News

Mexico’s has selected “Sujo” as the country’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards. The movie written and directed by Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez won the World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and will hit theaters November 29.

After a cartel gunman from a small Mexican town is murdered, Sujo (Kevin Uriel Aguilar Luna/Juan Jesús Varel), his beloved four-year-old son, is left an orphan and in danger. Sujo narrowly escapes death with the help of his aunt who raises him in the isolated countryside amidst hardship, poverty, and the constant peril associated with his identity.When he enters his teens a rebelliousness awakens in him, and like a rite of passage, he joins the local cartel. As a young man, Sujo attempts to make his life anew, away from the violence of his hometown. However, when his father...

Edgar Nito, whose debut feature “The Gasoline Thieves’’ won the Best New Narrative Director award at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, is taking his second feature, “A Fisherman’s Tale,” to world premiere at Spain’s most prominent genre festival, Sitges, and have its Mexican debut at the Morelia film fest, both in October.

Produced by Pablo Cruz and Enrique Lavigne of El Estudio, Nito’s Pirotecnia Films, L.A.-based 4 Ways Entertainment and associate produced by Grupo Morbido’s Pablo Guisa, the fantasy tale turns on a legend when nature once flourished peacefully around a lake and its islands. Men, consumed by dark desires, spread fear, hatred, and death. The fishermen speak of “La Miringua,” a vengeful mythical creature that pulls sinners into the lake’s depths, dragging them to their doom.

Co-written by Nito and Alfredo Mendoza, the film stars a solid cast led by Noé Hernández (“Miss...

Director Ángel Manuel Soto’s Blue Beetle gave us the premiere of cinema’s first solo Latin-American superhero and his ridiculously loveable family. The superhero movie charmed its way into the hearts of many through its unwavering respect for its heritage, something commented upon directly through its homage to the Mexican supernatural classic Macario. The homage occurs during Blue Beetle’s most crucial scene but is actually hinted at prior to the eagle-eyed viewers who would have spotted Nana (Adriana Barraza) watching the film on television during the film’s first act. For repeat viewings, just keep an eye on the moment during Nana’s channel surfing when one of the images shows a man walking into a cavern overridden with burning candles. If that doesn’t ring any bells don’t worry, we’ve got you covered!

Since 1986 Mexico’s Guadalajara International Film Festival (Ficg) has been one of the premiere North American stops along the global festival circuit, showcasing some of the most exciting and innovative work emerging from Latin America and beyond. But we’re not here today to talk about that festival, actually. No. Today we’re here to talk about the GuadaLAjara Film Festival, Ficg’s satellite showcase in Dtla, which kicks off its 2023 edition November 1–the perfect cure for your post-Halloween hangover.

Having playfully rebranded as GuadaLAjara Film Fest four years ago, the three-day fall showcase has evolved to establish its own identity as a cultural hub between the film communities of Latin America and Los Angeles, providing a safe space for Latinx and Bipoc creators to connect and share their work–with style!–in Hollywood’s own backyard. This year offers not just a great film program but special conversations (Rodrigo Prieto!

Frías de la Parra’s I Don’t Expect Anyone To Believe Me (No Voy A Pedirle A Nadie Que Me Crea) to open fest on November 1.

The North American premiere of Fernando Frías de la Parra’s I Don’t Expect Anyone To Believe Me (No Voy A Pedirle A Nadie Que Me Crea) will open GuadaLAjara Film Festival in Los Angeles (Glaff) running November 1-3.

Frías de la Parra’s follow-up to Mexico’s 2021 Oscar-shortlisted drama I’m No Longer Here and HBO show Los Espookys centres on an aspiring writer who moves to Barcelona to study literature and gets...

Rodrigo Prieto, the Oscar-nominated cinematographer, will be honored with the 2023 Árbol de la Vida – lifetime achievement award at the 13th edition of the GuadaLAjara Film Festival on Nov. 1.

Taking place at the Theater at the Ace Hotel in Downtown L.A., the Mexican D.P. will be honored at the opening night gala celebration. Past honorees have included Oscar-winner Patricia Arquette, in addition to stars such as Xolo Maridueña, Rosario Dawson and Danny Trejo.

Prieto has garnered worldwide acclaim for his work on various feature films, collaborating with some of cinema’s most vital masters. He has picked up his three Oscar noms for Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain” (2005) and two with Martin Scorsese — “Silence” (2016) and “The Irishman” (2019). He’s teamed up with the iconic filmmaker again for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the story of a group of men that murdered Osage tribe members in the 1920s. The...

Blue Beetle's movie is set to avoid at least one of the mistakes that led to The Flash's box office disaster, focusing on the human aspect of the story rather than in a repetitive, overwhelming spectacle. The Latin American culture references and diverse cast make Blue Beetle a landmark for superhero films, representing an important step for representation in the genre. Blue Beetle's focus on Jaime Reyes' relationship with his family sets it apart from other superhero movies and avoids repeating tiresome tropes seen in films like The Flash.

Blue Beetle, DC’s next 2023 movie, is set to avoid one of the mistakes that led to The Flash’s box office disaster. The Flash movie has made $268 million at the worldwide box office on a reported budget of $200 million, making it a colossal box office flop. Many elements help explain why The Flash bombed, including but not limited to flawed visual effects,...

Blue Beetle confirms the first character death in the new DC Universe, setting the stage for a rebooted franchise with a fresh set of superheroes. The death of Jaime Reyes' father is a key part of Blue Beetle's plot, providing an emotional and profound journey for the superhero. Alberto Reyes' death will continue to inform and shape Jaime's journey in the new DC Universe, serving as a defining event for the character's development.

Blue Beetle confirms the DC Universe's first character death two years before Superman: Legacy kickstarts the rebooted franchise. James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe will introduce a brand-new set of superheroes with no connection to the Dceu. Starting with Superman: Legacy, the new franchise will follow icons such as Superman, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Mr. Terrific as they interact in a world that's already acquainted with metahumans.

While Superman: Legacy is the first official movie in the new DC Universe,...

Magical realism is an essential part of Latin American fiction, a genre that blurs the lines between fantasy and reality, using mundane settings and stories to explore larger-than-life themes and imagery. Though not commonly associated with superhero movies, it makes sense that the upcoming "Blue Beetle" would take at least some inspiration from the genre.

"Blue Beetle," of course, is set to be the first live-action superhero film with a Latino lead, telling the story of Jaime Reyes as he finds a mysterious alien scarab beetle that grants him superpowers. Though technically a part of James Gunn's new DC Universe, "Blue Beetle" is "totally disconnected" from the rest, allowing it to do some experimenting — like drawing inspiration from a classic work of magical realist Mexican cinema.

Speaking with Moviemaker magazine, "Blue Beetle" director Angel Manuel Soto talked about being inspired by the 1960 Mexican film "Macario," about a woodcutter who is visited by the Devil,...

Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Films' upcoming Blue Beetle movie will pay tribute to one of Latin cinema's most beloved films -- Roberto Gavaldón's 1960 feature Macario.

Per MovieMaker Magazine, the upcoming DC solo film takes inspiration from one of cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa's shots from Macario in a scene depicting the afterlife. The sequence features Xolo Maridueña's Jaime Reyes visiting his late father Alberto, played by Damián Alcázar.

Related: Blue Beetle Story Details Reveal the Motives of Susan Sarandon's Villain

Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in 1961, Macario was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film (now Best International Feature Film) at the 1961 Academy Awards. The story tells of Macario, a disillusioned wood-cutter who is taken on a journey through the afterlife by the Devil, God, and Death. The film's depiction of Death's cavern inspired the afterlife sequence in Blue Beetle.

"The magic realism of Macario is stuck with me,...

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Blue Beetle.

Blue Beetle, an upcoming film, introduces Jamie Reyes, a young Mexican-American protagonist who stumbles upon a mysterious scarab of unknown origin. This artifact becomes fused with Jamie's spine, granting him the ability to summon a powerful armored suit known as the Blue Beetle. However, the scarab's influence over Jamie is far from predictable, often leading to moments where he finds himself controlled by the beetle rather than maintaining control himself. Director Angel Manuel Soto recently shared significant details about the film, shedding light on the emotional journey of the protagonist.

During an interview with MovieMaker magazine (via Reddit), Soto confirmed that Alberto, Jamie's father, portrayed by Damián Alcázar, will meet his demise at some point in the film. Additionally, Soto shared that the film will feature a sequence where Jamie and his father are reunited in the Afterlife. This particular scene draws...

This article contains spoilers for Blue Beetle.

Blue Beetle will include at least one major character death and it'll have a major impact on Jamie Reyes.

In an interview with MovieMaker magazine, director Angel Manuel Soto confirmed that Jamie's (Xolo Maridueña) father Alberto (Damián Alcázar) will die at some point in the film although how he meets his demise is unknown. The filmmaker went further to confirm that there's a sequence when Jamie and his father are reunited in the Afterlife in a sequence that's inspired by Gabriel Figueroa's 1960 movie Macario. "Jaime didn't get a chance to say goodbye to his father," explained Maridueña. "I want people to understand that if you have your parents, just hug them, because you never know when it's the last time."

Related: Blue Beetle Promo Introduces Becky G as Khaji-Da, Voice of the Scarab

Blue Beetle marks Jamie Reyes' first live-action film and...

In a flagship deal for the Spanish-speaking world’s ever more global industry, Gonzalo Maza, co-writer of Sebastián Lelio’s Academy Award-winning “A Fantastic Woman,” has been tapped by production powerhouse El Estudio to adapt “Macario,” a novella written by the legendary B. Traven.

Traven’s 1927 novel, “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” was given a big screen makeover by John Huston in the 1948 film of the same name, starring Humphrey Bogart, which won three Academy Awards and is often described as Huston and Bogart’s finest work.

The announcement of the new film project was made by El Estudio on the eve of Mexico’s Day of the Dead. That seems no coincidence when it comes to “Macario,” a title which is a Mexico-set literary classic reflecting the pervasive presence of death in Mexican culture.

Coming after El Estudio has acquired the rights to “Macario” from the Traven estate,...

The writer/director of Tigers Are Not Afraid takes us through some of her most formative cinematic experiences.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)

The Innocents (1961)

Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017)

The Goonies (1985)

Gremlins (1984)

Ghostbusters (1984)

Ravenous (1999)

Raw (2016)

T2 Trainspotting (2017)

Macario (1960)

Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

The Lady From Shanghai (1947)

Lake Mungo (2008)

The Witches of Eastwick (1987)

Happy Feet (2006)

Lorenzo’s Oil (1992)

Babe (1995)

Mad Max: Fury Road (2014)

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

Blade Runner (1982)

Casablanca (1942)

Gone With The Wind (1939)

Fanny and Alexander (1982)

Terrified a.k.a. Aterrados (2017)

Terrified (1963)

Gates of the Night (1946)

Other Notable Items

Rome TV series (2005-2007)

Jack Clayton

Ray Bradbury

Jonathan Pryce

Walt Disney Pictures

Walt Disney

Shudder

Richard Donner

Steven Spielberg

The Donner Party

Antonia Bird

Guy Pearce

Robert Carlyle

Once Upon A Time TV series (2011-2018)

Julia Ducournau

Roberto Gavaldón

Gabriel Figueroa

The Criterion Channel

“The Third Guest” short story by B. Traven (1953)

The Haunting of Hill House...

Macario. Courtesy Filmoteca de la UNAMThe celebrated Mexican filmmaker Roberto Gavaldón was born in Juárez and worked as a film extra in California before returning to his native country, where he worked for ten years as assistant director, perfecting the technical aspects of his trade. He then launched his career and during the next four decades made over fifty features, a number of which are celebrated as Mexico’s finest. Gavaldón’s time in America makes some of these films—particularly the noirs—resonate deeply with the darkness and the cynicism that pervade American crime noirs of the 1940s and 50s. The current retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art sheds light not only on Galvadón’s supreme craft and visceral storytelling but also his profoundly pessimistic vision. Gavaldón’s early sentimental melodramas—such as his renowned debut feature, La barraca (1945), and also one of his later great epics, Macario...

Macario San Sebastian Film Festival has announced it will host a retrospective of about 25 films dedicated to Mexican director Roberto Gavaldón at its 67th edition.

The Jiménez-born filmmaker worked his way up through the ranks of actor, extra and assistant director and scriptwriter before co-directing, making his debut as a solo director in 1945 with The Shack (La Barraca). He would go on to film Macario in 1960, which was selected for Cannes and became the first Mexican film to receive a nomination for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. Its success paved the way for him becoming one of Mexico's most important directors for the next two decades.

Roberto Gavaldón Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival Although mainly working in melodrama, he also tackled genres including crime, musical and fantasy. His other films include Macario, La otra – a criminal drama about twin sisters that would go on to be remade by Hollywood as Dead Ringer,...

Mexico has never won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, but it looks like that drought is about to end thanks to “Roma,” which is a rare foreign language film that is also an Oscar contender for Best Picture. However, our southern neighbor also looked like a sure bet to win 12 years ago for “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006) only to be upset by Germany’s “The Lives of Others.” Now the director of that film, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, is back with another Foreign Film contender, “Never Look Away.” Will history repeat itself?

There have been eight Mexican movies nominated for Best Foreign Language Film: “Macario” (1960), “The Important Man” (1961), “Tlayucan” (1962), “Letters from Marusia” (1975), “Amores Perros” (2000), “The Crime of Father Amaro” (2002), the aforementioned “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006) and most recently “Biutiful” (2010). The fact that the nation hasn’t won is ironic given the recent success of Mexican filmmakers in English-language movies.

Sign...

Death doesn't take a holiday in this, the granddaddy of movies about the woeful duties of the Grim Reaper. Fritz Lang's heavy-duty Expressionist fable is as German as they get -- a morbid folk tale with an emotionally powerful finish. Destiny Blu-ray Kino Classics 1921 / B&W / 1:33 flat / 98 min. / Street Date August 30, 2016 / Der müde Tod / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Lil Dagover, Walter Janssen, Bernhard Goetzke, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Georg John. Cinematography Bruno Mondi, Erich Nitzschmann, Herrmann Saalfrank, Bruno Timm, Fritz Arno Wagner Film Editor Fritz Lang Written by Fritz Lang, Thea von Harbou Produced by Erich Pommer Directed by Fritz Lang

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari takes the prize for the most influential work of early German Expressionism, but coming in a close second is the film in which Fritz Lang first got his act (completely) together, 1921's Destiny (Der müde Tod). A wholly cinematic...

Luis Buñuel's most direct film about revolutionary politics brandishes few if any surreal touches in its clash between French star Gérard Philipe and the Mexican legend María Félix. Borrowing the climax of the opera Tosca, it's an intelligent study of how not to effect change in a corrupt political regime. La fièvre monte à El Pao Region A+B Blu-ray + Pal DVD Pathé (Fr) 1959 / B&W / 1:37 flat (should be 1:66 widescreen) / 96 min. / Los Ambiciosos; "Fever Mounts at El Pao" / Street Date December 4, 2013 / available at Amazon France / Eur 26,27 Starring Gérard Philipe, María Félix, Jean Servais, M.A. Soler, Raúl Dantés, Domingo Soler, Víctor Junco, Roberto Cañedo, Enrique Lucero, Pilar Pellicer, David Reynoso, Andrés Soler. Cinematography Gabriel Figueroa Assistant Director Juan Luis Buñuel Original Music Paul Misraki Written by Luis Buñuel, Luis Alcoriza, Charles Dorat, Louis Sapin from a novel by Henri Castillou Produced by Jacques Bar, Óscar Dancigers, Gregorio Walerstein...

Macario, just screened in Edinburgh International Film Festival's Focus on Mexico season, is a relatively well-known film by the great and prolific Roberto Gavaldón, but that in itself means little, since even in cinephile circles many film-lovers have never heard of him.Gavaldón was one of the top directors of Mexican cinema's golden age, along with Emilio Fernández and Tito Davison (Buñuel was always something of an outsider). While his work includes the elements of melodrama, social realism and a tinge of film noir which characterise much of this period, he also incorporates a streak of what might be called magic realism. and this is at the forefront of Macario.The first Mexican film nominated for an Oscar, losing out to The Virgin Spring, which bizarrely also features a magic spring bubbling up under mysterious and perhaps divinely-inspired circumstances, Macario derives from a story by the mysterious B. Traven (Treasure...

While the name Gabriel Figueroa may not be a familiar one to many, even those with a stronger affinity for filmmaking and the art behind it, New York’s own Film Forum is hoping to change that.

On June 5, the theater began a career spanning retrospective surrounding the work of iconic cinematographer and Mexican film industry legend Gabriel Figueroa. Taking a look at 19 of the photographer’s films, the series is running in conjunction with the new exhibition at El Museo del Barrio, entitled Under The Mexican Sky: Gabriel Figueroa – Art And Film.

Best known as a pioneer of Mexican cinema, primarily with his work alongside director Emilio Fernandez, Figueroa’s work was as varied as they come. His work with Fernandez is without a doubt this retrospective’s highlight, particularly films like Wildflower. One of the many times Mexican cinema’s “Big Four” worked together, the film saw the...

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...

Breaking Glass Pictures is releasing the DVD of Pablo tomorrow.

This documentary is an imaginatively told tribute and story of the respected film title designer, Pablo Ferro, who was this year's recipient of the Gabi Lifetime Achievement Award at the 16th Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival.

Pablo blends documentary and animation elements to tell the saga of "famous unknown" Pablo Ferro, a man with a personal journey that starts in Havana during the pre-Cuban revolution and spans to today in his current home, in the garage behind his son's house. The animation part of the film takes us through the dream-scape of Pablo's memories, while the documentary footage chronicles a very eccentric lifestyle of a 72 year old artist, once hailed by Stanley Kubrick as the father of the 60's look and the MTV aesthetics. Narrated by Oscar-winner Jeff Bridges.

When he lived in New York's infamous alphabet city in the '60s he hosted tout New York, from Andy Warhol to Jack Kerouac at his raucous parties. In spite of troubles in love, lots of drugs and his crazy life, his talent made him sought after as a precious talent. Today he can recall those wonderful days and show his talent in its many, many forms, enriching all listeners with his great story telling talents. Check out the DVD. Shoreline handles international rights to this fascinating documentary for those international distributors who like documentaries about art, movies, Latinos, Cubans or crazy menschen.

During his extensive career, over four decades, Mr. Ferro has worked on the title designs of over 80 films and television shows. Some his more notable works include classics like Dr. Strangelove and Thomas Crowne Affair, and more recent titles like Beetlejuice, Men in Black and Good Will Hunting.

“His immense contributions to the entertainment industry are a point of pride for the Hispanic filmmaking community,” said Marlene Dermer, Co-founder and Executive Director/Programmer of Laliff.

The prestigious Gabi Lifetime Achievement Award is named after legendary Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, who is best known for his work on the films Macario, Pedro Paramo and Luis Buñuel’s Simon Del Desierto. Pablo Ferro joined the ranks of other past recipients that represent the highest degree of talent in the Latino film industry, among them the celebrated Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, and cinematographer Guillermo Navarro.

To purchase the DVD of the documentary on the work of this remarkable artist please visit Here...

Growing up in Culver City, I always saw the MGM studio near us as a place of make-believe where I could collect autographs of famous movie stars. I knew they made the movies there that I watched every weekend. But it was home, and home was a place of safe daydreams without ambitious goals associated with it.

When I became a teenager and saw Un Chien Andalou, I began to see Movie Mecca as New York and Paris, but now I see they have nothing on us.

Los Angeles this past month had so many events that I could see the world without leaving town. Just a sampling here: German Film Currents,Polish Film Festival, So. African Arts Fest, Satyajit Ray Restored, Pure and Impure: The films of Pier Paolo Pasolini, Gabriel Figueroa Retrospective and The Golden Age of Mexican Cinema which this weekend showed Roberto Gavaldon’s Macario an Oscar-nominated 1959 surrealist Mexican fable. Also showing this weekend alone were A Century of Chinese Cinema at UCLA, the Cambodian documentaryA River Changes Course, Ida’s free documentary series, sci-fi Beyond Fest at the Egyptian Theater, Henri-George Couzot’s La Verite at Red Cat, not to mention Classics from the Cohen Film Colletion: The Rohauer Collection and finally, the early press screenings for the Foreign Language Submissions for the Academy Awards.

Today I write about Africa, West Africa in particular, but even more so Chad, because that is where Mahamat-Saleh Haroun and his film Grigris (Isa: Les Films du Losange, No. America: Film Movement) originate. Grigris premiered in the Cannes Film Festival this year. Haroun also wrote and directed The Screaming Man (Isa: Pyramide, No. America: Film Movement) which won The Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Grigris is playing as part of the Cameras d’Afrique Series at Lacma which I blogged about earlier Here. This showcase of world-changing films is an initiative of Loyola Marymount University Film School, Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Film Program and Film Independent.

The films offer a unique view of Africa in the comfort of our own town. This series includes the 1963 film Borom Sarret by Ousmane Sembene from Senegal, the first film directed by an African to focus on an African filmmaker’s own people. We all know the name of Ousmane Sembene, but rarely have the chance to see his films, though I will never forget the experience of seeing Black Girl in 1966 at the height of our own Civil Rights struggles. It enlightened me about the rest of the world’s own warped (i.e., colonial) view of the Africans in diaspora, a subject being revived in so many films of today.

My most current education on Africa comes from the annual course I teach about the international film business to festival directors from Africa, Asia and Latin America at the Deutsche Welle Akademie in Berlin. I learn about the problems and issues facing a diverse range of festival directors, many of whom are also filmmakers. For example, in a country with no theaters, the film festival is held in the bush and promoted via cel phones which everyone possesses. I was also made alert to the fact that many Africans themselves find European-funded films showing dusty, poverty-stricken but cute kids in torn t-shirts and running barefoot in dirty streets and men wearing the boubou and women balancing baskets on their heads condescending and imbalanced depictions of Africa today.

Mama Kéïta was present to talk about L’Absence and Gaston Kaboré was there with Buud Yam (followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker). Other program highlights included the L.A. premiere of Mille Soleils (A Thousand Suns), Djibril Diop Mambéty’s 1973 French New Wave–inspired Touki Bouki, Idrissa Ouédraogo’s 1990 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winner Tilaï (The Law), and the 2013 Fespaco Golden Stallion winner Tey (Today), followed by a Q&A with director Alain Gomis and star Saul Williams.

Seeing these films gave me a feeling of wholeness, from L’Absence, the tail of a prodigal son, returning too long after he was granted an education in France by his fellow countrymen and family who had expected him to return and contribute to his own country’s wellbeing but instead stayed in France where he basically lost his soul, to Buud Yam, a classic hero’s journey by a young man seeking a healer for his sister. The audience and the filmmakers along with their films had a great opportunity to unveil an Africa about which we know too little

Planning to interview Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, I looked up Chad in Wikipedia and read it is what is called a “failed country”. My spirits dropped. But on seeing Grisgris and meeting Haroun and hearing all he had to say, my spirits soared.

Do you know for a fact that a film can change the world? I believe it can, does and is changing the world. So many of my colleagues in the film world are in film because of the same ideal.

The African directors at the series spoke of their films and their passion and they too make films to change the world. Haroun was not the only one who spoke at the African film series, but my conversation with him proved it to me. We spent a good hour discussing his films and his thoughts and development which I will try to summarize here.

It has been a long road for Haroun. When he first returned to Chad from France and made Bye Bye Africa, he was inexperienced and afraid of nothing. You see his chutzpah making Bye Bye Africa as he shoots film of everyone, offending some who believed he was stealing their spirits. He meets his past star who played a woman dying of AIDS whose life has been ruined because the people believe the film was real.

For Haroun, acting is like cooking. You do it for someone you love. Chad was such a difficult country for filming his first film, so he could make mistakes. If you fall down, you just get up and keep going. He had no doubts. It’s a question of love. You feel it; you act it. His non-professional actors do their best and their passion carries them through.

Making his second film was different. There was pressure, especially for him as an actor, to make it good. After A Screaming Man he got a call from Brad Pitt who wanted him as an actor in World War Z and who wanted the lead, but not speaking English put an end to that.

Chad is landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. Because the French colonized it in the 1920s, it is now a “Francophone” country and has more in common with its neighbors in the West and so is considered West African.

Chad had free elections in 2008 and elected President Idriss Déby. The country defeated the Sudanese rebels there. The nation sent troops into Mali and killed Moktar Belmoktar, the Algerian terrorist behind the deadly attack on a natural gas plant in Algeria and withdrew its troops in April of this year saying they were not prepared to fight guerilla warfare. That means money that went to the military can be redirected toward peaceful endeavors. Today they are rebuilding the country which is based on an oil economy which gives it a window of rich opportunity.

Cinema in Chad changed greatly and became a new focal point for the newly elected government when Haroun won the Jury Prize in Cannes for A Screaming Man in 2010 When his debut film Bye Bye Africa (1999), showed the wreck of the country revisited by long-time French exile, he saw theaters which the long civil war and instability had destroyed. He spoke to a woman who swore she would renovate her theater, the Normandie. Bye Bye Africa was a drama but it took place in a documentary setting which looks at the poor state of cinema in the country. After Haroun won the Grand Jury Prize of Cannes, the government allocated $1 million to restore the theater which stands today as a testament to the power of film. It shows 35mm, is digitized and can use satellite transmission. It can buy Hollywood films using digital coding although film distribution rights are still difficult to negotiate. However, the distributor of Django in France arranged for Django to show day and date in Paris and Chad’s capitol city N’Djamena for a minimum guarantee. This was a major event for a country that has gone 30 years without cinema.

The government of Chad began to receive compliments for winning the Jury Prize in Cannes, which is perceived to be as important as the Olympics themselves (It is, in fact, the 2nd largest press event in the world after the Olympics). The world’s perception of Chad and its own perception of itself shifted from being one of the poorest, war-torn and corrupt nations of Africa to one of high stature culturally. And its current Prime Minister Djimrangar Dadnadji, and his government has now allocated $10 million into building a film school which should be finished by 2015. It will be one of the rare film schools in all of Africa and will be the finest in the north, east or west of the entire continent.

The film school is a part of rebuilding the country today. It is also trying to become part of the U.N. Security Council. It is the leading country in Central and West Africa. It is part of the Central African Economic Council (Ceeac).

What these changes mean for Haroun is that he can continue to use film for himself as a platform, the means to objectify and philosophize about conscience and consciousness. As Aimee Caesar was quoted in Bye Bye Africa, Africa needs to articulate its storytelling tradition in new ways and to be visible beyond its own borders. Film shows diversity. Differing points of view and discussions mean the nation can start to play a role on a grander world stage. With the building of a film school, the parliament also voted into law at tax of $.01 per telephone call to go toward artistic activities. This will make a huge difference to the next generation.

When Haroun began making movies he wanted to stop talking about the state of cinema, so he put it into his film, memorialized it and then closed the door on the subject.

You can see Haroun’s own evolution in regards to his treatment of women in Bye Bye Africa to his depiction of them in Grigris. It was not a very flattering portrayal; even in Grigris, the hero does not stand up for the woman he loves when his boss degrades her. However, the film gives a special place to the women in the village as if they were a in a classical Greek Choir. The women change the Story and the two artists’ destiny is changed because of the women.

Grigris is the portrait of a young African artist, but even with talent, the milieu is so difficult and as the eldest, he has to take care of others. This is The Responsibility that kills dreams. Grigris is a cruel portrayal of the young artist. It is a modern story, extending the tradition of oral storytelling.

Although he is not acting in it, it is still an impressionistic self-portrait, as was Bye Bye Africa which was shot in two weeks and won Best First Feature in Venice in 1999. His growth intellectually and emotionally can be measured by watching the two films.

After being selected and awarded at the 66th Festival de Cannes for the remarkable quality of its photography, the film Grigris, by Mahamat Saleh Haroun, supported by the Acp Cultures + Programme, won the Bayard d'Or for best photography at the 28th Festival International Film Francophone de Namur (Fiff) in Belgium. (Read the full list of 28th Fiff Awards : click here.)

Haroun explains that he has many women around him – his mother, his sisters, cousins. In Africa, a man’s role does not include cooking. Cooking is love. But in France he enjoys cooking. Cooking shows trust in those who partake in the making and eating of the meal. No one burns the steak when cooking for one’s mother. Food is essential to Haroun. “If you cook, you can share, you open your doors.”

He told me how he got into movies.

I was 9 years old when I saw my first movie. It was a Bollywood movie and a beautiful lady in it was smiling at the camera. I thought she was smiling at me. The love and happiness I felt watching this made me love cinema.

My dream of cinema was a big ambition. It was not to make small films. I dreamt of expressing an important philosophy of life and of my country in cinema. I did not want to stick just to tradition which is disappearing. But to the eternal which remains. Tradition is not the essential; culture is. For example, in Western society, the meaning of seat number 13 on a plane is not culture, but it is a tradition.

Haroun is leading his generation. In 1965 the civil war was raging in the North. It came to the capital in 1979 and he went to Paris to study cinema in 1981/82. His country was ruled by a dictator who is now in prison to be judged in court for the 40,000 lives taken during the 8 years of war. Reid Brady of the Human Rights Watch and Haroun are now making a documentary about this. Today Haroun travels between France and Chad 5 to 6 times a year. Interestingly, there is not yet a film festival in Chad.

When I asked what was next :

Next is about Indian fashion. Also a young artist. It is based on a true story of a young man in N’Djemena who used to watch Bollywood dvds and has seen more than 1,500 Bollywood films and speaks Hindu as a result. He gets a job at an Indian factory and translates to French and to his African language. He spends eight years there but dreams of becoming an actor in Bollywood. The story brings him to Bombay. That is a good base for a film; a film built on truth and documentary.

I am also making a film in France called A Life in France. I have lived there for 30 years. The film is from the point of view of an immigrant as I am.

Hamoud and I so enjoyed our talk that we are now looking forward to meeting again when he returns here in December! Wouldn’t it be great if his film is one of those shortlisted for the Nomination, or if it actually received the Nomination? Or if it won? How might that then change the world? We will have to wait and see.

About Lmu Sftv

Movie industry moguls helped establish Loyola Marymount University’s (Lmu) current campus on the bluffs above west Los Angeles in the 1920s. By 1964, Lmu was formally teaching film and television curriculum, and in 2001, the School of Film and Television (Sftv) was established as its own entity. Today, Sftv offers students a comprehensive education where mastering technical skills and story is equally important to educating the whole person, including the formation of character and values, meaning and purpose. Sftv offers undergraduate degrees in animation, production, screenwriting, film and television studies and recording arts; and graduate degrees in production, screenwriting and writing and producing for television. The school is one of the few film programs providing students with a completely tapeless model of production and post-production, and Sftv’s animation program is one of the few worldwide that teaches virtual cinematography. Selected alumni include John Bailey, Bob Beemer, Francie Calfo, Brian Helgeland, Francis Lawrence, Lauren Montgomery, Jack Orman, Van Partible and James Wong, among others. Get more information at sftv.lmu.edu or facebook.com/lmusftv.

About Film Independent at Lacma

Film Independent at Lacma is a film series produced by Film Independent—the nonprofit arts organization that also produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival—and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) with presenting sponsor The New York Times and premier sponsor Ovation. The Film Independent at Lacma Film Series is curated by Elvis Mitchell and assistant curator Bernardo Rondeau. The program features classic and contemporary narrative and documentary films; emerging auteurs; international showcases; special guest-curated programs, such as Jason Reitman's acclaimed Live Read series; and conversations with artists, filmmakers, and other special guests. For more information, go to filmindependent.org/lacma or lacma.org.

A few weeks ago the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its shortlist for the Foreign Language Film Award. The nominations are being determined in two phases. After a committee of several hundred Academy members screened all 71 eligible films nine were selected to advance to the second round, making it to the shortlist. Of these nine only one Latin American film made the cut, Pablo Larraín’s No, starring Gael García Bernal.

Specially invited committees in New York and Los Angeles will watch the nine shortlisted films and cast their votes in early January. The remaining five films will be announced as the official Oscar nominees for the Best Foreign Language Film on January 10, 2013.

If No gets enough votes it will be the first time a Chilean film is nominated in the Foreign Language Film category. What are Chile’s chances? Well, if we take a look back at the Latin American nominees and winners of the Best Foreign Language Film Award, the odds don’t look so good.

And the Nominees are....

This year nine Latin American countries submitted a film for consideration: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Of these nine, only Chile made the shortlist. If it is nominated it will become part of an elite group of Latin American countries that have received this honor. Mexico leads the pack with eight nominations, followed by Argentina who has six, and Brazil with four. Nicaragua, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Peru have all been nominated once. That is a total of 22 nominations for all Latin American countries since 1960, when the region received its first nomination for Macario, directed by Roberto Gavaldón. The film, a supernatural drama set in colonial times, lost out to Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring. It was the first time Mexico had been nominated in the category and despite being the most often nominated country in Latin America, it has failed to ever win a statuette. So, which countries have won the coveted award?

And the Award Goes to....

Despite its 22 nominations Latin America has only won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film twice. Both times the winners were from Argentina. The first win was in 1985 for La historia oficial (The Official Story), set in Buenos Aires. In the film an upper middle class couple adopts a young girl during the dictatorship. As the country transitions to democracy they begin to suspect that she may be the child of one of the victims of the forced disappearances that occurred during the dirty war, known as los desaparecidos.

Argentina’s second Oscar came almost twenty-five years later with El secreto de sus ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes) in 2009. In the crime thriller directed by Juan José Campanella and starring Ricardo Darín, a retired federal agent begins to write a novel on an unsolved murder case that has haunted him for years. With its two wins, Argentina remains the only Latin American country to have brought home the bronze. Taking into account its 22 nominations but only two Oscar statuettes the odds aren’t the best for Latin America as a whole and Chile in particular (zero nominations or wins), but let’s cross our fingers and hope for the best. Chile could very well be selected this time since Nois the kind of the film the Academy usually goes for.

Set in 1988, Norecounts the amazing real life story of a national referendum that everyone thought was destined to fail but ultimately dissolved the Chilean dictatorship and ended General Pinochet’s almost twenty year rule. Leading up to the historic vote each side was allowed 15 minutes of late-night TV airtime every day for a month straight. Gael García Bernal stars as Rene Saavedra, a young, rebellious skateboard-riding advertising executive who went from selling soap and soda to heading up the campaign to vote No on keeping Pinochet in power for eight more years. Shot using U-matic video cameras, Larraín wanted to match the look of the archival television footage woven into the film. As a result of using the same format that T.V. news was shot in during the eighties, the real-life footage seamlessly matches his purposely grainy and overexposed film. Despite its dreary appearance, it is funny, uplifting, and entertaining. It’s not a slow artsy film with little dialogue; it is perfectly paced. And together, Bernal’s charm and the film’s many amusing moments end up creating a movie that will surely captivate the Academy and maybe even a mainstream commercial audience.

Every year the Academy Awards are televised live in more than 200 countries. This year’s winners will be presented with their Oscar statuette on Sunday, February 24, 2013.

Latin American Best Foreign Language Film nominees by country (winners are in bold)

Mexico

1960 -- Macario

1961 -- The Important Man

1962 -- Tlayucan

1975 -- Letters from Marusia

2000 -- Amores Perros

2002 -- El Crimen del Padre Amaro

2006 -- Pan's Labyrinth

2010 -- Biutiful

Argentina

1974 -- The Truce

1984 -- Camila

1985 -- The Official Story[Oscar winner]

1998 -- Tango

2001 -- Son of the Bride

2009 -- The Secret in Their Eyes[Oscar winner]

Brazil

1962 -- Keeper of Promises (The Given Word)

1995 -- O Quatrilho

1997 -- Four Days in September

1998 -- Central Station

Nicaragua

1982 -- Alsino and the Condor

Puerto Rico

1989 -- What Happened to Santiago

Cuba

1994 -- Strawberry and Chocolate

Peru

2009 -- The Milk of Sorrow

Fun Fact: In 1992, amongst the five nominees for Best Foreign Language Film was Uruguay’s A Place in the World. Shortly after the nominations were announced the film was deemed ineligible and Uruguay’s nomination was revoked! A closer look at the film revealed that, “it was wholly produced in Argentina and had insufficient Uruguayan artistic control” according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Written by Juan Caceres and Vanessa Erazo, LatinoBuzz is a weekly feature on SydneysBuzz that highlights Latino indie talent and upcoming trends in Latino film with the specific objective of presenting a broad range of Latino voices. Follow @LatinoBuzz on twitter.

The Austin Film Society's latest Essential Cinema Series, "CineSur: Films of Latin America," begins tonight at 7 pm with Zona Sur at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar.

In 1962 or 1963, when I still couldn't vote or legally drink in a bar, I lived just a few blocks from the Teatro Panamericano in Dallas, the principal Spanish-language movie theater in el barrio (often dismissively referred to by non-Spanish-speakers as "Little Mexico"). The Panamericano was a beautiful building constructed for the Dallas Little Theatre in the 1930s, and was later purchased by the enterprising J.J. Ródriguez in 1943. While I was more frequently at other theaters experiencing Fellini, Antonioni, Truffaut, Godard, Kurosawa and the products of a dying Hollywood, I have fond memories of seeing Mexican films at the Panamericano.

Macario (Roberto Gavaldón, 1960) was haunting and mystical, while Los hermanos Del Hierro (My Son, the Hero, Ismael Rodríguez, 1961) was an unforgettable Western. While...