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After making the leap to narrative filmmaking last year with “Nyad,” Oscar winners Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin have returned to their documentary roots and are currently at work in the edit suite prepping their next doc feature — “Lost in the Amazon” (working title), about how four Indigenous children survived for 40 days in the Amazon jungle after a plane crash in 2023. The story of their disappearance and eventual recovery transfixed the global media.

Vasarhelyi and Chin co-directed and produced the film with Colombian filmmaker Juan Camilo Cruz for National Geographic.

The feature docu will tell the story of the struggle for survival of the four children — who ranged in age from 11 months to 13 years — in the guerilla-held jungles of Colombia after a plane they were aboard crashed and killed their mother. The children survived for 40 days in the deep Amazonian rainforest using their Indigenous knowledge of the jungle and the...

On a Sunday night in 2014, millions of Brazilians tuning in to the newsmagazine Fantástico saw horrifying footage of the slaughter of a pink river dolphin. The material was so powerful that it prompted an almost immediate fishery policy change in the country. But that victory for the iconic species and its ardent defenders was complicated, as director Mark Grieco reveals in A River Below, a haunting documentary that asks urgent questions in this age of extinction crisis. 

The course he traces is as serpentine as the Amazon itself, propelled not just by questions of environmental emergency and...

Unintentionally timely, A River Below may be read as a Trump-era document, a tale of environmentalists versus local industry. The film begins deceptively simple as a traditional story of do-gooders and media elites making a difference and spreading the word about an illegal fishing operation which has slaughtered the Amazon’s mythical Pink River Dolphin. Leading the charge is Brazilian reality TV star and biologist Richard Rasmussen and Columbian scientist Dr. Fernando Trujillo.

The ecosystem of commerce in which the dolphin meat is illegally captured and used to bait fish, as well as sanctioned in a cooking show produced by the Columbian government, is explored first. Rasmussen is a charismatic figure: the founder of the Turtle House preserve in Brazil and host of Wild to the Extreme, he’s well known in South America for his work, which is why he become despised when a controversial video of a pregnant...

In the first 15 minutes of the documentary “A River Below,” director Mark Grieco introduces two unforgettable characters and one mystery. First up is Fernando Trujillo, a conservationist who’s spent years leading a team that tracks the population of Amazon river dolphins—a.k.a. “pink dolphins” or “botos”—in order to warn Brazilians that careless native fisherman are endangering one of their country’s most beloved native animals. Trujillo is one of many conscientious scientists who work behind the scenes to collect data, file reports, and safeguard the world’s natural resources.

Continue reading Engrossing Doc ‘A River Below’ Dives In Search Of Dying Amazon River Dolphins [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.

“We need action!” That’s Richard Rasmussen, one of the two main subjects of Mark Grieco’s Tribeca documentary premiere, A River Below, in this exclusive clip provided to Filmmaker. The film, Grieco’s follow-up to the Sundance-premiering Marmato, has its first screening on April 22. Here, from the press materials, is a further description: A River Below is a gripping journey into the Amazon that follows a Brazilian wildlife TV star and a renowned marine biologist as they each attempt to save the endangered pink river dolphin from being hunted to extinction. As we burrow further into the Amazon, the film takes […]...

Exclusive: The near-mythical pink river dolphins of the Amazon, the largest river dolphin species in the world, are on the verge of extinction thanks to fishermen who continue to hunt the docile animals and use them as bait. But two activists – Dr. Fernando Trujillo, a renowned marine biologist, and Richard Rasmussen, a biologist and reality TV star – are determined to raise awareness of the dolphin's situation and protect this endangered species. Directed by Mark Grieco…...

Festival receives record number of submissions as top brass trim roster by 20%.

World premieres of Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip To Spain (pictured), Nick Broomfield and Rudi Dolezal’s Whitney. “can I be me,”, and Hell On Earth: The Fall Of Syria And The Rise Of Isis by Sebastian Junger and Nick Quested are among the line-up at the 16th annual Tribeca Film Festival (April 19-30).

Festival top brass led by new director of programming Cara Cusumano and artistic director Frédéric Boyer unveiled on Thursday 82 of the 98 features that will screen at this year’s edition.

Trimmed down by 20%, the festival received a record number 8,700 submissions, of which 3,362 were features – and includes 32 films in competition comprising 12 documentaries, 10 Us narratives and 10 international narratives. Films in competition will compete for cash prizes totalling $160,000.

Spotlight Narrative section features 15 fiction films, while Spotlight Documentary includes 16 non-fiction films. Five fiction and one documentary film play in Midnight.

The 2017 roster...

Adff to present 197 films from 61 countries.

The 2014 Abu Dhabi Film Festival (Adff), backed by twofour54, will present nine feature world premieres, eight of them from the Arab world. The short film sections will host 48 world premieres.

The festival will open with Ali Mostafa’s From A to B [pictured], and festival director Ali Al-Jabri said: “It is the first time in the festival’s history that we opening with an Emirati film and we ares very proud about this landmark event.”

The festival runs October 23 to November 1 and presents 197 films from 61 countries.

For the second year, the festival host the Child Protection Award organised with the Child Protection Centre of the Ministry of Interior, to spotlight films that raise awareness about abused or neglected children. Films competing for that prize include Zerensenay Mehari’s Difret, Albert Shin’s In Her Place, and Cyprien Vial’s Young Tiger.

The Showcase section includes films such as ‘71, A Pigeon Sat on...

Richard Linklater’s acclaimed family portrait won the Golden Space Needle Award for best film and best director honours as the 40th Seattle International Film Festival came to a conclusion on Sunday (June 8).

The corresponding documentary honour went to Keep On Keepin’ On by Alan Hicks, while Dawid Ogrodnik was named best actor for Life Feels Good and Patricia Arquette best actress for Boyhood.

Best short film went to Cody Blue Snider’s Fool’s Day and the Lena Sharpe Award For Persistence Of Vision prize went to Bound: Africans Versus African Americans by Peres Owino.

In the competition awards, Carlos Marques-Marcet earned the Siff 2014 Best New Director Grand Jury Prize for 10,000Km, while the documentary prize went to Marmato, directed by Mark Grieco.

“This has been an extraordinary 40th anniversary festival,” said artistic director Carl Spence. “From welcoming back Richard Linklater to Seattle with his groundbreaking epic Boyhood, to honouring Laura Dern, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Quincy Jones...

During the Cartagena International Film Festival (Ficci), the winner of three (3!) prizes here for Audience Favorite, Best Director and Best Picture, was Marmato by Mark Grieco.  This is a well told story of universal appeal about mine workers in Colombia, some of whom came for the world premiere of an eye-opening, thought-provoking and empowering movie.

Marmato was work-shopped twice at Sundance labs and it premiered at Sundance this January 2014 (Isa: Ro*co, U.S. contact Ben Weiss at Paradigm). This is a movie which could be used for motivation and film training beyond its traditional viewing stations.

Mark Grieco was having his first experience living and backpacking through Latin America and working as a photographer.  After one year, he arrived in Potosi, a world-known silver mine in Bolivia which was the main source of silver when the Spanish began their rape of the Latin American land.  Known as Rich Mountain or Cerro Rico because the mountain seemed to be made of silver. , Founded in 1545 as a mining town, Potosi soon produced fabulous wealth, becoming one of the largest cities in the Americas and the world, with a population exceeding 200,000 people.  The riches were shipped to Panama City and from there went to Spain in the 16th Century.  

In Spanish there is still a saying, vale un Potosí, "to be worth a Potosí" (that is, "to be of a great value").   

Part of the tourist industry there today is to give coco leaves and cigarettes to the miners in exchange for taking a photograph with them.   It struck him so hard that he refused to take any photos.  However, he became very interested in mining and he started to search for a place where there is still mining that is not owned by a big corporation. 

And so, Mark discovered Marmato, a small town still using the traditional methods to mine for gold which cycles into the local economy and benefits the community.  At some point, a big Canadian company with an interest in buying up all the mines around.  The layout of the town is built so that all doors open toward the mountain which has a value of $20 billion in gold.  But to get at it, one would need to use open pit mining, removing the mountain in effect and getting rid of the whole town in the process.  At a town meeting a percentage of the people were Ok with that and a percentage did not want to leave.  A confrontation was pending, and he was a photographer taking pictures.  He returned to the U.S. in 2008, saved some money and moved back to film the confrontation one-and a-half years later.  During the first filming he worked in TV and had no film experience.  During the following five-and-a-half years he was there, he learned that the Canadians were there; most miners sold to them at very low prices.  Before all this, previously another Canadian company, Corona had bought the mines and failed, so the miners who had sold to Corona got their land back.  They expected the same to happen this time but...

The 5 1/2 years of shooting gave Mark the chance to understand what he had been grappling with throughout his travels; the disparity between the "haves" and the "have-nots", and the mining roots in colonial cities like Potosi and Marmato.  He had seen the end results and had never seen a film about it, about the process, who is involved in a way that was not about victims and evil-doers.  To see and to understand something while making a film about it gives one plenty of time to become an expert.  For the first 1 1/2 years of filming he would travel away every 2 months, returning to N.Y. for 2 or 3 months, and then returning.  Then he realized he had to be there everyday and so he moved there permanently and he filmed in the mine everyday with the miners as they rose and went into the mine.  Sometimes he shoveled and didn't film to gain the trust and experiencing the essence of being a miner.  This changed and shaped his perspective in many ways.  He originally had a simplified and reductive pov but as he learned more about the complexity of the situation he realized there was no "right" answer.  

At first he looked for the pluses and the minuses of the situation but in the end he was more in the middle.  He hopes to see and start an unusual dialogue with the film.  The audience in Cartagena had a great reaction at its Sundance premiere where much of the Q&As were about the interest in how Marmato is now and how they might get involved.  In Cartagena, he brought four of the main miners in the movie to see the film and a great discussion ensued.

The mission of the film is to give voice to those who are the least heard.  His own filmmaker's voice is the least important. 

The miners saw it, audiences applauded and the Colombians asked how it was possible that they had never heard about any of this before the film.  The miners think the film is a great tool is great for them especially because the media does not talk at all about them.  The film needs distribution in Colombia on a big screen.  Even the miners said that it needs to be seen on the big screen.  It is now a typical documentary; Marmato is a unique town and is the essence of their lives.

Another possible form of distribution is traveling the film festivals, though he wants to stay in Colombia with his wife who he met through a mutual friend and married shortly after.  They now live in Medellin, about four hours from Marmato where he has spent months on end in the town and he thinks he could take a break of a couple days.  

Mark says there is an endless amount of stories there yet to be told.  Everyone only sees the bad things and large scale mining is a new phenomenon.  La Guajira, the largest open pit coal mine since the 1980s but more money is now pouring in since the country seems more secure.  Large corporations are spending bilions just in explorations.  Even the people in Marmato see the positive side to big companies, depending of course, on their stage of life, etc.  The town is divided.  And the big company is not living up to its promises; flipping companies has cause a greater division.  Resistance (marches and protests) is not politically useful.  These miners are resisting the corportation through working.  The Canadians co-own 90% of the mines and they closed them down leaving 800 to 1,000 miners wihtout work.  However, the workers have returned to the mines, mining and selling s before and this work is their way of resisting.  They are seen as squatters, but the miners believe the company lost its rights to the mine by not using them.  Legally, the subsoil of Colombia belongs to the state.  Only the houses above the land are owned.  The State Equals The People.  The law states that during the first six months of purchase, the owner must produce out of the mine and give 4% royalty to the government.  There are also state taxes and the minors pay that from their sales.  The state has an interest and there is a mining code.  The Company states that it too has been paying taxes.

Miners are seeing the State as a betrayer of miners. Colombia President Santos says that mining companies are part of the new locomotive of the country; mining and energy are the new locomotives.  The state owns the gold.  The workers could work the mine for the next decade or so or the Canadians could remove all the gold in 20 years.  The State wants fast returns.  The Canadian companies also get tax rebates (as filmmakers do as well) so their 4% tax is nullified by the rebate.  The people themselves of Colombia are therefore the ones paying with their own taxes and rebates to bring in international companies to take their resources out of their country, out of their own economy.

The film does not explain this.  The film takes a more humanistic approach to 500 years of culture about to be dynamically changed.  The story is told through the voice and lives of the people to capture audiences who will become interested in the complex issues by connecting to the people.  The film is not an essay on mining in Colombia; it is more of a portrait of the people of Marmato, the region and town and the problem.

Mark is finding support as Colombian, U.S. and Canadian companies and institutions are aligning to make the first steps in what will be a long journey.  The chance the film gives to the miners to see the film and talk to audiences has empowered them.  They are seeing themseves as articulate and emphatic and are getting their issues across to audiences.

Mark will be making more films...he can't stay there forever but he will always make films with a social action agenda attached.

Once a film receives some funding, the rest followed.  Marmato received funding from the Ford Foundation, Mac Arthur Foundation, Sundance, Cinereach, the Fledgling Fund and Brit Doc. Their reaction and involvement helps to crystallize what film can do as cinematic explorations of social issues.  At first it is quite difficult to get funding.  90% of the work he did was grant writing and finding funds.  One must have money to make money but once someone else is supportive financially, the others come on board.  

Just when they needed the help as they started post, 5 years into the film, during the last year, Sundance and Sky Ranch stepped offering the Sundance Music and Editing Labs as Sky Ranch offered help with the sound design and final mix.  Once Sundance came on board, everything changed from riding rinky-dink buses across the Andes alone to being the next week at Sky Ranch.  Later he went to a Producers Summit where he connected with agents and other producers.  At the very end of post-production he did a Kickstarter campaign in which Stuart Reid gave $45,000. Their international sales agent is Annie Rooney of Ro*co.  They are now negotiating with a North American distributor through Ben Weiss of Paradigm Agency.  They are also exploring festivals with audiences to harness their reactions;  On board are Cleveland International, Ashland, River Run and others.  Yale shows the film and Mark talks to their Law School's class on international law where there is a broad presence of international companies.  Universities, law schools, international business all have uses for this film.

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In upcoming blogs, we will talk about the other two Colombian films made by gringos, Manos Sucias by Josef Wladyka, a film with great pedigrees, directed, produced and shot by a team who have received the highest film and business educations from Tisch and Stern Schools at Nyu, and Parador Hungaro by Patrick Alexander and Aseneth Suarez Ruiz, a work of passion made with love and sweat.  We already covered the  uniquely beautiful and soulful study of a small part of the underbelly of the underworld in Medellin Mambo Cool by Chris Gude.

Reporting from Cartagena Film Festival.

Coproductions are increasing in Colombia.The French are participating as special guests at the Encuentros (Coproduction Meetings) this year but coproductions of the last four years have been with Germany, Norway, Spain in Europe as well as with Argentina, Peru and Uruguay. In 2013 the U.S. joined in as well.

There is a special relationship and notable variations on the coproduction theme between U.S. and Colombia. It doesn’t hurt that there is a direct flight on Jet Blue from N.Y. to Colombia , making travel less difficult to Colombia from the U.S. than it is from Europe.

Colombian directors such as Simon Brand (who lives in U.S.) are making English language genre films such as this year’s festival debuting Default which Wild Bunch has already sold in Hong Kong, the Middle East and the Netherlands. For budgets under Us$1 million, action, thrillers and horror genres can cross borders, and can recoup costs and even profit because they are in English and as such are perceived as more “Hollywood”, a positive marketing point.

There are other such coproductions: Gallows Hill coproduced with Peter Block’s L.A.-based A Bigger Boat, David and Angelique Higgins’ Launchpad Productions and Andrea Chung of Bowery Hills Entertainment which has the further distinction of being sold internationally by Im Global. And there is Out of the Dark, a coproduction with the prestigious Participant. These are not represented at the festival, and so they are not really the subject of this blog.

The reverse is also notable. Four films screening at the Cartagena Film Festival are Colombian films made by Americans. Each one has been created by unique and different types of Americans. They are the subject of this blog.

The winner of three (3!) prizes here for Audience Favorite, Best Director and Best Picture, Marmato by Mark Grieco was work-shopped twice at Sundance labs and premiered at Sundance this January 2014 (Isa: Ro*co, U.S. contact Ben Weiss at Paradigm). Manos Sucias by Josef Wladyka is a film with great pedigrees, directed, produced and shot by a team who have received the highest film and business educations from Tisch and Stern Schools at Nyu, Parador Hungaro by Patrick Alexander and Aseneth Suarez Ruiz a work of passion made with love and sweat, and Mambo Cool by Chris Gude and uniquely beautiful and soulful study of a small part of the underbelly of the underworld in Medelin.

Following is an interview with Chris Gude, the director of Mambo Cool. Interviews will soon follow with the other three directors who came to Colombia and, because of their experiences here, decided to make these exceptional movies. With its 40% cash rebate, Colombia is a great place to make movies.

Mambo Cool

While only 60 minutes long, Mambo Cool stirred great interest in the beautiful and packed theater Teatro Adolfo Maijia Cine Colombia (Tam). In a unique impressionistic style, the depiction of a micro-ecology of the underbelly of Medellin. Colombia. At the core of the film is the connection between the characters' passion for mambo dancing, music and history. Drug dealers and drug takers, whores and salsa dancers spend time in the shadows, in rat-hole apartments or in a dance bar which actually exists in Medellin under the name El Bururu Barara, talking poetically and philosophically about the meaning of friendship vs. loyalty. The main salsero of this film gave us 5 minutes of dancing which I am going to post here as soon as I can figure out how.

I interviewed the filmmaker Chris Gude, an American who in 2006 came here to work with an Ngo for displaced persons, met and established a friendship with the people in this fiction film in Medellín. Chris lives in New York. He graduated from Middlebury and attended Columbia grad school in anthropology. Perhaps his anthropology interests were part of the inspiration for this work. He returned to make this film when his friends here suggested he return to make a movie that he wrote in close collaboration with the film’s protagonist, Jorge Gavidor and other protagonist-friends. Jorge, who is the bald guy in the film is self-described as an industrial mechanic and inventor. The dialogue is stylized to communicate the magic of the environment. Cinema veritè would not work to communicate what they wanted about the environment. Chris also says that the film does not come close to fully communicating the community and mythology of the place. But for me it captures an essential rhythm and soulful quality that kept me immersed in the story.

The film has shown in various festivals and has no sales or distribution representation. Fid Marseilles invited it to play and since then it has played at the Transinema Festival in Lima, Split Film Festival, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma de Montréal, , Free Zone Festival in Belgrade, Serbia, Mar del Plata in Argentina and the Museum of the Moving Image in New York.

Today I am writing from Cartagena, Colombia where I attended Ficci, the Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias.

This former colonial jewel in the crown of Spain offers a huge array of delights, film-wise, art-wise, food-wise and people-wise. Gorgeous arts and gorgeous people, sweet, polite and proud. As much as I love Havana, Cartagena is how Havana should look.

And as much as I loved Careyes where I was last week, the art and artisanal scope here is so wide; from the Colombian painter and sculptor, Botero to indigenous palm weaving – décor for homes (not cheap!), bags, designer clothing, linen and rubies.

Aside from films, my big discoveries of the day are Ruby Rumie, a Colombian artist who spends much of her time here in her studio in the Getsemaní section of town and in Chile. Coincidentally (again) Gary Meyer (Telluride Film Festival) and his wife Cathy who are here with Gary on the Documentary Competition Jury (I just left them in Careyas!) also just discovered her as well. The other artist, Olga Amaral, works in indigenous styles of weaving and textile production and now is favoring gold leaf displays of woven wall tapestries. Stunning. Both are available at the Nh Gallery, a place I just happened to wander into as I was walking from the theater to my equally stunning hotel Casa Pestagua.

The courteous and helpful people here are a proud mix of white, brown and black. They say the blacks will never follow the orders of a white. They say the blood of slaves is embedded in the wall fortifications of the city. The Inquisition here was very powerful, and they say the Jews (Conversos) coming in the conquistadors’ ships went to settle Medellín and the Catholics to Bogotá. Cartagena was the last city to be free of the Spanish crown and as such, it was extremely conservative.

It would take days to visit all the museums throughout the city. The Art Biennale is now in many of them (free entry) including the Museum of the Inquisition with its torture machines. The Museum of Gold with pre-Colombian gold artworks is astounding. All the gold of Latin America (and emeralds, diamonds and silver) went from here in the Spanish galleons back to Spain until the city declared its independence in 1811. We in the North know this history but from a different perspective. Eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins of Latin America and Gonzalo Arijon’s documentary Eyes Wide Open, an update of Galeano’s ideas are good starting points for understanding this part of the world. Eye opening indeed!

The beauty of the city and its people is matched by the food. There is great food here here and some very haute cuisine restaurants. Ceviches of many kinds, new sweet fruits like the pitaya and the drink mixing limeade and coconut milk delight the palate. The festival invites enough but not too many industry folks so it can host lunches and dinners in wonderful venues along with cocktail hours where we can all meet and talk. Talk among us is of food and film, film and food…even of food film festivals that are cropping up from Berlin, San Sebastian, here and in Northern California…stay tuned.

The Colombian government is aware of the need for the public to rediscover their own stories and to this end all the festival screenings are free, and all are packed Sro. The government also supports filmmakers with a deliberate, well-planned and well executed strategy to increase production and create an infrastructure.

Colombian films’ biggest challenge is to increase their share of their rapidly growing domestic market, worth $182.3 million in box office in 2012. One way forward is international co-production, where Bam (Bogotá Audiovisual Market) July 14-18, 2014 plays a large role. There is a mini version of this here (Encuentros Cartagena), centering on French and Colombian co-production, but not limited to that, with guests like George Goldenstern from Cinefondation (Cannes), producer/ international sales agent Marie-Pierre Masia and and the ever present Thierry Lenouvel of Cine-Sud whose film Tierra en la lengua aka Dust on the Tongue won the Best Picture Award in Competition. Vincenzo Bugno of World Cinema Fund of the Berlinale is always here too as is Jose Maria Riba on the Jury of the Competition and programmer for San Sebastian and Directors Fortnight. Also on the jury are Wendy Mitchel and Pawel Pawlikowski whose film Ida (Isa: Portobello Film Sales) is playing (outside of the Competition). A look at the winning competition films shows the strength of co-productions today.

Best Picture: Dust on the Tongue of Ruben Mendoza (Colombia) Colombia Film of $15,000. Special Jury Prize: The Third Side of the River (La tercera orilla) which premiered in Competition at the Berlinale, by Celina Murga (Argentina, Netherlands, Germany) (Isa: The Match Factory) Best Director: Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To kill a man (Matar a un hombre) which premiered in Sundance (Chile, France). Film Factory is selling international rights and Film Movement has U.S. It also won the Fipresci or International Critics’ Award. Best Actor: Fernando Bacilio by El Mudo (Peru, Mexico, France), Urban Distribution International is the sales agent.

Cinema in Colombia continues its steep ascent in the international production world. The reasons, according to Bugno, lie in “new political decisions, funding structures, and the developing of a new producing environment that also has to do with new emerging young talent.”

A visit to the festival headquarters proves the point of the extensive government support of film not only for its own sake, but for the sake of all the people, dispossessed, abused, Lgbt, children and women. It is a beautiful sight to see such support, and the people seem to reciprocate; I hear more praise than complaints about the government and everyone seems cautiously optimistic, aware of its current position vis à vis what has thankfully become recent history with the guerillas who had been waging war with the government for the past 40 years and the current elections and competing points of view between the former President Uribe and the current President Juan Manuel Santos.

Aecid , Association Espagnola de Cooperacon Internacional para el Desarrollo (The Spanish Association for International Cooperation for Development), a festival sponsor supports social cohesion, equality of genders, construction of peace, respect for cultural diversity and the reduction of poverty.

Currently in Colombia, national cinema holds a 10% share of the Colombian market and 8% of the box office. In 2012, 213 films were produced in Colombia, a huge increase since 2009 when 19 were produced according to Ocal, the Observotario del Cine f nCl [sic]. In 2012, 23 of the 213 domestic films were released theatrically, a tremendous increase from the 6 Colombian films released in the year 2000. [1],[2] This number surpasses every record in Colombia’s film history

This 10 day spectacular film festival gives free entry to all at 8 theaters and, proving the point that people love the movies, every single screening is packed solid, Sro. More than 135 films come from 27 countries. 48 daily screenings include 14 open air screenings in great locations. There are 40 world premieres and 26 Latin American premieres.

150 invited guests included Abbas Kiarostami, Clive Owen, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Pavel Pawlikowsky with his film Ida, John Sayles with whom I had an interesting talk about U.S. current distribution and of Return of Seacaucus Seven and Sunshine State. The screening of his film Go For Sisters has received an enthusiastic response from the audiences.

Since 2013, coproductions between the U.S. and Colombia with variations on the theme are on the rise. With its 40% cash rebate, Colombia is proving to be a great place to make movies.

Colombians such as Simon Brand are making English language genre films such as this year’s festival debuting Default (Isa: Wild Bunch). For budgets under Us$1 million, action, thrillers and horror genres can cross borders, and can recoup costs and even profit.

The reverse is also notable. Four films screening here are Colombian films made by Americans. The winner to three prizes here for Best Director, Best Documentary and the Audience Prize, Marmato by Marc Grieco was workshopped twice at Sundance where it premiered this January 2014. It is represented internationally by Ro*co and its U.S. representative is Ben Weiss at Paradigm. The other three remarkable debut films are Mambo Cool by Chris Gude,Manos Sucias by Josef Wladyka (a Japanese-Polish American) and Parador Hungaro by Patrick Alexander and Aseneth Suarez Ruiz. Look for upcoming interviews with these four directors who came to Colombia and, because of their experiences here, decided to make these exceptional movies. My next blog will be interviews with each of these films’ directors.

Secundaria , the first film I saw here was not shot here although it too was directed by an American who made 21 trips to Cuba to make it. Documenting the high school ballet training and competitions held by Cuba’s world famous National Ballet School -- Watch the trailer here -- it was not only beautiful but it magically captured the ever-present economic issues of Cuba. I can’t wait to see Primaria about the grade school of the Nbs.

Director and coproducer Mary Jane Doherty has been an Associate Professor of Film at Boston University since 1990. Proud of her lineage as a student of iconic documentarian Ricky Leacock, she developed B.U.’s Narrative Documentary Program: a novel approach to non-fiction storytelling using the building blocks of fiction film. Lyda Kuth , the coproducer, is founding board member and executive director of the Lef Foundation, which supports independent filmmakers through the Lef Moving Image Fund. In 2005, she established Nadita Productions and was producer/director on her first feature documentary, Love and Other Anxieties.

A cocktail party is given daily at the festival where we can all meet up. It was there I met Gail Gendler VP of Acquisitions for AMC/ Sundance Channel Global (international not domestic) and Gus

Dinner one night was with the jury for Nuevos Creadores (New Creators). Cynthia Garcia Calvo, Editor in Chief of LatamCinema.com, a Latino equivalent to Indiewire.com out of Chile and Argentina and I spoke of possible ways to cooperate. The third member of the jury, Javier Mejia, director of Colombia’s best film of 2008 Apocalypsur also has a documentary here, Duni, about a Chilean filmmaker who left Chile during the dictatorship and came to Colombia where he made political films in Medellin but never discussed his reasons for coming or even his Chilean roots. How happy I was that I had seen and enjoyed the films of the third jury member, Daniel Vega, who with his brother Diego made The Mute aka El Mudo (Isa: Urban Media) which played in Toronto and San Sebastian and his earlier film October, both dark comedies or perhaps dramadies dealing with subjective realities in unique environs of Peru we have never seen. He promised to help me with the Peru chapter of my upcoming book. Peru is in the lower middle of countries which support filmmaking. Their film fund is a rather laid back affair administered by the Ministry of Culture who receives money from the Ministry of Finance when they “get around to it”.

Jury for New Creators: Javier Mejía, Cynthia García Calvo and Diego Vega,displaying the winner for the Best Short Film: Alen Natalia Imery (Universidad del Valle) who won a Sony video camera, 2,000, 000 pesos of in kind services from Shock Magazin, and a scholarship for graduate Project Management and Film Production at the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga

Second prize went to The murmur of the earth Alejandro Daza (National University) - Win a Sony camera, and a Fellowship for Graduate Record Audio and Sound Design of the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga.

Other winners are:

Official Colombian Film Competition

Jurors: David Melo - Alissa Simon - Daniela Michel

Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA) Winner of the I.Sat Award for $30K and the Cinecolor Award for $11k in deliveries

Special Jury Prize: Mateo by María Gamboa

Best Director: Rubén Mendoza for Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua). Winner of Hangar Films Award for $30K in film equipment to produce his next film.

Additional Awards

Audience Award Colombia: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of $15K

Official Documentary Competition

Jurors: Gary Meyer- Luis Ospina - Laurie Collyer

Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of the Cinecolor Award for $13Kin post-production services.

Special Jury Prize: What Now? Remind Me (E Agora? Lembra-me) by Joaquim Pinto (Portugal)

Best Director: Justin Webster for I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) (Spain, Denmark, U.K.)

Official Short Film Competition

JurorsOswaldo Osorio -Pacho Bottia - Denis de la Roca

Best Short Film: Statues (Estatuas) by Roberto Fiesco (Mexico). Winner of a professional Sony camera and $3K from Cinecolor in post-production services for his next project.

Special Jury Prize: About a Month (Pouco Mais de um Mês) by André Novais Oliveira (Brazil)

Best Director: Manuel Camacho Bustillo for Blackout chapter 4 "A Call to Neverland" (Blackout capítulo 4 "Una llamada a Neverland") (Mexico). Winner of a Sony photographic camera.

Gems

Jurors: Mauricio Reina - Manuel Kalmanowitz - Sofia Gomez Gonzalez

Best Film: Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Koreeda (Japan). Winner of the Rcn Award for $50 to promote the release of the film in Colombia.

Special Jury Prize: Ilo Ilo by Anthony Chen (Singapore)

[1] http://www.cinelatinoamericano.org/ocal/cifras.aspx

[2] http://www.mincultura.gov.co/areas/cinematografia/estadisticas-del-sector/Documents/Anuario%202012.p...

The 54th Edition of the Cartagena Film Festival has come to an end and the winners have been announced. The indisputable protagonists this year were Marmato by Mark Grieco, winning three awards, Rubén Mendoza's Dust on the Tongue, and the Chilean film To Kill a Man by Alejandro Fernández Almendras, with two awards each. Surely these three films and several other winners will become important works at other upcoming festivals since many of them have already done well at Sundance, Rotterdam, and Berlin.

Official Competition: Narrative Feature

Members of the Jury: Wendy Mitchell - Jose Maria Riba - Pawel Pawlikowski

Best Film: Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la Lengua) by Rubén Mendoza (Colombia- Winner of $15K

Special Jury Prize: The Third Side of the River (La Tercera Orilla) by Celina Murga (Argentina, The Netherlands, Germany)

Best Director: Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To Kill a Man (Matar a un hombre) (Chile, France)

Best Actor: Fernando Bacilio for El Mudo (Peru, Mexico, France)

Fipresci

Members of the Jury: Carlos Heredero - Hiroaki Saitô - Michal Oleszczyk

Best Film: To Kill a Man by Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile, France)

Other Awards

Oclacc Award (Catholic Organization of Communications for Latin America and the Caribbean)

Special Mention: Mateo by María Gamboa (Colombia

Official Competition: Colombian Cinema

Members of the Jury: David Melo - Alissa Simon - Daniela Michel

Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA) Winner of the I.Sat Award for $30K and the Cinecolor Award for $11k in deliveries

Special Jury Prize: Mateo by María Gamboa

Best Director: Rubén Mendoza for Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua). Winner of Hangar Films Award for $30K in film equipment to produce his next film.

Additional Awards

Audience Award Colombia: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of $15K

Official Competition: Documentary

Members of the Jury: Gary Meyer- Luis Ospina - Laurie Collyer

Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of the Cinecolor Award for $13Kin post-production services.

Special Jury Prize: What Now? Remind Me (E Agora? Lembra-me) by Joaquim Pinto (Portugal)

Best Director: Justin Webster for I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) (Spain, Denmark, U.K.)

Official Competition: Short Film

Members of the Jury: Oswaldo Osorio - Pacho Bottia - Denis de la Roca

Best Short Film: Statues (Estatuas) by Roberto Fiesco (Mexico). Winner of a professional Sony camera and $3K from Cinecolor in post-production services for his next project.

Special Jury Prize: About a Month (Pouco Mais de um Mês) by André Novais Oliveira (Brazil)

Best Director: Manuel Camacho Bustillo for Blackout chapter 4 "A Call to Neverland" (Blackout capítulo 4 "Una llamada a Neverland")  (Mexico). Winner of a Sony photographic camera.

Gems

Members of the Jury:Mauricio Reina - Manuel Kalmanowitz - Sofia Gomez Gonzalez

Best Film: Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Koreeda (Japan). Winner of the Rcn Award for $50 to promote the release of the film in Colombia.

Special Jury Prize: Ilo Ilo by Anthony Chen (Singapore)

New Creators

Members of the Jury: Javier Mejía- Diego Vega - Cynthia García Calvo

Best Short Film: Alén by Natalia Imery (Universidad del Valle).

Runner-up:  The Earth's Whisper (El murmullo de la tierra) by Alejandro Daza (Universidad Nacional)...

Dust On The Tongue [pictured], Marmato, To Kill A Man take home prizes.

The 54th edition of the Cartagena Film Festival wrapped tonight in Colombia, with the festival’s main Latin American competition prize going to a local film, Ruben Mendoza’s Dust On The Tounge (Tierra En La Lengua). The award comes with $15,000.

The film blends fake documentary and fiction in the story of a crude, violent patriarch (Jairo Salcedo) who brings his cityslicker grandchildren to his ranch to help him die.

The jury gave its best director prize to Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To Kill A Man (Matar a un hombre), a Chilean dark dramatic thriller that also took home Cartagena’s Fipresci prize.

Best actor was Fernando Bacilio for The Mute (El Mudo) by Daniel and Diego Vega from Peru. The special jury prize went to Celina Murga’s The Third Side of the River (La tercera orilla) from Argentina.

Best documentary...

Le Chef (France-Spain) from Daniel Cohen and Jennifer M Kroot and Bill Weber’s To Be Takei (Us) will open the 2014 RiverRun International Film Festival, while Phillippe Le Guay’s Bicycling With Molière (France) will close the festival.

Gillian Robespierre’s (Us) Obvious Child is the Centerpiece Premiere and David Gordon Green’s Joe the Southern Showcase. The festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is set to run from April 4-13 and will screen 145 films, including 63 features and 82 shorts from 33 countries.

The 10 films in Narrative Competition include Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida (Poland-Denmark), Chloe Robichaud’s Sarah Prefers To Run (Canada), Tanta Agua (Uruguay-Mexico-Netherlands-Germany) from Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge and Andrzej Walda’s Walesa: Man Of Hope (Poland).

Documentary Competition entries include Dave Carroll’s Bending Steel (Us), Ben Cotner and Ryan White’s The Case Against 8 (Us), Marmato (Columbia-us) from Mark Grieco and Joe Berlinger’s Whitey (Us).

Special Presentations include Locke (UK) Breathe In (Us), The German Doctor...

The 54th International Film Festival of Cartagena de Indias in Colombia has invited me to attend March 13 - 19, 2014.

One of Ficci's main goals is supporting the development of Colombian cinema. With that in mind, the festival will open with the world premiere of Ciudad Delirio, inviting the audience to get to know Cali, the only city in Latin America that loves all Latin American music, a center of creative development for Colombia's cinema, splendidly and authentically presented through the passion and flavor of salsa. Ficci is once again betting on the kind of cinema that speaks locally and globally, cinema that invites, seduces and embraces all kinds of audiences.

Starring Carolina Ramírez , Cauca Valley dancer and actress renown for her performance in soap operas such as La hija del mariachiand La Pola and Spaniard Julián Villagrán, winner of a Goya for his performance in Grupo 7, Ciudad Delirio also features Colombian actors of such caliber as Vicky Hernández Jorge Herrera , Margarita Ortega and John Alex Castillo. Thanks to a world-class team lead by Spanish dancer, choreographer and filmmaker Blanca Li, who has worked for The Berlin State Ballet, Kylie Minogue, Beyoncé and Daft Punk, and by multiple time Salsa World Champion Viviana Vargas, Cartagena will get to experience the madness of one of the most sensual dances on earth.

Ciudad Delirio was produced by Diego F. Ramírez, head of 64-a Films in Colombia, which has produced such films as Perro come perro,Todos tus muertos, Dr. Alemán, En coma, and180 segundos and Spaniard Elena Manrique, founder of Film Fatal and renown for her production of movies such asEl laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth), El orfanato and Transsiberiano, to name just a few.

For seven weeks during the making of Ciudad delirio, 45 locations in Cali, Colombia and Madrid, Spain were overrun by salsa. More than 3,200 extras from Cauca Valley helped to tell this love story that revolves around the show Delirio, a long-standing cultural tradition in Sultana del Valle.

In Ciudad Delirio, Javier, a shy, reserved Spanish doctor, attends a medical conference in Cali, Colombia. There, through a chance meeting, he shares a magical night with Angie, a dancer and choreographer who dreams of being part of the world's most famous salsa show, Delirio, if only she can pass the audition. Javier and Angie begin an impossible romance full of obstacles, surrounded by salsa, and accompanied by a cast of characters that are as authentic as they are hilarious.

The festival's guest of honor will be the prolific British actor Clive Owen, who is known for his diverse roles in films like Closer Children of Men, and The International . The Latin American premier of his latest film, Guillaume Canet's Blood Ties (2013), will be a highlight of the Friday, March 14th event, taking place at 6:00 pm in the Adolfo Mejía Theater, where, after being presented with the India Catalina prize, the actor will be interviewed by Ficci's director, Monika Wagenberg.

Another special honoree will be Mexican director Alejando Gonazlez Iñárritu, who has garnered international acclaim throughout the years with films such as Amores Perros , 21 Grams , Babel, and Biutiful . Established within the film industry as one of Latin America's most important directors of the new century, Iñárritu is currently in-production for Birdman (2014), a film he wrote and directed starring Emma Stone and Edward Norton . Participants of the 54th Ficci will have the opportunity to attend the Tribute honoring this Academy Award-nominated filmmaker on Sunday, March 16th, as well as his Master class the following day during Salón Ficci – the festival's academic program.

In regards to the festival's line-up, it is interesting to note that several of the filmmakers that will take part in the Dramatic Competition are directors who have participated at Ficci with their previous films and have established themselves in the international festival circuit winning prestigious awards. Others will arrive to Cartagena for the first time with their operas primas.

"2014 promises to be a good year for Iberoamerican cinema and we are proud to feature several of the most recent films of the region in our Official Dramatic Competition, in which half of the chosen movies are Latin American Premieres (movies that come directly to Cartagena after their world premieres at Sundance and Berlin Festivals). Eight of the twelve films in the Colombian Official Competition (known before as Colombia al 100%) are World Premieres. This way, we have managed to achieve the goal we set four years ago: becoming the main national and international launching platform of local films", stated Ficci's Director Monika Wagenberg.

Wagenberg also addressed some chances in the festival's rules that will allow for more experience filmmakers to partake in the event.

"One of the big news of Ficci 54 is that this time we have not limited the Official Dramatic Competition to first, second and third time Ibero-American films. Ending this restriction will make possible for those directors from this region who are producing feature films at a fast pace not, to be excluded from the competition" Wagenberg added.

The Official Dramatic Competition will feature the Latin American premieres The Lock Charmer (El Cerrajero) by Natalia Smirnoff (Argentina), Natural Sciences (Ciencias Naturales) by Matías Lucchesi(Argentina), The Way He Looks (Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho) by Daniel Ribeiro(Brazil), Celina Murga's Berlin Official Competition, The Three Sides of the River (La tercera orilla) (Argentina), recent Sundance and Rotterdam winner, To Kill a Man (Matar a un hombre) by Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile), Mateo, first film by Maria Gamboa (Colombia), and the world premiere of Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua) by Ruben Mendoza (Colombia).

This section also includes other outstanding films such as Bad Hair (Pelo malo), written and directed by Mariana Rondón (Venezuela) which comes to Ficci after its triumph at the San Sebastián Film Festival; The Mute (El Mudo), directed by brothers Daniel and Diego Vega (Perú), which had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival and are coming back to Ficci after competing winning Best Director award in 2010; premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and awarded the Concha de Plata for Best Director in San Sebastián, comes Club Sándwich by Fernando Eimbcke(México), and the 12th film in this section is Root (Raíz) by Matías Rojas Valencia (Chile), the winner of Best Chilean Film winner at the Valdivia Film Festival.

The Official Documentary Competition will showcase the world premieres of El color que cayó del cielo by Sergio Wolf (Argentina) and Heaven or Hell (Infierno o paraíso) de German Piffano(Colombia); as well as the Latin American premiere of The Silence of the Flies (El silencio de las moscas) by Eliezer Arias (Venezuela), Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA), and Apples, Chickens and Chimeras (Manzanas, pollos y quimeras) de Inés París (España). The rest of the program includes Argentine Street Years (Años de calle) by Alejandra Grinschpun, I Feel Much Better Now (E-agora? Lembra me) by Joaquim Pinto(Portugal), Naomi Campbel by icolas Videla and Camila José Donoso (Chile), Cesar's Grill (El Grill de Cesar) by Dario Aguirre, I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) by Justin Webster (Spain), Mexican documentary, Elevator (Elevador) by Adrián Ortizl and the most recent work by talented Brazilian documentary film director Maria Ramos , Hills of Pleasures (Morro dos Prazeres).

Lastly, in the Colombian Official Competition we will present the world premieres of Banished (Desterrada) by Diego Guerra, Manos sucias by Joseph Wladyka, Memorias del calavero and Tierra en la lengua by Rubén Mendoza, Monte adentro by Nicolás Macario Alonso, Parador Húngaro by Aseneth Suarez and Patrick Alexander, Infierno o paraíso by Germán Piffano; as well as the Latin American premieres of Inés, memorias de una vida by Luisa Sossa; Gente de papel, con el alma en la selva by Andrés Felipe Vásquez, Mateo by Maria Gamboa, Marmato by Mark Grieco and the Colombian premiere of Mambo Cool by Chris Gude.

"Marmato" is Mark Grieco's first feature and he went all-in to deliver one of the best film's I've seen in this year's Us Documentary Competition.   Over six years, Grieco lived in the Colombian mining village of "Marmato," serving as director, cinematographer and producer, wholly committing to telling the story about globalization, the illusion of progress, the insatiable human desire for riches and the decline of a way of life that is simultaneously woefully outmoded and yet authentic and worth preserving.    Thanks to the duration of his presence in the region, Grieco has been granted a depth of access that...

Grieco Witnesses Dirty Deeds Done In Exchange For Gold

Mining is a dirty business, obviously, but not just in the harsh physical conditions of the job. This is a locale based industry that effects entire communities, has bred conflict over working conditions as in Barbara Kopple’s monumental Harlan County, U.S.A., and can lead to imperialization and communal displacement, as in Mark Grieco’s documentary debut, Marmato, which documents the buyout of local mining companies in the title Colombian community by various muscle flexing Canadian corporations. Unable to fully fund their community leveling open pit plans that mean to suck all the gold within, the companies close the mine, leaving locals without work while providing no alternatives to support their families. Over the course of months and years, Grieco follows these events up to an anxiety ridden pinnacle of political fervor, but seemingly due to time constraints, fails...

Debuting his first feature-length film, Mark Grieco is an independent filmmaker and photojournalist interested in human rights and justice in the global economy. What it's about: "A 500 year-old gold mining town in rural Colombia confronts a Canadian mining company that wants the $20 billion in gold beneath their homes." What it's really about: "It’s an intimate portrait of the locals trying to navigate a very complex situation concerning the future of their town and their lives. The Canadian mining company wants to build a large-scale open-pit mine where the town sits and would need to relocate the entire population. Filmed over the course of nearly 6 years, the film bears witness to multiple perspectives, including that of representatives of the Canadian company, on what 'progress' is, who will benefit, and who won’t. It’s a chronicle of the beginning stages of a takeover and how one town ultimately resists change.

The Sundance Film Festival has unveiled its 2014 Competition lineup, made up of several categories. The 30th edition of the event will take place between January 16th-26th in the new year.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

Camp X-Ray (Peter Sattler)

Cold in July (Jim Mickle)

Dear White People (Justin Simien)

Fishing Without Nets (Cutter Hodierne)

John's Pocket (John Slattery)

Happy Christmas (Joe Swanberg)

Hellion (Kat Candler)

Infinitely Polar Bear (Maya Forbes)

Jamie Marks is Dead (Carter Smith)

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (David Zellner)

Life After Beth (Jeff Baena)

Low Down (Joe Preiss)

The Skeleton Twins (Craig Johnson)

The Sleepwalker (Mona Fastvold)

Song One (Kate Barker-Froyland)

Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)

U.S. Documentary Competition

Alive Inside: A Story of Music & Memory (Michael Rossato-Bennett)

All the Beautiful Things (John Harkrider)

Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart (Jeremiah Zagar)

The Case Against 8 (Ben Cotner, Ryan White)

Cesar's Last Fast (Richard Ray Perez, Lorena Parlee...

The 2014 Sundance Film Festival is right around the corner, and the Sundance Institute has released the full line-up for the competition films that will be premiering!

This year there were 12,218 total submissions, and 117 films were accepted from 37 countries around the world. It looks like there's a lot of good selection of films this year.

The Sundance Film Festival 2014 runs from January 16th to the 26th, and the GeekTyrant team will be there to cover as many movies as we possibly can.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

The 16 films in this section are world premieres and, unless otherwise noted, are from the U.S.

“Camp X-Ray” — Directed and written by Peter Sattler. A young female guard at Guantanamo Bay forms an unlikely friendship with one of the detainees. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Payman Maadi, Lane Garrison, J.J. Soria, John Carroll Lynch.

“Cold in July” — Directed by Jim Mickle, written by Nick Damici.

Of the sixteen titles that are listed here there are at least more than half that will be talked about throughout the calendar year up until award season in 2015. It speaks volumes about the quality offerings from American Documentarian filmmakers, but it also says a lot about Sundance programming team David Courier, Caroline Libresco et al. exquisite taste for the form. As is the norm for the Sundance doc-comp, there is plenty of socially conscious films on offer, from Andrew Rossi’s film on the insurmountable rise of student debt, Ivory Tower, to government backed food campaigns that have resulted in massive amounts of American health problems in Stephanie Soechtig’s Fed Up, with plenty of diversity within the program as a whole.

Though our non-fiction guesses have never been stellar, the films themselves look auspicious as all get out. Of this year’s promising batch of American docs, we...

The elusive “Golden Ticket”. Beginning next Wednesday (December 4th) in a wave of four announcements, is when the official word comes out. Plenty of filmmakers are already in the know, but some will find out over the course of this Thanksgiving weekend. Having covered the festival and fest circuit for some time now, we’re already aware that worthy films that were indeed submitted will be excluded from the ’14 edition. Thousands of filmmakers won’t get the phone call, and while it can bruise dreams, this is not a rejection of quality…but rather, a preference from a programmer/programming team which reflects a larger mandate. John Cooper, Trevor Groth et al. have a difficult job and the way I see it, it’s the equivalent to draft day for a major professional sport – where a team in a given turn doesn’t go for the consensus pick, but instead...

Having just participated at the 2013 Music and Sound Design Lab at Skywalker Sound, Mark Grieco’s heavily supported docu (Cinereach, MacArthur and Britdoc Foundations) debut is in the final stages of completion – and this after a long six year process. There is light ahead of the tunnel for the Canadian/Colombian production, currently seeking completion funds, I wouldn’t be surprised if Marmato culminates into a ’14 showing.

Gist: Marmato is a documentary feature about an artisan gold-mining village in rural Colombia on the precipice of opportunity and destruction as a Canadian mining company plans a massive regional investment. For five centuries these miners have lived in the lush Andes Mountains; the gold being their only source of sustenance. This intimate portrait follows the lives of the villagers as they struggle to preserve their centuries old way of life and confront the arrival of large-scale mining operations.

Production Co./Producers: Mark Achbar,...