pakistan’s Assim Abassi and Germany’s Jakob and Jonas Weydemann.
But for having already bowed at national festivals, some of the 12 titles below could well have been in the running for a Competition berth.
Below, the Series Mania’s rich 2023 International Panorama:
“Apagón,” (“Offworld,” Spain)
One of Variety’s Best International TV Shows of 2022, a realistic, sophisticated disaster thriller from Movistar+ and Buendía Estudios...
- 3/18/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
#QueMéxicoSeVea designed to showcase work of local industry.
Netflix has announced the latest film from Fernando Frias and the feature directorial debut of cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto as it launches an initiative to raise the profile of local filmmakers in the run-up to Mexico’s national cinema day on Monday (August 15).
Under #QueMéxicoSeVea, which translates as Let Mexico Be Seen, Netflix will present the latest from Frias – I Don’t Expect Anyone To Believe Me (No Voy A Pedirle A Nadie Que Me Crea) – whose I’m No Longer Here was acquired by the streamer and represented Mexico in the international feature...
Netflix has announced the latest film from Fernando Frias and the feature directorial debut of cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto as it launches an initiative to raise the profile of local filmmakers in the run-up to Mexico’s national cinema day on Monday (August 15).
Under #QueMéxicoSeVea, which translates as Let Mexico Be Seen, Netflix will present the latest from Frias – I Don’t Expect Anyone To Believe Me (No Voy A Pedirle A Nadie Que Me Crea) – whose I’m No Longer Here was acquired by the streamer and represented Mexico in the international feature...
- 8/13/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Netflix has reaffirmed its 300 million commitment to Mexican cinema and series, announcing a slew of new movie projects to celebrate the country’s National Day of Cinema on Aug. 15 and as part of its #QueMéxicoSeVea initiative.
The year-old initiative, which can be roughly translated to “Let Mexico Be Seen” has the mission “to make visible the work of Mexican creators, screenwriters, writers, directors, actors and people who make national cinema possible,” as well as its wealth of original stories.
Leading the pack is the widely anticipated directorial debut of Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto who is helming an adaptation of Juan Rulfo’s seminal novel, “Pedro Paramo.” Produced by Redrum, the film’s crew includes Oscar-nominated production designer Eugenio Caballero and costume designer Anna Terrazas, whose notable credits include “Roma,” “Spectre” and “Bardo.”
“Our commitment to Mexican culture also includes adapting great Mexican works to the cinema, and ‘Pedro Páramo’ will...
The year-old initiative, which can be roughly translated to “Let Mexico Be Seen” has the mission “to make visible the work of Mexican creators, screenwriters, writers, directors, actors and people who make national cinema possible,” as well as its wealth of original stories.
Leading the pack is the widely anticipated directorial debut of Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto who is helming an adaptation of Juan Rulfo’s seminal novel, “Pedro Paramo.” Produced by Redrum, the film’s crew includes Oscar-nominated production designer Eugenio Caballero and costume designer Anna Terrazas, whose notable credits include “Roma,” “Spectre” and “Bardo.”
“Our commitment to Mexican culture also includes adapting great Mexican works to the cinema, and ‘Pedro Páramo’ will...
- 8/11/2022
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Filmmaking brothers Carlos Contreras and Ernesto Contreras have partnered for the immigrant drama Crossing Borders for Latitude Media and Wink Pictures.
Based on a true story, the film follows a 14-year-old immigrant who flees rape and abuse in her native Guatemala. While in Florida, she gives birth to a premature baby and is later wrongfully charged with the murder of the child. A young female lawyer takes on the case and fights for years against stereotypes, systemic racism and a corrupt system to bring vindication to the young woman. Carlos Carlos Contreras wrote the script while Ernesto Contreras will direct.
“What fascinates me about this story is seeing a person slowly discover the depth of her commitment to finding justice, to doing what is right,” said Carlos Contreras of the very timely story of immigrants and social justice. “She becomes a hero without ever setting out to be one,...
Based on a true story, the film follows a 14-year-old immigrant who flees rape and abuse in her native Guatemala. While in Florida, she gives birth to a premature baby and is later wrongfully charged with the murder of the child. A young female lawyer takes on the case and fights for years against stereotypes, systemic racism and a corrupt system to bring vindication to the young woman. Carlos Carlos Contreras wrote the script while Ernesto Contreras will direct.
“What fascinates me about this story is seeing a person slowly discover the depth of her commitment to finding justice, to doing what is right,” said Carlos Contreras of the very timely story of immigrants and social justice. “She becomes a hero without ever setting out to be one,...
- 7/7/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
As the global film industry faced dire circumstances in recent months, Mexican filmmakers contended with a more specific threat. In early April, the country’s president attempted to eliminate critical funding that has supported generations of acclaimed Mexican filmmakers. The pushback culminated in a dramatic confrontation, with filmmakers such as Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro G. Iñarritu, and Alfonso Cuarón taking a stand to salvage these resources. Their successful efforts — for now, at least — cast light on a community reliant on national support.
Mexico’s film industry has seen astounding growth over the last two decades, in quantity and quality. The defining catalyst remains the creation of two government funds, Forprocine and Fidecine, in the late ‘90s. For several decades prior to these funds, Mexican cinema stagnated, producing less than 10 films per year. Last year, 200 completed features set a new record.
The success of these financing mechanisms is undeniable. Not only...
Mexico’s film industry has seen astounding growth over the last two decades, in quantity and quality. The defining catalyst remains the creation of two government funds, Forprocine and Fidecine, in the late ‘90s. For several decades prior to these funds, Mexican cinema stagnated, producing less than 10 films per year. Last year, 200 completed features set a new record.
The success of these financing mechanisms is undeniable. Not only...
- 5/30/2020
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Indiewire
Feature takes place in the Paraguayan Chaco region, site of intense deforestation.
Amsterdam-based production outfit Revolver Amsterdam has boarded Memories From The Forest, the upcoming feature from Paraguayan director Paz Encina whose Paraguayan Hammock won the Cannes Un Certain Regard Fipresci Prize in 2006.
The film takes place in the Paraguayan Chaco region on the border with Bolivia that faces rapid deforestation, and explores the plight of the endangered Ayoreos indigenous people, who inhabit a small territory that remains untouched.
Silence Cine from Paraguay is producing in co-production with Revolver Amsterdam, Black Forest Films from Germany, Mpm from France, Louverture Films from the Us,...
Amsterdam-based production outfit Revolver Amsterdam has boarded Memories From The Forest, the upcoming feature from Paraguayan director Paz Encina whose Paraguayan Hammock won the Cannes Un Certain Regard Fipresci Prize in 2006.
The film takes place in the Paraguayan Chaco region on the border with Bolivia that faces rapid deforestation, and explores the plight of the endangered Ayoreos indigenous people, who inhabit a small territory that remains untouched.
Silence Cine from Paraguay is producing in co-production with Revolver Amsterdam, Black Forest Films from Germany, Mpm from France, Louverture Films from the Us,...
- 12/16/2019
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
Luke Lorentzen’s feature documentary premiered at Sundance.
Luke Lorentzen’s feature documentary Midnight Family, about a struggling, family-run ambulance service in Mexico City, won the best Mexican film award, worth $25,000 as the Guadalajara International Film Festival came to a close. The film made its world premiere at Sundance in January.
Jaime Rosales’ Petra won the $12,500 award for best Iberoamerican film, while Ricardo Calil’s Brazilian feature Cinema Morocco won the best Iberomerican documentary prize, worth $7,500. The $5,000 audience award went to Acelo Ruiz’s Mexican feature Oblatos.
The festival’s new competitive international animation section awarded its main prize to...
Luke Lorentzen’s feature documentary Midnight Family, about a struggling, family-run ambulance service in Mexico City, won the best Mexican film award, worth $25,000 as the Guadalajara International Film Festival came to a close. The film made its world premiere at Sundance in January.
Jaime Rosales’ Petra won the $12,500 award for best Iberoamerican film, while Ricardo Calil’s Brazilian feature Cinema Morocco won the best Iberomerican documentary prize, worth $7,500. The $5,000 audience award went to Acelo Ruiz’s Mexican feature Oblatos.
The festival’s new competitive international animation section awarded its main prize to...
- 3/19/2019
- by Alexis Grivas
- ScreenDaily
Luke Lorentzen’s feature documentary premiered at Sundance.
Luke Lorentzen’s feature documentary Midnight Family, about a struggling, family-run ambulance service in Mexico City, won the best Mexican film award, worth $25,000 as the Guadalajara International Film Festival came to a close. The film made its world premiere at Sundance in January.
Jaime Rosales’ Petra won the $12,500 award for best Iberoamerican film, while Ricardo Calil’s Brazilian feature Cinema Morocco won the best Iberomerican documentary prize, worth $7,500. The $5,000 audience award went to Acelo Ruiz’s Mexican feature Oblatos.
The festival’s new competitive international animation section awarded its main prize to...
Luke Lorentzen’s feature documentary Midnight Family, about a struggling, family-run ambulance service in Mexico City, won the best Mexican film award, worth $25,000 as the Guadalajara International Film Festival came to a close. The film made its world premiere at Sundance in January.
Jaime Rosales’ Petra won the $12,500 award for best Iberoamerican film, while Ricardo Calil’s Brazilian feature Cinema Morocco won the best Iberomerican documentary prize, worth $7,500. The $5,000 audience award went to Acelo Ruiz’s Mexican feature Oblatos.
The festival’s new competitive international animation section awarded its main prize to...
- 3/19/2019
- by Alexis Grivas
- ScreenDaily
Guadalajara, Mexico — Mexico’s Ernesto Contreras, best known for his lauded Sundance Audience Award winner “I Dream in Another Language” is preparing his next feature film, “Cosas Imposibles” (“Impossible Things”).
“I Dream…” producers Monica Lozano and Eamon O’Farrill of Alebrije Prods. and Luis Albores and Érika Ávila of Contreras’ Agencia Sha, are re-teaming to make the dramedy.
Set in a Mexico City housing complex, “Impossible Things” turns on a woman in her 60s whose dead abusive husband continues to torment her, but only in her head. She strikes an unlikely friendship with a troubled 19-year-old neighbor. Together they help each other to shake off their inner demons.
Story is by novice writer Fanie Soto, a Guadalajara native, whose first script won the Matilde Landeta top award given to female scriptwriters. “I was intrigued by what the juror said about it and asked to read it,” said Contreras, adding: “I...
“I Dream…” producers Monica Lozano and Eamon O’Farrill of Alebrije Prods. and Luis Albores and Érika Ávila of Contreras’ Agencia Sha, are re-teaming to make the dramedy.
Set in a Mexico City housing complex, “Impossible Things” turns on a woman in her 60s whose dead abusive husband continues to torment her, but only in her head. She strikes an unlikely friendship with a troubled 19-year-old neighbor. Together they help each other to shake off their inner demons.
Story is by novice writer Fanie Soto, a Guadalajara native, whose first script won the Matilde Landeta top award given to female scriptwriters. “I was intrigued by what the juror said about it and asked to read it,” said Contreras, adding: “I...
- 3/13/2019
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Ernesto Contreras' I Dream in Another Language (Sueno en Otro Idioma), a drama about forbidden love and a dying Mexican dialect, racked up 16 nominations, including a best picture mention, for Mexico's 60th Ariel Awards.
I Dream in Another Language made its world premiere last year at Sundance and took home the Audience Award in the festival's world cinema dramatic competition.
Contreras, currently president of the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences, will face stiff competition in the best picture category. Other nominees include Amat Escalante's The Untamed (La Region Salvaje), best director winner at Venice; Sebastian Hofmann's Time...
I Dream in Another Language made its world premiere last year at Sundance and took home the Audience Award in the festival's world cinema dramatic competition.
Contreras, currently president of the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences, will face stiff competition in the best picture category. Other nominees include Amat Escalante's The Untamed (La Region Salvaje), best director winner at Venice; Sebastian Hofmann's Time...
- 4/23/2018
- by John Hecht
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ernesto Contreras' <em>I Dream in Another Language</em> (<em>Sueno en Otro Idioma</em>), a drama about forbidden love and a dying Mexican dialect, racked up 16 nominations, including a best picture mention, for Mexico's 60th Ariel Awards.
<em>I Dream in Another Language</em> made its world premiere last year at Sundance and took home the Audience Award in the festival's world cinema dramatic competition.
Contreras, currently president of the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences, will face stiff competition in the best picture category. Other nominees include Amat Escalante's <em>The Untamed</em> (<em>La Region Salvaje</em>), best director winner at Venice; Sebastian Hofmann's ...
<em>I Dream in Another Language</em> made its world premiere last year at Sundance and took home the Audience Award in the festival's world cinema dramatic competition.
Contreras, currently president of the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences, will face stiff competition in the best picture category. Other nominees include Amat Escalante's <em>The Untamed</em> (<em>La Region Salvaje</em>), best director winner at Venice; Sebastian Hofmann's ...
- 4/23/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
In a bid to keep up with the fast-evolving TV viewing habits of its audience, Telemundo has launched a new Sunday night drama franchise billed as “Series Premium.”
The new weekly program aims to bring a host of high-concept series that run 10 to 15 episodes per season, a big shift from the traditional telenovela focus of Spanish-language TV. The initial roster of shows for the Sunday night showcase include “El Recluso,” bio-series “Nicky Jam: El Ganador,” crime drama “Falco,” and “El Secreto de Selena,” among others.
“Our objective is to carve a space on Sunday nights with shorter, high-value, high-ip stories, featuring world- class talent,” said Luis Silberwasser, president of Telemundo Networks. Telemundo recently tapped former Univision programming exec Ronald Day to serve as exec VP of Programming for Telemundo Networks.
Telemundo’s push into recurring series that mirror the offerings of English-language networks reflect the NBCUniversal network’s push to draw a younger audience.
The new weekly program aims to bring a host of high-concept series that run 10 to 15 episodes per season, a big shift from the traditional telenovela focus of Spanish-language TV. The initial roster of shows for the Sunday night showcase include “El Recluso,” bio-series “Nicky Jam: El Ganador,” crime drama “Falco,” and “El Secreto de Selena,” among others.
“Our objective is to carve a space on Sunday nights with shorter, high-value, high-ip stories, featuring world- class talent,” said Luis Silberwasser, president of Telemundo Networks. Telemundo recently tapped former Univision programming exec Ronald Day to serve as exec VP of Programming for Telemundo Networks.
Telemundo’s push into recurring series that mirror the offerings of English-language networks reflect the NBCUniversal network’s push to draw a younger audience.
- 4/22/2018
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Underscoring the growing interest in Latinx fare among pay TV and Svod companies, premium pay TV outlet Starz has snapped up Hilda Hidalgo’s “Violeta at Last,” which now screens at the Iff Panama.
Starz will start airing “Violeta” in August, according to its sales agent Alfredo Calviño of Habanero Film Sales. Inspired by Hidalgo’s mother, “Violeta at Last” turns on a woman in her seventies who finds new freedom in her winter years. “Violeta” is co-produced by Mexico’s Laura Imperiale of Cacerola Films who also co-produced Hidalgo’s first film, “Of Love and Other Demons,” and is a juror at Iff Panama’s Works in progress section, Primera Mirada.
“Violeta” is slated to premiere in Mexico on May 11 at the Cineteca Nacional of México City and in five other cities, said Hidalgo. “Laura, myself and my lead Eugenia Chaverri will be there to present it,” said Hidalgo,...
Starz will start airing “Violeta” in August, according to its sales agent Alfredo Calviño of Habanero Film Sales. Inspired by Hidalgo’s mother, “Violeta at Last” turns on a woman in her seventies who finds new freedom in her winter years. “Violeta” is co-produced by Mexico’s Laura Imperiale of Cacerola Films who also co-produced Hidalgo’s first film, “Of Love and Other Demons,” and is a juror at Iff Panama’s Works in progress section, Primera Mirada.
“Violeta” is slated to premiere in Mexico on May 11 at the Cineteca Nacional of México City and in five other cities, said Hidalgo. “Laura, myself and my lead Eugenia Chaverri will be there to present it,” said Hidalgo,...
- 4/9/2018
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Amazon Prime Video is taking Mexican crime drama Falco, a remake of German procedural The Last Cop, across Latin America. The Svod service has struck a deal with Spiral International and Narcos producer Dynamo to air the local remake of the Red Arrow Studios format. The 15-part series, which is based on the show originally produced by ITV Studios Germany for Sat.1, will star Michel Brown and is directed and showrun by El Chapo's Ernesto Contreras. The drama, which is set…...
- 3/22/2018
- Deadline TV
2017… The year in which the Mexican Senate came up, out of nowhere, with the National Day of Mexican Cinema, a joke that - rather than an initiative of promotion and recognition - ended up being a vile movie marathon at Cineteca Nacional of overused contemporary films. Was it really necessary to screen yet again Güeros and The Amazing Catfish? The year when it was presented the governmental program Ruta Mx, which failed spectacularly to the promise of premiering 80 films supported with public money within 12 months. The year that saw the new administration of the Mexican Academy starting on the wrong foot, as its president, director Ernesto Contreras, presented at a press conference a workplan full of intentions rather than real proposals; as...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 2/19/2018
- Screen Anarchy
I Dream In Another Language (Sueño en otro idioma) FilmRise Director: Ernesto Contreras Written by: Carlos Contreras Cast: Fernando Álvarez Rebeil, Eligio Meléndez, Manuel Poncelis, Fátima Molina Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 7/20/17 Opens: July 28, 2017 Latin is considered a dead language but compared to Zikril, the idiom of the Church would be almost […]
The post I Dream in Another Language Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post I Dream in Another Language Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 7/27/2017
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Exclusive: Mexican director made waves in Sundance with I Dream In Another Language.
Mexican filmmaker Ernesto Contreras has signed with Valor Entertainment and The Paradigm Agency.
Contreras earned wider international renown with his fourth feature I Dream In Another Language (Sueño en Otro Idioma), which premiered in Sundance back in January.
The drama – about a linguist who uncovers a unique story when he meets the last speakers of a dying language in a remote Mexican village – received backing some years ago from the Sundance Institute’s Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award.
It went on to win this year’s World Cinema Dramatic audience award in Park City and Film Rise acquired North American rights from international sales agent Mundial, the Latino subsidiary of Im Global.
Contreras recently directed half of the new series El Chapo for Univision Communication’s Story House Entertainment and Netflix, based on the life of Mexican cartel head Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman. The show premiered...
Mexican filmmaker Ernesto Contreras has signed with Valor Entertainment and The Paradigm Agency.
Contreras earned wider international renown with his fourth feature I Dream In Another Language (Sueño en Otro Idioma), which premiered in Sundance back in January.
The drama – about a linguist who uncovers a unique story when he meets the last speakers of a dying language in a remote Mexican village – received backing some years ago from the Sundance Institute’s Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award.
It went on to win this year’s World Cinema Dramatic audience award in Park City and Film Rise acquired North American rights from international sales agent Mundial, the Latino subsidiary of Im Global.
Contreras recently directed half of the new series El Chapo for Univision Communication’s Story House Entertainment and Netflix, based on the life of Mexican cartel head Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman. The show premiered...
- 4/24/2017
- ScreenDaily
Ernesto Contreras’s Sundance audience award winner I Dream In Another Language among roster in Mexico.
Top brass at the festival in Jalisco, Mexico, announced on Wednesday the programme.
Selections include José Permar and Omar Robles’ short and Berlin 2016 premiere Aurelia And Pedro, and David Pablos’s The Chosen Ones, which screened in Un Certain Regard section in Cannes 2015.
Highlights of the ArteCareyes Film & Arts Festival include a day-long music festival and a contemporary art programme that features a public art trail, in lieu of traditional galleries, and solo artist exhibitions.
In addition, ArteCareyes will host ‘Acting For Film’ labs to be led by the following directors: Lucía Carreras, Ana Cristina Barragán, Catalina Aguilar, Diego Ros, Daniel Castro, Pablos, Anwar Safa and actors Karla Souza, Irene Azuela, Darío Yazbek, Fernando Alvarez Rebeil, and José María Yazpik.
The festival was founded in 2010 to showcase contemporary Mexican talent in film, music and contemporary art and runs from March 22-26.
Top brass at the festival in Jalisco, Mexico, announced on Wednesday the programme.
Selections include José Permar and Omar Robles’ short and Berlin 2016 premiere Aurelia And Pedro, and David Pablos’s The Chosen Ones, which screened in Un Certain Regard section in Cannes 2015.
Highlights of the ArteCareyes Film & Arts Festival include a day-long music festival and a contemporary art programme that features a public art trail, in lieu of traditional galleries, and solo artist exhibitions.
In addition, ArteCareyes will host ‘Acting For Film’ labs to be led by the following directors: Lucía Carreras, Ana Cristina Barragán, Catalina Aguilar, Diego Ros, Daniel Castro, Pablos, Anwar Safa and actors Karla Souza, Irene Azuela, Darío Yazbek, Fernando Alvarez Rebeil, and José María Yazpik.
The festival was founded in 2010 to showcase contemporary Mexican talent in film, music and contemporary art and runs from March 22-26.
- 3/22/2017
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Im Global’s Latino sales subsidiary ramps up before Texas festival.
Mexican Rubén Imaz’s feature will receive its North American debut after the recent world premiere in Cartagena.
Tormentero centres on a retired fisherman who discovered an oil field in his village many years ago that caused his friends and neighbours to lose sight of their values and reject him.
Now alcoholic, schizophrenic and haunted by his past, the man sets out to reclaim the love and honour he lost decades ago after his fateful discovery.
Gabino Rodríguez stars with José Carlos Ruiz and Mónica Jiménez. Julio Bárcenas Sánchez served as producer alongside Imaz, Gerylee Polanco Uribe, Oscar Ruiz Navia, Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas.
“Ruben is a filmmaker I have admired since my time at Canana Distribution, when we released his first film Familia Tortuga,” Mundial general manager Cristina Garza, who made the announcement on Monday, said.
“When...
Mexican Rubén Imaz’s feature will receive its North American debut after the recent world premiere in Cartagena.
Tormentero centres on a retired fisherman who discovered an oil field in his village many years ago that caused his friends and neighbours to lose sight of their values and reject him.
Now alcoholic, schizophrenic and haunted by his past, the man sets out to reclaim the love and honour he lost decades ago after his fateful discovery.
Gabino Rodríguez stars with José Carlos Ruiz and Mónica Jiménez. Julio Bárcenas Sánchez served as producer alongside Imaz, Gerylee Polanco Uribe, Oscar Ruiz Navia, Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas.
“Ruben is a filmmaker I have admired since my time at Canana Distribution, when we released his first film Familia Tortuga,” Mundial general manager Cristina Garza, who made the announcement on Monday, said.
“When...
- 3/6/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.
– Neon, the recently launched distribution company founded by Tom Quinn and Tim League, will release Oscar winning director Errol Morris’ “The B-Side,” a heartfelt portrait of photographer, Elsa Dorfman. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in 2016 followed by a prestigious festival run, screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival and the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam (Idfa).
The film is slated to open theatrically on June 2.
– Gravitas Ventures has secured worldwide rights to “Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo,” the compelling untold story about an extraordinary team.
The story is told told “with unprecedented access to archival footage and stories from the men who lived it, including the creator of Mission Control,...
– Neon, the recently launched distribution company founded by Tom Quinn and Tim League, will release Oscar winning director Errol Morris’ “The B-Side,” a heartfelt portrait of photographer, Elsa Dorfman. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in 2016 followed by a prestigious festival run, screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival and the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam (Idfa).
The film is slated to open theatrically on June 2.
– Gravitas Ventures has secured worldwide rights to “Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo,” the compelling untold story about an extraordinary team.
The story is told told “with unprecedented access to archival footage and stories from the men who lived it, including the creator of Mission Control,...
- 2/24/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
FilmRise has acquired North American distribution right to Ernesto Contreras’ I Dream in Another Language,The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.
The film, which won the Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at this year's Sundance Film Festival, will be released theatrically in mid-2017. The Mexico-set story follows a young university researcher who is searching for a way to save the lost language of Zikril, though its last two indigenous speakers have separated because of a 50-year-old grudge.
FilmRise has also nabbed North American distribution rights to Felipe Bragança’s debut narrative film Don’t Swallow My Heart,...
The film, which won the Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at this year's Sundance Film Festival, will be released theatrically in mid-2017. The Mexico-set story follows a young university researcher who is searching for a way to save the lost language of Zikril, though its last two indigenous speakers have separated because of a 50-year-old grudge.
FilmRise has also nabbed North American distribution rights to Felipe Bragança’s debut narrative film Don’t Swallow My Heart,...
- 2/21/2017
- by Ashley Lee
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Both South American titles premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
The distributor has picked up North American rights to Ernesto Contreras’ I Dream In Another Language.
Contreras’ film won the audience award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at this year’s festival in Park City last month.
FilmRise plans a mid-year theatrical release for the story about a researcher who tracks down the feuding and last-surviving speakers of an indigenous language.
CEO Danny Fisher and vice-president of acquisitions Max Einhorn negotiated with Mundial’s Cristina Garza.
The same parties brokered the North American theatrical deal on Don’t Swallow My Heart,
Alligator Girl!, a Romeo And Juliet story about young love on the Brazil-Paraguay border that screened in Generation 14plus at the Berlinale recently.
Felipe Bragança’s drama will be available to stream later this year on Amazon Prime Video after FilmRise opted in to Amazon Video Direct’s Film Festival Stars programme to establish a platform...
The distributor has picked up North American rights to Ernesto Contreras’ I Dream In Another Language.
Contreras’ film won the audience award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at this year’s festival in Park City last month.
FilmRise plans a mid-year theatrical release for the story about a researcher who tracks down the feuding and last-surviving speakers of an indigenous language.
CEO Danny Fisher and vice-president of acquisitions Max Einhorn negotiated with Mundial’s Cristina Garza.
The same parties brokered the North American theatrical deal on Don’t Swallow My Heart,
Alligator Girl!, a Romeo And Juliet story about young love on the Brazil-Paraguay border that screened in Generation 14plus at the Berlinale recently.
Felipe Bragança’s drama will be available to stream later this year on Amazon Prime Video after FilmRise opted in to Amazon Video Direct’s Film Festival Stars programme to establish a platform...
- 2/21/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Films and projects travel from Sundance to Rotterdam and Rotterdam’s love affair with Latin America becomes apparent.
Making their way from Sundance to Rotterdam, “Lemon” was Opening Night in the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Sloan Prize Winner “Marjorie Prime” played in Voices while director Michael Almereyda was on the Jury of the Hivos Tiger Competition. His documentary, “Escapes” also played in the Regained section of the festival.
“Marjorie Prime”: Director Michael Almereyda, Lois Smith and Jon Hamm
“Chile’s “Family Life” by Alicia Scherson and Cristian Jimenez, Singapore’s “Pop Aye”, “Lady Macbeth” and “Sami Blood” all screened here after premiering in Sundance as well.
Pop Aye director Kirsten Tan won the Big Screen Competition and in addition to the cash prize may also count on a guaranteed release in Dutch cinemas and on TV.
“The Wound” by John Trengove has even longer legs, reaching from Sundance World...
Making their way from Sundance to Rotterdam, “Lemon” was Opening Night in the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Sloan Prize Winner “Marjorie Prime” played in Voices while director Michael Almereyda was on the Jury of the Hivos Tiger Competition. His documentary, “Escapes” also played in the Regained section of the festival.
“Marjorie Prime”: Director Michael Almereyda, Lois Smith and Jon Hamm
“Chile’s “Family Life” by Alicia Scherson and Cristian Jimenez, Singapore’s “Pop Aye”, “Lady Macbeth” and “Sami Blood” all screened here after premiering in Sundance as well.
Pop Aye director Kirsten Tan won the Big Screen Competition and in addition to the cash prize may also count on a guaranteed release in Dutch cinemas and on TV.
“The Wound” by John Trengove has even longer legs, reaching from Sundance World...
- 2/8/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
I don't feel at home in this world anymoreU.S. – DRAMATICGrand Jury PrizeI don't feel at home in this world anymore. (Macon Blair)Directing AwardBeach Rats (Eliza Hittman)Special Jury Award CinematographyDaniel Landin, The Yellow BirdsSpecial Jury Award – Breakthrough Performance Chanté Adams (Roxanne Roxanne)Special Jury Award – Breakthrough Director Novitiate (Maggie Betts)Waldo Salt Screenwriting AwardMatt Spicer and David Branson Smith, Ingrid Goes WestAudience AwardCrown Heights (Matt Ruskin)Next Audience AWARDGook (Justin Chon)U.S. – DOCUMENTARYGrand Jury PrizeDina (Dan Sickles, Antonio Santini)Directing AwardThe Force (Peter Nicks)Special Jury Award for EditingKim Roberts and Emiliano Battista, UnrestSpecial Jury Award for Inspirational FilmmakingSTEP (Amanda Lipitz)Special Jury Award for StorytellingStrong Island (Yance Force)The Orwell AwardICARUS (Bryan Fogel)Audience AwardChasing Coral (Jeff Orlowski)The Nile Hilton IncidentWORLD Cinema – DRAMATICGrand Jury PrizeThe Nile Hilton Incident (Tarik Saleh)Directing AwardGod's Own Country (Francis Lee)Special Jury Award for CinematographyManu Dacosse, Axolotl OverkillSpecial Jury...
- 1/29/2017
- MUBI
The Sundance 2017 juries and audiences unveiled their picks on Saturday night.
In the grand jury prizes, Macon Blair’s I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore claimed the Us dramatic award and Dina by Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini won U.S. documentary.
Tarik Saleh’s The Nile Hilton Incident won world dramatic and Last Men In Aleppo by Feras Fayyad and Steen Johannessen prevailed in the world documentary category.
In the audience awards, Matt Ruski’s Crown Heights and Jeff Orlowski’s Chasing Coral were the favourites in the Us dramatic and documentary strands.
World cinema selections I Dream In Another Language by Ernesto Contreras and Joe Piscatella’s Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower emerged victorious in the dramatic and documentary sections.
“This has been one of the wildest, wackiest and most rewarding festivals in recent memory,” said festival director John Cooper. “From a new government to the independently organised Women’s March On Main...
In the grand jury prizes, Macon Blair’s I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore claimed the Us dramatic award and Dina by Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini won U.S. documentary.
Tarik Saleh’s The Nile Hilton Incident won world dramatic and Last Men In Aleppo by Feras Fayyad and Steen Johannessen prevailed in the world documentary category.
In the audience awards, Matt Ruski’s Crown Heights and Jeff Orlowski’s Chasing Coral were the favourites in the Us dramatic and documentary strands.
World cinema selections I Dream In Another Language by Ernesto Contreras and Joe Piscatella’s Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower emerged victorious in the dramatic and documentary sections.
“This has been one of the wildest, wackiest and most rewarding festivals in recent memory,” said festival director John Cooper. “From a new government to the independently organised Women’s March On Main...
- 1/29/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The 2017 Sundance Film Festival is coming to a close with tonight’s awards ceremony. While we’ll have our personal favorites coming early this week, the jury and audience have responded with theirs, topped by Macon Blair‘s I don’t feel at home in this world anymore., which will arrive on Netflix in late February, and the documentary Dina. Check out the full list of winners below see our complete coverage here.
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented by Larry Wilmore to:
Dina / U.S.A. (Directors: Dan Sickles, Antonio Santini) — An eccentric suburban woman and a Walmart door-greeter navigate their evolving relationship in this unconventional love story.
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented by Peter Dinklage to:
I don’t feel at home in this world anymore. / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Macon Blair) — When a depressed woman is burglarized, she...
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented by Larry Wilmore to:
Dina / U.S.A. (Directors: Dan Sickles, Antonio Santini) — An eccentric suburban woman and a Walmart door-greeter navigate their evolving relationship in this unconventional love story.
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented by Peter Dinklage to:
I don’t feel at home in this world anymore. / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Macon Blair) — When a depressed woman is burglarized, she...
- 1/29/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The 2017 Sundance Film Festival is well under way and have already premiered films like Alex Ross Perry’s “Golden Exits,” David Lowery’s “A Ghost Story” and more. The World Dramatic section has already premiered a few of his films, including Ernesto Contreras’ “I Dream In Another Lanuage,” about a linguist desperate to record a dying language. The young Martin (Fernando Álvarez Rebeil) lands in a remote Mexican village with the intention of recording an ancient dying language. He finds the last two speakers of the language — Evaristo (Eligio Meléndez) and Isauro (Manuel Poncelis) — but they refuse to speak to each because of a 50-year grudge. Now Martin and Evaristo’s granddaughter Lluvia (Fátima Molina) must work to convince the men to reconcile. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below.
Read More: 10 Surprises and Hidden Gems from the 2017 Sundance Lineup
Contreras previously directed the feature film “Blue Eyelids,” which...
Read More: 10 Surprises and Hidden Gems from the 2017 Sundance Lineup
Contreras previously directed the feature film “Blue Eyelids,” which...
- 1/24/2017
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
“I don’t have religion, but if I did it would be probably be the Sundance labs,” said “Patti Cake$”writer/director Geremy Jasper.
“Patti Cake$” is one 20 films premiering this week at the Sundance Film Festival that got their start, at least in part, at the Sundance Institute. (In Jasper’s case, he participated in both the Feature Film Screenwriting and Directing labs.)
The labs are the highest-profile aspect of the Institute. Filmmakers find it invaluable to be in Utah for two to three weeks, removed from their day to day concerns and immersed in their films while getting advice from some of the most talented instructors and filmmakers in the world. In Jasper’s case, the first person he sat down with to discuss the problems in his script’s second act was none other than his hero Quentin Tarantino, who workshopped “Reservoir Dogs” at the Sundance Labs 25 years ago.
“Patti Cake$” is one 20 films premiering this week at the Sundance Film Festival that got their start, at least in part, at the Sundance Institute. (In Jasper’s case, he participated in both the Feature Film Screenwriting and Directing labs.)
The labs are the highest-profile aspect of the Institute. Filmmakers find it invaluable to be in Utah for two to three weeks, removed from their day to day concerns and immersed in their films while getting advice from some of the most talented instructors and filmmakers in the world. In Jasper’s case, the first person he sat down with to discuss the problems in his script’s second act was none other than his hero Quentin Tarantino, who workshopped “Reservoir Dogs” at the Sundance Labs 25 years ago.
- 1/22/2017
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Film historian B. Ruby Rich credits the 1992 Sundance Film Festival as the cradle of New Queer Cinema, and a quick survey of this year’s festival lineup confirms that Lgbt films stand an excellent chance of attracting audiences. Lesbian filmmaker Dee Rees’ “Mudbound” is one of the most talked about films of the year, trans director Yance Ford’s deeply personal “Strong Island” has been years in the making, and we may have the British “Brokeback Mountain” (but better) with Francis Lee’s “God’s Own Country.”
Perusing the slate of queer films, filmmakers, and performers at Sundance this year, 2017 is set to be the best year queer cinema has seen in a long time. Here’s 10 reasons why:
Read More: 10 Surprises and Hidden Gems from the 2017 Sundance Lineup
Dee Rees is About to Become the Most Successful Black Lesbian Director in Hollywood
Queer audiences have known Dee Rees since...
Perusing the slate of queer films, filmmakers, and performers at Sundance this year, 2017 is set to be the best year queer cinema has seen in a long time. Here’s 10 reasons why:
Read More: 10 Surprises and Hidden Gems from the 2017 Sundance Lineup
Dee Rees is About to Become the Most Successful Black Lesbian Director in Hollywood
Queer audiences have known Dee Rees since...
- 1/18/2017
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Exclusive: The Latino film sales subsidiary of Im Global heads to Park City this week with worldwide rights to Don’t Swallow My Heart Alligator Girl! and I Dream In Another Language.
Don’t Swallow My Heart Alligator Girl! marks the solo directorial debut of Brazil’s Felipe Bragança and premieres in World Cinema Dramatic Competition on Sunday ahead of its European premiere in Berlin next month.
Cauã Reymond, Eduardo Macedo, Adeli Gonzales and Zahy Guajajara star in the story of a Brazilian boy who must fight for the love of a Paraguayan girl as war brews between rival gangs on opposite sides of the border.
Producers on the Brazil-Netherlands-France-Paraguay drama are Marina Meliande, Marcos Prado, Dijana Olcay-Hot, Yohann Cornu and Raymond van der Kaaij on behalf of Revolver.
Bragança previously co-directed A Alegria (The Joy) with Meliande, which screened in Cannes Directors Fortnight in 2010.
Mexican filmmaker Ernesto Contreras wrote and directed I Dream In Another Language (Sueño...
Don’t Swallow My Heart Alligator Girl! marks the solo directorial debut of Brazil’s Felipe Bragança and premieres in World Cinema Dramatic Competition on Sunday ahead of its European premiere in Berlin next month.
Cauã Reymond, Eduardo Macedo, Adeli Gonzales and Zahy Guajajara star in the story of a Brazilian boy who must fight for the love of a Paraguayan girl as war brews between rival gangs on opposite sides of the border.
Producers on the Brazil-Netherlands-France-Paraguay drama are Marina Meliande, Marcos Prado, Dijana Olcay-Hot, Yohann Cornu and Raymond van der Kaaij on behalf of Revolver.
Bragança previously co-directed A Alegria (The Joy) with Meliande, which screened in Cannes Directors Fortnight in 2010.
Mexican filmmaker Ernesto Contreras wrote and directed I Dream In Another Language (Sueño...
- 1/17/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Jurors at the 2015 Los Cabos International Film Festival unveiled their winners as the Mexican festival came to a close at the weekend.
In the Parallel Awards, the Cabos Discovery Ctt Exp & Rentals Award – equivalent to four weeks of filming equipment – was presented to Paulina del Paso for her film A Flor De Piel (Skin Deep). The award carries a $75,248 (Mxn 1,256,000) prize.
The Cabos In Progress Chemistry Award carrying a $45,000 prize in colour correction services went to Sebastián Hiriart for Carroña (Carrion),
The Cabos In Progress Fox+ Award went to La Habitación (The Bedroom) directed by Carlos Carrera, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Carlos Bolado, Ernesto Contreras, Alfonso Pineda Ulloa, Alejandro Valle, Iván Ávila Dueñas and Natalia Beristáin. The award carries a $30,000 cash prize and rights to broadcast the film in Latin America.
The Producers Network Badge Award went to producer Mayra Espinosa Cabos Discovery entry Calla (Keep Quiet).
The México Primero Art Kingdom Award was presented to Jack Zagha...
In the Parallel Awards, the Cabos Discovery Ctt Exp & Rentals Award – equivalent to four weeks of filming equipment – was presented to Paulina del Paso for her film A Flor De Piel (Skin Deep). The award carries a $75,248 (Mxn 1,256,000) prize.
The Cabos In Progress Chemistry Award carrying a $45,000 prize in colour correction services went to Sebastián Hiriart for Carroña (Carrion),
The Cabos In Progress Fox+ Award went to La Habitación (The Bedroom) directed by Carlos Carrera, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Carlos Bolado, Ernesto Contreras, Alfonso Pineda Ulloa, Alejandro Valle, Iván Ávila Dueñas and Natalia Beristáin. The award carries a $30,000 cash prize and rights to broadcast the film in Latin America.
The Producers Network Badge Award went to producer Mayra Espinosa Cabos Discovery entry Calla (Keep Quiet).
The México Primero Art Kingdom Award was presented to Jack Zagha...
- 11/15/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The festival, set to run in Mexico from November 11-15, has unveiled the selections in its After Dark, American Specials and Green programmes.
Entries in the After Dark genre section feature films that have garnered acclaim at other festivals and include Matteo Garrone’s Tale Of Tales and the Latin American premieres of Robert Eggers’ The Witch (pictured) and Bo Mikkelsen’s What We Become.
The American Specials selections present Mexican permieres of Scott Cooper’s Black Mass and Marielle Heller’s The Diary of A Teenage Girl.
The Green strand presented by Discovery Channel showcases the Latin American premiere of Cyril Barbançon and Andy Byatt’s Hurricane 3D and the Mexican premieres of Louie Psihoyos’s Racing Extinction and Luc Jacqyet’s La Glace Et Le Ciel.
Festival top brass have also announced entries in the Cabos In Progress initiative for films in post that are made in or being produced with Mexico.
The selections...
Entries in the After Dark genre section feature films that have garnered acclaim at other festivals and include Matteo Garrone’s Tale Of Tales and the Latin American premieres of Robert Eggers’ The Witch (pictured) and Bo Mikkelsen’s What We Become.
The American Specials selections present Mexican permieres of Scott Cooper’s Black Mass and Marielle Heller’s The Diary of A Teenage Girl.
The Green strand presented by Discovery Channel showcases the Latin American premiere of Cyril Barbançon and Andy Byatt’s Hurricane 3D and the Mexican premieres of Louie Psihoyos’s Racing Extinction and Luc Jacqyet’s La Glace Et Le Ciel.
Festival top brass have also announced entries in the Cabos In Progress initiative for films in post that are made in or being produced with Mexico.
The selections...
- 10/20/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The festival will screen 146 films from 51 countries, and will honour Mohsen Makhmalbaf (pictured) with a five-film tribute.
Singapore International Film Festival (Nov 26 - Dec 6) has unveiled the full line-up for its 26th edition, comprising 146 films from 51 countries across 11 sections.
The festival will open with the international premiere of Cheng Yu-chieh and Lekal Sumi’s Panay and for the first time will do without a closing film.
The winner of the newly created audience choice award as well as the best film from the Silver Screen Awards will have repeat screenings on the last day of the festival instead.
‘We’re ending the festival in a different way, celebrating with two winning films,’ said Sgiff executive director Yuni Hadi, who splits the programming duties with festival director Zhang Wenjie.
A total of 10 Asian films will vye for the Silver Screen Awards. They are:
Black Hen, Min Bahadur BhamDirty Romance, Lee Sang-wooThe Fourth Direction, Gurvinder SinghHappy...
Singapore International Film Festival (Nov 26 - Dec 6) has unveiled the full line-up for its 26th edition, comprising 146 films from 51 countries across 11 sections.
The festival will open with the international premiere of Cheng Yu-chieh and Lekal Sumi’s Panay and for the first time will do without a closing film.
The winner of the newly created audience choice award as well as the best film from the Silver Screen Awards will have repeat screenings on the last day of the festival instead.
‘We’re ending the festival in a different way, celebrating with two winning films,’ said Sgiff executive director Yuni Hadi, who splits the programming duties with festival director Zhang Wenjie.
A total of 10 Asian films will vye for the Silver Screen Awards. They are:
Black Hen, Min Bahadur BhamDirty Romance, Lee Sang-wooThe Fourth Direction, Gurvinder SinghHappy...
- 10/20/2015
- ScreenDaily
Countries around the world have slowly begun announcing their official submissions for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award or shortlists of films that are being considered for the distinction. In the case of Mexico there is no clear candidate for the Mexican Academy to select this year, which leaves an open field of diverse films from the art house and commercial realms.
Undoubtedly, the best Mexican film audiences around the world, and in Mexico itself, have had the chance to see in 2015 is Alonso Ruiz Palacios “Güeros,” and some have even speculated that the black-and-white love letter to Mexico City could become the country’s Oscar candidate and even be among the favorites. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t qualify because it was considered to become the official entry last year, when it lost the opportunity to represent Mexico to the financially successful biopic “Cantinflas.” Ruiz Palacios' film would go on to win five Ariel Awards (Mexican Academy Awards) including Best Film and Best Director. It’s in fact the best choice, yet it simply can’t be anymore.
Each year the Mexican Academy sends out a call for entries for filmmakers and producers to submit their films. The organization will only consider those films that are entered by their respective creators, which means that even if a film qualifies if it’s not submitted it won’t be considered. The submission period is over now and the Mexican Academy will announce a list of films competing to represent the nation at the Oscars and the Spanish Goya’s in the upcoming days. Even without a gem like “Güeros” there are still other likely choices and many others that don’t stand a chance against the world-class works that will be send from across the globe. Commercial successes like “A la Mala,” “Tiempos Felices” or “Visitantes” will have a hard time finding support, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are entered to be in the running anyway.
After looking carefully at release dates, festivals, last year’s films in competition, and having seen several of them, here is a list of 15 films that look like reasonable choices to represent the Mexican film industry at Hollywood’s most prestigious award show. Let’s see how many of these are actually on the official list.
"600 Millas" (600 Miles)
Dir. Gabriel Ripstein
Winner of the Best First Feature at this year’s Berlinale and starring Tim Roth, Gabriel Ripstein’s gun trafficking drama is a gritty and powerful statement about one of the numerous complex issues afflicting both Mexico and the U.S. However, giving the duality it deals with, the film is partially in English, which could become a tricky problem when deciding if it can compete as a foreign language work or not. Furthermore, “600 Miles” hasn’t had a theatrical release in Mexico yet, something that AMPAS requires for a film to qualify. If selected a one-week qualifying run would be mandatory.
"Alicia en el País de Maria" (Alice in Marialand)
Dir. Jesús Magaña Vázquez
Starring Stephanie Sigman ("Spectre") and Uruguayan-born actress Barbara Mori, this highly stylized romantic fantasy follows a love triangle between reality and a strange dreamland. This is Magaña Vázquez highest profile film to date and premiered at the Guadalajara International Film Festival earlier this year. It’s non-linear narrative and the fact that it hasn’t screen much outside its homeland might play against it, but it’s still appears to be an interesting choice. The film opens August 28 in Mexico.
"Carmín Tropical"
Dir. Rigoberto Pérezcano
A personal favorite from what I’ve seen and one of the strongest candidates on this list, “Carmin Tropical” tells the story of Mabel, a “muxe” or physical male who lives as a woman, who returns to her hometown to investigate the death of her estranged best friend, also a "muxe." After winning the highest award at the Morelia International Film Festival, the film has gone to screen in festivals around the world including Outfest Los Angeles and the Sarajevo Film Festival. Added to this, Pérezcano’s work earned him the Ariel Award for Best Original Screenplay at this year’s ceremony. Its relevant ideas regarding gender identity and hate crimes could give it some traction.
"Club Sandwich"
Dir. Fernando Eimbcke
While Fernando Eimbcke’s most recent indie has been around since 2013 in the festival circuit, the film was not considered last year to become the country’s entry as it only open theatrically in Mexico last November. Given these facts this delightful comedy technically qualifies, though it’s hard to say if the filmmaker will pursue the candidacy. “Club Sandwich” uses deadpan charm to explore the relationship between a teenage boy and his mother while on vacation yo a beachside town. The film screened during last year’s Los Angeles Film Festival.
"Las Elegidas" (The Chosen Ones)
Dir. David Pablos
This is the obvious heavyweight at least on paper. In recent years Mexican films that were selected to participate in the Cannes Film Festival have become ideal selections for Oscar consideration. Carlos Reygadas “Silent Light,” Gerardo Naranjo’s “Miss Bala,” Michel Franco’s “After Lucia,” and Amat Escalante’s “Heli,” represented the country in their respective years. Despite being highly regarded internationally, these type of hyperrealist art house films have failed to garner a nomination from AMPAS, which could mean the Mexican Academy might want to look towards more commercial projects like they did last year. Pablos' film is similar to some of the aforementioned titles in terms of the crude realities they depict. Reviews were mostly positive and the film could definitely continue with the Cannes-to-Oscar pattern, but might prove another hard sale for Academy voters. “Las Elegidas” still hasn’t open theatrically in Mexico.
"Elvira, Te Dariá Mi Vida Pero La Estoy Usando" (Elvira, I'd Give You My Life But I'm Using It)
Dir. Manolo Caro
A sophisticated romantic dramedy starring two of Mexico’s most prolific actors Cecilia Suarez and Luis Gerardo Mendez (Netflix’ “Club de Cuervos”), the film represents a departure for filmmaker Manolo Caro from the more conventional romantic comedies he’s done in the past. When Elvira’s husband goes missing she embarks on a search to find him, even if the outcome of her quest is not what she expects her devotion is unwavering. The film had its U.S. premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June and it’s opening in Mexico this weekend.
"Estrellas Solitarias" (Lonely Stars)
Dir. Fernando Urdapilleta
By far the most unconventional choice, this irreverent comedy about dreams of stardom focuses on a pair of transvestites hoping to get their big break while working in a dingy and unglamorous bar. Music plays a big role in Fernando Urdapilleta’s sophomore feature, which shines a light on characters rarely seen in Mexican cinema. Produced by the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica the film has screened around the country and competed for the Maguey Award to Lgbt films at the 30th edition of Guadalajara International Film Festival (Ficg).
"Gloria"
Dir. Christian Keller
Working from a screenplay by Sabina Berman, Swiss filmmaker Christian Keller crafted a searing biopic about one of Mexico’s most iconic pop stars, Gloria Trevi, and her tumultuous career. The film took audiences and critics by surprise mainly because of the authenticity brought to it by the young actress Sofia Espinosa, who truly embodied Trevi’s outrageous personality and commanding stage presence. “Gloria” opened in Mexico back in February and it screened at SXSW in Austin last March. It’s also the only film in the list that has already had a U.S. theatrical release, which has handled by Picturehouse. This would definitely be a divisive selection given that Gloria is not widely known in the English-speaking world.
"La Guerra de Manuela Jankovic" (Manuela Jankovic's War)
Dir. Diana Cardozo
Nominated for 3 Ariel Awards including Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress this year, this peculiar drama opened late last year and hasn’t travel much internationally. Set in the early 90s the film deals with Manuela, a middle-aged woman who must take care of her bitter Serbian grandmother who escaped to Mexico during World War II. Beautifully executed and acted the film is a sleeper that could actually be an ideal choice given its unique premise and approach. Stories about the Eastern European community in Mexico have rarely been explored in film.
"Hilda"
Dir. Andres Clariond
Dealing with classicism within Mexican society, this Audience Award-winning film at the last Morelia Film Festival paints a disturbing picture about the divide between the elite and the working class. Starring Veronica Langer as Mrs. Le Marchand, a wealthy woman depressed due to her unfulfilled ambitions, the film is a psychological drama with darkly comedic undertones. When Hilda (Adriana Paz) a new housemaid is hired, Le Marchand’s obsessive behavior unravels. Andres Clariond’s debut feature is based on a French play by Marie Ndiaye, the filmmaker certainly found parallels between the playwright’s work and his homeland. “Hilda” will open in Mexico in early September.
"Las Horas Contigo" (The Hours With You)
Dir. Catalina Aguilar Mastretta
This endearing dram about a young woman coming to terms with her grandmother’s imminent death has been a quiet success since it’s premiere at the 2014 Ficg where it won the Best Director award for debutant Catalina Aguilar Mastretta. “Las Horas Contigo” was nominated for three Ariel Awards winning the Best Supporting Actress statuette for veteran thespian Isela Vega. The film’s U.S. premiere took place during the 4th edition of Ficg in La and was also part of the Latin Cinema section at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. It’s a well-made film that offers a handful of moving moments that could resonate with voters, though in my opinion it’s a bit slight.
"Manto Acuífero" ( The Well)
Dir. Michael Rowe
Australian filmmaker Michael Rowe, who has made a career working in Mexico, received great acclaim and accolades for his debut feature “Año Bisiesto,” including the Camera d’Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival. “Manto Acuífero,” his sophomore effort, premiered at the Rome Film Festival in 2013 and was produced by Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna’s Canana. Centered on a young girl dealing with troubling situations at home, the film also screened at the Morelia Film Festival. Its theatrical release didn’t happen until November of last year, which based on AMPAS rules qualifies it for consideration. “Manto Acuífero” was not considered last year.
"El Más Buscasdo" (Mexican Gangster)
Dir. José Manuel Cravioto
By far the most commercial and most expensive-looking film on the list, this action tale revolves around a bank robber whose alter ego is a mysterious masked singer. Jose Manuel Cravioto’s narrative debut stars Tenoch Huerta (“Güeros”) as skillful criminal Alfredo Rios Galeana and as al El Charro Misterioso, the elusive and talented performer. Set in the 1980s “El Más Buscado” showcases costumes, production design, and music from that period in a Robin Hood-like story of a unique antihero. The film screened in L.A. as part of the Hola Mexico Film Festival back in May but other than that lacks noticeable international presence.
"Las Oscuras Primaveras" (The Obscure Spring)
Dir. Ernesto Contreras
Moody and darkly sensual, this intense drama from director Ernesto Contreras won the Knight Competition Grand Jury Prize as well as the Best Performance Grand Jury Prize and the Miami International Film Festival. Cecilia Suarez and Jose Maria Yazpik star as a childless married couple whose relationship is threaten when he starts having a steamy affair with a lonely single mother in need of companionship. “Las Oscuras Primaveras” also received three Ariel Awards at the most recent ceremony for Best Editing, Best Sound, and Best Original Score.
"La Tirisia" (Perpetual Sadness)
Dir. Jorge Pérez Solano
Last but definitely not least, the one film that, in this writer’s opinion, is the best opinion from the pack. Jose Perez Solano’s poetic feature follows two women in a remote community who have to choose between their children and their partner in a chauvinist society. The beauty and authenticity of “La Tirisia” have connected with audiences and juries from diverse backgrounds. Karlovy Vary, Palm Springs, Thessaloniki, Chicago, and Guadalajara were a few of the festivals that screened the film where it often was awarded prizes for its director and cast. Actress Adriana Paz (“Hilda”) won the Ariel Award for Best Actress for her work in the film, while Noé Hernandez took home the award for Best Supporting Actor. It’s art house roots and segmented narrative might work against it, but if voters at the Mexican Academy can look past that, this might be the one to bet on.
Undoubtedly, the best Mexican film audiences around the world, and in Mexico itself, have had the chance to see in 2015 is Alonso Ruiz Palacios “Güeros,” and some have even speculated that the black-and-white love letter to Mexico City could become the country’s Oscar candidate and even be among the favorites. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t qualify because it was considered to become the official entry last year, when it lost the opportunity to represent Mexico to the financially successful biopic “Cantinflas.” Ruiz Palacios' film would go on to win five Ariel Awards (Mexican Academy Awards) including Best Film and Best Director. It’s in fact the best choice, yet it simply can’t be anymore.
Each year the Mexican Academy sends out a call for entries for filmmakers and producers to submit their films. The organization will only consider those films that are entered by their respective creators, which means that even if a film qualifies if it’s not submitted it won’t be considered. The submission period is over now and the Mexican Academy will announce a list of films competing to represent the nation at the Oscars and the Spanish Goya’s in the upcoming days. Even without a gem like “Güeros” there are still other likely choices and many others that don’t stand a chance against the world-class works that will be send from across the globe. Commercial successes like “A la Mala,” “Tiempos Felices” or “Visitantes” will have a hard time finding support, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are entered to be in the running anyway.
After looking carefully at release dates, festivals, last year’s films in competition, and having seen several of them, here is a list of 15 films that look like reasonable choices to represent the Mexican film industry at Hollywood’s most prestigious award show. Let’s see how many of these are actually on the official list.
"600 Millas" (600 Miles)
Dir. Gabriel Ripstein
Winner of the Best First Feature at this year’s Berlinale and starring Tim Roth, Gabriel Ripstein’s gun trafficking drama is a gritty and powerful statement about one of the numerous complex issues afflicting both Mexico and the U.S. However, giving the duality it deals with, the film is partially in English, which could become a tricky problem when deciding if it can compete as a foreign language work or not. Furthermore, “600 Miles” hasn’t had a theatrical release in Mexico yet, something that AMPAS requires for a film to qualify. If selected a one-week qualifying run would be mandatory.
"Alicia en el País de Maria" (Alice in Marialand)
Dir. Jesús Magaña Vázquez
Starring Stephanie Sigman ("Spectre") and Uruguayan-born actress Barbara Mori, this highly stylized romantic fantasy follows a love triangle between reality and a strange dreamland. This is Magaña Vázquez highest profile film to date and premiered at the Guadalajara International Film Festival earlier this year. It’s non-linear narrative and the fact that it hasn’t screen much outside its homeland might play against it, but it’s still appears to be an interesting choice. The film opens August 28 in Mexico.
"Carmín Tropical"
Dir. Rigoberto Pérezcano
A personal favorite from what I’ve seen and one of the strongest candidates on this list, “Carmin Tropical” tells the story of Mabel, a “muxe” or physical male who lives as a woman, who returns to her hometown to investigate the death of her estranged best friend, also a "muxe." After winning the highest award at the Morelia International Film Festival, the film has gone to screen in festivals around the world including Outfest Los Angeles and the Sarajevo Film Festival. Added to this, Pérezcano’s work earned him the Ariel Award for Best Original Screenplay at this year’s ceremony. Its relevant ideas regarding gender identity and hate crimes could give it some traction.
"Club Sandwich"
Dir. Fernando Eimbcke
While Fernando Eimbcke’s most recent indie has been around since 2013 in the festival circuit, the film was not considered last year to become the country’s entry as it only open theatrically in Mexico last November. Given these facts this delightful comedy technically qualifies, though it’s hard to say if the filmmaker will pursue the candidacy. “Club Sandwich” uses deadpan charm to explore the relationship between a teenage boy and his mother while on vacation yo a beachside town. The film screened during last year’s Los Angeles Film Festival.
"Las Elegidas" (The Chosen Ones)
Dir. David Pablos
This is the obvious heavyweight at least on paper. In recent years Mexican films that were selected to participate in the Cannes Film Festival have become ideal selections for Oscar consideration. Carlos Reygadas “Silent Light,” Gerardo Naranjo’s “Miss Bala,” Michel Franco’s “After Lucia,” and Amat Escalante’s “Heli,” represented the country in their respective years. Despite being highly regarded internationally, these type of hyperrealist art house films have failed to garner a nomination from AMPAS, which could mean the Mexican Academy might want to look towards more commercial projects like they did last year. Pablos' film is similar to some of the aforementioned titles in terms of the crude realities they depict. Reviews were mostly positive and the film could definitely continue with the Cannes-to-Oscar pattern, but might prove another hard sale for Academy voters. “Las Elegidas” still hasn’t open theatrically in Mexico.
"Elvira, Te Dariá Mi Vida Pero La Estoy Usando" (Elvira, I'd Give You My Life But I'm Using It)
Dir. Manolo Caro
A sophisticated romantic dramedy starring two of Mexico’s most prolific actors Cecilia Suarez and Luis Gerardo Mendez (Netflix’ “Club de Cuervos”), the film represents a departure for filmmaker Manolo Caro from the more conventional romantic comedies he’s done in the past. When Elvira’s husband goes missing she embarks on a search to find him, even if the outcome of her quest is not what she expects her devotion is unwavering. The film had its U.S. premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June and it’s opening in Mexico this weekend.
"Estrellas Solitarias" (Lonely Stars)
Dir. Fernando Urdapilleta
By far the most unconventional choice, this irreverent comedy about dreams of stardom focuses on a pair of transvestites hoping to get their big break while working in a dingy and unglamorous bar. Music plays a big role in Fernando Urdapilleta’s sophomore feature, which shines a light on characters rarely seen in Mexican cinema. Produced by the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica the film has screened around the country and competed for the Maguey Award to Lgbt films at the 30th edition of Guadalajara International Film Festival (Ficg).
"Gloria"
Dir. Christian Keller
Working from a screenplay by Sabina Berman, Swiss filmmaker Christian Keller crafted a searing biopic about one of Mexico’s most iconic pop stars, Gloria Trevi, and her tumultuous career. The film took audiences and critics by surprise mainly because of the authenticity brought to it by the young actress Sofia Espinosa, who truly embodied Trevi’s outrageous personality and commanding stage presence. “Gloria” opened in Mexico back in February and it screened at SXSW in Austin last March. It’s also the only film in the list that has already had a U.S. theatrical release, which has handled by Picturehouse. This would definitely be a divisive selection given that Gloria is not widely known in the English-speaking world.
"La Guerra de Manuela Jankovic" (Manuela Jankovic's War)
Dir. Diana Cardozo
Nominated for 3 Ariel Awards including Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress this year, this peculiar drama opened late last year and hasn’t travel much internationally. Set in the early 90s the film deals with Manuela, a middle-aged woman who must take care of her bitter Serbian grandmother who escaped to Mexico during World War II. Beautifully executed and acted the film is a sleeper that could actually be an ideal choice given its unique premise and approach. Stories about the Eastern European community in Mexico have rarely been explored in film.
"Hilda"
Dir. Andres Clariond
Dealing with classicism within Mexican society, this Audience Award-winning film at the last Morelia Film Festival paints a disturbing picture about the divide between the elite and the working class. Starring Veronica Langer as Mrs. Le Marchand, a wealthy woman depressed due to her unfulfilled ambitions, the film is a psychological drama with darkly comedic undertones. When Hilda (Adriana Paz) a new housemaid is hired, Le Marchand’s obsessive behavior unravels. Andres Clariond’s debut feature is based on a French play by Marie Ndiaye, the filmmaker certainly found parallels between the playwright’s work and his homeland. “Hilda” will open in Mexico in early September.
"Las Horas Contigo" (The Hours With You)
Dir. Catalina Aguilar Mastretta
This endearing dram about a young woman coming to terms with her grandmother’s imminent death has been a quiet success since it’s premiere at the 2014 Ficg where it won the Best Director award for debutant Catalina Aguilar Mastretta. “Las Horas Contigo” was nominated for three Ariel Awards winning the Best Supporting Actress statuette for veteran thespian Isela Vega. The film’s U.S. premiere took place during the 4th edition of Ficg in La and was also part of the Latin Cinema section at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. It’s a well-made film that offers a handful of moving moments that could resonate with voters, though in my opinion it’s a bit slight.
"Manto Acuífero" ( The Well)
Dir. Michael Rowe
Australian filmmaker Michael Rowe, who has made a career working in Mexico, received great acclaim and accolades for his debut feature “Año Bisiesto,” including the Camera d’Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival. “Manto Acuífero,” his sophomore effort, premiered at the Rome Film Festival in 2013 and was produced by Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna’s Canana. Centered on a young girl dealing with troubling situations at home, the film also screened at the Morelia Film Festival. Its theatrical release didn’t happen until November of last year, which based on AMPAS rules qualifies it for consideration. “Manto Acuífero” was not considered last year.
"El Más Buscasdo" (Mexican Gangster)
Dir. José Manuel Cravioto
By far the most commercial and most expensive-looking film on the list, this action tale revolves around a bank robber whose alter ego is a mysterious masked singer. Jose Manuel Cravioto’s narrative debut stars Tenoch Huerta (“Güeros”) as skillful criminal Alfredo Rios Galeana and as al El Charro Misterioso, the elusive and talented performer. Set in the 1980s “El Más Buscado” showcases costumes, production design, and music from that period in a Robin Hood-like story of a unique antihero. The film screened in L.A. as part of the Hola Mexico Film Festival back in May but other than that lacks noticeable international presence.
"Las Oscuras Primaveras" (The Obscure Spring)
Dir. Ernesto Contreras
Moody and darkly sensual, this intense drama from director Ernesto Contreras won the Knight Competition Grand Jury Prize as well as the Best Performance Grand Jury Prize and the Miami International Film Festival. Cecilia Suarez and Jose Maria Yazpik star as a childless married couple whose relationship is threaten when he starts having a steamy affair with a lonely single mother in need of companionship. “Las Oscuras Primaveras” also received three Ariel Awards at the most recent ceremony for Best Editing, Best Sound, and Best Original Score.
"La Tirisia" (Perpetual Sadness)
Dir. Jorge Pérez Solano
Last but definitely not least, the one film that, in this writer’s opinion, is the best opinion from the pack. Jose Perez Solano’s poetic feature follows two women in a remote community who have to choose between their children and their partner in a chauvinist society. The beauty and authenticity of “La Tirisia” have connected with audiences and juries from diverse backgrounds. Karlovy Vary, Palm Springs, Thessaloniki, Chicago, and Guadalajara were a few of the festivals that screened the film where it often was awarded prizes for its director and cast. Actress Adriana Paz (“Hilda”) won the Ariel Award for Best Actress for her work in the film, while Noé Hernandez took home the award for Best Supporting Actor. It’s art house roots and segmented narrative might work against it, but if voters at the Mexican Academy can look past that, this might be the one to bet on.
- 8/20/2015
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Ewan McGregor, Jane Seymour, Malcolm McDowell and Hong Kong director Johnnie To among the guests set to attend the festival.Scroll down for competition titles
The line-up for the 69th Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) has been unveiled this morning by new artistic director Mark Adams.
This year’s Eiff (June 17-28) will comprise 164 features from 36 countries, including 24 world premieres, eight international premieres, 16 European premieres and 84 UK premieres.
Highlights including the UK premiere of Asif Kapadia’s documentary Amy, about the life of singer Amy Winehouse; the latest Disney-Pixar animation Inside Out; Arnold Schwarzenegger in zombie drama Maggie; comedy The D-Train, starring Jack Black and James Marsden; and a biopic of The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, Love & Mercy, in which John Cusack and Paul Dano play different aged versions of the musician.
Classic Screenings will include a rare outing for Noel Marshall’s Roar, a cult 1981 big cat movie.
Star power
This year’s Eiff will present...
The line-up for the 69th Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) has been unveiled this morning by new artistic director Mark Adams.
This year’s Eiff (June 17-28) will comprise 164 features from 36 countries, including 24 world premieres, eight international premieres, 16 European premieres and 84 UK premieres.
Highlights including the UK premiere of Asif Kapadia’s documentary Amy, about the life of singer Amy Winehouse; the latest Disney-Pixar animation Inside Out; Arnold Schwarzenegger in zombie drama Maggie; comedy The D-Train, starring Jack Black and James Marsden; and a biopic of The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, Love & Mercy, in which John Cusack and Paul Dano play different aged versions of the musician.
Classic Screenings will include a rare outing for Noel Marshall’s Roar, a cult 1981 big cat movie.
Star power
This year’s Eiff will present...
- 5/27/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Top brass at the festival, set to run from September 24-October 8, have announced the selections in Focus Mexico.
The films are as follows:
Focus Mexico
The Obscure Spring (Las Oscuras Primaveras)
Ernesto Contreras
Manuela Jankovic’s War (La Guerra De Manuela Jankovic)
Diana Cardozo
González
Christian Díaz Pardo
Asteroide
Marcelo Tobar
The Absent (Los Ausentes)
Nicolás Pereda
Cumbres
Gabriel Nuncio
We Are Mari Pepa (Somos Mari Pepa)
Samuel Kishi
The Well (Manto Acuífero)
Michael Rowe
Güeros
Alonso Ruizpalacios
Cantinflas
Sebastian del Amo
Los Angeles
Damian John Harper
The Amazing Catfish (Los Insólitos Peces Gato)
Claudia Sainte-Luce
The Empty Hours (Las Horas Muertas)
Aaron Fernandez.
Panorama section
Words With Gods (Palabras Con Dioses)
Guillermo Arriaga, Héctor Babenco, Warwick Thornton, Mira Nair, Hideo Nakata, Amos Gitai, Álex de la Iglesia, Emir Kusturica, Bahman Ghobadi
Short Plays
Daniel Gruener, Carlos Reygadas, Fernando Eimbcke, Felipe Gómez, Alejandro Valle, Karim Aïnouz, Marcelo Gomes, Pablo Fendrik, Pablo Stoll, [link...
The films are as follows:
Focus Mexico
The Obscure Spring (Las Oscuras Primaveras)
Ernesto Contreras
Manuela Jankovic’s War (La Guerra De Manuela Jankovic)
Diana Cardozo
González
Christian Díaz Pardo
Asteroide
Marcelo Tobar
The Absent (Los Ausentes)
Nicolás Pereda
Cumbres
Gabriel Nuncio
We Are Mari Pepa (Somos Mari Pepa)
Samuel Kishi
The Well (Manto Acuífero)
Michael Rowe
Güeros
Alonso Ruizpalacios
Cantinflas
Sebastian del Amo
Los Angeles
Damian John Harper
The Amazing Catfish (Los Insólitos Peces Gato)
Claudia Sainte-Luce
The Empty Hours (Las Horas Muertas)
Aaron Fernandez.
Panorama section
Words With Gods (Palabras Con Dioses)
Guillermo Arriaga, Héctor Babenco, Warwick Thornton, Mira Nair, Hideo Nakata, Amos Gitai, Álex de la Iglesia, Emir Kusturica, Bahman Ghobadi
Short Plays
Daniel Gruener, Carlos Reygadas, Fernando Eimbcke, Felipe Gómez, Alejandro Valle, Karim Aïnouz, Marcelo Gomes, Pablo Fendrik, Pablo Stoll, [link...
- 9/14/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
You hear it all the time: Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News. But Americans were buying all the same, and to quote Screen International: “The current market is focused on smart money and smart deals, not volume of product”. Business at Afm was also solid though unspectacular. Moreover, the pre-buying of projects may be below the radar of this $3 billion business of international film buying and selling. TrustNordisk’s CEO Rikke Ennis says that 70% of their films are pre-sold. As you look at the upcoming Winter Rights Roundup due out in two weeks from SydneysBuzz.com/Reports, you will notice many of the films have been pre-buys this market and many films screening were already pre-sold during Afm in November.
And for all the complaints about Berlin, many sales agents set up private screenings before the market kicked off. What is that about?
Beki Probst, who has run the Efm since 1988, responded to the many media reports of a quieter market in an interview with ScreenDaily which sounds almost the same as the one she gave in 2009.
Quoting her current statement which I take the liberty of quoting here as it appears in Screen:
“I think that there was a good movement of business this year,” she said. In the opinion of Probst, there had been a muddying of the distinction between the Efm and the more general term of the ‘market’.
“Daphné Kapfer of Europa International representing 35 sales agents said that it was a very good Berlin, and Glen Basner of FilmNation commented that it was ‘the best Berlin’.
“Even Harvey Weinstein came just for 24 hours to sign a $7m check, and Aloft was bought by Sony Pictures Classics.
“It’s the players, and not the market, that is important. The players come here if they have the right line-up. All we can do is provide the best infrastructure, but what happens after that is up to them.”
"Sales agents were not sitting idle at their stands if one takes the example of one company in the Martin Gropius Bau: the CEO met with 90 buyers and the members of staff responsible for marketing had no less than 180 meetings in addition to ad-hoc discussions at events in the evenings."
Coproductions are the engine driving the business these days.
This year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market ended after two-and-a-half days with awards handed out to projects from Kazakhstan and Belgium.
The €6,000 Arte International Prize went to Kazakh film-maker Emir Baigazin’s planned second feature The Wounded Angel, the second part of a trilogy after his Silver Bear-winning Harmony Lessons. The €1.2m Almaty-based Kazakhfilm Jsc production has already attracted France’s Capricci Production as a co-producer and has backing in place from the Doha Film Institute and the Hubert Bals Fund.
The €10,000 Vff Talent Highlight Pitch Award was presented to Belgian director Bavo Defurne for his romantic dramedy Souvenir. The €2m co-production by Oostende-based Indeed Films with Belgium’s Frakas Productions and Germany’s Karibufilm already has backing from Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Cinefinance and public broadcaster Vrt/ Een.
India-Norway’s $55 million film to be directed by Hans Petter Moland (In Order of Disappearance)’s The Indian Bride is an exciting example of an unusual pairing of countries.
Bavaria and Senator’s joint venture Bavaria Pictures’ The Postcard Killers to be directed by Mexican director Everardo Gout shows the international expansion of talent.
The Hungary-Austria-Germany co-production of Stefan Zweig’s Beware of Pity, or U.K.-Lithuania action comedy Redirected being sold by Content brings unusual European partners together.
U.S. born Damian John Harper’s coproduction with the German producers, brothers Jakob and Jonas Weydemann, on Los Angeles will be followed by In the Middle of the River now being developed with Zdf’s Das Kleine Fernsehspiel unit.
Shoreline’s The Infinite Man produced with Australia’s Hedone Productions in association with Bonsai Films with investment from South Australia Film Corporation through its Filmlab funding initiative, development assistance from Screen Australia is also a new sort of pairing.
Film and Music Entertainment (F&Me), Bac Films, 20 Steps Productions and Bruemmer & Herzog’s The President is shooting in Tbilisi, Georgia and is being directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
Italian-Canadian producer Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s Sights of Death starring Danny Glover, Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer, Stephen Baldwin and Michael Madsen is directed by Allessandro Capone in Rome.
The Spain-u.K. co-production Second Origin is based on the best selling Catalan novel Mecanoscrit Del Segon Orgen.
The Golden Bear Winner Black Coal, Thin Ice is a Boneyard Entertainment (New York & Hong Kong) co-production with Boneyard Entertainment China (Bec), Omnijoi Media (Jiangsu, China), China Film co-production.
A sign of the times is the Swedish Film in Berlin advertisement which lists all Swedish co-productions:
In Competition: In Order of DisappearanceOut of Competition: NymphomaniacBerlinale Special: Someone You Love Generation Kplus: A Christmoose StoryPerspektive Deutsches Kino: Lamento
All are with European co-producers as is Antboy a Danish-German co-production.
One of my favorites is Gallows Hill, being sold by Im Global and already picked up by IFC for U.S. Starring Twilight actor Peter Facinelli, U.K. actress Sophia Myles, Nathalia Ramos and Colombian model and actress Carolina Guerra, it was entirely financed from within Colombia by television network Rcn’s affiliate Five 7 Media which produced with Peter Block's A Bigger Boat, David Higgins and Angelique Higgins' Launchpad Productions and Andrea Chung. The screenplay was written by Rich D’Ovidio ( The Call, Thir13en Ghosts) about a widower who takes his children on a trip to their mother’s Colombian hometown.
Another interesting combo is the Australian-Singapore co-production Canopy being sold by Odin’s Eye which was acquired by Kaleidoscope for U.K., by Kinosmith for Canada and Odin’s Eye itself for Australia. After its Tiff 2013 premiere, Monterrey acquired U.S. rights.
Cathedrals of Culture, was produced by Wim Wenders’ production company: Neue Road Movies in Germany and co-produced by Final Cut For Real (Denmark), Lotus Film (Austria), Mer Film (Norway), Les Films d'Ici 2 (France), Sundance Productions / RadicalMedia (U.S.), Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg In collaboration with Arte (Germany and France) and Wowow (Japan).
Grand Budapest Hotel is a co-production of Scott Rudin in U.S. and Studio Babelsburg in Germany.
Wouldn't you say there had to be an awful lot of business going on? If only the media knew where to look for it. Instead, they moan the same old tired tune, "Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News". Oh well...
Efm Coproduction Market
Asian producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon, who was pitching the Hong Kong comedy Grooms by writer-director Arvin Chen at the Berlin Coproduction Market, announced that Germany’s augenschein filmproduktion will be a coproducer on Singaporean director Boo Junfeng’s second feature Apprentice. The film has already received backing from France’s World Cinema Support, the Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw of Germany and Germany's second network, Zdf’s Das kleine fernsehspiel unit. It also has Cinema Defacto as its French co-producer. Junfeng’s first film, Sandcastle, was screened at the Critics’ Week in Cannes in 2010.
Cologne-based augenschein, who produced Maximilian Leo’s My Brother’s Keeper, the opening film of this year’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino and is handled internationally by Media Luna, is currently in post-production on Romanian filmmaker Florin Serban’s Box, his second feature after the 2010 Berlinale Competition film If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle.
Argentinian filmmaker Santiago Mitre whose debut The Student established him as one of the brightest and most courted young directors in Latin America was in the Co-production Market with his untitled second feature which France’s Full House connected to along with Argentina’s Union de los Rio, Argentine broadcast network Telefe, Ignacio Viale and the ubiquitous Lita Stantic.
Full House was also at the Coproduction Market with Peter Webber’s Fresh about a young thief learning the art of pickpocketing in Bogota, Colombia. It will be co-produced with Rcn affiliate Five 7 Media and 4Direcciones in Colombia and by Webber himself.
Raymond van der Kaaij, the producer of Tamar van den Dop’s Panorama title Supernova, is now financing Sundance winner Ernesto Contreras’ next feature I Dream In Another Language. The Spanish-English language project will be produced with Mexico-based Agencia Sha, and it is now casting the American lead according to producer van der Kaaij of Revolver Amsterdam. Developed at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the winner of the Sundance-Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, I Dream has already received support from Imcine in Mexico. Shooting is scheduled in Mexico for the end of 2014.
Revolver is now editing Bodkin Ras, the debut film of Iranian-Dutch director Kaweh Modiri, an English-language documentary-thriller set in North Scotland. The Dutch-Belgian-u.K. coproduction is set for release at the end of 2014.
Finnish film-maker Jukka-Pekka Valkeapaa’s is editing his latest feature They Have Escaped, which Revolver coproduced with Helsinki Film.
Trend of smart art genres
Another continuing trend, which began with Xyz and Celluloid Nightmares and continued with Memento, is the character-driven art genre films with tight budgets, like the Danish coming-of-age-werewolf-romance, When Animals Dream, directed by first timer Jonas Arnby, sold by Gaumont to Radius-twc for No. Americ. The Scandinavians, formerly making a mark with "Nordic Noir" are now making what they call "Nordic Twilight".
Trend of remake rights
Another trend is that of remake rights. Film Sharks reports it makes more from selling remake rights than from licensing distribution rights.
The Intouchables is selling remake rights to more countries than only India as is the sale of Other Angle’s Babysitting remake rights. Negotiations are underway with Russia, Italy and Germany.
Fruit Chan is considering an English language remake of his 2004 cult horror film Dumplings.
The market is bit too calm?…Then let us look at Cannes…
Usually by Afm you can begin the Tipped for Cannes List (which Gilles Jacob detested), but even that is a little on the quiet side. I begin to question whether all media fueled news is accurate: the slow sales being reported, the lack of pre-Cannes buzz… Is the media really investigating deeply?
Of all the trades, while Screen has the most international news and deepest analyses, Variety reports things no other trade is covering. But…still the non-news of a quiet market persists as if it were headline news. We always hear this and we are still in an economic slump, so what we wish for is not apparent, but this is not news.
Tipped for Cannes
Tipped for Cannes are Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home staring Gong Li and to be sold by Wild Bunch, Stealth’s First Law starring Mads Mikkelsen (Cannes 2012 Best Actor Award for The Hunt); Self Made (Boreg) by Shira Geffen and to be sold by Westend, shot in Hebrew and Arabic by the production and sales team behind Oscar nominated 2011 drama Footnote, the second film after Geffen’s 2007 debut Jellyfish which won the Cannes Camera d’Or. MK2’s Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas and starring Juliette Binoche, Chloe Grace Moretz and Kristen Stewart, and Naomi Kawase’s Still the Water will be delivered in time for Cannes. Pyramide International is plannng for Leviathan, a modern retelling of the biblical story which deals with some of Russia’s most important social issues to be ready for Cannes. It is directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky (Stalingrad) as their followup to Elena. Gaumont-cj co-production, The Target, the Korean remake of Fred Cavaye’s action thriller Point Blank will be ready in time for Cannes.
Rumors and truths about people changing positions
Rumors about Dieter Kosslick replacing Berlin’s Culture Secretary who resigned after a tax evasion scandal in which he admitted to stashing $575,000 in a Swiss bank account…Charlotte Mickie has left eOne and knowing her, she is bound to find something good elsewhere as she's too good to lose...StudioCanals Harold van Lier now leads eOne’s newly ramped international sales team and Montreal based Anick Poirier leads its subsidiary label, Seville International. Jeff Nuyts is leaving Intramovies. Nigel Sinclair and Guy East seem to be leaving Exclusive Media the company they founded as discussions with partners from Dasym Investment Strategies Bv move forward. Kevin Hoiseth from Voltage Pictures has joined International Film Trust as their director of international sales...and of course, Nadine de Barros has founded her own company, Fortitude, and was holding court at the Ritz Carlton the buzziest spot outside of the Martin Gropius Bau.
What I Saw and What I Thought
For what it's worth, here is my limited list of screenings of films seen only in the last 3 days of the festival when I was no longer "working". I am including some I actually saw at Sundance.
First and foremost -- and to be written about further in a "thought piece" as I term the articles I think long about before writing and to include my interview with the director Goran Hugo Olsson's (The Black Power Mixtapes winner of Sundance 2011 World Cinema Documentary Film Editing Award) -- Concerning Violence (Isa: Films Boutique, U.S.: Cinetic), based on Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth and seen at Sundance this year next to Stanley Nelson's outstanding Freedom Summer (PBS) and Greg Barker's We Are The Giant (Submarine), is a call to action for new societal models ringing out loud and clear.
Golden Bear Winner, Black Coal, Thin Ice by Diao Yinan, a Chinese noir, lacked the momentum and substance I would have expected in a winning film, though it was a fascinating way to see today's urban China. Had I been on the jury, I would have chosen the Best Director Award winning Boyhood (Isa: IFC) by Richard Linklater. But perhaps because James Schamus, an American who loves Chinese films, was President of the Jury, there might have arisen a question of disinterested objectivity. I would have to hear what jurists Barbara Broccoli, Trine Dyrhom, Chistoph Waltz, Tony Leung, Greta Gerwig, Mitra Farahani and Michel Gondry would have to say about the deliberations.
Speaking of jury prizes, it was a surprise the much acclaimed '71 (Isa: Protagonist, now headed by our dear Mike Goodridge) won nothing, and good Alain Renais' Life of Riley (Isa: Le Pacte) received recognition. I found Christophe Gans' La belle et la bete (Beauty and the Beast) (Isa: Pathe) an overproduced unwieldy special effects-ridden mess, even though it was exec-produced by Jérôme Seydoux who also produced the masterpiece La Grande Belleza (The Great Beauty), and starred his granddaughter Lea Seydoux. I'll stand by Cocteau's versoin. I heard Claudia Llosa (Milk of Sorrow)'s Aloft was also not widely admired.
About the best actress winning film The Little House (Isa: Shochiku could have marketed it more widely), I heard nothing at all, though it sounds really good. Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross) (Isa: Beta) by brother and sister team Anna and Dietrich Brueggemann (any relation to our own Tom Brueggeman?) had a satisfying denouement and was quite engrossing with moments of humor lightening the heavy weight of the cross carried by 14 year old Maria played by Lea van Acken, a picture face out of a George de la Tour painting (Magdeline with a Smoking Flame or A Piece of Art). Macondo (Isa: Films Boutique - again! ) by Sudabeh Mortezai of Austria was a window on a world never seen before and very engrossing although the coming of age story was one we have seen before.
Not sorry to say I missed The Monuments Men and Nymphomaniac Volume I, but sorry that I missed Beloved Sisters (Isa: Global Screen) of Dominik Graf, The Grand Budapest Hotel (will see it in U.S.), Argentinian Benjamin Naishat's History of Fear (Isa: Visit) -- I'll catch it in Carthegena, Guadalajara or San Sebastian I'm sure, Jack, In Order of Disappearance which sounds like the sleeper hit of the festival, Argentinan (again!) La tercera orilla (The Third Side of the River), Lou Ye's Tui Na (Blind Massage) and Rachid Bouchareb's Two Men in Town (Isa: Pathe - again!), which I heard was rather flat which is not surprising, for when non-Americans try to make an American genre, it usually misses a certain verve, but still is such an interesting subject for him to tackle, Zwischen Welten (Inbetween Worlds) (Isa: The Match Factory) from Germany, another "American" subject, but here about a German soldier in Afghanistan, not an American one.
Among the Berlinale Specials, I wish I had seen Nancy Buirski's Afternoon of a Faun which everyone said was good (Isa: Cactus Three the doc production company of Krysanne Katsoolis and Caroline Stevens) and Volker Schloendorff's 1969 Brecht piece Baal starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Margarethe von Trotta. I did see his Diplomacy (Isa: Gaumont) which was a great treat, erudite, intimate and reminiscent of the novels of Sandor Marai (Embers and Casanova in Bolzano). Wish I could have seen Wim Wenders' Cathedrals of Culture (Isa: Cinephil), Diego Luna's Cesar Chavez (Isa: Mundial) and In the Courtyard aka Dans la cours (Isa: Wild Bunch) starring Catherine Deneuve and The Kidnapping of Michel Houllebecq (Isa: Le Pacte - again!!). I will see The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (Isa: The Film Sales Company) by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, produced by Jonathan Dana, Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller and Celeste Schaefer Snyder (Ballets Russes), back home. The Turning (Isa: Level K), an experimental omnibus produced by my favorite Australian producer, Robert Connelly who also directed in part and Maggie Myles, is also a must-see as is Errol Morris' companion piece to The Fog of War, The Unknown Known (Isa: HanWay) and Houssein Amini's Two Faces of January (Isa: StudioCanal) starring my favorites Viggo Mortenson and Kirsten Dunst. We Come as Friends (Isa: Le Pacte), by Hubert Sauper whose earlier film Darwin's Destiny astounded me, was worth watching although so often his films plunge one into a hopeless helplessness. Fresh from Sundance, it was raising controversy and the story of the Sudan is worth knowing. His particular and peculiar Pov is valuable. Watermark (Isa: Entertainment One), another social issue worth knowing about will have to wait for a more propitious time. Personally I'm hoping Israel's current venture into desalination of water will lead the world into peace and that I will rejoice watching the doc about that.
Difret (Isa: Films Boutique - again!), fresh from Sundance where I saw it was really good and it sold well. I got to hang out with the team at the Panorama party. Gueros (Isa: Mundial - again!), was a disappointment -- too like The Year of the Nail (though different) in tone. But what a great company Canana is!
Panorama's Finding Vivian Maier (Isa: HanWay - again!) is brilliantly interesting. It is about to be released in U.S. by IFC. I highly recommend seeing this documentary about an eccentric, unknown photographer. It premiered at Tiff 2013. Fresh from Sundance where it won a Special Jury Prize, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (Isa: Submarine) was a treasure; Velvet Terrorists was about the oddest piece I have ever seen. About three former opponents of the Czechoslovakian Soviet Regime, each has continued to enjoy blowing up things. One is still training the next generation in urban guerilla warfare. They are otherwise unremarkable, sweet even, but twisted. What an odd documentary.
A quick look at the Market Films I have seen: of the 400+ premieres: Zero -- no I did see German Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Two Lives (Isa: Beta), and I will soon be home to celebrate its nomination at the famous Villa Aurora, the former home of German expatriate writer Leon Feuchtwanger. So many more films look sooooo attractive! A pity I may never get to see them. I would need all the time in the world, and I have so little. I have so much and yet I want more!
And for all the complaints about Berlin, many sales agents set up private screenings before the market kicked off. What is that about?
Beki Probst, who has run the Efm since 1988, responded to the many media reports of a quieter market in an interview with ScreenDaily which sounds almost the same as the one she gave in 2009.
Quoting her current statement which I take the liberty of quoting here as it appears in Screen:
“I think that there was a good movement of business this year,” she said. In the opinion of Probst, there had been a muddying of the distinction between the Efm and the more general term of the ‘market’.
“Daphné Kapfer of Europa International representing 35 sales agents said that it was a very good Berlin, and Glen Basner of FilmNation commented that it was ‘the best Berlin’.
“Even Harvey Weinstein came just for 24 hours to sign a $7m check, and Aloft was bought by Sony Pictures Classics.
“It’s the players, and not the market, that is important. The players come here if they have the right line-up. All we can do is provide the best infrastructure, but what happens after that is up to them.”
"Sales agents were not sitting idle at their stands if one takes the example of one company in the Martin Gropius Bau: the CEO met with 90 buyers and the members of staff responsible for marketing had no less than 180 meetings in addition to ad-hoc discussions at events in the evenings."
Coproductions are the engine driving the business these days.
This year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market ended after two-and-a-half days with awards handed out to projects from Kazakhstan and Belgium.
The €6,000 Arte International Prize went to Kazakh film-maker Emir Baigazin’s planned second feature The Wounded Angel, the second part of a trilogy after his Silver Bear-winning Harmony Lessons. The €1.2m Almaty-based Kazakhfilm Jsc production has already attracted France’s Capricci Production as a co-producer and has backing in place from the Doha Film Institute and the Hubert Bals Fund.
The €10,000 Vff Talent Highlight Pitch Award was presented to Belgian director Bavo Defurne for his romantic dramedy Souvenir. The €2m co-production by Oostende-based Indeed Films with Belgium’s Frakas Productions and Germany’s Karibufilm already has backing from Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Cinefinance and public broadcaster Vrt/ Een.
India-Norway’s $55 million film to be directed by Hans Petter Moland (In Order of Disappearance)’s The Indian Bride is an exciting example of an unusual pairing of countries.
Bavaria and Senator’s joint venture Bavaria Pictures’ The Postcard Killers to be directed by Mexican director Everardo Gout shows the international expansion of talent.
The Hungary-Austria-Germany co-production of Stefan Zweig’s Beware of Pity, or U.K.-Lithuania action comedy Redirected being sold by Content brings unusual European partners together.
U.S. born Damian John Harper’s coproduction with the German producers, brothers Jakob and Jonas Weydemann, on Los Angeles will be followed by In the Middle of the River now being developed with Zdf’s Das Kleine Fernsehspiel unit.
Shoreline’s The Infinite Man produced with Australia’s Hedone Productions in association with Bonsai Films with investment from South Australia Film Corporation through its Filmlab funding initiative, development assistance from Screen Australia is also a new sort of pairing.
Film and Music Entertainment (F&Me), Bac Films, 20 Steps Productions and Bruemmer & Herzog’s The President is shooting in Tbilisi, Georgia and is being directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
Italian-Canadian producer Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s Sights of Death starring Danny Glover, Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer, Stephen Baldwin and Michael Madsen is directed by Allessandro Capone in Rome.
The Spain-u.K. co-production Second Origin is based on the best selling Catalan novel Mecanoscrit Del Segon Orgen.
The Golden Bear Winner Black Coal, Thin Ice is a Boneyard Entertainment (New York & Hong Kong) co-production with Boneyard Entertainment China (Bec), Omnijoi Media (Jiangsu, China), China Film co-production.
A sign of the times is the Swedish Film in Berlin advertisement which lists all Swedish co-productions:
In Competition: In Order of DisappearanceOut of Competition: NymphomaniacBerlinale Special: Someone You Love Generation Kplus: A Christmoose StoryPerspektive Deutsches Kino: Lamento
All are with European co-producers as is Antboy a Danish-German co-production.
One of my favorites is Gallows Hill, being sold by Im Global and already picked up by IFC for U.S. Starring Twilight actor Peter Facinelli, U.K. actress Sophia Myles, Nathalia Ramos and Colombian model and actress Carolina Guerra, it was entirely financed from within Colombia by television network Rcn’s affiliate Five 7 Media which produced with Peter Block's A Bigger Boat, David Higgins and Angelique Higgins' Launchpad Productions and Andrea Chung. The screenplay was written by Rich D’Ovidio ( The Call, Thir13en Ghosts) about a widower who takes his children on a trip to their mother’s Colombian hometown.
Another interesting combo is the Australian-Singapore co-production Canopy being sold by Odin’s Eye which was acquired by Kaleidoscope for U.K., by Kinosmith for Canada and Odin’s Eye itself for Australia. After its Tiff 2013 premiere, Monterrey acquired U.S. rights.
Cathedrals of Culture, was produced by Wim Wenders’ production company: Neue Road Movies in Germany and co-produced by Final Cut For Real (Denmark), Lotus Film (Austria), Mer Film (Norway), Les Films d'Ici 2 (France), Sundance Productions / RadicalMedia (U.S.), Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg In collaboration with Arte (Germany and France) and Wowow (Japan).
Grand Budapest Hotel is a co-production of Scott Rudin in U.S. and Studio Babelsburg in Germany.
Wouldn't you say there had to be an awful lot of business going on? If only the media knew where to look for it. Instead, they moan the same old tired tune, "Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News". Oh well...
Efm Coproduction Market
Asian producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon, who was pitching the Hong Kong comedy Grooms by writer-director Arvin Chen at the Berlin Coproduction Market, announced that Germany’s augenschein filmproduktion will be a coproducer on Singaporean director Boo Junfeng’s second feature Apprentice. The film has already received backing from France’s World Cinema Support, the Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw of Germany and Germany's second network, Zdf’s Das kleine fernsehspiel unit. It also has Cinema Defacto as its French co-producer. Junfeng’s first film, Sandcastle, was screened at the Critics’ Week in Cannes in 2010.
Cologne-based augenschein, who produced Maximilian Leo’s My Brother’s Keeper, the opening film of this year’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino and is handled internationally by Media Luna, is currently in post-production on Romanian filmmaker Florin Serban’s Box, his second feature after the 2010 Berlinale Competition film If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle.
Argentinian filmmaker Santiago Mitre whose debut The Student established him as one of the brightest and most courted young directors in Latin America was in the Co-production Market with his untitled second feature which France’s Full House connected to along with Argentina’s Union de los Rio, Argentine broadcast network Telefe, Ignacio Viale and the ubiquitous Lita Stantic.
Full House was also at the Coproduction Market with Peter Webber’s Fresh about a young thief learning the art of pickpocketing in Bogota, Colombia. It will be co-produced with Rcn affiliate Five 7 Media and 4Direcciones in Colombia and by Webber himself.
Raymond van der Kaaij, the producer of Tamar van den Dop’s Panorama title Supernova, is now financing Sundance winner Ernesto Contreras’ next feature I Dream In Another Language. The Spanish-English language project will be produced with Mexico-based Agencia Sha, and it is now casting the American lead according to producer van der Kaaij of Revolver Amsterdam. Developed at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the winner of the Sundance-Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, I Dream has already received support from Imcine in Mexico. Shooting is scheduled in Mexico for the end of 2014.
Revolver is now editing Bodkin Ras, the debut film of Iranian-Dutch director Kaweh Modiri, an English-language documentary-thriller set in North Scotland. The Dutch-Belgian-u.K. coproduction is set for release at the end of 2014.
Finnish film-maker Jukka-Pekka Valkeapaa’s is editing his latest feature They Have Escaped, which Revolver coproduced with Helsinki Film.
Trend of smart art genres
Another continuing trend, which began with Xyz and Celluloid Nightmares and continued with Memento, is the character-driven art genre films with tight budgets, like the Danish coming-of-age-werewolf-romance, When Animals Dream, directed by first timer Jonas Arnby, sold by Gaumont to Radius-twc for No. Americ. The Scandinavians, formerly making a mark with "Nordic Noir" are now making what they call "Nordic Twilight".
Trend of remake rights
Another trend is that of remake rights. Film Sharks reports it makes more from selling remake rights than from licensing distribution rights.
The Intouchables is selling remake rights to more countries than only India as is the sale of Other Angle’s Babysitting remake rights. Negotiations are underway with Russia, Italy and Germany.
Fruit Chan is considering an English language remake of his 2004 cult horror film Dumplings.
The market is bit too calm?…Then let us look at Cannes…
Usually by Afm you can begin the Tipped for Cannes List (which Gilles Jacob detested), but even that is a little on the quiet side. I begin to question whether all media fueled news is accurate: the slow sales being reported, the lack of pre-Cannes buzz… Is the media really investigating deeply?
Of all the trades, while Screen has the most international news and deepest analyses, Variety reports things no other trade is covering. But…still the non-news of a quiet market persists as if it were headline news. We always hear this and we are still in an economic slump, so what we wish for is not apparent, but this is not news.
Tipped for Cannes
Tipped for Cannes are Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home staring Gong Li and to be sold by Wild Bunch, Stealth’s First Law starring Mads Mikkelsen (Cannes 2012 Best Actor Award for The Hunt); Self Made (Boreg) by Shira Geffen and to be sold by Westend, shot in Hebrew and Arabic by the production and sales team behind Oscar nominated 2011 drama Footnote, the second film after Geffen’s 2007 debut Jellyfish which won the Cannes Camera d’Or. MK2’s Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas and starring Juliette Binoche, Chloe Grace Moretz and Kristen Stewart, and Naomi Kawase’s Still the Water will be delivered in time for Cannes. Pyramide International is plannng for Leviathan, a modern retelling of the biblical story which deals with some of Russia’s most important social issues to be ready for Cannes. It is directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky (Stalingrad) as their followup to Elena. Gaumont-cj co-production, The Target, the Korean remake of Fred Cavaye’s action thriller Point Blank will be ready in time for Cannes.
Rumors and truths about people changing positions
Rumors about Dieter Kosslick replacing Berlin’s Culture Secretary who resigned after a tax evasion scandal in which he admitted to stashing $575,000 in a Swiss bank account…Charlotte Mickie has left eOne and knowing her, she is bound to find something good elsewhere as she's too good to lose...StudioCanals Harold van Lier now leads eOne’s newly ramped international sales team and Montreal based Anick Poirier leads its subsidiary label, Seville International. Jeff Nuyts is leaving Intramovies. Nigel Sinclair and Guy East seem to be leaving Exclusive Media the company they founded as discussions with partners from Dasym Investment Strategies Bv move forward. Kevin Hoiseth from Voltage Pictures has joined International Film Trust as their director of international sales...and of course, Nadine de Barros has founded her own company, Fortitude, and was holding court at the Ritz Carlton the buzziest spot outside of the Martin Gropius Bau.
What I Saw and What I Thought
For what it's worth, here is my limited list of screenings of films seen only in the last 3 days of the festival when I was no longer "working". I am including some I actually saw at Sundance.
First and foremost -- and to be written about further in a "thought piece" as I term the articles I think long about before writing and to include my interview with the director Goran Hugo Olsson's (The Black Power Mixtapes winner of Sundance 2011 World Cinema Documentary Film Editing Award) -- Concerning Violence (Isa: Films Boutique, U.S.: Cinetic), based on Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth and seen at Sundance this year next to Stanley Nelson's outstanding Freedom Summer (PBS) and Greg Barker's We Are The Giant (Submarine), is a call to action for new societal models ringing out loud and clear.
Golden Bear Winner, Black Coal, Thin Ice by Diao Yinan, a Chinese noir, lacked the momentum and substance I would have expected in a winning film, though it was a fascinating way to see today's urban China. Had I been on the jury, I would have chosen the Best Director Award winning Boyhood (Isa: IFC) by Richard Linklater. But perhaps because James Schamus, an American who loves Chinese films, was President of the Jury, there might have arisen a question of disinterested objectivity. I would have to hear what jurists Barbara Broccoli, Trine Dyrhom, Chistoph Waltz, Tony Leung, Greta Gerwig, Mitra Farahani and Michel Gondry would have to say about the deliberations.
Speaking of jury prizes, it was a surprise the much acclaimed '71 (Isa: Protagonist, now headed by our dear Mike Goodridge) won nothing, and good Alain Renais' Life of Riley (Isa: Le Pacte) received recognition. I found Christophe Gans' La belle et la bete (Beauty and the Beast) (Isa: Pathe) an overproduced unwieldy special effects-ridden mess, even though it was exec-produced by Jérôme Seydoux who also produced the masterpiece La Grande Belleza (The Great Beauty), and starred his granddaughter Lea Seydoux. I'll stand by Cocteau's versoin. I heard Claudia Llosa (Milk of Sorrow)'s Aloft was also not widely admired.
About the best actress winning film The Little House (Isa: Shochiku could have marketed it more widely), I heard nothing at all, though it sounds really good. Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross) (Isa: Beta) by brother and sister team Anna and Dietrich Brueggemann (any relation to our own Tom Brueggeman?) had a satisfying denouement and was quite engrossing with moments of humor lightening the heavy weight of the cross carried by 14 year old Maria played by Lea van Acken, a picture face out of a George de la Tour painting (Magdeline with a Smoking Flame or A Piece of Art). Macondo (Isa: Films Boutique - again! ) by Sudabeh Mortezai of Austria was a window on a world never seen before and very engrossing although the coming of age story was one we have seen before.
Not sorry to say I missed The Monuments Men and Nymphomaniac Volume I, but sorry that I missed Beloved Sisters (Isa: Global Screen) of Dominik Graf, The Grand Budapest Hotel (will see it in U.S.), Argentinian Benjamin Naishat's History of Fear (Isa: Visit) -- I'll catch it in Carthegena, Guadalajara or San Sebastian I'm sure, Jack, In Order of Disappearance which sounds like the sleeper hit of the festival, Argentinan (again!) La tercera orilla (The Third Side of the River), Lou Ye's Tui Na (Blind Massage) and Rachid Bouchareb's Two Men in Town (Isa: Pathe - again!), which I heard was rather flat which is not surprising, for when non-Americans try to make an American genre, it usually misses a certain verve, but still is such an interesting subject for him to tackle, Zwischen Welten (Inbetween Worlds) (Isa: The Match Factory) from Germany, another "American" subject, but here about a German soldier in Afghanistan, not an American one.
Among the Berlinale Specials, I wish I had seen Nancy Buirski's Afternoon of a Faun which everyone said was good (Isa: Cactus Three the doc production company of Krysanne Katsoolis and Caroline Stevens) and Volker Schloendorff's 1969 Brecht piece Baal starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Margarethe von Trotta. I did see his Diplomacy (Isa: Gaumont) which was a great treat, erudite, intimate and reminiscent of the novels of Sandor Marai (Embers and Casanova in Bolzano). Wish I could have seen Wim Wenders' Cathedrals of Culture (Isa: Cinephil), Diego Luna's Cesar Chavez (Isa: Mundial) and In the Courtyard aka Dans la cours (Isa: Wild Bunch) starring Catherine Deneuve and The Kidnapping of Michel Houllebecq (Isa: Le Pacte - again!!). I will see The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (Isa: The Film Sales Company) by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, produced by Jonathan Dana, Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller and Celeste Schaefer Snyder (Ballets Russes), back home. The Turning (Isa: Level K), an experimental omnibus produced by my favorite Australian producer, Robert Connelly who also directed in part and Maggie Myles, is also a must-see as is Errol Morris' companion piece to The Fog of War, The Unknown Known (Isa: HanWay) and Houssein Amini's Two Faces of January (Isa: StudioCanal) starring my favorites Viggo Mortenson and Kirsten Dunst. We Come as Friends (Isa: Le Pacte), by Hubert Sauper whose earlier film Darwin's Destiny astounded me, was worth watching although so often his films plunge one into a hopeless helplessness. Fresh from Sundance, it was raising controversy and the story of the Sudan is worth knowing. His particular and peculiar Pov is valuable. Watermark (Isa: Entertainment One), another social issue worth knowing about will have to wait for a more propitious time. Personally I'm hoping Israel's current venture into desalination of water will lead the world into peace and that I will rejoice watching the doc about that.
Difret (Isa: Films Boutique - again!), fresh from Sundance where I saw it was really good and it sold well. I got to hang out with the team at the Panorama party. Gueros (Isa: Mundial - again!), was a disappointment -- too like The Year of the Nail (though different) in tone. But what a great company Canana is!
Panorama's Finding Vivian Maier (Isa: HanWay - again!) is brilliantly interesting. It is about to be released in U.S. by IFC. I highly recommend seeing this documentary about an eccentric, unknown photographer. It premiered at Tiff 2013. Fresh from Sundance where it won a Special Jury Prize, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (Isa: Submarine) was a treasure; Velvet Terrorists was about the oddest piece I have ever seen. About three former opponents of the Czechoslovakian Soviet Regime, each has continued to enjoy blowing up things. One is still training the next generation in urban guerilla warfare. They are otherwise unremarkable, sweet even, but twisted. What an odd documentary.
A quick look at the Market Films I have seen: of the 400+ premieres: Zero -- no I did see German Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Two Lives (Isa: Beta), and I will soon be home to celebrate its nomination at the famous Villa Aurora, the former home of German expatriate writer Leon Feuchtwanger. So many more films look sooooo attractive! A pity I may never get to see them. I would need all the time in the world, and I have so little. I have so much and yet I want more!
- 2/27/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Exclusive: Beki Probst, head of Berlin’s European Film Market (Efm), has hit back at claims that the 2014 edition was “sluggish” or “lukewarm” while the Berlinale Co-Production Market has handed out its awards.
Probst, who has run the Efm since 1988, was responding to reports of a quieter market.
“I think that there was a good movement of business this year,” she said in an exclusive interview with ScreenDaily.
“Daphné Kapfer of Europa International representing 35 sales agents said that it was a very good Berlin, and Glen Basner of FilmNation commented that it was ‘the best Berlin’.
“Even Harvey Weinstein came just for 24 hours to sign a $7m cheque, and Aloft was bought by Sony Pictures Classics.
“It’s the players, and not the market, that is important. The players come here if they have the right line-up. All we can do is provide the best infrastructure, but what happens after that is up to them.”
In the opinion...
Probst, who has run the Efm since 1988, was responding to reports of a quieter market.
“I think that there was a good movement of business this year,” she said in an exclusive interview with ScreenDaily.
“Daphné Kapfer of Europa International representing 35 sales agents said that it was a very good Berlin, and Glen Basner of FilmNation commented that it was ‘the best Berlin’.
“Even Harvey Weinstein came just for 24 hours to sign a $7m cheque, and Aloft was bought by Sony Pictures Classics.
“It’s the players, and not the market, that is important. The players come here if they have the right line-up. All we can do is provide the best infrastructure, but what happens after that is up to them.”
In the opinion...
- 2/14/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
The Sundance Film Festival Juries have selected the winners of the 2011 awards. Since they give out so many awards, the list is extremely long. We shound be playing catch up on the festival now that it is over and things are a little less chaotic. In the meantime here are the winners.
The 2011 Sundance Film Festival Juries consisted of:
U.S. Documentary Competition: Jeffrey Blitz, Matt Groening, Laura Poitras, Jess Search, Sloane Klevin U.S. Dramatic Competition: America Ferrera, Todd McCarthy, Tim Orr, Kimberly Peirce, Jason Reitman World Cinema Documentary Competition: José Padilha, Mette Hoffmann Meyer, Lucy Walker World Cinema Dramatic Competition: Susanne Bier, Bong Joon-Ho, Rajendra Roy Shorts Competition: Barry Jenkins, Kim Morgan, Sara Bernstein Alfred P. Sloan Award: Jon Amiel, Paula Apsell, Sean Carroll, Clark Gregg -
2011 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners:
The Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to How to Die in Oregon, directed by Peter D.
The 2011 Sundance Film Festival Juries consisted of:
U.S. Documentary Competition: Jeffrey Blitz, Matt Groening, Laura Poitras, Jess Search, Sloane Klevin U.S. Dramatic Competition: America Ferrera, Todd McCarthy, Tim Orr, Kimberly Peirce, Jason Reitman World Cinema Documentary Competition: José Padilha, Mette Hoffmann Meyer, Lucy Walker World Cinema Dramatic Competition: Susanne Bier, Bong Joon-Ho, Rajendra Roy Shorts Competition: Barry Jenkins, Kim Morgan, Sara Bernstein Alfred P. Sloan Award: Jon Amiel, Paula Apsell, Sean Carroll, Clark Gregg -
2011 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners:
The Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to How to Die in Oregon, directed by Peter D.
- 1/30/2011
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
The Sundance Institute announced the award winners for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Like Crazy ended up winning the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, and Circumstance won the dramatic audience award. I thought Like Crazy was a good film, but it definitely was not one of my favorites or one of the best movie there. I didn't end up getting to see Circumstance.
Check out the full list of winners below:
2011 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners:
The Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to How to Die in Oregon, directed by Peter D. Richardson. In 1994 Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. How to Die in Oregon gently enters the lives of terminally ill Oregonians to illuminate the power of death with dignity.
The Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to Like Crazy, directed by Drake Doremus; written by Drake Doremus and Ben York Jones. A young American guy and...
Check out the full list of winners below:
2011 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners:
The Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to How to Die in Oregon, directed by Peter D. Richardson. In 1994 Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. How to Die in Oregon gently enters the lives of terminally ill Oregonians to illuminate the power of death with dignity.
The Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to Like Crazy, directed by Drake Doremus; written by Drake Doremus and Ben York Jones. A young American guy and...
- 1/30/2011
- by Venkman
- GeekTyrant
Tonight the Sundance Institute announced the award winners for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Like Crazy won the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, and Circumstance won the dramatic audience award. You can find the full list of winners in the press release after the jump. 2011 Sundance Film Festival Announces Awards Happy, Happy, Hell and Back Again, How to Die in Oregon and Like Crazy Earn Grand Jury Prizes Audience Favorites Include Buck, Circumstance, Kinyawaranda and Senna to.get.her Awarded Best of Next! Audience Award Park City, Ut–The Jury, Audience, Next! and other special award-winners of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival were announced tonight at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony hosted by Tim Blake Nelson (star of Flypaper which premiered in this year’s Premieres section) in Park City, Utah. Highlights from the Awards Ceremony can be seen on the Festival website, www.sundance.org/festival. Films receiving Jury Awards were selected from four categories: U.
- 1/30/2011
- by Peter Sciretta
- Slash Film
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