A couple of years ago writer/director Henry Barrial appeared on our radar when his low budget, big brains sci-fi thriller Pig made waves across the American and International festival circuits. For his follow-up, Barrial has taken on something completely different: a drama written by acclaimed writer/director Joseph B. Vasquez (of Hangin' With The Homeboys fame) which has been sitting for nearly 20 years.
The House that Jack Built stars E.J. Bonilla as the titular Jack, a charismatic young man who seems to have everything. He owns an apparently successful business, an apartment building in the Bronx that he's moved his entire family into and he has a beautiful fiancé. He's the family success story, the one who will do whatever is necessary to take care of the [Continued ...]...
The House that Jack Built stars E.J. Bonilla as the titular Jack, a charismatic young man who seems to have everything. He owns an apparently successful business, an apartment building in the Bronx that he's moved his entire family into and he has a beautiful fiancé. He's the family success story, the one who will do whatever is necessary to take care of the [Continued ...]...
- 4/30/2014
- QuietEarth.us
Film to Premiere at a special one-night, invitation-only, engagement sponsored by HBO(R) on October at the AMC Empire 25 on 42nd Street
New York, NY – September 25, 2013 – (Hispanicize Wire) – ProyectoNEXT, a new showcase for emerging Latino and Urban talent sponsored by HBO, will debut next month with the New York premiere of director Henry Barrial’s “The House That Jack Built.” The one-night, invitation-only feature presentation will take place October 2 in Manhattan at the AMC Empire 25.
Hailed by The Hollywood Reporter as a “convincing portrait of a neighborhood and its Nuyorican culture,” and “a majestic journey of crime, family drama, and redemption” by The Awards Circuit, “The House That Jack Built” stars Bronx native E.J. Bonilla and features an all-Latino cast of Caribbean descent from New York, including Melissa Fumero, Leo Minaya, Flor De Liz Perez, Saundra Santiago, John Herrera, and Rosal Colon.
“HBO is extremely excited to partner in the...
New York, NY – September 25, 2013 – (Hispanicize Wire) – ProyectoNEXT, a new showcase for emerging Latino and Urban talent sponsored by HBO, will debut next month with the New York premiere of director Henry Barrial’s “The House That Jack Built.” The one-night, invitation-only feature presentation will take place October 2 in Manhattan at the AMC Empire 25.
Hailed by The Hollywood Reporter as a “convincing portrait of a neighborhood and its Nuyorican culture,” and “a majestic journey of crime, family drama, and redemption” by The Awards Circuit, “The House That Jack Built” stars Bronx native E.J. Bonilla and features an all-Latino cast of Caribbean descent from New York, including Melissa Fumero, Leo Minaya, Flor De Liz Perez, Saundra Santiago, John Herrera, and Rosal Colon.
“HBO is extremely excited to partner in the...
- 9/26/2013
- by El Mayimbe
- LRMonline.com
What happens when you put a dozen or so veteran game designers in a cabin in Vancouver for a few days? They take walks and eat breakfast together, and then they form Hinterland Games and start development on their first project, a survival sim called "The Long Dark."
"The Long Dark" is a first-person, open-world survival game that takes place after a solar flare has knocked out most modern technology. As pilot William Mackenzie, it'll be your job to survive as long as possible in the cold Northwestern winter -- not until rescue comes, but forever as a new way of life. There's no trailer yet, but Hinterland's Kickstarter video is a good introduction:
The basic of wilderness survival include, I guess, finding food and water and staying warm, but "The Long Dark"'s list of gameplay systems is expansive. Here's a taste: time of day, dynamic weather, wildlife, caloric intake,...
"The Long Dark" is a first-person, open-world survival game that takes place after a solar flare has knocked out most modern technology. As pilot William Mackenzie, it'll be your job to survive as long as possible in the cold Northwestern winter -- not until rescue comes, but forever as a new way of life. There's no trailer yet, but Hinterland's Kickstarter video is a good introduction:
The basic of wilderness survival include, I guess, finding food and water and staying warm, but "The Long Dark"'s list of gameplay systems is expansive. Here's a taste: time of day, dynamic weather, wildlife, caloric intake,...
- 9/18/2013
- by Joseph Leray
- MTV Multiplayer
If you live in North America and play "League of Legends" -- and, given its rapidly increasing popularity, you probably do -- you'll need to log-in and change your password as soon as possible. According to an e-mail sent to players by Riot Games, North American player information has been compromised.
User names, e-mail addresses, salted password hashes, first and last names, and over 120,000 transaction records dating from 2011 have all been compromised. According to the e-mail, those account passwords are unreadable, but players with easily guessed passwords are vulnerable to account theft.
More troubling are the transaction records, which also contained salted and hashed credit card numbers. Riot are in the process of e-mailing affected players, so check your spam folders and contact your bank or credit card company if you've ever bought a "League of Legends" champion or skin.
The next time you log into your "League of Legends" client,...
User names, e-mail addresses, salted password hashes, first and last names, and over 120,000 transaction records dating from 2011 have all been compromised. According to the e-mail, those account passwords are unreadable, but players with easily guessed passwords are vulnerable to account theft.
More troubling are the transaction records, which also contained salted and hashed credit card numbers. Riot are in the process of e-mailing affected players, so check your spam folders and contact your bank or credit card company if you've ever bought a "League of Legends" champion or skin.
The next time you log into your "League of Legends" client,...
- 8/21/2013
- by Joseph Leray
- MTV Multiplayer
Jack Be Simple: Barrial’s New York Story Buoyed by Strong Performances
For his fifth feature film, indie filmmaker Henry Barrial takes to the Bronx for a familial relations drama examining notions of family, marriage, and the forced archaic notion of patriarchal authority. While The House That Jack Built is unable to completely sidestep some well-worn clichés, both of a universal nature and those particular to the community within which it is set, Barrial is able to conjure a compelling level of engagement that makes you invested in the eventual outcome. Even better, he manages to do so even with an almost wholly unlikeable lead protagonist.
Jack (E.J. Bonilla) is a hot headed and handsome young patriarchal head of his extended family, and it has long been his life’s goal to provide for them all. Still a very young man, he has purchased an entire apartment complex for his whole family to live in,...
For his fifth feature film, indie filmmaker Henry Barrial takes to the Bronx for a familial relations drama examining notions of family, marriage, and the forced archaic notion of patriarchal authority. While The House That Jack Built is unable to completely sidestep some well-worn clichés, both of a universal nature and those particular to the community within which it is set, Barrial is able to conjure a compelling level of engagement that makes you invested in the eventual outcome. Even better, he manages to do so even with an almost wholly unlikeable lead protagonist.
Jack (E.J. Bonilla) is a hot headed and handsome young patriarchal head of his extended family, and it has long been his life’s goal to provide for them all. Still a very young man, he has purchased an entire apartment complex for his whole family to live in,...
- 6/16/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Candice Accola is one lucky lady! The Vampire Diaries star is newly engaged to The Fray's Joe King! While vacationing in Florence, Italy, the musician proposed to the 26-year-old actress and she said yes! The couple couldn't resist spilling the news on both their Twitter feeds.
| Related: Paul Wesley Reveals How He Would Want The Series To End |
| Related: Ian Somerhalder Teases Jeremy's Death On The Vampire Diaries |
| Related: Ian Somerhalder: "I Plan On Having The Greenest House On The Block!" |
| Related: Paul Wesley On Stefan And Elena's Future And The Ripper's Return |
"She said yes," the 33-year-old musician wrote on Twitter Wednesday. "I'm a lucky man."
"Cheers from the future Mr.&Mrs. Joseph Aaron King," Accola added. "Happy...."
Congratulations to the happy couple! The duo have been dating for several months, and only recently have been going public with their relationship.
--
What do you think about the big news?...
| Related: Paul Wesley Reveals How He Would Want The Series To End |
| Related: Ian Somerhalder Teases Jeremy's Death On The Vampire Diaries |
| Related: Ian Somerhalder: "I Plan On Having The Greenest House On The Block!" |
| Related: Paul Wesley On Stefan And Elena's Future And The Ripper's Return |
"She said yes," the 33-year-old musician wrote on Twitter Wednesday. "I'm a lucky man."
"Cheers from the future Mr.&Mrs. Joseph Aaron King," Accola added. "Happy...."
Congratulations to the happy couple! The duo have been dating for several months, and only recently have been going public with their relationship.
--
What do you think about the big news?...
- 5/29/2013
- by Stephanie Webber
- Celebsology
Upon the Los Angeles Film Festival announcing their 2013 roster I was excited to see a title familiar to me that would be having its world premiere there. That film is 'The House That Jack Built' – from a screenplay written by Joseph B. Vasquez (Hangin' With The Homeboys) that I'd read close to 15 years earlier as an intern and it was rumored that it would be a Spike Lee/John Leguizamo collaboration. The film itself is a 20 year old journey in the making for the producers. The story revolves around Jack, a Puerto Rican drug dealer who yearns for those long gone memories of what was once a happy, united family where he remembers everything as ethereal-like. So he decides to buy a tenement where they can all be under the same roof in hopes of re-creating that joy, when in reality it will never be the same again as his well intentioned gesture tests the families bond to the point of irreparable dysfunction.
The joy for me at the time was reading the last screenplay written by Joe before he passed away in 1995. My friends and I used to quote the hell out of 'Hangin' With The Homeboys' and laugh at the way he wrote these richly drawn urban characters that could walk a very fine line and he was never afraid to push a few buttons when it came to sex, race and class. He knew the comedy in tragedy. The melancholy in reading his last screenplay was that it was his last screenplay.
Born to drug addicted parents in the South Bronx, Joseph started making movies on a Super 8mm camera at the age of 12. Eventually this would lead him to study film at City College in New York where he honed his craft and would later make a low budget, gritty, if not unwatchable film called 'Street Story' (later barely released as 'Street Hitz') where according to Joe, he was writer, director, cinematographer, editor, sound editor, gaffer, negative cutter and music editor. Working with a slightly larger budget and a little more experience his next film would be 'The Bronx War' (which I own on DVD courtesy of a spot on 125th st). It was another film with a story line firmly cemented in the street life that he was familiar and comfortable with. 'The Bronx War' would be the one to catch the attention of New Line Cinema. After all, there weren't many Puerto Rican/Black filmmakers coming out of the Bronx, especially ones that spoke to the surging urban market like he did. They would decide to finance a semi-autobiographical screenplay he wrote in about three days called 'Hangin' With The Homeboys' about an epic, odyssey-like guys night out in New York City with four friends. Each of the four characters represented a different part of Vasquez. He was now making a film for a studio and not paying for it out of his own pocket. But Joseph's life played out much like one of his screenplays. During the shoot, he was slashed down the middle of his forehead to his nose by a homeless man as he took the subway to the set, ending what he believed could have been another career as an actor. The tension on the set was unbearable according to his leads. Still, the film was completed and premiered at the '91 Sundance Film Festival to great success and even walked away with a best screenwriting award. Joseph, suffering from severe Bi-polar disorder started to grow wary of studios like New Line Cinema, the very studio that helped him achieve the success he had enjoyed and started turning down projects such as 'House Party 2', citing that the films had gotten too big and were slipping away from his creative and artistic grasp. Instead he opted to do things his own way as before. A result was 'Manhattan Merengue'. This film, understandably failed to move his career to the next level and Joseph began suffering from manic depression when the offers that once presented themselves to him stopped coming in. Once thought to be the next Spike Lee (a comparison he didn't care for), he alienated those around him and at some later point claimed to be Jesus. His behavior became increasingly erratic and drew great concern from those around him as his health deteriorated. At the time no one knew he had AIDS, to which he would succumb to far from the South Bronx he loved and wrote about. At aged 33 he passed away in San Diego, CA. penniless but with his mother, who got clean, by his side.
Producer Mike Lieber, who had known Joe for many years including during his tumultuous times, held on to the script of 'The House That Jack Built', hoping that one day he could finally get it made. It was something he promised Joseph on his death bed that he would do. After attaching Cuban-American, Henry Barrial (Pig) to direct, they raised a budget that was enough to cover a shoot on HD and raised the rest on Kickstarter to bring it home. Casting was primarily done in the Bronx with E.J Bonilla (Four, Mamitas) cast to play 'Jack' and joined by an all Latino cast that includes Melissa Fumero, Leo Minaya, Saundra Santiago, John Herrera, Flor De Liz Perez and Rosal Colon.
Mike Lieber fulfilled his promise and Joseph Benjamin Vasquez' new film will premiere at The Los Angeles Film Festival which runs June 13-23. Tickets can be bought at http://www.lafilmfest.com . Give them a “Like”: https://www.facebook.com/thehousethatjackbuiltmovie.
Written by Juan Caceres and Vanessa Erazo, LatinoBuzz is a weekly feature on SydneysBuzz that highlights Latino indie talent and upcoming trends in Latino film with the specific objective of presenting a broad range of Latino voices. Follow @LatinoBuzz on Twitter and Facebook.
The joy for me at the time was reading the last screenplay written by Joe before he passed away in 1995. My friends and I used to quote the hell out of 'Hangin' With The Homeboys' and laugh at the way he wrote these richly drawn urban characters that could walk a very fine line and he was never afraid to push a few buttons when it came to sex, race and class. He knew the comedy in tragedy. The melancholy in reading his last screenplay was that it was his last screenplay.
Born to drug addicted parents in the South Bronx, Joseph started making movies on a Super 8mm camera at the age of 12. Eventually this would lead him to study film at City College in New York where he honed his craft and would later make a low budget, gritty, if not unwatchable film called 'Street Story' (later barely released as 'Street Hitz') where according to Joe, he was writer, director, cinematographer, editor, sound editor, gaffer, negative cutter and music editor. Working with a slightly larger budget and a little more experience his next film would be 'The Bronx War' (which I own on DVD courtesy of a spot on 125th st). It was another film with a story line firmly cemented in the street life that he was familiar and comfortable with. 'The Bronx War' would be the one to catch the attention of New Line Cinema. After all, there weren't many Puerto Rican/Black filmmakers coming out of the Bronx, especially ones that spoke to the surging urban market like he did. They would decide to finance a semi-autobiographical screenplay he wrote in about three days called 'Hangin' With The Homeboys' about an epic, odyssey-like guys night out in New York City with four friends. Each of the four characters represented a different part of Vasquez. He was now making a film for a studio and not paying for it out of his own pocket. But Joseph's life played out much like one of his screenplays. During the shoot, he was slashed down the middle of his forehead to his nose by a homeless man as he took the subway to the set, ending what he believed could have been another career as an actor. The tension on the set was unbearable according to his leads. Still, the film was completed and premiered at the '91 Sundance Film Festival to great success and even walked away with a best screenwriting award. Joseph, suffering from severe Bi-polar disorder started to grow wary of studios like New Line Cinema, the very studio that helped him achieve the success he had enjoyed and started turning down projects such as 'House Party 2', citing that the films had gotten too big and were slipping away from his creative and artistic grasp. Instead he opted to do things his own way as before. A result was 'Manhattan Merengue'. This film, understandably failed to move his career to the next level and Joseph began suffering from manic depression when the offers that once presented themselves to him stopped coming in. Once thought to be the next Spike Lee (a comparison he didn't care for), he alienated those around him and at some later point claimed to be Jesus. His behavior became increasingly erratic and drew great concern from those around him as his health deteriorated. At the time no one knew he had AIDS, to which he would succumb to far from the South Bronx he loved and wrote about. At aged 33 he passed away in San Diego, CA. penniless but with his mother, who got clean, by his side.
Producer Mike Lieber, who had known Joe for many years including during his tumultuous times, held on to the script of 'The House That Jack Built', hoping that one day he could finally get it made. It was something he promised Joseph on his death bed that he would do. After attaching Cuban-American, Henry Barrial (Pig) to direct, they raised a budget that was enough to cover a shoot on HD and raised the rest on Kickstarter to bring it home. Casting was primarily done in the Bronx with E.J Bonilla (Four, Mamitas) cast to play 'Jack' and joined by an all Latino cast that includes Melissa Fumero, Leo Minaya, Saundra Santiago, John Herrera, Flor De Liz Perez and Rosal Colon.
Mike Lieber fulfilled his promise and Joseph Benjamin Vasquez' new film will premiere at The Los Angeles Film Festival which runs June 13-23. Tickets can be bought at http://www.lafilmfest.com . Give them a “Like”: https://www.facebook.com/thehousethatjackbuiltmovie.
Written by Juan Caceres and Vanessa Erazo, LatinoBuzz is a weekly feature on SydneysBuzz that highlights Latino indie talent and upcoming trends in Latino film with the specific objective of presenting a broad range of Latino voices. Follow @LatinoBuzz on Twitter and Facebook.
- 5/15/2013
- by Juan Caceres
- Sydney's Buzz
The summertime, downtown set, glitzy yet ‘cashz’ La Film Festival, presented by Film Independent has announced their film lineup today. The verdict on the Latino rep? Compared to the last three festivals I’ve examined this year, Sundance, SXSW and Tribeca, La Film Festival comes through with arguably the most valuable representation; there are three films representing American Latino in the narrative competition and one in documentary competition.
The lineup consists of a handful of new American indies mixed in with many favorited international films from last year’s Toronto, Venice, London and Berlin film festivals, and seven Sundance films screening out of competition including Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station, which won both the Audience and Jury Awards in Park City. Starring Boricua Melonie Diaz as Oakland police murder victim Oscar Grant’s girlfriend, Fruitvale will be given the gala treatment (like last year’s Sundance awarded, Black film, Middle of Nowhere), alongside the direct-from-Cannes, Only God Forgives, the reteaming of director Nicolas Winding Refyn and GQ sensitive alpha hero Ryan Gosling (Drive).
But I’m not here to comb and recycle through the ‘high profile’ films that come armed with buzz. As always I’m spotlighting U.S. films in which the writer/director/cast are native born whose ethnic/cultural roots originates from Mexico, Central or South America. In addition, films by filmmakers who may not be Latino, but whose narratives explore and relate to the relevant bi-cultural experience/subjects. And finally I also like to mention the Latin films (international).
While I’m happy to acknowledge and give it up for La, it’s still painful for this blogger/programmer to know there are so many more fresh American Latino films out there ready to be discovered. Game-changing films offering such fresh and original perspectives, which have by and large been dismissed by most of the major Us Film Festivals. With the futures of the two highest profile Latino niche festivals in limbo, The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival and HBO’s NY International Latino Film Festival, it’s especially crushing to know that these films might also be robbed of their only community platform. It’s cause for alarm and high time to address this void. But wait, lets save that for another post. For now, lets get back to the Latino stories coming at you at this year’s La Film Festival. For official synopsis and pics check the Film Guide here.
Narrative Competition – Notably 9 of the 12 are Us, hopefully giving the scrappy indies a better chance to compete and win the cash prize against the healthy subsidized production value of foreign movies. Five are first features and only one female narrative director.
40 Years From Yesterday written and directed by Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck and Robert Machoian
This is the first feature from the writing/directing team who got a lot of attention with their 2010 short Charlie and The Rabbit. Ojeda-Beck (whose parents are from Peru) and Machoian who is from the heavily Mexican populated King City, met at Cal State, Monterey Bay where they forged a tight artistic collaboration. Forty Years from Yesterday is described as Machoian’s imagination of how his mother’s death would unfold for his own family, capturing the loss his siblings would feel in losing a parent and his father’s pain in facing the death of his partner.
The duo have their way with documentary, fiction and experimental form, instilling an aura of temporality in an anchored realism. This unique evocative alchemy is found in Machoian’s doc short, Movies Made from Home #16, a 4 minute existential moment which screened at Sundance this year. The cosmic life themes they tend to broach are treated in such a down to earth and sensitive way, which is further made relatable by the natural non-pro performances they employ. Robert’s father, Bill Graham has starred in a few of his films and in Forty Years from Yesterday, both Robert’s parents and siblings play themselves. See this endearing behind the scenes clip of the making of the film:
The House That Jack Built written by Joseph B. Vasquez and directed by Henry Barrial
Written by the late Joseph B. Vasquez (d 1995) whose 1991 movie, Hanging with the Homeboys, was a groundbreaking urban comedy when it came out, now very much a classic albeit sadly forgotten gem. The only one of Vasquez’s five movies that was distributed (by New Line), Hanging with the Homeboys was shot in the South Bronx where he was born and raised. About four homeys, two Puerto Rican (one of them played by a baby-faced Johnny Leguizamo) and two Black, the movie, available on dvd from Amazon (or, I found it in 6 parts on Youtube) screened at the Sundance Film Festival at its indie darling peak. Its good-natured humor is derived from neighborhood beefs, trying to rap to ladies, and the racial tensions of the day delivered with unapologetic commentary. An overall glimpse into a day in the barrio slice life, the film is clearly an early influence for the Ice Cube Friday series.
The House that Jack Built similarly has that raw and authentic Nuyorican energy but pushed into a rollercoaster of a dysfunctional family drama with warmth, affection and intensity. The director, born from Cuban parents and raised in Washington Heights, Henry Barrial, is also an alumni of Sundance (Somebody 2001). The film stars E.J. Bonilla as the hot-blooded self-imposed king of his family who buys an apartment building to keep his family close, only to start dictating everybody’s life since he’s letting them live rent free. Bonilla is a fiercely charismatic up and coming actor who was last at the festival with the film Mamitas in 2011 and was also in Don’t Let Me Drown (Sundance 2010). An uproarious and high-edged Harlem set chamber piece, the heavy conflict of gravity that besets Jack is from being pulled in opposite directions by his street values on one side and deeply rooted family values on the other. See the trailer on their Kickstarter page.
My Sister’S Quinceanera written and directed by Aaron Douglas Johnston
This was reportedly one of the most talked about American films in the experimental leaning Rotterdam Film Festival this year. The filmmaker who was born and raised in Iowa, Aaron Douglas Johnston, has an impressive academic pedigree having attended world prestigious universities, Oxford and Yale. His first feature, the small town, gay life set, Bumblefuck, USA screened at Outfest 2011. In My Sister’s Quinceanera, he uses the local Mexican-American Iowa residents as his non-pro actors with whom he collaborated with on the story. It’s a gentle and earnest portrayal of a young man named Silas who is convinced he has to leave town to become independent and start his life but must first see his sister’s Quinceanera take place.
Workers written and directed by Jose Luis Valle (Mexico/Germany) - A quietly simmering artful drama about a retiring factory worker and housemaid in Tijuana circumstantially reunited and trying to compensate for their spent lives. An accomplished and arresting feature debut, the film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section and won Best Mexican Film at the Guadalajara film Festival. A full investment into the contemplative tone and rhythm yields an appreciation for the film’s visceral and dry humor undertones. Born in El Salvador, Jose Luis Valle previously made a documentary short called Milagro del Papa.
Documentary Competition: 7 out 10 are Us, 4 first features, six female directors (incl. 2 co-directors)
Tapia directed by Eddie Alcazar
The 5 time world boxing champion and emotionally damaged blue-eyed Chicano from the 505, Johnny Lee Tapia, survived a series of near deaths before his turbulent life ended at the young age of 45 last year. The sheer volume of tragedy and coping afflictions Johnny endured in his Vida Loca, as he openly shares in his autobiography, includes the scarring experience of seeing his mother’s kidnapping and violent murder at the tender age of eight. Tapia funneled his heartbreaking life to fuel a successful professional boxing career. Tapia’s confrontation to such tumult is so impressive, it’s no wonder that former EA video game designer Eddie Alcazar decided to both dramatize and document his harrowing real life story. Originally announced as a biopic, subsequently the documentary was born of it, in which Eddie captures final interviews and archival footage with the haunted boxer. Remarkably, watching the clip below, a slight zeal and spirit, however low key and worn, emanates from the towering rumble of his battered lifetime – unquestionably his refusal to be knocked out. This is actually the first feature out of the gate for filmmaker Eddie Alcazar whose radical sci-fi film 0000 has been curiously tracked as in production for a couple years now. The ambitious looking trailer only piqued mad interest when it was released last year.
Purgatorio directed by Rodrigo Reyes (Mexico) - An elegiac and cinematically shot poem filled with emotional narration and iconography, this border film is told by way of a tapestry of stories that culminates into a strong cry for human compassion. Imagining the border as if purgatory, where migrants must suffer in order to get through to the other side, the dangerous plight in crossing the Us/Mexico border is viewed outside political context but rather a metaphysical prism. This is the fourth film from Reyes, a talented young documentarian from Mexico.
International Showcase
Europa Report directed by Sebastian Cordero and written by Philip Gelatt - From award winning Ecuador born filmmaker Sebastian Cordero (Rabia, Cronicas, Pescador) Europa Report marks his first film in English. Somewhat shrouded in mystery, the story is written by Philip Gelatt, an adult comic book author, and is set aboard the first manned mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa. The genre bending sounding sci-fi thriller was recently picked up by Magnolia’s Magnet division and will go straight to VOD on June 27 after its La Film Festival premiere. Cordero, who is a UCLA grad, has a well-controlled gritty realism to his aesthetic, which might inhabit and distinguish this deep space thriller among the genre’s canon.
Crystal Fairy written and directed by Sebastian Silva (Chile) - From the crafty young Chilean filmmaker whose first first film, The Maid put him on the international map, this is one of two films he screened at Sundance this year. A road trip of self-discovery featuring the charming free spirited Gaby Hoffman pitted against a smarmy American tourist Michael Cera in the long and vast Chilean coast side, the film explores their unusual and fluid character dynamic and opposing auras.
The Women And The Passenger directed by Valentina Mac-Pherson, Patricia Correra (Chile) - A 45 minute version of this screened at the prestigious documentary film festival in Amsterdam Idfa. An unobtrusive camera follows four maids as they clean the rooms of one of those clandestine by-the-hour motels. Amid the moans behind doors and bed aftermaths of torrid love affairs, the women reveal their own perspectives about life, love and sex in some kind of visual love letter to the special place. I don’t believe the title is translated to interpret its full meaning, its more like, “The Transients’ women”.
Shorts
I Was Born In Mexico But…. written and directed by Corey OHama - 12min (Us) - Per the IMDb description, “using found footage to tell the story of an undocumented young woman who grew up thinking she was American, only to find out as a teenager that she didn’t have papers because she was brought to the U.S. as a young child. “ Sounds like the thousands of Dreamers plights whose stories are being suppressed.
Misterio written and directed by Chema Garcia Ibarra (Spain) 12min - So even though this is from Spain (not the Americas), I mention it if because I’m a huge fan of Chema’s shorts, Protoparticles and The Attack of the Robots from Nebula-5. I have no doubt this will share that similar strange, whimsical vibe.
Al Lado De Norma written and directed by Camila Luna, Gabriela Maturana 14min (Chile) - 49 year-old Jorge is a silent, tired man, whose life seems to revolve around Norma, his elderly mother who has Alzheimer’s. But Antonio, who rents a small room in their home, will provide him with the chance to examine himself and question his monotonous life, which might just make for a radical change.
Papel Picado – written and directed by Javier Barboza - From a 2007 Cal Arts Alumnus, and independent animation teacher and filmmaker, this looks wild! Check out his vimeo works here.
Saint John, The Longest Night, written and directed by Claudia Huaiquimilla (Chile) 18 min - The filmmaker is of the indigenous Mapuche tribe of Southern Chile. Set amid the happy Saints celebration of June 24, a young boy must wrestle with the reappearance of his violent father.
Too Much Water (Demasiada Agua) written and directed by Nicolas Botana, Gonzalo Torrens (Uruguay) 14 min - A young woman fills her backyard pool every night and finds it empty in the morning. Strange neighbors and even stranger circumstances stir her paranoia.
Lastly, I have to mention dance beat rapper Kid Cudi’s feature film acting debut in Goodbye World directed by Denis Hennelly (Rock the Bells doc about Wu Tang Clan) and written by Sarah Adina Smith. Essentially, the film is about a group of friends hanging out when some kind of apocalypse hits. Hijinks ensue. (There’s a trend here after It’s A Disaster and the upcoming “look-we’re-so-cool-celebs partying of This is The End). Although it’s a small role, it is the first of a number of films Kid Cudi is in that are coming through the pipelines. Born Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi in Cleveland Ohio, he is a beautiful brown blend of African American on his mother’s side and Native/Mexican mix on his father’s side.
The La Film Festival kicks off with Pedro Almodovar’s, I’m So Excited on June 13 and runs until the 23. Tickets and info here.
The lineup consists of a handful of new American indies mixed in with many favorited international films from last year’s Toronto, Venice, London and Berlin film festivals, and seven Sundance films screening out of competition including Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station, which won both the Audience and Jury Awards in Park City. Starring Boricua Melonie Diaz as Oakland police murder victim Oscar Grant’s girlfriend, Fruitvale will be given the gala treatment (like last year’s Sundance awarded, Black film, Middle of Nowhere), alongside the direct-from-Cannes, Only God Forgives, the reteaming of director Nicolas Winding Refyn and GQ sensitive alpha hero Ryan Gosling (Drive).
But I’m not here to comb and recycle through the ‘high profile’ films that come armed with buzz. As always I’m spotlighting U.S. films in which the writer/director/cast are native born whose ethnic/cultural roots originates from Mexico, Central or South America. In addition, films by filmmakers who may not be Latino, but whose narratives explore and relate to the relevant bi-cultural experience/subjects. And finally I also like to mention the Latin films (international).
While I’m happy to acknowledge and give it up for La, it’s still painful for this blogger/programmer to know there are so many more fresh American Latino films out there ready to be discovered. Game-changing films offering such fresh and original perspectives, which have by and large been dismissed by most of the major Us Film Festivals. With the futures of the two highest profile Latino niche festivals in limbo, The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival and HBO’s NY International Latino Film Festival, it’s especially crushing to know that these films might also be robbed of their only community platform. It’s cause for alarm and high time to address this void. But wait, lets save that for another post. For now, lets get back to the Latino stories coming at you at this year’s La Film Festival. For official synopsis and pics check the Film Guide here.
Narrative Competition – Notably 9 of the 12 are Us, hopefully giving the scrappy indies a better chance to compete and win the cash prize against the healthy subsidized production value of foreign movies. Five are first features and only one female narrative director.
40 Years From Yesterday written and directed by Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck and Robert Machoian
This is the first feature from the writing/directing team who got a lot of attention with their 2010 short Charlie and The Rabbit. Ojeda-Beck (whose parents are from Peru) and Machoian who is from the heavily Mexican populated King City, met at Cal State, Monterey Bay where they forged a tight artistic collaboration. Forty Years from Yesterday is described as Machoian’s imagination of how his mother’s death would unfold for his own family, capturing the loss his siblings would feel in losing a parent and his father’s pain in facing the death of his partner.
The duo have their way with documentary, fiction and experimental form, instilling an aura of temporality in an anchored realism. This unique evocative alchemy is found in Machoian’s doc short, Movies Made from Home #16, a 4 minute existential moment which screened at Sundance this year. The cosmic life themes they tend to broach are treated in such a down to earth and sensitive way, which is further made relatable by the natural non-pro performances they employ. Robert’s father, Bill Graham has starred in a few of his films and in Forty Years from Yesterday, both Robert’s parents and siblings play themselves. See this endearing behind the scenes clip of the making of the film:
The House That Jack Built written by Joseph B. Vasquez and directed by Henry Barrial
Written by the late Joseph B. Vasquez (d 1995) whose 1991 movie, Hanging with the Homeboys, was a groundbreaking urban comedy when it came out, now very much a classic albeit sadly forgotten gem. The only one of Vasquez’s five movies that was distributed (by New Line), Hanging with the Homeboys was shot in the South Bronx where he was born and raised. About four homeys, two Puerto Rican (one of them played by a baby-faced Johnny Leguizamo) and two Black, the movie, available on dvd from Amazon (or, I found it in 6 parts on Youtube) screened at the Sundance Film Festival at its indie darling peak. Its good-natured humor is derived from neighborhood beefs, trying to rap to ladies, and the racial tensions of the day delivered with unapologetic commentary. An overall glimpse into a day in the barrio slice life, the film is clearly an early influence for the Ice Cube Friday series.
The House that Jack Built similarly has that raw and authentic Nuyorican energy but pushed into a rollercoaster of a dysfunctional family drama with warmth, affection and intensity. The director, born from Cuban parents and raised in Washington Heights, Henry Barrial, is also an alumni of Sundance (Somebody 2001). The film stars E.J. Bonilla as the hot-blooded self-imposed king of his family who buys an apartment building to keep his family close, only to start dictating everybody’s life since he’s letting them live rent free. Bonilla is a fiercely charismatic up and coming actor who was last at the festival with the film Mamitas in 2011 and was also in Don’t Let Me Drown (Sundance 2010). An uproarious and high-edged Harlem set chamber piece, the heavy conflict of gravity that besets Jack is from being pulled in opposite directions by his street values on one side and deeply rooted family values on the other. See the trailer on their Kickstarter page.
My Sister’S Quinceanera written and directed by Aaron Douglas Johnston
This was reportedly one of the most talked about American films in the experimental leaning Rotterdam Film Festival this year. The filmmaker who was born and raised in Iowa, Aaron Douglas Johnston, has an impressive academic pedigree having attended world prestigious universities, Oxford and Yale. His first feature, the small town, gay life set, Bumblefuck, USA screened at Outfest 2011. In My Sister’s Quinceanera, he uses the local Mexican-American Iowa residents as his non-pro actors with whom he collaborated with on the story. It’s a gentle and earnest portrayal of a young man named Silas who is convinced he has to leave town to become independent and start his life but must first see his sister’s Quinceanera take place.
Workers written and directed by Jose Luis Valle (Mexico/Germany) - A quietly simmering artful drama about a retiring factory worker and housemaid in Tijuana circumstantially reunited and trying to compensate for their spent lives. An accomplished and arresting feature debut, the film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section and won Best Mexican Film at the Guadalajara film Festival. A full investment into the contemplative tone and rhythm yields an appreciation for the film’s visceral and dry humor undertones. Born in El Salvador, Jose Luis Valle previously made a documentary short called Milagro del Papa.
Documentary Competition: 7 out 10 are Us, 4 first features, six female directors (incl. 2 co-directors)
Tapia directed by Eddie Alcazar
The 5 time world boxing champion and emotionally damaged blue-eyed Chicano from the 505, Johnny Lee Tapia, survived a series of near deaths before his turbulent life ended at the young age of 45 last year. The sheer volume of tragedy and coping afflictions Johnny endured in his Vida Loca, as he openly shares in his autobiography, includes the scarring experience of seeing his mother’s kidnapping and violent murder at the tender age of eight. Tapia funneled his heartbreaking life to fuel a successful professional boxing career. Tapia’s confrontation to such tumult is so impressive, it’s no wonder that former EA video game designer Eddie Alcazar decided to both dramatize and document his harrowing real life story. Originally announced as a biopic, subsequently the documentary was born of it, in which Eddie captures final interviews and archival footage with the haunted boxer. Remarkably, watching the clip below, a slight zeal and spirit, however low key and worn, emanates from the towering rumble of his battered lifetime – unquestionably his refusal to be knocked out. This is actually the first feature out of the gate for filmmaker Eddie Alcazar whose radical sci-fi film 0000 has been curiously tracked as in production for a couple years now. The ambitious looking trailer only piqued mad interest when it was released last year.
Purgatorio directed by Rodrigo Reyes (Mexico) - An elegiac and cinematically shot poem filled with emotional narration and iconography, this border film is told by way of a tapestry of stories that culminates into a strong cry for human compassion. Imagining the border as if purgatory, where migrants must suffer in order to get through to the other side, the dangerous plight in crossing the Us/Mexico border is viewed outside political context but rather a metaphysical prism. This is the fourth film from Reyes, a talented young documentarian from Mexico.
International Showcase
Europa Report directed by Sebastian Cordero and written by Philip Gelatt - From award winning Ecuador born filmmaker Sebastian Cordero (Rabia, Cronicas, Pescador) Europa Report marks his first film in English. Somewhat shrouded in mystery, the story is written by Philip Gelatt, an adult comic book author, and is set aboard the first manned mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa. The genre bending sounding sci-fi thriller was recently picked up by Magnolia’s Magnet division and will go straight to VOD on June 27 after its La Film Festival premiere. Cordero, who is a UCLA grad, has a well-controlled gritty realism to his aesthetic, which might inhabit and distinguish this deep space thriller among the genre’s canon.
Crystal Fairy written and directed by Sebastian Silva (Chile) - From the crafty young Chilean filmmaker whose first first film, The Maid put him on the international map, this is one of two films he screened at Sundance this year. A road trip of self-discovery featuring the charming free spirited Gaby Hoffman pitted against a smarmy American tourist Michael Cera in the long and vast Chilean coast side, the film explores their unusual and fluid character dynamic and opposing auras.
The Women And The Passenger directed by Valentina Mac-Pherson, Patricia Correra (Chile) - A 45 minute version of this screened at the prestigious documentary film festival in Amsterdam Idfa. An unobtrusive camera follows four maids as they clean the rooms of one of those clandestine by-the-hour motels. Amid the moans behind doors and bed aftermaths of torrid love affairs, the women reveal their own perspectives about life, love and sex in some kind of visual love letter to the special place. I don’t believe the title is translated to interpret its full meaning, its more like, “The Transients’ women”.
Shorts
I Was Born In Mexico But…. written and directed by Corey OHama - 12min (Us) - Per the IMDb description, “using found footage to tell the story of an undocumented young woman who grew up thinking she was American, only to find out as a teenager that she didn’t have papers because she was brought to the U.S. as a young child. “ Sounds like the thousands of Dreamers plights whose stories are being suppressed.
Misterio written and directed by Chema Garcia Ibarra (Spain) 12min - So even though this is from Spain (not the Americas), I mention it if because I’m a huge fan of Chema’s shorts, Protoparticles and The Attack of the Robots from Nebula-5. I have no doubt this will share that similar strange, whimsical vibe.
Al Lado De Norma written and directed by Camila Luna, Gabriela Maturana 14min (Chile) - 49 year-old Jorge is a silent, tired man, whose life seems to revolve around Norma, his elderly mother who has Alzheimer’s. But Antonio, who rents a small room in their home, will provide him with the chance to examine himself and question his monotonous life, which might just make for a radical change.
Papel Picado – written and directed by Javier Barboza - From a 2007 Cal Arts Alumnus, and independent animation teacher and filmmaker, this looks wild! Check out his vimeo works here.
Saint John, The Longest Night, written and directed by Claudia Huaiquimilla (Chile) 18 min - The filmmaker is of the indigenous Mapuche tribe of Southern Chile. Set amid the happy Saints celebration of June 24, a young boy must wrestle with the reappearance of his violent father.
Too Much Water (Demasiada Agua) written and directed by Nicolas Botana, Gonzalo Torrens (Uruguay) 14 min - A young woman fills her backyard pool every night and finds it empty in the morning. Strange neighbors and even stranger circumstances stir her paranoia.
Lastly, I have to mention dance beat rapper Kid Cudi’s feature film acting debut in Goodbye World directed by Denis Hennelly (Rock the Bells doc about Wu Tang Clan) and written by Sarah Adina Smith. Essentially, the film is about a group of friends hanging out when some kind of apocalypse hits. Hijinks ensue. (There’s a trend here after It’s A Disaster and the upcoming “look-we’re-so-cool-celebs partying of This is The End). Although it’s a small role, it is the first of a number of films Kid Cudi is in that are coming through the pipelines. Born Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi in Cleveland Ohio, he is a beautiful brown blend of African American on his mother’s side and Native/Mexican mix on his father’s side.
The La Film Festival kicks off with Pedro Almodovar’s, I’m So Excited on June 13 and runs until the 23. Tickets and info here.
- 5/1/2013
- by Christine Davila
- Sydney's Buzz
By Joseph Leray
BioWare has released a trailer for “Mass Effect 3: Reckoning,” the team’s final piece of free multiplayer content. In a livestream playthrough of the Dlc, BioWare also detailed the updated characters, weapons, and gear being added.
The trailer shows off some of the new characters -- a Geth Juggernaut, a (female) Turian Vanguard, the Edi-like Alliance Infiltration Unit, a Krogan Warlord, and a Talon Engineer -- facing off against a group of Reaper Brutes and Banshees.
New weapons include the Geth Spitfire (a portable Gatling Gun), the Venom Shotgun, and the Bloodpack Executioner Pistol. Among the new gadgets and equipment on offer, you can expect to find amplifiers for sub-machine guns and pistols, ultralight materials for shotguns and assault rifles, and the Batarian Gauntlet, which replaces any heavy melee attack with the Batarian’s signature punch.
“Reckoning,” available today on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, is the last planned content pack,...
BioWare has released a trailer for “Mass Effect 3: Reckoning,” the team’s final piece of free multiplayer content. In a livestream playthrough of the Dlc, BioWare also detailed the updated characters, weapons, and gear being added.
The trailer shows off some of the new characters -- a Geth Juggernaut, a (female) Turian Vanguard, the Edi-like Alliance Infiltration Unit, a Krogan Warlord, and a Talon Engineer -- facing off against a group of Reaper Brutes and Banshees.
New weapons include the Geth Spitfire (a portable Gatling Gun), the Venom Shotgun, and the Bloodpack Executioner Pistol. Among the new gadgets and equipment on offer, you can expect to find amplifiers for sub-machine guns and pistols, ultralight materials for shotguns and assault rifles, and the Batarian Gauntlet, which replaces any heavy melee attack with the Batarian’s signature punch.
“Reckoning,” available today on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, is the last planned content pack,...
- 2/26/2013
- by MTV Video Games
- MTV Multiplayer
By Joseph Leray
Red Thread Games has revealed more of the world of “Dreamfall Chapters,” the third game in the cult classic series that includes “The Longest Journey” and “Dreamfall”: to celebrate surpassing the $1 million mark in the game’s Kickstarter campaign, fans and backers were treated to a look at Europolis.
Europolis is “a vast European city-state covering the former independent nations of Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium and the Netherlands,” the Norwegian developer writes. “Its blackened, concrete tendrils reach as far north as the Baltic States, and as far south as Paris. Europolis is not just the dark heart of Europe; it is the filthy bowels and bloodied entrails of Europe.”
For a little more context, it helps to know that the universe of “Dreamfall Chapters” is split into two worlds. Arcadia is the game’s traditional fantasy world, full of magic and nature. Red Thread...
Red Thread Games has revealed more of the world of “Dreamfall Chapters,” the third game in the cult classic series that includes “The Longest Journey” and “Dreamfall”: to celebrate surpassing the $1 million mark in the game’s Kickstarter campaign, fans and backers were treated to a look at Europolis.
Europolis is “a vast European city-state covering the former independent nations of Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium and the Netherlands,” the Norwegian developer writes. “Its blackened, concrete tendrils reach as far north as the Baltic States, and as far south as Paris. Europolis is not just the dark heart of Europe; it is the filthy bowels and bloodied entrails of Europe.”
For a little more context, it helps to know that the universe of “Dreamfall Chapters” is split into two worlds. Arcadia is the game’s traditional fantasy world, full of magic and nature. Red Thread...
- 2/26/2013
- by MTV Video Games
- MTV Multiplayer
By Joseph Leray
Lab Zero Games, the minds behind the cross-platform PC and PlayStation 3 fighter “Skullgirls,” are asking fans of the game for $150,000 to create, develop, test, and release a new character: an undead opera singer named Squigly, who hosts a parasitic snake living inside her.
In most cases, this type of thing would be handled internally with publisher money, but there’s a hitch: Autumn Games, the publishers of the Reverge Games-developed “Skullgirls,” is in the middle of a costly legal battle related to some of their other projects. With cash running out, Reverge Laid off the “Skullgirls” team, who reformed as indie outfit Lab Zero to further support the game.
Before the Lab Zero team was laid off, Squigly was about 30% finished, which amounts to a $50,000 discount for the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. Here’s a breakdown of how the money will be used:
•$48,000: Staff Salaries - 8 people...
Lab Zero Games, the minds behind the cross-platform PC and PlayStation 3 fighter “Skullgirls,” are asking fans of the game for $150,000 to create, develop, test, and release a new character: an undead opera singer named Squigly, who hosts a parasitic snake living inside her.
In most cases, this type of thing would be handled internally with publisher money, but there’s a hitch: Autumn Games, the publishers of the Reverge Games-developed “Skullgirls,” is in the middle of a costly legal battle related to some of their other projects. With cash running out, Reverge Laid off the “Skullgirls” team, who reformed as indie outfit Lab Zero to further support the game.
Before the Lab Zero team was laid off, Squigly was about 30% finished, which amounts to a $50,000 discount for the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. Here’s a breakdown of how the money will be used:
•$48,000: Staff Salaries - 8 people...
- 2/26/2013
- by MTV Video Games
- MTV Multiplayer
By Joseph Leray
“Riot” is a game by Italian designer and former Valve cinematographer Leonard Menchiari about the power dynamics that take place during social upheavals. The game’s premise and muted, “Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery”-inspired pixel art are eye-catching, and Menchiari’s goals are ambitious.
Influenced by demonstrations in his own country, Menchiari hopes to provide a relatively objective exploration how and why riots happen, and how they must be handled. Players can control a mob, but “playing as a cop is also essential,” he says. “My goal is to expose as many aspects as I can of both sides, from both perspectives.”
To make that happen, Menchiari is asking for $15,000 to pay for Menchiari to travel to social demonstrations happening throughout Italy, Greece, and Egypt, as well as to purchase software licenses and pay for basic living expenses while the game is developed and tested.
Neither the game...
“Riot” is a game by Italian designer and former Valve cinematographer Leonard Menchiari about the power dynamics that take place during social upheavals. The game’s premise and muted, “Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery”-inspired pixel art are eye-catching, and Menchiari’s goals are ambitious.
Influenced by demonstrations in his own country, Menchiari hopes to provide a relatively objective exploration how and why riots happen, and how they must be handled. Players can control a mob, but “playing as a cop is also essential,” he says. “My goal is to expose as many aspects as I can of both sides, from both perspectives.”
To make that happen, Menchiari is asking for $15,000 to pay for Menchiari to travel to social demonstrations happening throughout Italy, Greece, and Egypt, as well as to purchase software licenses and pay for basic living expenses while the game is developed and tested.
Neither the game...
- 2/26/2013
- by MTV Video Games
- MTV Multiplayer
Despite having passed away far too young in 1995, promising writer-director Joseph B. Vasquez is getting another film before cameras. The late filmmaker’s screenplay, “The House That Jack Built,” has just begun production in New York under the direction of Henry Barrial, whose “Some Body” played in the Sundance competition in 2001. In 1991, Vasquez's debut film “Hangin’ With the Homeboys” played at the Sundance Film Festival in competition with Richard Linklater’s “Slacker,” Hal Hartley’s “Trust” and Todd Haynes’ grand jury prize-winning “Poison.” Vasquez shared the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award with Hartley and was considered a talent to watch until mental illness derailed his career and AIDS took his life. He only made one more film, the 1995 romance “Manhattan Merengue.” “The House That Jack Built” stars E.J. Bonilla (“Guiding...
- 5/29/2012
- by Jay A. Fernandez
- Indiewire
Janet Grillo is an Emmy Award winning producer, an Award winning writer and director, and a former Studio Executive. We date back to our days as acquisitions executives in the late 80s when I was with Republic and she was with New Line and based in New York. She came to L.A. for the American Film Market and stayed downtown. One day she went to a well known antique book store called Caravan Books (founded in 1954 and still operating!), located underneath the Biltmore Hotel at 5th and Grand and was held up at gunpoint! We were all totally confouned by such New York style brazenness confronting our New York friend.
In 2007, Janet executive produced the esteemed documentary Autism: The Musical with Bunim Murray Productions, which premiered on HBO in March, 2008. It is distributed by New Video. Autism: The Musical received the coveted audience awards at Newport, Palm Springs and Mill Valley Film Festivals, and premiered to uniformly excellent reviews at the Tribeca Film Festival. It was short listed for an Academy Award Nomination. It won two Emmy Awards in 2008, including Outstanding Non Fiction Special (i.e.; Best Documentary).
A filmmaker in her own right, Janet wrote and directed two short films; At the Beach starring Lucinda Jenney, and Flying Lessons starring Dana Delany (Desperate Houswives, Castle, China Beach). Flying Lessons premiered at Palm Springs International Film Festival in August of 2008, to good reviews. It was programmed by many prestigious festivals here and abroad, including the Atlanta, L.A. Short, Rhode Island and San Luis Obispo International Film Festivals. It won the Silver Lei Award for Excellence in Filmmaking at the Honolulu International Film Festival, the Best Dramatic Short at First Look Festival, L.A. and Best Performance at WILDsound Short Film Festival in Toronto, Canada. Her feature script, Fly Away, won the Dylan Thomas Award for Best International Screenplay from the 2010 Swansea Bay Film Festival in Wales.
Made as a SAG Ultra-Low Budget Independent film, and shot in 14 days, Fly Away premiered as 1 of 8 out of 2000 submissions in Dramatic Competition at the influential South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, this March.
Fly Away, went on to win the Best Film and Special Jury Prize for Performance (Ashley Rickards) at the Arizona International Film Festival. The film opened immediately afterwards in April 2011, in limited theatrical engagement, to rave reviews. It is currently distributed by FlatironFilms/ New Video via iTunes, NetFlix, Amazon and VOD/Time Warner-Comcast.
The complex portrayals of a single mother and her severely autistic teenager daughter (Beth Broderick and Ashley Rickards, who does not actually have the disorder), in collaboration with a talented ensemble, were widely lauded by major critics, as “exceptional...remarkable...first rate...as natural as breathing...The actors are so exemplary it is hard to imagine this is not a documentary,” and “deserving of an Oscar Nomination.”
Critical Acclaim For
Fly Away
“Fly Away is a gripping, life-enhancing low-budget little film about the physically and emotionally punishing struggles of a single mother raising an autistic child. The actors are so exemplary that it is difficult to imagine this is not a documentary. They might not be household names, but they will be...As the mother, Beth Broderick is as natural as breathing... In a class by herself (Rickards), she deserves, at the very least, an Oscar nomination. Not since Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker has any actor portrayed a handicapped child (especially one with autism) with the same depth of passion and realism. Her emotional range seems to know no limits. She’s more heartbreaking than the movie itself, and that is very high praise indeed.”
- The New York Observer By Rex Reed
“The lovely, heartbreaking "Fly Away" benefits from superb performances and a gripping story managed with simplicity and grace by writer-producer-director Janet Grillo. As sensitive and affecting as this mother-daughter drama may be, the film skillfully bypasses its genre's potential pitfalls, opting for intimacy over sensationalism, poignancy over sentimentality.... Broderick is wonderful, a delicate mix of the resolute and resigned, her face a quietly expressive map of pain and pride. But enough can't be said about Rickards, best known from TV's "One Tree Hill," who so convincingly embodies Mandy's wild child spontaneity, startling effusiveness and unwieldy physicality. She's remarkable — in a remarkably challenging role.”
- La Times By Gary Goldstein
“Treading warily into territory that few dramas dare to explore, “Fly Away” is a defiantly unsentimental look at the complex codependency between a harried single mother and her severely autistic daughter... Taking a coolheaded approach to hot-button issues, “Fly Away” overcomes its neatly bow-tied ending with strong performances (including Greg Germann as a sensitive neighbor) and a spare, intelligent script. Ms. Grillo has no need of wordiness: Jeanne’s bruised body and exhausted face say it all.”
- New York Times By Jeannette Catsoulis
“The best thing a serious, no-nonsense movie can do is give us a glimpse into the world of someone whose experiences are so far away from our own that they are difficult for us to even imagine... Jeanne is multidimensional in a very real, down to earth sense...Broderick plays Jeanne with a lost look on her face. She is overwhelmed by her circumstances, but is determined to persevere. After many changes in key, when the symphony that is this film comes to a close, we see that Jeanne may be about to face her biggest challenge yet. An ending can be seen as a new beginning, and this film leaves me hoping for a sequel.”
- Huffington Post By Joseph Smigelski
Also highly awarded, Ashley Rickards, the extraordinary young actress who plays the severely autistic teen Mandy, also stars in the new MTV comedy hit, Awkward. For which she was just listed as one of the 10 Breakout TV stars of 2011 in Entertainment Weekly. Ashley is Not autistic, obviously. Although most people think she is, after watching the film. She turned 18 when she shot Fly Away. Pretty remarkable range and talent, and at such a young age.
Previously, Janet worked at New Line Cinema for ten years, rising through the ranks to become the Senior Vice President of Production, East Coast. During this time she established an outstanding track record initiating the careers of many emerging filmmakers, including Reggie Hudlin, for whom she developed his feature debut, House Party. The film received the coveted Audience Award at Sundance, and went on to become a cult classic, grossing $25 million in North American theatrical revenues on a budget of $1.5 million. Janet then executive produced its two financially successful sequels. At New Line, Janet developed and executive produced Joseph B. Vasquez's acclaimed feature Hangin with the Homeboys starring John Leguizamo. It received the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance. She then went on to develop and associate produce Pump Up the Volume starring Christian Slater, as well as Ted Demme directorial debut, Who's The Man. The same year, she also managed to develop and executive produce David O. Russell acclaimed feature debut, Spanking the Monkey. It won the Sundance Audience Award and launched his prestigious career.
After a decade at New Line, Janet left to produce independently. Since then she executive produced the critically acclaimed independent feature, Joe The King, which won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Along with Ruth Charny (Grace of My Heart and Search and Destroy), Janet produced Searching for Paradise, which was developed by the Sundance Institute, and distributed on the Sundance Channel.
A Magna Cum Laude graduate of Wesleyan University in Connecticut, with an Honors in Theatre, Janet also trained at William Esper Acting Studio in New York City. While completing her Mfa in Dramatic Writing at Nyu Tisch School of the Arts, she served as Assistant Literary Manager for Circle Repertory Company, where she was also a member of their Playwright Workshop Lab. In addition, Janet was a finalist for the American Film Innstitute Women's Workshop in Directing, 2008. Her feature screenplay, 2B, was a finalist for the Sundance Screenwriting Lab in 2009. Her plays have been publicly read at Playwrights' Horizons and by actors including Annette Bening, Patricia Arquette, Catherine O'Hara, Hart Bochner, Dana Delany, Bradley Whitford and Jane Kazmarek. She is a member of the Playwrights Workshop at Ensemble Studio Theatre, West. A frequent blogger for The Huffington Post, Janet is also an Autism Advocacy activist. The mother of a son on the Autism Spectrum, she served as a Board Member of Cure Autism Now, which merged with Autism Speaks in 2007. She currently resides in Los Angeles.
In 2007, Janet executive produced the esteemed documentary Autism: The Musical with Bunim Murray Productions, which premiered on HBO in March, 2008. It is distributed by New Video. Autism: The Musical received the coveted audience awards at Newport, Palm Springs and Mill Valley Film Festivals, and premiered to uniformly excellent reviews at the Tribeca Film Festival. It was short listed for an Academy Award Nomination. It won two Emmy Awards in 2008, including Outstanding Non Fiction Special (i.e.; Best Documentary).
A filmmaker in her own right, Janet wrote and directed two short films; At the Beach starring Lucinda Jenney, and Flying Lessons starring Dana Delany (Desperate Houswives, Castle, China Beach). Flying Lessons premiered at Palm Springs International Film Festival in August of 2008, to good reviews. It was programmed by many prestigious festivals here and abroad, including the Atlanta, L.A. Short, Rhode Island and San Luis Obispo International Film Festivals. It won the Silver Lei Award for Excellence in Filmmaking at the Honolulu International Film Festival, the Best Dramatic Short at First Look Festival, L.A. and Best Performance at WILDsound Short Film Festival in Toronto, Canada. Her feature script, Fly Away, won the Dylan Thomas Award for Best International Screenplay from the 2010 Swansea Bay Film Festival in Wales.
Made as a SAG Ultra-Low Budget Independent film, and shot in 14 days, Fly Away premiered as 1 of 8 out of 2000 submissions in Dramatic Competition at the influential South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, this March.
Fly Away, went on to win the Best Film and Special Jury Prize for Performance (Ashley Rickards) at the Arizona International Film Festival. The film opened immediately afterwards in April 2011, in limited theatrical engagement, to rave reviews. It is currently distributed by FlatironFilms/ New Video via iTunes, NetFlix, Amazon and VOD/Time Warner-Comcast.
The complex portrayals of a single mother and her severely autistic teenager daughter (Beth Broderick and Ashley Rickards, who does not actually have the disorder), in collaboration with a talented ensemble, were widely lauded by major critics, as “exceptional...remarkable...first rate...as natural as breathing...The actors are so exemplary it is hard to imagine this is not a documentary,” and “deserving of an Oscar Nomination.”
Critical Acclaim For
Fly Away
“Fly Away is a gripping, life-enhancing low-budget little film about the physically and emotionally punishing struggles of a single mother raising an autistic child. The actors are so exemplary that it is difficult to imagine this is not a documentary. They might not be household names, but they will be...As the mother, Beth Broderick is as natural as breathing... In a class by herself (Rickards), she deserves, at the very least, an Oscar nomination. Not since Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker has any actor portrayed a handicapped child (especially one with autism) with the same depth of passion and realism. Her emotional range seems to know no limits. She’s more heartbreaking than the movie itself, and that is very high praise indeed.”
- The New York Observer By Rex Reed
“The lovely, heartbreaking "Fly Away" benefits from superb performances and a gripping story managed with simplicity and grace by writer-producer-director Janet Grillo. As sensitive and affecting as this mother-daughter drama may be, the film skillfully bypasses its genre's potential pitfalls, opting for intimacy over sensationalism, poignancy over sentimentality.... Broderick is wonderful, a delicate mix of the resolute and resigned, her face a quietly expressive map of pain and pride. But enough can't be said about Rickards, best known from TV's "One Tree Hill," who so convincingly embodies Mandy's wild child spontaneity, startling effusiveness and unwieldy physicality. She's remarkable — in a remarkably challenging role.”
- La Times By Gary Goldstein
“Treading warily into territory that few dramas dare to explore, “Fly Away” is a defiantly unsentimental look at the complex codependency between a harried single mother and her severely autistic daughter... Taking a coolheaded approach to hot-button issues, “Fly Away” overcomes its neatly bow-tied ending with strong performances (including Greg Germann as a sensitive neighbor) and a spare, intelligent script. Ms. Grillo has no need of wordiness: Jeanne’s bruised body and exhausted face say it all.”
- New York Times By Jeannette Catsoulis
“The best thing a serious, no-nonsense movie can do is give us a glimpse into the world of someone whose experiences are so far away from our own that they are difficult for us to even imagine... Jeanne is multidimensional in a very real, down to earth sense...Broderick plays Jeanne with a lost look on her face. She is overwhelmed by her circumstances, but is determined to persevere. After many changes in key, when the symphony that is this film comes to a close, we see that Jeanne may be about to face her biggest challenge yet. An ending can be seen as a new beginning, and this film leaves me hoping for a sequel.”
- Huffington Post By Joseph Smigelski
Also highly awarded, Ashley Rickards, the extraordinary young actress who plays the severely autistic teen Mandy, also stars in the new MTV comedy hit, Awkward. For which she was just listed as one of the 10 Breakout TV stars of 2011 in Entertainment Weekly. Ashley is Not autistic, obviously. Although most people think she is, after watching the film. She turned 18 when she shot Fly Away. Pretty remarkable range and talent, and at such a young age.
Previously, Janet worked at New Line Cinema for ten years, rising through the ranks to become the Senior Vice President of Production, East Coast. During this time she established an outstanding track record initiating the careers of many emerging filmmakers, including Reggie Hudlin, for whom she developed his feature debut, House Party. The film received the coveted Audience Award at Sundance, and went on to become a cult classic, grossing $25 million in North American theatrical revenues on a budget of $1.5 million. Janet then executive produced its two financially successful sequels. At New Line, Janet developed and executive produced Joseph B. Vasquez's acclaimed feature Hangin with the Homeboys starring John Leguizamo. It received the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance. She then went on to develop and associate produce Pump Up the Volume starring Christian Slater, as well as Ted Demme directorial debut, Who's The Man. The same year, she also managed to develop and executive produce David O. Russell acclaimed feature debut, Spanking the Monkey. It won the Sundance Audience Award and launched his prestigious career.
After a decade at New Line, Janet left to produce independently. Since then she executive produced the critically acclaimed independent feature, Joe The King, which won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Along with Ruth Charny (Grace of My Heart and Search and Destroy), Janet produced Searching for Paradise, which was developed by the Sundance Institute, and distributed on the Sundance Channel.
A Magna Cum Laude graduate of Wesleyan University in Connecticut, with an Honors in Theatre, Janet also trained at William Esper Acting Studio in New York City. While completing her Mfa in Dramatic Writing at Nyu Tisch School of the Arts, she served as Assistant Literary Manager for Circle Repertory Company, where she was also a member of their Playwright Workshop Lab. In addition, Janet was a finalist for the American Film Innstitute Women's Workshop in Directing, 2008. Her feature screenplay, 2B, was a finalist for the Sundance Screenwriting Lab in 2009. Her plays have been publicly read at Playwrights' Horizons and by actors including Annette Bening, Patricia Arquette, Catherine O'Hara, Hart Bochner, Dana Delany, Bradley Whitford and Jane Kazmarek. She is a member of the Playwrights Workshop at Ensemble Studio Theatre, West. A frequent blogger for The Huffington Post, Janet is also an Autism Advocacy activist. The mother of a son on the Autism Spectrum, she served as a Board Member of Cure Autism Now, which merged with Autism Speaks in 2007. She currently resides in Los Angeles.
- 2/22/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
A look at what's new on DVD today:
"Tesis" (1996)
Directed by Alejandro Amenabar
Released by Widowmaker Films
Long out of print, "The Others" director Alejandro Amenabar's debut about a grad student's discovery of a snuff film is being remastered and rereleased by Widowmaker Films.
"Alice in Murderland" (2011)
Directed by Dennis Devine
Released by Brain Damage Films
A year after Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" scared the bejeezus out of kids in multiplexes everywhere, this horror take on Lewis Carroll's classic fairy tale aims to do so intentionally on DVD players around the country.
"America, America" (1963)
Directed by Elia Kazan
Released by Fox Home Entertainment
Elia Kazan's most personal film based on the story of his uncle's immigration to the United States from Turkey, where as a Greek his family is persecuted, was already released as part of last year's Kazan boxed set, but now will be...
"Tesis" (1996)
Directed by Alejandro Amenabar
Released by Widowmaker Films
Long out of print, "The Others" director Alejandro Amenabar's debut about a grad student's discovery of a snuff film is being remastered and rereleased by Widowmaker Films.
"Alice in Murderland" (2011)
Directed by Dennis Devine
Released by Brain Damage Films
A year after Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" scared the bejeezus out of kids in multiplexes everywhere, this horror take on Lewis Carroll's classic fairy tale aims to do so intentionally on DVD players around the country.
"America, America" (1963)
Directed by Elia Kazan
Released by Fox Home Entertainment
Elia Kazan's most personal film based on the story of his uncle's immigration to the United States from Turkey, where as a Greek his family is persecuted, was already released as part of last year's Kazan boxed set, but now will be...
- 2/6/2011
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
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