Noticias

Veteran director Leon Ichaso, who directed TV episodes from “Miami Vice” to “Queen of the South,” and numerous features, died suddenly of a “massive heart attack,” his sister said Monday.

“My beloved brother Leon Ichaso died today of an unexpected massive heart attack in Los Angeles,” his sister Mari Rodríguez Ichaso tweeted in Spanish on Monday. “Brilliant, full of life, youth of spirit and illusions. A wonderful filmmaker and a unique being – and everyone who has met him knows it. I am destroyed. God help us!”

Mari, who is a contributor to the Spanish-language Vanidades magazine and a style columnist for CNN en Español, shared another tweet in English, in which she wrote, “Leon Ichaso- Rip- Pioneer of telling the history of immigrants in his movies! A brilliant director & writer. Loved Life. My beloved brother!… Damn sudden heart attack!”

Leon Ichaso- Rip- Pioneer of telling the history of immigrants in his movies!

Sundance documentary “Stephen Curry: Underrated” and SXSW television premiere “I’m a Virgo” will open and close Sffilm, the 66th annual San Francisco International Film Festival.

Sffilm unveiled the full lineup for the fest along with the openers and closers. The Bay Area film festival, which screens in theaters across San Francisco as well as Oakland and Berkeley, will host 50 feature film programs (includes Workshop and “mid-lengths”), 46 shorts, and one TV screening (“I’m a Virgo”). Both directors behind “I’m a Virgo” and “Underrated” — Boots Riley and Peter Nicks — grew up in the Bay Area, more specifically in Oakland. Other films from Bay Area filmmakers whose projects will screen include W. Kamau Bell’s “1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed,” Savanah Leaf’s “Earth Mama,” and Babak Jalali’s “Fremont.”

“It is Sffilm Festival season once again and I cannot wait to share this year’s program with local audiences,” Jessie Fairbanks, Sffilm’s director of programming,...

Brazilian film editor, screenwriter and director Bruno Carboni tells a merged tale of human disconnection in “The Accident” (“O Acidente”), sharing an exclusive first-look trailer with Variety as the film begins to advance on the festival circuit.

Completed within the framework of the 2018 Torino Film Script Lab, Carboni’s reflective first feature has debuted in competition alongside seven other projects, including Eduardo Cassanova’s “La Piedad” and Carlos Lechuga’s “Vicenta B” at the 32nd Annual Cine Ceará in Fortaleza, Brazil, which wraps today. It is also screening at the Festival do Rio and has just been selected for the Tallinn Black Nights First Feature Competition.

Shot in his hometown of Porto Alegre and co-written by Marcela Ilhar Bordin, the film analyzes the microscopic ways trauma unfolds under the surface and calls into question the hopeless nature of an ego-fueled society that espouses distrust rather than championing grace and communication.

Click here to read the full article.

The Toronto Film Festival has announced new titles for its TIFF Docs and Contemporary World Cinema sections.

The TIFF Docs section will open with the previously announced Sacha Jenkins’ Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues, and there’s a North American premiere for Laura Poitras’ opioid epidemic doc All the Beauty and the Bloodshed from Participant.

The festival will also feature newly-added world bows for Cine-Guerrilas: Scenes from the Labudovic Reels, by director Mila Rurajlic; Documentary Now!, by Alex Buono, Rhys Thomas and Micah Gardner; Sam Soko and Lauren DeFilippo’s Free Money, about a Kenyan village being given a universal basic income by an American organization; The Grab, from Blackfish director Gabriela Cowperthwaite; and Stephanie Johnes’ Maya and the Wave.

Other documentary first looks headed to Toronto include Mark Fletcher’s Patrick and the Whale; Sinead O’Shea’s Pray for our Sinners; Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot,...

Manuela Martelli’s 1976 and documentary My Imaginary Country, both Chilean titles, are among the line-up

Manuela Martelli’s 1976 and documentary My Imaginary Country, both Chilean titles, are among the 12 films selected for the Horizontes Latinos section of the 70th edition of the San Sebastian International Film Festival (September 16-24).

Scroll down for full line-up

Martelli’s drama premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight selection earlier this year and recently picked up the best first feature film award at Jerusalem. The film follows a middle-class woman re-evaluating her beliefs when she’s asked to secretly take care of an injured man. Luxbox are handling sales.

Brazil’s Habanero Film Sales has brought a slate of new films marking their debut at Cannes’ Marché du Film. Leading the pack is Cuban filmmaker Carlos Lechuga’s latest drama, “Vicenta B” as well as Cuba-u.S.-Canada co-production “Corrosive” and Brazilian coming-of-age drama “Bittersweet Rain” (“Saudade Fez Morada Aqui Dentro”), currently in post.

“Resistance, migration, those who stay and those who leave, finding out who we are, where we belong, finding meaning to our own existence…those are recurrent topics in our catalog, composed of features and a growing slate of social and environmental documentaries from Latin American and Caribbean directors, with a special focus on Cuban independent cinema,” said Habanero CEO, Alfredo Calviño.

Last year, “Vicenta B.” snagged the largest cash industry prize at San Sebastian Film Festival’s industry awards, the Egeda Platino Industry Award for the Best Work in Progress (Wip), Latin American film.

While...

Juan Marisé’s “Camionero,” Laura Baumeister’s “Daughter of Rage” and Ion Bors’ “Carbon” triumphed Wednesday at San Sebastian Festival’s prize ceremony for winners at its main industry competitions: the Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum and Wip Latin America and Wip Europa pix-in-post showcases.

Also among victors were Juan Andrés Arango’s “Where the River Begins,” María Zanetti’s “Alemania,” Carlos Lechuga’s “Vicenta B.,” and Eduardo Crespo’s “The Wind’s Cave,” the latter walking off with the trophy at San Sebastián’s Ikusmira Berriak, fast emerging as one of the key young talent hubs in Spain.

Three of the seven winning titles are from Argentina, a sign of the country’s undeniable depth in talent as its industry, with Covid-19 on the wane, continues to be whammied by economic crisis.

The caliber of many Latin American producers with projects at the Forum suggest another strong year for an...

Argentina’s Manuel Abramovich, Ecuador’s Ana Cristina Barragán and the Ukraine-born Oksana Bychkova, all big fest winners, will introduce their latest films to an industry audience at San Sebastian’s pix-in-post strands, Wip Latam and Wip Europa, over Sept. 20-22.

The sections promise discoveries. They also underscore a reality. As art film pre-sales have plunged, public-sector equity financing has escalated, with producers tapping film funds around the world via international co-production. Wip Latam’s six films average four production partners a piece. Sales, which the films now seek in San Sebastian, is increasingly icing on the cake.

A drill down on titles:

Wip Latam

“Daughter of Rage,” (“La Hija de Todas las Rabias,” Laura Baumeister, Nicaragua, Mexico, Nederland, Germany, France, Norway)

Nicaraguan Laura Baumeister’s stirring feature debut which swept three of the four prizes on offer at San Sebastian’s 2019 Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum. Since then it...

Chile’s Storyboard Media and Cine Matriz are teaming with Colombia’s Romeo on documentary feature “Still Stares,” the debut feature of director Patricia Correa. Gabriela Sandoval and Carlos Núñez will executive produce for Storyboard Media, with Consuelo Castillo filling the role on behalf of her company Romeo.

Storyboard’s latest doc “The Sky Is Red” is playing in the main competition at IDFA, continuing to solidify the company’s position as one of Chile and Latin America’s leading independent producers. The company’s most recent success, “Jailbreak Pact,” has been an international sales hit for agent Meikincine following a local release in January, which pulled in the highest box office for a Chilean film in more than two years.

Romeo was founded by Castillo in 2018 and is in post-production on Gisela Rosario’s “Perfume de Gardenias,” a Puerto Rico co-production and recipient of the Cinematographic Development Fund in Colombia,...

Devil’s Freedom, an eerie reflection on Mexico’s drug war victims, scored wins for best Mexican picture, Ibero-American documentary and cinematography at the 32nd Guadalajara Film Festival, which concluded Friday.

Produced by Animal de Luz Films and directed by acclaimed doc filmmaker Everardo Gonzalez, Devil’s Freedom (La Libertad del Diablo) had its world premiere at Cannes earlier this year. The doc features a series of chilling interviews with masked victims and perpetrators of Mexico’s ongoing drug war, which has claimed more than 100,000 lives since 2006.

Carlos Lechuga’s political drama Santa & Andres, which explores the profound effects of life under...

Director Patricio Guzman’s Cordillera among winners in industry strands.

The 32nd Guadalajara Film Festival (March 10-17), bookended by fierce criticism of Us president Donald Trump by local and international industry, has feted Everardo Gonzalez’s documentary Devil’s Freedom (La Libertad Del Diablo) with best Mexican feature, best Ibero-American documentary and best cinematography as well as the Mexican film critics trophy.

The feature, about violence in Mexico, is handled by Films Boutique and received its world premiere in Berlin earlier this year where it won an Amnesty International award.

Carlos Lechuga’s Santa And Andres, about political dissent in Cuba, was named best Ibero-American feature and also won best script.

Nicaraguan director Jose Maria Cabral’s prison drama Carpinteros (Woodpeckers) won best Ibero-American director in addition to best actor for Jean Jean.

Mexican debutant Sofia Gomez’s The Blue Years (Los Anios Azules), a coming of age drama, garnered five awards including best director, the Fipresci...

Nathaniel R reporting from the Toronto Film Festival 

A Monster Calls (Ja Bayona, USA/Spain)

This fable about grief and growing up will surely be someone's favorite movie. Alas, it isn't mine. A Monster Calls is a simple fantasy about a boy named Connor (Lewis MacDougall) whose mother (Felicity Jones) is dying of cancer. His grandmother (Sigourney Weaver) and father (Toby Kebell) attempt to console him but the only solace Connor can find is in visitations from a giant tree monster (voiced by Aslan... excuse me, Liam Neeson) who promises to tell the boy three stories in exchange for the boy's own. The film is somewhat moving and fantastically visual in its three animated stories within the movie; they're sensory overload mashups of computer generated imagery, watercolor fluidity, and bold color choices. In both its earthbound and magical moments, though, A Monster Calls is relentlessly gilding the lily. It's so...

The Untamed, from Cannes best director award winner, among 13 titles.

The 64rd San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 16-24) has revealed the 13 titles in its Horizontes Latinos programme, comprising some of the best Latin American films of the year to date.

Films selected may have competed or premiered at international festivals, but will have not yet been screened at a Spanish festival or had their commercial release in Spain.

The selected films compete for the Horizontes Award, decided by a specific jury and coming with €35,000, of which €10,000 will go to the director of the winning film, and the remaining €25,000 to its distributor in Spain.

The titles include The Untamed, from Amat Escalante, who won the Best Director Award in Cannes for Heli in 2013. The film, which will premiere in competition at this year’s Venice, centres on a young couple living in the Mexican lowlands whose lives are changed when a meteorite crashes into an nearby mountain.

Horizontes...

Nigerian metropolis Lagos is the focus of the eighth City To City showcase at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) as top brass anoint two international Rising Stars.

Tiff’s latest line-up announcement also featured extra selections in Galas and Special Presentations, among them Walter Hill’s (Re)Assignment, Philippe Falardeau’s The Bleeder, David Leveaux’ The Exception (pictured), Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake and Terry George’s drama The Promise.

A vibrant crop of Contemporary World Cinema entries includes Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Aquarius, Danis Tanović’s Death In Sarajevo, Marie Noëlle’s Marie Curie, The Courage Of Knowledge and Akin Omotoso’s Vaya.

Hirokazu Kore-eda brings After The Storm to the Masters showcase, alongside Marco Bellocchio’s Sweet Dreams, Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta, Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation, Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Fire At Sea and Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Once Again.

Rounding out the...

Nigerian capital Lagos is the focus of the eighth City To City showcase at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) as top brass anoint two international Rising Stars.

Tiff’s latest line-up announcement also featured extra selections in Galas and Special Presentations, among them Walter Hill’s (Re)Assignment, Philippe Falardeau’s The Bleeder, David Leveaux’ The Exception (pictured), Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake and Terry George’s drama The Promise.

A vibrant crop of Contemporary World Cinema entries includes Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Aquarius, Danis Tanović’s Death In Sarajevo, Marie Noëlle’s Marie Curie, The Courage Of Knowledge and Akin Omotoso’s Vaya.

Hirokazu Kore-eda brings After The Storm to the Masters showcase, alongside Marco Bellocchio’s Sweet Dreams, Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta, Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation, Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Fire At Sea and Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Once Again.

Rounding out the...

The Toronto International Film Festival is mere weeks from kicking off, yet the annual fall fest is showing zero sign of slowing down when it comes to announcing the titles that will round out this year’s event. Today’s announcement brings with it a number of Cannes favorites, including Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or-winning “I, Daniel Blake,” Olivier Assayas’ divisive Kristen Stewart-starring “Personal Shopper” and Pedro Almodovar’s “Julieta.”

Read More: Tiff Reveals First Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Magnificent Seven,’ ‘American Honey,’ ‘La La Land’ and ‘Birth of A Nation’

The slate will also play home to the Dardenne Brothers’ latest, “The Unknown Girl,” which has reportedly been through an edit since it debuted at Cannes earlier this year. Other standouts from Cannes include Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “Aquarius,” Boo Junfeng’s “Apprentice,” Cristian Mungiu’s “Graduation,” Brillante Ma Mendoza’s “Ma’ Rosa” and Cristi Puiu’s “Sieranevada.

** New Update: Two more American films have come to my attention through readers of the blog:

Alison Klayman wrote to say "I know you said at least two films, but I wanted specifically to alert you to the fact that my film "The 100 Years Show" is also playing in the Panorama Documental sections (same as Pj Letofsky's film). "The 100 Years Show" is about 100-year old Cuban-American artist Carmen Herrera, and was produced with RatPac (Brett Ratner) Documentary Films. I'll be attending the festival too.

Alex Mallis wrote in to say: "Our short narrative, "La Noche buena" (the first American-directed since the embargo) is also screening at the festival.

Original Blog:

At least two films by American filmmakers will screen this year at the Havana Film Festival, whose official name is Festival de Cine Nuevo Latinamericano. As the Centerpiece Film, Bob Yari, producer of almost 50 films, will screen his second directed film “Papa” about Ernest Hemingway. It can be called “the first [official or legal] American film made in Havana in the last fifty years”, though underground films have been made (e.g., “Love & Suicide”). “Papa” is being sold at Afm by Elias Axume’s Premiere Entertainment.

Doc filmmaker Pj Letofsky will also be screening his film “ Tarkovsky: Time Within Time” which just premiered at the Sao Paolo Film Festival.

Many U.S. citizens are now interested in going to Havana. To give an in-depth look at Cuba’s film business, I am publishing a [long] chapter of what I hope will soon be published, my book on Iberoamerican film business. I will also be publishing another [shorter] interview here soon with Havana Film Festival Director, Ivan Giroud.

Cuba (Chapter Seven)

Officially the Republic of Cuba, or in Spanish, República de Cuba, the nation is comprised of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. To the north of Cuba lies the United States; the Bahamas are to the northeast, México to the west, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica to the south, and Haiti and the Dominican Republic are to the southeast.

Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, and with over 11 million inhabitants.

Cuba is undergoing a transition into a market, entrepreneurial economy under the Presidency of Raul Castro. With this transition, the cinema industry is also undergoing great changes. The state mandated organization, Icaic, which has been running the cinema industry, is now under scrutiny. New legislation concerning the film industry is slowly underway as a result of discussions ongoing within the film community. Hopefully the establishment of diplomatic relations will the U.S. last October will propel changes, though without lifting the embargo, it may not.

History of Cinema of Cuba

Cuba’s elite has always stayed in touch with the latest in culture as it developed in Europe during the Spanish colonial era. Cuba’s tradition of cinema dates back to 1897 when the Lumiére Brothers representative from France stopped in Havana to show their films on a tour of the Antilles Islands, México, Venezuela, and the Guineas. Cuba’s particular style of cinema, called the “Cinema of the Greater Antilles”, evolved from the theater of melodrama and comedy and from the radio dramas of Felix B. Caignet, all of which formed the popular melodramas and comedies we still see today.

Mexican coproductions and U.S. filmmakers escaping the monopolistic Edison came to Cuba as well as to California in the early days of film. Federico Garcia Lorca arrived in Cuba in 1930 with a screenplay, “Voyage of the Moon”, and a print of “Un Chien Andalou” hoping to break from the Paris-Berlin monopoly, but his plans never took shape. Many films from Spain, México, Argentina and Uruguay also played in Cuba. Some leading Cuban actors had a strong presence in México and Argentina. Musicians such as Ernesto Lecuona, Bola de Nieve and Rita Montaner performed in movies in several countries.

Cuba, along with Mexico and Argentina, has the most developed cinema culture of Latin America. At its most prosperous, it had the third largest number of theaters in Latin America until the special period when Ussr withdrew its support. Today it has 39 movie theaters. Three of them, including the Yara in Havana, had been built especially for 3D in the 1950s.

Movie going is one of Cuba’s national pastimes, rating perhaps as high as baseball. The average Cuban sees one and a half films a year. However, the lack of international appeal for most of its comedies and melodramas has held its international growth in check up to today. That is now changing.

The international nature of Cuban cinema was consciously defined after the Revolution of 1959 when the Institute for Cuban Art and Industry Cinematography (Icaic) was created by Fidel Castro and entrusted to his university classmate, Alfredo Guevara. The law creating Icaic was incorporated into the Cuban Constitution itself just three months after the Revolution and was an important part of the Nuevo Cine Latinoamerico, a movement throughout Latin America as the Latin American nations threw off their dictatorships. Film, according to this law, is "the most powerful and provocative form of artistic expression, and the most direct and widespread vehicle for education and bringing ideas to the public.”

Cinema was created for theatrical exhibition, for individuals and groups to share in smaller collectives, and for television.

The law ordaining Icaic to control every cinematographic activity created no further rules about financing, about submitting, reading and approving project proposals or regarding any required time frames. Icaic functions very internally with no outside surveillance.

Actually it is possible to make films without Icaic participation, the point is that without Icaic a film cannot get national distribution.

Over the past decade Icaic has loosened its monopolistic administration. Every sector and every level of cinema is discussing the concept of a new Law of Cinema with the government’s interest in formalizing as law a more inclusive infrastructure with more transparent rules and regulations.

Under the leadership of Raul Castro, the island has been undergoing a gradual economic reform process allowing entrepreneurs to license their own businesses after decades of state monopoly. The measures include the authorization of self-employment in more than 200 small trades and activities. According to the government, there are currently 442,000 registered as “self-employed”. The Castro administration hopes for this emerging sector to absorb over a million state workers to be laid off in the coming years.[ii]

In October 2014, the state closed down many private cinemas which had emerged avowing to the love of cinema of the people. Many were 3D “salons” in homes or in separate rooms in restaurants. Authorities pressed for "order, discipline and obedience" in the growing small business sector. Needless to say, the films shown were pirated and not licensed by the rights holders. Nor was there ever any official licensing to privately owned theaters (yet).

However, these could provide a good source of taxation. It needs to be decided what shall be taxed, how tax monies should be apportioned for film funding, film education, what tax incentives the government might offer, how distribution will be subsidized, how archives may be maintained and presented, how to regulate screenings, dvd, TV and online platforms, what cash incentives might bring in production from the outside, what joint ventures within the Caribbean might be developed and how Icaic is approaching and incorporating the changing environment. The Director of Icaic, Robert Smith de Castro. is facing more challenges than its previous longtime Director, Alfredo Guevera, ever faced when the government provided everything. Now it must find answers from its neighbors and its own internal producers and procedures.

In general, funding a film, renting equipment and shooting in Cuba all need to be approved by Icaic. This has changed somewhat as other players have come to take a role, like Rtv Commercial, which is in fact the production company of Cuban National Television.

Rtv Commercial coproduced the newest Cuban hit, “Conducta” (“Behavior”) with Icaic. It premiered at Ficg 2014 (Guadalajara International Film Festival) and played at Tiff 2014 and other festivals such as the Málaga Spanish Film Festival 2014 where it won five awards.

New Developments in Cuban Cinema

In 2014 there were 14 productions and coproductions made, compared to seven in 2009 and 4 in 2000 according to FnCl and Ocal, databases of Latin American film.

At Cannes’ Cinema du Monde in May 2014 and in San Sebastian’s Coproduction Forum, “ August” (“Agosto”) was one of 15 projects selected to be seen and discussed by the international community of sales, distribution and financial executives. Directed by Armando Capó Ramos and produced by La Feria Producciones’ Marcella Esquivel, it is a coproduction between Costa Rica and Cuba. It will shoot next year in Havana and is now raising funds through crowdfunding. Also featured among the 15 in San Sebastian was “Wolfdog” (“Hombre entre perro y lobo”) directed by Irene Gutiérrez and produced by El Viaje Films, a Spain-Cuba coproduction.

Seeking modes of financing outside of government funding began in 2002 with the Festival of New Filmmakers showcasing projects was created by young people outside the Icaic system. As a result of the 2002 event, five years later, a funding mechanism called Hacienda Cine was created by pulling productions from Icaic Cuban television into centers and foundations that have other areas for audiovisual production. Pitch sessions for each selected entity were set up. The prize for production services worth 20,000 Convertible Cuban Pesos (equivalent to Us $20,000) was set up by Icaic Production. There are currently also smaller groups creating smaller formats, scientific or otherwise who are fomenting alternative forms of financing as well.

Lia Rodriguez Nieto is an attorney who was mentored by and worked fourteen years, until his death, with Camilo Vives, Icaic’s head of production, first as an attorney and then as a producer. She has now taken charge of the industry section at the Havana Film Festival which Vives began in 2009. She and Antonio López, recently produced a Cuba-Panama-France coproduction “ El Acompañante” (“The Companion”) directed by Pavel Giroud. She states that over the last five to seven years, private (not state institutional) productions have co-existed with institutional production. However, it would be important for independent producers to have a more regulated and confident relationship with Icaic in a more normalized fashion in order to have easier access to filming permits, forms of financing, banking relations, coproduction treaties, and a number of other elements which are essential to film production.

Rebeca Chávez is a director and a member of one of the groups pushing for a new cinema law which will, in principle, establish a new system incorporating the democratic participation of all people in the business, including techs, writers, directors, producers, actors, etc. and where all will have a democratically designed access to funds. In1984 she began her career as documentary director and her work has been given different national and international awards. She is the second woman in Cuba who has made feature films. She has taught several seminars on theory and practice of documentary cinema and on the Cuban experience in the genre in different institutions in the United States, Puerto Rico, England and Spain. She has worked as advisor for scripts of documentaries and feature films.

It is most important that the state has the will to make these changes, and it has stated it is open to changing the laws. Omar González who succeeded Alfredo Guevara as the head of the Icaic was replaced in 2013 by 30 year Icaic employee Roberto Smith de Castro who is now faced with reorganizing Icaic and implementing new laws which are yet to be formulated. He is considered to be a patient and attentive man who listens and will work to incorporate the diverse opinions into a new working reality.

The son of the famed director Daniel Diaz Torres whose controversial film “Alicia en el pueblo de Maravillas” (“Alice in the City of Wonders”) in 1991 was so critical of the bureaucracy of the government at the time of the Soviet collapse that it caused the resignation of Icaic’s director Espinosa, independent producer Daniel Diaz Ravelo points out that the independent producer is neither legal nor illegal but exists in a sort of limbo, free to produce whatever he or she wants but needing legal sanctions to access necessary permits, equipment, etc. And a filmmaker has no bank account so fiscal responsibility is difficult. One must get a certificate from Icaic but there is no registration rule on how this is to be done.

And it gets more complicated. It is difficult to raise a Us$400,000 budget without networking with filmmakers from other countries and yet travel is not easy for Cubans. They can travel -- Cuba no longer has a problem with that -– but often they cannot get the visa required from the country they want or need to travel to. Daniel’s father had a problem in traveling to find financing for his last film, “La Pelicula de Ana” (“Ana's Movie”), from former producers of his films. It did receive some funding from Icaic and from former funding friend, Icestorm in Germany, and a loan from Ibermedia. Unfortunately Daniel Diaz Torres, Sr. recently died an early death and did not see the fruits of his labor in the 2013 Havana premiere.

The new generation today in Cuba is highly independent; it knows that diversity of film subjects and of filmmakers is key to Cuban cinema today and it is finding diverse sources of financing and distribution. It needs more information as well because everything depends upon contacts. Cineastes traveling to Cuba will find a vibrant group open to coproducing.

2015 marks the eighth year of the Havana Film Festival’s Works in Progress. The Post Production Award, Nuestra América Primera Copia, is an international competition for films from Latin America and from Cuba, with no restrictions; films can be produced by Icaic or independently. For example, in 2013 awards went to four films, one from Chile, “I’m Not Lorena” (“No Soy Lorena”), which premiered at Tiff 2014; one from Argentina, “La Salada”, which premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival 2014 and Tiff 2014; and two from Cuba -- one Icaic film, “His Wedding Dress” (“Vestido de novia”), and the independent, “Venice” which was also Tiff 2014.

Thanks to an initiative by La Muestra, a group of Cuban production companies (including several independent ones), once a year support is awarded to four or five projects by young filmmakers. The independent film “Melaza” by Carlos Lechuga with the 5ta Avenida Productions premiered on October 3, 2013.

Rubén Padrón Astorga, writing for On Cuba [iii], November-December 2013 [1] writes:

The best prospects for our cinema today emerged like an earthquake in late April of this year, when Kiki Álvarez, the director of “Jirafas”, “La ola” and “Marina” and “Venezia”, initiated a debate on the problems that the country has with two vital filmmaking processes (production and distribution). Close to 60 audiovisual makers responded with a meeting where they formed a Filmmakers Committee to represent the rest of the country’s professionals.

Soon after its creation, the Committee announced that its objectives included ensuring the active participation of Cuban filmmakers in every decision that was made about [our] cinema, and protecting and developing its production at the industrial and independent levels. At this time, they are working together with Icaic and the Ministry of Culture to pass a decree-law defining the autonomous audiovisual creator, which would legitimize filmmakers as a legal concept, with full rights to exercise their profession. However, the decree-law, which was drafted seven years ago and ratified by the most recent Uneac Congress, was rewritten by the Filmmakers Committee so that it is not limited to recognizing audiovisual practice as individual work, but as collective, and so that it legally protects independent producers.

This committee, together with the so-called Ministry of Culture Temporary Working Group for the Transformation of Icaic, is actively participating in drawing up a diagnosis of Cuban cinema’s problems, which will be followed with the drafting of policies and actions for solving those problems. This step will clear the way for the long-term creation of a comprehensive film law. This law, which would involve widening the scope of the law passed in 1959 for Icaic’s founding, or drafting a new one, would include the creation of a film commission that would support production and make it viable; a promotion fund that would be governed by an arts council, and to which all independent and institutional artists could aspire; financial incentives that would promote the support of private and state companies and sponsors; and a general legal framework that conceives of cinema systemically, inspired by the useful experiences that have taken place in other countries in the region, such as Colombia, Argentina, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic.

A convocation of cinema directors was held May 4, 2013 in Strawberry and Chocolate Cultural Center, Havana to address the need to participate in all plans and activities planned for Cuban cinema. The meeting chose a working group composed of Enrique Kiki Álvarez, Enrique Colina, Rebeca Chávez Lourdes de los Santos, Daniel Diaz Ravelo, Pavel Giroud, Magda González Grau, Inti Herrera, Senel Paz, Fernando Perez, Manuel Perez and Pedro L. Rodríguez.

The main objective of this group is to represent the filmmakers at all levels and events, promote and ensure the active participation of the same in all decisions and projects that relate to Cuban cinema, and strive for the protection and development of these arts and industries and their makers, which is our right and duty as protagonists of this art. At its first meeting, the group reached the following conclusions and agreements (verbatim):

1 -. We recognize the Cuban Film Institute and the Film Industry (Icaic) as the rector of the Cuban film industry state agency; born with the revolution and its long history is a legacy that belongs to all filmmakers. At the same time, we believe that the problems and projections of Cuban cinema today do not concern only the Icaic, but also other institutions and institutional groups or independently involved in their production, without whose help and commitment is not possible to achieve meaningful and lasting solutions. For that reason, its reorganization and promotion can not be done only in the context of this organism.

2 -. We understand the Cuban film produced through institutional, independent mechanisms, co-production with third or mixed formulas, and as filmmakers to all creators, technicians and Cuban specialists of these arts and industries that do their work inside or outside the institutions , whatever they may be aesthetic, content or affinity group. Consequently, it is imperative the adoption of Decree Law Media Creator recognition. This decree should be enriched with all additional legal supplements necessary.

3 -. We consider essential enacting a Film Law, whose production and given all participate and to be the legal body to order and protect the artistic and economic activity in the country.

4 -. We consider it important to study and implement a Film Development Fund, to which all authors in accessing equal rights and conditions, and open call to an independent jury whose selection parameter is the quality and feasibility of the whole project.

5 -. At this stage, the filmmakers give priority to the organization and remodeling of the methods of production and realization of works, the concept that these are, first and last instance being essentially the way we express ourselves and connect with the public. Similarly, we propose a systemic boost our activity covering the organization and remodeling of the forms of production, distribution, exhibition and national and international projection of Cuban cinema.

6 -. Start work, reviewing and updating the document "Proposals for a renewal of Cuban cinema", adopted at the Seventh Congress of the Uneac in 2008. As progress is made, they will be sharing all the proposals with the filmmakers.

7 -. Exchanging proposals and views with the State Commission working on the development of proposals for the transformation of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry.

8 -. To express our deep concern for all matters concerning international relations and Cuban cinema projection, which was a revolutionary vanguard movement in the Latin American and global context. We strive for a quick recovery and exchange relationships with filmmakers from Latin America and the world, and the continuity of the Festival of New Latin American Cinema, in its next edition turns 35.

9 -. This representation group performed their work in ongoing dialogue and communication with all filmmakers through regular meetings, which shall have the power to ratify or renew the group members, making decisions of common interest and to identify priorities and lines of job.

Filmmakers Group in the Assembly elected Cuban Filmmakers Saturday May 4 at the Centro Cultural Fresa y Chocolate, after its first meeting on May 8.

Havana, May 8, 2013. This was a verbatim article in Cubarte Magazine. [iv]

Festivals/ Markets

In 1979 Icaic created the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema aka Havana Film Festival as a way to disseminate its ethical convictions about developing film that was nonconformist, irreverent, critical of social injustice and rebellious against the pressures of the market across the continent. The event hosted over 600 filmmakers from Latin America and had as presidents of juries Gabriel García Márquez (Fiction ) and Santiago Álvarez (Documentaries and Cartoons.) The Coral Grand Prize winners were Geraldo Sarno (“Colonel Delmiro Gouveia”, Brazil) and Sergio Giral (“Maluala”, Cuba), in Fiction, Patricio Guzmán (“The Battle of Chile: the Struggle a People Without Arms”, Chile), Documentary, and Juan Padrón (“Elpidio Valdés”, Cuba) in Animation.

However, the contradiction of Icaic’s exercising a central control over maverick innovations is obvious since it controlled the production criteria and the right to decide what type of film was convenient to make and what was not.

An official competition of unpublished scripts for feature films is held by International Festival of New Latin American Cinema for authors from Latin America and the Caribbean for original scripts (no literary adaptations), written in Spanish and with Latin American themes. Scripts whose production rights have been transferred to third parties are not eligible. [v]

Icaic also supports the Festival Internacional de Cine Pobre de Humberto Solas[vi] for low budget films and Festival Internacional de Documentales “Santiago Alvarez in Memoriam”[vii].

Muestra Joven is a festival for Cuban youth with premiere fiction, doc and animated films. It has collateral activities of debates about the films in the festivals, master classes, meetings about contemporary issues and themes in the audiovisual community, workshps and onferences, poster exhibitions and homages.

In April 2014 the Mediateque of Women Directors, based in Cuba formally affiliated with The Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival in creating the the Caribbean Film Market. The project is also in association with The Foundation for Global Democracy and Development of the Dominican Republic, The Association for The Development of Art and Commercial Cinematography of Guadalupe, The Foundation for New Latinamerican Cinema, The Regional and International Film Festival of Guadalupe and the Mediateque of Women Directors.

Education

Icaic was in charge of training and promotion of talented young people not only in cinema but in other arts like music for which it created the Experimental Sound Group.

Isa

Most of the new independent filmmakers are young graduates of the Higher Art Institute’s (Isa) Faculty of Audiovisual Communication Media and its provincial affiliates. The University of Arts of Cuba - (Isa), Instituto Superior de Arte - was established on September 1, 1976 by the Cuban government as a school for the arts. Its original structure had three schools: Music, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts. At present the Isa has four schools, the previous three and the one for Arts and Audiovisual Communication Media. There are also four teaching schools in the provinces, one in Camagüey, two in Holguín and one in Santiago de Cuba. Isa offers pre-degree and post-degree courses, as well as a wide spectrum of brief and extension courses, including preparation for Cuban and foreign professors for a degree of Doctor on Sciences in Art. Predegree education has increased to five careers: Music, Visual Arts, Theatre Arts, Dance Arts and Arts and Audiovisual Communication Media. In 1996, the Isa established the National Award of Artistic Teaching, conceived for recognizing a lifework devoted to arts teaching.

Eictv

Eictv, the International School of Cinema and Television was founded December 15, 1986 at the Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana with the support of then-President Fidel Castro on the initiative of Latin American cultural figures such as Argentine director, “Father of the New Latin American Cinema”, Fernando Birri, Julio and Gabo and Colombian Nobel Prize winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez who donated his prize money to establish the school.. It is located in San Antonio de los Baños near Havana, on land donated by the Cuban government.

Hundreds of young students from all over Latin America have studied direction, script, photography and edition. Since its founding , 810 students have graduated and it has become one of the region’s most important and well-grounded cultural projects.

Students pay 15,000 euros (about $19,700) to attend for the full three-year program. The fee includes food, lodging and equipment. Tuition income accounts for just 15 percent of the school's budget. Funding comes from international agencies such as Ibermedia; countries including Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Panama; and regional organizations like the Alba alliance of leftist Latin American nations.

For the past eight years, Nuevas Miradas, organized by the Eictv Production Department has held its presentations at the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema for bringing new projects to the attention of international professionals.

Also in the late 1980s, Cuba created the Third World Film School to train students from various third world countries in the art of filmmaking.

Film Funding

Icaic has been the only body to fund films. How the selection of what films would receive funding has never been a public matter.

There are no instruments for private companies or individuals to contribute to film production in Cuba yet. There are however, international funds that may help finance films, such as Hubert Bals Fund from The Netherlands, World Cinema Fund from Germany, Fonds Sud from France, the Norwegian Fund, Sor Fond, Acp, etc. The best actively kept lists are found in Ocal[viii] and Online Film Financing [ix].

Coproduction with Cuba

As early as 1948 coproductions were common between Cuba and México. During the 70s and 80s Russian coproductions included Mikhail Kalatozov’s classic 1964 film “I Am Cuba” (“Soy Cuba”). Spain has played a role in coproducing Latin American and Cuban films since the 30s but in the 1990s it began to invest more heavily. In 1997 Ibermedia was created for the purpose of promoting coproduction between Spain and Latin American countries. Cuba is one of the fourteen countries involved in this organization.

In addition, Cuba has bilateral coproduction treaties with Italy, Canada, Venezuela, Spain and Chile. So far nothing has resulted from the Chile accord.

Two examples of Cuban coproduced films are Humberto Solás’ 1982 film “Cecilia” (Cuba - Spain) and Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío’s 1992 Academy Award-nominated “Strawberry and Chocolate” (“Fresa y chocolate”) (Cuba – México – Spain - U.S.).

In September 2013 at San Sebastian International Film Festival’s 2nd Europe-Latin America Coproduction Forum, “The Companion”/ "El Acompañante" won the Best Project Award sponsored by Spain’s Audiovisual Producers’ Rights Management Association Egeda and carrying a 10,000 Euros (Us$13,000) cash award.

This is the third feature of Giroud after “The Silly Age” and “Omerta”. It is a coproduction of Cuba, Venezuela’s NativaPro Cinematográfica and France’s Tu Vas Voir owned by Edgard Tenembaum who produced Walter Salles’ “The Motorcycle Diaries”. The film also obtained the collaboration of Programa Ibermedia and was selected for Cinemas du Monde.

Pavel Giroud is one of the most promising of young Cuban filmmakers today. “The Companion”/ "El Acompañante" is set in 1988 Havana and tells the story of the friendship which develops between Horacio Romero, a Cuban boxer who fails a drug test and a defiant patient at an AIDS center under military rule for whom Romero must serve as a warden or, in Cuban government parlance, a “companion”. Playing the role of Horacio is Yotuel Romero (Latin Grammy Award-winning and founding member of Cuban rap group Orishas). Orishas is one of the world’s most critically hailed Latin-urban artists. The co-protagonist is Cuban actor Armando Miguel Gómez who has received international recognition for his role in the recent films "Behavior”/ “Conducta" and “Melaza”. International sales are handled by the Brazil-based international sales agency, Habanero, which, coincidently is owned by Cuban Alfredo Calvino and Brazilian Patricial Martin who handle such outstanding films as “Juan on the Dead”, Carlos Lechuga’s “Melaza”, Sebastian Cordero’s “Pescador” and Francisco Franco’s “Last Call”. Habanero also sponsors distribution awards at Ficg and Ventana Sur’s Primer Corte, a showcase for pictures in post-production. All the updated information about these films, including festivals and awards is available at: www.habanerofilmsales.com.

Case Study of the Producer, Inti Hererra

Cuba’s first English language film, “Eating the Sun”, a coproduction with Canada, is being produced by Inti Herrera who also is heading the new night spot of avant garde popular entertainment, La Fabrica de Arte Cubano.

Inti Herrera, formerly of 5ta Avenida Productions and I first met in 2003 through the international sales agent Alfredo Calvino whose then-company Latinofusion was selling Inti’s first fiction feature, “Viva Cuba”, a road movie of two kids traveling across Cuba in search of one’s father.

Inti graduated Eictv and worked for a long time as an independent producer of documentaries.

In 2009, when Camilo Vives, Icaic’s head of production created the Industry Sector of the Havana Film Festival Inti became its director and managed it until 2010. In 2010 when he was still running the industry space he invited me to speak about New Media, and I spoke of Peter Broderick who was then invited to do a workshop at Eictv.

As an executive producer, Inti must raise financing from the development through the completion of film projects. Each project is of course different from the last. He and Alejandro Brugués were originally discussing working on a different sort of film, “Melaza”, but put it on hold and in 2010 and 2011 he worked instead on the commercial film, “Juan of the Dead”, which is the most exhibited film of Cuba.

“Juan of the Dead”, Cuba’s first truly independent movie, a zombie horror comedy was coproduced in 2011 by Spain's La Zanfoña Producciones, where it was post-produced, and Cuba's first independent production company Producciones de la 5ta Avenida which also produced “Personal Belongings” in 2006 and “Melaza” in 2012. The film was written and directed by Alejandro Brugués (“Personal Belongings”). It was executive produced by Inti Herrera, Claudia Calviño and Gervasio Iglesias.

The film was represented for international sales by Latinofusion, a Guadalajara based company sponsored by Universidad de Guadalajara and managed by Alfredo Calvino. It was shown in more than 50 festivals worldwide, winning 10 audience awards and the Spanish Film Academy’s Goya Award of the for best Iberoamerican film. It sold to 42 territories.

“Juan of the Dead” distributors:

Argentina (Condor/ Mirada), Bolivia (Londra Films P&D), Brazil (Imovision), Canada (A-z Films), Chile (Arcadia Films), Germany (Pandastorm Pictures), Hong Kong and Macau (Sundream Motion Pictures), Hungary (Ads Service), Italy ( Moviemax Media Group Spa), Japan (Fine Films), Latin American Pay TV (HBO Latin America), México and Central America (Canana), Netherlands (Filmfreak), Norway (Tromso International Film Festival), Puerto Rico (Wiesner), Russia and Cis territories (Cinema Prestige), Spain (Avalon), Switzerland (Ascot Elite), U.K and Ireland (Metrodome), U.S.(Theatrical Distributor Outsider Pictures, all other rights Focus World)

Today Inti is working with a new director, Alfredo Ureta on the Canadian coproduction and the first Cuban film in English. “Eating the Sun” is about a Canadian-Cuban couple who decides to live in Cuba. Before settling in they make a tour of the country and become involved in a psychological thriller. The Canadian producer is Gordon Weiske of Canwood Entertainment. They are discussing the male lead role with Kris Holden-Ried. The goal is to find new markets for this film, markets which Cuba has not targeted before.

Top 10 Films of Cuba is a selection of my own:

1. “Memorias del subdesarrollo” (“Memories of Underdevelopment”) (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, 1968)

2. “Lucia” (Humberto Solás, 1969)

3. “Vampiros en La Habana” (“Vampires in Havana”) (Juan Padrón, 1983)

4. “Soy Cuba” (“I am Cuba”) ( Mikhail Kalatozov, 1964)

5. “La bella del Alhambra” (“The beauty of the Alhambra”) (Enrique Pineda Barnet, 1989)

6. “Fresa y Chocolate” (“Strawberry and Chocolate”) (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío, 1993)

7. “Lista de Espera” (“The waiting list”) (Juan Carlos Tabío, 2000)

8. “Havana Suite” (“Suite Havana”) (Fernando Pérez, 2003)

9. “Juan of the Dead” (Alejandro Brugués, 2011)

10. “Melaza” (Carlos Lechuga, 2013)

[1] http://www.oncubamagazine.com/magazine/for-independent-and-industrial-cuban-cinema/

Cubacine. El Portal del Cine Cubano. http://www.cubacine.cu/index.html.

[ii] http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=99785#sthash.yCWbyCcU.dpuf

[iii] http://oncubamagazine.com/magazine-articles/for-independent-and-industrial-cuban-cinema/ Cubacine. El Portal del Cine Cubano. http://www.cubacine.cu/index.html.

[iv] http://www.cubarte.cult.cu/periodico/opinion/cineastas-cubanos-por-el-cine-cubano/24423.html

[v] http://www.cinelatinoamericano.org/ocal/direct.aspx?cod=1234

[vi] www.festivalcinepobre.org , www.cubacine.cu/cinepobre

[vii] www.cubacine.cu/festivalsantiagoalvarez/index.html

[viii] http://www.cinelatinoamericano.org/ocal/directorios.aspx?cod=8&par=2

[ix] www.olffi.com/...

The premiere post-tiff destination (September 20-25th) in the film community and a major leg up for narrative and non-fiction films in development, the Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp) announced a whopping 140 projects selected for the Project Forum at the upcoming Ifp Independent Film Week. Made up of several sections (Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers program, No Borders International Co-Production Market and Spotlight on Documentaries), we find latest updates from the likes of docu-helmers Doug Block (112 Weddings) and Lana Wilson (After Tiller), and among the narrative items we find headliners in Andrew Haigh (coming off the well received 45 Years), Sophie Barthes (Cold Souls and Madame Bovary), Terence Nance (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty), Lawrence Michael Levine (Wild Canaries), Jorge Michel Grau (We Are What We Are), Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal (Stranger Things) and new faces in Sundance’s large family in Charles Poekel (Christmas, Again) and Olivia Newman (First Match). Here...

It’s a thrill to see two out of three of the CineMart Awards are to filmmakers we are tracking: “Luxembourg” by Myroslav Slaboshptyskly from Ukraine and Cuba’s Claudia Calvino and Carlos Lechuga's “Santa y Delfin” won the inaugural Wouter Barendrecht Award. Best unpublished screenplay prize was awarded to the team this past December at Havana’s Festival de Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano. The Ukrainian-German production to be produced by Miff’s Business Square founder Anna Katchko, “Luxembourg”, was awarded the €7,000 Arte International Prize after winning the Sundance Aj+ sponsored Global Filmmaking Award of Us $10,000.

The project has a budget of €1.5 million and is half financed by the Ukrainean State Film Agency. It received a grant from Hubert Bals Fund earlier and will be at Berlin’s Efm Coproduction Market next week. This U.K.-German-French coproduction is being sold internationally by Ultra Violet who sold writer-director Myroslav Slaboshptyskly’s first film “The Tribe” to 35 territories. Myroslav and I spoke at Sundance and he gave me a link to his short “Nuclear Waste” which is a pilot for this film, shot in the Chernobyl exclusion zone and awarded the Silver Leopard of Tomorrow at the Locarno Film Festival and showed at many festivals.

CineMart 2015 awards were announced recently, marking the close of the 32nd edition of the co-production market. Dutch/French/Belgian production “Tonic Immobility” was awarded the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award of €20,000, which is given to a project presented by a European producer.

CineMart selected 24 international projects to participate in the four day event which has been one of the most successful in recent years. A panel discussion to launch Iffr’s new VoD initiative, Tiger Release, was well attended with several filmmakers now in discussion with the Iffr team on releasing their new films via this platform. Multiple conferences and panels covering topics ranging from “Making the most of a film festival” to “The Director-Producer Partnership” were held in front of packed audiences who were invited to be involved in the debates and receive advice. The "Creative Europe Day" on Tuesday, January 27th which offered advice and guidance on creating beyond the boundaries of Europe proved one of the highlights of Iffr 2015.

On making the announcement Head of Industry & CineMart, Marit van den Elshout commented “The quality of our line-up this year is something the whole team is very proud of - so many standout projects with talented teams behind them, the award winners exemplify this. We hosted multiple extremely well attended panels and conversations, experienced great success with the launch of Tiger Release and the enthusiasm with which our Creative Europe day was received all adds up to one of the strongest CineMart’s in a long time. ”

This year’s Eurimages Co-Production Development Award winner, “Tonic Immobility” by Nathalie Teirlinck, (The Netherlands, France, Belgium), is a Bart van Langendonck, Xavier Rombaut, Savage Film production. It tells the story of Alice, an escort who abandons her baby son Robin. Unexpectedly, seven years later Alice is reunited with the boy and they must find a way to co-exist while Alice is confronted with the fact that true emotions can't be controlled and that intimacy can lead to vulnerability. On the Jury’s decision Dorien van de Pas commented “ The award is being given to a project from a multitalented first time feature director who will tell a very emotional, universal story. His short films demonstrate a strong visual style in combination with a great focus on sound. ”

The Arte International Prize winner “Luxembourg”, (Ukraine, Germany) by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, and produced by Anna Katchko with Tandem Production is a film noir with touches of a western. A great project by a very talented director, stunningly set up for a strong and cinematic story. On presenting the award Annamaria Lodato commented. “This year the Arte International Prize is awarded to a talented, daring and radical director. He is preparing a film that explores a world unknown to most of us: today’s Chernobyl. Far from being a ‘disaster film’, it is a story about living in the Chernobyl zone, a world with its own rules, an almost primitive community that the director knows from the inside. ”

The Wouter Barendrecht Award winner “Santa y Delfin” (Cuba), by Carlos Lechuga is produced by Claudia Calvino and Producciones de la 5ta Avenida. Cuba, homosexuality, censorship, working class and intellectuals, a young talented director and a real story - real potential for a hit project.

On presenting the award Managing Director of Fortissimo Films, Nelleke Driessen commented “The Wouter Barendrecht Foundation (Wbf) encourages the work of talented young filmmakers, we encourage daring films, films that oppose social conventions, with a large urgency. There were 8 films eligible for this award, but in the end only one can win and 'Santa y Delfin' stood out amongst all - if Wouter were here he would be thrilled with the choice. ”

CineMart Selected Projects

"A Shining Flaw" by Erwin Olaf

Eyeworks Film & TV Drama, Netherlands

"Cobain" by Nanouk Leopold

Circe Films/Waterland Film, Netherlands

"Vita & Virginia" by Sacha Polak

Mirror Productions/Viking Film, United Kingdom/Netherlands

"Tonic Immobility" by Nathalie Teirlinck

Savage Film/Ctm Pictures, Belgium/France/Netherlands

"The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea" by Syllas Tzoumerkas

Homemade Films/Prpl, Greece/Netherlands

"Angel" by Koen Mortier

Czar Film/Tobina Films/Anonymes Films, Belgium/Senegal/France

"Ceux qui travaillent" by Antoine Russbach

Box Productions, Switzerland

"Cunningham" by Alla Kovgan

Arsam International/Chance Operations, France/USA

"La Fille de l’Estuaire" by Gaëlle Denis

Life to Live Films, United Kingdom/France

"Holiday" by Isabella Eklöf

Dharmafilm/Beofilm, Denmark

"Luxembourg" by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy

Tandem Production/Garmata Film, Ukraine/Germany

"Bat, Butterfly, Moth" by Sergio Caballero

Corte y Confección de Películas/Am Films, Spain

"The Gray Beyond" by Alejandro Fernández Almendras

Jirafa Films/Wa Entertainment, Chile/Japan

"Only the Dead Have Seen the End of the War" by Khavn

Kamias Overground, Philippines

"Rojo" by Benjamin Naishtat

Pucará Cine, Argentina

"La Barracuda" by Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin

Small Drama/Hot Metal Films/Blue Suitcase Productions, USA

"Boyfriend" by Ashim Ahluwalia

Future East Film, India

"Gabriel and the Mountain" by Fellipe Barbosa

TvZero/Gamarosa Filmes, Brazil

"Los Delincuentes" by Rodrigo Moreno

Compañía Amateur/Rizoma, Argentina

"Santa y Delfín" by Carlos Lechuga

Producciones de la 5ta Avenida, Cuba

"Kodokushi" by Janus Victoria

Paperheart, Philippines/Malaysia/Japan

Art:Film projects "Cactus Flower" by Hala Elkoussy

Transit Films, Egypt

"Hurrah, Wir Leben Noch" by Agnieszka Polska

Kijora Anna Gawlita/Museum of Modern Art Poland, Poland/Germany

"Mr Sing Sing" by Phil Collins

Shady Lane Productions, Germany/USA

Audience Awards Winners

The awards, as voted for by the public audience attending the Festival, were announced this evening at the Iffr 2015 Closing Night Ceremony, hosted by Festival Director, Rutger Wolfson and Managing Director, Janneke Staarink. James Napier Robertson was awarded the Iffr Audience Award 2015 of €10,000 for his film "The Dark Horse." The award is Napier’s second of the Festival following the MovieZone Iffr Award which was presented on Friday, January 30th at the Iffr Awards Ceremony. The Hubert Bals Fund Dioraphte Award, also of €10,000, presented to the most popular film which received support from the Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf) went to Oscar Ruiz Navia for "Los Hongos," an autobiographical drama centering on the youth culture of Cali, Colombia.

Read More - Toronto Review: Cliff Curtis is a Fallen Champion Turned Mentor in "The Dark Horse"

On the announcement of the Iffr Audience Award 2015 Wolfson commented “The audiences who come from all over the Netherlands and around the world to participate in the Festival and explore our diverse, thought provoking programme are integral to Iffr. It would not be the special Festival it is without them so we would like to thank all who joined us in celebrating cinema this year and of course congratulations to James who created a wonderful, personal film.”

On the announcement of the Hubert Bals Fund Dioraphte Award, Manager of the Hubert Bals Fund, Iwana Chronis commented “I am thrilled with the reception the Hbf supported films received throughout the twelve days of the Festival. Oscar Ruiz Navia is a talented filmmaker with a long and successful career ahead of him, this recognition is fully deserved, we are so pleased to have been a part of helping getting this film to the big screen .”

A highly acclaimed drama, "The Dark Horse" tells the true and moving story of Genesis Potini, who fought for the future of disadvantaged children in New Zealand until his death in 2011. In spite of his own bipolar disorder, he taught them to play chess and fight for opportunities. "The Dark Horse" is both amusing and raw, and above all intensely moving. Born in New Zealand, director James Napier Robertson made a name for himself in the world of television before switching to cinema. He appeared as an actor in the series "The Tribe" and "Shortland Street." He directed his first feature film "I’m Not Harry Jenson" in 2009.

Directed by Oscar Ruiz Navia, "Los Hongos" is an autobiographically inspired drama based around two skater friends who are at the heart of the colorful, noisy street and youth culture of Cali, Colombia. With a warm heart, Ruiz tells the story of Ras and Calvin, who are looking for their own voice, a stage and of course freedom, love and fun. Born in Colombia, Oscar Ruiz Navia’s debut film "Crab Trap" won a Fipresci Award at the Berlinale in 2010. Prior to that he was focused on the development and production of independent cinema in Colombia and founded the production company Contravia Films having previously studied Social Communications and Journalism.

Top 5 Audience Award Iffr 2015

"The Dark Horse" "The Farewell Party" "Loin des Hommes" "La Vie de Jean-Marie" "Alice Cares" Top 5 Hbf Dioraphte Award 2015

"Los Hongos" "La Mujer de los Perros" (Dog Lady) "Nn" "Court" "The Tribe" The full list can be found on the Festival's website:

www.iffr.com/professionals/iffr-2015/iffr-audience-award-2015...

Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s Chernobyl-based drama wins one of three awards at International Film Festival Rotterdam’s co-production market.

Rotterdam co-production market CineMart closed last night (Jan 28) with a hat trick of awards.

Ukrainian-German production Luxembourg was awarded the €7,000 ($7,900) Arte International Prize.

Directed by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy (The Tribe), the film tells a story of love and revenge based in the the area around Chernobyl - the city that was decimated during the notorious nuclear power plant disaster in 1986.

Slaboshpytskiy, who won Cannes’ Critics Week Grand Prize with deaf boarding school drama The Tribe, has based Luxembourg on his 2012 short, Nuclear Waste.

On presenting the award, producer Annamaria Lodato described Slaboshpytskiy as “a talented, daring and radical director”.

“He is preparing a film that explores a world unknown to most of us: today’s Chernobyl,” she added. “Far from being a ‘disaster film’, it is a story about living in the Chernobyl zone, a world with...

Co-production market has three prizes including new Wouter Barendrecht Award in conjunction with Fortissimo Films.

A host of global auteurs, along with new voices, have been selected for The International FIlm Festival Rotterdam’s famed CineMart co-production market.

Filmmakers who have projects selected include Miss Lovely director Ashim Ahluwalia from India; Ukranian director of multi-award-winning The Tribe Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy; Argentina’s Benjamin Naishtat (History of Fear); Fellipe Barbosa (Casa Grande); American duo Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin, whose previous film Now, Forager played at Rotterdam; Dutch director Nanouk Leopold [pictured]; and Sacha Polak (Hemel). Full list of selected projects below.

CineMart is one of the industry’s first co-production markets, now in its 32nd edition. There are three awards — The Eurimages Co-production Development Award of €20,000, The Arte International Price of €7,000 and the inaugural Wouter Barendrecht Award of €5,000 which is awarded by CineMart in conjunction with Fortissimo Films.

CineMart runs Jan 25-28 as part of Iffr which runs Jan...

As the Latin American film market came to a close in Buenos Aires at the weekend (December 5), market organisers unveiled a number of award winners.Primer Corte

Primer Corte honours went to Luis Zorraquín’s Guaraní (Paraguay-Argentina) for the European Vision Award, while Clever from Uruguay’s Federico Borgia and Guillermo Madeiro won the Haciendo Cine Awards.

Clever also took honours from the Habanero Company jury in the LatAm Vision Awards section as California (Brazil) by Marina Person won the prize from the Wild Fox and Assimilate juries.

California also prevailed in the Incaa TV Award and the Primer Corte Variety Award.

Blood Window

Turning to the Blood Window programme, the Beyond The Window section saw Daniel de la Vega’s Punto Muerto win the Divicom Rental award and Habana Territorio de Vampiros by Carlos Lechuga win the Roma Lazio Film Commission prize.

Two films have been invited to take part in the Fantastic Fest’s Fantastic...

Fantastic Fest 2015 will include the second edition of the international co-production market Fantastic Market | Mercado Fantastico, and this year 15 projects have been selected. Read on for the full list!

The Fantastic Market | Mercado Fantastico runs September 18-20 in Austin, Texas. Fantastic Fest lead programmer Rodney Perkins and festival director Kristen Bell are heading up the effort. For more info on all of the below projects, visit FantasticFest.com/Projects.

Canana - the Mexican production outlet helmed by Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna, and Pablo Cruz - is co-producing the market alongside filmmaker Robert Rodriguez's El Rey Network. Cristina Garza, Vice President of Mundial, Canana's sales joint venture with Im Global, is sourcing projects from the region.

"The public response to this year's call for submissions was astounding," says market director Perkins. "The 15 selected projects represent a diverse mix of talent from the United States and abroad. We are extremely...

As the leading presenter of Latin American Cinema in the U.S. Cinema Tropical advocates for the Latino filmmaking community and honors their achievements. Cinema Tropical Awards now in its fourth edition have announced this year's nominees

The winners of the 4th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards will be announced at a special event at The New York Times Company headquarters in New York City in late January, 2014.

The nominees for this year’s Cinema Tropical Awards were selected by a nine-member jury panel from a list of Latin American and U.S. Latino feature films of a minimum of 60 minutes in length that were premiered between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013 (January 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013, for U.S. Latino productions). The list was culled by a nominating committee composed of 17 film professionals from Latin America, the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

The Cinema Tropical Awards are presented in partnership with Voces, Latino Heritage Network of The New York Times Company. Media Sponsors: LatAm Cinema and Remezcla. Special thanks to Mario Díaz, Andrea Betanzos, and Tatiana García.

Best Feature Film

- Gloria (Sebastián Lelio, Chile/Spain, 2013)

- No (Pablo Larraín, Chile/USA/France/Mexico, 2012)

- Post Tenebras Lux (Carlos Reygadas, Mexico/France/Germany/Netherlands, 2012)

- Tanta Agua | So Much Water (Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge, Uruguay/Germany/Mexico, 2013)

- VIolA (Matías Piñeiro, Argentina, 2012)

Best Director, Feature Film

- Sebastián Silva, Crystal Fairy (Chile, 2013)

- Pablo Larraín, No (Chile/USA/France/Mexico, 2012)

- Carlos Reygadas, Post Tenebras Lux (Mexico/ France/ Germany/ Netherlands, 2012)

-Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge, Tanta Agua | So Much Water

(Uruguay/ Germany/ Mexico, 2013)

- Matías Piñeiro, Viola (Argentina, 2012)

Best Documentary Film

- El Alcalde | The Mayor (Emiliano Altuna, Carlos F. Rossini, Diego Osorno, Mexico, 2012)

- La Chica Del Sur | The Girl from the South (José Luis García, Argentina, 2012)

- La Gente Del RÍO | The River People (Martín Benchimol and Pablo Aparo, Argentina, 2012)

- El Huaso (Carlo Guillermo Proto, Chile/Canada, 2012)

- El Otro DÍA | The Other Day (Ignacio Agüero, Chile, 2012)

Best Director, Documentary Film

- José Luis García, La Chica Del Sur | The Girl from the South (Argentina, 2012)

- Priscilla Padilla, La Eterna Noche De Las Doce Lunas | The Eternal Night of the Twelve Moons (Colombia, 2013)

- Martín Benchimol, Pablo Aparo, La Gente Del RÍO | The River People (Argentina, 2012)

- Mercedes Moncada, Palabras MÁGICAS (Para Romper Un Encantamiento) | Magic Words (Breaking a Spell) (Mexico/Guatemala, 2012)

- Ignacio Agüero, El Otro DÍA | The Other Day (Chile, 2012)

Best First Film

- Carne De Perro | Dog Flesh (Fernando Guzzoni, Chile/France/Germany, 2012)

- El Limpiador | The Cleaner (Adrián Saba, Peru, 2012)

- Melaza | Molasses (Carlos Díaz Lechuga, Cuba/France/Panama, 2012)

- Tanta Agua | So Much Water (Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge, Uruguay/Germany/Mexico, 2013)

- Los Salvajes | The Wild Ones (Alejandro Fadel, Argentina, 2012)

Best U.S. Latino Film

- American Promise (Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, USA, 2013)

- Filly Brown (Youssef Delara and Michael D. Olmos, USA, 2012)

- Mosquita Y Mari (Aurora Guerrero, USA, 2012)

- Reportero (Bernardo Ruiz, USA, 2012)

- Wonder Women! The Untold Story Of American Superheroines (Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, USA, 2012)

2013 Jury:

Chris Allen, founder and director, UnionDocs; Melissa Anderson, film critic, Artforum; Beth Janson, executive director, Tribeca Film Institute; Daniel Loría, overseas editor, BoxOffice; Mike Maggiore, programmer, Film Forum; Paco de Onís, filmmaker; Anita Reher, executive director, Robert Flaherty Film Seminar; Julia Solomonoff, filmmaker; Maria-Christina Villaseñor, film curator and writer.

2013 Nominating Committee:

Cecilia Barrionuevo, programmer, Mar del Plata Film Festival, Argentina; Raúl Camargo, programmer, Valdivia Film Festival, Chile; John Campos Gómez, director, Transcinema Film Festival, Peru; Inti Cordera, director, DocsDF Film Festival, Mexico; Christine Davila, programmer, Sundance, Los Angeles Film Festival, Ambulante USA; Eugenio del Bosque, director, Cine Las Américas, USA; Raciel del Toro, Cinergia, Costa Rica; Vanessa Erazo, film programmer and journalist, indieWIRE/LatinoBuzz, Remezcla, USA; Lisa Franek, programmer, San Diego Latino Film Festival, USA; Robert A. Gomez, film journalist, Cinemathon, Venezuela; Jaie Laplante, director, Miami Film Festival, USA; Agustín Mango, film journalist, Hollywood Reporter, Argentina; Jim Mendiola, programmer, CineFestival, San Antonio, USA; Luis Ortiz, director, Latino Public Broadcasting, USA; Rafael Sampaio, programmer, Sao Paulo Latin American Film Festival, Brazil; Eva Sangiorgi, programmer, Ficunam, Mexico; Gerwin Tamsma, programmer, Rotterdam Film Festival, Netherlands.

Alexander Payne’s Nebraska to close the 10-day festival in the Greek city.

The 54th Thessaloniki International Film Festival is set to kick off today with the gala presentation of Only Lovers Left Alive in the presence of director Jim Jarmusch.

Jarmusch will attend following several efforts to lure him to the festival in northern Greece.

Only Lovers Left Alive, which played in competition at Cannes, was executive produced by Greece’s Christos Konstantakopoulos of Faliro House Productions.

The festival will wrap on Nov 10 with Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, for which lead actor Bruce Dern won best actor at Cannes.

Greek-American Payne returns to the festival to present the film and will preside over the international jury.

A total of 14 titles make up the competition and the award for the Golden and Silver Alexander will be decided by a jury including Romanian producer Ada Solomon, Cannes Directors Fortnight head Edouard Weintrop, Variety chief critic...

Carlos Lechuga’s Melaza has won the juried best feature prize at the 2013 trinidad+tobago film festival.

Top honours for the best documentary were shared by Raoul Peck’s Fatal Assistance and Miquel Galofre and Amanda Sans’ Songs Of Redemption.

The Best Local Feature Film award went to Damian Marcano’s (pictured) God Loves The Fighter, which also won the People’s Choice Feature award.

Songs Of Redemption was the audience favourite in the documentary category.

The festival ran from September 17 and will end on October 1. All in all 142 films screened at the Caribbean event. For the full list of winners visit the official website.