The AFI Fest returns this year to its full glory as an in-person event, Nov. 2-6.
“You know, we asked ourselves really early on — because the world is still weary from pandemics and politics and the rest — what is a film festival in 2022? And the answer was really clear, which is that the AFI festival is going to be a place for people to come together,” says Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO.
No hybrid screenings in sight. “While watching a film alone on your computer is great, it does not put the word festive in festival. This is the year to be together and to be present,” he says.
The festival kicks off with the world premiere of doc “Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me” (pictured), from director Alex Keshishian, and closes with Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans.” In between AFI Fest unspools 125 works, including Special Screening “Bones and All,...
“You know, we asked ourselves really early on — because the world is still weary from pandemics and politics and the rest — what is a film festival in 2022? And the answer was really clear, which is that the AFI festival is going to be a place for people to come together,” says Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO.
No hybrid screenings in sight. “While watching a film alone on your computer is great, it does not put the word festive in festival. This is the year to be together and to be present,” he says.
The festival kicks off with the world premiere of doc “Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me” (pictured), from director Alex Keshishian, and closes with Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans.” In between AFI Fest unspools 125 works, including Special Screening “Bones and All,...
- 11/2/2022
- by Carole Horst
- Variety Film + TV
Despite the lottery-esque sounding odds, the U.S Dramatic Competition section which produces the finest American indie specimens such as Frozen River, Winter’s Bone, Blue Valentine, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station and Whiplash is fairly consistent in terms of quality. Last year’s crop of sixteen have almost all had their theatrical releases with Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter being the last one out of the gates (pegged with an early 2015 release). Last week we individually looked at our top 80 Sundance Film Fest Predictions (you’ll find 30 other titles worth considering in our intro) and below, we’ve split the list into narrative and non-fiction film items and have both identified and color-coded our picks in an AtoZ cheat sheet. You’ll find 2015′s answer to Whiplash located somewhere in the stack below. Click on the individual titles below, for the film’s profile.
- 11/19/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
There’s an alive indie American-Iranian cinema movement in the Us, and if the Keshavarz name rings a bell it’s because the indie film fest circuit is home to siblings Maryam and Hossein. Maryam, now going by what we imagine is her married name Azadi, broke out in Park City with 2011 Sundance Audience Award Winner Circumstance, and before she made her mark it was her brother who received the limelight with 2011′s Dog Sweat, the “Someone to Watch” Film Independent Spirit Award nominated film that received its premiere at 2010′s Laff. Shot in New York City, his sophomore film, Pebble of Love in the Shoe of My Life was actually shot in the summer of 2013, and has been on a slow, but steady pace towards a ’15 premiere. Benefitting from some Kickstarter coin, Tribeca All Access awards funds, this was recently invited to the Us in Progress Champs-Élysées Film Festival...
- 11/13/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
The Champs Elysees Film Festival's in partnership with U.S. in Progress awarded the U.S. in Progress Prize to "Creative Control" Director and the film's star, Benjamin Dickinson, and Producers Craig Shilowich, Melody Roscher, Zachary Mortensen and Mark de Pace. Dickenson's first feature film "First Winter" premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.
"Creative Control", a dark sci-fi comedy is the near-future story of four Brooklynites whose tech-obsessed lifestyles get the better of them. Anxious, ambitious ad executive starts a chain reaction of destruction when he becomes obsessed with his best friend's free-spirited girlfriend while working on a campaign for a new generation of Augmented Reality Glasses. The life-like avatar he creates of her becomes too life-like as the blurred boundary between reality and fantasy spreads into an out-of-control space where everyone's public, private and imaginary lives implode.
Benjamin Dickenson grew up in Wheaton, Illinois and moved to New York in 1999 to attend Nyu's undergraduate film program. After graduation he and some friends from school started Waverly Films in a warehouse in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Benjamin started directing music videos for Dfa record artists such as LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture and the Juan Maclean. He has since made videos for Q-Tip and Reggie Watts, the "disinformationist" who c is currently appearing on the IFC television series "Comedy Bang! Bang" which began airing on June 8, 2012 and was renewed for a third season which will premiere in 2014. He has also directed commercials for Google, The Ford Motor Corporation, BMW, MTV and Guitar Hero.
Producer Marc de Pace is a partner at Ghost Robot, another Bushwick production company. In 2011 Mark produced Benjamin's "First Winter"released by Film Movement. He exec produced Michael Cera's short film "Brazzaville Teen-Ager" and Joey Garfield's feature film "A Love Letter for You". HIs producing credits also include music videos for Bjork, The Rapture and Grizzly Bear and ads for Google, Toshiba and At&T.
U.S. in Progress Paris took place during the third edition of the Champs Elysées Film Festival in Paris, on June 11-12 2014. The program presented 4 U.S. indie films in post-production to European sales agents, distributors and festival programmers in order to achieve completion and to foster the circulation and distribution of American indie films in Europe. The event has doubled the amount of submissions this year and is quickly achieving a winning track record.
The trajectories of the directing/ writing/ producing/ acting teams of the other three contenders are all trending distinctively upward:
Writer/director Matthew Lessner and producer David Henry Gerson presented "Automatic at Sea". Their short film "Chapel Perilous" previously won the 2014 Audience Award at Sundance. Matthew's previous feature "The Woods", distributed by Film Movement, premiered in the New Frontier Program at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011 and was shortlisted for Independent Spirit and Gotham Awards. The San Francisco Film Society has awarded him two grants for his upcoming feature "Terror Tuesday". Producer David Henry Gerson also starred and to my eye and in my opinion is one of the few mature (adult vs. boy-type) male leads in this new generation of actors. Manly, threatening and aloof in his role, in life he is also smart (a graduate of Colombia University with a bachelor's degree in English Literature and currently attending the American Film Institute) and engaged, as shown in the shorts he wrote and directed "Broken Badge" about a NYPD officer and American Standard about a veteran returning home from Afghanistan to his illegal immigrant girlfriend.
"Eugenia and John" directed by Hossein Keshavarz whose film "Dog Sweat" was released by Indiepix to critical acclaim in 2011 and which the New York Times called "polished; the young actors warmly believable" and NPR called "astonishingly gutsy" screened his second film, "Eugenia and John", produced by Mryam Azadi, Chad Burris and Amy Durning, stars Wesley Tunison and Venecia Troncoso who has the distinction of having starred in the Sundance hit, "Mosquita y Mari".
"Winning Dad" was written, directed and produced by Arthur Allen with producers Julia Bruk and Case Barden. This Lgbt romance is the debut feature of a young man whose career path after graduating St. John's College in Maryland, is as entertaining as his film. After supporting himself for several years in the Seattle Theater Community (and washing windows at the Space Needle), in 2008 he joined the United States Merchant Marines where he wrote "winning Dad" aboard the Usns Gilliland. On leaving, he was recruited by the Washington United for Marriage Coalition as part of its Speaker's Bureau to campaign for marriage equality in Washington State. In 2012 he began working for an Arabic translation company and represented the United States at the second Baghdad International Translation conference in Baghdad, Iraq.
If these four films are not quality enough to show the success of U.S. in Progress, the paths of the other films they have shown over the three years included Sundance film 2013's winning film "Ping Pong Summer" directed by Michael Tully and starring Susan Sarandon, Amy Sedaris, John Hannah, Judah Friedlander, and Lea Thompson was picked up for domestic distribution by Millennium and Gravitas and is currently in release theatrically in U.S. The premium international sales agent, Films Boutique, has sold it to France, Germany and Russia.
The former U.S. in Progress films, "Ping Pong Summer", "Sun Belt Express", Summer of Blood" by Onur Tukel whose film "Richard's Wedding" also showed in U.S. in Progress, are also showing at the Champs-Elysees Film Festival, the only film festival in Paris. This year Ceff is also hosting The Paris Coproduction Village with 12 feature films in development from Italy, U.S., Israel, The Philippines, Romania, Sri Lanka and U.S., Germany, Chile and Argentina, Thailand, Turkey, Italy and Canada, and Australia. It is also hosting the four-month Paris residents of the Cannes Film Festival's Cinefondation, a dozen young directors whose selection is based on the quality of their shorts or first feature film and on the merits of their project currenlty in development their motivation.
The Champs Elysees is alive with the energy infused by the top level of fresh new talent, meeting for cocktails if not over dinner and lunch every evening in the terrace of Publicis at the top the the Champs Elysees, overlooking the Arc de Triumph. ...
"Creative Control", a dark sci-fi comedy is the near-future story of four Brooklynites whose tech-obsessed lifestyles get the better of them. Anxious, ambitious ad executive starts a chain reaction of destruction when he becomes obsessed with his best friend's free-spirited girlfriend while working on a campaign for a new generation of Augmented Reality Glasses. The life-like avatar he creates of her becomes too life-like as the blurred boundary between reality and fantasy spreads into an out-of-control space where everyone's public, private and imaginary lives implode.
Benjamin Dickenson grew up in Wheaton, Illinois and moved to New York in 1999 to attend Nyu's undergraduate film program. After graduation he and some friends from school started Waverly Films in a warehouse in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Benjamin started directing music videos for Dfa record artists such as LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture and the Juan Maclean. He has since made videos for Q-Tip and Reggie Watts, the "disinformationist" who c is currently appearing on the IFC television series "Comedy Bang! Bang" which began airing on June 8, 2012 and was renewed for a third season which will premiere in 2014. He has also directed commercials for Google, The Ford Motor Corporation, BMW, MTV and Guitar Hero.
Producer Marc de Pace is a partner at Ghost Robot, another Bushwick production company. In 2011 Mark produced Benjamin's "First Winter"released by Film Movement. He exec produced Michael Cera's short film "Brazzaville Teen-Ager" and Joey Garfield's feature film "A Love Letter for You". HIs producing credits also include music videos for Bjork, The Rapture and Grizzly Bear and ads for Google, Toshiba and At&T.
U.S. in Progress Paris took place during the third edition of the Champs Elysées Film Festival in Paris, on June 11-12 2014. The program presented 4 U.S. indie films in post-production to European sales agents, distributors and festival programmers in order to achieve completion and to foster the circulation and distribution of American indie films in Europe. The event has doubled the amount of submissions this year and is quickly achieving a winning track record.
The trajectories of the directing/ writing/ producing/ acting teams of the other three contenders are all trending distinctively upward:
Writer/director Matthew Lessner and producer David Henry Gerson presented "Automatic at Sea". Their short film "Chapel Perilous" previously won the 2014 Audience Award at Sundance. Matthew's previous feature "The Woods", distributed by Film Movement, premiered in the New Frontier Program at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011 and was shortlisted for Independent Spirit and Gotham Awards. The San Francisco Film Society has awarded him two grants for his upcoming feature "Terror Tuesday". Producer David Henry Gerson also starred and to my eye and in my opinion is one of the few mature (adult vs. boy-type) male leads in this new generation of actors. Manly, threatening and aloof in his role, in life he is also smart (a graduate of Colombia University with a bachelor's degree in English Literature and currently attending the American Film Institute) and engaged, as shown in the shorts he wrote and directed "Broken Badge" about a NYPD officer and American Standard about a veteran returning home from Afghanistan to his illegal immigrant girlfriend.
"Eugenia and John" directed by Hossein Keshavarz whose film "Dog Sweat" was released by Indiepix to critical acclaim in 2011 and which the New York Times called "polished; the young actors warmly believable" and NPR called "astonishingly gutsy" screened his second film, "Eugenia and John", produced by Mryam Azadi, Chad Burris and Amy Durning, stars Wesley Tunison and Venecia Troncoso who has the distinction of having starred in the Sundance hit, "Mosquita y Mari".
"Winning Dad" was written, directed and produced by Arthur Allen with producers Julia Bruk and Case Barden. This Lgbt romance is the debut feature of a young man whose career path after graduating St. John's College in Maryland, is as entertaining as his film. After supporting himself for several years in the Seattle Theater Community (and washing windows at the Space Needle), in 2008 he joined the United States Merchant Marines where he wrote "winning Dad" aboard the Usns Gilliland. On leaving, he was recruited by the Washington United for Marriage Coalition as part of its Speaker's Bureau to campaign for marriage equality in Washington State. In 2012 he began working for an Arabic translation company and represented the United States at the second Baghdad International Translation conference in Baghdad, Iraq.
If these four films are not quality enough to show the success of U.S. in Progress, the paths of the other films they have shown over the three years included Sundance film 2013's winning film "Ping Pong Summer" directed by Michael Tully and starring Susan Sarandon, Amy Sedaris, John Hannah, Judah Friedlander, and Lea Thompson was picked up for domestic distribution by Millennium and Gravitas and is currently in release theatrically in U.S. The premium international sales agent, Films Boutique, has sold it to France, Germany and Russia.
The former U.S. in Progress films, "Ping Pong Summer", "Sun Belt Express", Summer of Blood" by Onur Tukel whose film "Richard's Wedding" also showed in U.S. in Progress, are also showing at the Champs-Elysees Film Festival, the only film festival in Paris. This year Ceff is also hosting The Paris Coproduction Village with 12 feature films in development from Italy, U.S., Israel, The Philippines, Romania, Sri Lanka and U.S., Germany, Chile and Argentina, Thailand, Turkey, Italy and Canada, and Australia. It is also hosting the four-month Paris residents of the Cannes Film Festival's Cinefondation, a dozen young directors whose selection is based on the quality of their shorts or first feature film and on the merits of their project currenlty in development their motivation.
The Champs Elysees is alive with the energy infused by the top level of fresh new talent, meeting for cocktails if not over dinner and lunch every evening in the terrace of Publicis at the top the the Champs Elysees, overlooking the Arc de Triumph. ...
- 6/14/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Every year we get a couple of indie films that are so darling—or “an indie jewel” as Stephen Holden from The New York Times calls it—that everyone goes crazy for them. Aurora Guerrero's Mosquita Y Mari seems to be another one of those films, racking up exposure at Sundance, Outfest, and even scoring an Independent Spirit Award nomination. While these films may be endearing and often “important,” they are almost always too introspective to be fully entertaining (and this one is no exception).
Yolanda—nicknamed Mosquita (Fenessa Pineda)—is our introspective protagonist, wholly focused on her schoolwork so she can get into college. In walks neighbor girl Mari (Venecia Troncoso) whom Yolanda volunteers to tutor.
Read more...
Yolanda—nicknamed Mosquita (Fenessa Pineda)—is our introspective protagonist, wholly focused on her schoolwork so she can get into college. In walks neighbor girl Mari (Venecia Troncoso) whom Yolanda volunteers to tutor.
Read more...
- 6/24/2013
- by John Keith
- JustPressPlay.net
Glenn here winding down with the Melbourne Film Festival coverage. For whatever reason, Miff’s selection of queer films is never particularly large. I wasn’t able to attend the AIDS documentary How to Survive a Plague, although I’ve heard it’s a powerful experience, but I did get along to Ira Sachs’ Keep the Lights On that follows a nine-year relationship between a Danish documentary filmmaker (Thure Lindhardt, Into the Wild) and a lawyer (Zachary Booth, Damages, Dark Horse) in New York City. I know Nathaniel’s not a fan (and I can certainly see why as there are problematic areas), but it’s rare for a “gay film” to find a positive foothold in the critical community so that made it a veritable must see.
There’s a moment when Lindhardt’s Erik passes a graffiti sign that reads “Fake Your Beauty”, which is actually a good...
There’s a moment when Lindhardt’s Erik passes a graffiti sign that reads “Fake Your Beauty”, which is actually a good...
- 8/22/2012
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
Feels Like The First Time: Guerrero’s Debut Nondescript But Heartfelt
Writer/director Aurora Guerrero’s feature debut, Mosquita Y Mari is a coming of age exercise in which a young Chicana experiences her first crush and discovers her sexual orientation. While world cinema has hardly exhausted itself on stories of Lgbt youth, Guerrero’s quietly told and observant feature has ragtag realism on its sleeve, but unfortunately doesn’t manage to assert itself as memorable.
Yolanda (Fenessa Pineda) is a bright young student at the top of her class. Living in Huntington Park with her loving but strict parents, constantly reinforcing the importance of their daughter’s education so that she can get into college and live a better life, Yolanda doesn’t do much outside of her studies and hang out with two popular and fashionably vapid peers. But her life suddenly changes when a new girl,...
Writer/director Aurora Guerrero’s feature debut, Mosquita Y Mari is a coming of age exercise in which a young Chicana experiences her first crush and discovers her sexual orientation. While world cinema has hardly exhausted itself on stories of Lgbt youth, Guerrero’s quietly told and observant feature has ragtag realism on its sleeve, but unfortunately doesn’t manage to assert itself as memorable.
Yolanda (Fenessa Pineda) is a bright young student at the top of her class. Living in Huntington Park with her loving but strict parents, constantly reinforcing the importance of their daughter’s education so that she can get into college and live a better life, Yolanda doesn’t do much outside of her studies and hang out with two popular and fashionably vapid peers. But her life suddenly changes when a new girl,...
- 8/3/2012
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Mosquita Y Mari (Isa: The Film Collaborative) by Aurora Guerrero, a San Fran raised xicana, is an absolutely lovely film about discoveries of oneself and each other. It’s full of moments that are sweet, tender and real. Sometimes they are fleeting and sometimes they linger. Aurora paints her community – immigrant, youth and queer - with such affection and passion that you feel that someone like Aurora will herald a new era in Latino filmmaking. Mosquita Y Mari opens in NYC at Cinema Village August 3rd.
LatinoBuzz: How important was making Mosquita y Mari to you?
Aurora:I spent over 7 years of my life working on this film. It meant alot! I think that ultimately I wanted to tell a love story but in my own way. I wanted to put out there a story that felt familiar to people across sexualities and communities but that also incorporated the layers that can be specific to class and gender and immigration status. It’s 2012 and we had yet to see this love story told within this world and between these two girls. I just felt very profoundly that it was a story I had to share with others. It was time to put out a story like this. And in the process I got to immortalize a time in my life that was special.
LatinoBuzz:With Mosquita Y Mari, Elliot Loves, Four, Joven Y Alocado making the festival circuit and finding success do you think it will give Latinos the courage to continue to represent the gay community in film?
Aurora:Most definitely. I find myself totally inspired by all these films and filmmakers. If you were to watch them back to back you’d realize how they all have something different to share with their audiences. I think this sends a strong message to other filmmakers to aspire to be their own filmmaker. To not only be bold in telling stories with queer storylines but to do it in bold ways. That’s why these films are getting recognized. At least that’s how I see it.
LatinoBuzz:Tell us a horror story making a film…
Aurora:No horror stories, thankfully!
LatinoBuzz:You’re primarily influenced by writers. What do you want your words to do?
Aurora:I hope my visual language inspires others to tell their stories and challenges people’s thinking.
LatinoBuzz:You brought out radiant performances from Fenessa Pineda & Venecia Troncoso. What was that process?
Aurora:It was a wonderful experience working with them. From the very beginning I was intent on studying them very closely. Making sure I had a handle on when they were telling me the truth as actors/people and when they were lying. I was very upfront with them about this. I told them that I was basically going to be their bullshit detector. And if I thought what they were giving me Bs during a scene I would call them out on it. They, in turn, could also call me out on any Bs with regards to the writing. If they felt it forced or wrong then they could talk to me about it and together we’d make changes to it. That was our pact! Looking back there were very, very few times I had to say “Bullshit.” They were extremely invested in their characters and the moments they shared between them. I was blown away by their chemistry. Basically, I just had to make sure I just didn’t get in the way of it.
LatinoBuzz:You end the film on an ambiguous yet perfect note. Who do Mosquita Y Mari grow up to be as realized individuals?
Aurora:Oh, this is a cheating question. That’s not for me to say. That’s for each audience member to imagine. I mean I have my own ideas of who they go on to be but obviously it wasn’t important for me to state that in the film. I think it was more important for me to leave the audience feeling that these girls have gone through a shift in their person, a change. They aren’t the same people they met at the beginning of the film when they first set eyes on each other across the street. Their journey together has definitely made an impact on them, opened them up to something different. I think it was enough to leave audience in that
place. The rest is up to ya’ll to imagine!
LatinoBuzz:Your Bing commercial was hella dope. It’s one of the first times I’ve seen a Latina in a commercial and she wasn’t dancing up a storm with fruit on her head to a conga beat with some suave guy in a ruffled shirt. When is the breakthrough going to come where we are looked at different in the mainstream?
Aurora:I don’t know if it’s going to come via one person “breaking through” or a current of artists staying true to themselves at all times in their career. I think we’re starting to really see that now. Maybe it’s because so many of us, and that includes non-people of color too, are really tired of seeing the Latino stereotypes. I know it has inspired me to be myself without a doubt in my mind. I call myself a queer Xicana at home, in the streets...why not call myself that when I’m being interviewed. It’s who I am and its definitely part of what informs the stories I tell. People have an issue with that then that’s on them. I’m just being
me in this whole process.
LatinoBuzz:You’re an activist - whose Biopic would you make and who is in it?
Aurora:Oh man! So many amazing people to choose from. I would have to say Chavela Vargas cuz she’s fierce, a wonderful vocalist, out queer, and from an era in Mexico that I’m fascinated by.
LatinoBuzz:What was the moment you made your parents the most proud?
Aurora:I wonder what they wouldsay if you asked them. If I had to choose for them I think it would probably be when they saw me on stage at Sundance introducing its world premiere. As I have been paving my career as a filmmaker my parents have been there for me every step of them way. They have believed in my dreams despite how steep the mountain has been. So when Sundance came around they totally got it. I think for them it was like I was finally being announced to the world as a filmmaker.
For more on Mym, Email MosquitayMari@Gmail.comor visit mosquitaymari.com...
LatinoBuzz: How important was making Mosquita y Mari to you?
Aurora:I spent over 7 years of my life working on this film. It meant alot! I think that ultimately I wanted to tell a love story but in my own way. I wanted to put out there a story that felt familiar to people across sexualities and communities but that also incorporated the layers that can be specific to class and gender and immigration status. It’s 2012 and we had yet to see this love story told within this world and between these two girls. I just felt very profoundly that it was a story I had to share with others. It was time to put out a story like this. And in the process I got to immortalize a time in my life that was special.
LatinoBuzz:With Mosquita Y Mari, Elliot Loves, Four, Joven Y Alocado making the festival circuit and finding success do you think it will give Latinos the courage to continue to represent the gay community in film?
Aurora:Most definitely. I find myself totally inspired by all these films and filmmakers. If you were to watch them back to back you’d realize how they all have something different to share with their audiences. I think this sends a strong message to other filmmakers to aspire to be their own filmmaker. To not only be bold in telling stories with queer storylines but to do it in bold ways. That’s why these films are getting recognized. At least that’s how I see it.
LatinoBuzz:Tell us a horror story making a film…
Aurora:No horror stories, thankfully!
LatinoBuzz:You’re primarily influenced by writers. What do you want your words to do?
Aurora:I hope my visual language inspires others to tell their stories and challenges people’s thinking.
LatinoBuzz:You brought out radiant performances from Fenessa Pineda & Venecia Troncoso. What was that process?
Aurora:It was a wonderful experience working with them. From the very beginning I was intent on studying them very closely. Making sure I had a handle on when they were telling me the truth as actors/people and when they were lying. I was very upfront with them about this. I told them that I was basically going to be their bullshit detector. And if I thought what they were giving me Bs during a scene I would call them out on it. They, in turn, could also call me out on any Bs with regards to the writing. If they felt it forced or wrong then they could talk to me about it and together we’d make changes to it. That was our pact! Looking back there were very, very few times I had to say “Bullshit.” They were extremely invested in their characters and the moments they shared between them. I was blown away by their chemistry. Basically, I just had to make sure I just didn’t get in the way of it.
LatinoBuzz:You end the film on an ambiguous yet perfect note. Who do Mosquita Y Mari grow up to be as realized individuals?
Aurora:Oh, this is a cheating question. That’s not for me to say. That’s for each audience member to imagine. I mean I have my own ideas of who they go on to be but obviously it wasn’t important for me to state that in the film. I think it was more important for me to leave the audience feeling that these girls have gone through a shift in their person, a change. They aren’t the same people they met at the beginning of the film when they first set eyes on each other across the street. Their journey together has definitely made an impact on them, opened them up to something different. I think it was enough to leave audience in that
place. The rest is up to ya’ll to imagine!
LatinoBuzz:Your Bing commercial was hella dope. It’s one of the first times I’ve seen a Latina in a commercial and she wasn’t dancing up a storm with fruit on her head to a conga beat with some suave guy in a ruffled shirt. When is the breakthrough going to come where we are looked at different in the mainstream?
Aurora:I don’t know if it’s going to come via one person “breaking through” or a current of artists staying true to themselves at all times in their career. I think we’re starting to really see that now. Maybe it’s because so many of us, and that includes non-people of color too, are really tired of seeing the Latino stereotypes. I know it has inspired me to be myself without a doubt in my mind. I call myself a queer Xicana at home, in the streets...why not call myself that when I’m being interviewed. It’s who I am and its definitely part of what informs the stories I tell. People have an issue with that then that’s on them. I’m just being
me in this whole process.
LatinoBuzz:You’re an activist - whose Biopic would you make and who is in it?
Aurora:Oh man! So many amazing people to choose from. I would have to say Chavela Vargas cuz she’s fierce, a wonderful vocalist, out queer, and from an era in Mexico that I’m fascinated by.
LatinoBuzz:What was the moment you made your parents the most proud?
Aurora:I wonder what they wouldsay if you asked them. If I had to choose for them I think it would probably be when they saw me on stage at Sundance introducing its world premiere. As I have been paving my career as a filmmaker my parents have been there for me every step of them way. They have believed in my dreams despite how steep the mountain has been. So when Sundance came around they totally got it. I think for them it was like I was finally being announced to the world as a filmmaker.
For more on Mym, Email MosquitayMari@Gmail.comor visit mosquitaymari.com...
- 8/3/2012
- by Juan Caceres
- Sydney's Buzz
Mosquita Y Mari
Written and directed by Aurora Guerrero
USA, 2011
What can you say about teenagers? Ask a parent and they’ll likely say they haven’t a clue. Ask a teenager and they’ll likely say the same. Understanding them is a dissertation of its own and very few filmmakers have ever shown an adequate propensity for it. Alumni include the illustrious John Hughes, early George Lucas (American Graffiti), the French contemporary Céline Sciamma (Water Lilies, Tomboy), and now, thanks to her debut film, Latina filmmaker Aurora Guerrero. Benevolent, sweet, and with devastating heart, Guerrero’s Mosquita Y Mari is an essay on young love that unquestionably makes the grade.
Set in Los Angele’s Huntington Park neighbourhood, Mosquita Y Mari tells the story of 15-year-old Yolanda (Fenessa Pineda). An obedient, straight-a student with an aversion to drugs, alcohol, and boys, Yolanda is every parent’s dream. However, her...
Written and directed by Aurora Guerrero
USA, 2011
What can you say about teenagers? Ask a parent and they’ll likely say they haven’t a clue. Ask a teenager and they’ll likely say the same. Understanding them is a dissertation of its own and very few filmmakers have ever shown an adequate propensity for it. Alumni include the illustrious John Hughes, early George Lucas (American Graffiti), the French contemporary Céline Sciamma (Water Lilies, Tomboy), and now, thanks to her debut film, Latina filmmaker Aurora Guerrero. Benevolent, sweet, and with devastating heart, Guerrero’s Mosquita Y Mari is an essay on young love that unquestionably makes the grade.
Set in Los Angele’s Huntington Park neighbourhood, Mosquita Y Mari tells the story of 15-year-old Yolanda (Fenessa Pineda). An obedient, straight-a student with an aversion to drugs, alcohol, and boys, Yolanda is every parent’s dream. However, her...
- 5/21/2012
- by Justin Li
- SoundOnSight
Wolfe Releasing has picked up North American rights to "Mosquita y Mari," a coming-of-age tale that focuses on a love between two Latinas in Los Angeles, Wolfe said Tuesday. The movie is writer-director Aurora Guerrero's first feature film. Fenessa Pineda stars as Yolanda, a straight-a student in Los Angeles' Huntington Park. Venecia Troncoso plays Mari, Yolanda's study partner -- a girl who has recently moved to town with her undocumented family. Wolfe is the largest distributor of gay and lesbian films. Chad Burris produced the Indion Entertainment/Maya Entertainment movie.
- 2/7/2012
- by Joshua L. Weinstein
- The Wrap
Until very recently, lesbian films centered on teenage characters tended toward melodrama. High school romances often ended in tragedy, plot devices often trumped young love, and well-meaning filmmakers were thwarted by various realities of the movie business. Many of these movies were also lily-white, with young women of color typically filling minor roles, if any.
Then Pariah and Circumstance came out last year, throwing all of the stereotypes out the door and presenting worlds that felt genuine, with characters that were believable, vulnerable teens. Joining this list is Mosquita y Mari, portraying an intense teenage relationship between two Chicana girls in the Huntington Park neighborhood of L.A. It’s about as real and honest a film as we’ve seen in recent years, with a script that invites you completely inside the movie’s world, and young stars who fill their roles with equal weight and youthful exuberance.
Yolanda...
Then Pariah and Circumstance came out last year, throwing all of the stereotypes out the door and presenting worlds that felt genuine, with characters that were believable, vulnerable teens. Joining this list is Mosquita y Mari, portraying an intense teenage relationship between two Chicana girls in the Huntington Park neighborhood of L.A. It’s about as real and honest a film as we’ve seen in recent years, with a script that invites you completely inside the movie’s world, and young stars who fill their roles with equal weight and youthful exuberance.
Yolanda...
- 1/24/2012
- by Danielle Riendeau
- AfterEllen.com
Following up their initial competition announcement the folks at the Sundance Film Festival have released the names of thirty additional 2012 selections, in the Spotlight, Park City at Midnight, Next, and New Frontiers sections.
Although these sections tend to focus more on young and up-and-coming filmmakers (particularly the Next sidebar, which was created just a few years ago with that specific mandate), you might find a few names you recognize in the full list of invited films below. Next is where you'll find the new film from "Great World of Sound" director Craig Zobel; it's called "Compliance" and it's described as the (based-on-a-)true story of what happens "when a prank caller convinces a fast food restaurant manager to interrogate an innocent young employee." Lynn Shelton, director of "Humpday," will premiere "Your Sister's Sister" starring Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt and "Humpday"s Mark Duplass. Duplass also wrote his wife Katie Aselton...
Although these sections tend to focus more on young and up-and-coming filmmakers (particularly the Next sidebar, which was created just a few years ago with that specific mandate), you might find a few names you recognize in the full list of invited films below. Next is where you'll find the new film from "Great World of Sound" director Craig Zobel; it's called "Compliance" and it's described as the (based-on-a-)true story of what happens "when a prank caller convinces a fast food restaurant manager to interrogate an innocent young employee." Lynn Shelton, director of "Humpday," will premiere "Your Sister's Sister" starring Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt and "Humpday"s Mark Duplass. Duplass also wrote his wife Katie Aselton...
- 12/2/2011
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
Now in its third year, Sundance's Next section (which describes its works as "bold", and "innovative" (think more accessible than and just as low budget as the stuff we find in the New Frontiers section) grabs our attention because of its inclusion of Craig Zobel's latest effort, Compliance a true story drama perhaps in the same budget range as Great World of Sound. Other alumni embedded in this group of nine include: Helmer Destin Daniel Cretton (who one in Park City a couple of years back for Short Term 12) returns with his feature debut, I Am Not a Hipster and the Zellner bros. are back again with their latest, Kid-Thing (the teaser on Kickstarter seriously rocks). Worth noting: actress Carrie Preston brings her feature bromance-like comedy (That's What She Said) with the unlikely trio of actresses in Anne Heche, Marcia DeBonis, Alia Shawkat while Matt Ross (I'm sure...
- 12/2/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
Yesterday Sundance released their films up for competition for the 2012 festival. But that was only one half of the festival slate. Now Sundance has released the second half of films that will be released as part of the festivities. Films in competition are just as interesting as those not in competition and with titles The Raid and Wuthering Heights are all on the list, it will be a fun watch this year.
Check out the list for the Out of Competition film that can be seen at the Sundance Film Festival 2012 below.
Spotlight
Corpo Celeste / Italy (Director and screenwriter: Alice Rohrwacher) — After moving back to southern Italy with her mother and older sister, 13-year-old Marta struggles to find her place, restlessly testing the boundaries of an unfamiliar city and the catechism of the Catholic church.Cast: Yle Vianello, Salvatore Cantalupo, Anita Caprioli, Renato Carpentiere.
Declaration Of War / Belgium (Director: Valérie Donzelli,...
Check out the list for the Out of Competition film that can be seen at the Sundance Film Festival 2012 below.
Spotlight
Corpo Celeste / Italy (Director and screenwriter: Alice Rohrwacher) — After moving back to southern Italy with her mother and older sister, 13-year-old Marta struggles to find her place, restlessly testing the boundaries of an unfamiliar city and the catechism of the Catholic church.Cast: Yle Vianello, Salvatore Cantalupo, Anita Caprioli, Renato Carpentiere.
Declaration Of War / Belgium (Director: Valérie Donzelli,...
- 12/1/2011
- by Mike Lee
- FusedFilm
Yesterday The Sundance Film Festival released their list of In-Competition films, today they have released their line-up of Non-Competition films. I've had a blast every year that I've attended The Sundance Film Festival, it's always a surprise! You never know what movie you are going to see until you see it. If you ever get a chance to go I highly recommend that you do. Each film on the list has a little description next to it. The festival will take place January 19th to the 29th.
Check out the list of movies below and let us know of any that you are interested in watching or hearing about so that we can get it covered for you. Some of the films might look familiar to you such as The Raid, Grabbers and Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, and Wuthering Heights. The Raid is at the top of...
Check out the list of movies below and let us know of any that you are interested in watching or hearing about so that we can get it covered for you. Some of the films might look familiar to you such as The Raid, Grabbers and Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, and Wuthering Heights. The Raid is at the top of...
- 12/1/2011
- by Venkman
- GeekTyrant
Yesterday the Sundance Film Festival announced the core lineup of films [1] that will be spotlit in the Competition slates at the 2012 festival. Now we've got a lineup of films that will play out of competition in the Spotlight, Park City at Midnight, Next <=> and New Frontier schedules. There are a few films in here with which you might be nominally familiar, like The Raid, Grabbers and Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie, not to mention Andrea Arnold's new version of Wuthering Heights. But many are new announcements. While the competition lineups are always a good place to look for some of the films that will be the most talked-about in the year following each Sundance fest, these schedules are where some of the more unique and provocative films live. There are still some big premieres to be announced next week, but if I was making a big Sundance wishlist,...
- 12/1/2011
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
Getty Images The marquee of the Egyptian Theater announces the Sundance Film Festival
Yesterday, the Sundance Institute announced its in-competition narrative and documentary films for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Today, they announced their out-of-competition film in the Spotlight, Midnight, Next and New Frontier sections. The full list is below:
Spotlight
Regardless of where these films have played throughout the world, the Spotlight program is a tribute to the cinema we love.
Corpo Celeste / Italy (Director and screenwriter: Alice Rohrwacher) — After...
Yesterday, the Sundance Institute announced its in-competition narrative and documentary films for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Today, they announced their out-of-competition film in the Spotlight, Midnight, Next and New Frontier sections. The full list is below:
Spotlight
Regardless of where these films have played throughout the world, the Spotlight program is a tribute to the cinema we love.
Corpo Celeste / Italy (Director and screenwriter: Alice Rohrwacher) — After...
- 12/1/2011
- by Michelle Kung
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Following yesterday's announcement of the titles lined up for the four programs of the Competition, the Sundance Film Festival has unveiled the lineups of its out-of-competition sections: Spotlight, Park City at Midnight, Next <=> and New Frontier. This time, I'm going to go ahead and copy-n-paste the release nearly in full because, well, these are, potentially at least, the more interesting batches.
We'll cut in just as Trevor Groth, Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival, is saying, “In many ways, the extremes of the Festival’s program are most readily apparent in our out-of-competition sections, which showcase the wildest comedies, the most terrifying horror films and uncompromised visions from singular voices springing up from around the country and the world. We hope audiences experiment with their film selections to an equal degree as these filmmakers have experimented with their storytelling.”
Spotlight
Regardless of where these films have played throughout the world,...
We'll cut in just as Trevor Groth, Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival, is saying, “In many ways, the extremes of the Festival’s program are most readily apparent in our out-of-competition sections, which showcase the wildest comedies, the most terrifying horror films and uncompromised visions from singular voices springing up from around the country and the world. We hope audiences experiment with their film selections to an equal degree as these filmmakers have experimented with their storytelling.”
Spotlight
Regardless of where these films have played throughout the world,...
- 12/1/2011
- MUBI
Following yesterday’s announcement of competition titles, Sundance Film Festival 2012 have announced the line-up for a few more sections today. In their Spotlight section we have a few of my favorite Tiff titles, including Wuthering Heights (pictured above), Your Sister’s Sister, as well as audience-winners The Raid and Where Do We Go Now? We also get the insane-looking Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie in the midnight section. Check out the list below.
Park City, Ut — Sundance Institute announced today the films selected to screen in the 2012 Sundance Film Festival out-of-competition sections Spotlight, Park City at Midnight, Next <=> and New Frontier. The Festival takes place from January 19 through 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The complete list of films is available at www.sundance.org/festival.
Trevor Groth, Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival, said, “In many ways, the extremes of the...
Park City, Ut — Sundance Institute announced today the films selected to screen in the 2012 Sundance Film Festival out-of-competition sections Spotlight, Park City at Midnight, Next <=> and New Frontier. The Festival takes place from January 19 through 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The complete list of films is available at www.sundance.org/festival.
Trevor Groth, Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival, said, “In many ways, the extremes of the...
- 12/1/2011
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.