I am Vicente.
After kicking off February with discussions of Albert Lewin’s 1945 adaptation of The Portrait of Dorian Gray (listen) and the perfectly serviceable remake of Friday the 13th (listen), we’re delving into the twisted mind of Pedro Almodóvar with his 2011 thriller The Skin I Live In.
In The Skin I Live In, skilled plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) has tried to develop a new super skin ever since his beloved wife was horribly burned in a car accident 12 years prior. Finally, Ledgard has created a skin that guards the body, but is still sensitive to touch. With the aid of his faithful housekeeper Marilia (Marisa Paredes), Ledgard tests his creation on Vera (Elena Anaya), a woman he keeps prisoner against her will in the basement of his Spanish mansion.
Being an Almodóvar film, there’s much more to this twisted plot than meets they eye.
After kicking off February with discussions of Albert Lewin’s 1945 adaptation of The Portrait of Dorian Gray (listen) and the perfectly serviceable remake of Friday the 13th (listen), we’re delving into the twisted mind of Pedro Almodóvar with his 2011 thriller The Skin I Live In.
In The Skin I Live In, skilled plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) has tried to develop a new super skin ever since his beloved wife was horribly burned in a car accident 12 years prior. Finally, Ledgard has created a skin that guards the body, but is still sensitive to touch. With the aid of his faithful housekeeper Marilia (Marisa Paredes), Ledgard tests his creation on Vera (Elena Anaya), a woman he keeps prisoner against her will in the basement of his Spanish mansion.
Being an Almodóvar film, there’s much more to this twisted plot than meets they eye.
- 2/27/2024
- by Trace Thurman
- bloody-disgusting.com
Note: the following blog piece ran earlier this year. We’re re-posting today in honor of Trans Awareness Week, November 12-18. Special thanks to author Adam Vargas.
***
It’s no secret that the moving image can leave a lasting impact, both consciously and subconsciously. This is especially true regarding images of people engaged in struggle and/or enjoying wild success—a phenomenon that supports the necessity for thoughtful representation of people of all backgrounds and experiences in film.
Today, representation is too often conflated with diversity, but they’re not exactly the same thing. Representation goes beyond the surface inclusion of different types of people popular media—it’s about lived experience and authenticity. Of course there are all types of communities that haven’t received much authentic representations of themselves in traditional cinema. For example: the trans community, which is itself unique and disparate far beyond what has been rendered onscreen,...
***
It’s no secret that the moving image can leave a lasting impact, both consciously and subconsciously. This is especially true regarding images of people engaged in struggle and/or enjoying wild success—a phenomenon that supports the necessity for thoughtful representation of people of all backgrounds and experiences in film.
Today, representation is too often conflated with diversity, but they’re not exactly the same thing. Representation goes beyond the surface inclusion of different types of people popular media—it’s about lived experience and authenticity. Of course there are all types of communities that haven’t received much authentic representations of themselves in traditional cinema. For example: the trans community, which is itself unique and disparate far beyond what has been rendered onscreen,...
- 11/15/2023
- by Adam Vargas
- Film Independent News & More
Thierry Frémaux is best known internationally as the long-time head of France’s Cannes Film Festival, which is organized out of its offices in Paris’s trendy Marais neighborhood.
The double-hatted cinema expert is perhaps more in his element in his home city of Lyon, where he is the director of the Institut Lumière, situated on the site of the former mansion and factory of cinema pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumière.
Alongside its late co-founders Bernard Chardère and Bertrand Tavernier, Frémaux has been a driving force behind the expansion of the institute and its activities, including the creation of its classic cinema-focused Lumière Film Festival, which has just wrapped its 15th edition.
Highlights this year included German director Wim Wenders receiving its prestigious Lumière Prize, following in the footsteps of the likes of Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Jane Campion and Francis Ford Coppola. As part of the honor, the Paris,...
The double-hatted cinema expert is perhaps more in his element in his home city of Lyon, where he is the director of the Institut Lumière, situated on the site of the former mansion and factory of cinema pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumière.
Alongside its late co-founders Bernard Chardère and Bertrand Tavernier, Frémaux has been a driving force behind the expansion of the institute and its activities, including the creation of its classic cinema-focused Lumière Film Festival, which has just wrapped its 15th edition.
Highlights this year included German director Wim Wenders receiving its prestigious Lumière Prize, following in the footsteps of the likes of Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Jane Campion and Francis Ford Coppola. As part of the honor, the Paris,...
- 10/23/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Updated: German film master Wim Wenders was greeted like a rock star in Lyon, France, where he received an honorary tribute on Friday evening (Oct. 21) at the Lumiere Festival, a week-long celebration of classic cinema headed by Cannes festival boss Thierry Fremaux.
“I’ve received prizes in my life but this time it’s different, it’s the the prize of cinema!” said Wenders after stepping on stage to the beat of Texas’ “I Don’t Want a Lover.” Glancing at Fremaux who was standing nearby, Wenders added, with a cheeky smile, “I don’t want to say that a Palme d’Or is nothing. But the Lumiere Prize is unique and I’m proud of it!” Wenders, who won the Palme d’Or with “Paris, Texas,” is considered a Cannes regular. He’s presented his most iconic films there, including “Wings of Desire” which won best director. This year,...
“I’ve received prizes in my life but this time it’s different, it’s the the prize of cinema!” said Wenders after stepping on stage to the beat of Texas’ “I Don’t Want a Lover.” Glancing at Fremaux who was standing nearby, Wenders added, with a cheeky smile, “I don’t want to say that a Palme d’Or is nothing. But the Lumiere Prize is unique and I’m proud of it!” Wenders, who won the Palme d’Or with “Paris, Texas,” is considered a Cannes regular. He’s presented his most iconic films there, including “Wings of Desire” which won best director. This year,...
- 10/20/2023
- by Lise Pedersen and Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar-winning Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar has made a name for himself with a series of brightly colored, delightfully kinky and unabashedly melodramatic titles, mixing comedy, drama, sex and violence to great success. He shows no signs of slowing down, with his latest outing in 2019 being the Oscar-nominated “Pain and Glory.” Let’s take a look back at all 22 of his films, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1949 in Spain, Almodovar came to prominence during La Movida Madrilena, a cultural renaissance that blossomed at the end of Francoist Spain. Staring with his filmmaking debut “Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom” (1980), the openly gay director showed an affinity for oddballs and outsiders, populating his films with transvestites, transexuals and homosexuals, all of whom had previously been relegated to the closet. He also showed a talent for working with women, and throughout his 40 year career has placed actresses such as Penelope Cruz,...
Born in 1949 in Spain, Almodovar came to prominence during La Movida Madrilena, a cultural renaissance that blossomed at the end of Francoist Spain. Staring with his filmmaking debut “Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom” (1980), the openly gay director showed an affinity for oddballs and outsiders, populating his films with transvestites, transexuals and homosexuals, all of whom had previously been relegated to the closet. He also showed a talent for working with women, and throughout his 40 year career has placed actresses such as Penelope Cruz,...
- 9/22/2023
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Lyon, France — Four-time Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón and “Time Bandits” helmer Terry Gilliam will join a star director-studded lineup at this year’s Lumière Film Festival including Wes Anderson, Alexander Payne and Wim Wenders.
Cuarón is returning to Lyon – where he was a guest of honor in 2018 – to present a selection of films by Swiss filmmaker Alain Tanner.
Gilliam will screen the newly restored version of his 1995 sci-fi thriller “Twelve Monkeys.”
One of Anderson’s latest shorts, “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” part of four Roald Dahl adaptations to be released on Netflix later this month, will screen at Lyon’s plush 2,000-seat Auditorium, where he will give a masterclass.
Like other guests, he will not only be introducing a retrospective of his own films but works by others, as part of an ongoing drive by the festival “to strengthen the link between the past and the present of cinema,...
Cuarón is returning to Lyon – where he was a guest of honor in 2018 – to present a selection of films by Swiss filmmaker Alain Tanner.
Gilliam will screen the newly restored version of his 1995 sci-fi thriller “Twelve Monkeys.”
One of Anderson’s latest shorts, “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” part of four Roald Dahl adaptations to be released on Netflix later this month, will screen at Lyon’s plush 2,000-seat Auditorium, where he will give a masterclass.
Like other guests, he will not only be introducing a retrospective of his own films but works by others, as part of an ongoing drive by the festival “to strengthen the link between the past and the present of cinema,...
- 9/19/2023
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
“Veneno” writer-director-creators Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – popularly known as Los Javis – have dropped an international trailer for its sequel, “Vestida de Azul” (“Veneno 2: Dressed in Blue”) sharing it in exclusivity with Variety.
Sold to HBO Max for the U.S., where it aired to acclaim, “Veneno” was picked as one of Variety’s best international series in 2020.
This time round, Los Javis produce through Suma Content, the Madrid-based label they launched in 2021, where they also serve as its creative directors. The series is its fourth production after “Una navidad con Samantha Hudson,” a Christmas special, “Cardo,” and “Cardo 2.” An Atresplayer original series, “Vestidas de Azul” is produced for Atresmedia Television in collaboration with Suma Content. Atresmedia TV International Sales handles international distribution.
The trailer begins two years after “Veneno” with Valeria, her figure inspired by the real-life Spanish journalist Valeria Vegas who penned La Veneno’s memoirs, returning...
Sold to HBO Max for the U.S., where it aired to acclaim, “Veneno” was picked as one of Variety’s best international series in 2020.
This time round, Los Javis produce through Suma Content, the Madrid-based label they launched in 2021, where they also serve as its creative directors. The series is its fourth production after “Una navidad con Samantha Hudson,” a Christmas special, “Cardo,” and “Cardo 2.” An Atresplayer original series, “Vestidas de Azul” is produced for Atresmedia Television in collaboration with Suma Content. Atresmedia TV International Sales handles international distribution.
The trailer begins two years after “Veneno” with Valeria, her figure inspired by the real-life Spanish journalist Valeria Vegas who penned La Veneno’s memoirs, returning...
- 6/21/2023
- by John Hopewell and Pablo Sandoval
- Variety Film + TV
This article contains spoilers for "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio."
Even when adapting others' stories, Guillermo del Toro always puts a personal thumbprint on his movies. He remixed Mike Mignola's "Hellboy" as a superhero spin on Beauty and the Beast, reframing the relationship between the eponymous hero (Ron Perlman) and Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) as a love story. In his 2021 remake of "Nightmare Alley," he eschewed the ghostly black-and-white color scheme of the original film. Courtesy of cinematographer Dan Laustsen, del Toro's film mixed lurid, snowy blues with golden yellow hues; the blood really pops in both colors.
The filmmaker's most recent feature, the stop-motion "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio" was released on Netflix, to critical acclaim. The tale of the wooden boy is a classic that's been retold many times, but del Toro found a fresh way to spin the story and make it feel a piece with his films...
Even when adapting others' stories, Guillermo del Toro always puts a personal thumbprint on his movies. He remixed Mike Mignola's "Hellboy" as a superhero spin on Beauty and the Beast, reframing the relationship between the eponymous hero (Ron Perlman) and Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) as a love story. In his 2021 remake of "Nightmare Alley," he eschewed the ghostly black-and-white color scheme of the original film. Courtesy of cinematographer Dan Laustsen, del Toro's film mixed lurid, snowy blues with golden yellow hues; the blood really pops in both colors.
The filmmaker's most recent feature, the stop-motion "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio" was released on Netflix, to critical acclaim. The tale of the wooden boy is a classic that's been retold many times, but del Toro found a fresh way to spin the story and make it feel a piece with his films...
- 12/13/2022
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
Marc Recha, director of “Pau and His Brother,” which played in Cannes competition, is initiating post-production on “Wild Road,” a thriller produced by Barcelona-based director label Parallamps.
Heaed by Montse Germán, a star in Cesc Gay’s “Fiction” and Sergi López” (“Pan’s Labyrinth”), “Wild Road” follows 50-year Ona, who is about to fulfill her dream of piloting a light aircraft. Then a chance encounter with some Serb ex-combatants will change her life and that of her loved ones, forcing her to face up to her own past.
A Locarno Fipresci prize winner for “The Cherry Tree,” in “Wild Road” Recha aims for a “cinema d’auteur for a wider audience. It’s a disturbing thriller but full of humanity,” producer Ana Stanič told Variety announcing “strong interest for the film in Spain, Central and Eastern Europe and further abroad.”
A sales agent deal is close to being closed.
The move...
Heaed by Montse Germán, a star in Cesc Gay’s “Fiction” and Sergi López” (“Pan’s Labyrinth”), “Wild Road” follows 50-year Ona, who is about to fulfill her dream of piloting a light aircraft. Then a chance encounter with some Serb ex-combatants will change her life and that of her loved ones, forcing her to face up to her own past.
A Locarno Fipresci prize winner for “The Cherry Tree,” in “Wild Road” Recha aims for a “cinema d’auteur for a wider audience. It’s a disturbing thriller but full of humanity,” producer Ana Stanič told Variety announcing “strong interest for the film in Spain, Central and Eastern Europe and further abroad.”
A sales agent deal is close to being closed.
The move...
- 5/23/2022
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Editor’s note: The following essay was written by filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar shortly after he attended the 94th Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday. It was provided for IndieWire in an exclusive English translation. Almodóvar’s 2021 film “Parallel Mothers” was nominated for two awards: Best Actress (Penélope Cruz) and Best Original Score (Alberto Iglesias).
Yesterday was an exhausting day, especially in the evening. One of the secret reasons I have for being in Los Angeles (as well as going hand in hand with Penélope to the Dolby Theatre and experiencing in situ if her nomination still has a road to travel or if the prize was the nomination) is to meet with some actors as I think about the cast for my next film, which is starring Cate Blanchett and based on five stories by Lucia Berlin from her book “A Manual for Cleaning Women.” It’s an open secret, but I can’t discuss it,...
Yesterday was an exhausting day, especially in the evening. One of the secret reasons I have for being in Los Angeles (as well as going hand in hand with Penélope to the Dolby Theatre and experiencing in situ if her nomination still has a road to travel or if the prize was the nomination) is to meet with some actors as I think about the cast for my next film, which is starring Cate Blanchett and based on five stories by Lucia Berlin from her book “A Manual for Cleaning Women.” It’s an open secret, but I can’t discuss it,...
- 3/30/2022
- by Pedro Almodóvar
- Indiewire
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The countdown to Mother’s Day has begun! If you’re looking for movies to binge this weekend (or whenever you have the time), we collected a list of films that honor the complexities of motherhood. From dark comedies and feel-good dramas to thrillers and cult classics, these movies will pull at your heart strings, and in some cases, tickle your funny bone.
The selection of films below are streaming now on Amazon Prime, Hulu, or HBO Max. If you’re not signed up to any of those platforms, here’s a short breakdown of what they offer: Amazon Prime costs $12.99 a month which unlocks a massive digital store that has just about anything you might need,...
The countdown to Mother’s Day has begun! If you’re looking for movies to binge this weekend (or whenever you have the time), we collected a list of films that honor the complexities of motherhood. From dark comedies and feel-good dramas to thrillers and cult classics, these movies will pull at your heart strings, and in some cases, tickle your funny bone.
The selection of films below are streaming now on Amazon Prime, Hulu, or HBO Max. If you’re not signed up to any of those platforms, here’s a short breakdown of what they offer: Amazon Prime costs $12.99 a month which unlocks a massive digital store that has just about anything you might need,...
- 5/7/2021
- by Latifah Muhammad
- Indiewire
Cancelled last year, the 30th edition of the Nantes Spanish Film Festival will take place online from 25 March to 4 April, with three physical events in May and June. Forced to cancel last year due to the health crisis, the Nantes Spanish Film Festival has this time put together a hybrid programme for its 30th edition, which begins today and will take place in two parts: online from 25 March to 4 April and in cinemas with three events. Faithful to the organisation, actress Marisa Paredes has once again accepted to be the guest of honour for this edition....
Pedro Almodóvar’s challenging films shouldn’t be only for his dedicated fans: nobody mixes genuine human compassion with world-class filmmaking as well as he … while maintaining a marvelous sense of humor, of human proportion. This 1999 effort is perhaps Pedro’s strongest drama, and yet another heartfelt endorsement of womankind. For the life-beleaguered Manuela, tragedy and melodramatic setbacks only bring out a primal determination to heal all wounds.
All About My Mother
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1012
1999 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 101 min. / Todo sobre mi madre / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 28, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Candela Peña, Antonia San Juan, Penélope Cruz, Rosa María Sardá, Toni Cantó, Eloy Azorín, Carlos Lozano.
Cinematography: Affonso Beato
Film Editor: José Salcedo
Original Music: Alberto Iglesias
Produced by Augustín Almodóvar
Written and Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
My descriptions of this movie can’t convey what a warm, moving, and even funny experience it is.
All About My Mother
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1012
1999 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 101 min. / Todo sobre mi madre / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 28, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Candela Peña, Antonia San Juan, Penélope Cruz, Rosa María Sardá, Toni Cantó, Eloy Azorín, Carlos Lozano.
Cinematography: Affonso Beato
Film Editor: José Salcedo
Original Music: Alberto Iglesias
Produced by Augustín Almodóvar
Written and Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
My descriptions of this movie can’t convey what a warm, moving, and even funny experience it is.
- 2/1/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“Life Is Extremes”
By Raymond Benson
The Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film of 1999 was Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre), easily one of the now 70-year-old auteur’s most beloved and accomplished works. As actress Penélope Cruz states in one of the supplemental documentaries accompanying the film in Criterion’s magnificent new Blu-ray edition, Almodóvar makes movies about extremes and he makes movies about life. “Life is extremes,” she says, and it’s an apt description of Mother.
Almodóvar is known for his highly eccentric, colorful, and socio-political dramas and comedies that often take place in the worlds of theatre, the Lbgtq milieu, and the walks on the wild side of modern urban Spain, especially Barcelona. He can be surreal, harkening back to the style of his great fellow countryman, Luis Buñuel, but one can see the more significant influence from...
By Raymond Benson
The Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film of 1999 was Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre), easily one of the now 70-year-old auteur’s most beloved and accomplished works. As actress Penélope Cruz states in one of the supplemental documentaries accompanying the film in Criterion’s magnificent new Blu-ray edition, Almodóvar makes movies about extremes and he makes movies about life. “Life is extremes,” she says, and it’s an apt description of Mother.
Almodóvar is known for his highly eccentric, colorful, and socio-political dramas and comedies that often take place in the worlds of theatre, the Lbgtq milieu, and the walks on the wild side of modern urban Spain, especially Barcelona. He can be surreal, harkening back to the style of his great fellow countryman, Luis Buñuel, but one can see the more significant influence from...
- 1/22/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
We’ve got more Spaghetti western action from Guest Reviewer Lee Broughton — the more obscure they become, the more fanciful the concept. This creative 1968 entry foregrounds a gothic vibe and employs imagery and narrative devices that Lee says would fit well in a horror movie. Italo western fans know the regular actors Fernando Sancho, Femi Benussi and Aldo Sambrell, who star alongside Lang Jeffries and future Pedro Almodóvar star Marisa Paredes.
Requiem for Gringo
Region-free Blu-ray
Wild East
1968 / Color / 1.66 widescreen / 98 min. / Requiem para el gringo, Requiem for a Gringo, Duel in the Eclipse / Street Date, 23 October 2018 / $16.28
Starring: Lang Jeffries, Femi Benussi, Fernando Sancho, Ruben Rojo, Carlo Simoni, Carlo Gaddi, Aldo Sambrell, Marisa Paredes, Giuly Garr, Angel Alvarez.
Cinematography: Mario Pacheco
Film Editor: Jose Antonio Rojo
Production Designer: Eduardo Torre de la Fuente
Original Music: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino
Written by Enrico Colombo, Giuliana Garavagli, Maria del Carmen Martinez Roman
Produced by...
Requiem for Gringo
Region-free Blu-ray
Wild East
1968 / Color / 1.66 widescreen / 98 min. / Requiem para el gringo, Requiem for a Gringo, Duel in the Eclipse / Street Date, 23 October 2018 / $16.28
Starring: Lang Jeffries, Femi Benussi, Fernando Sancho, Ruben Rojo, Carlo Simoni, Carlo Gaddi, Aldo Sambrell, Marisa Paredes, Giuly Garr, Angel Alvarez.
Cinematography: Mario Pacheco
Film Editor: Jose Antonio Rojo
Production Designer: Eduardo Torre de la Fuente
Original Music: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino
Written by Enrico Colombo, Giuliana Garavagli, Maria del Carmen Martinez Roman
Produced by...
- 11/19/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Pedro Almodovar celebrates his 70th birthday on September 25, 2019. The Oscar-winning Spanish auteur has made a name for himself with a series of brightly colored, delightfully kinky and unabashedly melodramatic titles, mixing comedy, drama, sex and violence to great success. He shows no signs of slowing down, with his latest outing in 2019 being the critically acclaimed “Pain and Glory.” But where does it fall with the rest of his filmography? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at all 21 of his films, ranked worst to best.
SEEPenelope Cruz movies: 15 greatest films ranked worst to best
Born in 1949 in Spain, Almodovar came to prominence during La Movida Madrilena, a cultural renaissance that blossomed at the end of Francoist Spain. Staring with his filmmaking debut “Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom” (1980), the openly gay director showed an affinity for oddballs and outsiders, populating his films with transvestites,...
SEEPenelope Cruz movies: 15 greatest films ranked worst to best
Born in 1949 in Spain, Almodovar came to prominence during La Movida Madrilena, a cultural renaissance that blossomed at the end of Francoist Spain. Staring with his filmmaking debut “Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom” (1980), the openly gay director showed an affinity for oddballs and outsiders, populating his films with transvestites,...
- 9/25/2019
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
From Filmmaker‘s archives, and online for the first time, here is our interview with Pedro Almodovar about All About My Mother as well as many other things, including Tennessee Williams, rejecting primary colors and the difficulties, sometimes, of being “Almodovar.” This piece originally ran in our Fall, 1999 issue. “Mainly women,” says Leo, the desperate, devastated, lovelorn romance writer played by Marisa Paredes in Pedro Almodovar’s eleventh feature film, The Flower of My Secret. “Adventurous, suicidal lunatics.” He might as well be talking about the characters found in Almodovar’s films, for his is a body of work dominated by actresses, […]...
- 7/6/2019
- by Adam Pincus
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
From Filmmaker‘s archives, and online for the first time, here is our interview with Pedro Almodovar about All About My Mother as well as many other things, including Tennessee Williams, rejecting primary colors and the difficulties, sometimes, of being “Almodovar.” This piece originally ran in our Fall, 1999 issue. “Mainly women,” says Leo, the desperate, devastated, lovelorn romance writer played by Marisa Paredes in Pedro Almodovar’s eleventh feature film, The Flower of My Secret. “Adventurous, suicidal lunatics.” He might as well be talking about the characters found in Almodovar’s films, for his is a body of work dominated by actresses, […]...
- 7/6/2019
- by Adam Pincus
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Netflix has gone into production on its latest original movie in Spain, ‘A pesar de todo,’ staring Blanza Suárez, Macarena García, Amaia Salamanca and Belén Cuesta.
Directed by Argentine-born Gabriela Tagliavini the comedy returns Netflix to women character-driven narratives of other productions such as “The Cable Girls,” and links it once more to one of the Spanish production houses which arguably has best explored a woman’s world, Ramón Campos and Teresa Fernández-Valdés’s Bambu Producciones. the producers of “The Cable Girls, “Velvet” and “Velvet Collection.”
The four actresses play sisters embroiled in a mystery case sparked by the last wish of their dead mother. Before dying, the mother (Marisa Paredes) makes a video for each of her daughters which contain a series of revelations about a family secret which will turn their world upside down and set them off on a common journey which will help them rediscover each other and themselves.
Directed by Argentine-born Gabriela Tagliavini the comedy returns Netflix to women character-driven narratives of other productions such as “The Cable Girls,” and links it once more to one of the Spanish production houses which arguably has best explored a woman’s world, Ramón Campos and Teresa Fernández-Valdés’s Bambu Producciones. the producers of “The Cable Girls, “Velvet” and “Velvet Collection.”
The four actresses play sisters embroiled in a mystery case sparked by the last wish of their dead mother. Before dying, the mother (Marisa Paredes) makes a video for each of her daughters which contain a series of revelations about a family secret which will turn their world upside down and set them off on a common journey which will help them rediscover each other and themselves.
- 10/19/2018
- by Jamie Lang and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The festival’s 7th edition will open with ‘Funny Story’.
Melissa Leo will receive the Icon award at the seventh edition of the Mallorca International Film Festival (October 25-31).
Leo will attend the event to accept her award, which will be given as part of a centrepiece gala screening of The Fighter. She won the Oscar for best supporting actress in 2011 for her role in David O’Russell’s boxing drama.
The Mallorca event will open with Michael J. Gallagher’s Funny Story, which premiered at Utah’s Slamdance Film Festival in the United States in January 2018.
The festival will screen 15 narrative features,...
Melissa Leo will receive the Icon award at the seventh edition of the Mallorca International Film Festival (October 25-31).
Leo will attend the event to accept her award, which will be given as part of a centrepiece gala screening of The Fighter. She won the Oscar for best supporting actress in 2011 for her role in David O’Russell’s boxing drama.
The Mallorca event will open with Michael J. Gallagher’s Funny Story, which premiered at Utah’s Slamdance Film Festival in the United States in January 2018.
The festival will screen 15 narrative features,...
- 10/16/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
An early hit with festivalgoers who prefer to look outside the Official Selection, Jaime Rosales’s Directors’ Fortnight entry Petra proved the Spanish director to be a fluid and unpredictable talent. Arguably most famous—or perhaps infamous—for the almost entirely dialogue-free 2008 Basque terrorist drama Bullet in the Head, Rosales this time presents a very subtle mystery-thriller. Sharing DNA with the work of his compatriot Pedro Almodóvar—not least because it features a supporting turn by Almodóvar regular Marisa Paredes—Petra sees rising star Bárbara Lennie in the title role, as a woman who enrolls in a mentoring project with a famous artist, Jaume (a terrific debut by the non-professional Joan Botey).
Told using chapters that appear in non-chronological order, the film plays games with time before reaching a wholly unexpected climax. Rosales told Deadline that taking such an experimental approach to an otherwise conventional story was part of the project’s appeal.
Told using chapters that appear in non-chronological order, the film plays games with time before reaching a wholly unexpected climax. Rosales told Deadline that taking such an experimental approach to an otherwise conventional story was part of the project’s appeal.
- 5/19/2018
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Long-established art-house director Jaime Rosales set out to make his most accessible feature with “Petra,” a film about lies and self-discovery that indeed could well be his most popular work to date. It looks gorgeous, boasting sterling performances and an initially intriguing storyline which Rosales shuffles in an occasionally non-linear manner, not so far removed from such previous experimentations as “The Dream and the Silence.” There’s also Hélène Louvart’s elegantly fluid camerawork, gliding across and through spaces, always aware that worlds exist just outside the frame. But what begins as a psychologically and visually lush exploration of a woman’s quest to establish her paternity turns around the half-way mark into an overburdened plot set off by those constant panning shots which themselves become too rich for digestion. The disappointment is inescapable given the excitement of the first part, yet there’s enough to chew on, and indeed,...
- 5/10/2018
- by Jay Weissberg
- Variety Film + TV
In a deal announced Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival, Vicente Canales’ Barcelona-based Film Factory has unveiled the sale of Jaime Rosales’ Directors’ Fortnight entry “Petra” to Condor Distribution in France and September Films for Benelux countries.
“Petra” is a pan-European co-production between Rosales’ Fresdeval Films and Wanda Vision – both based out of Madrid –Oberon Cinematográfica from Barcelona, Les Productions Balthazar in Paris and Copenhagen’s Snowglobe.
The film follows Petra, a woman who has always had the identity of her father hidden from her. When her mother passes away, Petra sets out on her own, and starts a residency under a famous artist named Jaume, a powerful and ruthless man she suspects may be her father. She also meets Jaume’s son Lucas, and his wife Marisa. The stories of the four then wind together and violent secrets unearth which push everyone to their limits, before a twist...
“Petra” is a pan-European co-production between Rosales’ Fresdeval Films and Wanda Vision – both based out of Madrid –Oberon Cinematográfica from Barcelona, Les Productions Balthazar in Paris and Copenhagen’s Snowglobe.
The film follows Petra, a woman who has always had the identity of her father hidden from her. When her mother passes away, Petra sets out on her own, and starts a residency under a famous artist named Jaume, a powerful and ruthless man she suspects may be her father. She also meets Jaume’s son Lucas, and his wife Marisa. The stories of the four then wind together and violent secrets unearth which push everyone to their limits, before a twist...
- 5/8/2018
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Handia and Summer 1993 were the other two big winners of the night.
Source: Celsius Entertainment
‘The Bookshop’
The Bookshop, starring Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy and Patricia Clarkson, won best film, best director for Isabel Coixet and best adapted script at the 2018 edition of the Goya Awards given by the Spanish Film Academy on Saturday. Handia and Summer 1993 were the other two big winners of the night.
The Bookshop and Handia had 12 and 13 nominations espectively.
Isabel Coixet attended the ceremony in Madrid with the two co-stars of the film, Emily Mortimer and Bill Nighy, nominated for best actress and best supporting actor respectively. Her adaptation of the story by Booker Prize-winning novelist Penelope Fitzgerald, set in 1959s Britain, has been a success at the Spanish box office so far grossing €2.47m ($3m).
Isabel Coixet’s win and the success of Summer 1993, directed by Carla Simón demonstrated a stronger female presence in the Spanish film industry in the wave of...
Source: Celsius Entertainment
‘The Bookshop’
The Bookshop, starring Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy and Patricia Clarkson, won best film, best director for Isabel Coixet and best adapted script at the 2018 edition of the Goya Awards given by the Spanish Film Academy on Saturday. Handia and Summer 1993 were the other two big winners of the night.
The Bookshop and Handia had 12 and 13 nominations espectively.
Isabel Coixet attended the ceremony in Madrid with the two co-stars of the film, Emily Mortimer and Bill Nighy, nominated for best actress and best supporting actor respectively. Her adaptation of the story by Booker Prize-winning novelist Penelope Fitzgerald, set in 1959s Britain, has been a success at the Spanish box office so far grossing €2.47m ($3m).
Isabel Coixet’s win and the success of Summer 1993, directed by Carla Simón demonstrated a stronger female presence in the Spanish film industry in the wave of...
- 2/4/2018
- by Elisabet Cabeza
- ScreenDaily
F.J. Ossang. Photo by Locarno Festival / Sailas VanettiA punk poet and musician, F.J. Ossang’s shorts and features produced since the early 1980s pull vividly from silent cinema, particularly German Expressionism, as well as American noir, to reinvent cinema's legacy for a new era. His latest movie, 9 Doigts (9 Fingers), which premiered in competition at the Locarno Festival and has now traveled to the International Film Festival Rotterdam, begins as a cryptic gangster film—shot in silken black and white 35mm—before the criminals make a break for a cargo ship, plunging the film in the kind of feverish maritime malaise found in Joseph Conrad’s The Shadow Line, Georges Franju’s 1973 TV adaptation of that novel, and pre-Code tropical hothouses like Safe in Hell (1931).But as beautiful as the setting and photography is—and as delirious as some of the cynical, doom-saying criminals are, each prone to mythopoetic threats...
- 1/26/2018
- MUBI
We're celebrating Pedro Almodóvar all week. Here's Nathaniel R on Dark Habits (1983)
Julieta Serrano and Marisa Paredes in Dark Habits (1983)
It's a Pedro Party! For the next week we'll be celebrating the career of the great auteur Pedro Almodóvar. We were just discussing which male actors we'd love for him to work with but let's let the official party begin with one of his nearly all-female efforts Dark Habits. His 1983 "pelicula" is about a cabaret singer Yolonda (Cristina Sánchez Pascual) who is hiding out in a convent of wacky nuns. But let's not confuse the movie with Sister Act because it would eat that 1992 comedy and then apologize sheepishly over a cake and acid dessert... ...
Julieta Serrano and Marisa Paredes in Dark Habits (1983)
It's a Pedro Party! For the next week we'll be celebrating the career of the great auteur Pedro Almodóvar. We were just discussing which male actors we'd love for him to work with but let's let the official party begin with one of his nearly all-female efforts Dark Habits. His 1983 "pelicula" is about a cabaret singer Yolonda (Cristina Sánchez Pascual) who is hiding out in a convent of wacky nuns. But let's not confuse the movie with Sister Act because it would eat that 1992 comedy and then apologize sheepishly over a cake and acid dessert... ...
- 5/10/2017
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar is the next President of the Jury for the Festival International du Film de Cannes, which begins on the Riviera on May 17 and runs through May 28, 2017.
Cannes executives Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux stated:
“For its 70th edition, the Festival de Cannes is delighted to welcome a unique and hugely popular artist. His works have already carved out an eternal niche in the history of film. A long and loyal friendship binds Pedro Almodóvar to the Festival, where he was a member of the Jury under the presidency of Gérard Depardieu.”
The filmmaker said:
“I am grateful, honoured and a bit overwhelmed. I am aware of the responsibility that entails being the president of the jury and I hope to be up to the job. I can only tell that I’ll devote myself, body and soul, to this task, that it is both a privilege and a pleasure.
Cannes executives Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux stated:
“For its 70th edition, the Festival de Cannes is delighted to welcome a unique and hugely popular artist. His works have already carved out an eternal niche in the history of film. A long and loyal friendship binds Pedro Almodóvar to the Festival, where he was a member of the Jury under the presidency of Gérard Depardieu.”
The filmmaker said:
“I am grateful, honoured and a bit overwhelmed. I am aware of the responsibility that entails being the president of the jury and I hope to be up to the job. I can only tell that I’ll devote myself, body and soul, to this task, that it is both a privilege and a pleasure.
- 1/31/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar is the next President of the Jury for the Festival International du Film de Cannes, which begins on the Riviera on May 17 and runs through May 28, 2017.
Cannes executives Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux stated:
“For its 70th edition, the Festival de Cannes is delighted to welcome a unique and hugely popular artist. His works have already carved out an eternal niche in the history of film. A long and loyal friendship binds Pedro Almodóvar to the Festival, where he was a member of the Jury under the presidency of Gérard Depardieu.”
The filmmaker said:
“I am grateful, honoured and a bit overwhelmed. I am aware of the responsibility that entails being the president of the jury and I hope to be up to the job. I can only tell that I’ll devote myself, body and soul, to this task, that it is both a privilege and a pleasure.
Cannes executives Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux stated:
“For its 70th edition, the Festival de Cannes is delighted to welcome a unique and hugely popular artist. His works have already carved out an eternal niche in the history of film. A long and loyal friendship binds Pedro Almodóvar to the Festival, where he was a member of the Jury under the presidency of Gérard Depardieu.”
The filmmaker said:
“I am grateful, honoured and a bit overwhelmed. I am aware of the responsibility that entails being the president of the jury and I hope to be up to the job. I can only tell that I’ll devote myself, body and soul, to this task, that it is both a privilege and a pleasure.
- 1/31/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Stefan Zweig (Josef Hader) - "He was considered one of the greatest travelers, the big European mastermind of the European Union."
In 2000, Max Färberböck's Aimée & Jaguar star Maria Schrader was on the Berlin Film Festival jury with Andrzej Wajda, Gong Li, Walter Salles, and Marisa Paredes when Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia won the Golden Bear and the number of translators had an impact on her. In New York, the director of Stefan Zweig: Farewell To Europe and I discussed her creative team, including co-writer Jan Schomburg, cinematographer Wolfgang Thaler, and editor Hansjörg Weißbrich. We followed a Zweig trail from Terence Davies on Max Ophüls' Letter From An Unknown Woman to George Prochnik's influence on Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel to Varian Fry, Lion Feuchtwanger and Defying The Nazis: The Sharp's War, directed by Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky.
Maria Schrader: "I dedicated the movie to Denis Poncet.
In 2000, Max Färberböck's Aimée & Jaguar star Maria Schrader was on the Berlin Film Festival jury with Andrzej Wajda, Gong Li, Walter Salles, and Marisa Paredes when Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia won the Golden Bear and the number of translators had an impact on her. In New York, the director of Stefan Zweig: Farewell To Europe and I discussed her creative team, including co-writer Jan Schomburg, cinematographer Wolfgang Thaler, and editor Hansjörg Weißbrich. We followed a Zweig trail from Terence Davies on Max Ophüls' Letter From An Unknown Woman to George Prochnik's influence on Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel to Varian Fry, Lion Feuchtwanger and Defying The Nazis: The Sharp's War, directed by Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky.
Maria Schrader: "I dedicated the movie to Denis Poncet.
- 1/20/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
When you think Pedro Almodóvar, you think Rossy de Palma. The actress’ unconventional, but striking, beauty has often made her the most memorable player in the auteur’s works, from her uptight virgin in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, to the heroine’s sister in The Flower of My Secret. In Julieta, which marks lucky number seven in de Palma’s collaborations with Almodóvar, she plays Marian, an overprotective housekeeper who looks after what she thinks should be her employer Xoan’s (Daniel Grao) interests. After meeting the title character, played in younger age by Adriana Ugarte, who is about to become the new mistress of the house, Marian reveals a secret that sets the entire plot into its tragic motion.
The usually glamorous actress – she’s been muse to designers like Thierry Mugler and Jean-Paul Gaultier – is seen sporting a frumpy, matronly look as Marian, in...
The usually glamorous actress – she’s been muse to designers like Thierry Mugler and Jean-Paul Gaultier – is seen sporting a frumpy, matronly look as Marian, in...
- 12/21/2016
- by Jose Solís
- The Film Stage
“Introducing the Academy class of 2016,” reads the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences website announcement of its invited new members Wednesday. And while joining that august organization is a singular honor, many say they were surprised to learn of their inclusion — mainly because they hadn’t applied for membership. Traditionally, that’s a laborious process that can take years before you get recommended by peers, vetted by your branch, and finally invited. Every year it’s a shock that someone like, say Tina Fey, IFC’s Arianna Bocco, last year’s Oscar-winner Margaret Sixel (“Mad Max: Fury Road”), or Oscar marketer Lisa Taback, wasn’t already a member.
Read More: Oscars So White: 8 Ways to Solve the Academy’s Diversity Problem
At the heart of the Academy’s complex diversity issue is how much the Oscars reflect the way that the Academy likes to view itself. Believe me, they were horrified when,...
Read More: Oscars So White: 8 Ways to Solve the Academy’s Diversity Problem
At the heart of the Academy’s complex diversity issue is how much the Oscars reflect the way that the Academy likes to view itself. Believe me, they were horrified when,...
- 6/29/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
“Introducing the Academy class of 2016,” reads the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences website announcement of its invited new members Wednesday. And while joining that august organization is a singular honor, many say they were surprised to learn of their inclusion — mainly because they hadn’t applied for membership. Traditionally, that’s a laborious process that can take years before you get recommended by peers, vetted by your branch, and finally invited. Every year it’s a shock that someone like, say Tina Fey, IFC’s Arianna Bocco, last year’s Oscar-winner Margaret Sixel (“Mad Max: Fury Road”), or Oscar marketer Lisa Taback, wasn’t already a member.
Read More: Oscars So White: 8 Ways to Solve the Academy’s Diversity Problem
At the heart of the Academy’s complex diversity issue is how much the Oscars reflect the way that the Academy likes to view itself. Believe me, they were horrified when,...
Read More: Oscars So White: 8 Ways to Solve the Academy’s Diversity Problem
At the heart of the Academy’s complex diversity issue is how much the Oscars reflect the way that the Academy likes to view itself. Believe me, they were horrified when,...
- 6/29/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
On Mubi Off is a bi-weekly column exploring two films: one currently available on Mubi in the United States, and the other screening offsite (in theaters, on VOD, Blu-ray/DVD, etc).On MUBIIn a Glass Cage (Agustí Villaronga, 1986)A number of directors have put audiences in the head of a murderer using a subjective point of view shot—Michael Powell, John Carpenter, Dario Argento, to name but a very few. The opening sequence of Agustí Villaronga's 1986 feature film debut, In a Glass Cage, further perverts that sense of empathetic identification by using subjective Pov to put us in the mind of a killer in the making. We don't know who this germinal cut-throat is at first, only that he or she is bearing witness to a truly unspeakable horror: a middle-aged man lasciviously caressing, then beating to death, a naked, bloodied and helpless adolescent boy. Though the actions playing...
- 2/2/2016
- by Keith Uhlich
- MUBI
'Yesterday' movie: Leleti Khumalo and Lihle Mvelase. 'Yesterday' movie review: Fantastic central performance in South African AIDS drama To date, nowhere has the AIDS pandemic been felt more strongly than in Sub-Saharan Africa, home to approximately 10 percent of the world's population and two-thirds of the planet's 30-35 million AIDS cases. In the past thirty years, it is estimated that more than 20 million Sub-Saharan Africans have died from complications of the disease.* Even today, drug cocktails that are relatively accessible in other parts of the globe are still beyond the means of the vast majority of Africans. Writer-director Darrell Roodt's South African drama Yesterday is set in this catastrophic scenario. The film depicts the effects of AIDS in the life of a young Zulu woman who contracts HIV from her husband. Although Roodt's narrative maintains its focus on the plight of one particular individual, the (for non-Zulus) quirkily named Yesterday represents millions of other women,...
- 6/1/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The King of Havana
Director: Agusti Villaronga // Writer: Agusti Villaronga
Spanish director Agusti Villaronga is most infamously known for his delightfully perverse 1986 art-house shocker In a Glass Cage, which starred Gunter Meisner and Marisa Paredes, concerning a former Nazi doctor left paralyzed and confined within an iron lung after a suicide attempt. Circumstances allow him to insist that his wife hires a young boy to care for him rather than a nurse, and we learn that the good doctor is a pedophile that enjoys putting the fear of death into young men. Villaronga followed that up with 1987’s Moon Child, another strange and obscure film, starring Lisa Gerrard and featuring music from her famed group Dead Can Dance. On the art-house periphery generally due to queer themes and motifs, including with 2000’s The Sea, his last feature, 2010’s Black Bread, was ushered forth as the Best Foreign Language submission for...
Director: Agusti Villaronga // Writer: Agusti Villaronga
Spanish director Agusti Villaronga is most infamously known for his delightfully perverse 1986 art-house shocker In a Glass Cage, which starred Gunter Meisner and Marisa Paredes, concerning a former Nazi doctor left paralyzed and confined within an iron lung after a suicide attempt. Circumstances allow him to insist that his wife hires a young boy to care for him rather than a nurse, and we learn that the good doctor is a pedophile that enjoys putting the fear of death into young men. Villaronga followed that up with 1987’s Moon Child, another strange and obscure film, starring Lisa Gerrard and featuring music from her famed group Dead Can Dance. On the art-house periphery generally due to queer themes and motifs, including with 2000’s The Sea, his last feature, 2010’s Black Bread, was ushered forth as the Best Foreign Language submission for...
- 1/8/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Rai Com boosts slate with Partly Cloudy, Probably Sunny and Latin Lover.
Rai Com is to handle sales on Partly Cloudy, Probably Sunny (Tempo instabile con probabili schiarite), the new film by Marco Pontecorvo.
The comedy stars John Turturro alongside Italian actors Luca Zingaretti, Lillo and Carolina Crescentini. Pontecorvo was recently director of photography on Fading Gigalo, which Turturro wrote, directed and starred.
The film is produced by Panorama Films in collaboration with Rai Cinema and will be distributed in Italy by Good Films.
Pontecorvo, who also wrote the film, described it as “a bittersweet comedy, a sarcastic metaphor for the vices and defects as well as the virtues of Italy today.”
Rai Com has also added Cristina Comencini’s Latin Lover to its slate. Comencini was nominated for a Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar in 2005 with Don’t Tell.
Latin Lover, currently in post-production, stars Italo-French actress Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (“Saint Laurent”), Spanish stars Candela Pena (“All About My Mother...
Rai Com is to handle sales on Partly Cloudy, Probably Sunny (Tempo instabile con probabili schiarite), the new film by Marco Pontecorvo.
The comedy stars John Turturro alongside Italian actors Luca Zingaretti, Lillo and Carolina Crescentini. Pontecorvo was recently director of photography on Fading Gigalo, which Turturro wrote, directed and starred.
The film is produced by Panorama Films in collaboration with Rai Cinema and will be distributed in Italy by Good Films.
Pontecorvo, who also wrote the film, described it as “a bittersweet comedy, a sarcastic metaphor for the vices and defects as well as the virtues of Italy today.”
Rai Com has also added Cristina Comencini’s Latin Lover to its slate. Comencini was nominated for a Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar in 2005 with Don’t Tell.
Latin Lover, currently in post-production, stars Italo-French actress Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (“Saint Laurent”), Spanish stars Candela Pena (“All About My Mother...
- 11/25/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The Lumière Festival was created by Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux and Lumière Institute President Bertrand Tavernier six years ago here in Lyon, the birthplace of cinema. As the week-long event that wraps tomorrow has grown, it has become a favorite stop on the calendar for filmmakers, film buffs and friends of Frémaux to attend. It includes restorations, masterclasses and retrospectives, but no competition. And it’s not just art-house either — tonight’s program includes an Alien marathon presented by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and a screening of Die Hard with John McTiernan hosting. Last year’s Prix Lumière winner, Quentin Tarantino, spent several days soaking up the scene here in 2013. This year’s recipient of the Lumière Prize, which has previously also gone to Milos Forman, Gérard Depardieu, Ken Loach and Clint Eastwood, was Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar.
On Friday night, a two-and-a-half hour tribute to Almodovar concluded with a rousing...
On Friday night, a two-and-a-half hour tribute to Almodovar concluded with a rousing...
- 10/18/2014
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline
Recently during the 67th Edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Cinema23, an association created in 2012 to promote Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese film culture, announced the Fénix Film Awards (Premio Iberoamericano de Cine Fénix). This unique event will take place for the first time in Mexico City in October 2014.
The Mexican actor, director and producer Gael García Bernal (in absentia because of his duties on the jury for Cannes Competition), Portuguese director and actress Maria de Medeiros, Brazilian actress Alice Braga, Spanish actress Paz Vega and Mexican actress Ana de la Reguera, presented the Fénix Film Awards to the international media as one of the key strategies of Cinema23 to provide visibility and recognition of the cinema made in the region.
“There is great variety in our region´s cinema with different forms and languages that in many cases reflect part of who we are. However we are not always able to enjoy it in our own countries, much less worldwide. The activities carried out by Cinema23 aim to develop a closer engagement between the filmmakers and their audiences. It is extremely important to have more visibility in order to gain recognition for the diversity of cinema. This is the premise under which we organized the Fénix Film Awards, commented Ricardo Giraldo, Director of Cinema23.
Ana de la Reguera added: “We have great talent in the region, but it is barely known outside film festivals; it’s important to find another way to reach a broader audience and I believe the Fénix Film Awards is a great strategy and opportunity to achieve it.”
“It is very important for us to get together, allowing us to get closer to the work of our colleagues in order to discover, meet and recognize the voices that make us so different. A celebration like this one opens up a space for us to meet and get to know each other. More importantly it will set the basis for a more profound way for us to share our ideas, create, and cooperate”, added Alice Braga.
María de Medeiros also mentioned: “We are creating a film community that has not existed till now. A community that aims to be inclusive by integrating not only those who make films but also those who study, promote, teach, distribute and exhibit films; so that we all help, support and communicate with each another, allowing our work to be shared both within and outside the region.”
Paz Vega commented: “Collaboration provides an opportunity for creative exchange that strengthens and nourishes our film culture. This collaboration and integration allows our industries to grow without losing their identity and create better opportunities. In the end, difference is what unites us.”
For the past two years, Cinema23 has been shaping a diverse film community from the 22 countries of the region and those who work closely with the region’s filmmaking. The tasks of this community include movie promotion, study, reviews, festivals, distribution, exhibition and filmmaking. The editorial project Cinema23 Notebooks, the conferences during festivals and the student program Classroom Cinema are developed throughout the year, seeking a creative, cultural and knowledge exchange between the different film cultures. These strategies are complemented and strengthened for the general audience through the Fénix Film Awards.
The Fénix Film Awards granted by more than 350 film professionals from Mexico, Latin America, USA, Europe and Canada, will award 12 categories and 4 special recognitions.
It is worth noting that the members of Cinema23 all have an active role in the selection, nomination and voting process for the Fénix Film Awards. Members include:
Karim Ainouz, Elena Anaya, José Carlos Avellar, Héctor Babenco, Luiz Carlos Barreto, Alice Braga, Brigitte Broch, Demián Bichir, Eugenio Caballero, Javier Cámara, Sebastián Cordero, Enrique Chediak, Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón, María de Medeiros, Guillermo del Toro, Amat Escalante, Dolores Fonzi, Gael García Bernal, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Iván Giroud, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Salma Hayek, Carlos F. Heredero, Dolores Heredia, Pablo Larraín, Juan de Dios Larraín, Sebastián Lelio, Fernando León de Aranoa, Mónica Lozano, Emmanuel Lubezki, Diego Luna, Fernando Meirelles, Daniela Michel, Luis Miñarro, Wagner Moura, Bertha Navarro, Luis Ospina, Fito Páez, Marisa Paredes, Rodrigo Plá, Alejandro Ramírez, Édgar Ramírez, José Luis Rebordinos, Ana de la Reguera, Carlos Reygadas, José María Riba, Erica Rivas, Catalina Sandino, Ilda Santiago, Rodrigo Santoro, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Albert Serra, Juan Carlos Tabío, Paz Vega, Maribel Verdú & Monika Wagenberg.
Other international members that participate in the various activities of the association include:
Cameron Bailey (Artistic Director Toronto International Film Festival), Frederic Boyer (Artistic Director Tribeca Film Festival), Klaus Eder (President Fipresci), Robert Koehler (Film Critic), Claudia Landsberger (Vice-President Eye Film Institute) and Sydney Levine (Indiewire Blog Sydneys Buzz).
The award ceremony will be held in October 2014 in Mexico City and will be broadcast live on E! Entertainment Television to over 200 million people worldwide with the support of Mexico City’s Government.
To view Cinema23’s promotional video, click on the following link:
www.vimeo.com/81518414
To find out more about Cinema23 and the Fénix Film Awards please visit:
http://www.cinema23.com
About Cinema23
Cinema23 is an association created in 2012 to promote, support and raise awareness for the Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese film culture. It is formed by a diverse group of people with outstanding career trajectories from the film community mainly from the 22 countries of the region and those who work closely with the region’s filmmaking: directors, producers, actors, screenwriters, cinematographers, editors, art directors, sound designers, music composers, costume designers, festival directors and programmers, critics, researchers, distributors and film exhibitors.
Cinema23 seeks a more participative community amongst it members and provides a forum for creative and cultural exchange and cooperation among filmmakers from the region. Its yearly strategies and projects aim to promote and safeguard contemporary Ibero-American film culture, reaching new audiences, sharing ideas and enhancing the visibility and fostering the work of those who make films in Ibero-America.
About the Premio iberoamericano de cine Fénix®, (Fénix Film Awards)
The Fénix Film Awards is the key strategy to further Cinema23’s aims. It celebrates and emphasizes the work of film professionals, provides international visibility and strengthens bonds from the region’s film industry besides captivating and reaching a broader audience.
The first Fénix Film Awards’ gala will award 12 categories and 4 special recognitions. It will be held in October 2014 in Mexico City and will be broadcasted live on E! Entertainment Television to over 200 million people worldwide with the support of Mexico City’s Government.
The Mexican actor, director and producer Gael García Bernal (in absentia because of his duties on the jury for Cannes Competition), Portuguese director and actress Maria de Medeiros, Brazilian actress Alice Braga, Spanish actress Paz Vega and Mexican actress Ana de la Reguera, presented the Fénix Film Awards to the international media as one of the key strategies of Cinema23 to provide visibility and recognition of the cinema made in the region.
“There is great variety in our region´s cinema with different forms and languages that in many cases reflect part of who we are. However we are not always able to enjoy it in our own countries, much less worldwide. The activities carried out by Cinema23 aim to develop a closer engagement between the filmmakers and their audiences. It is extremely important to have more visibility in order to gain recognition for the diversity of cinema. This is the premise under which we organized the Fénix Film Awards, commented Ricardo Giraldo, Director of Cinema23.
Ana de la Reguera added: “We have great talent in the region, but it is barely known outside film festivals; it’s important to find another way to reach a broader audience and I believe the Fénix Film Awards is a great strategy and opportunity to achieve it.”
“It is very important for us to get together, allowing us to get closer to the work of our colleagues in order to discover, meet and recognize the voices that make us so different. A celebration like this one opens up a space for us to meet and get to know each other. More importantly it will set the basis for a more profound way for us to share our ideas, create, and cooperate”, added Alice Braga.
María de Medeiros also mentioned: “We are creating a film community that has not existed till now. A community that aims to be inclusive by integrating not only those who make films but also those who study, promote, teach, distribute and exhibit films; so that we all help, support and communicate with each another, allowing our work to be shared both within and outside the region.”
Paz Vega commented: “Collaboration provides an opportunity for creative exchange that strengthens and nourishes our film culture. This collaboration and integration allows our industries to grow without losing their identity and create better opportunities. In the end, difference is what unites us.”
For the past two years, Cinema23 has been shaping a diverse film community from the 22 countries of the region and those who work closely with the region’s filmmaking. The tasks of this community include movie promotion, study, reviews, festivals, distribution, exhibition and filmmaking. The editorial project Cinema23 Notebooks, the conferences during festivals and the student program Classroom Cinema are developed throughout the year, seeking a creative, cultural and knowledge exchange between the different film cultures. These strategies are complemented and strengthened for the general audience through the Fénix Film Awards.
The Fénix Film Awards granted by more than 350 film professionals from Mexico, Latin America, USA, Europe and Canada, will award 12 categories and 4 special recognitions.
It is worth noting that the members of Cinema23 all have an active role in the selection, nomination and voting process for the Fénix Film Awards. Members include:
Karim Ainouz, Elena Anaya, José Carlos Avellar, Héctor Babenco, Luiz Carlos Barreto, Alice Braga, Brigitte Broch, Demián Bichir, Eugenio Caballero, Javier Cámara, Sebastián Cordero, Enrique Chediak, Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón, María de Medeiros, Guillermo del Toro, Amat Escalante, Dolores Fonzi, Gael García Bernal, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Iván Giroud, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Salma Hayek, Carlos F. Heredero, Dolores Heredia, Pablo Larraín, Juan de Dios Larraín, Sebastián Lelio, Fernando León de Aranoa, Mónica Lozano, Emmanuel Lubezki, Diego Luna, Fernando Meirelles, Daniela Michel, Luis Miñarro, Wagner Moura, Bertha Navarro, Luis Ospina, Fito Páez, Marisa Paredes, Rodrigo Plá, Alejandro Ramírez, Édgar Ramírez, José Luis Rebordinos, Ana de la Reguera, Carlos Reygadas, José María Riba, Erica Rivas, Catalina Sandino, Ilda Santiago, Rodrigo Santoro, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Albert Serra, Juan Carlos Tabío, Paz Vega, Maribel Verdú & Monika Wagenberg.
Other international members that participate in the various activities of the association include:
Cameron Bailey (Artistic Director Toronto International Film Festival), Frederic Boyer (Artistic Director Tribeca Film Festival), Klaus Eder (President Fipresci), Robert Koehler (Film Critic), Claudia Landsberger (Vice-President Eye Film Institute) and Sydney Levine (Indiewire Blog Sydneys Buzz).
The award ceremony will be held in October 2014 in Mexico City and will be broadcast live on E! Entertainment Television to over 200 million people worldwide with the support of Mexico City’s Government.
To view Cinema23’s promotional video, click on the following link:
www.vimeo.com/81518414
To find out more about Cinema23 and the Fénix Film Awards please visit:
http://www.cinema23.com
About Cinema23
Cinema23 is an association created in 2012 to promote, support and raise awareness for the Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese film culture. It is formed by a diverse group of people with outstanding career trajectories from the film community mainly from the 22 countries of the region and those who work closely with the region’s filmmaking: directors, producers, actors, screenwriters, cinematographers, editors, art directors, sound designers, music composers, costume designers, festival directors and programmers, critics, researchers, distributors and film exhibitors.
Cinema23 seeks a more participative community amongst it members and provides a forum for creative and cultural exchange and cooperation among filmmakers from the region. Its yearly strategies and projects aim to promote and safeguard contemporary Ibero-American film culture, reaching new audiences, sharing ideas and enhancing the visibility and fostering the work of those who make films in Ibero-America.
About the Premio iberoamericano de cine Fénix®, (Fénix Film Awards)
The Fénix Film Awards is the key strategy to further Cinema23’s aims. It celebrates and emphasizes the work of film professionals, provides international visibility and strengthens bonds from the region’s film industry besides captivating and reaching a broader audience.
The first Fénix Film Awards’ gala will award 12 categories and 4 special recognitions. It will be held in October 2014 in Mexico City and will be broadcasted live on E! Entertainment Television to over 200 million people worldwide with the support of Mexico City’s Government.
- 6/4/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Guadalajara International Film Festival (also known as FICG29 or Festival International of Cine in Guadalajara) is on my regular beat, but this year my work with the Talents will include an introduction to the book I am writing on Iberoamerican Film Financing.
The festival's inception occurred in 1986 during Mexican cinema's worst crisis in terms of production (only 12 features were made that year), and it was held with the help of the University of Guadalajara. This small showcase was curated by filmmaker Jaime Humberto Hermosillo and researcher/professor Emilio García Riera. It consisted of 5 features, 7 shorts, 2 documentaries, and a selection of Jaime Humberto Hermosillo's work. During this edition a young Guillermo del Toro stood out as one of the most outstanding volunteers.
A few years after in 1992, the festival premiered Alfonso Cuaron's Love in the Time of Hysteria (Solo con tu pareja), the film that launched his Hollywood career, this year he won the Academy Award as Best Director for his film Gravity. The next year, Guillermo del Toro presented his feature debut Cronos, which would go on to be selected for the Critic's Week at the Cannes Film Festival. From the beginning this film showcase became a required stop for Mexican filmmakers and programmers from various international film festivals.
In 1999 a selection of Iberoamerican films was added to the program and a section highlighting Canadian cinema was included, from the 7-selection 3 were from Quebec (Streetheart by Charles Binamé; The Red Violin by François Girard and 2 Seconds by Manon Briand). During the 23rd edition of the festival a selection of 7 features and 7 shorts was presented. Added to this Patrick Bouchard held a workshop on animation at the University of Guadalajara. This year the festival will have the pleasure to present the latest works from Léa Pool, Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, and of course, Patrick Bouchard.The results of the 2008 workshop are visible in the constant production of animation in Guadalajara.
Starting in its 15th edition, in 2000, the showcase became a competitive contest for Mexican films. Two years after all iberoamerican films began taking part in the competition. From that year on, the impact of the Guadalajara program reached the entire iberoamerican region and became the premier meeting point for the region's cinema. In 2003 the initiative know as Iberoamerican Market (Mercano Iberoamericano) was launched bringing together over 170 industry professionals dedicated to selling, buying, and distributing films internationally.
In 2005 the showcase became the Guadalajara International Film Festival (Ficg) with the clear goal of having a space for Mexican and Latin American films, as well as a to expose the public and the industry professionals to international works. In 2013 the festival screened 254 films, 102 of which were in competition. The festival received over 800 journalist, and 817 companies in the industry section. Throughout the years the festival has honored artists such as Pedro Almodóvar, the Taviani brothers, Patricio Guzmán, Theo Angelopoulos, Álex de la Iglesia, Agnès Varda, and more recently Werner Herzog and Mike Leigh, among many other great filmmakers. In terms of actors John Malkovich, Marisa Paredes, Andy Garcia and Ángela Molina have also been recognized at the Ficg.
The festival is divided in 3 competitive sections: Iberoamerican Dramatic Features, Iberoamerican Documentaries, and Iberoamerican Shorts. In total Ficg hands out 16 Official Awards and 5 parallel others though different sections.
Among the array of awards the one dedicated to the Best Mexican Film stands out -The Mezcal Award (Premio Mezcal)
This year the third edition of the Maguey Award (Read more Here) will take place. It brings together, promotes, and recognizes cinema focused on sexual diversity around the world
In total there are more than 200 works programmed and there will be over 500 screenings in Guadalajara and the surroundings areas. Throughout the last 29 years Mexican cinema has changed deeply. From the crisis it suffered in 1986 to its current state there is a notable contrast. From 12 films a year, the average number of films produced currently a year is 120. During the 20 years the Mexican Cinema Showcase and the Ficg have been protagonists in the promotion of Mexican cinema, specially in the last decade.
It is also revelatory to see how influential has Mexican cinema been in the emergence of other film industries in the region such as in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Paraguay, as well as the great period that the cinema of of Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay are experiencing.
Withing the Ficg there are also other sections dedicated to international cinema, which are not competitive, but allow for the festival to be a meeting point for many cinematic voices.
Industry and Market
In order to encourage a productive agenda for filmmakers, producers, distributors, and sales agents during the festival, the Market oriented department will hold the following events:
IX Iberoamerican Conference of Iberoamerican Co-productions
the 7ª edition of the "Guadalajara Builds" program
Bilateral Conference: Quebec-Mexico
Over 800 film-related companies will be in attendance
Organization
During the last edition of the Ficg, the different events taking place at the festival were the product of strenuous labors by the organizers. They included the 5th edition of Talents Guadalajara, an experience in which 70 filmmakers from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean participated, as well as the the 5th edition of the Doculab where several Iberoamerican documentaries in post-production were evaluated. Aiming to take advantage of the important figures present, the festival also hosted the 9th Creators Conference on Writing with Light.
Relationships with International Festivals
Throughout its development the Ficg has formed working relationships of support with many of the most important festival in the world. With the Marché du Film at Cannes the two festivals have developed the Guadalajara Film Market Producers Network, which is a window for the exchange of knowledge and ideas among professionals interested in the Iberoamerican cinematic spectrum. Talents Guadalajara is organized with the collaboration of the Berlinale Talents from the Berlin Film Festival, which supports filmmakers from the region. In addition with the help of the San Sebastian Film Festival, Ficg presents the program known as New European Trends : San Sebastian-Guadalajara, allowing for the discovery of new European directors. It is important to mention that Ficg has a close relationship with the Montreal World Film Festival, which allows for films of the region to screen at the Canadian event.
Special Guest
Since 2001 the festival hascdesignated a country or region to be the guest of honor
Germany, 16, 2001
Switzerland, 17, 2002
Chile, 18, 2003
Italy, 19, 2004
Greece, 20, 2005
Spain, 21, 2006
Brazil, 22, 2007
Argentina, 23, 2008
Colombia, 24, 2009
France, 25, 2010
Israel, 26, 2011
U.K., 27, 2012
Scandinavia : Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, 28. 2013
Besides screening a selection of films from the selected nation, the Ficg always tries to have some of their most notable filmmakers present at the festival. After a decade of its inception the Special Guest section has become one of the most anticipated ones. It allows attendees the opportunity to see the most recent works from that national cinema as well as to have a direct conversation with the filmmakers, actors, and other representatives of that country's film industry.
Quebec 2014
The selection of films was made possible thanks to the support of the Quebecois Delegation in Mexico, the Sodec, the International Documentary Conference in Montreal, the Onf, among other institutions, companies, and filmmakers. This offers the possibility to be confronted with visions that explore the world and its conflicts, it's cinema without borders.On the other hand this can also be a very intimate cinema that captures the multicultural richness of contemporary Quebec with its diverse contradictions. This selection also represents the audiovisual expression of several generations, there are films from filmmakers with a careers that expand over 4 decades who interact with directors who have just finished their debut features.
The selection of films is divided into 4 sections
Narrative Features
Conformed of 16 features completed between 2012 and 2013. Each one of these films has had acclaimed international exposure and have played at festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice, San Sebastian, among others. Together these films have received more than 23 international awards and 30 awards in Canada.
Ridm - Documentaries
Counting with 15 years of experience the Montreal International Documentary Festival (Ridm) is one of the most important events for documentary filmmaking. The rigorous selection process of this festival gives validation to the 5 films that will be shown at the Ficg, which will definitely be a center piece within the Quebecois program in Guadalajara. The Ficg will also have a special screening of a very important work in the history of film, For Those Who Will Follow (Pour la suite du monde) by Michel Brault, who past away last year.
Denis Côté
Denis Côté's career as a filmmaker began in 2005. Since then, he has created a short film, 3 documentaries, and 5 narrative features. Via his intense working rhythm this artist has demonstrated his abilities, rigor, and creativity. A look into his work will easily confirm that he has a profoundly original vision that takes storytelling to its radical limits.
The Short Films
Quebecois short films show an incredible imaginative freedom. Given the fact that in recent years several shorts, including animation, have been produced in Guadalajara, this will be an enriching exchange of perspectives.
Women in Film and TV Quebec-Mexico
Finally, aiming to strengthen the friendship that exists between the associations for Women in Film and TV both in Quebec and Mexico, the Ficg will host a second panel, which will be paired with a selection of documentaries that deal with the contemporary female experience.
David K. Ross
David K. Ross (1966, Canada) works in various mediums including film, video, photography, and art installations. Ross' formal training in architecture and great experience in photography of large scale and film have resulted in a great variety of projects in which he investigates the history of optical technology and geodesic practices, as well as many urban structures. His work has been exhibited in the most important institutions in the Americas and Europe, they also form part of many public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Contemporary Art Museum of Montreal and the Canadian Center for Architecture. The artist will be present at the Ficg screening his work to expose the audience to his particular style.
Quebecois Presence in the Different Juries
Prominent members of the Quebecois film industry will be part of the diverse juries which will evaluate the films in competition.
Narrative Feature: Denise Robert's experience as a producer expands over 51 projects including narrative features, documentaries, shorts, and television.
Documentary: Roxanne Sayegh, who has worked with Ambulante, the most ambitious project to promote documentary distribution in Mexico. She is currently the Executive Director of the Ridm.
Short Films: Danièle Cauchard, Executive Director of the Montreal World Film Festival.
Maguey Award to Support Sexual Diversity in Film: Katharine Setzer, in charge of programming at the Image+Nation festival, which is in its 26th edition.
Fipresci: Montreal based critic Jorge Gutman
Mezcal Award for Best Mexican Film: Alisi Telengut, a student from Concordia University, whose film Tears of Inge was honored at the World Film Festival.
For more information on Ficg 29 and its different sections visit Here...
The festival's inception occurred in 1986 during Mexican cinema's worst crisis in terms of production (only 12 features were made that year), and it was held with the help of the University of Guadalajara. This small showcase was curated by filmmaker Jaime Humberto Hermosillo and researcher/professor Emilio García Riera. It consisted of 5 features, 7 shorts, 2 documentaries, and a selection of Jaime Humberto Hermosillo's work. During this edition a young Guillermo del Toro stood out as one of the most outstanding volunteers.
A few years after in 1992, the festival premiered Alfonso Cuaron's Love in the Time of Hysteria (Solo con tu pareja), the film that launched his Hollywood career, this year he won the Academy Award as Best Director for his film Gravity. The next year, Guillermo del Toro presented his feature debut Cronos, which would go on to be selected for the Critic's Week at the Cannes Film Festival. From the beginning this film showcase became a required stop for Mexican filmmakers and programmers from various international film festivals.
In 1999 a selection of Iberoamerican films was added to the program and a section highlighting Canadian cinema was included, from the 7-selection 3 were from Quebec (Streetheart by Charles Binamé; The Red Violin by François Girard and 2 Seconds by Manon Briand). During the 23rd edition of the festival a selection of 7 features and 7 shorts was presented. Added to this Patrick Bouchard held a workshop on animation at the University of Guadalajara. This year the festival will have the pleasure to present the latest works from Léa Pool, Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, and of course, Patrick Bouchard.The results of the 2008 workshop are visible in the constant production of animation in Guadalajara.
Starting in its 15th edition, in 2000, the showcase became a competitive contest for Mexican films. Two years after all iberoamerican films began taking part in the competition. From that year on, the impact of the Guadalajara program reached the entire iberoamerican region and became the premier meeting point for the region's cinema. In 2003 the initiative know as Iberoamerican Market (Mercano Iberoamericano) was launched bringing together over 170 industry professionals dedicated to selling, buying, and distributing films internationally.
In 2005 the showcase became the Guadalajara International Film Festival (Ficg) with the clear goal of having a space for Mexican and Latin American films, as well as a to expose the public and the industry professionals to international works. In 2013 the festival screened 254 films, 102 of which were in competition. The festival received over 800 journalist, and 817 companies in the industry section. Throughout the years the festival has honored artists such as Pedro Almodóvar, the Taviani brothers, Patricio Guzmán, Theo Angelopoulos, Álex de la Iglesia, Agnès Varda, and more recently Werner Herzog and Mike Leigh, among many other great filmmakers. In terms of actors John Malkovich, Marisa Paredes, Andy Garcia and Ángela Molina have also been recognized at the Ficg.
The festival is divided in 3 competitive sections: Iberoamerican Dramatic Features, Iberoamerican Documentaries, and Iberoamerican Shorts. In total Ficg hands out 16 Official Awards and 5 parallel others though different sections.
Among the array of awards the one dedicated to the Best Mexican Film stands out -The Mezcal Award (Premio Mezcal)
This year the third edition of the Maguey Award (Read more Here) will take place. It brings together, promotes, and recognizes cinema focused on sexual diversity around the world
In total there are more than 200 works programmed and there will be over 500 screenings in Guadalajara and the surroundings areas. Throughout the last 29 years Mexican cinema has changed deeply. From the crisis it suffered in 1986 to its current state there is a notable contrast. From 12 films a year, the average number of films produced currently a year is 120. During the 20 years the Mexican Cinema Showcase and the Ficg have been protagonists in the promotion of Mexican cinema, specially in the last decade.
It is also revelatory to see how influential has Mexican cinema been in the emergence of other film industries in the region such as in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Paraguay, as well as the great period that the cinema of of Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay are experiencing.
Withing the Ficg there are also other sections dedicated to international cinema, which are not competitive, but allow for the festival to be a meeting point for many cinematic voices.
Industry and Market
In order to encourage a productive agenda for filmmakers, producers, distributors, and sales agents during the festival, the Market oriented department will hold the following events:
IX Iberoamerican Conference of Iberoamerican Co-productions
the 7ª edition of the "Guadalajara Builds" program
Bilateral Conference: Quebec-Mexico
Over 800 film-related companies will be in attendance
Organization
During the last edition of the Ficg, the different events taking place at the festival were the product of strenuous labors by the organizers. They included the 5th edition of Talents Guadalajara, an experience in which 70 filmmakers from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean participated, as well as the the 5th edition of the Doculab where several Iberoamerican documentaries in post-production were evaluated. Aiming to take advantage of the important figures present, the festival also hosted the 9th Creators Conference on Writing with Light.
Relationships with International Festivals
Throughout its development the Ficg has formed working relationships of support with many of the most important festival in the world. With the Marché du Film at Cannes the two festivals have developed the Guadalajara Film Market Producers Network, which is a window for the exchange of knowledge and ideas among professionals interested in the Iberoamerican cinematic spectrum. Talents Guadalajara is organized with the collaboration of the Berlinale Talents from the Berlin Film Festival, which supports filmmakers from the region. In addition with the help of the San Sebastian Film Festival, Ficg presents the program known as New European Trends : San Sebastian-Guadalajara, allowing for the discovery of new European directors. It is important to mention that Ficg has a close relationship with the Montreal World Film Festival, which allows for films of the region to screen at the Canadian event.
Special Guest
Since 2001 the festival hascdesignated a country or region to be the guest of honor
Germany, 16, 2001
Switzerland, 17, 2002
Chile, 18, 2003
Italy, 19, 2004
Greece, 20, 2005
Spain, 21, 2006
Brazil, 22, 2007
Argentina, 23, 2008
Colombia, 24, 2009
France, 25, 2010
Israel, 26, 2011
U.K., 27, 2012
Scandinavia : Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, 28. 2013
Besides screening a selection of films from the selected nation, the Ficg always tries to have some of their most notable filmmakers present at the festival. After a decade of its inception the Special Guest section has become one of the most anticipated ones. It allows attendees the opportunity to see the most recent works from that national cinema as well as to have a direct conversation with the filmmakers, actors, and other representatives of that country's film industry.
Quebec 2014
The selection of films was made possible thanks to the support of the Quebecois Delegation in Mexico, the Sodec, the International Documentary Conference in Montreal, the Onf, among other institutions, companies, and filmmakers. This offers the possibility to be confronted with visions that explore the world and its conflicts, it's cinema without borders.On the other hand this can also be a very intimate cinema that captures the multicultural richness of contemporary Quebec with its diverse contradictions. This selection also represents the audiovisual expression of several generations, there are films from filmmakers with a careers that expand over 4 decades who interact with directors who have just finished their debut features.
The selection of films is divided into 4 sections
Narrative Features
Conformed of 16 features completed between 2012 and 2013. Each one of these films has had acclaimed international exposure and have played at festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice, San Sebastian, among others. Together these films have received more than 23 international awards and 30 awards in Canada.
Ridm - Documentaries
Counting with 15 years of experience the Montreal International Documentary Festival (Ridm) is one of the most important events for documentary filmmaking. The rigorous selection process of this festival gives validation to the 5 films that will be shown at the Ficg, which will definitely be a center piece within the Quebecois program in Guadalajara. The Ficg will also have a special screening of a very important work in the history of film, For Those Who Will Follow (Pour la suite du monde) by Michel Brault, who past away last year.
Denis Côté
Denis Côté's career as a filmmaker began in 2005. Since then, he has created a short film, 3 documentaries, and 5 narrative features. Via his intense working rhythm this artist has demonstrated his abilities, rigor, and creativity. A look into his work will easily confirm that he has a profoundly original vision that takes storytelling to its radical limits.
The Short Films
Quebecois short films show an incredible imaginative freedom. Given the fact that in recent years several shorts, including animation, have been produced in Guadalajara, this will be an enriching exchange of perspectives.
Women in Film and TV Quebec-Mexico
Finally, aiming to strengthen the friendship that exists between the associations for Women in Film and TV both in Quebec and Mexico, the Ficg will host a second panel, which will be paired with a selection of documentaries that deal with the contemporary female experience.
David K. Ross
David K. Ross (1966, Canada) works in various mediums including film, video, photography, and art installations. Ross' formal training in architecture and great experience in photography of large scale and film have resulted in a great variety of projects in which he investigates the history of optical technology and geodesic practices, as well as many urban structures. His work has been exhibited in the most important institutions in the Americas and Europe, they also form part of many public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Contemporary Art Museum of Montreal and the Canadian Center for Architecture. The artist will be present at the Ficg screening his work to expose the audience to his particular style.
Quebecois Presence in the Different Juries
Prominent members of the Quebecois film industry will be part of the diverse juries which will evaluate the films in competition.
Narrative Feature: Denise Robert's experience as a producer expands over 51 projects including narrative features, documentaries, shorts, and television.
Documentary: Roxanne Sayegh, who has worked with Ambulante, the most ambitious project to promote documentary distribution in Mexico. She is currently the Executive Director of the Ridm.
Short Films: Danièle Cauchard, Executive Director of the Montreal World Film Festival.
Maguey Award to Support Sexual Diversity in Film: Katharine Setzer, in charge of programming at the Image+Nation festival, which is in its 26th edition.
Fipresci: Montreal based critic Jorge Gutman
Mezcal Award for Best Mexican Film: Alisi Telengut, a student from Concordia University, whose film Tears of Inge was honored at the World Film Festival.
For more information on Ficg 29 and its different sections visit Here...
- 3/21/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Berlin-based sales and production company Picture Tree International (Pti) has secured distribution rights to four new titles ahead of this year’s European Film Market (Efm).
The fledgling outfit, which will be represented at the Efm with a stand for the first time, has world sales rights for German blockbuster Suck Me Shakespeer (Fack Ju Göthe) which has sold more than six million tickets and made in excess of $60m to become Germany’s most successful box office release of 2013.
The Constantin Film release will receive the Audience Award at the Bavarian Film Awards in Munich tonight (Friday). Pti will market the film’s TV rights in cooperation with Red Arrow, the international sales arm of ProSiebenSat.1.
Pti will also bring Damian John Harper’s feature debut Los Ángeles, which will have its world premiere in the Berlinale’s Forum. Inspired by the Us-born director’s experiences spent during a year in a small Southern Mexican village...
The fledgling outfit, which will be represented at the Efm with a stand for the first time, has world sales rights for German blockbuster Suck Me Shakespeer (Fack Ju Göthe) which has sold more than six million tickets and made in excess of $60m to become Germany’s most successful box office release of 2013.
The Constantin Film release will receive the Audience Award at the Bavarian Film Awards in Munich tonight (Friday). Pti will market the film’s TV rights in cooperation with Red Arrow, the international sales arm of ProSiebenSat.1.
Pti will also bring Damian John Harper’s feature debut Los Ángeles, which will have its world premiere in the Berlinale’s Forum. Inspired by the Us-born director’s experiences spent during a year in a small Southern Mexican village...
- 1/17/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
The Devils Backbone (2001) (DVD Review) Directed By: Guillermo del Toro Starring: Marisa Paredes, Eduardo Noriega, Federico Luppi Rated: R/Region: 1/1:85/Number of disc: 2 Available from Criterion Collection The most personal film by Guillermo del Toro (Cronos) is also among his most frightening and emotionally layered. Set during the final week of the Spanish Civil War, The Devils Backbone tells the tale of a ten-year-old boy who, after his f…...
- 8/15/2013
- Horrorbid
Fernando Guillén dies: Pedro Almodóvar Collaborator, Goya Award winner for Don Juan in Hell Fernando Guillén, a Spanish acting legend whose film, stage, and television career spanned close to six decades, died of cancer earlier today at a Madrid hospital. The Barcelona-born Guillén was 81 according to the daily El Mundo. (As per the IMDb, he was 80; born on Nov. 22, 1932.) Curiously, Fernando Guillén became more active in Spanish cinema in the last three decades. Among his movies are three directed by Pedro Almodóvar: Law of the Desire (1987), in which Guillén plays the police investigator; the Academy Award-nominated Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), as Carmen Maura’s jerk ex-boyfriend; and the Oscar-winning All About My Mother (1999), as the Doctor featured in the play A Streetcar Named Desire starring Marisa Paredes as Blanche DuBois. (Correction: Penélope Cruz’s father is played by Fernando Fernán Gómez.) [Photo: Fernando Guillén.] Other Guillén movies include...
- 1/17/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Helen Mirren honoured for achievement in world cinema, and Wim Wenders calls for greater investment in European film
Helen Mirren harked back to a golden age of European cinema in her speech at the silver anniversary of the European film awards on Saturday night. "Thank you for the great honour of recognising that I, too, am a fucking whore," she said, after being handed an achievement in world cinema award by her sometime co-star Michael Gambon. "And very, very proud of it."
Mirren's words were an echo of a description of the acting profession coined by Jeanne Moreau when picking up an equivalent honour five years ago, and brought gales of laughter and applause from the 1,000-strong audience in Malta. In her address, Mirren explained that it was actors such as Moreau, as well as Claudia Cardinale and Liv Ullman, who had inspired her early in her career, after an...
Helen Mirren harked back to a golden age of European cinema in her speech at the silver anniversary of the European film awards on Saturday night. "Thank you for the great honour of recognising that I, too, am a fucking whore," she said, after being handed an achievement in world cinema award by her sometime co-star Michael Gambon. "And very, very proud of it."
Mirren's words were an echo of a description of the acting profession coined by Jeanne Moreau when picking up an equivalent honour five years ago, and brought gales of laughter and applause from the 1,000-strong audience in Malta. In her address, Mirren explained that it was actors such as Moreau, as well as Claudia Cardinale and Liv Ullman, who had inspired her early in her career, after an...
- 12/3/2012
- by Helen Mirren, Catherine Shoard
- The Guardian - Film News
Reaching back into the pantheon of war movies over the course of film history, there are countless films about Vietnam, WWII, The Civil War, and the Revolutionary War. Amongst that pantheon, it’s difficult to pick out a film about the Napoleonic Wars… though did we need to? Not exactly. Valeria Sarmiento’s Lines of Wellington, a project she took over from her late husband, director Raúl Ruiz (whose finished film, Night Across The Street, is also in the Nyff 2012 Main Slate), takes place during the Napoleonic War in 1810 Portugal, as the Portuguese sided with the British against the French. With nearly a three-hour running time, the film attempts to cover a broad spectrum of characters and history. It definitely looks great, with impressive production values and a somewhat A-List cast, but ultimately it is too expansive not to be a miniseries (a longer cut of the film will air as a miniseries in Portugal). The film...
- 10/10/2012
- by Caitlin Hughes
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Raul Ruiz and Valeria Sarmiento are behind Lines of Wellington, an epic set in and around the Battle of Bussaco. Which means – this time in Venice we have a movie which will take us back in 1810, and compete for the festival’s Golden Lion statue.
Not bad, right? Definitely not, and if you check out the rest of this report you’ll actually see that this looks quite interesting, and that some seriously good cast is on board for the whole thing as well!
But, first of all, let me just remind you that director Ruiz died in August 2011, and that his widow Valeria Sarmiento decided to take over directing duties as a homage to him. One thing is for sure – we’re dealing with a powerful and original story, which comes from “Mysteries of Lisbon’s” writer, Carlos Saboga. Here’s a synopsis part:
On September 27, 1810, the French troops under Marshal Massena,...
Not bad, right? Definitely not, and if you check out the rest of this report you’ll actually see that this looks quite interesting, and that some seriously good cast is on board for the whole thing as well!
But, first of all, let me just remind you that director Ruiz died in August 2011, and that his widow Valeria Sarmiento decided to take over directing duties as a homage to him. One thing is for sure – we’re dealing with a powerful and original story, which comes from “Mysteries of Lisbon’s” writer, Carlos Saboga. Here’s a synopsis part:
On September 27, 1810, the French troops under Marshal Massena,...
- 9/2/2012
- by Fiona
- Filmofilia
Tiff announced their last batch of titles for their primo Gala and Special Presentation events and it comes as no surprise that we’ve got ourselves several future Venice (Bad 25, Love is All You Need, Spring Breakers, Passion and The Master) and left over Cannes titles (White Elephant, On The Road, The Paperboy) set for some Special Presentation spots, but it’s the World Premieres that Tonrot have managed to lasso that have got out attention. First up in the trio of Gala screenings announced, it’s their Closing Night Film in Song for Marion which may do wonders for both the fest and the title itself — as it may be this year’s The King’s Speech type. What Maisie Knew, Arthur Newman, Greetings from Tim Buckley and after a long post-production phase Nick Cassavetes’ Yellow (see pic above) are all repping the new wave of U.S...
- 8/14/2012
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
As if the line-up couldn’t get any better, Toronto International Film Festival have went ahead with what looks to be their final announcement of premieres. Added to the slate is the oft-rumored The Master, showing in 70mm, as well as Brian De Palma‘s Passion, Harmony Korine‘s Spring Breakers, Peter Webber‘s WWII romantic drama Emperor, a Jeff Buckley biopic, as well as Cannes premieres such as Lee Daniels‘ The Paperboy (review here) and Walter Salles’ On the Road (review here). Check out the new additions below.
Galas
Song for Marion Paul Andrew Williams, UK Closing Night Film
A feel-good, heart-warming story about how music can inspire you. Song for Marion stars Terence Stamp as Arthur, a grumpy pensioner who can’t understand why his wife Marion (Vanessa Redgrave) would want to embarrass herself singing silly songs with her unconventional local choir. But choir director Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton...
Galas
Song for Marion Paul Andrew Williams, UK Closing Night Film
A feel-good, heart-warming story about how music can inspire you. Song for Marion stars Terence Stamp as Arthur, a grumpy pensioner who can’t understand why his wife Marion (Vanessa Redgrave) would want to embarrass herself singing silly songs with her unconventional local choir. But choir director Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton...
- 8/14/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Following the Toronto International Film Festival line-up earlier this week, the 69th Venice Film Festival has weighed in with their choices this morning. Outside of films also premiering at Tiff — including most notably Ramin Bahrani‘s At Any Price and Terrence Malick‘s To the Wonder – they have a strong batch of films not at that fest. We have the highly anticipated next feature from Olivier Assayas (Summer Hours, Carlos), titled Something In The Air, as well as Brian De Palma‘s sensual thriller Passion with Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace.
Then things get a little silly with Harmony Korine‘s James Franco and Selena Gomez gangster/party film Spring Breakers. Rounding out the other major titles are Susanne Bier following up her Oscar win with Love Is All You Need and Spike Lee’s Michael Jackson documentary Bad 25. The lack of Paul Thomas Anderson‘s heavily rumored The Master...
Then things get a little silly with Harmony Korine‘s James Franco and Selena Gomez gangster/party film Spring Breakers. Rounding out the other major titles are Susanne Bier following up her Oscar win with Love Is All You Need and Spike Lee’s Michael Jackson documentary Bad 25. The lack of Paul Thomas Anderson‘s heavily rumored The Master...
- 7/26/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Pedro Almodovar’s latest film, The Skin I Live In is a cold, calculating thriller that embraces the director’s trademark visual style and marries it beautifully with a mystery plot worthy of Hitchcock via Georges Franju’s seminal Les yeux sans visage (Eyes Without a Face).
For fans of Almodovar or foreign art house cinema at large who have any misgivings about this “genre” project, bear in mind Almodovar is a fan of cinema at large, and understands the language of cinema almost better than any director alive today. For fans of horror films, know that an earlier film of Almodovar, titled Matador, has Antonio Banderas masturbating while watching bits of Mario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace and Jess Franco’s Bloody Moon, so Almodovar is obviously horror literate. Any thoughts of, “Oh that art house guy from Spain is trying to make a horror movie” can be dispelled now.
For fans of Almodovar or foreign art house cinema at large who have any misgivings about this “genre” project, bear in mind Almodovar is a fan of cinema at large, and understands the language of cinema almost better than any director alive today. For fans of horror films, know that an earlier film of Almodovar, titled Matador, has Antonio Banderas masturbating while watching bits of Mario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace and Jess Franco’s Bloody Moon, so Almodovar is obviously horror literate. Any thoughts of, “Oh that art house guy from Spain is trying to make a horror movie” can be dispelled now.
- 3/6/2012
- by Derek Botelho
- DailyDead
Directed by Pedro Almodovar and starring Antonio Banderas, The Skin I live In will be available in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack on March 6th. We’ll be publishing our review tomorrow, but until then, we have a photo gallery and videos for you to check out.
Oscar® winning Writer/Director Pedro Almodóvar (Best Writing, Original Screenplay, Talk To Her, 2002) and three-time Golden Globe® nominee Antonio Banderas (The Mask of Zorro, Desperado) team up for the sixth time on The Skin I Live In, debuting on Blu-ray™ + DVD Combo Pack March 6th from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. This psycho-sexual thriller, which also stars Elena Anaya (Savage Grace, Van Helsing), Marisa Paredes (High Heels, All About My Mother), Jan Cornet (There Be Dragons) and Roberto Álamo (Take My Eyes), follows a brilliant plastic surgeon (Banderas) who is haunted by past tragedies and by his present patient: a mysterious woman (Anaya) who...
Oscar® winning Writer/Director Pedro Almodóvar (Best Writing, Original Screenplay, Talk To Her, 2002) and three-time Golden Globe® nominee Antonio Banderas (The Mask of Zorro, Desperado) team up for the sixth time on The Skin I Live In, debuting on Blu-ray™ + DVD Combo Pack March 6th from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. This psycho-sexual thriller, which also stars Elena Anaya (Savage Grace, Van Helsing), Marisa Paredes (High Heels, All About My Mother), Jan Cornet (There Be Dragons) and Roberto Álamo (Take My Eyes), follows a brilliant plastic surgeon (Banderas) who is haunted by past tragedies and by his present patient: a mysterious woman (Anaya) who...
- 3/5/2012
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
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