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Premiere Entertainment Group’s body swap comedy The Ballad Of Hortensia has become the most successful local film ever released in El Salvador after its opening weekend.

The film, produced and sold by Premiere, drew an audience of more than 25,000 admissions over its first four days, according to Premiere and local distributor Balun Films.

Directed by Arturo Menendez and starring noted Salvadoran comedian Julio Yúdice,Francisco Gattorno, and Helena Haro, The Ballad Of Hortensia overtook the previous record-holder La Rebusqueda, the 2014 release that garnered 22,300 admissions over three months.

The Ballad Of Hortensia opened in eight theatres on December 12 and ranked...

Exclusive: Cameras have rolled on The Ballad Of Hortensia, a body swap comedy from Premiere Entertainment set in El Salvador, starring Francisco Gattorno (Julian Schnabel’s Before Night Falls) and Helena Haro (Black Warrant).

Arturo Menendez (Malacrianza) is directing the pic from a screenplay by Javier Reyna, based on a story by Yudice and Menendez. Julio Yudice, best known in El Salvador for his satirical portrayal of an indigenous woman known as La Tenchis, also stars.

Plot follows the life of a narcissistic male comedian (Yudice) who wakes up in the opposite sex body following an automobile accident. The fantasy comedy is being produced by Elias Axume with Carlos Rincon and Lizzy Gonzalez serving as executive producers for Premiere Entertainment. Marvin Galeas is the associate producer.

The pic continues Premiere’s work in El Salvador, following Fireflies at El Mozote, a Salvadoran civil war epic co-produced with Bob Yari, which is in post-production and is in development. The company is also in development on the Salvadoran espionage thriller Curfew.

Lead Gattorno has been a fixture as a leading man in Mexican soap operas for over 25 years, with the latest being El Señor de los Cielos and La Desalmada. Haro is best known for her recurring role in the Amazon series El Juego de las Llaves and will be seen in the upcoming crime thriller Desert Dawn starring Kellan Lutz.

Premiere’s slate includes rom-com Plan B, starring Jon Heder; supernatural thriller Nefarious, which grossed $5.4Mm at the US box office; the action superhero Sri Asih, released on Disney+ in Asia; and murder mystery What Remains, starring Kellan Lutz and Anne Heche.

The Ballad Of Hortensia to being production in El Salvador later this month.

Los Angeles-based production, financing, and sales company Premiere Entertainment Group (Peg) has brought on seasoned Mexican producer Sandro Halphen as it grows its Latin American business.

Mexico City-based Halphen, whose credits include Netflix Original Sin Hijos, will be responsible for building up Peg’s Spanish-language slate and assumes creative and overall production oversight of the company’s productions south of the border.

Already scheduled for production are Arturo Menendez’s (Malacrianza) body swap comedy The Ballad Of Hortensia (La Balada de Hortensia), which is on track to...

The Ballad Of Hortensia to being production in El Salvador later this month.

Los Angeles-based production, financing, and sales company Premiere Entertainment Group (Peg) has brought on seasoned Mexican producer Sandro Halphen as it grows its Latin American business.

Mexico City-based Halphen, whose credits include Netflix Original Sin Hijos, will be responsible for building up Peg’s Spanish-language slate and assumes creative and overall production oversight of the company’s productions south of the border.

Already scheduled for production are Arturo Menendez’s (Malacrianza) body swap comedy The Ballad Of Hortensia (La Balada de Hortensia), which is on track to...

Production start earmarked for November in El Salvador.

Premiere Entertainment Group (Peg) will kick off worldwide sales at AFM on Salvadoran Civil War drama Fireflies At El Mozote as Mena Suvari (American Beauty) joins Paz Vega on the cast ahead of an anticipated production start this month in El Salvador.

Peg and Yari Film Group are producing the drama and Ernesto Melara will direct the 1980s El Salvador-set story about a ten-year-old boy who survives the massacre of his village and embarks on a quest to find justice for his murdered family. Melara’s screenplay is inspired by actual events.

Exclusive: Jeff Fahey has signed on to star in the Salvadoran civil war drama Fireflies at El Mozote, which starts principal photography on location in El Salvador in November.

Written and directed by Ernesto Melara, the flick is set in 1980s El Salvador and recounts the story of a 10-year-old boy who survives the massacre of his village and his quest to bring justice to his dead family in the middle of a bloody civil war.

Elias Axume is producing for Premiere Entertainment, which handles worldwide sales, with Moctesuma Esparza, and Bob Yari. Premiere’s Carlos Rincon is an executive producer. Arturo Menendez is co-producing.

Fahey is best known for roles in films like Clint Eastwood’s White Hunter Black Heart. He has also been a regular fixture in Robert Rodriguez’s films, including Planet Terror, Machete,...

Paz Vega has signed on to star in the Salvadoran civil war drama Fireflies at El Mozote, which starts principal photography on location in El Salvador in November.

Written and directed by Ernesto Melara, the flick is set in 1980s El Salvador and recounts the story of a 10-year-old boy who survives the massacre of his village and his quest to bring justice to his dead family in the middle of a bloody civil war.

Elias Axume is producing for Premiere Entertainment, which handles worldwide sales, with Moctesuma Esparza. Bob Yari serves as executive producer alongside Premiere’s Carlos Rincon. Arturo Menendez is co-producing.

“We are excited to add Paz to the Fireflies project. She’s an amazing actress and was our top choice for the character that she’ll be portraying,” said Premiere CEO Elias Axume.

Bob Yari, whose credits include “Crash” and “Yellowstone,” will serve as executive producer on “Fireflies at El Mozote,” one of three films set in El Salvador greenlit by Premiere Entertainment, alongside “Toque de Queda” and “The Incredible Journey of Elba.”

Moctesuma Esparza and Premiere CEO Elias Axume are producing all three movies, whose primary language will be English.

Esparza’s credits include “Selena,” starring Jennifer López, “The Ballad of Gregorio Cortéz,” with Edward James Olmos, and “The Milagro Beanfield War,” directed by Robert Redford.

“Fireflies,” set in 1980s El Salvador, follows a rebel group fighting to expose its government’s genocidal policies. The group rescues a 10-year-old boy, and seek to end their government’s reign of terror with the help of an American journalist. The director/writer is U.S.-Salvadoran Ernesto Melara.

“Fireflies,” a co-production between Premiere and the Yari Film Group, is in pre-production. It has a...

Central American International Film Festival (Caiff), the West Coast’s first festival to showcase works from the movement emerging among isthmus-based and emigré Central American filmmakers, announced the winners of its first edition.

The festival presented 25 of the best cutting-edge and modern Central American films at the University of South California (USC) during its three days run. Among the highlighted events, they presented a retrospective of Salvadorian-Canadian filmmaker and spokesperson Patricia Chica ("Serpent’s Lullaby," "A Tricky Treat") and a Q & A with actor Erick Chavarria ("The Funhouse Massacre," "Borderline"), a Guatemalan working in Hollywood.

The Caiff was founded by Oscar Dominguez of the Salvadorian Corridor, screenwriter Juan Carlos Bojorquez is the festival co-founder and director, head of programming is Academy Award-winner André Guttfreund, head of technical support is Adonai Interiano, head of hospitality is Patricia C. Ovando, and the general planner is Mario Anaya assisted by Erick Chavarria.

Here is the list of winners:

Best Feature

"Ambiguity: Crónica de un sueño Americano," directed by Grisel Wilson (Guatemala)

Best Short

"Dark Streets," directed by Miguel Pu (USA)

Best Documentary

"Lencas Roots," directed by Saul Leon Dubón & Ronald Medrano (El Salvador)

Best Director

Grisel Wilson for "Ambiguity: Crónica de un sueño Americano" (Guatemala)

Best Screenplay

Arturo Menendez for "Malacrianza" (El Salvador)

Best Actor

Hans Calderón for "Ambiguity: Crónica de un sueño Americano" (Guatemala)

Best Actress

Karla Valencia for "Malacrianza" (El Salvador)

Outstanding Contribution Towards the Cinematic Heritage of Central America

"Cuatro Puntos Cardinales," directed by Javier Kafie (El Salvador)

Best Film by the Guest Country (Mexico)

"Alguien," directed by Roberto Valdez...