With the advent of this year’s LatinBeat (July 11-20), The Film Society of Lincoln continues on its quest to unearth the best and most challenging of Latin American cinema, including the product of Brazil, Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia, and Ecuador.
For some of these countries, having a national cinema at all is a near miracle. According to Wikipedia, Uruguay averages eleven films a year. In Paraguay, that figure drops to five. As for Peru, in 2011, only .8% of box office attendance was for national product. How can one battle Scarlett Johansson and the Transformers for a Friday night date, especially when you’re trying to showcase the political and economic realities of your country?
Having viewed five of the sixteen offerings, severable notable motifs kept popping up: broken homes, searches for fathers, the difficulties of finding employment, poverty, the indifference of the government and media, and the restorative powers of music.
For some of these countries, having a national cinema at all is a near miracle. According to Wikipedia, Uruguay averages eleven films a year. In Paraguay, that figure drops to five. As for Peru, in 2011, only .8% of box office attendance was for national product. How can one battle Scarlett Johansson and the Transformers for a Friday night date, especially when you’re trying to showcase the political and economic realities of your country?
Having viewed five of the sixteen offerings, severable notable motifs kept popping up: broken homes, searches for fathers, the difficulties of finding employment, poverty, the indifference of the government and media, and the restorative powers of music.
- 7/13/2014
- by Brandon Judell
- www.culturecatch.com
Six films from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay participated in the 21st edition of Films in Progress at the Rencontres Cinémas d’Amérique Latine in Toulouse, jointly organized with the San Sebastian Festival. The second part of this twice yearly rendezvous will take the shape of Films in Progress 22 at San Sebastian this coming September. A total of 118 films were received for Films in Progress 21.
The Selected Films
Cores (Isa:kinoosfera Films)
Brazil
Director: Francisco García
Cast: Pedro di Pietro, Simone Iliescu, Acaüa Sol.
A tale of friendship and let down between three young friends in Sao Paulo as Brazil undergoes its strong economic upsurge. Despite the odd feeling that things could actually change, the meaning of life disappears on those days when «all that is solid melts into the air».
El Lugar Del Hijo
Uruguay - Argentina
Director: Manuel Nieto.
Cast: Felipe Dieste, Alejandro Urdampilleta, Roxana Cabrera, Leonor Courtoisie, Germán de Silva.
Learning that his father has died in an inland town, a student sets out to the funeral. There he discovers that his father has left him an indebted estate and a house inhabited by his mistress, who has no intention of moving out and obliges the young boy to share. A tale of losing one’s roots and personal reconstruction; a metaphor on the inherited country and the youngsters who will eventually have to take charge of that inheritance.
Halley
Mexico
Director: Sebastián Hofmann
Cast: Alberto Trujillo, Lourdes Trueba
Alberto is dead and can no longer pretend otherwise. A degenerative disease makes his decomposition increasingly more noticeable. No make-up or perfume can disguise his condition. He leaves his job to fade into the boundaries of his death, but not before striking up an unusual friendship with Luly, manager of the gym at which he works as a night watchman.
La Sirga (Isa:tiburon)
Colombia - France – Mexico
Director: William Vega
Cast: Joghis Arias, Julio Cesar Roble, David Guacas, Heraldo Romero, Floralba Achicanoy
Alicia feels lost. The memory of war clings to her mind in a terrifying rumble. Thrown off her land by armed conflict, she tries to build a new life at “La Sirga”, a rundown boarding house on the shore of a large lagoon high up in the Andes mountain range. The place is owned by Oscar, her only surviving relative, an unsociable, solitary old man. There, in a miry, unstable beach, Alicia tries to plant new roots, until her fears and the threat of war reappear once again.
Tanta Agua (Isa:control Z Films)
Uruguay – Mexico - Holland
Directors: Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge
Cast: Néstor Guzzini, Malú Chouza, Joaquín Castiglioni
Family holidays where nothing goes as planned. A tale set in a half-empty thermal spa lashed by constant rain where the only thing they can do is stay together.
Villegas (Isa:cine-sud Promotion)
Argentina – Holland – France
Director: Gonzalo Tobal
Cast: Esteban Lamothe, Esteban Bigliardi.
Reunited after several years, cousins Esteban and Pipa travel by car to their grandfather’s funeral in Villegas, the small inland town where they grew up together. Their return becomes an intense emotional journey marked by reunions, the weight of the past and the end of an era.
Films in Progress 21 in Toulouse carried the following awards :
Films in Progress Award Toulouse, in which several entities collaborate: Cnc (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée) will contribute with a grant towards the completion of a project, carrying €10,000 for post-production work in France. MacTari will provide sound mixing services worth €15,000. Titra Tvs: will provide the subtitling for a first copy of the winning film. Caisse Centrale D’ActivitÉS Sociales Du Personnel Des Industries Electriques Et Gazieres (Ccas) will provide 5 weeks’ accommodation to the winning director in order that he or she may secure post-production or promotion of the film in France. Eaux Vives will coordinate post-production of the winning film, during four weeks and for an equivalent worth of €8,600. Firefly will provide the use of a suite of Firefly software tools for colour correction of the winning film. Commune Image will provide a film theatre equipped with a Christie Dlp Cinema projector with real-time viewing on an 8-metre screen and a Firefly Cinema calibration console for digital post-production in HD, 2K or 4K, for an equivalent worth of €17,000, or a similar service for 10 days in an image editing room for an equivalent worth of €10,000. Special CinÉ + in Progress Award, granted by the CinÉ + TV channel, worth €15,000, which guarantees purchase of the winning film by the channel and broadcast on television following release of the film in France.
European Distributors and Exhibitors Award: Europa Distribution undertakes to promote the winning film among its network of 110 members and particularly among the 35 European distributor members of the Europa Distribution International (Edi) project. Cicae (Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et Essai) will provide aid to diffusion of the winning film by distributing related information to the 2,000 Cicae member cinemas, thereby creating awareness of the film among distribution companies and boosting its circulation.
The Selected Films
Cores (Isa:kinoosfera Films)
Brazil
Director: Francisco García
Cast: Pedro di Pietro, Simone Iliescu, Acaüa Sol.
A tale of friendship and let down between three young friends in Sao Paulo as Brazil undergoes its strong economic upsurge. Despite the odd feeling that things could actually change, the meaning of life disappears on those days when «all that is solid melts into the air».
El Lugar Del Hijo
Uruguay - Argentina
Director: Manuel Nieto.
Cast: Felipe Dieste, Alejandro Urdampilleta, Roxana Cabrera, Leonor Courtoisie, Germán de Silva.
Learning that his father has died in an inland town, a student sets out to the funeral. There he discovers that his father has left him an indebted estate and a house inhabited by his mistress, who has no intention of moving out and obliges the young boy to share. A tale of losing one’s roots and personal reconstruction; a metaphor on the inherited country and the youngsters who will eventually have to take charge of that inheritance.
Halley
Mexico
Director: Sebastián Hofmann
Cast: Alberto Trujillo, Lourdes Trueba
Alberto is dead and can no longer pretend otherwise. A degenerative disease makes his decomposition increasingly more noticeable. No make-up or perfume can disguise his condition. He leaves his job to fade into the boundaries of his death, but not before striking up an unusual friendship with Luly, manager of the gym at which he works as a night watchman.
La Sirga (Isa:tiburon)
Colombia - France – Mexico
Director: William Vega
Cast: Joghis Arias, Julio Cesar Roble, David Guacas, Heraldo Romero, Floralba Achicanoy
Alicia feels lost. The memory of war clings to her mind in a terrifying rumble. Thrown off her land by armed conflict, she tries to build a new life at “La Sirga”, a rundown boarding house on the shore of a large lagoon high up in the Andes mountain range. The place is owned by Oscar, her only surviving relative, an unsociable, solitary old man. There, in a miry, unstable beach, Alicia tries to plant new roots, until her fears and the threat of war reappear once again.
Tanta Agua (Isa:control Z Films)
Uruguay – Mexico - Holland
Directors: Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge
Cast: Néstor Guzzini, Malú Chouza, Joaquín Castiglioni
Family holidays where nothing goes as planned. A tale set in a half-empty thermal spa lashed by constant rain where the only thing they can do is stay together.
Villegas (Isa:cine-sud Promotion)
Argentina – Holland – France
Director: Gonzalo Tobal
Cast: Esteban Lamothe, Esteban Bigliardi.
Reunited after several years, cousins Esteban and Pipa travel by car to their grandfather’s funeral in Villegas, the small inland town where they grew up together. Their return becomes an intense emotional journey marked by reunions, the weight of the past and the end of an era.
Films in Progress 21 in Toulouse carried the following awards :
Films in Progress Award Toulouse, in which several entities collaborate: Cnc (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée) will contribute with a grant towards the completion of a project, carrying €10,000 for post-production work in France. MacTari will provide sound mixing services worth €15,000. Titra Tvs: will provide the subtitling for a first copy of the winning film. Caisse Centrale D’ActivitÉS Sociales Du Personnel Des Industries Electriques Et Gazieres (Ccas) will provide 5 weeks’ accommodation to the winning director in order that he or she may secure post-production or promotion of the film in France. Eaux Vives will coordinate post-production of the winning film, during four weeks and for an equivalent worth of €8,600. Firefly will provide the use of a suite of Firefly software tools for colour correction of the winning film. Commune Image will provide a film theatre equipped with a Christie Dlp Cinema projector with real-time viewing on an 8-metre screen and a Firefly Cinema calibration console for digital post-production in HD, 2K or 4K, for an equivalent worth of €17,000, or a similar service for 10 days in an image editing room for an equivalent worth of €10,000. Special CinÉ + in Progress Award, granted by the CinÉ + TV channel, worth €15,000, which guarantees purchase of the winning film by the channel and broadcast on television following release of the film in France.
European Distributors and Exhibitors Award: Europa Distribution undertakes to promote the winning film among its network of 110 members and particularly among the 35 European distributor members of the Europa Distribution International (Edi) project. Cicae (Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et Essai) will provide aid to diffusion of the winning film by distributing related information to the 2,000 Cicae member cinemas, thereby creating awareness of the film among distribution companies and boosting its circulation.
- 4/21/2012
- by SydneyLevine
- Sydney's Buzz
Madrid - Six films from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay have been selected to compete in the Films in Progress section of the 21st edition of the Rencontres Cinémas d’Amérique Latine in Toulouse, jointly organized with San Sebastian Film Festival. Organizers will mount the second part of this twice-yearly rendezvous, Films in Progress 22, at San Sebastian in September of 2012. Among the entries, Francisco Garcia's Cores (Brazil) examines friendship and disappointment, Manuel Nieto's El Lugar del hijo (Uruguay/Argentina) documents a personal journey filtered through a character's inheritance, and Sebastian Hofmann's Halley (Mexico) analyzes mortality. Additionally, William Vega's La
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- 3/21/2012
- by Pamela Rolfe
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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