Nearly everything about Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schembori’s 2012 debut 7 Boxes was good, and it duly won universal critical plaudits for its energy, its characters, its visuals and its grittiness. Stylistically, The Gold Seekers, its twisting, high-speed follow-up, is more of the same. But this is more explicitly comic, fluffier and more generic family-friendly fare, more knockabout and less focused. Though Paraguay’s foreign-language film Oscar submission could find offshore play at fests and in selected Spanish-speaking territories, elsewhere it seems unlikely to replicate 7 Boxes’ surprising breakout success.
Seekers is based on the Paraguayan legend that there’s buried...
Seekers is based on the Paraguayan legend that there’s buried...
- 10/22/2017
- by Jonathan Holland
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The final deadline for submitting each country’s film for consideration for the foreign-language Oscar was October 2. Last year 85 were finally deemed eligible by the Academy; this year the number is a record 92. Haiti, Honduras, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mozambique, Senegal and Syria are first-time entrants. These films are vying for the initial shortlist of 9, and final five nominations to be announced on January 23. See the final list below.
Read More:Oscar Announces Changes for Foreign-Film Voting: Now Simpler! (Sort Of.)
The frontrunners include Sweden selected Ruben Östlund’s hilarious Palme d’Or-winner “The Square” (October 27, Magnolia Pictures), an art-world satire shot in majority Swedish with some English from stars Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, and Dominic West, thus giving Östlund another shot after “Force Majeure” was a surprise 2015 Oscar omission.
Germany’s choice, Fatih Akin’s “In the Fade” (December 27, Magnolia Pictures), won Best Actress for Diane Kruger at Cannes.
Read More:Oscar Announces Changes for Foreign-Film Voting: Now Simpler! (Sort Of.)
The frontrunners include Sweden selected Ruben Östlund’s hilarious Palme d’Or-winner “The Square” (October 27, Magnolia Pictures), an art-world satire shot in majority Swedish with some English from stars Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, and Dominic West, thus giving Östlund another shot after “Force Majeure” was a surprise 2015 Oscar omission.
Germany’s choice, Fatih Akin’s “In the Fade” (December 27, Magnolia Pictures), won Best Actress for Diane Kruger at Cannes.
- 10/5/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The final deadline for submitting each country’s film for consideration for the foreign-language Oscar was October 2. Last year 85 were finally deemed eligible by the Academy; this year the number is a record 92. Haiti, Honduras, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mozambique, Senegal and Syria are first-time entrants. These films are vying for the initial shortlist of 9, and final five nominations to be announced on January 23. See the final list below.
Read More:Oscar Announces Changes for Foreign-Film Voting: Now Simpler! (Sort Of.)
The frontrunners include Sweden selected Ruben Östlund’s hilarious Palme d’Or-winner “The Square” (October 27, Magnolia Pictures), an art-world satire shot in majority Swedish with some English from stars Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, and Dominic West, thus giving Östlund another shot after “Force Majeure” was a surprise 2015 Oscar omission.
Germany’s choice, Fatih Akin’s “In the Fade” (December 27, Magnolia Pictures), won Best Actress for Diane Kruger at Cannes.
Read More:Oscar Announces Changes for Foreign-Film Voting: Now Simpler! (Sort Of.)
The frontrunners include Sweden selected Ruben Östlund’s hilarious Palme d’Or-winner “The Square” (October 27, Magnolia Pictures), an art-world satire shot in majority Swedish with some English from stars Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, and Dominic West, thus giving Östlund another shot after “Force Majeure” was a surprise 2015 Oscar omission.
Germany’s choice, Fatih Akin’s “In the Fade” (December 27, Magnolia Pictures), won Best Actress for Diane Kruger at Cannes.
- 10/5/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Mexico’s renowned Morbido Fest is moving forward with its latest brand extension as brass prepare to launch the long-awaited pay-tv channel backed by Alex Garcia’s Ag Studios and have set their sights on reaching Us audiences by late 2017.
Morbido Fest CEO Pablo Guisa Koestinger and Mexican genre master Adrián Garciá Bogliano are in Buenos Aires at the Ventana Sur market to secure rights from producers to a raft of new and catalogue horror, fantasy and sci-fi content.
Scherzo Diabolico and Here Comes The Devil director Bogliano acts as general coordinator of the channel, which is scheduled to launch in Mexico in two weeks and in March as an app-based streaming platform throughout Latin America, excluding Brazil.
Speaking on Wednesday on a genre festival panel at the market’s Blood Window sidebar, Koestinger said all films will play in their original language with subtitles.
Morbido TV plans to include Brazilian content once it can afford to provide...
Morbido Fest CEO Pablo Guisa Koestinger and Mexican genre master Adrián Garciá Bogliano are in Buenos Aires at the Ventana Sur market to secure rights from producers to a raft of new and catalogue horror, fantasy and sci-fi content.
Scherzo Diabolico and Here Comes The Devil director Bogliano acts as general coordinator of the channel, which is scheduled to launch in Mexico in two weeks and in March as an app-based streaming platform throughout Latin America, excluding Brazil.
Speaking on Wednesday on a genre festival panel at the market’s Blood Window sidebar, Koestinger said all films will play in their original language with subtitles.
Morbido TV plans to include Brazilian content once it can afford to provide...
- 11/30/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
7 Boxes
Written and directed by Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schembori
Paraguay, 2012
Even within Latin America, Paraguayan cinema does not exactly dominate the cultural conversation and, sadly, remains something of a mystery. In fact, outside of Argentina, Brazil, and maybe Chile, the rest of South America, in cinematic terms, is mostly uncharted territory (which is not to say no movies are made there, but rather that international audiences, even open-minded cinephiles, don’t know much about them). With this in mind, the breakaway success of 7 Boxes, by Tana Schémbori and Juan Carlos Maneglia, is startling. Since premiering in 2012, it has nabbed prizes in San Sebastian and Mar del Plata; has featured in film festivals in Mexico, Cuba, Sweden, Canada, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic; and has earned critical accolades wherever it has been shown. It is also the highest grossing Paraguayan movie of all time. Nevertheless, it still took two...
Written and directed by Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schembori
Paraguay, 2012
Even within Latin America, Paraguayan cinema does not exactly dominate the cultural conversation and, sadly, remains something of a mystery. In fact, outside of Argentina, Brazil, and maybe Chile, the rest of South America, in cinematic terms, is mostly uncharted territory (which is not to say no movies are made there, but rather that international audiences, even open-minded cinephiles, don’t know much about them). With this in mind, the breakaway success of 7 Boxes, by Tana Schémbori and Juan Carlos Maneglia, is startling. Since premiering in 2012, it has nabbed prizes in San Sebastian and Mar del Plata; has featured in film festivals in Mexico, Cuba, Sweden, Canada, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic; and has earned critical accolades wherever it has been shown. It is also the highest grossing Paraguayan movie of all time. Nevertheless, it still took two...
- 8/29/2014
- by Guido Pellegrini
- SoundOnSight
Now that a new year is upon us let's reflect back on 2013. Something like a year in Latino film. Latin American filmmakers continued to kill it on the international film festival circuit. Chile, in particular, has been conquering the world one film festival award at a time.
Sadly, American Latino filmmakers were mostly absent from big name festivals like Sundance, Toronto, Berlin, and Cannes. Normally, the major Latino film festivals in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Diego offer a home to these overlooked films. The surprising collapse of the New York International Latino Film Festival this past summer and with the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival barely recovering from financial difficulties, the exhibition of American Latino indies remains in a precarious position.
Still, there is much to celebrate. Starting in the early part of the year, at Sundance, Chilean director Sebastian Silva joined a very elite club of filmmakers -- those who have premiered two films at the same festival. His mescaline-fueled odyssey Crystal Fairy won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award and the psychological thriller Magic, Magic starring Michael Cera went on to play Director's Fortnight in Cannes.
The Berlinale, in February, brought the much anticipated world premiere of Sebastian Lelio's fourth film Gloria and the charming Uruguayan family comedy Tanta Agua. Cementing 2013 as the year of Chile, actress Paulina Garcia won the Silver Bear for her dazzling and dynamic performance as a middle-aged divorcee in Gloria.
Mid-year, Mexican filmmakers took Cannes by storm again, winning the Best Director prize for the second year in a row. In 2013, the victor was Amat Escalante for his feature film Heli. The year prior Carlos Reygadas took home the prize for Post Tenebras Lux.
In the fall, Toronto spoiled us with Latin American riches. The gargantuan fest showcased more than 300 films from 70 different countries including the Mexican documentary El Alcalde, Venezuela's Pelo Malo (Bad Hair), Peruvian black comedy El Mudo (The Mute), the Brazilian drama O lobo atras da porta (A Wolf at the Door), and the world premiere of Fernando Eimbcke's Club Sandwich. Costa Rica made a first-time appearance at the Toronto Film Festival with Por las plumas (All About the Feathers) and the Dominican Republic showcased Cristo Rey.
Over Labor Day weekend, Eugenio Derbez, a Mexican actor most Americans had never heard of released his sleeper hit Instructions Not Included. Totally ignored by mainstream film critics, the Spanish-language family comedy went on to shatter box office records. It beat out Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine and critical darling 12 Years a Slave making it the top grossing indie film of the year. It also became the highest grossing Spanish-language film ever in the United States. A few weeks later, when Instructions opened in Derbez's home country, it became the most-watched Mexican film of all time.
Despite being snubbed by the Academy Awards (no Latin American productions made the shortlist for Best Foreign Language Film), Latino films ended the year on a high note. The triumph of our films abroad coupled with a Spanish-language box office hit at home bodes well for the Latino films of 2014.
In case you were living under a rock this past year and missed it all, we've got you covered. Thankfully, there are professionals who get paid to keep track of what Latino movies are receiving accolades, have the most buzz, and got picked up for distribution. LatinoBuzz went straight to the experts, film programmers, to ask, "What are your top 5 Latino films of 2013?"
Christine Davila, Director of Ambulante California
There is no shortage of original and compelling Us Latino writer/directors working across different genres out there, and this list proves it. These confident artists have captured fresh and mighty perspectives far too underrepresented, and they are storming through the cluster neck of homogeneity that continues to reign in film content.
Water & Power (Richard Montoya, USA)
Los Wild Ones (Elise Salomon, USA)
Delusions of Grandeur (Iris Almaraz, Gustavo Ramos, USA)
Sleeping with the Fishes (Nicole Gomez Fisher, USA)
The House that Jack Built (Henry Barrial, USA)
Marcela Goglio, Programmer at the Film Society of Lincoln Center
No special criteria in these choices, just some of the many accomplished Latin American films that, in my opinion, create universes or make statements in beautiful, original and/or powerful ways.
Viola (Matias Pineiro, Argentina)
El alcalde (Emiliano Altuna/Carlos Rossini/Diego Osorno, Mexico)
La eterna noche de las doce lunas (Priscilla Padilla, Colombia)
El futuro (Alicia Scherson, Chile)
Gloria (Sebastian Lelio, Chile)
Carlos A. Gutierrez, Co-founder and Executive Director of Cinema Tropical
For practical purposes, my list features five Latin American films (my area of expertise) that I highly recommend, and that screened in the U.S. in 2013 (in alphabetical order):
El Alcalde / The Mayor (Carlos F. Rossini, Emiliano Altuna and Diego Osorno, Mexico)
El otro dia / The Other Day (Ignacio Aguero, Chile)
Los mejores temas / Greatest Hits (Nicolas Pereda, Mexico)
Tanta Agua / So Much Water (Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge, Uruguay)
Viola (Matias Pineiro, Argentina)
Lucho Ramirez, Founder & Executive Director of Cine+Mas Sf, presenter of the Cm San Francisco Latino Film Festival
There are so many works by Latino and Latin American filmmakers that merit the public and the tastemaker's attention. Compiling a list of 5 is difficult for me as a festival director because each film that we program is beloved. In addition, there are the other films I see at other fests or at theaters, particularly the bigger ones replete with distribution, celebrity, and marketing budgets. It's hard for independent, quality films to break through and that's part of the reason I seek those out. I believe there is an audience for artisanal films with substance, creativity, and diversity.
I went on memory for this list. Included are films that I saw this year that really stuck with me long after watching them. What's important to me is seeing images of Latinos by Latinos on the screen. This doesn't mean sanitized. Bless Me, Ultima is an important literary work. It was a huge accomplishment to get this on the screen for all us non-readers. Sex, Love, & Salsa packs all the punch of a big romantic comedy in very local and Latino way; Tlatelolco is a historical drama that's really well done, revisiting a chaotic time in Mexico's history but interpreted in a narrow sliver of a relationship that can't be; Porcelain Horse mixes sex, drugs, and rich-kid problems and really does something different with a crime-drama; Delusions of Grandeuer is purely Latino hipster fun.
Bless Me, Ultima (Carl Franklin, USA)
Sex, Love, & Salsa (Adrian Manzano, USA)
Tlatelolco, Summer of 68 (Carlos Bolado, Mexico)
Porcelain Horse (Javier Andrade, Ecuador)
Delusions of Grandeur (Iris Almaraz, Gustavo Ramos, USA)
Glenn Heath Jr., Artistic Director of the San Diego Latino Film Festival
De Jueves a Domingo is a fascinating and subtext-heavy debut from director Dominga Sotomayor Castillo about a family road trip that could be the beginning of the end. In Viola Shakespeare is reinvented, it's art house cinema meets the off-note pacing of jazz. My Sister's Quinceañera is an honest and poignant look at the complexities of family and identity in small town America. Aqui y Alla is riveting in its acute understanding of how the mundane adds up to something grand. Fecha de Caducidad is dark comedy at its finest.
De Jueves a Domingo (Dominga Sotomayor Castillo, Chile)
Viola (Matias Pineiro, Argentina)
My Sister's Quinceanera (Aaron Douglas Johnston, USA)
Aqui y Alla (Antonio Mendez Esparza, Mexico)
Fecha de Caducidad (Kenya Marquez , Mexico)
Diana Vargas, Artistic Director at the Havana Film Festival New York
In Gloria Paulina Garcia's performance is unforgettable and the way the director talks about the middle life crisis of a woman that seems unremarkable until she finds out she can make her own choices and maybe to be single is not that bad, haha. La Sirga portrays the crude reality of the Colombian conflict without showing explicit violence, through impeccable cinematography. In a cinema verite style, La jaula de oro shows 3 Guatemalan adolescents experiencing the harshness of the journey of those who want to immigrate to U.S. 7 Cajas, the biggest Paraguayan box office hit, is as entertaining as well done. With an impeccable screenplay and Guarani dialogues, the film shows a country that usually don't have a strong representation in the festivals around the world. Sibila de Teresa Arredondo (Chile). Sibila Arguedas is the widow of one of the most iconic public figures in Peruvian literature. She's also Chilean and a political prisoner, accused of being a Sendero Luminoso collaborator. This documentary made by Sibila's niece brings to light one of the most fascinating, enimagtic and contradictory characters of the last century.
Gloria (Sebastian Lelio, Chile)
La Sirga (William Vega, Colombia).
La jaula de oro (Diego Quemada-Diez, Mexico)
7 Cajas (Tana Schembori, Juan Carlos Maneglia, Paraguay)
Sibila (Teresa Arredondo, Chile)
Juan Caceres, Director of Programming at the New York International Latino Film Festival
2013 was a great year for Latin American films. Ecuador, Panama, Guatemala and Paraguay, countries with no real infrastructure for filmmaking, all were present in festivals. Chile in particular showed no sign of slowing down their own presence on the festival circuit, taking home prizes at the major festivals. I think it's no coincidence that they share this wonderful genuine camaraderie where there is a support system that includes producing each others projects to simply rooting for one another when it comes to award nominations (you can go to all their Fb pages and occasionally they have each others films as their cover pics! It's uber dope). It's as real as it gets and I think it's something lacking here in the Us. So my list is the Chilean films you should not miss.
Gloria, (Sebastian Lelio, Chile)
No (Pablo Larrain, Chile)
Il Futuro / The Future (Alicia Scherson, Chile)
El verano de los peces voladores / The Summer of Flying Fish (Marcela Said, Chile)
Las cosas como son / Things The Way They Are (Fernando Lavanderos, Chile)
Marlene Dermer, Director/Programmer at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival
It has been really hard to narrow it to five I have to say. I find Latino cinema and its creators in a wonderful period. It’s alive and beats like a heart. There is so much talent in our communities and they are doing some of the most interesting work in world cinema. It's thought provoking or personal and universal. It's also tough to include U.S. works with Latin American work because there are many more countries and many with support. This year in our festival we had the largest showcase of U.S.A. films which was very exciting to see. As a programmer for 22 years I find it stimulating to discover all these new voices coming up in our community and truly sharing the screens at festivals and theaters around the world. There is a new generation in every country, that is very exciting and promising for the future of cinema, our community and the audio visual world.
Club Sandwich (Fernando Eimbcke, Mexico)
Pelo Malo (Mariana Rondón, Venezuela)
Gloria (Sebastian Lelio, Chile)
O lobo atras da porta (Fernando Coimbra, Brazil)
Tanta Agua / So Much Water (Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge, Uruguay)
Written by 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 and Facebook.
Sadly, American Latino filmmakers were mostly absent from big name festivals like Sundance, Toronto, Berlin, and Cannes. Normally, the major Latino film festivals in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Diego offer a home to these overlooked films. The surprising collapse of the New York International Latino Film Festival this past summer and with the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival barely recovering from financial difficulties, the exhibition of American Latino indies remains in a precarious position.
Still, there is much to celebrate. Starting in the early part of the year, at Sundance, Chilean director Sebastian Silva joined a very elite club of filmmakers -- those who have premiered two films at the same festival. His mescaline-fueled odyssey Crystal Fairy won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award and the psychological thriller Magic, Magic starring Michael Cera went on to play Director's Fortnight in Cannes.
The Berlinale, in February, brought the much anticipated world premiere of Sebastian Lelio's fourth film Gloria and the charming Uruguayan family comedy Tanta Agua. Cementing 2013 as the year of Chile, actress Paulina Garcia won the Silver Bear for her dazzling and dynamic performance as a middle-aged divorcee in Gloria.
Mid-year, Mexican filmmakers took Cannes by storm again, winning the Best Director prize for the second year in a row. In 2013, the victor was Amat Escalante for his feature film Heli. The year prior Carlos Reygadas took home the prize for Post Tenebras Lux.
In the fall, Toronto spoiled us with Latin American riches. The gargantuan fest showcased more than 300 films from 70 different countries including the Mexican documentary El Alcalde, Venezuela's Pelo Malo (Bad Hair), Peruvian black comedy El Mudo (The Mute), the Brazilian drama O lobo atras da porta (A Wolf at the Door), and the world premiere of Fernando Eimbcke's Club Sandwich. Costa Rica made a first-time appearance at the Toronto Film Festival with Por las plumas (All About the Feathers) and the Dominican Republic showcased Cristo Rey.
Over Labor Day weekend, Eugenio Derbez, a Mexican actor most Americans had never heard of released his sleeper hit Instructions Not Included. Totally ignored by mainstream film critics, the Spanish-language family comedy went on to shatter box office records. It beat out Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine and critical darling 12 Years a Slave making it the top grossing indie film of the year. It also became the highest grossing Spanish-language film ever in the United States. A few weeks later, when Instructions opened in Derbez's home country, it became the most-watched Mexican film of all time.
Despite being snubbed by the Academy Awards (no Latin American productions made the shortlist for Best Foreign Language Film), Latino films ended the year on a high note. The triumph of our films abroad coupled with a Spanish-language box office hit at home bodes well for the Latino films of 2014.
In case you were living under a rock this past year and missed it all, we've got you covered. Thankfully, there are professionals who get paid to keep track of what Latino movies are receiving accolades, have the most buzz, and got picked up for distribution. LatinoBuzz went straight to the experts, film programmers, to ask, "What are your top 5 Latino films of 2013?"
Christine Davila, Director of Ambulante California
There is no shortage of original and compelling Us Latino writer/directors working across different genres out there, and this list proves it. These confident artists have captured fresh and mighty perspectives far too underrepresented, and they are storming through the cluster neck of homogeneity that continues to reign in film content.
Water & Power (Richard Montoya, USA)
Los Wild Ones (Elise Salomon, USA)
Delusions of Grandeur (Iris Almaraz, Gustavo Ramos, USA)
Sleeping with the Fishes (Nicole Gomez Fisher, USA)
The House that Jack Built (Henry Barrial, USA)
Marcela Goglio, Programmer at the Film Society of Lincoln Center
No special criteria in these choices, just some of the many accomplished Latin American films that, in my opinion, create universes or make statements in beautiful, original and/or powerful ways.
Viola (Matias Pineiro, Argentina)
El alcalde (Emiliano Altuna/Carlos Rossini/Diego Osorno, Mexico)
La eterna noche de las doce lunas (Priscilla Padilla, Colombia)
El futuro (Alicia Scherson, Chile)
Gloria (Sebastian Lelio, Chile)
Carlos A. Gutierrez, Co-founder and Executive Director of Cinema Tropical
For practical purposes, my list features five Latin American films (my area of expertise) that I highly recommend, and that screened in the U.S. in 2013 (in alphabetical order):
El Alcalde / The Mayor (Carlos F. Rossini, Emiliano Altuna and Diego Osorno, Mexico)
El otro dia / The Other Day (Ignacio Aguero, Chile)
Los mejores temas / Greatest Hits (Nicolas Pereda, Mexico)
Tanta Agua / So Much Water (Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge, Uruguay)
Viola (Matias Pineiro, Argentina)
Lucho Ramirez, Founder & Executive Director of Cine+Mas Sf, presenter of the Cm San Francisco Latino Film Festival
There are so many works by Latino and Latin American filmmakers that merit the public and the tastemaker's attention. Compiling a list of 5 is difficult for me as a festival director because each film that we program is beloved. In addition, there are the other films I see at other fests or at theaters, particularly the bigger ones replete with distribution, celebrity, and marketing budgets. It's hard for independent, quality films to break through and that's part of the reason I seek those out. I believe there is an audience for artisanal films with substance, creativity, and diversity.
I went on memory for this list. Included are films that I saw this year that really stuck with me long after watching them. What's important to me is seeing images of Latinos by Latinos on the screen. This doesn't mean sanitized. Bless Me, Ultima is an important literary work. It was a huge accomplishment to get this on the screen for all us non-readers. Sex, Love, & Salsa packs all the punch of a big romantic comedy in very local and Latino way; Tlatelolco is a historical drama that's really well done, revisiting a chaotic time in Mexico's history but interpreted in a narrow sliver of a relationship that can't be; Porcelain Horse mixes sex, drugs, and rich-kid problems and really does something different with a crime-drama; Delusions of Grandeuer is purely Latino hipster fun.
Bless Me, Ultima (Carl Franklin, USA)
Sex, Love, & Salsa (Adrian Manzano, USA)
Tlatelolco, Summer of 68 (Carlos Bolado, Mexico)
Porcelain Horse (Javier Andrade, Ecuador)
Delusions of Grandeur (Iris Almaraz, Gustavo Ramos, USA)
Glenn Heath Jr., Artistic Director of the San Diego Latino Film Festival
De Jueves a Domingo is a fascinating and subtext-heavy debut from director Dominga Sotomayor Castillo about a family road trip that could be the beginning of the end. In Viola Shakespeare is reinvented, it's art house cinema meets the off-note pacing of jazz. My Sister's Quinceañera is an honest and poignant look at the complexities of family and identity in small town America. Aqui y Alla is riveting in its acute understanding of how the mundane adds up to something grand. Fecha de Caducidad is dark comedy at its finest.
De Jueves a Domingo (Dominga Sotomayor Castillo, Chile)
Viola (Matias Pineiro, Argentina)
My Sister's Quinceanera (Aaron Douglas Johnston, USA)
Aqui y Alla (Antonio Mendez Esparza, Mexico)
Fecha de Caducidad (Kenya Marquez , Mexico)
Diana Vargas, Artistic Director at the Havana Film Festival New York
In Gloria Paulina Garcia's performance is unforgettable and the way the director talks about the middle life crisis of a woman that seems unremarkable until she finds out she can make her own choices and maybe to be single is not that bad, haha. La Sirga portrays the crude reality of the Colombian conflict without showing explicit violence, through impeccable cinematography. In a cinema verite style, La jaula de oro shows 3 Guatemalan adolescents experiencing the harshness of the journey of those who want to immigrate to U.S. 7 Cajas, the biggest Paraguayan box office hit, is as entertaining as well done. With an impeccable screenplay and Guarani dialogues, the film shows a country that usually don't have a strong representation in the festivals around the world. Sibila de Teresa Arredondo (Chile). Sibila Arguedas is the widow of one of the most iconic public figures in Peruvian literature. She's also Chilean and a political prisoner, accused of being a Sendero Luminoso collaborator. This documentary made by Sibila's niece brings to light one of the most fascinating, enimagtic and contradictory characters of the last century.
Gloria (Sebastian Lelio, Chile)
La Sirga (William Vega, Colombia).
La jaula de oro (Diego Quemada-Diez, Mexico)
7 Cajas (Tana Schembori, Juan Carlos Maneglia, Paraguay)
Sibila (Teresa Arredondo, Chile)
Juan Caceres, Director of Programming at the New York International Latino Film Festival
2013 was a great year for Latin American films. Ecuador, Panama, Guatemala and Paraguay, countries with no real infrastructure for filmmaking, all were present in festivals. Chile in particular showed no sign of slowing down their own presence on the festival circuit, taking home prizes at the major festivals. I think it's no coincidence that they share this wonderful genuine camaraderie where there is a support system that includes producing each others projects to simply rooting for one another when it comes to award nominations (you can go to all their Fb pages and occasionally they have each others films as their cover pics! It's uber dope). It's as real as it gets and I think it's something lacking here in the Us. So my list is the Chilean films you should not miss.
Gloria, (Sebastian Lelio, Chile)
No (Pablo Larrain, Chile)
Il Futuro / The Future (Alicia Scherson, Chile)
El verano de los peces voladores / The Summer of Flying Fish (Marcela Said, Chile)
Las cosas como son / Things The Way They Are (Fernando Lavanderos, Chile)
Marlene Dermer, Director/Programmer at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival
It has been really hard to narrow it to five I have to say. I find Latino cinema and its creators in a wonderful period. It’s alive and beats like a heart. There is so much talent in our communities and they are doing some of the most interesting work in world cinema. It's thought provoking or personal and universal. It's also tough to include U.S. works with Latin American work because there are many more countries and many with support. This year in our festival we had the largest showcase of U.S.A. films which was very exciting to see. As a programmer for 22 years I find it stimulating to discover all these new voices coming up in our community and truly sharing the screens at festivals and theaters around the world. There is a new generation in every country, that is very exciting and promising for the future of cinema, our community and the audio visual world.
Club Sandwich (Fernando Eimbcke, Mexico)
Pelo Malo (Mariana Rondón, Venezuela)
Gloria (Sebastian Lelio, Chile)
O lobo atras da porta (Fernando Coimbra, Brazil)
Tanta Agua / So Much Water (Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge, Uruguay)
Written by 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 and Facebook.
- 1/1/2014
- by Vanessa Erazo
- Sydney's Buzz
Organisers at the Rio Film Festival have brought in an extra 11 titles ahead of the September 26 opening night gala screening of Thierry Ragobert’s Amazonia 3D.
The late arrivals include Gianfranco Rosi’s fresh Venice Golden Lion winner Sacro Gra as well as Steven Soderbergh’s Behind The Candelabra, Shane Salerno’s Salinger and Kim Ki-duck’s Moebius.
Rounding out the additions are Greg Mottola’s Clear History, Nimrod Antal’s Metallica Through The Never, Hong Sangsoo’s Our Sunhi, Bruce Labruce’s Gerontophilia, Catherine Breillat’s Abuse Of Weakness, Shinji Aoyama’s Backwater and John Maloof and Charlie Siskel’s Finding Vivian Maier.
Festival top brass also announced the full line-up of films in the Latin Première and Environment sections.
The Latin Première selection will present 21 features, of which five will be Latin American premieres. All films in the section are eligible for the Fipresci Best Latin American Film award.
Latin PremièreIl...
The late arrivals include Gianfranco Rosi’s fresh Venice Golden Lion winner Sacro Gra as well as Steven Soderbergh’s Behind The Candelabra, Shane Salerno’s Salinger and Kim Ki-duck’s Moebius.
Rounding out the additions are Greg Mottola’s Clear History, Nimrod Antal’s Metallica Through The Never, Hong Sangsoo’s Our Sunhi, Bruce Labruce’s Gerontophilia, Catherine Breillat’s Abuse Of Weakness, Shinji Aoyama’s Backwater and John Maloof and Charlie Siskel’s Finding Vivian Maier.
Festival top brass also announced the full line-up of films in the Latin Première and Environment sections.
The Latin Première selection will present 21 features, of which five will be Latin American premieres. All films in the section are eligible for the Fipresci Best Latin American Film award.
Latin PremièreIl...
- 9/18/2013
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Organisers at the Festival do Rio, the Rio Film Festival, have brought in an extra 11 titles ahead of the September 26 opening night gala screening of Thierry Ragobert’s France-Brazil co-production Amazonia 3D.
The late arrivals include Gianfranco Rosi’s fresh Venice Golden Lion winner Sacro Gra as well as Steven Soderbergh’s Behind The Candelabra, Shane Salerno’s Salinger and Kim Ki-duck’s Moebius.
Rounding out the additions are Greg Mottola’s Clear History, Nimrod Antal’s Metallica Through The Never, Hong Sangsoo’s Our Sunhi, Bruce Labruce’s Gerontophilia, Catherine Breillat’s Abuse Of Weakness, Shinji Aoyama’s Backwater and John Maloof and Charlie Siskel’s Finding Vivian Maier.
Festival top brass also announced the full line-up of films in the Latin Première and Environment sections.
The Latin Première selection will present 21 features, of which five will be Latin American premieres. All films in the section are eligible for the Fipresci Best Latin American Film award...
The late arrivals include Gianfranco Rosi’s fresh Venice Golden Lion winner Sacro Gra as well as Steven Soderbergh’s Behind The Candelabra, Shane Salerno’s Salinger and Kim Ki-duck’s Moebius.
Rounding out the additions are Greg Mottola’s Clear History, Nimrod Antal’s Metallica Through The Never, Hong Sangsoo’s Our Sunhi, Bruce Labruce’s Gerontophilia, Catherine Breillat’s Abuse Of Weakness, Shinji Aoyama’s Backwater and John Maloof and Charlie Siskel’s Finding Vivian Maier.
Festival top brass also announced the full line-up of films in the Latin Première and Environment sections.
The Latin Première selection will present 21 features, of which five will be Latin American premieres. All films in the section are eligible for the Fipresci Best Latin American Film award...
- 9/18/2013
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Asuncion, June 21 (Ians/Efe) Film director Joel Coen and his wife, actress Frances McDormand, paid a surprise visit to a film class at a university in the Paraguayan capital, where they shared their experiences in the industry, organizers of the event told Efe.
"It was an unannounced visit ... they had come for personal reasons. It was a completely private visit," the head of the film department at Asuncion's Universidad Columbia de Paraguay, Sergio Colman, said.
The Hollywood stars were invited to the university by Paraguayan filmmaker Tana Schembori, who met McDormand during last year's San Sebastian Film Festival, he added.
According to the local press, the American couple travelled to the country to meet the.
"It was an unannounced visit ... they had come for personal reasons. It was a completely private visit," the head of the film department at Asuncion's Universidad Columbia de Paraguay, Sergio Colman, said.
The Hollywood stars were invited to the university by Paraguayan filmmaker Tana Schembori, who met McDormand during last year's San Sebastian Film Festival, he added.
According to the local press, the American couple travelled to the country to meet the.
- 6/21/2013
- by Meeta Kabra
- RealBollywood.com
Asuncion, Paraguay — A new action movie featuring a poor delivery boy whose life depends on the mysterious cargo in his wheelbarrow has Paraguayans excited and proud to see their gritty reality on the big screen for the first time.
While audiences have been delighted by "7 Cajas," the movie shot in a chaotic market in this South American capital has nevertheless jarred many with its focus on the darker angles it shows: a suffocating mix of official negligence, societal indifference, police corruption and organized crime that keeps most of the population mired in poverty.
"I loved the movie," said 30-year old architect Antonella Cantero. "It is just that for some of us it becomes hard to watch, something that is so tough and so common at the same time, and we prefer to hide."
It's an odd mix of emotions for people unaccustomed to seeing any cinematic depiction at all of their country.
While audiences have been delighted by "7 Cajas," the movie shot in a chaotic market in this South American capital has nevertheless jarred many with its focus on the darker angles it shows: a suffocating mix of official negligence, societal indifference, police corruption and organized crime that keeps most of the population mired in poverty.
"I loved the movie," said 30-year old architect Antonella Cantero. "It is just that for some of us it becomes hard to watch, something that is so tough and so common at the same time, and we prefer to hide."
It's an odd mix of emotions for people unaccustomed to seeing any cinematic depiction at all of their country.
- 11/9/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Cockatoo Island Film Festival battles to recover reputation after disastrous opening as 7 Boxes wins
A Paraguayan feature film has won the inaugural Golden Feather Award at the Cockatoo Island Film Festival, marking the end of the festival’s troubled first year.
7 Boxes, directed by Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schembori, was described by the festival’s jury as ‘rollicking and compelling’.
The awards cap off a festival which began in a PR disaster as around 200 festival-goers were turned away from the gates on opening night’s screening of Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master.
The festival’s Facebook page was hit with complaints from visitors and participating film-makers about overselling tickets, bad signage and confusing programming. Over the rest of the weekend there were further complaints from festival goers over films being screened at the wrong time.
Nobody from the festival was available to comment to Mumbrella today. So far it has not issued a formal apology to visitors on its Facebook page, although...
7 Boxes, directed by Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schembori, was described by the festival’s jury as ‘rollicking and compelling’.
The awards cap off a festival which began in a PR disaster as around 200 festival-goers were turned away from the gates on opening night’s screening of Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master.
The festival’s Facebook page was hit with complaints from visitors and participating film-makers about overselling tickets, bad signage and confusing programming. Over the rest of the weekend there were further complaints from festival goers over films being screened at the wrong time.
Nobody from the festival was available to comment to Mumbrella today. So far it has not issued a formal apology to visitors on its Facebook page, although...
- 10/29/2012
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
This year’s Toronto was competing in my psyche with the recent loss of my mother. My focus was less on finding the greatest of films this year. I hear from others that the festival offered a good mix, if not the most outstanding, selection of films. Personally, I am discovering that a new community has opened its arms to me and the films that are standing out most for me are by women and about women. My community, those women who have lost their mothers, is sharing a unique and profound rite of passage whose meaning continuously unfolds.
In Toronto I was hyper aware of the women and their position in this corner of the world I inhabit. Canadian women, Helga Stephenson, Director Emerita of the Toronto Film Festival, predecessor to Piers Handling; Michele Maheux, Executive Director and COO of Tiff ever since I've known her which has been a long time; Linda Beath who headed United Artists when I was beginning my career and who has since moved to Europe where she teaches at Eave (European Audio Visual Entrepreneurs), Kay Armitrage, programmer of the festival for 24 years and professor at University of Toronto, are all women to helped me envisage myself as a professional in the film business, and they are still as vibrant and active as when we met more than 25 years ago. Carolle Brabant, Telefilm Canada’s Executive Director continues Canada’s female lineage as does Karen Thorne-Stone, the President and CEO of Ontario Media Development Corporation.
18 films currently are in a large part attributable to Omdc; they include Nisha Pahuja’s doc The World Before Her (contact Cinetic) (Best Doc Feature of 2012 Tribeca Ff), Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz (Isa: TF1), Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children (Isa: FilmNation), Anita Doron’s The Lesser Blessed, (Isa: EOne) Ruba Nadda’s Inescapable (Isa: Myriad), Alison Rose’s doc, Following the Wise Men.
Tiff’s new program for year-round support of mid-level Canadian filmmakers, Studio, under the directorship of Hayet Benkara is bringing industry mentorship to 16 filmmakers with experience, shorts in the festival circuit, features in development. Exactly half of these filmmakers are women. This was a conscious move on Hayet’s part. She said there is always such a predominance of males without thinking about it that she decided to bring balance.
Then a look at some more of the Canadian talent here brings me to the Birks Diamonds celebration of seven Canadian women: Anais Barbeau-Lavalette, Manon Briand, Anita Doron, Deepa Mehta (Midnight’s Children), Kate Melville, and Ruba Nadda which honored each with a Birks diamond pendant in a reception hosted by Shangri-La Hotel and Telefilm Canada where 300 guests mingled and caught up with each other. The pre-eminence of women was again made so apparent to me.
Talking to publicist Jim Dobson at Indie PR at the reception of Jordanian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir whose film When I Saw You was so evocative of the 60s, a time of worldwide freedom and even optimism among the fedayeem in Jordan looking to resist the Expulsion of the Palestinians from Palestine; he said that all five of his clients here are women directors, “I had When I Saw You, (Isa: The Match Factory), Satellite Boy (Isa: Celluloid Dreams/ Nightmare), Hannah Arendt (The Match Factory), Inch'allah (Isa: eOne), English Vinglish (Isa: Eros Int')."
Of the 289 features here at Tiff, Melissa Silverstein at Women and Hollywood is trying to zero in on the women directors, so watch her blogs More Women-Directed Films Nab Deals out of Tiff, Tiff Preview: Women Directors to Watch and Tiff Preview: The Female Directing Masters Playing at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival.
Add to this the upcoming Sundance initiative on women directors that Keri Putnam is heading up (more on that later!) and I am feeling heartened by the consciousness of women, directors and otherwise, out there. That is saying a lot since last season in Cannes with the pathetic number of women directors showing up in the festival and sidebars this past spring.
Here is the Female Factor for Tiff 12 which scores an A in my book:
Gala Presentations - 6 out of 20 = c. 30% which is way above the usual 13% which has been the average up until Cannes upended that with its paltry 2%..2 of these were opening night films.
Mira Nair The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Also showed in Venice. Isa: K5. Picked up for U.S. and Canada by IFC. Shola Lynch Free Angela & All Political Prisoners. Isa: Elle Driver Deepa Mehta Midnight’s Children. Isa: FilmNation already sold to Roadshow for Australia/ N.Z., Unikorea for So. Korea, DeaPlaneta for Spain. Ruba Nadda Inescapable. Isa: Myriad. Canada: Alliance. Liz Garbus Love, Marilyn. Isa: StudioCanal. HBO picked up No. American TV rights. Madman has Australia. Gauri Shinde English Vinglish. Isa: Eros International.
Masters – 0 – Could we say that women directors have not been around that long or shown such longevity as the men? Lina Wertmiller was a long time ago. I don’t even know if she is still alive. Ida Lupino was an anomaly. Who else was there in those early days? Alice Guy-Blaché ?
Special Presentations - 13 out of 70 = 19%
Everybody Has A Plan - Argentina/ Germany/ Spain - Ana Piterbarg - Isa: Twentieth Century Fox International - U.S.: Ld Entertainment, U.K.: Metrodome Lines Of Wellington - Also in Venice, San Sebastian Ff - Portugal - Valeria Sarmiento - Isa: Alfama Films. Germany: Ksm Cloud Atlas--Germany - Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski - Isa: Focus Int'l. - U.S. and Canada: Warner Bros. , Brazil - Imagem, Finland - Future Film, Eastern Europe - Eeap, Germany X Verleih, Greece - Odeon, Iceland - Sensa, India - PVR, So. Korea - Bloomage, Benelux - Benelux Film Distributors, Inspire, Slovenia - Cenemania, Sweden - Noble, Switzerland - Ascot Elite, Taiwan - Long Shong, Turkey - Chantier Inch'allah – Canada - Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette - Isa and Canada: Entertainment One Films Hannah Arendt – Germany – Margarethe von Trotta – Isa: The Match Factory Imogine – U.S. – Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini - Isa: Voltage. U.S.: Lionsgate/ Roadside Attractions acquired from UTA, Netherlands: Independent Ginger and Rosa – U.K. – Sally Potter – Isa: The Match Factory. U.S. contact Cinetic Love is All You Need – Also played in Venice) Denmark – Susanne Bier – Isa: TrustNordisk - U.S. : Sony Pictures Classics, Canada: Mongrel, Australia - Madman, Brazil - Art Films, Bulgaria - Pro Films, Colombia - Babilla Cine, Czech Republic - Aerofilms, Finland - Matila Rohr Nordisk, Germany - Prokino, Hungary - Cirko, Italy - Teodora, Japan - Longride, Poland - Gutek, Portugal - Pepperview Lore – Australia/ Germany/ U.K. – Cate Shortland – Isa: Memento. U.S.: Music Box, France: Memento, Germany - Piffl, Hong Hong - Encore Inlight, So. Korea - Line Tree, Benelux - ABC/ Cinemien, U.K., Artificial Eye Dreams for Sale – Japan – Miwa Nishkawa – Isa: Asmik Ace Stories We Tell – Canada – Sarah Polley - Isa: Nfb. U.K.: Artificial Eye Liverpool – Canada – Marion Briand - Isa: Max Films. Canada: Remstar Venus and Serena – U.S./ U.K. – Michelle Major, Maikin Baird. Producer's Rep: Cinetic
Mavericks - 3 out of 7 “Conversations With” were with women (43%)
Discovery 11 out of 27 = 40% which includes The-Hottest-Public Ticket for the Israeli Film directly below (a Major Buzz Film Among its Public)
Fill the Void by Rama Burshtein, a first-time-ever Hasidic woman director Kate Melville’s Picture Day Alice Winocour Augustine - Isa: Kinology 7 Cajas by Tana Schembori from Paraguay - Isa: Shoreline Gabriela Pichler’s Eat Sleep Die from Sweden, Serbia and Croatia - Isa: Yellow Affair Oy Rola Nashef’s Detroit Unleaded France’s Sylive Michel’s Our Little Differences Contact producer Pallas Film Russian censored film Clip from Serbia by Maja Milos - Isa: Wide sold to Kmbo for France, Maywin for Sweden, Artspoitation for U.S. Satellite Boy by Australian Catriona McKenzie - Isa: Celluloid Dreams/ Nightmares Ramaa Mosley’s The Brass Teapot - Isa: TF1 sold to Magnolia for U.S., Intercontinental for Hong Kong, Cien for Mexico, Vendetta for New Zealand Veteran Korean-American Grace Lee’s Janeane from Des Moines.
Tiff Docs 7 out of 29 = 24% - Women traditionally have directed a greater portion of docs
Christine Cynn (codirector ) The Act of Killing - Isa: Cinephil Janet Tobias No Place on Earth - Isa: Global Screen Sarah Burns (codirector) The Central Park Five Isa: PBS sold to Sundance Select for U.S. Treva Wurmfeld Shepard & Dark - Contact Tangerine Entertainment Nina Davenport First Comes Love - Contact producer Marina Zenovich Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out - Isa: Films Distribution Halla Alabdalla As If We Were Catching a Cobra (Comme si nous attraptions un cobra) about the art of caricature in Egypt and Syria! Halla is Syrian herself, studied science and sociology in Syria and Paris - Isa: Wide
Contemporary World Cinema 11 out of 61 = 18%
Children of Sarajevo by Aida Begic, Sarajevo - Isa: Pyramide Baby Blues by Katarzyna Rostaniec, Poland. Contact producer The Cowards Who Looked to the Sky by Yuki Tanada, Japan - Isa: Toei Comrade Kim Goes Flying by Anja Daelemans (co-director), Belgium/ No. Korea. The first western financed film out of No. Korea Three Worlds by Catherine Corsini, France - Isa: Pyramide sold to Lumiere for Benelux, Pathe for Switzerland Middle of Nowhere by Ava DuVernay, U.S. - Contact Paradigm Talent Agency The Lesser Blessed by Anita Doron, Canada - Isa: eOne Watchtower by Pelin Esmer, Turkey/ France/ Germany- Isa: Visit Films Jackie by Antoinette Beumer, Netherlands - Isa: Media Luna When I Saw You by Annemarie Jacir, Palestine,/ Jordan/ Greece All that Matters is Past by Sara Johnsen, Norway- Isa: TrustNordisk
Tiff Kids 0 out of 5. Any meaning to this???
City To City – Mumbai 0 Out Of 10 Any meaning to this???
Vanguard 2 out of 15 = 13% (the average for most festivals)
90 Minutes– Norway – Eva Sorhaug - Isa: Level K Peaches Does Herself – Germany - Peaches. Contact producer. See Indiewire review.
Midnight Madness 0 out of 9 which is fine with me, thank you. This is a boy's genre or a date-night genre for girls and boys with a plan for the night.
In Toronto I was hyper aware of the women and their position in this corner of the world I inhabit. Canadian women, Helga Stephenson, Director Emerita of the Toronto Film Festival, predecessor to Piers Handling; Michele Maheux, Executive Director and COO of Tiff ever since I've known her which has been a long time; Linda Beath who headed United Artists when I was beginning my career and who has since moved to Europe where she teaches at Eave (European Audio Visual Entrepreneurs), Kay Armitrage, programmer of the festival for 24 years and professor at University of Toronto, are all women to helped me envisage myself as a professional in the film business, and they are still as vibrant and active as when we met more than 25 years ago. Carolle Brabant, Telefilm Canada’s Executive Director continues Canada’s female lineage as does Karen Thorne-Stone, the President and CEO of Ontario Media Development Corporation.
18 films currently are in a large part attributable to Omdc; they include Nisha Pahuja’s doc The World Before Her (contact Cinetic) (Best Doc Feature of 2012 Tribeca Ff), Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz (Isa: TF1), Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children (Isa: FilmNation), Anita Doron’s The Lesser Blessed, (Isa: EOne) Ruba Nadda’s Inescapable (Isa: Myriad), Alison Rose’s doc, Following the Wise Men.
Tiff’s new program for year-round support of mid-level Canadian filmmakers, Studio, under the directorship of Hayet Benkara is bringing industry mentorship to 16 filmmakers with experience, shorts in the festival circuit, features in development. Exactly half of these filmmakers are women. This was a conscious move on Hayet’s part. She said there is always such a predominance of males without thinking about it that she decided to bring balance.
Then a look at some more of the Canadian talent here brings me to the Birks Diamonds celebration of seven Canadian women: Anais Barbeau-Lavalette, Manon Briand, Anita Doron, Deepa Mehta (Midnight’s Children), Kate Melville, and Ruba Nadda which honored each with a Birks diamond pendant in a reception hosted by Shangri-La Hotel and Telefilm Canada where 300 guests mingled and caught up with each other. The pre-eminence of women was again made so apparent to me.
Talking to publicist Jim Dobson at Indie PR at the reception of Jordanian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir whose film When I Saw You was so evocative of the 60s, a time of worldwide freedom and even optimism among the fedayeem in Jordan looking to resist the Expulsion of the Palestinians from Palestine; he said that all five of his clients here are women directors, “I had When I Saw You, (Isa: The Match Factory), Satellite Boy (Isa: Celluloid Dreams/ Nightmare), Hannah Arendt (The Match Factory), Inch'allah (Isa: eOne), English Vinglish (Isa: Eros Int')."
Of the 289 features here at Tiff, Melissa Silverstein at Women and Hollywood is trying to zero in on the women directors, so watch her blogs More Women-Directed Films Nab Deals out of Tiff, Tiff Preview: Women Directors to Watch and Tiff Preview: The Female Directing Masters Playing at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival.
Add to this the upcoming Sundance initiative on women directors that Keri Putnam is heading up (more on that later!) and I am feeling heartened by the consciousness of women, directors and otherwise, out there. That is saying a lot since last season in Cannes with the pathetic number of women directors showing up in the festival and sidebars this past spring.
Here is the Female Factor for Tiff 12 which scores an A in my book:
Gala Presentations - 6 out of 20 = c. 30% which is way above the usual 13% which has been the average up until Cannes upended that with its paltry 2%..2 of these were opening night films.
Mira Nair The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Also showed in Venice. Isa: K5. Picked up for U.S. and Canada by IFC. Shola Lynch Free Angela & All Political Prisoners. Isa: Elle Driver Deepa Mehta Midnight’s Children. Isa: FilmNation already sold to Roadshow for Australia/ N.Z., Unikorea for So. Korea, DeaPlaneta for Spain. Ruba Nadda Inescapable. Isa: Myriad. Canada: Alliance. Liz Garbus Love, Marilyn. Isa: StudioCanal. HBO picked up No. American TV rights. Madman has Australia. Gauri Shinde English Vinglish. Isa: Eros International.
Masters – 0 – Could we say that women directors have not been around that long or shown such longevity as the men? Lina Wertmiller was a long time ago. I don’t even know if she is still alive. Ida Lupino was an anomaly. Who else was there in those early days? Alice Guy-Blaché ?
Special Presentations - 13 out of 70 = 19%
Everybody Has A Plan - Argentina/ Germany/ Spain - Ana Piterbarg - Isa: Twentieth Century Fox International - U.S.: Ld Entertainment, U.K.: Metrodome Lines Of Wellington - Also in Venice, San Sebastian Ff - Portugal - Valeria Sarmiento - Isa: Alfama Films. Germany: Ksm Cloud Atlas--Germany - Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski - Isa: Focus Int'l. - U.S. and Canada: Warner Bros. , Brazil - Imagem, Finland - Future Film, Eastern Europe - Eeap, Germany X Verleih, Greece - Odeon, Iceland - Sensa, India - PVR, So. Korea - Bloomage, Benelux - Benelux Film Distributors, Inspire, Slovenia - Cenemania, Sweden - Noble, Switzerland - Ascot Elite, Taiwan - Long Shong, Turkey - Chantier Inch'allah – Canada - Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette - Isa and Canada: Entertainment One Films Hannah Arendt – Germany – Margarethe von Trotta – Isa: The Match Factory Imogine – U.S. – Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini - Isa: Voltage. U.S.: Lionsgate/ Roadside Attractions acquired from UTA, Netherlands: Independent Ginger and Rosa – U.K. – Sally Potter – Isa: The Match Factory. U.S. contact Cinetic Love is All You Need – Also played in Venice) Denmark – Susanne Bier – Isa: TrustNordisk - U.S. : Sony Pictures Classics, Canada: Mongrel, Australia - Madman, Brazil - Art Films, Bulgaria - Pro Films, Colombia - Babilla Cine, Czech Republic - Aerofilms, Finland - Matila Rohr Nordisk, Germany - Prokino, Hungary - Cirko, Italy - Teodora, Japan - Longride, Poland - Gutek, Portugal - Pepperview Lore – Australia/ Germany/ U.K. – Cate Shortland – Isa: Memento. U.S.: Music Box, France: Memento, Germany - Piffl, Hong Hong - Encore Inlight, So. Korea - Line Tree, Benelux - ABC/ Cinemien, U.K., Artificial Eye Dreams for Sale – Japan – Miwa Nishkawa – Isa: Asmik Ace Stories We Tell – Canada – Sarah Polley - Isa: Nfb. U.K.: Artificial Eye Liverpool – Canada – Marion Briand - Isa: Max Films. Canada: Remstar Venus and Serena – U.S./ U.K. – Michelle Major, Maikin Baird. Producer's Rep: Cinetic
Mavericks - 3 out of 7 “Conversations With” were with women (43%)
Discovery 11 out of 27 = 40% which includes The-Hottest-Public Ticket for the Israeli Film directly below (a Major Buzz Film Among its Public)
Fill the Void by Rama Burshtein, a first-time-ever Hasidic woman director Kate Melville’s Picture Day Alice Winocour Augustine - Isa: Kinology 7 Cajas by Tana Schembori from Paraguay - Isa: Shoreline Gabriela Pichler’s Eat Sleep Die from Sweden, Serbia and Croatia - Isa: Yellow Affair Oy Rola Nashef’s Detroit Unleaded France’s Sylive Michel’s Our Little Differences Contact producer Pallas Film Russian censored film Clip from Serbia by Maja Milos - Isa: Wide sold to Kmbo for France, Maywin for Sweden, Artspoitation for U.S. Satellite Boy by Australian Catriona McKenzie - Isa: Celluloid Dreams/ Nightmares Ramaa Mosley’s The Brass Teapot - Isa: TF1 sold to Magnolia for U.S., Intercontinental for Hong Kong, Cien for Mexico, Vendetta for New Zealand Veteran Korean-American Grace Lee’s Janeane from Des Moines.
Tiff Docs 7 out of 29 = 24% - Women traditionally have directed a greater portion of docs
Christine Cynn (codirector ) The Act of Killing - Isa: Cinephil Janet Tobias No Place on Earth - Isa: Global Screen Sarah Burns (codirector) The Central Park Five Isa: PBS sold to Sundance Select for U.S. Treva Wurmfeld Shepard & Dark - Contact Tangerine Entertainment Nina Davenport First Comes Love - Contact producer Marina Zenovich Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out - Isa: Films Distribution Halla Alabdalla As If We Were Catching a Cobra (Comme si nous attraptions un cobra) about the art of caricature in Egypt and Syria! Halla is Syrian herself, studied science and sociology in Syria and Paris - Isa: Wide
Contemporary World Cinema 11 out of 61 = 18%
Children of Sarajevo by Aida Begic, Sarajevo - Isa: Pyramide Baby Blues by Katarzyna Rostaniec, Poland. Contact producer The Cowards Who Looked to the Sky by Yuki Tanada, Japan - Isa: Toei Comrade Kim Goes Flying by Anja Daelemans (co-director), Belgium/ No. Korea. The first western financed film out of No. Korea Three Worlds by Catherine Corsini, France - Isa: Pyramide sold to Lumiere for Benelux, Pathe for Switzerland Middle of Nowhere by Ava DuVernay, U.S. - Contact Paradigm Talent Agency The Lesser Blessed by Anita Doron, Canada - Isa: eOne Watchtower by Pelin Esmer, Turkey/ France/ Germany- Isa: Visit Films Jackie by Antoinette Beumer, Netherlands - Isa: Media Luna When I Saw You by Annemarie Jacir, Palestine,/ Jordan/ Greece All that Matters is Past by Sara Johnsen, Norway- Isa: TrustNordisk
Tiff Kids 0 out of 5. Any meaning to this???
City To City – Mumbai 0 Out Of 10 Any meaning to this???
Vanguard 2 out of 15 = 13% (the average for most festivals)
90 Minutes– Norway – Eva Sorhaug - Isa: Level K Peaches Does Herself – Germany - Peaches. Contact producer. See Indiewire review.
Midnight Madness 0 out of 9 which is fine with me, thank you. This is a boy's genre or a date-night genre for girls and boys with a plan for the night.
- 9/21/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
“The Fast and the Furious” with wheelbarrows, Paraguayan action-thriller-romance hybrid “7 Boxes” is a rollicking good time at the movies that offers breathtaking action and suspense, humor and appealing characters all in one visually flashy package. Made by first-time feature directors Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schembori, “Boxes” is set in Municipal Market 4 in Asunción, an enormous maze of stalls and stores that covers almost eight blocks. Víctor (newcomer Celso Franco, going places) is a 17-year-old wheelbarrow transporter who tries to scrape by delivering goods bought at the market. A suspicious delivery of seven wooden crates (not boxes) with unspecified contents suddenly has him being followed by a thief, a rival transporter and his gang, the mobsters who own the merchandise, the police, a too-curious-for-her-own-good female friend, a Korean waiter (long story) and Víctor’s older sister, whose pregnant...
- 9/10/2012
- by Boyd van Hoeij
- Indiewire
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