Spreading the wordpress blog love around by reblogging this post about The Girl, a deeply affecting and perception piercing film we just screened at CineFestival. David is an absolute encanto!
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Lessons from La Lupe
Since Sunday night’s Oscar telecast the interwebs have exploded with fury about the omission of Lupe Ontiveros in the Academy’s In Memoriam segment. I didn’t think to add my 2 cents until right now because frankly I wasn’t surprised at all. But now I got something I think worth sharing. I was combing through my computer for some video and I ran into this clip I took of the late great Lupe at last year’s NALIP where she delivered a moving speech in her irresistible, witty, loving spicy way to bestow the Lifetime Achievement Award to Rita Moreno. You know what I get out of this? It’s our responsibility and ours alone to value and recognize our people. Are we really so appalled and shocked that the Academy denied her membership? What good is it to ask the Academy to explain and question their commitment to Latinos? I suppose it could be looked as a tongue in cheek PR move because clearly that is not on their list of To Do’s, let alone their sensibility. What really gets me is that it seems like we are seeking validation from an elite society of homogenized, old white males, half of them retirees. I believe the significance of the Academy Award is more an antiquated status symbol, a vestige of show business like the stars in my neighborhood’s Hollywood Walk of Fame, than a recognition of achievement.
If this incident serves to fuel and spill our community’s amor and tribute to La Dona Lupe’s legacy, that is indeed a positive. But hear her words in this clip. How she shares her sincere admiration, love and respect for Rita Moreno. It makes me think, its more beautiful, powerful and honest when we ourselves elevate and commend our mentors, peers and younger generation. Another key observation in this clip; Notice Lupe calling out Ms. Moreno by way of inviting her to be part of NALIP, essentially pointing out that this highest Entertainment Awarded Puerto Rican woman, is not part of the National Association of Latino Producers, a grassroots organization which struggles but continues to support a young crop of filmmakers with labs, workshops and development opportunities. “Show up once a year”, Lupe says. ” We need figures like you.”
Goes to show that there are members of the Academy who are brown. I take more issue with the Hollywood Latinos who having personally faced and overcome barriers and stereotypes, yet once on the inside, don’t take the obligation or responsibility seriously as self identified Latinos, to keep the gates open.
Colombian Film Festival coming to Nueva York!
Apparently this has been brewing since December but I am just taking notice today with the release of their Festival Trailer. Sponsored by Univision, Delta and presented by the Colombian Consulate, New York and Colombian embassy in Washington D.C, the inaugural Colombian Film Festival in New York will screen 16 feature films and 8 short films – all produced within the last two years, at the Tribeca Cinemas March 20 – 24.
This celebration of the dynamic offerings of contemporary Colombian cinema is very well deserved and timely. I have noticed through the film festival screeners I watch a shift in the type of films coming from Colombia. They are starting to eschew stereotypical drug crime gang stories. If a film does treat this real social ill, it is approached by far more novel and inventive ways. Definitely there is a nascent of singular conceptual and diverse genres bourgeoning. Among the films being screened in NYC, I highly recommend the surrealist Todos Tus Muertos written and directed by Carlos Moreno (Dog Eat Dog), Porifirio, an oddly sensual, deceptively quiet and powerful film written and directed by Alejandro Landes which screened in the illustrious Directors Fortnight in Cannes, and the quirky Sofia and the Stubborn written and directed by Andrés Burgos Vallejo – a type of Alice in Wonderland story about an older woman who finally makes her wish happen. All three of these demonstrate the type of imaginative conception I mention. Oddly missing from the lineup is the Colombian entry for the 2012 Oscars, Colors of the Mountain written and directed by Carlos César Arbeláez. The film may even be the most screened in world wide film festivals including San Sebastian and San Francisco International.
Colombia produces less than 25 features a year and that represents a substantial increase over the past 10 years. It’s noteworthy to mention that 18 home grown features were released in Colombian theaters. Hopefully this critical access will whet the local audience appetite and nurture a serious support system for filmmakers. Unlike the powerhouse independent and government fund agencies of Chile, Argentina and Brazil, Colombia has struggled to make steps towards consolidating its talent and building an organized film industry. The Cartagena Film Festival taking place later this week, is but another positive indicator of the rising interest in Colombian Cinema as both a location and Ibero American producer. Looking at their Made in Colombia section and you’ll find even more brand new 2013 releases.
Check out The Colombian Film Festival NYC’s website, twitter and face for the films, ticket info and film trailers.
Riot tonight with the original Chicana punk star, Alice Bag
Damn, I just found out about this Alice Bag event and it reminded me I never uploaded this video interview I took of her last year. Tonight 8pm at the Echo Park Film Center, Alice Bag is going to take us back to her notorious punk riot days. Nothing like a first person account with a trove of personal footage of those exciting times. This woman lived and was at the epicenter of this insanely wild and revolutionary expression and lifestyle so she’s got a ton of unbelievable stories to share. I highly recommend her book, Violence Girl, from East LA Rage to Hollywood Stage. According to the event description she’s going to talk about the time her band played at the Troubador and her boyfriend and sometime drummer for her band, Nickey Beat called Tom Waits an asshole inciting a full out brawl that got them kicked out. She’s also going to share about one of the many times the LAPD busted a punk show for no good reason but to quell the menacing expression of punk.
It was so cool to meet and talk with Alice at last year’s NALIP. Here is a 6 minute clip of our convo in which we talk about what the term Chicana means now, how strange it is to live in Arizona, and how she views today’s punk scene.
CineFestival announces Latino Screenwriter’s lab, and adds Narco Cultura to its upcoming 2013 edition
The 35th CineFestival, which takes place in San Antonio Feb. 23 – Mar 2, has unveiled the launch of The Latino Screenwriters Project, a screenwriting conference in which Sundance Institute is lending critical consulting support. The three day workshop aims to elevate the presence, representation and quality of stories that narrate the U.S. Latino experience.
Fellows will be provided a network of support in a hands-on environment where they can get quality feedback, mentoring and inspiration to further hone their craft, polish their screenplays and take their stories to the next level.
Festival Director, Jim Mendiola along with filmmaker Cruz Angeles (Don’t Let Me Drown), both Sundance alumni fellows, conceived of the program and turned to Sundance Institute for support. “Cruz and I both recognized the benefit of the Sundance Labs both in terms of a career and in improving one’s craft,” Mendiola says, “since we wanted to champion Latino stories, bringing an experience like that to CineFestival seemed liked the perfect fit.”
“Latinos are yearning for more access and representation in American cinema,” Angeles says, “We want American-based Latino screenplays to be more competitive in the industry.”
Labs Director of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, Ilyse McKimmie adds, “We’re thrilled to be providing consulting support to CineFestival’s Latino Screenwriters Project, the goals of which so closely align with our own. It’s part of our ongoing commitment to encourage and celebrate a diverse group of storytellers and helping them bring their visions to the screen.”
In addition to the previously announced film lineup, CineFestival has added a special screening of Narco Cultura directed by Shaul Schwarz and produced by Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen. The film recently premiered in U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival in its distinguished Panorama section. Strikingly lensed, it is an explosive look at the drug cartels’ pop culture influence on both sides of the border as experienced by an LA narcocorrido singer dreaming of stardom and a Juarez crime scene investigator on the front line of Mexico’s Drug War. Thought provoking and prescribed viewing, I’m excited for San Antonio audiences to engage with the sociological complexities in the film. Tickets available here.
The four projects chosen for the inaugural 2013 workshop below. The full press release can be found here and for passes, tickets, and schedule information check here. Follow CineFestival on Twitter and Facebook.
· Gabi by Zoe Salicrup Junco
After the unexpected death of her mother, a modern, emancipated Puerto Rican woman in her late 30s forces herself to explore the possibilities of becoming a mother for the first time.
· La Perdida by Miguel Alvarez
In the mid-21st century, a memory-wiped psychiatric patient illegally travels back in time to stop a tragedy she can’t remember from happening all over again. But along the way, she can’t help but get swallowed up in a Moebius strip of time, memory, and loss.
· Rachel’s Quinceanera by Mauro Flores Jr. (Los Angeles, CA)
A coming-of-age story set in South Texas. A shy nerd has a crush on the head cheerleader, but due to his social status Rachel doesn’t know he exists. But a family obligation forces Rachel to include the nerd in the Court of Honor for her upcoming Quinceañera.
· The Andes Project by Jose R. Casado (New York, NY)
When Sofia, an opportunistic American Latina journalist, attempts to revive her career by investigating mysterious disappearances in Paraguay, she teams up with an idealistic young local reporter doing the same and together they uncover a complex water conspiracy instead.
Oh, hey Amigo – Alejandro G. Iñárritu made a DGA winning commercial
Little late on this but at Monday’s DGA awards, Internationally known Mexican director, Alejandro González Iñárritu won Outstanding Commercial for this 2 min Procter & Gamble loving tribute spot to Moms across the globe. It’s his first DGA Award. Last I heard he was working on a movie with Armando Bo, the Argentine director of the achingly bittersweet, The Last Elvis. According to IMDB it’s in prep and an Indiewire December article scoops it’s a comedy – a departure given the director’s forte and penchant for immense tragedy.
Film Independent’s 12th annual Directors lab – Mexico and Brazil rooted director projects
The non-profit arts organization Film Independent continues to build a solid track record of supporting projects by culturally diverse filmmakers through its Artist Development programs like Project Involve, Fast Track, and the Directors/Producers/Screenwriters Lab. Flip through those glossy FIND Talent Guide booklets they put out and it’s easy to see and read the range of multi-cultural and ethnic voices they have backed (the guides are actually extremely valuable for scouting talent; the online version found here). Among the eight filmmakers selected for the 2013 Film Independent Director’s lab, two are of Latin roots.
There is Aldo Velasco born in Guadalajara, Mexico to a Mexican father and gringa mother. His project is God Loves Stu, based on the real life of Stu Rasmussen the first openly transgender mayor in Silverton, Oregon. Velasco, 42, is a UCLA MFA Film Production grad who screened his second short film, Crabgrass Manifesto at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. Since then his subsequent short films have played at SXSW and LA Film Fest, and he directed Tent City on season one of ITVS FutureState online short film series.
The other Latino filmmaker prepping his feature debut in the lab, is Brazilian-American Alex Moratto, 24. His thesis short film “The Other Side” won the 2010 Jury Award from the Directorʼs Guild of America for Latino filmmaker. Watch it here. His untitled Amazon project is about a family in danger of losing their family home in rural Amazon and the indigenous treasure they might sacrifice to keep it. His producer, Summer Shelton took his script to Sundance Institute’s Producer’s lab last summer where she was honored as the first ever Bingham Ray producing fellow.
Film Independent’s Directing Lab, a free and intensive 10 week workshop lab that connects young talent with established filmmakers and where they are given technical discipline, equipment and preparation, is exactly the kind of infrastructure crucial in helping under-represented artists develop their voices in whichever kind of stories they are meant to tell. In my ongoing quest to uncover and do something about why there seems to be such a low disproportionate number of working American Latino filmmakers in the independent film world when we comprise the fastest growing population, it’s worth looking at the vital role these workshop opportunities play and measure how accessible they are to American Latinos at large. For far too long I have heard around the festival and studio block that black and brown films are just not good enough or that there are not enough of them. Can this be true? If so, why, and on what criteria is ‘good enough’ based? The pursuit of film as a viable career let alone a hobby, even in this day and age with all its technological advances and more accessible equipment, continues to evade the next generation born into working class families. Along with stronger diversity development outreach (artist non-profits!) like Film Independent’s incubator machine to encourage and crystalize raw talent, it is also the role of the savvy film curator as influential cultural gatekeeper to propel these films out there. I’m talking about someone who ‘gets’ where unheard of stories and filmmakers fit in connecting the dots on the long-erased or simply absent historical record and sociocultural map of those mixed communities and how that can be embedded into each and every festival mission. Based on the caliber and level of output I’ve seen in ‘blind’ American Latino film submissions it’s rarely the story that misfires, but a struggling technical confidence and proficiency to wrap it all together within the cinematic medium. Fierce originality and storytelling aptitude is innate and rare but out there in unheard volumes. Film technique and craft meanwhile is a skill that can be developed and continually nurtured.
En hora buena – Introducing The Mexican Film Festival of The Americas
Presented by Mexico City’s Secretary of Tourism and Casa de Chicago, the inaugural edition of The Mexican Film Festival of The Americas in Chicago opens Thursday, September 20th and goes until Friday, September 28. Screenings will take place at the historic and handsomely re-fitted Art Deco Logan Theater inside a 180 seater. The novel and ambitious festival’s mission is “dedicated to supporting and cultivating every aspect of Mexican Cinema, including emerging and cutting edge Mexican films with the emphasis on discovering new filmmakers from Mexico and abroad.”
I couldn’t think of a better film to open this kind of festival than the nostalgic documentary La Perdida by Viviana Garcia Besne, a personal and revealing odyssey through Mexican Cinema’s cherished Golden Age of Cinema. A programming slate of highly distinct genre and caliber, the 30 something film lineup includes Mexican Ariel Film winner, Dias de Gracia by Everardo Gout and Chicana coming of age Mosquita y Mari by Aurora Guerrero. Positioning themselves as a festival of discovery the Festival will unveil the world premiere of 
Mission Park by Bryan Ramirez and produced by Douglas Spain, an accomplished debut and cautionary tale about four childhood friends whose different paths cause them to cross and confront their loyalty. The Festival will close with a very special headliner event honoring Academy Award actor nominee Demián Bichir, who is taking a time out from his crazy busy schedule to christen the baby festival.
Sure to be THE social event of the week, go rub elbows with big-wigs and talk politics with one of Mexico’s brightest political family dynasty members, the erudite and three time presidential candidate, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano at the International premiere of El Ingeniero by Alejandro Lubezki. An incredible behind the scenes of the 2000 Mexican presidential campaign leading up to the last (and short-lived) time the PRI got booted out of office, the intimate access exposes the grueling campaign circus and mechanics, and ultimately shows Cárdenas as an authentic, flawed and salt-of the-earth character. Read my review from Guadalajara here.
So how did a festival score such high profile talent, gems and world premieres??? Festival Director’s Jesse Charbonier’s reputation, experience and contacts. Charbonier served as Operations Manager and then Programming Director of the renowned Chicago International Film Festival for years, where he strengthed the Latino programming and bestowed a special award upon Bichir who broke out with three films in 1999 including Sexo Pudor y Lagrimas which the festival will screen (love). Jesse has also served as distribution consultant and producer to several films, in addition to establishing his singing career. It 
was his desire to reach the large Mexican population of Chicago and present a more progressive, edgy cinema that triggered the start of this collaboration between sister cities, Chicago and Mexico City. He curated the strong lineup from traveling and covering the Guadalajara Film Festival FICG27 and HBO’s NY Latino Film festival, as well as through recommendations from several colleagues. His approach; “Every night is Opening Night.” Each film has their own slot that will run without any competition. Along with his distinctive taste in programming, this type of concscientious care, operation know-how, and connection to the Chicago audience, ensures the Festival has its best foot forward.
Thanks to not one but two airline sponsors (no small feat for a festival to arrange), All filmmakers who were available will be present for their screenings and Q&As and in some cases for the preceding reception. Regular films are a reasonable $8 and the special event films are $15 which include a pre-screening reception with complimentary cocktails (tequila sponsor, EC Charro) and food! Well worth a film, filmmaker convo and light dinner.
Que envidia chicos, as a Chicana From Chicago living in LA I wish I were in my hometown to celebrate this momentous occassion. You have been given a gift my Chi-town peeps. Go hang out with these talented filmmakers, see their films and report back. Help spread the word. Check out the schedule, you can buy tickets on Brown Paper Tickets and like the festival on Face.
Sending lots of besos and suerte to the festival.
Cine Qua Non Lab – Screenwriting residency program in Mexico – CALL FOR ENTRIES
This sounds like a worthwhile and beautiful screenwriters workshop!
Cine Qua Non Lab – a clever take on the latin phrase, Si·ne qua non which means an essential condition – is currently accepting applications for the intensive 14 day workshop that takes place in Tzintzuntzan, a small town in the state of Michoacán, Mexico amidst the scenic Sierra Madre Mountains and magical Lake Pátzcuaro.
Previous filmmakers who have been supported include Maryam Keshavarz (Circumstance), Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt (Les Vulnerables) and Lucía Carreras (Leap Year). Browsing through their alumni in just the short four years they’ve been around there is a balanced ratio of female and males from all over the world including India, Guatemala, Spain and Puerto Rico. If you are one of the 10 selected you are responsible for travel expenses to and from Mexico but they will feed you and put you up for the entire residency.
This year’s workshop will be facilitated by Christina Lazarid, Academy Award-Oscar® nominated screenwriter (One Day Crossing) and internationally renowned script developer, professor, and mentor. Christina teaches screenwriting at Columbia’s Graduate Film Division and at Princeton University, and is a mentor for European Union’s Mediterranean Film Institute. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Princeton University and a MFA in Screenwriting from Columbia University.
Application Deadline: May 28th, 2012
Workshop dates: August 12th through 26th, 2012
For details and to apply click here.
To see the gorgeous and serene retreat setting see photos on their FB page
Lets go sing las Mañanitas a “SI SE PUEDE” Doña Dolores Huerta this Sunday!
This Sunday, April 29th, 2pm at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes downtown there is a special birthday celebration in honor of Dolores Huerta. The spirited, iconic civil rights leader will be turning 82. I just checked the website and $50 tickets are sold out but the next tier is $200. If you got the cash, this is a pretty good cause and fiesta. All proceeds go to the Dolores Huerta Foundation which does a lot of education work and outreach to low-middle class immigrant workers, giving them the tools and resources to become leaders of their communities and continue to fight la lucha. Ticket link here
Chicana from Chicago 