The fall is often perceived as the launch pad for awards season, as numerous prestige films compete for attention in the final weeks of the year. For much of the film community, however, it’s also the first major window into movies worth talking about next year. That’s because the Sundance Film Festival lineup typically drops in the middle of November, shaking up the holiday season with a mixture of familiar faces and newcomers who could make an impact in Park City this January. With programmers working in overdrive to complete the lineup in the coming weeks, and filmmakers praying to break through as the deadlines loom, we’ve cobbled together as much intel as we can for this extensive preview featuring dozens of promising titles that stand a good chance at making their way to Sundance this year. As usual, we’ve tried to avoid projects that are...
- 11/20/2017
- by Eric Kohn, Jude Dry, Chris O'Falt, Kate Erbland, Jenna Marotta, David Ehrlich and Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
An Encore Edition. Peckinpah's macabre South of the border shoot 'em up is back for a second limited edition, with a new commentary. It's still a picture sure to separate the Peckinpah lovers from the auteur tourists - it's grisly, grim and resolutely exploitative, but also has about it a streak of grimy honesty. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia Blu-ray Twilight Time Encore Edition 1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date September, 2016 / available through Screen Archives Entertainment / 29.95 Starring Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Robert Webber, Gig Young, Helmut Dantine, Emilio Fernández, Kris Kristofferson, Chano Urueta, Jorge Russek, Enrique Lucero, Janine Maldonado, Richard Bright, Sharon Peckinpah, Garner Simmons. Cinematography Álex Phillips Jr. Art Direction Agustín Ituarte Film Editors Garth Craven, Dennis E. Dolan, Sergio Ortega, Robbe Roberts Original Music Jerry Fielding Written by Sam Peckinpah, Gordon T. Dawson, Frank Kowalski Produced by Martin Baum, Helmut Dantine, Gordon T. Dawson Directed by...
- 10/4/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Latin American premiere of Garth Davis’ Oscar season hopeful Lion will screen at the fifth Los Cabos International Film Festival, set to run in Mexico from November 9-13.
Kleber Mendonça Filho’s acclaimed Brazilian film Aquarius gets its Mexican premiere, as does Babak Anvari’s UK foreign language Oscar submission Under The Shadow.
Danis Tanovic’s Serbian Oscar contender Death In Sarajevo receives its Latin American premiere. Michael Dudok’s The Red Turtle also screens.
Vitagraph Films will open the aforementioned Aquarius in the Us on October 14 at the Arclight Cinemas Hollywood. Nationwide rollout will follow the October 14th debut. Sonia Braga stars as a feisty retired music critic caught up in a tense property redevelopment scheme. The Us premiere will take place at the New York Film Festival.The George Lucas Family Foundation has established the Haskell Wexler Endowed Chair in Documentary at the USC School Of Cinematic Arts. The first holder...
Kleber Mendonça Filho’s acclaimed Brazilian film Aquarius gets its Mexican premiere, as does Babak Anvari’s UK foreign language Oscar submission Under The Shadow.
Danis Tanovic’s Serbian Oscar contender Death In Sarajevo receives its Latin American premiere. Michael Dudok’s The Red Turtle also screens.
Vitagraph Films will open the aforementioned Aquarius in the Us on October 14 at the Arclight Cinemas Hollywood. Nationwide rollout will follow the October 14th debut. Sonia Braga stars as a feisty retired music critic caught up in a tense property redevelopment scheme. The Us premiere will take place at the New York Film Festival.The George Lucas Family Foundation has established the Haskell Wexler Endowed Chair in Documentary at the USC School Of Cinematic Arts. The first holder...
- 9/28/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Stars: Samantha Eggar, Stuart Whitman, Roy Jenson, Lew Saunders, Narciso Busquets, José Chávez, Haji, Erika Carlsson, Whitey Hughes, Al Jones, George Soviak, Ted White | Written by Alfredo Zacarías, David Lee Fein, F. Amos Powell | Directed by Alfredo Zacarías
Samantha Eggar (The Brood) stars as Jennifer Baines a woman who is visiting her wealthy industrialist husband Mark (Roy Jenson, Soylent Green) in the small city of Guanajuato, Mexico. Mark is currently planning to reopen a mine which is is rich in silver. Unfortunately for him, his workforce is comprised of superstitious locals who refuse to go deep in to the mine. To prove everything is fine, Jennifer suggests that the pair go deep down in to the mine, but they get more than what they bargained for; a severed hand. “The Devil’s Hand” to be precise. With their workforce even more terrified, things surely can’t get any worse can they?...
Samantha Eggar (The Brood) stars as Jennifer Baines a woman who is visiting her wealthy industrialist husband Mark (Roy Jenson, Soylent Green) in the small city of Guanajuato, Mexico. Mark is currently planning to reopen a mine which is is rich in silver. Unfortunately for him, his workforce is comprised of superstitious locals who refuse to go deep in to the mine. To prove everything is fine, Jennifer suggests that the pair go deep down in to the mine, but they get more than what they bargained for; a severed hand. “The Devil’s Hand” to be precise. With their workforce even more terrified, things surely can’t get any worse can they?...
- 12/22/2015
- by Mondo Squallido
- Nerdly
From big blockbusters to small independent films, here are the movies I.m dying to see this Fall. (Official synopsis provided by studios)
September 18 (Friday)
About Ray When a young woman (Elle Fanning) decides to transition from female to male, her announcement is met with both opposition and support from her mother (Naomi Watts) and her lesbian grandmother (Susan Sarandon).
Black Mass In 1970s South Boston, FBI Agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) persuades Irish mobster James "Whitey" Bulger (Johnny Depp) to collaborate with the FBI and eliminate a common enemy: the Italian mob. The drama tells the story of this unholy alliance, which spiraled out of control, allowing Whitey to evade law enforcement, consolidate power, and become one of the most ruthless and powerful gangsters in Boston history. -- (C) Warner Bros
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials In this next chapter of the epic "Maze Runner" saga, Thomas (Dylan O'Brien...
September 18 (Friday)
About Ray When a young woman (Elle Fanning) decides to transition from female to male, her announcement is met with both opposition and support from her mother (Naomi Watts) and her lesbian grandmother (Susan Sarandon).
Black Mass In 1970s South Boston, FBI Agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) persuades Irish mobster James "Whitey" Bulger (Johnny Depp) to collaborate with the FBI and eliminate a common enemy: the Italian mob. The drama tells the story of this unholy alliance, which spiraled out of control, allowing Whitey to evade law enforcement, consolidate power, and become one of the most ruthless and powerful gangsters in Boston history. -- (C) Warner Bros
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials In this next chapter of the epic "Maze Runner" saga, Thomas (Dylan O'Brien...
- 9/4/2015
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Producer Robert Evans, circa 1970s, in the documentary The Kid Stays in the Picture.
Robert Evans: The Kid Is Alright
By
Alex Simon
I interviewed legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans in 2002 for Venice Magazine, in conjunction with the release of the documentary "The Kid Stays in the Picture," adapted from his iconic autobiography and audiobook. Our chat took place at Woodland, Evans' storied estate in Beverly Hills, in his equally famous screening room, which mysteriously burned down a couple years later. Evans was still physically frail, having recently survived a series of strokes, but his mind, his wit and his charm were sharp as ever, with near total recall for people, places and stories. Many, many stories. Here are a few of them.
It’s a widely-held belief that the years 1967-76 represent the “golden age” of American cinema. Just look at a few of these titles: Rosemary’s Baby,...
Robert Evans: The Kid Is Alright
By
Alex Simon
I interviewed legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans in 2002 for Venice Magazine, in conjunction with the release of the documentary "The Kid Stays in the Picture," adapted from his iconic autobiography and audiobook. Our chat took place at Woodland, Evans' storied estate in Beverly Hills, in his equally famous screening room, which mysteriously burned down a couple years later. Evans was still physically frail, having recently survived a series of strokes, but his mind, his wit and his charm were sharp as ever, with near total recall for people, places and stories. Many, many stories. Here are a few of them.
It’s a widely-held belief that the years 1967-76 represent the “golden age” of American cinema. Just look at a few of these titles: Rosemary’s Baby,...
- 7/5/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Ewan McGregor, Jane Seymour, Malcolm McDowell and Hong Kong director Johnnie To among the guests set to attend the festival.Scroll down for competition titles
The line-up for the 69th Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) has been unveiled this morning by new artistic director Mark Adams.
This year’s Eiff (June 17-28) will comprise 164 features from 36 countries, including 24 world premieres, eight international premieres, 16 European premieres and 84 UK premieres.
Highlights including the UK premiere of Asif Kapadia’s documentary Amy, about the life of singer Amy Winehouse; the latest Disney-Pixar animation Inside Out; Arnold Schwarzenegger in zombie drama Maggie; comedy The D-Train, starring Jack Black and James Marsden; and a biopic of The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, Love & Mercy, in which John Cusack and Paul Dano play different aged versions of the musician.
Classic Screenings will include a rare outing for Noel Marshall’s Roar, a cult 1981 big cat movie.
Star power
This year’s Eiff will present...
The line-up for the 69th Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) has been unveiled this morning by new artistic director Mark Adams.
This year’s Eiff (June 17-28) will comprise 164 features from 36 countries, including 24 world premieres, eight international premieres, 16 European premieres and 84 UK premieres.
Highlights including the UK premiere of Asif Kapadia’s documentary Amy, about the life of singer Amy Winehouse; the latest Disney-Pixar animation Inside Out; Arnold Schwarzenegger in zombie drama Maggie; comedy The D-Train, starring Jack Black and James Marsden; and a biopic of The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, Love & Mercy, in which John Cusack and Paul Dano play different aged versions of the musician.
Classic Screenings will include a rare outing for Noel Marshall’s Roar, a cult 1981 big cat movie.
Star power
This year’s Eiff will present...
- 5/27/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has unveiled its 2015 line-up which includes films representing 54 countries, 23 world premieres and 53 U.S. premieres. The U.S. premiere of Niki Caro’s McFarland USA will close out the 30th fest. Based on the 1987 true story and starring Kevin Costner and Maria Bello, the film follows novice runners from McFarland, an economically challenged town in California’s farm-rich Central Valley, as they give their all to build a cross-country team under the direction of Coach Jim White (Costner), a newcomer to their predominantly Latino high school. The unlikely band of runners overcomes the odds to forge not only a championship cross-country team but an enduring legacy as well.
The festival runs from January 27-February 7.
Below is the list of World and U.S. Premiere films followed by the list of titles by sidebar categories.
World Premieres
A Better You, USA
Directed by Matt Walsh
Cast: Brian Huskey,...
The festival runs from January 27-February 7.
Below is the list of World and U.S. Premiere films followed by the list of titles by sidebar categories.
World Premieres
A Better You, USA
Directed by Matt Walsh
Cast: Brian Huskey,...
- 1/8/2015
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline
Update, Tuesday, 4:02 Am Pt: A couple of things have happened in the world of international box office since late Sunday night. We now know that The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part I will not be bowing in China in the 2014 calendar year, and we have a little more insight into why Korea is like the proverbial black hole for Interstellar (in the good sense). Exerting an incredible gravitational pull, Korea has advanced itself as a massive $35.9M play (so far) for Christopher Nolan’s intergalactic epic. Here’s why: There is a very strong and vocal Nolan fanbase in Korea, which has generated astronomical word of mouth in the market. I’m told there were a few midnight screenings the night before the opening on November 6, and online buzz began building immediately. The not-so-spacey elements have also played very well, with the emotional and family sub-plots broadening appeal. Worth...
- 11/18/2014
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline
Name and focus changes for every section, which are now all competitive, resulting in the festival’s structure being “slimmer’.
The ninth Rome Film Festival (Oct 16-25) has revealed a diverse line-up including the Italian premieres for potential awards contenders including David Fincher’s Gone Girl. the world premiere of Takashi Miike’s As the Gods Will and Burhan Qurbani’s We are Young, We are Strong and European premiere of Oren Moverman’s Time Out of Mind, Toronto hit Still Alice and Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.
This year for the first time the award-winners in each section of the programme will be decided by the audience on the basis of votes cast after the screenings.
Each section has changed name and focus for 2014 and are all competitive, resulting in the festival’s structure being “slimmer’.
Italian comedies Soap Opera and Andiamo a Quel Paese bookend the line-up.
Full line-up
Cinema D’Oggi
World premiere
• Angely...
The ninth Rome Film Festival (Oct 16-25) has revealed a diverse line-up including the Italian premieres for potential awards contenders including David Fincher’s Gone Girl. the world premiere of Takashi Miike’s As the Gods Will and Burhan Qurbani’s We are Young, We are Strong and European premiere of Oren Moverman’s Time Out of Mind, Toronto hit Still Alice and Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.
This year for the first time the award-winners in each section of the programme will be decided by the audience on the basis of votes cast after the screenings.
Each section has changed name and focus for 2014 and are all competitive, resulting in the festival’s structure being “slimmer’.
Italian comedies Soap Opera and Andiamo a Quel Paese bookend the line-up.
Full line-up
Cinema D’Oggi
World premiere
• Angely...
- 9/29/2014
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
As we look in the rearview mirror of the summer blockbusters, September heralds the start of the fall movie season. Filled with Hollywood heavyweights and A-listers, here’s our Big list of the most anticipated movies coming to cinemas this autumn and during the holidays.
Our exhaustive list includes films that are playing at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival as well the ones that already have a theatrical release date. With the awards season on the horizon, we also added a few bonus films at the end to keep your eye out for in the months ahead.
Pull up a chair, grab a pen and paper and get ready for Wamg’s Guide to the 100+ Films This Fall And Holiday Season.
We kick it off with what’s showing in Toronto at the film festival that runs September 4 – 14.
Maps To The Stars – September 2014 – Toronto International Film Festival; UK & Ireland September...
Our exhaustive list includes films that are playing at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival as well the ones that already have a theatrical release date. With the awards season on the horizon, we also added a few bonus films at the end to keep your eye out for in the months ahead.
Pull up a chair, grab a pen and paper and get ready for Wamg’s Guide to the 100+ Films This Fall And Holiday Season.
We kick it off with what’s showing in Toronto at the film festival that runs September 4 – 14.
Maps To The Stars – September 2014 – Toronto International Film Festival; UK & Ireland September...
- 8/29/2014
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound unveiled today the independent directors and composers selected for Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Lab – Documentary. Set for September 15-23 at Skywalker Ranch in California’s Marin County, it’s the second of two music and sound design labs for 2014. Sundance Institute will host 15 residential labs this year, collectively representing 20 weeks of residency support and mentorship. Below are the artists and projects selected for the music and sound design docu lab:
Related:
Sundance Institute Creates 2014 Episodic Story Lab For TV & Online Writers
Sundance Institute Selects 12 Projects For Screenwriters Lab
Filmmakers
Marc Silver (director) / 3 1/2 Minutes: 3 1⁄2 Minutes dissects the shooting death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis, the aftermath of this tragedy and contradictions within the American criminal justice system.
Mike Day (director) / The Island and the Whales: The pilot whale hunters of the Nordic Faroe Islands believe that hunting is vital to their way of life, but...
Related:
Sundance Institute Creates 2014 Episodic Story Lab For TV & Online Writers
Sundance Institute Selects 12 Projects For Screenwriters Lab
Filmmakers
Marc Silver (director) / 3 1/2 Minutes: 3 1⁄2 Minutes dissects the shooting death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis, the aftermath of this tragedy and contradictions within the American criminal justice system.
Mike Day (director) / The Island and the Whales: The pilot whale hunters of the Nordic Faroe Islands believe that hunting is vital to their way of life, but...
- 8/21/2014
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline
Take a look at the end credits of any given Sundance preemed title, and you’ll more than likely find the name of Michelle Satter in the “special thanks” portion. Just how all encompassing is the Sundance Institute support in helping spread filmmaker’s wings? With a whopping fifteen yearly labs, it goes without saying, that there are many folks that got a leg up thanks to Satter and co.
Fittingly and not surprisingly, the month of September is when the festival portion (programming) gets into high gear, and it’s also when the 2014 Sundance Institute Music & Sound Design Labs (Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound) help out with the docu branch. Now in its second year, lucky folks Marc Silver, Mike Day, Anna Sandilands and Ewan McNicol, Bill Ross and Turner Ross (see pic of duo above) are being paired with some audibly cool folk.
Here is the press release...
Fittingly and not surprisingly, the month of September is when the festival portion (programming) gets into high gear, and it’s also when the 2014 Sundance Institute Music & Sound Design Labs (Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound) help out with the docu branch. Now in its second year, lucky folks Marc Silver, Mike Day, Anna Sandilands and Ewan McNicol, Bill Ross and Turner Ross (see pic of duo above) are being paired with some audibly cool folk.
Here is the press release...
- 8/20/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
In the first part of this extensive interview with Richard Ray Perez, the filmmaker revisited in detail the unbelievable course of events that would lead him to helm this project. In this second part, Perez talked to us about the challenges particular to his film in the editing room, his profound relationship with Chavez' cause from an early age, the distinct strengths of both his piece and the recently released narrative film on the leader's life.
Read the first part of the Interview Here
Carlos Aguilar: Besides the fact that opportunity to make the film presented itself to you in such a incredibly serendipitous manner, did you have any sort of personal connection to the Chavez story?
Richard Ray Perez: In 1969 I was 4 years old, I was in Head Start, which is this public pre-school for poor kids where you get free lunch. There were these university students who used to come and volunteer, mostly from Cal State Northridge. One day me and the other preschool kids were sitting around the desk, we were having our free lunch, and part of it was a fruit cocktail. I noticed one of the college students when he started eating his, he was plucking the grapes out of the fruit cocktail. I asked him, “How come you are doing that?” and he said, “Because the people who own the grape fields they treat the people who picked the grapes terribly. They pay them very little money, they make them live in shacks, they humiliate them, and if they complaint they fired them.” I remember looking down at my grapes, and I saw everything he said in my them. They looked really ugly, and I couldn’t bring myself to eat them, so I started plucking the grapes our of my fruit cocktail. All the other kids that were listening, they looked down at the grapes and they also started plucking them out. None of us ate the grapes for the rest of the year. After that, the ones that continued to be on the free lunch program all through elementary school, I remember we would never eat the grapes.
That was when I was 4 years old, then I went on to learn that my dad had been a migrant farm worker before I was born for 22 years. At that time when I was in preschool I still had aunts and uncles in central California who were farmworkers. Within a couple years the boycott came to my hometown, 20 miles from here in the Northeast valley. They came and they set up picket lines in front of the super markets. My parents would join and they'd take me, and my brothers and sisters. Very early on I was aware of the grape boycott but not really knowing much, then eventually I became more consciously aware thanks to my family supporting the movement.
Aguilar: When did you become aware of Cesar Chavez not in an abstract way, but as the face of the movement?
Perez: I would probably say 7 or 8 years old, not long after. I remember watching TV in 1970 and understanding the news about the Vietnam War. I remember seeing him on TV with the grape strikes. When he came to town, we would go visit my aunts and uncles and my dad would talk to them and ask "Has Chavez been around here?,"so I was aware if him pretty young.
Aguilar: After reviewing the footage and learning so much bout Chavez, how did your perception of him change?
Perez: That was the hardest part, learning that Cesar Chavez wasn't a perfect man. It really began around 2005, there was a series of articles in the L.A. Times written by Miriam Pawel. She is somebody who has written one book about the farmworker movement and one about Cesar Chavez - the first comprehensive biography. When she was a writer for the L.A. Times, she wrote a 4 or 5-part article about the Ufw. It started with the ineffectiveness of today's Ufw and how today's farmworkers are living under the same conditions before Cesar organized them. Then it started going into the latter years and accused Cesar of being an authoritarian, purging people from the union, suspecting people were communists and marginalizing them, really having this control impulses.
There was starting to be more writing about that. People who were purged for the union themselves started writing. One very credible guy, who is now a professor at Harvard, he wrote a book. That was the tough part, to realize all these things about a guy who up until then had been inaccurately portrayed as a saint. His sainthood is edged on your psyche, he is an icon. To learn that he has this darker side, that he is imperfect, and then try to reconcile that realizing it's possible for imperfect people to do amazing things. Because he left a trail of wreckage by not tolerating descent and authoritarianism, that doesn't diminish what he did, it just adds to the complexity of this man. In the end what he did was phenomenal, how he did it, or how his control issues may have halbert the success of the union in the later years, that's a different problem. But I do think those negative things are also true.
Aguilar: The narrative film focuses on the lack of a close relationship between Cesar and his family, why did you decide to not delve into this subject?
Perez: The family relationships didn't seem penetrable. There was no real way to getting that in an honest manner. During the interviews I asked Paul some questions like "Was it hard being his son?." He gave very generic answers "I knew I had to share him" or "He would only show up for part of my sisters' weddings." I didn't have the material to really convey the emotional weight, if there was any behind it. Also, it wasn't that interesting, I didn't think it was interesting in the narrative film. I thought it was forced. It wasn't fully developed, it was like "Cesar go take out the trash and talk to Fernando." It was pasted on the way they tried to deal with his shortcoming of some sort. I'm sure he couldn't have been a perfect dad because of the life he chose. It wasn't the story I wanted to tell. The power was in the fast, and the spiritual commitment, that's what came from the material. I really worked with the most emotional and powerful material that there was, and I constructed the story around that.
Aguilar: As you mention, the spiritual component is crucial for your film. How did you deal with this idea of sainthood around him?
Perez: What was interesting about that sainthood thing, and we talked about this early on with Paul. The archdiocese at one point went to the Chavez family and said, “We want to put him up for sainthood”, and he replied, “My dad was not a saint we don’t want to go there." Whoever represented the church said, “You don’t understand, some saints were really bad people. Some were murderers, and philanders, etc. But they had a shift in their lives”. Some of them have these questionable backgrounds, so we have a misconception of sainthood. That was something really interesting. It also sort of intersected with where I was in my life at that point, spiritually. Growing up, they tried to raise me Catholic, and I was really rebellious. I was very anti-Catholic and anti-Christian for most of my adult life. By the time I came across that material I was much more understanding of the power of Christianity. I’m not a Christian anymore I’m a Buddhist, but by the time I was working on the film I had been meditating regularly for about 7 years. I had a lot of compassion for Christianity, and I saw this and thought, “What this man is doing is intense.” There was all this passion we are not even used to seeing, certainly not in this country, in Mexico yes, people are willing to crawl on their knees for a mile based on their faith. I was raised here, and while I knew that was sort of my grandmother’s Catholicism, I was still shocked by how intense this was. I got it right away because where I was spiritually I saw the power in what he was doing.
Aguilar: With the recent release of the narrative film Cesar Chavez, what do you think are the differences and individual strengths between that film and your documentary?
Perez: I think they are complimentary. The narrative is great because it is getting a broad audience and it is almost like the “Cesar 101,” really introducing this generation of Americans, and possibly a global audience, to who this man was. In that respect it’s doing a wonderful job. From what I hear, people that knew nothing or very little about Chavez really liked the narrative film, this is a mainstream audience. I think it really opens up the door for my film, which, like most documentaries, is targeting a different audience. The documentary is an opportunity for a deeper dive into the subject and much heavier part of his life – the spiritual life.
There is a difference in the form itself between the two. There are two reasons why I’m a documentary filmmaker. The main reason is the power of the medium. The most powerful films I’ve seen have been documentaries. Of course, there are some narrative films that I could never forget, but there are more documentaries that have had that impact on me. The power of the documentary film, when done well, I think is usually more impacting than a narrative, at least for me. The other reason is that documentaries are cheaper, they are more accessible to make.
Aguilar: How did you manipulate and balance the material to create the powerful effect the film has on audiences?
Perez: That’s exactly what a filmmaker working with his editors does. How do you edit this material against all the other material? How do you, on the micro level, sequence the shots to get that effect. Then on the macro level how do you arrange them in the larger 90-minute arc? When I first started watching the footage I had a conceptual idea, but then the challenge was to figure out how to organize that idea onto paper, and then into the edit room being limited by the material you have. Like most documentary editing it was a lot of trial and error. For me it was always important not to bore the audience with information but keeping it around storytelling. I tell people “I’m not a journalist and I’m not a historian, I’m a storyteller."
Therefore I’m going to manipulate these pieces of reality or these piece of truth –because there is no one truth- to put them together into this shape with a desired effect. That’s what I think the essence of documentary filmmaking is, how do you manipulate the material to create an emotional impact, as opposed to just delivering information. “Cesar Chavez was born in Arizona in 1926, then this happened, etc” like those old school PBS documentaries. An example of how we approached the sequencing is the fact that Lorena Parlee didn’t start shooting until day 23 of his fast. We didn’t have Day 1, or Day 2, none of that, but we had to create this impression that the cameras were there at the beginning to sort of launch the ticking clock. I think there is like a Day 10 in there or a Day 15, then Day 24. In the credits we admit “Hey we got a bit creative with the Day numbers” That was a conscious decision I made as an artist.
Aguilar: Where there any images or episode that you decides not to include? If so, why?
Perez: There was a great story where Martin Sheen talks about how he first met Cesar Chavez. It’s a funny story and Martin Sheen is a great storyteller, but we could not find place for it. There was other material I wish I could have included like the granddaughters stitching the lining of the coffin. On the other hand, there were some interviews where people had some really strong opinions about Cesar in the latter days. First of all, I don’t know how credible they were, and I think it would have been irresponsible to include them. There was stuff like these examples that didn’t make it because I don’t think they would have helped the story.
Aguilar: How do you think your film will resonate with "Chicanos" or Mexican Americans, given that Chavez is perhaps their most iconic hero?
Perez: Chicanos are an interesting group, partly because we tend to self-segregate and we have a bit of a chip on our shoulder. A lot of ethnic and minorities do that, that’s why there is a craving for feel-good history, they might say “We are just as good as everybody else, we can fight”. I’m sure it’s going to resonate with them. That’s great. One of the powers I saw in my lifetime came from Cesar Chavez organizing. My dad was beat down from being a farmworker and an uneducated factory worker, and he had this inferiority complex because of that. When he would go out and interact in the “White World” he became a demure man. But when Cesar Chavez came along and showed him that Mexican Americans and Mexicans had power to fight back and challenge the system, I could see that it gave him pride. All of a sudden he felt empowered, that’s incredible. It is not just Chicanos or Mexicans; it is really about poor people. For them to see the film and think that poor people can organize and demand dignity and rights and that it has been done in the past, that would be a wonderful for them to get from the film.
Aguilar: After all the difficulties to make the film, the endless hours watching footage, and through that, getting to know this man, who is Cesar Chavez for you?
Perez: Cesar is this is uniquely committed man. He is committed in a way I think few people on this Earth are. Now, he has flaws, and probably some serious flaws, but it could take that type of person to make those changes. Yeah, he was probably a control freak, yes he probably didn’t tolerate descent, but if you think about what he did, and the commitment, that’s some heavy stuff. I wouldn’t be able to do it, most people wouldn’t be able to do it. He is a deeply committed man who is complicated, but most interesting human beings are complicated. He made immensely positive impact on society. The fact that he was a flawed man shouldn’t undermine all the positive that he accomplished.
Cesar's Last Fast opens in L.A. on April 25th and it's currently playing in New York...
Read the first part of the Interview Here
Carlos Aguilar: Besides the fact that opportunity to make the film presented itself to you in such a incredibly serendipitous manner, did you have any sort of personal connection to the Chavez story?
Richard Ray Perez: In 1969 I was 4 years old, I was in Head Start, which is this public pre-school for poor kids where you get free lunch. There were these university students who used to come and volunteer, mostly from Cal State Northridge. One day me and the other preschool kids were sitting around the desk, we were having our free lunch, and part of it was a fruit cocktail. I noticed one of the college students when he started eating his, he was plucking the grapes out of the fruit cocktail. I asked him, “How come you are doing that?” and he said, “Because the people who own the grape fields they treat the people who picked the grapes terribly. They pay them very little money, they make them live in shacks, they humiliate them, and if they complaint they fired them.” I remember looking down at my grapes, and I saw everything he said in my them. They looked really ugly, and I couldn’t bring myself to eat them, so I started plucking the grapes our of my fruit cocktail. All the other kids that were listening, they looked down at the grapes and they also started plucking them out. None of us ate the grapes for the rest of the year. After that, the ones that continued to be on the free lunch program all through elementary school, I remember we would never eat the grapes.
That was when I was 4 years old, then I went on to learn that my dad had been a migrant farm worker before I was born for 22 years. At that time when I was in preschool I still had aunts and uncles in central California who were farmworkers. Within a couple years the boycott came to my hometown, 20 miles from here in the Northeast valley. They came and they set up picket lines in front of the super markets. My parents would join and they'd take me, and my brothers and sisters. Very early on I was aware of the grape boycott but not really knowing much, then eventually I became more consciously aware thanks to my family supporting the movement.
Aguilar: When did you become aware of Cesar Chavez not in an abstract way, but as the face of the movement?
Perez: I would probably say 7 or 8 years old, not long after. I remember watching TV in 1970 and understanding the news about the Vietnam War. I remember seeing him on TV with the grape strikes. When he came to town, we would go visit my aunts and uncles and my dad would talk to them and ask "Has Chavez been around here?,"so I was aware if him pretty young.
Aguilar: After reviewing the footage and learning so much bout Chavez, how did your perception of him change?
Perez: That was the hardest part, learning that Cesar Chavez wasn't a perfect man. It really began around 2005, there was a series of articles in the L.A. Times written by Miriam Pawel. She is somebody who has written one book about the farmworker movement and one about Cesar Chavez - the first comprehensive biography. When she was a writer for the L.A. Times, she wrote a 4 or 5-part article about the Ufw. It started with the ineffectiveness of today's Ufw and how today's farmworkers are living under the same conditions before Cesar organized them. Then it started going into the latter years and accused Cesar of being an authoritarian, purging people from the union, suspecting people were communists and marginalizing them, really having this control impulses.
There was starting to be more writing about that. People who were purged for the union themselves started writing. One very credible guy, who is now a professor at Harvard, he wrote a book. That was the tough part, to realize all these things about a guy who up until then had been inaccurately portrayed as a saint. His sainthood is edged on your psyche, he is an icon. To learn that he has this darker side, that he is imperfect, and then try to reconcile that realizing it's possible for imperfect people to do amazing things. Because he left a trail of wreckage by not tolerating descent and authoritarianism, that doesn't diminish what he did, it just adds to the complexity of this man. In the end what he did was phenomenal, how he did it, or how his control issues may have halbert the success of the union in the later years, that's a different problem. But I do think those negative things are also true.
Aguilar: The narrative film focuses on the lack of a close relationship between Cesar and his family, why did you decide to not delve into this subject?
Perez: The family relationships didn't seem penetrable. There was no real way to getting that in an honest manner. During the interviews I asked Paul some questions like "Was it hard being his son?." He gave very generic answers "I knew I had to share him" or "He would only show up for part of my sisters' weddings." I didn't have the material to really convey the emotional weight, if there was any behind it. Also, it wasn't that interesting, I didn't think it was interesting in the narrative film. I thought it was forced. It wasn't fully developed, it was like "Cesar go take out the trash and talk to Fernando." It was pasted on the way they tried to deal with his shortcoming of some sort. I'm sure he couldn't have been a perfect dad because of the life he chose. It wasn't the story I wanted to tell. The power was in the fast, and the spiritual commitment, that's what came from the material. I really worked with the most emotional and powerful material that there was, and I constructed the story around that.
Aguilar: As you mention, the spiritual component is crucial for your film. How did you deal with this idea of sainthood around him?
Perez: What was interesting about that sainthood thing, and we talked about this early on with Paul. The archdiocese at one point went to the Chavez family and said, “We want to put him up for sainthood”, and he replied, “My dad was not a saint we don’t want to go there." Whoever represented the church said, “You don’t understand, some saints were really bad people. Some were murderers, and philanders, etc. But they had a shift in their lives”. Some of them have these questionable backgrounds, so we have a misconception of sainthood. That was something really interesting. It also sort of intersected with where I was in my life at that point, spiritually. Growing up, they tried to raise me Catholic, and I was really rebellious. I was very anti-Catholic and anti-Christian for most of my adult life. By the time I came across that material I was much more understanding of the power of Christianity. I’m not a Christian anymore I’m a Buddhist, but by the time I was working on the film I had been meditating regularly for about 7 years. I had a lot of compassion for Christianity, and I saw this and thought, “What this man is doing is intense.” There was all this passion we are not even used to seeing, certainly not in this country, in Mexico yes, people are willing to crawl on their knees for a mile based on their faith. I was raised here, and while I knew that was sort of my grandmother’s Catholicism, I was still shocked by how intense this was. I got it right away because where I was spiritually I saw the power in what he was doing.
Aguilar: With the recent release of the narrative film Cesar Chavez, what do you think are the differences and individual strengths between that film and your documentary?
Perez: I think they are complimentary. The narrative is great because it is getting a broad audience and it is almost like the “Cesar 101,” really introducing this generation of Americans, and possibly a global audience, to who this man was. In that respect it’s doing a wonderful job. From what I hear, people that knew nothing or very little about Chavez really liked the narrative film, this is a mainstream audience. I think it really opens up the door for my film, which, like most documentaries, is targeting a different audience. The documentary is an opportunity for a deeper dive into the subject and much heavier part of his life – the spiritual life.
There is a difference in the form itself between the two. There are two reasons why I’m a documentary filmmaker. The main reason is the power of the medium. The most powerful films I’ve seen have been documentaries. Of course, there are some narrative films that I could never forget, but there are more documentaries that have had that impact on me. The power of the documentary film, when done well, I think is usually more impacting than a narrative, at least for me. The other reason is that documentaries are cheaper, they are more accessible to make.
Aguilar: How did you manipulate and balance the material to create the powerful effect the film has on audiences?
Perez: That’s exactly what a filmmaker working with his editors does. How do you edit this material against all the other material? How do you, on the micro level, sequence the shots to get that effect. Then on the macro level how do you arrange them in the larger 90-minute arc? When I first started watching the footage I had a conceptual idea, but then the challenge was to figure out how to organize that idea onto paper, and then into the edit room being limited by the material you have. Like most documentary editing it was a lot of trial and error. For me it was always important not to bore the audience with information but keeping it around storytelling. I tell people “I’m not a journalist and I’m not a historian, I’m a storyteller."
Therefore I’m going to manipulate these pieces of reality or these piece of truth –because there is no one truth- to put them together into this shape with a desired effect. That’s what I think the essence of documentary filmmaking is, how do you manipulate the material to create an emotional impact, as opposed to just delivering information. “Cesar Chavez was born in Arizona in 1926, then this happened, etc” like those old school PBS documentaries. An example of how we approached the sequencing is the fact that Lorena Parlee didn’t start shooting until day 23 of his fast. We didn’t have Day 1, or Day 2, none of that, but we had to create this impression that the cameras were there at the beginning to sort of launch the ticking clock. I think there is like a Day 10 in there or a Day 15, then Day 24. In the credits we admit “Hey we got a bit creative with the Day numbers” That was a conscious decision I made as an artist.
Aguilar: Where there any images or episode that you decides not to include? If so, why?
Perez: There was a great story where Martin Sheen talks about how he first met Cesar Chavez. It’s a funny story and Martin Sheen is a great storyteller, but we could not find place for it. There was other material I wish I could have included like the granddaughters stitching the lining of the coffin. On the other hand, there were some interviews where people had some really strong opinions about Cesar in the latter days. First of all, I don’t know how credible they were, and I think it would have been irresponsible to include them. There was stuff like these examples that didn’t make it because I don’t think they would have helped the story.
Aguilar: How do you think your film will resonate with "Chicanos" or Mexican Americans, given that Chavez is perhaps their most iconic hero?
Perez: Chicanos are an interesting group, partly because we tend to self-segregate and we have a bit of a chip on our shoulder. A lot of ethnic and minorities do that, that’s why there is a craving for feel-good history, they might say “We are just as good as everybody else, we can fight”. I’m sure it’s going to resonate with them. That’s great. One of the powers I saw in my lifetime came from Cesar Chavez organizing. My dad was beat down from being a farmworker and an uneducated factory worker, and he had this inferiority complex because of that. When he would go out and interact in the “White World” he became a demure man. But when Cesar Chavez came along and showed him that Mexican Americans and Mexicans had power to fight back and challenge the system, I could see that it gave him pride. All of a sudden he felt empowered, that’s incredible. It is not just Chicanos or Mexicans; it is really about poor people. For them to see the film and think that poor people can organize and demand dignity and rights and that it has been done in the past, that would be a wonderful for them to get from the film.
Aguilar: After all the difficulties to make the film, the endless hours watching footage, and through that, getting to know this man, who is Cesar Chavez for you?
Perez: Cesar is this is uniquely committed man. He is committed in a way I think few people on this Earth are. Now, he has flaws, and probably some serious flaws, but it could take that type of person to make those changes. Yeah, he was probably a control freak, yes he probably didn’t tolerate descent, but if you think about what he did, and the commitment, that’s some heavy stuff. I wouldn’t be able to do it, most people wouldn’t be able to do it. He is a deeply committed man who is complicated, but most interesting human beings are complicated. He made immensely positive impact on society. The fact that he was a flawed man shouldn’t undermine all the positive that he accomplished.
Cesar's Last Fast opens in L.A. on April 25th and it's currently playing in New York...
- 4/24/2014
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
This Friday April 25th The Filadelfia celebrates its third annual edition with an impressive line up of the best of Latino film from Mexico to Chile to Colombia, The Us and even a film made with the youth of Philly. Opening night film will be the super 1943 classic ‘Maria Candelaria’ starring Dolores Del Rio. For those near the city of brotherly amor we’ve done ya homework and listed their films below!
Opening Night: Maria Candelaria (Mexico)
Starring Dolores del Rio and Pedro Armendáriz, Maria Candelaria was the first Mexican film to be screened at the Cannes International Film Festival, and the first Latin American film awarded the Gran Prix. Gabriel Figueroa, the film’s cinematographer, was nominated for an Academy Award for The Night of the Iguana, and is often referred to as “the Fourth Muralist” of Mexico.
A young journalist presses an old artist (Alberto Galán ) to show a portrait of a naked indigenous woman that he has in his study. The body of the movie is a flashback to Xochimilco, Mexico, in 1909. The film is set right before the Mexican Revolution, and Xochimilco is an area with beautiful landscapes inhabited mostly by indigenous people.
The woman in the painting is María Candelaria (Dolores del Rio), a young Indian woman who is constantly rejected by her own people for being the daughter of a prostitute. She and her lover, Lorenzo Rafael (Pedro Armendariz), face constant struggles throughout the film. They are honest and hardworking, yet nothing ever goes right for them. Don Damian (Miguel Inclán), a jealous Mestizo store owner who wants María for himself, prevents them from getting married. He kills a piglet that María and Lorenzo plan to sell for profit and he refuses to buy vegetables from them. When María falls ill with malaria, Don Damian refuses to give the couple the quinine medicine necessary to fight the disease. Lorenzo breaks into his shop to steal the medicine, and he also takes a wedding dress for María. Lorenzo goes to prison for stealing, and María agrees to model for the painter to pay for his release. The artist begins painting a portrait of María, but when he asks her to pose nude she refuses.
The artist finishes the painting with the nude body of another woman. When the people of Xochimilco see the painting, they assume it is María Candelaria and stone her to death.Finally, Lorenzo escapes from prison )to carry María's lifeless body through Xochimilco's canal of the dead.
Bad Hair/Pelo Malo (Venezuela)
The third film from the filmmaker and plastic artist Mariana Rondón, Pelo Malo stars Junior, a 9 year-old with "bad hair". He wants to have it straightened for his yearbook picture, like a fashionable pop singer. This puts him at odds with his mother Marta. The more Junior tries to look sharp and make his mother love him, the more she rejects him, until he is cornered, face to face with a painful decision.
To Kill A Man/Matar A Un Hombre (Chile)
Read the Review
Read the Interview with Dir. Alejandro Fernandez Almendras
A thriller about a hardworking family man Jorge who is just barely making ends meet. When he gets mugged by Kalule, a neighborhood delinquent, Jorge's son decides to confront Kalule, only to get himself shot in the process. Sentenced to a scant 2 years in prison for the offense, Kalule, released and now intent on revenge, goes on the warpath, terrorizing Jorge's family. With his wife, son and daughter at the mercy of a thug, Jorge has no choice but to take justice into his own hands, and live with the emotional and psychological consequences.
Lines of class and masculinity ignite friction in this rugged thriller, adeptly shot with a discerning eye. Director Alejandro Fernández Almendras elevates raw grit to a new level with a tone that is both elemental and prophetic. Rife with unnerving tension, To Kill a Man is ultimately a surprising exploration of the heavy burden of what it takes to do what the title suggests.
Anina (Colombia)
Read the Review
Anina Yatay Salas is a ten-year-old girl. All her names form palindromes, making her the butt of her classmates’ jokes, and especially of Yisel’s, who Anina sees as an “elephant.” One day, fed up with all the taunting, Anina starts a fight with Yisel during recess. The incident ends with the principal penalizing the girls and calling their parents.Anina receives her punishment inside a sealed black envelope, which she is told not to open until she meets with the principal again a week later.She is also forbidden to tell anyone about the envelope. Her classmates pressure her to find out what the punishment will be, while they imagine cruel physical torture.
Anina, in her anxiousness to find out what horrible punishment awaits her in the mysterious black envelope, will get mixed up in a series of troubles, involving secret loves, confessed hatreds, close friendships, dreadful enemies, some loving teachers, and also some evil teachers.Without her realizing it, Anina’s efforts to understand the content of the envelope turn into an attempt to understand the world and her place in it.
The Devil’S Music (USA)
When the new sound of jazz first spread across America in the early twentieth-century, it left delight – and controversy – in its wake.As jazz's popularity grew, so did campaigns to censor "the devil's music." This documentary classic has been hailed by the New York Times as a documentary that "addressing the complex interaction of race and class… engages viewers in a conversation as vigorous as the art it chronicles,” featuring timeless performances by artists such as Louis Armstrong and vocalist Rachelle Ferrelle, plus interviews with giants of social and musical criticism such as Albert Murray, Marian MacPartland, Studs Terkel, and Michael Eric Dyson. The Devil's Music is Written, Produced and Directed by Maria Agui Carter and Calvin A. Lindsay Jr., and Narrated by Dion Graham.
I, Undocumented/Yo, Indocumentada (Venezuela)
Yo Indocumentada (I, Undocumented) , exposes the struggles of transgender people in Venezuela. The film, Andrea Baranenko’s first feature-length production, tells the story of three Venezuelan women fighting for their right to have an identity.
Tamara Adrián, 58, is a lawyer; Desirée Pérez, 46, is a hairdresser; and Victoria González, 27, has been a visual arts student since 2009. These women share more than their nationality: they all carry identifications with masculine names that do not correspond to their actual identities. They are transgender women, who long ago assumed their gender and now defend it in a homophobic and transphobic society.
The House That Jack Built (USA )
Jack Maldonado is an ambitious Latino man who fueled by misguided nostalgia, buys a small apartment building in the Bronx and moves his family into the apartments to live rent-free. His parents, Carlos and Martha, sister Nadia, brother Richie and his wife Rosa, Grandmother/Abuela and cousins Hector and Manny, all under one roof. Tension builds quickly as Jack imposes his views on everyone around him, including his fiancée, Lily. All the while, he hides the fact that his corner store is a front for selling marijuana but soon has to deal with new unwanted competitive forces. It's only a matter of time before Jack's family and 'business' lives collide in tragic fashion.
Aqui Y Alla Crossing Borders (USA)
The “Aquí y Allá’ transnational public art project explored the impact of immigration in the lives of Mexican immigrant youth in Philadelphia in connection with youth in Chihuahua, Mexico. The documentary highlights the testimonials of the youth on both sides of the border working towards the creation of a collaborative mural in South Philadelphia.
Cesar’S Last Fast (USA)
Read the Review
In 1988, Cesar Chavez embarked on what would be his last act of protest in his remarkable life. Driven in part to pay penance for feeling he had not done enough, Chavez began his “Fast for Life,” a 36-day water-only hunger strike, to draw attention to the horrific effects of unfettered pesticide use on farm workers, their families, and their communities.
Using never-before-seen footage of Chavez during his fast and testimony from those closest to him, directors Richard Ray Perez and Lorena Parlee weave together the larger story of Chavez’s life, vision, and legacy. A deeply religious man, Chavez’s moral clarity in organizing and standing with farm workers at risk of his own life humbled his family, friends, and the world. Cesar’s Last Fast is a moving and definitive portrait of the leader of a people who became an American icon of struggle and freedom.
La Camioneta (Guantemala)
Every day dozens of decommissioned school buses leave the United States on a southward migration that carries them to Guatemala, where they are repaired, repainted, and resurrected as the brightly-colored camionetas that bring the vast majority of Guatemalans to work each day. La Camioneta follows one such bus on its transformative journey: a journey between North and South, between life and death, and through an unfolding collection of moments, people, and places that serve to quietly remind us of the interconnected worlds in which we live.
Forbidden Lovers Meant To Be (USA)
Working with talented high school students from North Philadelphia at Taller Puertorriqueño’s Youth Artist Program, filmmakers Joanna Siegel, Melissa Beatriz Skolnick, and Kate Zambon sought to capture the personal and artistic journeys of the youth through film. While facilitating collaborative film workshops with the students, themes of race/ethnicity, cultures, language, and identity emerged. Throughout this process of engaging in story development and visual representation, the students created a video of their own, while the filmmakers documented the process using metafilm techniques. The students' short film, Forbidden Lovers Meant to Be, highlights the talent and creativity of these youth. Forbidden Lovers Meant to Be was created by the spring 2012 Youth Artist Program participants: Amy Lee Flores, Ricardo Lopez, Michael Mendez, Zayris Rivera, Tashyra Suarez, Nestor Tamayo, Yoeni Torres, Karina Ureña Vargas, and Kara Williams. (Amy Lee Flores, Ricardo Lopez, Michael Mendez)
Tire Die (Argentina)
The first film of the first Latin American documentary film school (The Escuela Documental de Santa Fe), this documentary focuses on the children in the neighborhood known as Tire Dié in the city of Santa Fe, Argentina, who wait daily for the passing train to ask for money from the passengers, shouting “Tire dié!” (Toss me a dime!).
Dubbed as the father of the New Latin American Cinema, Fernando Birriwas one of the first filmmakers to document poverty and underdevelopment. Tire Dié was part of the exhibition, Latin American Visions, produced by International House, 1989-1991.
The Illiterates/Las Analfabetas (Chile)
Ximena, played by the incomparable Paulina García (Gloria) is an illiterate woman in her fifties, who has learned to live on her own to keep her illiteracy a secret. Jackeline, is a young unemployed elementary school teacher, who tries to convince Ximena to take reading classes. Persuading her proves to be an almost impossible task, till one day, Jackeline finds something Ximena has been keeping as her only treasure since she was a child: a letter Ximena’s father left when he abandoned her many years before. Thus, the two women embark on a learning journey where they discover that there are many ways of being illiterate, and that not knowing how to read is just one of them.
For the schedule please visit: http://flaff.org/
Written by Juan Caceres . 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 [At]LatinoBuzz on Twitter and Facebook...
Opening Night: Maria Candelaria (Mexico)
Starring Dolores del Rio and Pedro Armendáriz, Maria Candelaria was the first Mexican film to be screened at the Cannes International Film Festival, and the first Latin American film awarded the Gran Prix. Gabriel Figueroa, the film’s cinematographer, was nominated for an Academy Award for The Night of the Iguana, and is often referred to as “the Fourth Muralist” of Mexico.
A young journalist presses an old artist (Alberto Galán ) to show a portrait of a naked indigenous woman that he has in his study. The body of the movie is a flashback to Xochimilco, Mexico, in 1909. The film is set right before the Mexican Revolution, and Xochimilco is an area with beautiful landscapes inhabited mostly by indigenous people.
The woman in the painting is María Candelaria (Dolores del Rio), a young Indian woman who is constantly rejected by her own people for being the daughter of a prostitute. She and her lover, Lorenzo Rafael (Pedro Armendariz), face constant struggles throughout the film. They are honest and hardworking, yet nothing ever goes right for them. Don Damian (Miguel Inclán), a jealous Mestizo store owner who wants María for himself, prevents them from getting married. He kills a piglet that María and Lorenzo plan to sell for profit and he refuses to buy vegetables from them. When María falls ill with malaria, Don Damian refuses to give the couple the quinine medicine necessary to fight the disease. Lorenzo breaks into his shop to steal the medicine, and he also takes a wedding dress for María. Lorenzo goes to prison for stealing, and María agrees to model for the painter to pay for his release. The artist begins painting a portrait of María, but when he asks her to pose nude she refuses.
The artist finishes the painting with the nude body of another woman. When the people of Xochimilco see the painting, they assume it is María Candelaria and stone her to death.Finally, Lorenzo escapes from prison )to carry María's lifeless body through Xochimilco's canal of the dead.
Bad Hair/Pelo Malo (Venezuela)
The third film from the filmmaker and plastic artist Mariana Rondón, Pelo Malo stars Junior, a 9 year-old with "bad hair". He wants to have it straightened for his yearbook picture, like a fashionable pop singer. This puts him at odds with his mother Marta. The more Junior tries to look sharp and make his mother love him, the more she rejects him, until he is cornered, face to face with a painful decision.
To Kill A Man/Matar A Un Hombre (Chile)
Read the Review
Read the Interview with Dir. Alejandro Fernandez Almendras
A thriller about a hardworking family man Jorge who is just barely making ends meet. When he gets mugged by Kalule, a neighborhood delinquent, Jorge's son decides to confront Kalule, only to get himself shot in the process. Sentenced to a scant 2 years in prison for the offense, Kalule, released and now intent on revenge, goes on the warpath, terrorizing Jorge's family. With his wife, son and daughter at the mercy of a thug, Jorge has no choice but to take justice into his own hands, and live with the emotional and psychological consequences.
Lines of class and masculinity ignite friction in this rugged thriller, adeptly shot with a discerning eye. Director Alejandro Fernández Almendras elevates raw grit to a new level with a tone that is both elemental and prophetic. Rife with unnerving tension, To Kill a Man is ultimately a surprising exploration of the heavy burden of what it takes to do what the title suggests.
Anina (Colombia)
Read the Review
Anina Yatay Salas is a ten-year-old girl. All her names form palindromes, making her the butt of her classmates’ jokes, and especially of Yisel’s, who Anina sees as an “elephant.” One day, fed up with all the taunting, Anina starts a fight with Yisel during recess. The incident ends with the principal penalizing the girls and calling their parents.Anina receives her punishment inside a sealed black envelope, which she is told not to open until she meets with the principal again a week later.She is also forbidden to tell anyone about the envelope. Her classmates pressure her to find out what the punishment will be, while they imagine cruel physical torture.
Anina, in her anxiousness to find out what horrible punishment awaits her in the mysterious black envelope, will get mixed up in a series of troubles, involving secret loves, confessed hatreds, close friendships, dreadful enemies, some loving teachers, and also some evil teachers.Without her realizing it, Anina’s efforts to understand the content of the envelope turn into an attempt to understand the world and her place in it.
The Devil’S Music (USA)
When the new sound of jazz first spread across America in the early twentieth-century, it left delight – and controversy – in its wake.As jazz's popularity grew, so did campaigns to censor "the devil's music." This documentary classic has been hailed by the New York Times as a documentary that "addressing the complex interaction of race and class… engages viewers in a conversation as vigorous as the art it chronicles,” featuring timeless performances by artists such as Louis Armstrong and vocalist Rachelle Ferrelle, plus interviews with giants of social and musical criticism such as Albert Murray, Marian MacPartland, Studs Terkel, and Michael Eric Dyson. The Devil's Music is Written, Produced and Directed by Maria Agui Carter and Calvin A. Lindsay Jr., and Narrated by Dion Graham.
I, Undocumented/Yo, Indocumentada (Venezuela)
Yo Indocumentada (I, Undocumented) , exposes the struggles of transgender people in Venezuela. The film, Andrea Baranenko’s first feature-length production, tells the story of three Venezuelan women fighting for their right to have an identity.
Tamara Adrián, 58, is a lawyer; Desirée Pérez, 46, is a hairdresser; and Victoria González, 27, has been a visual arts student since 2009. These women share more than their nationality: they all carry identifications with masculine names that do not correspond to their actual identities. They are transgender women, who long ago assumed their gender and now defend it in a homophobic and transphobic society.
The House That Jack Built (USA )
Jack Maldonado is an ambitious Latino man who fueled by misguided nostalgia, buys a small apartment building in the Bronx and moves his family into the apartments to live rent-free. His parents, Carlos and Martha, sister Nadia, brother Richie and his wife Rosa, Grandmother/Abuela and cousins Hector and Manny, all under one roof. Tension builds quickly as Jack imposes his views on everyone around him, including his fiancée, Lily. All the while, he hides the fact that his corner store is a front for selling marijuana but soon has to deal with new unwanted competitive forces. It's only a matter of time before Jack's family and 'business' lives collide in tragic fashion.
Aqui Y Alla Crossing Borders (USA)
The “Aquí y Allá’ transnational public art project explored the impact of immigration in the lives of Mexican immigrant youth in Philadelphia in connection with youth in Chihuahua, Mexico. The documentary highlights the testimonials of the youth on both sides of the border working towards the creation of a collaborative mural in South Philadelphia.
Cesar’S Last Fast (USA)
Read the Review
In 1988, Cesar Chavez embarked on what would be his last act of protest in his remarkable life. Driven in part to pay penance for feeling he had not done enough, Chavez began his “Fast for Life,” a 36-day water-only hunger strike, to draw attention to the horrific effects of unfettered pesticide use on farm workers, their families, and their communities.
Using never-before-seen footage of Chavez during his fast and testimony from those closest to him, directors Richard Ray Perez and Lorena Parlee weave together the larger story of Chavez’s life, vision, and legacy. A deeply religious man, Chavez’s moral clarity in organizing and standing with farm workers at risk of his own life humbled his family, friends, and the world. Cesar’s Last Fast is a moving and definitive portrait of the leader of a people who became an American icon of struggle and freedom.
La Camioneta (Guantemala)
Every day dozens of decommissioned school buses leave the United States on a southward migration that carries them to Guatemala, where they are repaired, repainted, and resurrected as the brightly-colored camionetas that bring the vast majority of Guatemalans to work each day. La Camioneta follows one such bus on its transformative journey: a journey between North and South, between life and death, and through an unfolding collection of moments, people, and places that serve to quietly remind us of the interconnected worlds in which we live.
Forbidden Lovers Meant To Be (USA)
Working with talented high school students from North Philadelphia at Taller Puertorriqueño’s Youth Artist Program, filmmakers Joanna Siegel, Melissa Beatriz Skolnick, and Kate Zambon sought to capture the personal and artistic journeys of the youth through film. While facilitating collaborative film workshops with the students, themes of race/ethnicity, cultures, language, and identity emerged. Throughout this process of engaging in story development and visual representation, the students created a video of their own, while the filmmakers documented the process using metafilm techniques. The students' short film, Forbidden Lovers Meant to Be, highlights the talent and creativity of these youth. Forbidden Lovers Meant to Be was created by the spring 2012 Youth Artist Program participants: Amy Lee Flores, Ricardo Lopez, Michael Mendez, Zayris Rivera, Tashyra Suarez, Nestor Tamayo, Yoeni Torres, Karina Ureña Vargas, and Kara Williams. (Amy Lee Flores, Ricardo Lopez, Michael Mendez)
Tire Die (Argentina)
The first film of the first Latin American documentary film school (The Escuela Documental de Santa Fe), this documentary focuses on the children in the neighborhood known as Tire Dié in the city of Santa Fe, Argentina, who wait daily for the passing train to ask for money from the passengers, shouting “Tire dié!” (Toss me a dime!).
Dubbed as the father of the New Latin American Cinema, Fernando Birriwas one of the first filmmakers to document poverty and underdevelopment. Tire Dié was part of the exhibition, Latin American Visions, produced by International House, 1989-1991.
The Illiterates/Las Analfabetas (Chile)
Ximena, played by the incomparable Paulina García (Gloria) is an illiterate woman in her fifties, who has learned to live on her own to keep her illiteracy a secret. Jackeline, is a young unemployed elementary school teacher, who tries to convince Ximena to take reading classes. Persuading her proves to be an almost impossible task, till one day, Jackeline finds something Ximena has been keeping as her only treasure since she was a child: a letter Ximena’s father left when he abandoned her many years before. Thus, the two women embark on a learning journey where they discover that there are many ways of being illiterate, and that not knowing how to read is just one of them.
For the schedule please visit: http://flaff.org/
Written by Juan Caceres . 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 [At]LatinoBuzz on Twitter and Facebook...
- 4/23/2014
- by Juan Caceres
- Sydney's Buzz
The Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel García Márquez, who wrote One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, died on Thursday. He was 87.
Gabriel García Márquez Dies
García Márquez had been receiving treatment in a Mexican hospital for dehydration and infections, according to CNN.
"We're left with the memories and the admiration to all Colombians and also Mexicans because I think Gabo was half Mexican and half Colombian. He's just as admired in Mexico as he is in (his native) Colombia, all of Latin America and throughout the world," Jose Gabriel Ortiz, Columbia’s ambassador to Mexico, told CNN en Español.
"I believe they were somehow emotionally ready for this regrettable outcome,” he added. “They knew he was suffering from a complex, terminal disease and was an elderly man. I believe [Garcia Marquez's widow Mercedes Barcha] was getting ready for this moment, although nobody can really prepare themselves for a moment like this.
Gabriel García Márquez Dies
García Márquez had been receiving treatment in a Mexican hospital for dehydration and infections, according to CNN.
"We're left with the memories and the admiration to all Colombians and also Mexicans because I think Gabo was half Mexican and half Colombian. He's just as admired in Mexico as he is in (his native) Colombia, all of Latin America and throughout the world," Jose Gabriel Ortiz, Columbia’s ambassador to Mexico, told CNN en Español.
"I believe they were somehow emotionally ready for this regrettable outcome,” he added. “They knew he was suffering from a complex, terminal disease and was an elderly man. I believe [Garcia Marquez's widow Mercedes Barcha] was getting ready for this moment, although nobody can really prepare themselves for a moment like this.
- 4/18/2014
- Uinterview
Recently during the latest Sundance Film Festival, Ambulante, the non-profit aimed to promote documentary as a tool for social change and cultural transformation, celebrated its upcoming U.S. launch with an Ambulante California reception. Founded by Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Pablo Cruz as part of Canana Films in 2005, this traveling documentary film organization presented two films during the festival Cesar's Last Fast by Richard Ray Perez and Lorena Parlee (Read Carlos Aguilar' Review) and The Measure of All Things by Sam Green and yMusic.
Both Luna and Bernal have had several films played at Sundance in diverse roles as actors, producers, and even directors. Their titles include Who Is Dayani Cristal?, Abel, Sin Nombre, and the breakthrough hit directed by Alfonso Cuaron Y Tu Mama Tambien. "Ambulante was born out of a need to create spaces for cinema in Mexico like those we encountered while traveling to other countries presenting our films" said Diego Lune about the Ambulante initiative. "Throughout the years Sundance has undoubtedly been one of the most significant platforms for me as a filmmaker, and a vital meeting point to connect with the public and artist community. It is a source of inspiration for what we have conceived up until now with Ambulante, and it is very exciting to finally realize our dream of introducing Ambulante California at Park City" concluded the multifaceted Mexican filmmaker.
Executive Director, Elena Fortes said, “We are thrilled to be here representing Ambulante for the first time at the festival. Sundance Institute is the leading champion of supporting urgent non-fiction stories and developing the independent and courageous filmmakers of our time. Through our traveling platform, Ambulante strengthens that shared mission of broadening documentary culture by bringing these films directly to the general public to develop a diverse audience for the non-fiction narrative."
Newly appointed Director of Ambulante California, Christine Davila confirmed the documentary Cesar's Last Fast will be the very first film to be presented at the Ambulante California Film Festival at a special free community screening in Los Angeles in May. "It really could not be more fitting and representative of the programming vision and local context we have in mind for Ambulante California than to inaugurate our California launch with this insightful look at one of our iconic bi-cultural American political leaders.Cesar's Last Fast epitomizes the type of film we deem is crucial to support by bringing it directly to the communities to carve out a space for engagement and the dialogue it sparks. We are looking forward to co-representing the film and creating and inspiring social cinema intervention with the public at large"
Ambulante California is made possible in part through the Ford Foundation. The organization is currently seeking the rest of their funding through their fiscal sponsorship with the International Documentary Association (Ida). Fortes adds, "We are extremely grateful to the Ford Foundation and the Ida for their support in this critical development phase." We also want to thank the Consulate of Mexico in Utah for their support.
The Ambulante California Film Festival tour will run from September 21 to October 4 across the Greater Los Angeles area and each day it will offer a free screening at a different venue, from universities, high schools, and museums, to community centers, parks, and makeshift outdoor spaces. Expanding on Ambulante's global mission, Ambulante California is the first official attempt to establish a long-term presence of Ambulante outside of Latin America. A crowd-funding campaign will be launched in the spring, along with an open submissions call for California-produced documentary short films, a selection of which will be presented as a highlight of the festival. The overall strategy is to make the development of the festival highly interactive by inviting the public to take part in the shaping of the festival. One of the ways to get involved is to vote on which places the Ambulante tour should consider stopping at to put on a screening event.
Ambulante
Ambulante is a non-profit organization that focuses on supporting and promoting documentary film as a tool for social and cultural transformation. Founded in Mexico in 2005 by Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, and Pablo Cruz, Ambulante brings documentary films and training programs to places where they are rarely available in order to create a participative, informed and critical public, cultivate new forms of expression, and encourage debate in Mexico and abroad.
Each year, Ambulante organizes an international film festival that tours Mexico for three months. Ambulante presents over 100 documentaries, invites more than 100 guests from Mexico and abroad, and holds screenings in over 150 venues. Ambulante’s objective is to promote documentary film within Mexico and reach a broader audience by screening films in a wide array of venues.
Ambulante is currently the largest documentary film festival in Mexico. It includes film screenings, workshops, talks, seminars, symposiums, networking panels, documentary theater, drive-in cinema, and a showcase of documentaries at the Ibero-American Music Festival Vive Latino held in Mexico City. Ambulante opens up different ways of experiencing and understanding documentary film. It is a non-competitive film festival, and over 60% of its program is free.
Additionally, Ambulante Beyond aims to train new filmmakers from Latin America who have limited access to the resources that would allow them to share their stories with a wider audience. Through modular workshops designed to meet the specific needs of its participants, Ambulante Beyond fosters independent production and alternative forms of aesthetic expression so that stories can be told from a unique cultural perspective without being constrained by conventional storytelling models.
To learn more about Ambulante and their different traveling programs visit Here...
Both Luna and Bernal have had several films played at Sundance in diverse roles as actors, producers, and even directors. Their titles include Who Is Dayani Cristal?, Abel, Sin Nombre, and the breakthrough hit directed by Alfonso Cuaron Y Tu Mama Tambien. "Ambulante was born out of a need to create spaces for cinema in Mexico like those we encountered while traveling to other countries presenting our films" said Diego Lune about the Ambulante initiative. "Throughout the years Sundance has undoubtedly been one of the most significant platforms for me as a filmmaker, and a vital meeting point to connect with the public and artist community. It is a source of inspiration for what we have conceived up until now with Ambulante, and it is very exciting to finally realize our dream of introducing Ambulante California at Park City" concluded the multifaceted Mexican filmmaker.
Executive Director, Elena Fortes said, “We are thrilled to be here representing Ambulante for the first time at the festival. Sundance Institute is the leading champion of supporting urgent non-fiction stories and developing the independent and courageous filmmakers of our time. Through our traveling platform, Ambulante strengthens that shared mission of broadening documentary culture by bringing these films directly to the general public to develop a diverse audience for the non-fiction narrative."
Newly appointed Director of Ambulante California, Christine Davila confirmed the documentary Cesar's Last Fast will be the very first film to be presented at the Ambulante California Film Festival at a special free community screening in Los Angeles in May. "It really could not be more fitting and representative of the programming vision and local context we have in mind for Ambulante California than to inaugurate our California launch with this insightful look at one of our iconic bi-cultural American political leaders.Cesar's Last Fast epitomizes the type of film we deem is crucial to support by bringing it directly to the communities to carve out a space for engagement and the dialogue it sparks. We are looking forward to co-representing the film and creating and inspiring social cinema intervention with the public at large"
Ambulante California is made possible in part through the Ford Foundation. The organization is currently seeking the rest of their funding through their fiscal sponsorship with the International Documentary Association (Ida). Fortes adds, "We are extremely grateful to the Ford Foundation and the Ida for their support in this critical development phase." We also want to thank the Consulate of Mexico in Utah for their support.
The Ambulante California Film Festival tour will run from September 21 to October 4 across the Greater Los Angeles area and each day it will offer a free screening at a different venue, from universities, high schools, and museums, to community centers, parks, and makeshift outdoor spaces. Expanding on Ambulante's global mission, Ambulante California is the first official attempt to establish a long-term presence of Ambulante outside of Latin America. A crowd-funding campaign will be launched in the spring, along with an open submissions call for California-produced documentary short films, a selection of which will be presented as a highlight of the festival. The overall strategy is to make the development of the festival highly interactive by inviting the public to take part in the shaping of the festival. One of the ways to get involved is to vote on which places the Ambulante tour should consider stopping at to put on a screening event.
Ambulante
Ambulante is a non-profit organization that focuses on supporting and promoting documentary film as a tool for social and cultural transformation. Founded in Mexico in 2005 by Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, and Pablo Cruz, Ambulante brings documentary films and training programs to places where they are rarely available in order to create a participative, informed and critical public, cultivate new forms of expression, and encourage debate in Mexico and abroad.
Each year, Ambulante organizes an international film festival that tours Mexico for three months. Ambulante presents over 100 documentaries, invites more than 100 guests from Mexico and abroad, and holds screenings in over 150 venues. Ambulante’s objective is to promote documentary film within Mexico and reach a broader audience by screening films in a wide array of venues.
Ambulante is currently the largest documentary film festival in Mexico. It includes film screenings, workshops, talks, seminars, symposiums, networking panels, documentary theater, drive-in cinema, and a showcase of documentaries at the Ibero-American Music Festival Vive Latino held in Mexico City. Ambulante opens up different ways of experiencing and understanding documentary film. It is a non-competitive film festival, and over 60% of its program is free.
Additionally, Ambulante Beyond aims to train new filmmakers from Latin America who have limited access to the resources that would allow them to share their stories with a wider audience. Through modular workshops designed to meet the specific needs of its participants, Ambulante Beyond fosters independent production and alternative forms of aesthetic expression so that stories can be told from a unique cultural perspective without being constrained by conventional storytelling models.
To learn more about Ambulante and their different traveling programs visit Here...
- 2/3/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2013—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2013 to create a unique double feature.
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2013 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.
How...
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2013 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.
How...
- 1/13/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Los Angeles, Sep 22 (Ians/Efe) Actress Jennifer Lopez has dropped out of "The 33" movie about the dramatic survival of miners trapped underground for over two months in a mine in Chile.
Entertainment blog Deadline said the actress-singer of Puerto Rican descent was unable to commit to the project due to scheduling problems resulting from her return to TV programme "American Idol".
The film will be directed by Mexico's Patricia Riggen and will feature Antonio Banderas and Martin Sheen.
Banderas will play Mario Sepulvera, a charismatic miner who earned the nickname of "Super Mario" during the 2010 mine collapse in the Atacama desert.
The story revolves around what happened deep in the San Jose mine, where the.
Entertainment blog Deadline said the actress-singer of Puerto Rican descent was unable to commit to the project due to scheduling problems resulting from her return to TV programme "American Idol".
The film will be directed by Mexico's Patricia Riggen and will feature Antonio Banderas and Martin Sheen.
Banderas will play Mario Sepulvera, a charismatic miner who earned the nickname of "Super Mario" during the 2010 mine collapse in the Atacama desert.
The story revolves around what happened deep in the San Jose mine, where the.
- 9/22/2013
- by Lohit Reddy
- RealBollywood.com
Mexico City — Down a narrow, dead-end street in a middle-class neighborhood of Mexico City, a three-story brick house with white window frames gives up no hint of the bizarre, even shocking images that were dreamed up inside.
Luis Bunuel, known as the father of surrealist cinema, lived in the simple, gated house over the last 30 years of his life after settling in Mexico as an exile from post-civil war Spain. For a man who assaulted moviegoers with such shots as an ant-infested hand, an eyeball sliced open with a straight razor, and elegant diners sitting on toilets, Bunuel enjoyed a surprisingly genteel life here.
Now, the Spanish government, which bought the house from Bunuel's family, has opened it to a public long fascinated with his work. The plan is to turn the building into a meeting place for Spanish and Mexican moviemakers, with workshops and occasional exhibits staged to celebrate Spanish-language cinema.
Luis Bunuel, known as the father of surrealist cinema, lived in the simple, gated house over the last 30 years of his life after settling in Mexico as an exile from post-civil war Spain. For a man who assaulted moviegoers with such shots as an ant-infested hand, an eyeball sliced open with a straight razor, and elegant diners sitting on toilets, Bunuel enjoyed a surprisingly genteel life here.
Now, the Spanish government, which bought the house from Bunuel's family, has opened it to a public long fascinated with his work. The plan is to turn the building into a meeting place for Spanish and Mexican moviemakers, with workshops and occasional exhibits staged to celebrate Spanish-language cinema.
- 8/9/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Mexico City (AP) — Author Carlos Fuentes, who played a dominant role in Latin America's novel-writing boom by delving into the failed ideals of the Mexican revolution, died Tuesday in a Mexico City hospital. He was 83. Photos: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2012 Mexico's National Council for Culture for the Arts confirmed the death of Mexico's most celebrated novelist. The cause was not immediately known, said the culture official, who was not authorized to speak to the media. Mexican media reported Fuentes died at the Angeles del Pedregal hospital, where he was being treated for heart problems.
read more...
read more...
- 5/15/2012
- by Associated Press
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
DVD Playhouse—July 2011
By Allen Gardner
The Music Room (Criterion) Satyajit Ray’s 1958 masterpiece looks at the life of a fallen aristocrat as a metaphor for an India that is not only becoming Westernized, but modernized technologically and culturally beyond recognition. When the beloved music room, where he has hosted lavish concerts in the past, starts falling into disrepair as attendance drops steadily, the man realizes his way of life is vanishing. Stunningly shot in black & white, one of Ray’s finest works. Bonuses: Documentary on Ray from 1984 by Shyam Benegal; Interviews with Ray biographer Andrew Robinson and filmmaker Mira Nair; Excerpt from 1981 roundtable discussion between Ray, critic Michael Ciment, director Claude Sautet. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
Beauty And The Beast (Criterion) Jean Cocteau’s sublime adaptation of the classic fairy tale become a beloved classic upon its 1946 release, and hasn’t faded since.
By Allen Gardner
The Music Room (Criterion) Satyajit Ray’s 1958 masterpiece looks at the life of a fallen aristocrat as a metaphor for an India that is not only becoming Westernized, but modernized technologically and culturally beyond recognition. When the beloved music room, where he has hosted lavish concerts in the past, starts falling into disrepair as attendance drops steadily, the man realizes his way of life is vanishing. Stunningly shot in black & white, one of Ray’s finest works. Bonuses: Documentary on Ray from 1984 by Shyam Benegal; Interviews with Ray biographer Andrew Robinson and filmmaker Mira Nair; Excerpt from 1981 roundtable discussion between Ray, critic Michael Ciment, director Claude Sautet. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
Beauty And The Beast (Criterion) Jean Cocteau’s sublime adaptation of the classic fairy tale become a beloved classic upon its 1946 release, and hasn’t faded since.
- 7/7/2011
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Director Roger Spottiswoode.
Neglected Gems of the 1980’s: Roger Spottiswoode Remembers Under Fire
by Jon Zelazny
Editor's Note: The following article appeared on EightMillionStories.com in 2008.
The name may not ring a bell, but Roger Spottiswoode has been directing feature films for nearly thirty years, including popular hits like Turner and Hooch (1989), Air America (1990), and the James Bond adventure Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), as well as outstanding made-for-cable dramas like And the Band Played On (1993), Hiroshima (1995), and Noriega (2000).
2008 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of his remarkable third feature Under Fire, which starred Nick Nolte and Gene Hackman as journalists covering the 1979 revolution in Nicaragua.
It’s generally a given that every Hollywood movie endures a long, tortuous road to find financing, but not Under Fire. It had a long, hard road as well… but only after the film had been completed. Roger Spottiswoode and I spoke by phone:
You began your career as an editor,...
Neglected Gems of the 1980’s: Roger Spottiswoode Remembers Under Fire
by Jon Zelazny
Editor's Note: The following article appeared on EightMillionStories.com in 2008.
The name may not ring a bell, but Roger Spottiswoode has been directing feature films for nearly thirty years, including popular hits like Turner and Hooch (1989), Air America (1990), and the James Bond adventure Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), as well as outstanding made-for-cable dramas like And the Band Played On (1993), Hiroshima (1995), and Noriega (2000).
2008 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of his remarkable third feature Under Fire, which starred Nick Nolte and Gene Hackman as journalists covering the 1979 revolution in Nicaragua.
It’s generally a given that every Hollywood movie endures a long, tortuous road to find financing, but not Under Fire. It had a long, hard road as well… but only after the film had been completed. Roger Spottiswoode and I spoke by phone:
You began your career as an editor,...
- 4/12/2009
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
“Figueroa skies.” The image conjures the big sky country of the Mexican desert, embraced in high contrast by billowing cumulus clouds enhanced by infrared filters, and limned by the persevering thorn of the impoverished agave and the heartfelt offerings of ubiquitous cala lilies. Beneath these immense skies, Mexicanidad toils the soil, tolls cathedral bells to call the common soul to mass, and tells fiery stories of evolving revolutions.
In his introduction to the Pfa series celebrating the artistry of Gabriel Figueroa—Hecho Por México—curator Steve Seid writes: “Gabriel Figueroa was more than a cinematographer. A consummate artist, he captured with grandeur a sense of Mexico that would—as the poet Carlos Fuentes affectionately observed—bring us to ‘see Figueroa’s Mexico and not the one that really existed.’ Beginning in the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, Figueroa’s rich chiaroscuro embodied Mexico’s entrenched contrasts—the monumental faces weathered like the arid land,...
In his introduction to the Pfa series celebrating the artistry of Gabriel Figueroa—Hecho Por México—curator Steve Seid writes: “Gabriel Figueroa was more than a cinematographer. A consummate artist, he captured with grandeur a sense of Mexico that would—as the poet Carlos Fuentes affectionately observed—bring us to ‘see Figueroa’s Mexico and not the one that really existed.’ Beginning in the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, Figueroa’s rich chiaroscuro embodied Mexico’s entrenched contrasts—the monumental faces weathered like the arid land,...
- 7/31/2008
- by Michael Guillen
- Screen Anarchy
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