Next week in Miami, hundreds of bloggers, marketers, corporate brand reps, music and film artists will be checking in at the Eden Roc Hotel to attend Hispanicize, a social media platform for today’s Latino innovators. Now in its 4th year, the marketing, interactive, film and music conference was founded by Manny Ruiz, a PR businessman who adopted the term Hispanicize to signify the transformation and growing impact of Latino culture into traditional American mainstream and who created this convergence to amplify the success of diverse voices in social media.
In part modeled after SXSW and Ted Talks, Hispanicize aims to be a digital multi-media launchpad and idea stimulating conference tailored towards Latinos. The event’s core journalistic DNA is confirmed by guest co-chair, Soledad O Brien, who just signed off on her morning CNN show capping off a decade of reporting for the news outlet. For the second year the South Beach setting will host yacht parties, beachside receptions, breakfast and lunch networking, and 100 plus talks, featuring such entrepreneurs in social media like the Latina Mom Bloggers, panels like How Brands and Agencies are Engaging and Collaborating with Latino Bloggers and Getting on Corporate Boards. The heavily sponsored event, (Procter & Gamble is the presenting sponsor) will include a Diversity Tech Leaders Summit presented by Sprint in which the lesser-known business stories of diverse tech and social media entrepreneurs who are making their marks in digital media will be highlighted.
I have to admit I knew nothing of Hispanicize up until a couple months ago. Curious, I went on the website and I found the lingo a tad superfluous and hyperbolic. Words like iconic and mighty are used to describe the young but clearly flourishing event. Then again, this kind of grandiose speak is typical Public Relations so it makes sense given it is a partnership with Hispanic Public Relations Association (Hpra) and the Public Relations Society of America (Prsa).
I reached out to the founder Manny Ruiz to find out more about the mission of the event and found his enthusiasm and excitement for what he considers a pioneering movement infectious. It’s hard to argue that this mass tech and entertainment crossroads gathering makes for an incredible networking opportunity. Ruiz called it a “Uniting of these industries to create a symphony” and went on to note it is much more powerful for bloggers to converge at the same place with journalists, marketers, digital, music and film innovators then if you had them out there individually and remotely. Before I knew it I was put in touch with with Roman Morales, the Film Showcase Organizer and I came onboard as Programmer for the film component. A big reason I stepped in was because I was particularly attracted to presenting Us independent Latino films to an audience heavy with social media influence and bloggers, to see if it would indeed create a higher level of buzz, publicity and exposure from the community.
Along with a special screening of Filly Brown days before its national theatrical release, this year Hispanicize will screen six features including the high profile sneak preview of The Weinstein Company’s Aftershock, the horror comedy produced and starring Eli Roth, directed by Chilean filmmaker Nicolas Lopez (Que Pena tu Vida, Promedio Rojo). Also, straight from SXSW the music industry and character-driven documentary Los Wild Ones about the Wild Records label and family of Mexican rockabilly acts. With the exception of Aftershock, all the films reflect a taste of the diaspora of unique, bi-cultural Us narratives, and notably are all first features. Three of the films, Blaze You Out, Filly Brown and Mission Park are being distributed by Lionsgate labels Pantelion and Grindstone Entertainment. Meanwhile, seeking distribution is Dreamer written and directed by Salvador born Jesse Salmeron, a poignant and timely story starring and produced by Jeremy Ray Valdez about an upwardly mobile American whose paralyzed by the fear of being deported. Los Wild Ones is also seeking distribution and should find considerable traction within and outside hard core music fan circles.
My personal pride and joy however has to be the shorts film showcase. Portraying visionary quests for identity, love, truth and legacy and created by multicultural emergent voices from San Antonio, Miami, La, NYC, Oaxaca and Puerto Rico. This is the medium in which to find provocative, daring and versatile young generation of fresh voices who you can expect will blow up big soon. To name just a few, the filmmakers include Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva of the Borscht corporation, Zoé Salicrup Junco, the filmmaker of Gabi who workshopped her feature script of the short at San Antonio’s CineFestival’s Latino Screenwriters Project, Victor Hugo Duran the Colombia Film grad whose short, Fireworks played at the La Film Festival last year and is currently shooting his first feature in Mexico called La Victoria, and Steve Acevedo, the director of El Cocodrilo which is a powerful and urgent film about a journalist played by Jacob Vargas on the run from narcos, who participated in NBCU Directing Fellowship.
I’ll try not to go all Spring Breaker debauchery when I head to Miami next week. I’m very interested in immersing myself in the Hispanicize program to cover the dialogue and scrutinize the impact so stay tuned for my report.
See below to check out full film list and links. Hispanicize will take place April 9 – 13. For information on how to attend and the schedule click here.
Blaze You Out
(USA, 2013, 90 min)
Writers/Directors: Mateo Frazier, Diego Joaquin Lopez
Cast: Veronica Diaz Carranza, Elizabeth Pena, Q’orianka Kilcher, Mark Adair Rios, Elizabeth Pena
Logline: An unyielding young woman ventures into the ruthless underworld of the town’s heroin trade in order to save her younger sister’s life.
Dreamer
(USA, 2013)
Writer/Director: Jesse Salmeron
Cast: Jeremy Ray Valdez, Isabella Hofmann, Cory Knauf
Logline: Joe Rodriguez is an All American young man. He’s amiable, well educated and attractive. He’s graduated from college and is working and excelling in his field. He’s on his way to achieving the American Dream. That is until his employer discovers his undocumented status and the life he’s worked so hard for begins to crumble around him. He must face the possibility of losing his livelihood, his family and even himself.
Los Wild Ones
(USA, 2013, 95 min)
Director: Elise Salomon Writers: Ryan Brown, Elise Salomon
Featuring Luis Arriaga, Gizzelle, the Rhythm Shakers and more
Logline: Wild Records is an La indie music label comprised of young Hispanic musicians, it is run by Irishman, Reb Kennedy. Wild is an unconventional family, reminiscent of the early days of Sun Records, all of its musicians write and perform 50s Rock ‘n Roll. If Wild is going to continue to grow and reach broader audiences, its current business model will cease to work.
Aftershock
(USA, 2012, 90 min)
Director: Nicolás López
Writers: Guillermo Amoedo, Nicolás López and Eli Roth
Cast: Andrea Osvart, Ariel Levy, Eli Roth
Logline: In Chile, a group of travelers who are in an underground nightclub when a massive earthquake hits quickly learn that reaching the surface is just the beginning of their nightmare.
Mission Park
(USA, 2013, 120 min)
Writer/Director: Bryan Ramirez
Cast: Jeremy Ray Valdez, Walter Perez, Fenanda Romero, Joseph Julian Soria, William Rothaar, Jesse Borrego
Logline: Four friends from the rough side of town grow apart when two are consumed by a life of crime, and the other two become FBI agents sent deep undercover – to bring down those childhood friends.
Shorts Film Showcase~
#Postmodem
(USA, 2012, 13 mins)
Writers/Directors: Lucas Leyva, Jillian Mayer
Cast: Jillian Mayer, Kayla Delacerda, Amy Seimetz, Arly Montes, Jesse Miller, Shivers Thedog
Logline: A comedic, satirical, sci-fi pop musical based on the theories of Ray Kurzweil and other futurists, #PostModem is the story of two Miami girls and how they deal with technological singularity, as told through a series of cinematic tweets.
@borschtcorp
Fireworks
(USA, 2012, 11 mins)
Director: Victor Hugo Duran
Writer: Kevin James McMuillin
Cast: Roger Cruz, Alberto Castañeda, Irene Sorto, Azucena Benitez, Edgar Vanegas, Julio Duran, Victor Hugo Duran, Kevin James McMullin
Logline: During the Fourth of July in South Los Angeles, a teenage boy and his brother scour the neighborhood for fireworks in order to win the admiration of a girl.
Twitter: @victorhugoduran
Clara Como El Agua
(USA, 2012 10 min)
Writer/Director: Fernanda Rossi
Cast: Kathiria Bonilla León, Sixta Rivera, Rubén Andrés Medina, Alfonso Peña Ossoria, Stephanie Quiles Reyes, Eyra Aguero
Logline: Clara is the only light-skinned and clear-eyed girl in an all-black neighborhood. Teased incessantly, the children claim her unknown father is actually a “gringo” tourist. However, Clara was told a different story, and to find out the truth, she will venture into the magical waters of the bioluminescent bay all on her own.
Echo Bear
(USA, 2012 6min)
Writer/director: Yolanda Cruz
Cast: Joe Nunez, Hugo Medina, Tzina Carmel, Donato López, Lobo Manet
Logline: Bear, a single gay Latino man in L.A.’s Echo Park neighborhood, looks for love online. Fearing traffic, he searches locally, but soon discovers how geographic convenience can turn to heartache overnight.
Vincent Valdez: Excerpts For John
(2012, USA, 12 min)
Directed by Mark and Angela Walley
Logline: Two years in the making, this beautifully shot and perfectly paced short documentary captures the creative process of painter Vincent Valdez, as the artist works on a series of pieces dedicated to a childhood friend John Holt Jr. an Army combat medic who died in 2009 after serving in Iraq.
El Cocodrilo
(2012, 15 min)
Director: Steve Acevedo
Writer: Alfredo Barrios, Jr.
Cast: Jacob Vargas Hugo Medina Shannon Lucio Manuel Uriza
Logline: A Mexican journalist and a cartel assassin collide in a diner, with tragic consequences for both.
Reinaldo Arenas
(USA, 2012, 3:29min)
Writer/director Lucas Leyva
Shark: Alberto Ibarguen Man: Epifanio Leyva
Logline: Told from the point of view of a dying shark, 'Reinaldo Arenas' metaphorically captures the current state of the aging Cuban-American exile community, many of whom have still not come to terms with the Communist Revolution that changed their lives forever. The film culls from various Cuban films and works of literature to create not a singular voice, but a feeling of a particular moment in time
@borschtcorp
Gabi
(2012, USA 20 min)
Writer/Director: Zoe Junco
Cast: Marisé Alvarez , Dalia Davi , Roy Sanchez Vahamonde , Aris Mejias
Logline: A Puerto Rican saying haunts single women in their 30’s: “If such a woman is not married by this time, she must be a slut, a lesbian, or a prude.” This is the story of that woman...
@gabifilm...
In part modeled after SXSW and Ted Talks, Hispanicize aims to be a digital multi-media launchpad and idea stimulating conference tailored towards Latinos. The event’s core journalistic DNA is confirmed by guest co-chair, Soledad O Brien, who just signed off on her morning CNN show capping off a decade of reporting for the news outlet. For the second year the South Beach setting will host yacht parties, beachside receptions, breakfast and lunch networking, and 100 plus talks, featuring such entrepreneurs in social media like the Latina Mom Bloggers, panels like How Brands and Agencies are Engaging and Collaborating with Latino Bloggers and Getting on Corporate Boards. The heavily sponsored event, (Procter & Gamble is the presenting sponsor) will include a Diversity Tech Leaders Summit presented by Sprint in which the lesser-known business stories of diverse tech and social media entrepreneurs who are making their marks in digital media will be highlighted.
I have to admit I knew nothing of Hispanicize up until a couple months ago. Curious, I went on the website and I found the lingo a tad superfluous and hyperbolic. Words like iconic and mighty are used to describe the young but clearly flourishing event. Then again, this kind of grandiose speak is typical Public Relations so it makes sense given it is a partnership with Hispanic Public Relations Association (Hpra) and the Public Relations Society of America (Prsa).
I reached out to the founder Manny Ruiz to find out more about the mission of the event and found his enthusiasm and excitement for what he considers a pioneering movement infectious. It’s hard to argue that this mass tech and entertainment crossroads gathering makes for an incredible networking opportunity. Ruiz called it a “Uniting of these industries to create a symphony” and went on to note it is much more powerful for bloggers to converge at the same place with journalists, marketers, digital, music and film innovators then if you had them out there individually and remotely. Before I knew it I was put in touch with with Roman Morales, the Film Showcase Organizer and I came onboard as Programmer for the film component. A big reason I stepped in was because I was particularly attracted to presenting Us independent Latino films to an audience heavy with social media influence and bloggers, to see if it would indeed create a higher level of buzz, publicity and exposure from the community.
Along with a special screening of Filly Brown days before its national theatrical release, this year Hispanicize will screen six features including the high profile sneak preview of The Weinstein Company’s Aftershock, the horror comedy produced and starring Eli Roth, directed by Chilean filmmaker Nicolas Lopez (Que Pena tu Vida, Promedio Rojo). Also, straight from SXSW the music industry and character-driven documentary Los Wild Ones about the Wild Records label and family of Mexican rockabilly acts. With the exception of Aftershock, all the films reflect a taste of the diaspora of unique, bi-cultural Us narratives, and notably are all first features. Three of the films, Blaze You Out, Filly Brown and Mission Park are being distributed by Lionsgate labels Pantelion and Grindstone Entertainment. Meanwhile, seeking distribution is Dreamer written and directed by Salvador born Jesse Salmeron, a poignant and timely story starring and produced by Jeremy Ray Valdez about an upwardly mobile American whose paralyzed by the fear of being deported. Los Wild Ones is also seeking distribution and should find considerable traction within and outside hard core music fan circles.
My personal pride and joy however has to be the shorts film showcase. Portraying visionary quests for identity, love, truth and legacy and created by multicultural emergent voices from San Antonio, Miami, La, NYC, Oaxaca and Puerto Rico. This is the medium in which to find provocative, daring and versatile young generation of fresh voices who you can expect will blow up big soon. To name just a few, the filmmakers include Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva of the Borscht corporation, Zoé Salicrup Junco, the filmmaker of Gabi who workshopped her feature script of the short at San Antonio’s CineFestival’s Latino Screenwriters Project, Victor Hugo Duran the Colombia Film grad whose short, Fireworks played at the La Film Festival last year and is currently shooting his first feature in Mexico called La Victoria, and Steve Acevedo, the director of El Cocodrilo which is a powerful and urgent film about a journalist played by Jacob Vargas on the run from narcos, who participated in NBCU Directing Fellowship.
I’ll try not to go all Spring Breaker debauchery when I head to Miami next week. I’m very interested in immersing myself in the Hispanicize program to cover the dialogue and scrutinize the impact so stay tuned for my report.
See below to check out full film list and links. Hispanicize will take place April 9 – 13. For information on how to attend and the schedule click here.
Blaze You Out
(USA, 2013, 90 min)
Writers/Directors: Mateo Frazier, Diego Joaquin Lopez
Cast: Veronica Diaz Carranza, Elizabeth Pena, Q’orianka Kilcher, Mark Adair Rios, Elizabeth Pena
Logline: An unyielding young woman ventures into the ruthless underworld of the town’s heroin trade in order to save her younger sister’s life.
Dreamer
(USA, 2013)
Writer/Director: Jesse Salmeron
Cast: Jeremy Ray Valdez, Isabella Hofmann, Cory Knauf
Logline: Joe Rodriguez is an All American young man. He’s amiable, well educated and attractive. He’s graduated from college and is working and excelling in his field. He’s on his way to achieving the American Dream. That is until his employer discovers his undocumented status and the life he’s worked so hard for begins to crumble around him. He must face the possibility of losing his livelihood, his family and even himself.
Los Wild Ones
(USA, 2013, 95 min)
Director: Elise Salomon Writers: Ryan Brown, Elise Salomon
Featuring Luis Arriaga, Gizzelle, the Rhythm Shakers and more
Logline: Wild Records is an La indie music label comprised of young Hispanic musicians, it is run by Irishman, Reb Kennedy. Wild is an unconventional family, reminiscent of the early days of Sun Records, all of its musicians write and perform 50s Rock ‘n Roll. If Wild is going to continue to grow and reach broader audiences, its current business model will cease to work.
Aftershock
(USA, 2012, 90 min)
Director: Nicolás López
Writers: Guillermo Amoedo, Nicolás López and Eli Roth
Cast: Andrea Osvart, Ariel Levy, Eli Roth
Logline: In Chile, a group of travelers who are in an underground nightclub when a massive earthquake hits quickly learn that reaching the surface is just the beginning of their nightmare.
Mission Park
(USA, 2013, 120 min)
Writer/Director: Bryan Ramirez
Cast: Jeremy Ray Valdez, Walter Perez, Fenanda Romero, Joseph Julian Soria, William Rothaar, Jesse Borrego
Logline: Four friends from the rough side of town grow apart when two are consumed by a life of crime, and the other two become FBI agents sent deep undercover – to bring down those childhood friends.
Shorts Film Showcase~
#Postmodem
(USA, 2012, 13 mins)
Writers/Directors: Lucas Leyva, Jillian Mayer
Cast: Jillian Mayer, Kayla Delacerda, Amy Seimetz, Arly Montes, Jesse Miller, Shivers Thedog
Logline: A comedic, satirical, sci-fi pop musical based on the theories of Ray Kurzweil and other futurists, #PostModem is the story of two Miami girls and how they deal with technological singularity, as told through a series of cinematic tweets.
@borschtcorp
Fireworks
(USA, 2012, 11 mins)
Director: Victor Hugo Duran
Writer: Kevin James McMuillin
Cast: Roger Cruz, Alberto Castañeda, Irene Sorto, Azucena Benitez, Edgar Vanegas, Julio Duran, Victor Hugo Duran, Kevin James McMullin
Logline: During the Fourth of July in South Los Angeles, a teenage boy and his brother scour the neighborhood for fireworks in order to win the admiration of a girl.
Twitter: @victorhugoduran
Clara Como El Agua
(USA, 2012 10 min)
Writer/Director: Fernanda Rossi
Cast: Kathiria Bonilla León, Sixta Rivera, Rubén Andrés Medina, Alfonso Peña Ossoria, Stephanie Quiles Reyes, Eyra Aguero
Logline: Clara is the only light-skinned and clear-eyed girl in an all-black neighborhood. Teased incessantly, the children claim her unknown father is actually a “gringo” tourist. However, Clara was told a different story, and to find out the truth, she will venture into the magical waters of the bioluminescent bay all on her own.
Echo Bear
(USA, 2012 6min)
Writer/director: Yolanda Cruz
Cast: Joe Nunez, Hugo Medina, Tzina Carmel, Donato López, Lobo Manet
Logline: Bear, a single gay Latino man in L.A.’s Echo Park neighborhood, looks for love online. Fearing traffic, he searches locally, but soon discovers how geographic convenience can turn to heartache overnight.
Vincent Valdez: Excerpts For John
(2012, USA, 12 min)
Directed by Mark and Angela Walley
Logline: Two years in the making, this beautifully shot and perfectly paced short documentary captures the creative process of painter Vincent Valdez, as the artist works on a series of pieces dedicated to a childhood friend John Holt Jr. an Army combat medic who died in 2009 after serving in Iraq.
El Cocodrilo
(2012, 15 min)
Director: Steve Acevedo
Writer: Alfredo Barrios, Jr.
Cast: Jacob Vargas Hugo Medina Shannon Lucio Manuel Uriza
Logline: A Mexican journalist and a cartel assassin collide in a diner, with tragic consequences for both.
Reinaldo Arenas
(USA, 2012, 3:29min)
Writer/director Lucas Leyva
Shark: Alberto Ibarguen Man: Epifanio Leyva
Logline: Told from the point of view of a dying shark, 'Reinaldo Arenas' metaphorically captures the current state of the aging Cuban-American exile community, many of whom have still not come to terms with the Communist Revolution that changed their lives forever. The film culls from various Cuban films and works of literature to create not a singular voice, but a feeling of a particular moment in time
@borschtcorp
Gabi
(2012, USA 20 min)
Writer/Director: Zoe Junco
Cast: Marisé Alvarez , Dalia Davi , Roy Sanchez Vahamonde , Aris Mejias
Logline: A Puerto Rican saying haunts single women in their 30’s: “If such a woman is not married by this time, she must be a slut, a lesbian, or a prude.” This is the story of that woman...
@gabifilm...
- 4/3/2013
- by Christine Davila
- Sydney's Buzz
More from the Latino scene from our woman in L.A., free lance festival programmer extraordinaire, Christine Davila, from her blog Chicana from Chicago:
Looking at yesterday’s announcement of Film Independent’s Los Angeles Film Festival reveals a healthy Latino presence among the 62 features and 48 short films in the program. Here’s how I break down the Latino/ Ibero/ U.S. Latino component of the program.
Chile continues to give Argentina a run for its cache of exciting and growing cinematic output from South America with the inclusion of Thursday Til Sunday (Isa & Distributor: FiGa) written and directed by Dominga Sotomayor ♀, in Narrative Competition.
Although the traveling Mexican film festival Ambulante is no longer a program spotlight, Mexican films continue to be a mainstay of the festival. There are four feature-length films and three short films from/about Mexico. In Narrative Competition, The Compass is Carried by the Dead Man (Isa: Kafilms, Argentina) written and directed by Arturo Pons [about a young Mexican aiming for Chicago], and in Documentary Competition, Drought by Everado González (recently awarded Best Documentary at FICG27) . Out of competition is the gorgeously shot documentary, Canícula, and although the funding is mainly stateside, Bernardo Ruiz paints a fascinating portrait of the risky journalistic practice and history of the seminal Tijuana weekly, Zeta in Reportero.
Also of note in the program is that four short films list Cuba as a co-production/origin of country.
But what of the U.S. Latino filmmakers and stories? Last year Los Angeles Film Festival was a great launchpad for Mamitas (Distributor: ScreenMedia, Producer rep: Traction Media), an authentic Chicano portrayal of young love set in Echo Parque written and directed by Nicolas Ozeki (a non-Latino), co-starring fast rising hot talents Veronica Diaz-Carranzo (Blaze You Out) and E.J. Bonilla. The film is currently in theaters now. (Big recommend,theater listings here-go support it!)
The closest we have to representing U.S. Latino in the features section is Four, the feature debut of Joshua Sanchez who hails from Houston, Texas. Based on a Christopher Shinn play, the July 4th-eve-set story is a snapshot of two disparate relationships tensely intertwined and their at-odd dynamics of desire. Coincidentally, E.J. Bonilla also stars (this guy is blowing up!). I would also include as U.S. Latino, Searching for Sugar Man, the documentary by Malik Bendjelloul about singer songwriter Sixto Rodriguez’s fascinating rise and fall into obscurity as a Uj.S. Latino story. As a matter of fact, the film seems to suggest that perhaps Sixto’s Mexican-American identity might have been a reason he was not embraced by the 60s and 70s mainstream. [Per Sydney: The film was snatched up at Sundance by Sony Pictures Classics and by Isa Protagonist who is screening it twice in Cannes.]
As for U.S. Latino shorts, Fireworks written and directed by Victor Hugo Duran, which is also incidentally centered around 4th of July, is an L.A. set story about boys trying to rap on girls.
My favorite Miami based hooligans, Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva, keep representing with their fresh and experimental short film, Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke. They are part of a collective of go-there filmmakers, Borscht Corp who had four crazy shorts screen at SXSW (and they were a riot to bootie shake dance with at SXSW Film’s Closing Night Party). You must carve out an hour and look at their work on the site (Nsfw!)
And lastly, in front of camera there’s some America Ferrera in Todd Berger’s It’s a Disaster (Isa: Maya), and rising boriqua actress April Hernandez Castillo, of hit webseries East Willy B, Dexter and other TV, is in The History of Future Folk [Per Sydney: one of 7 horror films in the festival, another being It's A Disaster per Dread Central, so take note Latino distributors like Lionsgate because horror films are a favorite of a certain Latino demographic!] by J. Anderson Mitchell and Jeremy Kipp Walker, described as a “sweet sci-fi musical comedy”. Below is the rest of the Latino and Ibero-American (includes Spain and Portugal). Descriptions provided by L.A. Film Festival, and bold cap commentary by me.
Narrative Competition:
o All Is Well – Portugal (Director Pocas Pascoal ♀, Producer Luis Correia Cast Cheila Lima, Ciomara Morais) – Strangers in a strange land, two beautiful Angolan sisters fleeing a civil war in their homeland struggle to survive in Lisbon. Pocas Pascoal’s deeply personal saga shows us the face of exile with quietly stunning power. North American Premiere
o The Compass is Carried by the Dead Man – Mexico (Director/Writer Arturo Pons Producer Ozcar Ramírez González Cast Gael Sanchez Valle, Pedro Gamez, Ana Ofelia Murguía, Eligio Melendez, Luis Bayardo, Marco Perez) – A young man and a dead man journey north through a subtly surreal desert landscape, picking up a wagonful of odd characters as they go in this darkly humorous satire of contemporary Mexico. North American Premiere
o Four – (Director/Writer Joshua Sanchez Producer Christine Giorgio Cast Wendell Pierce, Emory Cohen, Aja Naomi King, E.J. Bonilla) – Over the course of a steamy 4th of July night, a father and daughter, each trapped in loneliness, reach out for sexual connection — he with a self-hating teenage boy, she with a smooth-talking wannabe homeboy — in this psychologically complex, beautifully acted drama. World Premiere
o Thursday till Sunday – Chile (Director/Writer Dominga Sotomayor ♀ Producers Gregorio González, Benjamin Domenech Cast Santi Ahumada, Emiliano Freifeld, Francisco Pérez-Bannen, Paola Giannini) – With uncommon beauty and style, this Chilean road movie finds a family at a crossroads, as the daughter slowly realizes the divide between the adults in the front seat and the kids in back. North American Premiere
Documentary Competition:
o Drought – Mexico (Director Everado González Producer Martha Orozco) – Contrasting the lives of a cattle-ranching community with the arid northeastern Mexican landscape that surrounds them, this cinema vertité documentary paints a poetic portrait of a community on the verge of extinction. Us Premiere
o Sun Kissed – (Directors Maya Stark ♀, Adi Lavy ♀ Producers Jocelyn Glatzer, Maya Stark, Adi Lavy) – With remarkable strength of spirit, a husband and wife examine their lives and why their children and others have been struck with a rare genetic disorder in this powerful portrait of a small Navajo community. World Premiere ~ Okay Not Latino But It'S Native American So I’M Giving It A Shout Since There Are Not Enough Native American Stories.
International Showcase:
o Canícula – Mexico (Director José Álvarez Writers Sebastián Hoffman, José Álvarez Producer Mauricio Fabre Cast Hermelinda Santes, Esteban González, Mario García) – This is a hauntingly beautiful portrait of the rituals and crafts of contemporary Indians in remote Veracruz, who teach their boys to fly. ~ See My Interview With Jose Here.
o The Last Elvis – Argentina (Director Armando Bo Writers Armando Bo, Nicolás Giacobone Producers Steve Golin, Hugo Sigman, Patricio Alvarez Casado, Victor Bo, Armando Bo Cast John McInerny, Griselda Siciliani, Margarita Lopez) – John McInerny gives a staggering performance in this poignant tale of a Buenos Aires Elvis impersonator who only comes alive when he dons the King’s clothes to perform. How can he reconcile his dreams of glory with his dead end factory job and an estranged wife and daughter who can’t live inside his fantasies?
o Neighboring Sounds – Brazil (Director/Writer Kleber Mendonça Filho Producer Emilie Lesclaux Cast Irandhir Santos, Gustavo Jahn, Maeve Jinkings, W.J. Solha) – Kleber Mendonca Filho’s astonishing, suspenseful debut film focuses on one upscale street in the seaside town of Recife, where a private security team is enlisted to protect the residents from crime. By its startling conclusion, you feel you’ve seen all of Brazilian society exposed.
o The Strawberry Tree – Canada/Cuba/Italy (Director/Producer Simone Rapisarda Casanova) – Filmed in a small Cuban fishing village mere weeks before a hurricane decimated the entire region, this stunning documentary unknowingly captures the town’s final days even as it reframes the usual filmmaker-film subject relationship.
Summer Showcase:
o La Camioneta: The Journey of One American School Bus – USA/Guatemala (Director Mark Kendall Producers Mark Kendall, Rafael González, Bernardo Ruiz) – The journey and transformation of a yellow American school bus into a vibrant Central American camionetasensitively reveals both the beauty and violence of everyday life in Guatemala.
o Reportero – (Director Bernardo Ruiz Producers Bernardo Ruiz, Patricia Benabe, Anne Hubbell Featuring Sergio Haro Cordero, Adela Navarro Bello) – A look at the incredible danger facing journalists in Mexico through the eyes of investigative reporter Sergio Haro and other staff at Zeta, the defiant Tijuana-based newsweekly.~ See My Interview With Bernardo Here
o Searching for Sugar Man – (Director/Writer Malik Bendjelloul Producers Simon Chinn, Nicole Stott, George Chignell) – Years after fading into obscurity at home, the music of ’70s U.S. singer/songwriter Rodriguez became an underground sensation in South Africa. Decades after his disappearance, two fans uncover the startling truth behind the legend.
Beyond:
o Juan of the Dead – Cuba (Director/Writer Alejandro Brugués Producers Gervasio Iglesias, Inti Herrera Cast Alexis Días de Villegas, Jorge Molina, Andrea Duro, Andros Perugorría, Jazz Vila, Eliecer Ramírez) – The streets of Havana are alive with the undead in Cuba’s first zombie comedy, a wild and bloody romp that sinks its sharp satirical teeth into the Cuban body politic. Castro may not be amused, but you will be.
Short Film Competition:
Against the Sea (Contra el mar) – Mexico, USA (Director) Richard Parkin
Black Doll (Prita Noire) – Mexico (Director) Sofia Carrillo
Kendo Monogatari – Cuba, Guatemala (Director) Fabián Suárez
Scanning (Ecografía) – Cuba (Director) Aleksandra Maciuszek Mukoid
Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke – (Directors) Jillian Mayer, Lucas Leyva ~Crazy Talented! Miami Represent!
Fireworks – (Director) Victor Hugo Duran -
Kendo Monogatari – Cuba, Guatemala (Director) Fabián Suárez
Paraíso – (Director) Nadav Kurtz ~Doc Subject Is About 3 Mexicans
Scanning (Ecografía) – Cuba (Director) Aleksandra Maciuszek Mukoid
Voice Over – Spain (Director) Martín Rosete
For full lineup and more info go to L.A. Film Festival...
Looking at yesterday’s announcement of Film Independent’s Los Angeles Film Festival reveals a healthy Latino presence among the 62 features and 48 short films in the program. Here’s how I break down the Latino/ Ibero/ U.S. Latino component of the program.
Chile continues to give Argentina a run for its cache of exciting and growing cinematic output from South America with the inclusion of Thursday Til Sunday (Isa & Distributor: FiGa) written and directed by Dominga Sotomayor ♀, in Narrative Competition.
Although the traveling Mexican film festival Ambulante is no longer a program spotlight, Mexican films continue to be a mainstay of the festival. There are four feature-length films and three short films from/about Mexico. In Narrative Competition, The Compass is Carried by the Dead Man (Isa: Kafilms, Argentina) written and directed by Arturo Pons [about a young Mexican aiming for Chicago], and in Documentary Competition, Drought by Everado González (recently awarded Best Documentary at FICG27) . Out of competition is the gorgeously shot documentary, Canícula, and although the funding is mainly stateside, Bernardo Ruiz paints a fascinating portrait of the risky journalistic practice and history of the seminal Tijuana weekly, Zeta in Reportero.
Also of note in the program is that four short films list Cuba as a co-production/origin of country.
But what of the U.S. Latino filmmakers and stories? Last year Los Angeles Film Festival was a great launchpad for Mamitas (Distributor: ScreenMedia, Producer rep: Traction Media), an authentic Chicano portrayal of young love set in Echo Parque written and directed by Nicolas Ozeki (a non-Latino), co-starring fast rising hot talents Veronica Diaz-Carranzo (Blaze You Out) and E.J. Bonilla. The film is currently in theaters now. (Big recommend,theater listings here-go support it!)
The closest we have to representing U.S. Latino in the features section is Four, the feature debut of Joshua Sanchez who hails from Houston, Texas. Based on a Christopher Shinn play, the July 4th-eve-set story is a snapshot of two disparate relationships tensely intertwined and their at-odd dynamics of desire. Coincidentally, E.J. Bonilla also stars (this guy is blowing up!). I would also include as U.S. Latino, Searching for Sugar Man, the documentary by Malik Bendjelloul about singer songwriter Sixto Rodriguez’s fascinating rise and fall into obscurity as a Uj.S. Latino story. As a matter of fact, the film seems to suggest that perhaps Sixto’s Mexican-American identity might have been a reason he was not embraced by the 60s and 70s mainstream. [Per Sydney: The film was snatched up at Sundance by Sony Pictures Classics and by Isa Protagonist who is screening it twice in Cannes.]
As for U.S. Latino shorts, Fireworks written and directed by Victor Hugo Duran, which is also incidentally centered around 4th of July, is an L.A. set story about boys trying to rap on girls.
My favorite Miami based hooligans, Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva, keep representing with their fresh and experimental short film, Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke. They are part of a collective of go-there filmmakers, Borscht Corp who had four crazy shorts screen at SXSW (and they were a riot to bootie shake dance with at SXSW Film’s Closing Night Party). You must carve out an hour and look at their work on the site (Nsfw!)
And lastly, in front of camera there’s some America Ferrera in Todd Berger’s It’s a Disaster (Isa: Maya), and rising boriqua actress April Hernandez Castillo, of hit webseries East Willy B, Dexter and other TV, is in The History of Future Folk [Per Sydney: one of 7 horror films in the festival, another being It's A Disaster per Dread Central, so take note Latino distributors like Lionsgate because horror films are a favorite of a certain Latino demographic!] by J. Anderson Mitchell and Jeremy Kipp Walker, described as a “sweet sci-fi musical comedy”. Below is the rest of the Latino and Ibero-American (includes Spain and Portugal). Descriptions provided by L.A. Film Festival, and bold cap commentary by me.
Narrative Competition:
o All Is Well – Portugal (Director Pocas Pascoal ♀, Producer Luis Correia Cast Cheila Lima, Ciomara Morais) – Strangers in a strange land, two beautiful Angolan sisters fleeing a civil war in their homeland struggle to survive in Lisbon. Pocas Pascoal’s deeply personal saga shows us the face of exile with quietly stunning power. North American Premiere
o The Compass is Carried by the Dead Man – Mexico (Director/Writer Arturo Pons Producer Ozcar Ramírez González Cast Gael Sanchez Valle, Pedro Gamez, Ana Ofelia Murguía, Eligio Melendez, Luis Bayardo, Marco Perez) – A young man and a dead man journey north through a subtly surreal desert landscape, picking up a wagonful of odd characters as they go in this darkly humorous satire of contemporary Mexico. North American Premiere
o Four – (Director/Writer Joshua Sanchez Producer Christine Giorgio Cast Wendell Pierce, Emory Cohen, Aja Naomi King, E.J. Bonilla) – Over the course of a steamy 4th of July night, a father and daughter, each trapped in loneliness, reach out for sexual connection — he with a self-hating teenage boy, she with a smooth-talking wannabe homeboy — in this psychologically complex, beautifully acted drama. World Premiere
o Thursday till Sunday – Chile (Director/Writer Dominga Sotomayor ♀ Producers Gregorio González, Benjamin Domenech Cast Santi Ahumada, Emiliano Freifeld, Francisco Pérez-Bannen, Paola Giannini) – With uncommon beauty and style, this Chilean road movie finds a family at a crossroads, as the daughter slowly realizes the divide between the adults in the front seat and the kids in back. North American Premiere
Documentary Competition:
o Drought – Mexico (Director Everado González Producer Martha Orozco) – Contrasting the lives of a cattle-ranching community with the arid northeastern Mexican landscape that surrounds them, this cinema vertité documentary paints a poetic portrait of a community on the verge of extinction. Us Premiere
o Sun Kissed – (Directors Maya Stark ♀, Adi Lavy ♀ Producers Jocelyn Glatzer, Maya Stark, Adi Lavy) – With remarkable strength of spirit, a husband and wife examine their lives and why their children and others have been struck with a rare genetic disorder in this powerful portrait of a small Navajo community. World Premiere ~ Okay Not Latino But It'S Native American So I’M Giving It A Shout Since There Are Not Enough Native American Stories.
International Showcase:
o Canícula – Mexico (Director José Álvarez Writers Sebastián Hoffman, José Álvarez Producer Mauricio Fabre Cast Hermelinda Santes, Esteban González, Mario García) – This is a hauntingly beautiful portrait of the rituals and crafts of contemporary Indians in remote Veracruz, who teach their boys to fly. ~ See My Interview With Jose Here.
o The Last Elvis – Argentina (Director Armando Bo Writers Armando Bo, Nicolás Giacobone Producers Steve Golin, Hugo Sigman, Patricio Alvarez Casado, Victor Bo, Armando Bo Cast John McInerny, Griselda Siciliani, Margarita Lopez) – John McInerny gives a staggering performance in this poignant tale of a Buenos Aires Elvis impersonator who only comes alive when he dons the King’s clothes to perform. How can he reconcile his dreams of glory with his dead end factory job and an estranged wife and daughter who can’t live inside his fantasies?
o Neighboring Sounds – Brazil (Director/Writer Kleber Mendonça Filho Producer Emilie Lesclaux Cast Irandhir Santos, Gustavo Jahn, Maeve Jinkings, W.J. Solha) – Kleber Mendonca Filho’s astonishing, suspenseful debut film focuses on one upscale street in the seaside town of Recife, where a private security team is enlisted to protect the residents from crime. By its startling conclusion, you feel you’ve seen all of Brazilian society exposed.
o The Strawberry Tree – Canada/Cuba/Italy (Director/Producer Simone Rapisarda Casanova) – Filmed in a small Cuban fishing village mere weeks before a hurricane decimated the entire region, this stunning documentary unknowingly captures the town’s final days even as it reframes the usual filmmaker-film subject relationship.
Summer Showcase:
o La Camioneta: The Journey of One American School Bus – USA/Guatemala (Director Mark Kendall Producers Mark Kendall, Rafael González, Bernardo Ruiz) – The journey and transformation of a yellow American school bus into a vibrant Central American camionetasensitively reveals both the beauty and violence of everyday life in Guatemala.
o Reportero – (Director Bernardo Ruiz Producers Bernardo Ruiz, Patricia Benabe, Anne Hubbell Featuring Sergio Haro Cordero, Adela Navarro Bello) – A look at the incredible danger facing journalists in Mexico through the eyes of investigative reporter Sergio Haro and other staff at Zeta, the defiant Tijuana-based newsweekly.~ See My Interview With Bernardo Here
o Searching for Sugar Man – (Director/Writer Malik Bendjelloul Producers Simon Chinn, Nicole Stott, George Chignell) – Years after fading into obscurity at home, the music of ’70s U.S. singer/songwriter Rodriguez became an underground sensation in South Africa. Decades after his disappearance, two fans uncover the startling truth behind the legend.
Beyond:
o Juan of the Dead – Cuba (Director/Writer Alejandro Brugués Producers Gervasio Iglesias, Inti Herrera Cast Alexis Días de Villegas, Jorge Molina, Andrea Duro, Andros Perugorría, Jazz Vila, Eliecer Ramírez) – The streets of Havana are alive with the undead in Cuba’s first zombie comedy, a wild and bloody romp that sinks its sharp satirical teeth into the Cuban body politic. Castro may not be amused, but you will be.
Short Film Competition:
Against the Sea (Contra el mar) – Mexico, USA (Director) Richard Parkin
Black Doll (Prita Noire) – Mexico (Director) Sofia Carrillo
Kendo Monogatari – Cuba, Guatemala (Director) Fabián Suárez
Scanning (Ecografía) – Cuba (Director) Aleksandra Maciuszek Mukoid
Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke – (Directors) Jillian Mayer, Lucas Leyva ~Crazy Talented! Miami Represent!
Fireworks – (Director) Victor Hugo Duran -
Kendo Monogatari – Cuba, Guatemala (Director) Fabián Suárez
Paraíso – (Director) Nadav Kurtz ~Doc Subject Is About 3 Mexicans
Scanning (Ecografía) – Cuba (Director) Aleksandra Maciuszek Mukoid
Voice Over – Spain (Director) Martín Rosete
For full lineup and more info go to L.A. Film Festival...
- 5/2/2012
- by Christine Davila
- Sydney's Buzz
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