I caught up with Argentine producer Gema Juarez Allen at the Panama Film Festival. Since seeing (and falling in love with) the Argentine road movie “Road to La Paz”/ “Camino a La Paz in Guadalajara and interviewing its director, Francisco Varone, I was interested in meeting her as well, even more so because her other film, the Colombian drama “Oscuro Animal” which premiered in Rotterdam and won four prizes at Mexico’s Guadalajara International Film Festival in March 2016, for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Cinematography and has been sold to seven territories. “Oscuro Animal” is about three women fleeing armed conflict in Colombia. It was directed by Colombia’s Felipe Guerrero, an editor on “La Playa DC,” “Perro come perro” and “El Paramo”. It received funding from the Hubert Bals Fund and World Cinema Fund.
In Panama Gema was quite busy, not only with “Road to La Paz” but participating on the panel, Your Project in Motion: Coproduction and Financing along with Panamanian producers and directors, Delfina Vidal (“Caja 25”), Annie Canavaggio (“Breaking the Wave”) and Abner Benaim (“Invasion”) who also happens to be Gema’s partner.
As one of Latin America’s most active producers, Gema’s extensive experience international coproduction was invaluable and she shared it freely at the panel. Her participation in workshops in Europe, such as the Eave Producers Workshop and Eurodoc, has played a key role in establishing her international connections. While at Eave, she met Greek Boo Productions and Germany’s Ingmar Trost of Sutor Kolonko who came on board to coproduce “Oscuro Animal”.
“Road to La Paz” director, Francisco Varone said,
"In 2012 we submitted the project to Visions Sud Est in Switzerland. I was almost working by myself on the film at this time and then started working with a larger Argentinean production company, Concreto Films, owned by Juan Taratuto, a big film director who was directing TV commercials and said he’d help. They had a tough time finding investors so he introduced me to Gema Juarez Allen (whose recent film “Invasion” is the story of the U.S. invasion of Panama in the 1980s). She is a well-known documentary producer with experience in coproductions who knows how to find money and understands the value of going to festivals. She said she would do it as her first fiction film and went to San Sebastian Film Festival’s Foro de Coproduccion in 2013. There she had lots of one-on-one meetings and met Julius Ponten our Dutch coproducer who got funding from the Netherlands Film Fonds and Gunter Hanfgarn (“Bad Hair”) who applied to Ezef, an Evangelistic Fund for films from the south (one of the backers of “Timbuktu”). “
Read more on “Road to La Paz” here.
Gema continued this story when we spoke:
Juan liked the project but it was not in his domain so he sought me out. I read the script about two men and one car and thought, “This is easy”. But of course it was not. A road movie is the most difficult of all genres, and with animals, and covering two countries! Working with Pancho (Francisco Varone), he is the kind of director I like. I find the shooting is usually more important than the people, but with Pancho, the crew is important and he balanced the people and the shoot, so after all, it was ‘easy’.
The film is being sold internationally by FiGa. It is doing well in Argentina with 35,000 admissions, 20 copies and now in its fourth month in the cinemas. It is a ‘word of mouth’ film.
Sl: What are you working on now?
Gema Juarez Allen: I am now filming “Mapa Mudo”/ “Silent Map”.
A doc project by Felipe Guerrero, Nicolás Rincón and Jorge Caballero, based on video letters of three Colombian filmmakers who left their home country in the late 90s.
And I am developing a new project with the directors of our breakthough film from 2011, “Revenge of the Antipodes”/ “¡Vivan las antípodas!“ which screened in Venice. It’s called “Cro-goo-fant” and is a documentary for children, a funny story about animals. The director, Victor Kossokovsky, did a short doc for kids before.
I am also working with Andres di Tella, the most important documentary filmmaker and founder of Bafici in Argentina. It’s a very personal story about the avant garde art Institute lead by his father, the Instituto Di Tella.
And I am working on “Veterans” about the Falkland Islands War. Bertha Fund is backing it. Lola Arias is directing this documentary feature about the unexpected consequences of war on its protagonists, about the way memory is turned into fiction. I am looking for coproducers now. It is a different look at United Kingdom and Argentina vets that is at the same time both serious and humorous. We are creating a film around a theater play which will open in London this May. It began with the London International Theater Festival along with the Royal Court House Theater. It is not filmic; Lola Arias’ language is so refreshing; she is from the theater.
A winner of the 2015 Berlinale Co-production Market Pitch, Abner Benaim’s “Plaza catedral,” is also in the works. It is a tangled false friendship drama with thriller elements, set against the background of Panama’s social divide.
And I am currently producing Benaim’s doc, “My Name is Not Ruben Blades” with Ruben Blades.
Also in the works: the next film from Manuel Abramovich (“La Reina”), a Mar del Plata 2014 Works in Progress winner for “Solar” – a small but remarkable heart-warming doc-feature whose power struggle between director and subject adds unusually honest depths to a bio-portrait of someone who claims to come from the sun.
Sl: You are so prolific! How did you get started in this?
I studied anthropology at the University of Buenos Aires and the University of Rio de Janeiro but didn’t like academia and so I studied film at the National Film School and thought I would combine the two. In England I studied Visual Anthropology and worked as a P.A. and as a researcher for the BBC for a “Discovery Channel” type of channel and then I returned to Argentina.
Between 2003 to 2008 I worked at Cine Ojo the oldest doc company in Argentina and at Habitación 1520 Producciones (“Imagen Final”, “Criada”, “Los Jóvenes Muertos”, “Dulce Espera”) before creating my own company Gema Films in 2009.
Sl: You were coordinator of DocBuenos Aires until 2003, a training initiative as well.
Gema Juarez Allen: I have produced 17 films with lots of help.
I was a Sundance Documentary Fund grantee on two films. My projects have been supported by Visions Sud Est, Tribeca Film Institute, Hubert Bals Fund, Idfa Fund, Cinereach, Fondo Nacional de las Artes, DocStation Berlin, et al. I received the Arte/Bal Award in 2008 for Upcoming Producers at Bafici.
I coproduce with Wg Film (Sweden), Majade FilmProduktion (Germany), Gebrüder Beetz (Germany), Lemming Film (Netherlands) and Producciones Aplaplac (Chile).
I have received awards at Berlinale, Bafici, Roma, Guadalajara, Silverdocs, among many others. Gema is part of EuroDoc since 2010 and is a member of the Board of Adn, the Argentinean Documentary Filmmakers Network.
Sl: What advice do you have for young filmmakers?
Gema Juarez Allen: First find a good project. It is very competitive and you must have an original perspective on the subject. There are so many ideas everywhere, it must be good.
Producers should be highly-organized. Be sure to fully develop projects before presenting them to partners and funding decision makers. The key elements to present when the project is fully conceived are an overview, a synopsis, a director’s statement, a brief treatment, a financial plan, a budget, a production timetable and bio-filmographies.
Find a producer with experience. I’m always interested in new directors and new voices.
The best opportunities to find partners are at festivals, markets and above all workshops. These are good places to find colleagues and mentors to give you great feedback. Diana Elbaum is my mentor from Eave and she is always looking at what I’m doing. And most of my coproduction partners came from the Eave and Eurodoc workshops.
Beyond Eave and Eurodoc, which are very open to Latin American projects, other good workshops are Docmontevideo, Guadalajara, Typa, Cinergia Lab, Idfa Summer Academy, Chiledoc, Berlin Talent Campus, Documentary Campus, Morelia Lab among others.
Good international funding sources are Ibermedia and also the “Plus” schemes associated to funds such as Creative Europe, World Cinema Fund, Hubert Bals Fund and the Idfa Bertha fund. Other funds are Fonds d’Aide aux Cinémas du Monde, the Sundance documentary fund, Visions Sud Est, the Tribeca Film Institute, the Doha Film Institute and Sorfond, for co-productions with Norway.
In terms of leading international markets, Cannes, Rotterdam’s Cinemart, Berlin’s European Film Market, Ventana Sur and Guadalajara – and for documentaries – starting with Idfa Forum and Hotdocs, followed by Meetmarket Sheffield and Docmontevideo.
It is also important to choose the right festival to premiere a project since it’s virtually impossible to premiere a picture in a small festival and then get a larger fest to screen the film. It’s also important to explore the work-in-progress sidebars that now exist at most Latin American festivals, including Iff Panama’s Primera Mirada competition.
State funding sources in Latin America include Dicine, in Panama, Incaa in Argentina, Proimagenes in Colombia, Brazil’s Fundo Setorial do Audiovisual, the Fondo Audiovisual in Chile, and Imcine in Mexico. The selection criteria used by these national funds varies considerably. Proimagenes in Colombia, which only finances around 14 films per year last year had three pictures at Cannes.
Over the last three or four years many national funds have created specific lines of funding for co-productions, through bilateral agreements, such as that between Brazil’s Ancine and Argentina’s Incaa, which grants $250,000 per pic supported. As a result of such bilateral agreements Brazil, for example, is now a key partner for all of Latin America.
“I’d like to make the second or third films of my directors. They’ve all been such good experience. We’ve grown together,” Juarez Allen told Variety at the Mar del Plata Festival.
In Panama Gema was quite busy, not only with “Road to La Paz” but participating on the panel, Your Project in Motion: Coproduction and Financing along with Panamanian producers and directors, Delfina Vidal (“Caja 25”), Annie Canavaggio (“Breaking the Wave”) and Abner Benaim (“Invasion”) who also happens to be Gema’s partner.
As one of Latin America’s most active producers, Gema’s extensive experience international coproduction was invaluable and she shared it freely at the panel. Her participation in workshops in Europe, such as the Eave Producers Workshop and Eurodoc, has played a key role in establishing her international connections. While at Eave, she met Greek Boo Productions and Germany’s Ingmar Trost of Sutor Kolonko who came on board to coproduce “Oscuro Animal”.
“Road to La Paz” director, Francisco Varone said,
"In 2012 we submitted the project to Visions Sud Est in Switzerland. I was almost working by myself on the film at this time and then started working with a larger Argentinean production company, Concreto Films, owned by Juan Taratuto, a big film director who was directing TV commercials and said he’d help. They had a tough time finding investors so he introduced me to Gema Juarez Allen (whose recent film “Invasion” is the story of the U.S. invasion of Panama in the 1980s). She is a well-known documentary producer with experience in coproductions who knows how to find money and understands the value of going to festivals. She said she would do it as her first fiction film and went to San Sebastian Film Festival’s Foro de Coproduccion in 2013. There she had lots of one-on-one meetings and met Julius Ponten our Dutch coproducer who got funding from the Netherlands Film Fonds and Gunter Hanfgarn (“Bad Hair”) who applied to Ezef, an Evangelistic Fund for films from the south (one of the backers of “Timbuktu”). “
Read more on “Road to La Paz” here.
Gema continued this story when we spoke:
Juan liked the project but it was not in his domain so he sought me out. I read the script about two men and one car and thought, “This is easy”. But of course it was not. A road movie is the most difficult of all genres, and with animals, and covering two countries! Working with Pancho (Francisco Varone), he is the kind of director I like. I find the shooting is usually more important than the people, but with Pancho, the crew is important and he balanced the people and the shoot, so after all, it was ‘easy’.
The film is being sold internationally by FiGa. It is doing well in Argentina with 35,000 admissions, 20 copies and now in its fourth month in the cinemas. It is a ‘word of mouth’ film.
Sl: What are you working on now?
Gema Juarez Allen: I am now filming “Mapa Mudo”/ “Silent Map”.
A doc project by Felipe Guerrero, Nicolás Rincón and Jorge Caballero, based on video letters of three Colombian filmmakers who left their home country in the late 90s.
And I am developing a new project with the directors of our breakthough film from 2011, “Revenge of the Antipodes”/ “¡Vivan las antípodas!“ which screened in Venice. It’s called “Cro-goo-fant” and is a documentary for children, a funny story about animals. The director, Victor Kossokovsky, did a short doc for kids before.
I am also working with Andres di Tella, the most important documentary filmmaker and founder of Bafici in Argentina. It’s a very personal story about the avant garde art Institute lead by his father, the Instituto Di Tella.
And I am working on “Veterans” about the Falkland Islands War. Bertha Fund is backing it. Lola Arias is directing this documentary feature about the unexpected consequences of war on its protagonists, about the way memory is turned into fiction. I am looking for coproducers now. It is a different look at United Kingdom and Argentina vets that is at the same time both serious and humorous. We are creating a film around a theater play which will open in London this May. It began with the London International Theater Festival along with the Royal Court House Theater. It is not filmic; Lola Arias’ language is so refreshing; she is from the theater.
A winner of the 2015 Berlinale Co-production Market Pitch, Abner Benaim’s “Plaza catedral,” is also in the works. It is a tangled false friendship drama with thriller elements, set against the background of Panama’s social divide.
And I am currently producing Benaim’s doc, “My Name is Not Ruben Blades” with Ruben Blades.
Also in the works: the next film from Manuel Abramovich (“La Reina”), a Mar del Plata 2014 Works in Progress winner for “Solar” – a small but remarkable heart-warming doc-feature whose power struggle between director and subject adds unusually honest depths to a bio-portrait of someone who claims to come from the sun.
Sl: You are so prolific! How did you get started in this?
I studied anthropology at the University of Buenos Aires and the University of Rio de Janeiro but didn’t like academia and so I studied film at the National Film School and thought I would combine the two. In England I studied Visual Anthropology and worked as a P.A. and as a researcher for the BBC for a “Discovery Channel” type of channel and then I returned to Argentina.
Between 2003 to 2008 I worked at Cine Ojo the oldest doc company in Argentina and at Habitación 1520 Producciones (“Imagen Final”, “Criada”, “Los Jóvenes Muertos”, “Dulce Espera”) before creating my own company Gema Films in 2009.
Sl: You were coordinator of DocBuenos Aires until 2003, a training initiative as well.
Gema Juarez Allen: I have produced 17 films with lots of help.
I was a Sundance Documentary Fund grantee on two films. My projects have been supported by Visions Sud Est, Tribeca Film Institute, Hubert Bals Fund, Idfa Fund, Cinereach, Fondo Nacional de las Artes, DocStation Berlin, et al. I received the Arte/Bal Award in 2008 for Upcoming Producers at Bafici.
I coproduce with Wg Film (Sweden), Majade FilmProduktion (Germany), Gebrüder Beetz (Germany), Lemming Film (Netherlands) and Producciones Aplaplac (Chile).
I have received awards at Berlinale, Bafici, Roma, Guadalajara, Silverdocs, among many others. Gema is part of EuroDoc since 2010 and is a member of the Board of Adn, the Argentinean Documentary Filmmakers Network.
Sl: What advice do you have for young filmmakers?
Gema Juarez Allen: First find a good project. It is very competitive and you must have an original perspective on the subject. There are so many ideas everywhere, it must be good.
Producers should be highly-organized. Be sure to fully develop projects before presenting them to partners and funding decision makers. The key elements to present when the project is fully conceived are an overview, a synopsis, a director’s statement, a brief treatment, a financial plan, a budget, a production timetable and bio-filmographies.
Find a producer with experience. I’m always interested in new directors and new voices.
The best opportunities to find partners are at festivals, markets and above all workshops. These are good places to find colleagues and mentors to give you great feedback. Diana Elbaum is my mentor from Eave and she is always looking at what I’m doing. And most of my coproduction partners came from the Eave and Eurodoc workshops.
Beyond Eave and Eurodoc, which are very open to Latin American projects, other good workshops are Docmontevideo, Guadalajara, Typa, Cinergia Lab, Idfa Summer Academy, Chiledoc, Berlin Talent Campus, Documentary Campus, Morelia Lab among others.
Good international funding sources are Ibermedia and also the “Plus” schemes associated to funds such as Creative Europe, World Cinema Fund, Hubert Bals Fund and the Idfa Bertha fund. Other funds are Fonds d’Aide aux Cinémas du Monde, the Sundance documentary fund, Visions Sud Est, the Tribeca Film Institute, the Doha Film Institute and Sorfond, for co-productions with Norway.
In terms of leading international markets, Cannes, Rotterdam’s Cinemart, Berlin’s European Film Market, Ventana Sur and Guadalajara – and for documentaries – starting with Idfa Forum and Hotdocs, followed by Meetmarket Sheffield and Docmontevideo.
It is also important to choose the right festival to premiere a project since it’s virtually impossible to premiere a picture in a small festival and then get a larger fest to screen the film. It’s also important to explore the work-in-progress sidebars that now exist at most Latin American festivals, including Iff Panama’s Primera Mirada competition.
State funding sources in Latin America include Dicine, in Panama, Incaa in Argentina, Proimagenes in Colombia, Brazil’s Fundo Setorial do Audiovisual, the Fondo Audiovisual in Chile, and Imcine in Mexico. The selection criteria used by these national funds varies considerably. Proimagenes in Colombia, which only finances around 14 films per year last year had three pictures at Cannes.
Over the last three or four years many national funds have created specific lines of funding for co-productions, through bilateral agreements, such as that between Brazil’s Ancine and Argentina’s Incaa, which grants $250,000 per pic supported. As a result of such bilateral agreements Brazil, for example, is now a key partner for all of Latin America.
“I’d like to make the second or third films of my directors. They’ve all been such good experience. We’ve grown together,” Juarez Allen told Variety at the Mar del Plata Festival.
- 4/26/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The 54th International Film Festival of Cartagena de Indias in Colombia has invited me to attend March 13 - 19, 2014.
One of Ficci's main goals is supporting the development of Colombian cinema. With that in mind, the festival will open with the world premiere of Ciudad Delirio, inviting the audience to get to know Cali, the only city in Latin America that loves all Latin American music, a center of creative development for Colombia's cinema, splendidly and authentically presented through the passion and flavor of salsa. Ficci is once again betting on the kind of cinema that speaks locally and globally, cinema that invites, seduces and embraces all kinds of audiences.
Starring Carolina Ramírez , Cauca Valley dancer and actress renown for her performance in soap operas such as La hija del mariachiand La Pola and Spaniard Julián Villagrán, winner of a Goya for his performance in Grupo 7, Ciudad Delirio also features Colombian actors of such caliber as Vicky Hernández Jorge Herrera , Margarita Ortega and John Alex Castillo. Thanks to a world-class team lead by Spanish dancer, choreographer and filmmaker Blanca Li, who has worked for The Berlin State Ballet, Kylie Minogue, Beyoncé and Daft Punk, and by multiple time Salsa World Champion Viviana Vargas, Cartagena will get to experience the madness of one of the most sensual dances on earth.
Ciudad Delirio was produced by Diego F. Ramírez, head of 64-a Films in Colombia, which has produced such films as Perro come perro,Todos tus muertos, Dr. Alemán, En coma, and180 segundos and Spaniard Elena Manrique, founder of Film Fatal and renown for her production of movies such asEl laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth), El orfanato and Transsiberiano, to name just a few.
For seven weeks during the making of Ciudad delirio, 45 locations in Cali, Colombia and Madrid, Spain were overrun by salsa. More than 3,200 extras from Cauca Valley helped to tell this love story that revolves around the show Delirio, a long-standing cultural tradition in Sultana del Valle.
In Ciudad Delirio, Javier, a shy, reserved Spanish doctor, attends a medical conference in Cali, Colombia. There, through a chance meeting, he shares a magical night with Angie, a dancer and choreographer who dreams of being part of the world's most famous salsa show, Delirio, if only she can pass the audition. Javier and Angie begin an impossible romance full of obstacles, surrounded by salsa, and accompanied by a cast of characters that are as authentic as they are hilarious.
The festival's guest of honor will be the prolific British actor Clive Owen, who is known for his diverse roles in films like Closer Children of Men, and The International . The Latin American premier of his latest film, Guillaume Canet's Blood Ties (2013), will be a highlight of the Friday, March 14th event, taking place at 6:00 pm in the Adolfo Mejía Theater, where, after being presented with the India Catalina prize, the actor will be interviewed by Ficci's director, Monika Wagenberg.
Another special honoree will be Mexican director Alejando Gonazlez Iñárritu, who has garnered international acclaim throughout the years with films such as Amores Perros , 21 Grams , Babel, and Biutiful . Established within the film industry as one of Latin America's most important directors of the new century, Iñárritu is currently in-production for Birdman (2014), a film he wrote and directed starring Emma Stone and Edward Norton . Participants of the 54th Ficci will have the opportunity to attend the Tribute honoring this Academy Award-nominated filmmaker on Sunday, March 16th, as well as his Master class the following day during Salón Ficci – the festival's academic program.
In regards to the festival's line-up, it is interesting to note that several of the filmmakers that will take part in the Dramatic Competition are directors who have participated at Ficci with their previous films and have established themselves in the international festival circuit winning prestigious awards. Others will arrive to Cartagena for the first time with their operas primas.
"2014 promises to be a good year for Iberoamerican cinema and we are proud to feature several of the most recent films of the region in our Official Dramatic Competition, in which half of the chosen movies are Latin American Premieres (movies that come directly to Cartagena after their world premieres at Sundance and Berlin Festivals). Eight of the twelve films in the Colombian Official Competition (known before as Colombia al 100%) are World Premieres. This way, we have managed to achieve the goal we set four years ago: becoming the main national and international launching platform of local films", stated Ficci's Director Monika Wagenberg.
Wagenberg also addressed some chances in the festival's rules that will allow for more experience filmmakers to partake in the event.
"One of the big news of Ficci 54 is that this time we have not limited the Official Dramatic Competition to first, second and third time Ibero-American films. Ending this restriction will make possible for those directors from this region who are producing feature films at a fast pace not, to be excluded from the competition" Wagenberg added.
The Official Dramatic Competition will feature the Latin American premieres The Lock Charmer (El Cerrajero) by Natalia Smirnoff (Argentina), Natural Sciences (Ciencias Naturales) by Matías Lucchesi(Argentina), The Way He Looks (Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho) by Daniel Ribeiro(Brazil), Celina Murga's Berlin Official Competition, The Three Sides of the River (La tercera orilla) (Argentina), recent Sundance and Rotterdam winner, To Kill a Man (Matar a un hombre) by Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile), Mateo, first film by Maria Gamboa (Colombia), and the world premiere of Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua) by Ruben Mendoza (Colombia).
This section also includes other outstanding films such as Bad Hair (Pelo malo), written and directed by Mariana Rondón (Venezuela) which comes to Ficci after its triumph at the San Sebastián Film Festival; The Mute (El Mudo), directed by brothers Daniel and Diego Vega (Perú), which had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival and are coming back to Ficci after competing winning Best Director award in 2010; premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and awarded the Concha de Plata for Best Director in San Sebastián, comes Club Sándwich by Fernando Eimbcke(México), and the 12th film in this section is Root (Raíz) by Matías Rojas Valencia (Chile), the winner of Best Chilean Film winner at the Valdivia Film Festival.
The Official Documentary Competition will showcase the world premieres of El color que cayó del cielo by Sergio Wolf (Argentina) and Heaven or Hell (Infierno o paraíso) de German Piffano(Colombia); as well as the Latin American premiere of The Silence of the Flies (El silencio de las moscas) by Eliezer Arias (Venezuela), Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA), and Apples, Chickens and Chimeras (Manzanas, pollos y quimeras) de Inés París (España). The rest of the program includes Argentine Street Years (Años de calle) by Alejandra Grinschpun, I Feel Much Better Now (E-agora? Lembra me) by Joaquim Pinto(Portugal), Naomi Campbel by icolas Videla and Camila José Donoso (Chile), Cesar's Grill (El Grill de Cesar) by Dario Aguirre, I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) by Justin Webster (Spain), Mexican documentary, Elevator (Elevador) by Adrián Ortizl and the most recent work by talented Brazilian documentary film director Maria Ramos , Hills of Pleasures (Morro dos Prazeres).
Lastly, in the Colombian Official Competition we will present the world premieres of Banished (Desterrada) by Diego Guerra, Manos sucias by Joseph Wladyka, Memorias del calavero and Tierra en la lengua by Rubén Mendoza, Monte adentro by Nicolás Macario Alonso, Parador Húngaro by Aseneth Suarez and Patrick Alexander, Infierno o paraíso by Germán Piffano; as well as the Latin American premieres of Inés, memorias de una vida by Luisa Sossa; Gente de papel, con el alma en la selva by Andrés Felipe Vásquez, Mateo by Maria Gamboa, Marmato by Mark Grieco and the Colombian premiere of Mambo Cool by Chris Gude.
One of Ficci's main goals is supporting the development of Colombian cinema. With that in mind, the festival will open with the world premiere of Ciudad Delirio, inviting the audience to get to know Cali, the only city in Latin America that loves all Latin American music, a center of creative development for Colombia's cinema, splendidly and authentically presented through the passion and flavor of salsa. Ficci is once again betting on the kind of cinema that speaks locally and globally, cinema that invites, seduces and embraces all kinds of audiences.
Starring Carolina Ramírez , Cauca Valley dancer and actress renown for her performance in soap operas such as La hija del mariachiand La Pola and Spaniard Julián Villagrán, winner of a Goya for his performance in Grupo 7, Ciudad Delirio also features Colombian actors of such caliber as Vicky Hernández Jorge Herrera , Margarita Ortega and John Alex Castillo. Thanks to a world-class team lead by Spanish dancer, choreographer and filmmaker Blanca Li, who has worked for The Berlin State Ballet, Kylie Minogue, Beyoncé and Daft Punk, and by multiple time Salsa World Champion Viviana Vargas, Cartagena will get to experience the madness of one of the most sensual dances on earth.
Ciudad Delirio was produced by Diego F. Ramírez, head of 64-a Films in Colombia, which has produced such films as Perro come perro,Todos tus muertos, Dr. Alemán, En coma, and180 segundos and Spaniard Elena Manrique, founder of Film Fatal and renown for her production of movies such asEl laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth), El orfanato and Transsiberiano, to name just a few.
For seven weeks during the making of Ciudad delirio, 45 locations in Cali, Colombia and Madrid, Spain were overrun by salsa. More than 3,200 extras from Cauca Valley helped to tell this love story that revolves around the show Delirio, a long-standing cultural tradition in Sultana del Valle.
In Ciudad Delirio, Javier, a shy, reserved Spanish doctor, attends a medical conference in Cali, Colombia. There, through a chance meeting, he shares a magical night with Angie, a dancer and choreographer who dreams of being part of the world's most famous salsa show, Delirio, if only she can pass the audition. Javier and Angie begin an impossible romance full of obstacles, surrounded by salsa, and accompanied by a cast of characters that are as authentic as they are hilarious.
The festival's guest of honor will be the prolific British actor Clive Owen, who is known for his diverse roles in films like Closer Children of Men, and The International . The Latin American premier of his latest film, Guillaume Canet's Blood Ties (2013), will be a highlight of the Friday, March 14th event, taking place at 6:00 pm in the Adolfo Mejía Theater, where, after being presented with the India Catalina prize, the actor will be interviewed by Ficci's director, Monika Wagenberg.
Another special honoree will be Mexican director Alejando Gonazlez Iñárritu, who has garnered international acclaim throughout the years with films such as Amores Perros , 21 Grams , Babel, and Biutiful . Established within the film industry as one of Latin America's most important directors of the new century, Iñárritu is currently in-production for Birdman (2014), a film he wrote and directed starring Emma Stone and Edward Norton . Participants of the 54th Ficci will have the opportunity to attend the Tribute honoring this Academy Award-nominated filmmaker on Sunday, March 16th, as well as his Master class the following day during Salón Ficci – the festival's academic program.
In regards to the festival's line-up, it is interesting to note that several of the filmmakers that will take part in the Dramatic Competition are directors who have participated at Ficci with their previous films and have established themselves in the international festival circuit winning prestigious awards. Others will arrive to Cartagena for the first time with their operas primas.
"2014 promises to be a good year for Iberoamerican cinema and we are proud to feature several of the most recent films of the region in our Official Dramatic Competition, in which half of the chosen movies are Latin American Premieres (movies that come directly to Cartagena after their world premieres at Sundance and Berlin Festivals). Eight of the twelve films in the Colombian Official Competition (known before as Colombia al 100%) are World Premieres. This way, we have managed to achieve the goal we set four years ago: becoming the main national and international launching platform of local films", stated Ficci's Director Monika Wagenberg.
Wagenberg also addressed some chances in the festival's rules that will allow for more experience filmmakers to partake in the event.
"One of the big news of Ficci 54 is that this time we have not limited the Official Dramatic Competition to first, second and third time Ibero-American films. Ending this restriction will make possible for those directors from this region who are producing feature films at a fast pace not, to be excluded from the competition" Wagenberg added.
The Official Dramatic Competition will feature the Latin American premieres The Lock Charmer (El Cerrajero) by Natalia Smirnoff (Argentina), Natural Sciences (Ciencias Naturales) by Matías Lucchesi(Argentina), The Way He Looks (Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho) by Daniel Ribeiro(Brazil), Celina Murga's Berlin Official Competition, The Three Sides of the River (La tercera orilla) (Argentina), recent Sundance and Rotterdam winner, To Kill a Man (Matar a un hombre) by Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile), Mateo, first film by Maria Gamboa (Colombia), and the world premiere of Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua) by Ruben Mendoza (Colombia).
This section also includes other outstanding films such as Bad Hair (Pelo malo), written and directed by Mariana Rondón (Venezuela) which comes to Ficci after its triumph at the San Sebastián Film Festival; The Mute (El Mudo), directed by brothers Daniel and Diego Vega (Perú), which had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival and are coming back to Ficci after competing winning Best Director award in 2010; premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and awarded the Concha de Plata for Best Director in San Sebastián, comes Club Sándwich by Fernando Eimbcke(México), and the 12th film in this section is Root (Raíz) by Matías Rojas Valencia (Chile), the winner of Best Chilean Film winner at the Valdivia Film Festival.
The Official Documentary Competition will showcase the world premieres of El color que cayó del cielo by Sergio Wolf (Argentina) and Heaven or Hell (Infierno o paraíso) de German Piffano(Colombia); as well as the Latin American premiere of The Silence of the Flies (El silencio de las moscas) by Eliezer Arias (Venezuela), Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA), and Apples, Chickens and Chimeras (Manzanas, pollos y quimeras) de Inés París (España). The rest of the program includes Argentine Street Years (Años de calle) by Alejandra Grinschpun, I Feel Much Better Now (E-agora? Lembra me) by Joaquim Pinto(Portugal), Naomi Campbel by icolas Videla and Camila José Donoso (Chile), Cesar's Grill (El Grill de Cesar) by Dario Aguirre, I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) by Justin Webster (Spain), Mexican documentary, Elevator (Elevador) by Adrián Ortizl and the most recent work by talented Brazilian documentary film director Maria Ramos , Hills of Pleasures (Morro dos Prazeres).
Lastly, in the Colombian Official Competition we will present the world premieres of Banished (Desterrada) by Diego Guerra, Manos sucias by Joseph Wladyka, Memorias del calavero and Tierra en la lengua by Rubén Mendoza, Monte adentro by Nicolás Macario Alonso, Parador Húngaro by Aseneth Suarez and Patrick Alexander, Infierno o paraíso by Germán Piffano; as well as the Latin American premieres of Inés, memorias de una vida by Luisa Sossa; Gente de papel, con el alma en la selva by Andrés Felipe Vásquez, Mateo by Maria Gamboa, Marmato by Mark Grieco and the Colombian premiere of Mambo Cool by Chris Gude.
- 2/27/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The French sales/production company is supplying this year's Cannes fest with a trio of titles, but you might find me doing cartwheels more for a project that hasn't even began lensing in Marjane Satrapi's Waiting for Azrael. - The French sales/production company is supplying this year's Cannes fest with a trio of titles, but you might find me doing cartwheels more for a project that hasn't even began lensing in Marjane Satrapi's Waiting for Azrael. Red, white and green helmer Daniele Luchetti returns to the French festival for the umpteenth time with La Nostra Vita (see pic above) and Takeshi Kitano will break decibel levels with Outrage --- the film's trailer says it all. Celluloid Dreams' is also repping something for doc enthusiasts and tourists who love Paris: Fred Wiseman's Crazy Horse. If I Want To Whistle I Whistle by Florin Serban - Completed La Nostra Vita...
- 5/13/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
The French sales/production company is supplying this year's Cannes fest with a trio of titles, but you might find me doing cartwheels more for a project that hasn't even began lensing in Marjane Satrapi's Waiting for Azrael. Red, white and green helmer Daniele Luchetti returns to the French festival for the umpteenth time with La Nostra Vita (see pic above) and Takeshi Kitano will break decibel levels with Outrage --- the film's trailer says it all. Celluloid Dreams' is also repping something for doc enthusiasts and tourists who love Paris: Fred Wiseman's Crazy Horse. If I Want To Whistle I Whistle by Florin Serban - Completed La Nostra Vita by Daniele Luchetti - Completed Outrage by Takeshi Kitano - Completed REVOLUCIÓN by Carlos Reygadas - Completed We Are The Night by Dennis Gansel - Post-Production A Prophet (Un Prophete) by Jacques Audiard - Completed Apart Together (Tuan Yuan...
- 5/12/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, A Simple Plan, Fargo, seems like every other good movie has a big bag full of money as its centerpiece. Dog Eat Dog is yet another. Luckily, it’s not a wasted or half-hearted effort (Big Nothing comes to mind); it’s just a damn fine film.
Bookended by a catchy salsa theme, Dog Eat Dog is a typical crime story with an atypical sense of rhythm. Whereas Sierra Madre and A Simple Plan find their strength in their slow crawl towards inevitable moral collapse, Dog Eat Dog never seems stagnant for even a moment, and even when introducing rather unexpected notions, never loses its grip or believability. It takes risks, revels in its rapid descent towards ultimate oblivion and never lets up so you can relax. You’ll find yourself with precious few moments to catch your breath even in the first third of the film.
Bookended by a catchy salsa theme, Dog Eat Dog is a typical crime story with an atypical sense of rhythm. Whereas Sierra Madre and A Simple Plan find their strength in their slow crawl towards inevitable moral collapse, Dog Eat Dog never seems stagnant for even a moment, and even when introducing rather unexpected notions, never loses its grip or believability. It takes risks, revels in its rapid descent towards ultimate oblivion and never lets up so you can relax. You’ll find yourself with precious few moments to catch your breath even in the first third of the film.
- 1/4/2010
- by Saul Berenbaum
- JustPressPlay.net
There are a lot of them this year - sixty three in all - and the complete list of submitted films for the Best Foreign Film category at the 2009 Oscars has just been revealed. The final five nominations will be culled from this list and announced in January. And that list of final nominees may very well include such Twitch faves as Waltz With Bashir, White Night Wedding, Tony Manero, Perro Come Perro, Love of Siam, Three Monkeys, or Mermaid, all of which hae been submitted. It’s a good year ...
- 10/19/2008
- by Todd Brown
- Screen Anarchy
- After a hugely successful Sundance film festival, it is to Cannes that the Paris-based Celluloid Dreams is looking towards with the hopes of finding a three peat victory with the Dardenne's latest. The Dardenne film is what we are most looking forward to seeing, the same goes for the Sundance winner, the IFC film Ballast and Director Fortnight's Better things. Ballast by Lance Hammer - Completed Better Things by Duane Hopkins - Completed Bob Marley: Exodus 77 by Anthony Wall - Completed Dog Eat Dog (Perro Come Perro) by Carlos Moreno - Completed Flow : For Love Of Water by Irena Salina - Completed Le Voyage Aux PYRÉNÉES by Arnaud Larrieu,... - Completed Lorna's Silence (Le Silence De Lorna) by Jean-Pierre Dardenne,... - Completed Mark Of An Angel (L'empreinte De L'ange) by Safy Nebbou - Completed Mia And The Migoo by Jacques-Rémy Girerd - Completed Patti Smith: Dream Of Life
- 5/17/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- There were 983 submissions from 15 countries in this category and apart from a couple of names, I know not one of the final selections below. World Cinema Dramatic Competition"Absurdistan" (Germany), directed by Veit Helmer, written by Helmer, Zaza Buadze, Gordan Mihic and Ahmet Golbol, about a sex strike by village women that threatens a young couple's first night together."Blue Eyelids" (Mexico), directed by Ernesto Contreras, about the ramifications of a single woman's winning of a beach trip for two."Captain Abu Raed" (Jordan), directed and written by Amin Matalqa, concerning an aging airport janitor who relates tall tales to local kids who think he's a pilot."The Drummer" (Hong Kong), directed and written by Kenneth Bi, the story of a young man who matures from reckless gangster to serious grownup due to the influence of Zen drumming."Elite Squad" (Brazil), directed by Jose Padilha ("Bus 174") and written by Braulio Mantovani and Padilha,
- 11/28/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
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