Guess what, spooky cinephiles? It’s Hispanic Heritage Month, that exhilarating period where we immerse ourselves in the vibrant rhythms, flavors, and stories of Hispanic cultures. But did you know that amidst the vivacious dances and the mouth-watering dishes hides a treasure trove of spine-tingling tales?
Oh yes, the world of Hispanic horror movies beckons, promising more than just your average fright night. These films aren’t merely content with making you jump out of your seat; they pull you into rich narratives filled with cultural nuances, deeply rooted traditions, and haunting legacies from bygone eras. It’s a blend of ancient folklore and contemporary fears that results in a truly unique cinematic experience.
So, if you’re game for a haunting journey that spans from the labyrinthine streets of Barcelona to the mystical landscapes of Latin America, sit tight. Here are 10 hand-picked, spine-tingling Hispanic horror movies that will set...
Oh yes, the world of Hispanic horror movies beckons, promising more than just your average fright night. These films aren’t merely content with making you jump out of your seat; they pull you into rich narratives filled with cultural nuances, deeply rooted traditions, and haunting legacies from bygone eras. It’s a blend of ancient folklore and contemporary fears that results in a truly unique cinematic experience.
So, if you’re game for a haunting journey that spans from the labyrinthine streets of Barcelona to the mystical landscapes of Latin America, sit tight. Here are 10 hand-picked, spine-tingling Hispanic horror movies that will set...
- 9/15/2023
- by Kimberley Elizabeth
Exclusive: Production has begun on Cada Minuto Cuenta, a new Prime Video drama series set against the backdrop of Mexico’s catastrophic earthquake in 1985 that claimed the lives of at least 5k people. Osvaldo Benavides, Maya Zapata, Jesús Zavala and Antonio de la Vega will star in the production set to premiere in 2024.
From director, Jorge Michel Grau, Cada Minuto Cuenta narrates how, as a result of the terrible earthquake of 1985 In Mexico City, a doctor tied to his past, a journalist in search of fame, and a family in crisis will be forced to risk their lives in extreme situations to save themselves — alongside thousands of others who were buried. In their titanic rescue efforts, every minute becomes an opportunity to rewrite their own destiny.
Additional cast includes Miriam Balderas, Azalia Ortiz, Mónica Del Carmen, Gabriela Cartol, Luis Fernando Peña, Zamia Fandiño, Damayanti Quintanar, Daniel Martínez and Pamela Vargas.
From director, Jorge Michel Grau, Cada Minuto Cuenta narrates how, as a result of the terrible earthquake of 1985 In Mexico City, a doctor tied to his past, a journalist in search of fame, and a family in crisis will be forced to risk their lives in extreme situations to save themselves — alongside thousands of others who were buried. In their titanic rescue efforts, every minute becomes an opportunity to rewrite their own destiny.
Additional cast includes Miriam Balderas, Azalia Ortiz, Mónica Del Carmen, Gabriela Cartol, Luis Fernando Peña, Zamia Fandiño, Damayanti Quintanar, Daniel Martínez and Pamela Vargas.
- 7/10/2023
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City,” fresh from its triumphant world premiere at the Cannes fest, opens the 38th Guadalajara Film Festival (Ficg) which touts new sections this year, including a branded series showcase and midnight screenings of Italian fright maestro Dario Argento’s horror films.
Eva Longoria’s feature directorial debut, “Flamin’ Hot,” which had its West Coast premiere at the LA Latino Film Festival (Laliff) May 31, marks its Mexican debut at the fest.
The Series Showcase includes Patricia Martinez’s fact-based “La Narcosatánica,” which will stream on the rebranded Max, and Maite Alberdi’s “Libre de reir,” a Gato Grande production that centers on inmates in a Mexican prison who enroll in a stand-up comedy workshop. Alberdi’s Sundance-winning docu “The Eternal Memory” also vies for a prize in the festival’s documentary sidebar.
According to festival director Estrella Araiza, the festival has recovered its funding and will screen...
Eva Longoria’s feature directorial debut, “Flamin’ Hot,” which had its West Coast premiere at the LA Latino Film Festival (Laliff) May 31, marks its Mexican debut at the fest.
The Series Showcase includes Patricia Martinez’s fact-based “La Narcosatánica,” which will stream on the rebranded Max, and Maite Alberdi’s “Libre de reir,” a Gato Grande production that centers on inmates in a Mexican prison who enroll in a stand-up comedy workshop. Alberdi’s Sundance-winning docu “The Eternal Memory” also vies for a prize in the festival’s documentary sidebar.
According to festival director Estrella Araiza, the festival has recovered its funding and will screen...
- 6/1/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
From slashers, to zombies, eco horror, and much, much more, MoMA's "Horror: Messaging the Monstrous" is a 10-week film series that includes 110 films, including a 3D screening of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead! Featuring horror from around the world and taking place from June 23rd through September 5th, we have all the details so you can start planning your visit! Full program details can also be found at: moma.org/horror
Press Release:
The Museum of Modern Art announces Horror: Messaging the Monstrous, a 10-week film series that includes over 110 features and a selection of short films that capture the horror genre’s uncanny ability to express the lurking fears of a society and the anxieties caused by social, cultural, and political change. Presented in the Museum’s Titus Theaters in the Black Family Film Center from June 23 through September 5, 2022, Horror: Messaging the Monstrous is organized weekly...
Press Release:
The Museum of Modern Art announces Horror: Messaging the Monstrous, a 10-week film series that includes over 110 features and a selection of short films that capture the horror genre’s uncanny ability to express the lurking fears of a society and the anxieties caused by social, cultural, and political change. Presented in the Museum’s Titus Theaters in the Black Family Film Center from June 23 through September 5, 2022, Horror: Messaging the Monstrous is organized weekly...
- 6/21/2022
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
“Aware: Glimpses Of Consciousness” will have its U.S. Theatrical Release Starting In Los Angeles On Friday, September 24 (Laemmle Theaters) And New York On Friday, October 8 (Cinema Village).
Directors Frauke Sandig and Eric Black follow scientists delving into the greatest of mysteries, having to confront the ‘Big Questions’. It presents some of the world’s most brilliant researchers approaching consciousness – each from radically different perspectives, including Roland Griffiths, the renowned Johns Hopkins University psychedelics researcher, plant biologist Monica Gagliano, Christof Koch, Chief Scientist of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and the famed Tibetan Buddhist monks, Matthieu Ricard and Mingyur Rinpoche.
The film opens as a science film but emerges well beyond the explicable, ultimately leading one on a voyage upon the ocean of consciousness, a contemplative, sensual, cinematographic meditation. The networks of consciousness are reflected in ‘grand’ imagery revealing the vast interconnectedness of Nature – from the smallest organisms, to...
Directors Frauke Sandig and Eric Black follow scientists delving into the greatest of mysteries, having to confront the ‘Big Questions’. It presents some of the world’s most brilliant researchers approaching consciousness – each from radically different perspectives, including Roland Griffiths, the renowned Johns Hopkins University psychedelics researcher, plant biologist Monica Gagliano, Christof Koch, Chief Scientist of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and the famed Tibetan Buddhist monks, Matthieu Ricard and Mingyur Rinpoche.
The film opens as a science film but emerges well beyond the explicable, ultimately leading one on a voyage upon the ocean of consciousness, a contemplative, sensual, cinematographic meditation. The networks of consciousness are reflected in ‘grand’ imagery revealing the vast interconnectedness of Nature – from the smallest organisms, to...
- 8/4/2021
- by Ethan Shanfeld and Selome Hailu
- Variety Film + TV
The dark, tense, combustible mood and atmosphere conveyed in the trailer for My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To, as well as its story of a family member in search of blood in behalf of another family member, reminds me favorably of Jorge Michel Grau's Somos lo que hay (2010), which was memorably refashioned by Jim Mickle into We Are What We Are (2013). All this alerts me: pay attention, this might be really good. The premise for the new film, written and directed by shorts filmmaker Jonathan Cuartas as his feature debut, is as follows: "Dwight (Patrick Fugit) prowls the streets after dark. He searches each night for the lonely and forlorn, looking for people who won't be missed. Dwight takes no...
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- 4/27/2021
- Screen Anarchy
The Canadian virtual festival will include more than 100 features and 200 shorts.
Canada’s Fantasia Film Festival has announced a third and final wave of feature films, as well as details of its panels, talks, tributes and special events.
This year’s virtual edition of the Montreal-based festival, running from August 20 to September 2, will include more than 100 features and more than 200 shorts.
Among the latest titles added to the line-up are Vincent Paronnaud’s Hunted, getting its world premiere, Jorge Michel Grau’s Perdida, getting its international premiere, and Kiel McNaughton’s Indigenous action-comedy The Legend Of Baron To’A, which will be the closing night film.
Canada’s Fantasia Film Festival has announced a third and final wave of feature films, as well as details of its panels, talks, tributes and special events.
This year’s virtual edition of the Montreal-based festival, running from August 20 to September 2, will include more than 100 features and more than 200 shorts.
Among the latest titles added to the line-up are Vincent Paronnaud’s Hunted, getting its world premiere, Jorge Michel Grau’s Perdida, getting its international premiere, and Kiel McNaughton’s Indigenous action-comedy The Legend Of Baron To’A, which will be the closing night film.
- 8/6/2020
- by 31¦John Hazelton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
The Legend Of Baron To'a Photo: Fantasia International Film Festival
The third and final part of this year's Fantasia International Film Festival line-up was announced today, with New Zealand/Tonga co-production The Legend Of Baron To'a revealed as the closing feature. The festival, which is based in Montreal but will take place online this year because of Covid-19, will also see a lifetime achievement award presented to genre favourite John Carpenter, who is currently focusing on his music career, and there will be a chance for attendees to hear his latest single.
Other new additions to the line-up include Ryan Spindell's gothic horror anthology The Mortuary Collection, Johnnie To's musical martial arts spectacular Chasing Dream and Jorge Michel Grau's dark, stylish romance Perdida. A slate of great Japanese films includes the unforgettable kigurumi tokusatsu Monster Seafood Wars, which will ensure that you never look at a plate of...
The third and final part of this year's Fantasia International Film Festival line-up was announced today, with New Zealand/Tonga co-production The Legend Of Baron To'a revealed as the closing feature. The festival, which is based in Montreal but will take place online this year because of Covid-19, will also see a lifetime achievement award presented to genre favourite John Carpenter, who is currently focusing on his music career, and there will be a chance for attendees to hear his latest single.
Other new additions to the line-up include Ryan Spindell's gothic horror anthology The Mortuary Collection, Johnnie To's musical martial arts spectacular Chasing Dream and Jorge Michel Grau's dark, stylish romance Perdida. A slate of great Japanese films includes the unforgettable kigurumi tokusatsu Monster Seafood Wars, which will ensure that you never look at a plate of...
- 8/6/2020
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
In the social distancing era of Covid-19, Fantasia International Film Festival is coming online with a virtual edition taking place August 20th–September 2nd, and their final wave of programming includes a massive wave of films, a plethora of panels, and a masterclass and lifetime achievement award for the Master of Horror himself, John Carpenter.
To learn more, visit Fantasia's website and check out the full final wave announcement below:
6 August 2020 // Montreal, Quebec – The Fantasia Film Festival announces today a massive new assortment of feature films for its 24th edition, along with details on scheduled panels, talks, tributes, and special events.
Fantasia 2020 To Present A Lifetime Achievement Award To Filmmaker John Carpenter, Close With Kiwi Action Comedy The Legend Of Baron To’A
Johnnie To’s Chasing Dream, Vincent Paronnaud’s Hunted, Jorge Michel Grau’s Perdida, Daria Woszek’s Marygoround, and Tran Thanh Huy’s Rom are among...
To learn more, visit Fantasia's website and check out the full final wave announcement below:
6 August 2020 // Montreal, Quebec – The Fantasia Film Festival announces today a massive new assortment of feature films for its 24th edition, along with details on scheduled panels, talks, tributes, and special events.
Fantasia 2020 To Present A Lifetime Achievement Award To Filmmaker John Carpenter, Close With Kiwi Action Comedy The Legend Of Baron To’A
Johnnie To’s Chasing Dream, Vincent Paronnaud’s Hunted, Jorge Michel Grau’s Perdida, Daria Woszek’s Marygoround, and Tran Thanh Huy’s Rom are among...
- 8/6/2020
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival, which runs August 20-September 2 and is being held digitally this year due to the pandemic, has unveiled its final lineup.
The fest has also announced that revered genre filmmaker John Carpenter will be the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award and will host an online masterclass as part of its virtual events.
New pics selected include Kiel McNaughton’s Indigenous action-comedy The Legend Of Baron To’a, which closes the fest, the world premiere of Persepolis co-director Vincent Paronnaud’s Hunted, Johnnie To’s Chasing Dream, and Finn Wolfhard’s directorial debut short Night Shifts.
Further events will include talks with Mike Flanagan and Mick Garris, Simon Barrett, and Dennison Ramalho with José Mojica Marins aka Coffin Joe.
As reported previously, this year’s fest will open with Neil Marshall’s horror The Reckoning. The online screenings, which will run via Festival Scope and Shift72’s virtual screening platform,...
The fest has also announced that revered genre filmmaker John Carpenter will be the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award and will host an online masterclass as part of its virtual events.
New pics selected include Kiel McNaughton’s Indigenous action-comedy The Legend Of Baron To’a, which closes the fest, the world premiere of Persepolis co-director Vincent Paronnaud’s Hunted, Johnnie To’s Chasing Dream, and Finn Wolfhard’s directorial debut short Night Shifts.
Further events will include talks with Mike Flanagan and Mick Garris, Simon Barrett, and Dennison Ramalho with José Mojica Marins aka Coffin Joe.
As reported previously, this year’s fest will open with Neil Marshall’s horror The Reckoning. The online screenings, which will run via Festival Scope and Shift72’s virtual screening platform,...
- 8/6/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
As the global film industry faced dire circumstances in recent months, Mexican filmmakers contended with a more specific threat. In early April, the country’s president attempted to eliminate critical funding that has supported generations of acclaimed Mexican filmmakers. The pushback culminated in a dramatic confrontation, with filmmakers such as Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro G. Iñarritu, and Alfonso Cuarón taking a stand to salvage these resources. Their successful efforts — for now, at least — cast light on a community reliant on national support.
Mexico’s film industry has seen astounding growth over the last two decades, in quantity and quality. The defining catalyst remains the creation of two government funds, Forprocine and Fidecine, in the late ‘90s. For several decades prior to these funds, Mexican cinema stagnated, producing less than 10 films per year. Last year, 200 completed features set a new record.
The success of these financing mechanisms is undeniable. Not only...
Mexico’s film industry has seen astounding growth over the last two decades, in quantity and quality. The defining catalyst remains the creation of two government funds, Forprocine and Fidecine, in the late ‘90s. For several decades prior to these funds, Mexican cinema stagnated, producing less than 10 films per year. Last year, 200 completed features set a new record.
The success of these financing mechanisms is undeniable. Not only...
- 5/30/2020
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Indiewire
After a ten-year hiatus where he produced the films of other directors in the U.S. and Latin America, Rodrigo Bellott returned to directing with gay drama “Tu Me Manques,” which trumped other local contenders to represent Bolivia at the Academy Awards and Spain’s Goyas.
He confesses that the experience nearly broke him. “It was a very personal drama that took over eight weeks of production, 56 actors and 18 months to edit,” he said. It was such a painful experience, he thought he’d never direct again.
Advised to take a break, Bellott instead pulled a Wong Kar Wai, who while shooting “Ashes of Time,” allegedly took two weeks off to make “Chungking Express” before restarting his dramedy.
Bellott opted to do the same, directing his Blood Window entry “Blood Red Ox” from a screenplay he co-wrote with American genre writer Nate Atkins. Shot on location in Bolivia and upstate...
He confesses that the experience nearly broke him. “It was a very personal drama that took over eight weeks of production, 56 actors and 18 months to edit,” he said. It was such a painful experience, he thought he’d never direct again.
Advised to take a break, Bellott instead pulled a Wong Kar Wai, who while shooting “Ashes of Time,” allegedly took two weeks off to make “Chungking Express” before restarting his dramedy.
Bellott opted to do the same, directing his Blood Window entry “Blood Red Ox” from a screenplay he co-wrote with American genre writer Nate Atkins. Shot on location in Bolivia and upstate...
- 12/2/2019
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Morelia, Mexico – Mexican exhibition giant Cinepolis is gearing up to produce up to four or five films a year, said CEO Alejandro Ramirez as he took stock of the company’s “important” growth this past year.
He added that Cinepolis has “about 10 projects in development or pre-production.”
The company produced its first film last year, “Perfectos Desconocidos” by Manolo Caro, and has slated a May 2020 premiere for its next, the horror film “La Herencia del Mal” by Rodrigo Fiallega. The Cinepolis and Invicta Films co-production stars Camila Sodi, Juan Pablo Castañeda and Carlos Colombo.
“Herencia…” turns on Carmen, a journalist, who after the death of her mother and a miscarriage, retreats to her ancestral home to reconnect with her family’s history. While playing some VHS videos she has unearthed, she discovers that her grandmother had been an exorcist and upon further research, realizes that she herself was exorcised one...
He added that Cinepolis has “about 10 projects in development or pre-production.”
The company produced its first film last year, “Perfectos Desconocidos” by Manolo Caro, and has slated a May 2020 premiere for its next, the horror film “La Herencia del Mal” by Rodrigo Fiallega. The Cinepolis and Invicta Films co-production stars Camila Sodi, Juan Pablo Castañeda and Carlos Colombo.
“Herencia…” turns on Carmen, a journalist, who after the death of her mother and a miscarriage, retreats to her ancestral home to reconnect with her family’s history. While playing some VHS videos she has unearthed, she discovers that her grandmother had been an exorcist and upon further research, realizes that she herself was exorcised one...
- 10/24/2019
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: CAA has signed Cristina Rodlo, who can be seen as a series regular opposite Miles Teller and John Hawkes in Too Old To Die Young, the Amazon cop series created by Nicolas Winding Refn and Ed Brubaker. The show had its debut at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and is currently available to stream.
The Mexican actress is also a series regular on Season 2 of AMC’s anthology series The Terror: Infamy, co-created by Alexander Woo and Max Borenstein and executive produced by Ridley Scott.
On the film side, Rodlo recently appeared opposite Gina Rodriguez in Sony’s Miss Bala remake directed by Catherine Hardwicke. In addition, she has two forthcoming films in Mexico; Bunker, which was directed by Jorge Michel Grau, and the Roque Falabella-directed El Vestido.
Rodlo will continue to be repped by Valor Entertainment, Talent On The Road Management, and Ruth Franco Talent in Spain, as well as Ziffren Brittenham Llp.
The Mexican actress is also a series regular on Season 2 of AMC’s anthology series The Terror: Infamy, co-created by Alexander Woo and Max Borenstein and executive produced by Ridley Scott.
On the film side, Rodlo recently appeared opposite Gina Rodriguez in Sony’s Miss Bala remake directed by Catherine Hardwicke. In addition, she has two forthcoming films in Mexico; Bunker, which was directed by Jorge Michel Grau, and the Roque Falabella-directed El Vestido.
Rodlo will continue to be repped by Valor Entertainment, Talent On The Road Management, and Ruth Franco Talent in Spain, as well as Ziffren Brittenham Llp.
- 6/14/2019
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
For our annual list of most anticipated foreign films, we have compiled an expanded list, tacking on an extra hundred titles to our usual 200 for a total of 300 projects we are looking forward to in the coming year. For the top 150 titles, we will begin unveiling one-by-one. However, for the second half of our selection, please have a look at many of the international offerings on the horizon which we didn’t examine in greater depth. Among them are some exciting directorial debuts from actors, what we hope to be come-backs for certain directors (such as Jorge Michel Grau with Bunker), some compelling debuts from new artists (Greta from Armando Praco and Acid from Alexander Gorchilin), plus a number of celebrated French directors to look forward to.…...
- 12/31/2018
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Mexican exhibition juggernaut Cinepolis has picked up all Latin American rights to the Mexican version of the 2011 Colombian suspense thriller, “The Hidden Face” (“La Cara Oculta”).
This is the first Mexican feature of Colombian shingle Dynamo, which made the original with co-producers Fox Int’l Productions, Cactus Flower and Avalon. Dynamo’s Andi Baiz directed.
Argentina’s Fb Group and Mexico’s Urujuru are co-producers of the Mexican remake.
“Dynamo is a company that we deeply admire,” said Leonardo Cordero, head of Cinepolis Distribution. “To be able to distribute its “La Cara Oculta” remake is a major opportunity to develop a long-term relationship with one of Latin America’s top content providers,” he said.
Plans are to release the thriller by the first semester of next year. Its definitive title is yet to be determined.
Jorge Michel Grau, helmer-scribe of “Somos lo que hay” (“We Are What We Are”) and...
This is the first Mexican feature of Colombian shingle Dynamo, which made the original with co-producers Fox Int’l Productions, Cactus Flower and Avalon. Dynamo’s Andi Baiz directed.
Argentina’s Fb Group and Mexico’s Urujuru are co-producers of the Mexican remake.
“Dynamo is a company that we deeply admire,” said Leonardo Cordero, head of Cinepolis Distribution. “To be able to distribute its “La Cara Oculta” remake is a major opportunity to develop a long-term relationship with one of Latin America’s top content providers,” he said.
Plans are to release the thriller by the first semester of next year. Its definitive title is yet to be determined.
Jorge Michel Grau, helmer-scribe of “Somos lo que hay” (“We Are What We Are”) and...
- 8/2/2018
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Fear doesn’t need subtitles, but some of the best horror films do. J-horror, the New French Extremity, and other foreign-language scary-movie movements have provided much in the way of terrified shrieks and heightened pulses. Although dialogue may get lost in translation, blood-curdling screams never do. Horror is an especially visual genre, and one of the most universal.
The world is dark and full of terrors, especially where the movies on this list are concerned. Here are our favorite foreign language horror flicks made since the year 2000.
20. “We Are What We Are” (2010)
Horror filmmakers ruthlessly mine for metaphor, often at the expense of credibility. The tricky balance in the Mexican cannibal drama “We Are What We Are” (“Somos lo que hay”) pairs a conventional family unit with the ludicrously grotesque to chilling and absurd effect. Writer-director Jorge Michel Grau’s feature debut has the goriest signifier for underclass strife this...
The world is dark and full of terrors, especially where the movies on this list are concerned. Here are our favorite foreign language horror flicks made since the year 2000.
20. “We Are What We Are” (2010)
Horror filmmakers ruthlessly mine for metaphor, often at the expense of credibility. The tricky balance in the Mexican cannibal drama “We Are What We Are” (“Somos lo que hay”) pairs a conventional family unit with the ludicrously grotesque to chilling and absurd effect. Writer-director Jorge Michel Grau’s feature debut has the goriest signifier for underclass strife this...
- 10/20/2017
- by Michael Nordine, Chris O'Falt, Eric Kohn, Jamie Righetti, William Earl, Zack Sharf, Anne Thompson, Kate Erbland and David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Julia Ducournau’s debut feature about a young woman’s emerging taste for human flesh is an exhilarating blend of horror, humour and heartbreak
This exhilarating French-Belgian debut from writer/director Julia Ducournau is a feast for ravenous cinephiles, an extreme yet intimate tale of identity crises that blends Cronenbergian body horror with humour and heartbreak as it sinks its teeth deep into the sins of the flesh.
When a young woman arrives at veterinary college, her primary desire is to fit in, to follow in the footsteps of a proud family tradition. But when rookie hazing rituals force her to taste forbidden fruit (specifically, raw rabbit liver), the devout vegetarian discovers previously suppressed appetites. One minute she’s a strait-laced, straight-a student, the next she’s drooling at the sight of a freshly severed finger and lusting after the tempting torso of her muscular room-mate. What follows is a...
This exhilarating French-Belgian debut from writer/director Julia Ducournau is a feast for ravenous cinephiles, an extreme yet intimate tale of identity crises that blends Cronenbergian body horror with humour and heartbreak as it sinks its teeth deep into the sins of the flesh.
When a young woman arrives at veterinary college, her primary desire is to fit in, to follow in the footsteps of a proud family tradition. But when rookie hazing rituals force her to taste forbidden fruit (specifically, raw rabbit liver), the devout vegetarian discovers previously suppressed appetites. One minute she’s a strait-laced, straight-a student, the next she’s drooling at the sight of a freshly severed finger and lusting after the tempting torso of her muscular room-mate. What follows is a...
- 4/9/2017
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
With its emphasis on practical production skills, Mexico's national film school - the Centro de Capacitacion Cinematografica or, simply the Ccc - has become a breeding ground for high level talent. Jorge Michel Grau's Cannes selected cannibal film We Are What We Are (Somos Lo Que Hay), for example, was produced under the auspices and with the support of the school and with multiple shorts and features produced by the institution every year you can always find new work from the best and brightest of the coming generation there. Enter Eddie Rubio and Lucha. A 19 minute short film following a Mexican pro-wrestler returning to the gym where his father trained him as a child, a first teaser for Lucha has arrived online promising something...
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[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 3/8/2017
- Screen Anarchy
It’s all red filter, hardcore action and impending doom in Emiliano Rocha Minter’s orgiastic dystopian nightmare set in Mexico
“This is not your average party!” announces this film’s gurningly grotesque lead character. He can say that again. Writer-director Emiliano Rocha Minter (who scripted Gerardo Naranjo’s Tijuana gangland movie Miss Bala) has whipped up an eroto-pocalyptic nightmare, set in Mexico, apparently influenced by that adulte terrible of extreme cinema, Gaspar Noé. Rocha brings the red filter, the hardcore action, the throbbing soundtrack, and the sense of impending doom. Yet in its climactic orgiastic scene and the final gotcha-reveal, it looks like a controversial or banned movie from the 70s. In a wrecked world, a young brother and sister (played by María Evoli and Diego Gamaliel) roam the shattered city, desperate for food and shelter. A creepy old guy, Mariano (Noé Hernández), takes them in on condition that...
“This is not your average party!” announces this film’s gurningly grotesque lead character. He can say that again. Writer-director Emiliano Rocha Minter (who scripted Gerardo Naranjo’s Tijuana gangland movie Miss Bala) has whipped up an eroto-pocalyptic nightmare, set in Mexico, apparently influenced by that adulte terrible of extreme cinema, Gaspar Noé. Rocha brings the red filter, the hardcore action, the throbbing soundtrack, and the sense of impending doom. Yet in its climactic orgiastic scene and the final gotcha-reveal, it looks like a controversial or banned movie from the 70s. In a wrecked world, a young brother and sister (played by María Evoli and Diego Gamaliel) roam the shattered city, desperate for food and shelter. A creepy old guy, Mariano (Noé Hernández), takes them in on condition that...
- 11/17/2016
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
There are some places you should just never go back to. That seems to be the general point of Rigorberto Castaneda's upcoming Km 31 2. The sequel to Castaneda's hit Mexican horror returns to the scene of the first film - a fateful and very, very haunted mile marker along a dangerous stretch of remote highway - and the results look absolutely horrifying. Though Mexico has a long history and tradition of horror film that tradition had been largely abandoned by recent generations until Castaneda emerged on the scene as the first of a fresh wave of Mexican genre voices that now also includes Jorge Michel Grau, Emilio Portes and Argentinean transplant Adrian Garcia Bogliano. Castaneda is by far the slickest and most commercially minded...
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[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 11/2/2016
- Screen Anarchy
The flesh-eating movie that had them requiring ambulance intervention in Toronto never lets up. It’s also a complex drama of adulthood, sex, conformity, hazing, body image and lust
Julia Ducournau is a 33-year-old first-time feature director who makes her worryingly brilliant debut with this saturnalia of arthouse horror. At the Toronto film festival, it had audiences dry-heaving and indeed wet-heaving in the aisles and the cinema lavatories. This is the sort of film which pundits are often keen to label “black comedy” as a way of re-establishing their own sang-froid. In the same tongue-in-cheek spirit, it has been called coming-of-age drama. There is a grain of truth in both of these labels. It is a film about cannibalism, and has clearly been influenced by Jorge Michel Grau’s We Are What We Are, John Fawcett’s Ginger Snaps, and perhaps especially Marina de Van’s body shocker In My...
Julia Ducournau is a 33-year-old first-time feature director who makes her worryingly brilliant debut with this saturnalia of arthouse horror. At the Toronto film festival, it had audiences dry-heaving and indeed wet-heaving in the aisles and the cinema lavatories. This is the sort of film which pundits are often keen to label “black comedy” as a way of re-establishing their own sang-froid. In the same tongue-in-cheek spirit, it has been called coming-of-age drama. There is a grain of truth in both of these labels. It is a film about cannibalism, and has clearly been influenced by Jorge Michel Grau’s We Are What We Are, John Fawcett’s Ginger Snaps, and perhaps especially Marina de Van’s body shocker In My...
- 9/21/2016
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
As I reported earlier this week, "multiple" audience members passed out at the Toronto International Film Festival screening of Julia Ducournau's debut feature Raw, a film about a 16-year-old vegetarian who develops a sudden taste for human flesh following a gruesome hazing ritual at her new school. In addition to a number of allegedly disgusting scenes, the film is also, apparently, very good, with critics and general viewers alike singing the film's praises in print and on social media. With all the current hullabaloo around that film, it's interesting to note that another movie revolving around cannibalism, Ana Lily Amirpour’s The Bad Batch, also had its North American premiere at Tiff this week before being picked up for U.S. distribution by Screen Media Films. That film, billed as a "dystopian love story set in a Texas wasteland amongst a community of cannibals," is Amirpour's followup to 2014's...
- 9/16/2016
- by Chris Eggertsen
- Hitfix
The opening night film for the second half of Guanajuato 2016 (the one that takes place in Guanajuato Capital) was Jorge Michel Grau’s 7:19, a drama set in the historic morning of 19 September, 1985, when Mexico City suffered a major earthquake that eventually caused the deaths of thousands of people. Grau’s film, based on a script that he wrote in collaboration with Alberto Chimal, happens in one location with only two characters, played by Demián Bichir and Héctor Bonilla. Bichir, who last year was part of Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight and currently is filming in Australia Alien: Covenant, as well as preparing his debut as director (Refugio), attended the world premiere of 7:19. He was also present because the festival pays tribute to...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 8/1/2016
- Screen Anarchy
A familiar name around these parts, Mexican director Aaron Soto rose to public attention through his work with Rue Morgue Magazine, has contributed to these pages a few times over the years, and turned in one segment of the very strong Mexican horror anthology Mexico Barbaro alongside the likes of Jorge Michel Grau and Issac Ezban. And he's now hard at work on his debut feature, Ratas Del Bordo (Border Rats). Ratas Del Bordo is a horror fable set in 1989, were Punks, Norteños and Cholos fight a strange Witch in the Tijuana border, including a cool soundtrack of Mexican Punk music and a closer look at the culture clash of Mexico’s strangest city. Pablo Asento produces with Omar Yñigo in the lead. And for...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 7/8/2016
- Screen Anarchy
Shock’s Roberto D’Onofrio talks to director Lex Ortega about his extreme and shocking new film Atroz. Without any doubt director and producer Lex Ortega can be considered, together with Guillermo del Toro and Jorge Michel Grau, among the filmmakers who advocated the renaissance of Mexican Horror Cinema. Although his young age he has worked as…
The post Exclusive Interview and Photos: Lex Ortega Talks Brutal New Mexican Horror Flick Atroz appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
The post Exclusive Interview and Photos: Lex Ortega Talks Brutal New Mexican Horror Flick Atroz appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
- 6/7/2016
- by Chris Alexander
- shocktillyoudrop.com
Exclusive: Company to launch Christian Volckman’s English-language thriller The Room set to star Olga Kurylenko and show first images for Jorge Michel Grau’s 7:19 Am.
Elle Driver has taken world rights on Christian Volckman’s English-language, fantasy thriller The Room, about a couple who discover a secret chamber in their old house which has the power to materialise anything they want.
Olga Kurylenko (Quantum Of Solace) is set to co-star as one-half of the couple who discover the room in their old upstate New Hampshire house. Entranced, they dream up increasingly lavish requests. When they ask for a child the game turns sinister.
It is in pre-production and the role of the husband is currently being cast.
The feature marks a live action debut for French animation director and artist Volckman who won best film at the Annecy International Animation Film in 2006 for the dystopian sci-fi drama Renaissance, about a world...
Elle Driver has taken world rights on Christian Volckman’s English-language, fantasy thriller The Room, about a couple who discover a secret chamber in their old house which has the power to materialise anything they want.
Olga Kurylenko (Quantum Of Solace) is set to co-star as one-half of the couple who discover the room in their old upstate New Hampshire house. Entranced, they dream up increasingly lavish requests. When they ask for a child the game turns sinister.
It is in pre-production and the role of the husband is currently being cast.
The feature marks a live action debut for French animation director and artist Volckman who won best film at the Annecy International Animation Film in 2006 for the dystopian sci-fi drama Renaissance, about a world...
- 5/6/2016
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Company to launch Christian Volckman’s English-language thriller The Room set to star Olga Kurylenko and show first images for Jorge Michel Grau’s 7:19 Am.
Elle Driver has taken world rights on Christian Volckman’s English-language, fantasy thriller The Room, about a couple who discover a secret chamber in their old house which has the power to materialise anything they want.
Olga Kurylenko (Quantum Of Solace) is set to co-star as one-half of the couple who discover the room in their old upstate New Hampshire house. Entranced, they dream up increasingly lavish requests. When they ask for a child the game turns sinister.
It is in pre-production and the role of the husband is currently being cast.
The feature marks a live action debut for French animation director and artist Volckman who won best film at the Annecy International Animation Film in 2006 for the dystopian sci-fi drama Renaissance, about a world...
Elle Driver has taken world rights on Christian Volckman’s English-language, fantasy thriller The Room, about a couple who discover a secret chamber in their old house which has the power to materialise anything they want.
Olga Kurylenko (Quantum Of Solace) is set to co-star as one-half of the couple who discover the room in their old upstate New Hampshire house. Entranced, they dream up increasingly lavish requests. When they ask for a child the game turns sinister.
It is in pre-production and the role of the husband is currently being cast.
The feature marks a live action debut for French animation director and artist Volckman who won best film at the Annecy International Animation Film in 2006 for the dystopian sci-fi drama Renaissance, about a world...
- 5/6/2016
- ScreenDaily
It’s become a great breaking in the new year traditional here at Ioncinema.com. We begin our countdown to the our most anticipated foreign films (anything outside the U.S.) with our own Nicholas Bell curating the best bets for 2016. Here are the titles and filmmakers that didn’t make our final Top 100 cut, but are nonetheless “radar” worthy.
101. El Rey del Once – Daniel Burman
102. The Dancer – Stephanie Di Giusto
103. Le Cancre – Paul Vecchiali
104. While the Women are Sleeping – Wayne Wang
105. Tomorrow – Martha Pinson
106. Spring Again – Gael Morel
107. Crowhurst – Simon Rumley
108. Le Garcon – Philippe Lioret *
109. Marie and the Misfits – Sebastien Betbeder
110. Le Caravage – Alain Chevalier
111. Night Song – Raphael Nadjari
112. Réparer les vivants – Katell Quillevere *
113. Project Lazarus – Mateo Gil
114. Afterimages – Andrzej Wajda
115. Don’t Knock Twice – Caradog James
116. Detour – Christopher Smith
117. The Bride of Rip Van Winkle – Shunji Iwai
118. Three on the Road – Johnnie To
119. Le Vin et le Vent...
101. El Rey del Once – Daniel Burman
102. The Dancer – Stephanie Di Giusto
103. Le Cancre – Paul Vecchiali
104. While the Women are Sleeping – Wayne Wang
105. Tomorrow – Martha Pinson
106. Spring Again – Gael Morel
107. Crowhurst – Simon Rumley
108. Le Garcon – Philippe Lioret *
109. Marie and the Misfits – Sebastien Betbeder
110. Le Caravage – Alain Chevalier
111. Night Song – Raphael Nadjari
112. Réparer les vivants – Katell Quillevere *
113. Project Lazarus – Mateo Gil
114. Afterimages – Andrzej Wajda
115. Don’t Knock Twice – Caradog James
116. Detour – Christopher Smith
117. The Bride of Rip Van Winkle – Shunji Iwai
118. Three on the Road – Johnnie To
119. Le Vin et le Vent...
- 1/4/2016
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
There’s a Ghost in Me: Dutra and Rojas Explore the Reductive State of Capitalism
The changing socioeconomic landscape in Brazil has had a direct impact on the burgeoning cinematic landscape as well. The country’s move into a capitalist economy has resulted in significant shifts, whether that is what defines a sense of neighborhood and community in recent offerings from Sergio Bianchi with The Tenants (2009) or Kleber Mendonca Filho’s Neighboring Sounds (2012) or the opportunities afforded members of the working class causing unavoidable fissures in traditional behaviors, like The Second Mother (2015). In Hard Labor, the directorial debut of Marco Dutra and Juliana Rojas, gender and class expectations are bungled in unexpected ways, where social upsets reveal the rotting infrastructure from within. Filled with allegorical instances, the striking debut unfolds with the delirious menace one would expect from a horror film, yet stays invested in the daily banalities of aching social reminders of limitations.
The changing socioeconomic landscape in Brazil has had a direct impact on the burgeoning cinematic landscape as well. The country’s move into a capitalist economy has resulted in significant shifts, whether that is what defines a sense of neighborhood and community in recent offerings from Sergio Bianchi with The Tenants (2009) or Kleber Mendonca Filho’s Neighboring Sounds (2012) or the opportunities afforded members of the working class causing unavoidable fissures in traditional behaviors, like The Second Mother (2015). In Hard Labor, the directorial debut of Marco Dutra and Juliana Rojas, gender and class expectations are bungled in unexpected ways, where social upsets reveal the rotting infrastructure from within. Filled with allegorical instances, the striking debut unfolds with the delirious menace one would expect from a horror film, yet stays invested in the daily banalities of aching social reminders of limitations.
- 10/30/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
English language film has long been a place for some of the greatest horror film directors of all time. All the way back to Alfred Hitchcock, we have seen the genre grow and develop sub-genres, thanks to the public’s ongoing thirst for fear and the possibility of danger around every turn. But, for every Saw or Hostel or terrible remake of classic English-language horror films, there are inventive, terrifying films made somewhere else that inspire and even outdo many of our best Western world horror films. This list will count down the fifty definitive horror films with a main language that isn’t English; some may have some English-language parts in them, but they are, for the most part, foreign. Enlighten yourself. Broaden your horizons. People can get murdered and tortured in every language.
50. Kuroneko (1968)
English Title: Black Cat
Directed by: Kaneto Shindo
Japanese for “Black Cat,” Kuroneko is...
50. Kuroneko (1968)
English Title: Black Cat
Directed by: Kaneto Shindo
Japanese for “Black Cat,” Kuroneko is...
- 10/23/2015
- by Joshua Gaul
- SoundOnSight
Mexico Barbaro
Directed by Isaac Ezban, Laurette Flores Bornn, Jorge Michel Grau, Ulises Guzman, Edgar Nito, Lex Ortega, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Aaron Soto
Mexico, 2014
There’s a line in Mexico Barbaro that goes something like, “Drain the blood from your sister’s vagina or I’ll suck your soul out of your anus.” And that’s not the most outrageous thing that happens in this horror anthology that pulls from Mexican folklore, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and From Dusk Till Dawn, among others.
Mexico Barbaro is proudly off the wall, and it boasts horror tales that range from the modern (Tzompantli) to the Hitchcockian (Lo que importa es lo de adentro), to the Troma-like (La cosa mas preciada). That’s an advantage: the entirety of Mexico Barbaro is likely not for anyone, but there’s bound to be at least one entry in here that plays to any horror fan’s tastes.
Directed by Isaac Ezban, Laurette Flores Bornn, Jorge Michel Grau, Ulises Guzman, Edgar Nito, Lex Ortega, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Aaron Soto
Mexico, 2014
There’s a line in Mexico Barbaro that goes something like, “Drain the blood from your sister’s vagina or I’ll suck your soul out of your anus.” And that’s not the most outrageous thing that happens in this horror anthology that pulls from Mexican folklore, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and From Dusk Till Dawn, among others.
Mexico Barbaro is proudly off the wall, and it boasts horror tales that range from the modern (Tzompantli) to the Hitchcockian (Lo que importa es lo de adentro), to the Troma-like (La cosa mas preciada). That’s an advantage: the entirety of Mexico Barbaro is likely not for anyone, but there’s bound to be at least one entry in here that plays to any horror fan’s tastes.
- 10/23/2015
- by Neal Dhand
- SoundOnSight
The festival, set to run in Mexico from November 11-15, has unveiled the selections in its After Dark, American Specials and Green programmes.
Entries in the After Dark genre section feature films that have garnered acclaim at other festivals and include Matteo Garrone’s Tale Of Tales and the Latin American premieres of Robert Eggers’ The Witch (pictured) and Bo Mikkelsen’s What We Become.
The American Specials selections present Mexican permieres of Scott Cooper’s Black Mass and Marielle Heller’s The Diary of A Teenage Girl.
The Green strand presented by Discovery Channel showcases the Latin American premiere of Cyril Barbançon and Andy Byatt’s Hurricane 3D and the Mexican premieres of Louie Psihoyos’s Racing Extinction and Luc Jacqyet’s La Glace Et Le Ciel.
Festival top brass have also announced entries in the Cabos In Progress initiative for films in post that are made in or being produced with Mexico.
The selections...
Entries in the After Dark genre section feature films that have garnered acclaim at other festivals and include Matteo Garrone’s Tale Of Tales and the Latin American premieres of Robert Eggers’ The Witch (pictured) and Bo Mikkelsen’s What We Become.
The American Specials selections present Mexican permieres of Scott Cooper’s Black Mass and Marielle Heller’s The Diary of A Teenage Girl.
The Green strand presented by Discovery Channel showcases the Latin American premiere of Cyril Barbançon and Andy Byatt’s Hurricane 3D and the Mexican premieres of Louie Psihoyos’s Racing Extinction and Luc Jacqyet’s La Glace Et Le Ciel.
Festival top brass have also announced entries in the Cabos In Progress initiative for films in post that are made in or being produced with Mexico.
The selections...
- 10/20/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Special Mention: Misery
Directed by Rob Reiner
Screenplay by William Goldman
1990, USA
Genre: Thriller
Elevated by standout performances from James Caan and Kathy Bates, Misery remains one of the best Stephen King adaptations to date. Director Rob Reiner is clearly more interested in the dark humour and humanity than the gory detail in King’s novel, but make no mistake about it, Misery is a tough watch soaked in sharp dialogue, a brooding atmosphere, and disturbing bodily harm inflicted on James Caan by sweet old Kathy Bates. I can still feel his pain.
129. Black Sabbath (Three Faces of Fear)
Mario Bava and Salvatore Billitteri
Written by Ennio De Concini and Mario Serandrei
Italy 1960 / Italy 1963
Genre: Horror Anthology
Not to be confused with Black Sunday, Black Sabbath is a horror anthology composed of three atmospheric tales. “The Drop of Water” concerns a nurse who steals a ring off a corpse, only...
Directed by Rob Reiner
Screenplay by William Goldman
1990, USA
Genre: Thriller
Elevated by standout performances from James Caan and Kathy Bates, Misery remains one of the best Stephen King adaptations to date. Director Rob Reiner is clearly more interested in the dark humour and humanity than the gory detail in King’s novel, but make no mistake about it, Misery is a tough watch soaked in sharp dialogue, a brooding atmosphere, and disturbing bodily harm inflicted on James Caan by sweet old Kathy Bates. I can still feel his pain.
129. Black Sabbath (Three Faces of Fear)
Mario Bava and Salvatore Billitteri
Written by Ennio De Concini and Mario Serandrei
Italy 1960 / Italy 1963
Genre: Horror Anthology
Not to be confused with Black Sunday, Black Sabbath is a horror anthology composed of three atmospheric tales. “The Drop of Water” concerns a nurse who steals a ring off a corpse, only...
- 10/17/2015
- by Ricky Fernandes
- SoundOnSight
Isaac Ezban, Laurette Flores Bornn, Jorge Michel Grau, Ulises Guzman, Edgar Nito, Lex Ortega, Gigi Saul Guerrero, and Aaron Soto‘s México Bárbaro (2015) movie trailer stars Dulce Alexa, Sara Camacho and Ramón Medína. México Bárbaro‘s plot synopsis: “Eight Mexican directors unite to bring tales of the most brutally terrifying Mexican traditions and legends to vividly shocking life.” According to ScreenCrush, “Eight […]...
- 10/12/2015
- by Marco Margaritoff
- Film-Book
Ahead of its November 3rd DVD and digital release from Dark Sky Films, the horror anthology México Barbaro is teased in a new trailer.
"Eight Mexican directors have united to create a film anthology featuring the most brutally terrifying Mexican traditions and legends, brought to vividly shocking life. MÉXICO Barbaro presents haunting stories that have been woven into the fabric of a nation’s culture, some passed down through the centuries and some new, but all equally frightening. Stories of boogeymen, trolls, ghosts, monsters, Aztec sacrifices, and - of course - the Day of the Dead all come together to create a film that is as original as it is familiar... and as important as it is horrifying.
The directors represented in this anthology film are Jorge Michel Grau (We Are What We Are, The ABCs of Death), Isaac Ezban (upcoming Fantastic Fest award winner The Incident), Laurette Flores, Ulises Guzmán,...
"Eight Mexican directors have united to create a film anthology featuring the most brutally terrifying Mexican traditions and legends, brought to vividly shocking life. MÉXICO Barbaro presents haunting stories that have been woven into the fabric of a nation’s culture, some passed down through the centuries and some new, but all equally frightening. Stories of boogeymen, trolls, ghosts, monsters, Aztec sacrifices, and - of course - the Day of the Dead all come together to create a film that is as original as it is familiar... and as important as it is horrifying.
The directors represented in this anthology film are Jorge Michel Grau (We Are What We Are, The ABCs of Death), Isaac Ezban (upcoming Fantastic Fest award winner The Incident), Laurette Flores, Ulises Guzmán,...
- 10/9/2015
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Dark Sky Films has announced a November 3rd DVD and VOD release for Mexico Barbaro, a horror anthology film comprising eight segments from eight Mexican directors:
New York, NY (September 28, 2015) – Hits like The Devil’s Backbone and Cronos helped put Mexico on the global horror cinema map, and now the new anthology film Mexico Barbaro brings the latest examples of this thriving industry. The film, which gathers eight short films from the country’s leading horror directors, comes to digital download and Dark Sky DVD on November 3, 2015.
Eight Mexican directors unite to create tales of the most brutally terrifying Mexican traditions and legends to vividly shocking life. Mexico Barbaro presents haunting stories that have been woven into the fabric of a nation’s culture, some passed down through the centuries and some new, but all equally frightening. Stories of boogeymen, trolls, ghosts, monsters, Aztec sacrifices and of course the Day of the Dead...
New York, NY (September 28, 2015) – Hits like The Devil’s Backbone and Cronos helped put Mexico on the global horror cinema map, and now the new anthology film Mexico Barbaro brings the latest examples of this thriving industry. The film, which gathers eight short films from the country’s leading horror directors, comes to digital download and Dark Sky DVD on November 3, 2015.
Eight Mexican directors unite to create tales of the most brutally terrifying Mexican traditions and legends to vividly shocking life. Mexico Barbaro presents haunting stories that have been woven into the fabric of a nation’s culture, some passed down through the centuries and some new, but all equally frightening. Stories of boogeymen, trolls, ghosts, monsters, Aztec sacrifices and of course the Day of the Dead...
- 9/28/2015
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Wide Open Spaces: Grau’s Arid English Language Debut Misses the Mark
For his long awaited follow-up to his handsomely unsettling 2010 debut We Are What We Are (since remade in English by Jim Mickle), Mexican filmmaker Jorge Michel Grau turns to the American indie scene for Big Sky. But this desert set survival story trailing one teenager’s attempts to overcome the dastardly adults in pursuit of her is as equally ludicrous as another foreign filmmaker’s recent foray into English, French filmmaker Jean-Baptiste Leonetti’s nonsensical Beyond the Reach. Ill-advised and incongruously shaped at every turn, this technically proficient exercise’s greatest faults could easily be assigned solely to Evan M. Wiener’s woefully underwhelming and inconsistent screenplay. But then that would be too easy since beyond the plumes of beautiful desert landscapes, there’s little else of consequence in this simulated genre performance.
Agoraphobic teen Hazel (Bella Thorne...
For his long awaited follow-up to his handsomely unsettling 2010 debut We Are What We Are (since remade in English by Jim Mickle), Mexican filmmaker Jorge Michel Grau turns to the American indie scene for Big Sky. But this desert set survival story trailing one teenager’s attempts to overcome the dastardly adults in pursuit of her is as equally ludicrous as another foreign filmmaker’s recent foray into English, French filmmaker Jean-Baptiste Leonetti’s nonsensical Beyond the Reach. Ill-advised and incongruously shaped at every turn, this technically proficient exercise’s greatest faults could easily be assigned solely to Evan M. Wiener’s woefully underwhelming and inconsistent screenplay. But then that would be too easy since beyond the plumes of beautiful desert landscapes, there’s little else of consequence in this simulated genre performance.
Agoraphobic teen Hazel (Bella Thorne...
- 8/14/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The grippingly influential decisions people make in emotional and at times rash situations can leave a powerful and lasting effect on their lifestyles. Even when they’re striving to positively change their circumstances, their choices still have the potential to significantly cause irreversible harm to their future, which can ultimately force them to finally reconsider their attitudes and beliefs. That’s certainly the case with the distressed protagonist, Hazel, who’s played by Bella Thorne, in director Jorge Michel Grau’s new thriller, ‘Big Sky.’ The drama, which is set to be released tomorrow in theaters and on VOD, follows the distraught character as she finally realizes that her behavior is holding her back [ Read More ]
The post Interview: Bella Thorne Talks Big Sky (Exclusive) appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Interview: Bella Thorne Talks Big Sky (Exclusive) appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 8/13/2015
- by Karen Benardello
- ShockYa
Like many sophomore features, Jorge Michel Grau's Big Sky suffers a bit by comparison with what came before. That's especially so because Grau debuted with the immensely impressive Somos lo que hay (We Are What We Are), an atmospheric character drama about a Mexican family of cannibals dealing with the death of a beloved parent. In the five years since then, Grau has kept busy directing for television as well as making short films for anthologies such as The ABCs of Death and Mexico Barbaro. Now Grau applies his skills as a director to an English-language script written by Evan M. Wiener. After a brief, foreboding tease, Big Sky introduces insolent teen Hazel (Bella Thorne) and her mother Dee (Kyra Sedgwick). Hazel suffers from a...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 8/13/2015
- Screen Anarchy
Bella Thorne rose to fame as the star of Disney's "Shake It Up," but she's making her entry into the world of "grown-up" films with her role as an agoraphobic teen in the forthcoming thriller "Big Sky" co-starring Kyra Sedwick and Frank Grillo. Here's a synopsis: A teenage girl who suffers a mortal fear of open spaces is enrolled in a high-end treatment facility by her mother (Sedgwick) in the hope that they can find a cure. When the van they are travelling in is suddenly attacked by two masked gunmen, she must confront her biggest fear and fight for her survival. In this HitFix-exclusive clip from the film, directed by "We Are What We Are" helmer Jorge Michel Grau, Thorne's character awakes from a traumatic episode in the home of a (seemingly) friendly couple. How did she get there? Who are they really? I'm not sure if I trust them.
- 7/31/2015
- by Chris Eggertsen
- Hitfix
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...
- 7/22/2015
- by admin
- IONCINEMA.com
Thriller Big Sky Starring Bella Thorne Take Open Spaces into Terror
Directed by Jorge Michel Grau Starring Bella Thorne, Kyra Sedgwick, Frank Grillo, and Aaron Tveit A teenage girl who suffers a mortal fear of open spaces, is enrolled in a high-end treatment facility by her mother in the hope that they can find a cure. When the van they are travelling in is suddenly attacked ...
Hnn | Horrornews.net - Official News Site...
Directed by Jorge Michel Grau Starring Bella Thorne, Kyra Sedgwick, Frank Grillo, and Aaron Tveit A teenage girl who suffers a mortal fear of open spaces, is enrolled in a high-end treatment facility by her mother in the hope that they can find a cure. When the van they are travelling in is suddenly attacked ...
Hnn | Horrornews.net - Official News Site...
- 7/17/2015
- by Horrornews.net
- Horror News
Arrow Video resurrects Jack Hill’s first solo directorial effort, Spider Baby (1967) for lovers of cult oddities. Prior to becoming a lynchpin in the Blaxploitation film movement with his signature Pam Grier titles such as Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974), Hill knocked around as co-director on B-grade horror films, including Roger Corman and Stephanie Rothman projects. Unfortunately, this strange little number didn’t see release for several years due to its producers getting tied up in bankruptcy. Originally titled “Cannibal Orgy,” the theatrical release kept the extended title of Or the Maddest Story Ever Told (several other venues played it under the title The Liver Eaters). Not nearly gritty or violent enough to warrant such provocative monikers, its eventual name remains the most befitting. Featuring horror alum Lon Chaney Jr. and an eerie early role for (an almost unrecognizable) Sid Haig, Hill was obviously inspired at arming popular genre motifs with teeth.
- 6/23/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Dark Sky Films will release México Bárbaro, the eight-director horror anthology focused Mexican legend and folklore, in the U.S. With contributions from Isaac Ezban (The Incident), Laurette Flores Bornn, Jorge Michel Grau (We Are What We Are), Ulises Guzman, Edgar Nitro, Lex Ortega, Gigi Saul Guerrero and Aaron Soto, México Bárbaro “presents to the world stories that form…
The post Dark Sky Films to Release Horror Anthology, México Bárbaro appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
The post Dark Sky Films to Release Horror Anthology, México Bárbaro appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
- 5/19/2015
- by Samuel Zimmerman
- shocktillyoudrop.com
Exclusive: Mpi/Dark Sky Films has picked up Us rights from Raven Banner to the horror anthology.
The film has also sold to King Records in Japan and MovieCloud in Taiwan. Raven Banner will distribute in Canada.
Jorge Michel Grau, Aarón Soto, Edgar Nito, Gigi Saúl Guerrero, Isaac Ezbán, Ulises Guzmán, Laurette Flores and Lex Ortega contribute to México Bárbaro, which explores terrifying Mexican traditions.
The film premiered at Sitges and will play at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.
Raven Banner’s Michael Paszt and James Fler brokered the deal with Greg Newman of Mpi Media Media Group.
”México Bárbaro shows the world stories that form a part of our culture, and even some that have haunted us and made us have nightmares since childhood, those ones which took away our innocence,” said producer Mayra Castro.
“The boogeyman, trolls, ghosts, creatures, Aztec sacrifices, and of course our most beloved tradition, Day Of The Dead, immerse...
The film has also sold to King Records in Japan and MovieCloud in Taiwan. Raven Banner will distribute in Canada.
Jorge Michel Grau, Aarón Soto, Edgar Nito, Gigi Saúl Guerrero, Isaac Ezbán, Ulises Guzmán, Laurette Flores and Lex Ortega contribute to México Bárbaro, which explores terrifying Mexican traditions.
The film premiered at Sitges and will play at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.
Raven Banner’s Michael Paszt and James Fler brokered the deal with Greg Newman of Mpi Media Media Group.
”México Bárbaro shows the world stories that form a part of our culture, and even some that have haunted us and made us have nightmares since childhood, those ones which took away our innocence,” said producer Mayra Castro.
“The boogeyman, trolls, ghosts, creatures, Aztec sacrifices, and of course our most beloved tradition, Day Of The Dead, immerse...
- 5/18/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Los Cabos International Film Festival took place this month of November. It was a brave move to keep it going after Cabo had been so hard hit by Hurricane Odile with winds of 125mph less than a month earlier. The vast destruction in our part of town was quickly being repaired though traces remained visible and repairs still to be done necessitated cutting the normal invitation list by half and doubling up hotel rooms for a few unlucky journalists. That being said, there were 15,000 attending the festival. Volunteers wore the worthy words on their t-shirts: #Unstoppable, and they were that.
For all the infrastructure problems of the city in the midst of rebuilding itself, the festival seemed to thrive with all sorts of invitees showing up from all over the world. It seemed like gala events, panels, master classes, coproduction meetings, works in progress, screenings and interviews were constantly taking place. It was a great team and we all felt part of it.
The festival is overseen by the executive board members Eduardo Sánchez Navarro, Alfonso Pascal Barcenas, Scott Cross and Sean Cross (who also founded Vail Film Festival) and is organized by the festival team of Alonso Aguilar (General Director), Alejandra Paulin (General Coordinator) - who was a great market director in Guadajalara before coming here, Maru Garzon (Head of Programming), Ana Molinar Trujillo (Communication Manager), and Monica Herrera (Film Programmer). My friend from Guadalajara, normally an English teacher, Fabian Cruz was also there working for the festival.
When Eduardo Sánchez Navarro Redo remembers how he first came to Los Cabos, there is no doubt in his mind that destiny and luck played an important part. When he married his wife 30 years ago, he decided to travel along the entire Pacific Coast, from Acapulco to Mazatlan, where he crossed over to La Paz eventually driving to Los Cabos. The beauty of the area impressed him and it was during this trip that he and his wife decided to buy a vacation home in Los Cabos, thus beginning a distinguished career as a principal player and developer of what is Los Cabos today. Over the course of more than 20 years, his company, Grupo Questro, has emerged as one of the most highly respected developers in all of Mexico. He, together with Juan Gallardo Thurlow, Scott Cross, and Sean Cross, founded the festival in 2012.
My job as a journalist was to explore and write, hard to do when you are having such fun 24/7. We journalists were all in one hotel where we were given space and time to bond. Travel writers mixed with trade writers: from Film Journal David Noh, whose article is worth sharing here, my colleagues Peter Rainer from NPR and Christian Science Monitor, Anne Thompson from Thompson on Hollywood on Indiewire, Godfrey Cheshire of RogerEbert.com and many others met and mixed. Also Ira Deutchman of Colombia University Film School and Emerging Pictures and Robin Brock of Creative Coalition were there with time to share dinners.
The filmmakers, in another hotel, mixed by day and at the communal lunches and parties. I will write more on them in an upcoming blog! After all, filmmakers are the backbone of our industry. Without them, we have nothing!
The agents, mostly from CAA, were placed in another hotel, luxurious and far away. As someone said, Cabos is like Cannes, only in November. If so, perhaps they were at the Eden Roc in Cap d’Antibes. (Actually they were at Hacienda Beach Club & Residences) CAA has always been an honored part of this festival. I have heard that that is because someone with lots of money from Mexico invests it in cinema through CAA and even started the festival. That is, however, pure conjecture. Under the guidance of CAA agent, Micah Green, people can be assured that the directions he sees and the decisions he makes about investing private individuals' capital into filmed entertainment is priceless. I could think of no one I would trust more --in this untrustworthy business we are in-- than Micah.
At least two other agents – Bec Smith and Rena Ronson from UTA -- were also there. Rena and Micah were on the Film Financing Panel moderated by Variety’s expert in all things Iberoamerican and my idol, John Hopewell. Other participants on the Film Finance Panel were Jonathan King, Evp of Production at Jeff Skoll’s Participant Media whose partnership with Canana formed Participant PanAmerican production fund. “No” by Pablo Lorrain was their first investment. Pp also financed "El Ardor" which played in Cannes and “Cesar Chavez”, directed by Diego Luna. Also on the panel were Mark Musselman of Canada’s 10X2yinc, the exec producer of “Eastern Promises” and most recently of “Remember” by Atom Egoyan which was also produced by Robert Lantos and son, also in Los Cabos. It went into production in 2014 and is tipped for Cannes. Other panelists included Raul Del Alto of Mexico’s Ag Studios (Itaca Films Mexico, Itaca Films USA, Itaca Films Colombia and Itaca Filkms Brazil, and Rena Ronson of UTA who, like Micah Green of CAA focuses on global film finance, distribution and marketing strategies for Independents and co-financed features and is fluent in Spanish because of her long time experience with Latin America.
At one point I looked up and found the European fund chiefs there as well, Laufey Gudjonsdottir from Iceland (where Interstellar was filmed), Katriel Schory from Israel Film Fund and Edith Sepp-Dallas from the Estonian Film Institute. They were there for Bpx. Best Practice Exchange is an initiative that brings together the leaders of film funding agencies from across the world to take part in high-level-workshops – one or two each year – designed to promote new standards of excellence in the provision of public funding for the support of film production, development and distribution. The aim of Bpx is to ensure that policies and procedures adopted by film funding agencies will act together, positively and proactively, to stimulate and sustain practices of international coproduction and cofinancing worldwide.
Triggered by the situation in which filmmaking outside the main production centers of Hollywood and Bollywood now finds itself, Bpx was created by Simon Perry, president of Ace (Ateliers du Cinéma Européen), in collaboration with Katriel Schory, executive director of the Israel Film Fund. It held its first workshop in February 2013 in Israel, and two further workshops in Toronto (September 2013) and Berlin (February 2014) and this was the third! Bravo!
Among the Mexican, Canadian and U.S. films that showed, the winners were as follow:
Mexico First
Mexico First winning film was ¨Llevate mis amores” ("All of Me") by Arturo Gonzalez. The film narrates the story of the generosity of the women of Las Patronas who feed the immigrants who ride La Bestia. The director was awarded a cash Prize of Usd $15,000. This film made me cry. I thought of it again when reading the L.A. Times article about the murder of Adrian Rodriguez and his assistant, Mexican good Samaritans who dedicated their scarce resources to feeding Central American migrants passing by on La Bestia, which is what the women in this movie do. And one of the women was at the festival too.
Los Cabos Competition
The Los Cabos Competition winner was “Güeros” by Alonso Ruizpalacios, also a winner at the Berlinale, Jerusalem Film Festival, Tribeca, Toronto and San Sebastian. Being sold internationally by Mundial, the joint venture of Canana (again!) and Im Global, the film has sold to Kino Lorber for U.S., Cannibal for Mexico, Dreams Hill for Italy, Noori for So. Korea and Maison Motion for Taiwan … "Güeros" is the undeniable triumph of a nouveau director who dares to pay homage the French New Wave on a wild detective hunt through Mexico City. In light of the 43 murdered students, this film, about students on strike, strikes a chord within the watcher. The film´s producer won a Usd $15,000 cash prize.
Work In Progress Mexico
The second Work in Progress Mexico prize was awarded to "Los Herederos," by Jorge Hernandez, a film that describes adolescent effervescence and idleness through a group of friends who spend their vacations adrenaline-seeking through parties, sex and alcohol. The winner received a Usd $10,000 cash prize.
Mexico-usa-canada Co-production Forum
The winner of the first Mexico- USA- Canada Co-production Forum was also announced: "Afronauts" by Frances Bodomo, based on the real life story of the Academia Nacional de Ciencias, Investigación Espacial e Investigación Astronómica of Zambia. Writer- Director Frances Bodomo received a Usd $8,000 cash prize. It also received funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Mexico First: Fox +
In its second year running the México Primero: Fox+ chose one of the films that participated to have its distribution rights pre-bought for the Latin American and Caribbean (Except Brazil) markets. The México Primero: Fox+ prize consists of Usd $40,000 and was awarded to Isaac Ezban´s "El Incidente" ("The Incident"), two M.C. Escher-maze-like parallel stories about characters trapped in illogical endless spaces: two brothers and a detective locked on an infinite staircase, and a family locked on an infinite road… for a very long time. The international sales agent, Shoreline, will be showing the film at Ventana Sur December 3rd at 17:00 at Cinemark 3.
Work In Progress Mexico Fox +
In its second year running as well, Work in Progress México Fox+ selected a participating film to have its distribution rights pre-bought for the Latin American and Caribbean (Except Brazil) markets. The Usd $30,000 prize was awarded to Katina Medina Mora’s "Sabras que hacer conmigo" aka "En Contraluz", produced by Gerardo Gatica and Alberto Muffelmann.
Work In Progress Mexico Chemistry
This Third edition of the Festival also witnessed the first Work In Progress México –Chemistry award. Chemistry post-production studios granted the winner, Jorge Hernandez’s "Los Herederos", $45,000 Usd in color correction services.
Mexico – USA – Canada Splendor Omnia Mantarraya Co-production Forum
On its first year running, the Coproduction Forum Mexico- USA- Canada Splendor Omnia – MANTArraya will be granting a $30,000 Usd equivalent prize worth 40 hours of color correction, 40 hours of sound mixing, as well as a paid stay in Tepoztlan Morelos, site of their studios, to the winner "Afronauts" by Francez Bodomo (U.S.).
The key phrase to understanding Cabo is "Seeing what the neighbors do" as the festival and market connects Canada, U,S, and Mexico in showing of films and exploring coproduction. And the mixing of filmmakers and journalists from all three Americas was exciting in the possibilities it offered to everyone.
As for the hard-core business done there:
Mark Kassen will be directing "Criminal Empire for Dummies" written by Cliff Dorman. Kassen will also be producing the film along with James Gibb of Cutting Edge Group and Greg Hajdarowicz of Gremi Films. The deal took place at the exclusive resort Hacienda Beach Club & Residences and was reported by Variety.
Actor and producer Luis Gerardo Mendez ("Nosotros Los Nobles") signed a representation agreement with Paradigm. Reported by Variety. So I guess Paradigm also sent agents to Los Cabos.
Pat Saperstein of Variety also attended Los Cabos and scooped a story, that “Wolverine Hotel” from director Patricia Chica who was participating in the Coproduction Forum, is closing in on production with a "recent financing commitment from Jean-Guy Després, who will serve as exec producer. The edgy crime thriller is produced by Canada-based Byron Martin. Looking to cast a Latino actor as co-star, Chica met with rising Mexican thesp Luis Gerardo Mendez ('We Are the Nobles') during Afm though he has not yet been attached. 'A Latino star opens up a market', said Martin."
Celebrated producer Monica Lozano announced the launch of Alebrije Distribución. She has had her hand in 23 productions since her first film, "Amores Perros". "Instructions Not Included" the Us$ 5.5 million film that grossed Us$ 100 million worldwide was also her production. With this Pan-American initiative, the company will acquire distribution rights for the Latin and North American markets. Reported by Variety again!! You would think John was the only real reporter there. Pinske should be proud of him! Most of us got no scoops, but then, I guess we have to prove ourselves worthy - which I am not because at heart, I am not a reporter hunting for news, but rather a gatherer of information and a writer.
Speaking of Monica Lozano, the Germany-based international sales agent, Media Luna, acquired world rights to Internet Junkie, directed by Alexander Katzowicz and produced by Monica Lozano. Variety reports on this again!
"Yamaha 300", a participating project of the 1st Mexico – USA- Canada Coproduction Forum, produced by Valerium Arts (Mayra Espinosa y Jorge Michel Grau, producer and writer-director of the horror hit "Somos lo que hay" respectively, and Grau, the writer of the remake "We Are What We Are") and Uncorked Productions (Andrew Corkin, the producer of the horror film "What We Were"), will be one of the first projects to receive the development stage and postproduction support offered by The Good Film Fund, an initiative of Media Darling (Amy Darling) and The Chatanooga Film Festival. See Variety.
New York producer Dodgeville Films ("To Be Takei") will be joining Varios Lobos in Mexico to produce "Ya no estoy aquí", Fernando Frias’s second film, which was also a winner during Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund second edition. This film in the Coproduction Forum was reported on in Variety.
"Siete Horas" ("Seven Hours"), one of the winning projects of the second Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund edition, which will be directed by Chema Rodriguez and produced by Francisco Vargas, the renowned director of the film "El violin", made an alliance with the Spanish production companies Sin un Duro and Noodles Prods to co-produce the project. (Variety)
CineTren closed deals to handle Latin American distribution for Spring, a Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead film, whose Latin American Premiere was held at Los Cabos International Film Festival. Negotiations between Nate Bolotin and Marie Katz fromLos Angeles-based Xyz and Manuel Garcia from CineTren, took place at the Hotel Grand Solmar. Next time, I'll have to visit all the hotels!! See Variety article.
BH5 Group, which participates in the executive production of "Remember" by Atom Egoyan, will be working with Alonso Ruizpalacios, director of Güeros, in his second movie: Museo, a project that participated in the Ist Mexico- USA- Canada Co-production Forum. Even though Variety wrote about this, my blog on the three year old conglomerate of companies, BH5, was more complete:
BH5 Group Makes a Splash with Three Impressive Films at Los Cabos Int'l Film Fest
BH5, a conglomerate of five formerly independent production companies all run by various friends from the same film school, will be working the international markets much more. Besides the Toronto hit, Jodorowsky's "Dance of Reality", they are working with larger companies like Pathe now. Their work in progress, "You Will Know What To Do With Me" ("Sabras que hacer conmigo" aka "En Contraluz") which just won the The Usd $30,000 prize of Fox+, is seeking an international sales agent.
"Entrevero" by Max Zunino, also winner of the Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund second edition, was selected in the development project category by Ibermedia. See Variety.
And though Colombian Ciro Guerra, whose "The Wind Journeys" was produced by our German friends Roman Paul and Gerhard Meixner at Razor Film Production and by Burning Blue's prolific Diana Bustamente -- who is now also heading the Carthagena Film Festival -- showed in 2009 Cannes Un Certain Regard and was sold by Paris’ Elle Driver to 19 countries including Film Movement for U.S., announced to Variety's John Hopewell that his next film, "Embrace of the Serpent" will star U.S. actor Brionne Davis (“Savaged”) and Belgium’s Jan Bijvoet, the lead in Cannes Competition entry “Borgman” a really creepy dark comedy, he did not discuss his next project "Taganga" in the Coproduction Forum. "Taganga" is about a fisherman from a small village by the Colombian coast where many foreign-owned scuba diving centers have been established. A new law requiring local fisherman to change the motors of their boats forces him to earn quick money, so he chooses to dynamite to fish. The owner of the largest scuba diving center opposes this use of explosives. When the fisherman receives a death threat if he continues the dynamiting of fish, he assumes the center's owner is behind the threat. In order to prove it, he begins a series of fateful actions.
Finally, while it seems like Variety wrote all the news, I have one item which no one has reported on. Reese Witherspoon stated at her press conference in Los Cabos, where her film "Wild" premiered in a red carpet gala, that she is talking to Eugenio Derbez ("Instructions Not Included") to make a movie with him. I heard her say it and later spoke of this to Ben Odell (my next blog on Los Cabos features him). Ben (now partners with Eugenio at 3Pas Studios) said, Actually that would be a great idea but they had not spoken about it. However, they are both represented by CAA, so it would seem like a natural and really exciting pairing. After all, aren't "Legally Blond" and "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" the same film? She is certainly on a role as a producer with "Wild" and David Fincher's "Gone Girl" as he is with his U.S. career. The studios are all courting her now, she said. More to come on this...
For all the infrastructure problems of the city in the midst of rebuilding itself, the festival seemed to thrive with all sorts of invitees showing up from all over the world. It seemed like gala events, panels, master classes, coproduction meetings, works in progress, screenings and interviews were constantly taking place. It was a great team and we all felt part of it.
The festival is overseen by the executive board members Eduardo Sánchez Navarro, Alfonso Pascal Barcenas, Scott Cross and Sean Cross (who also founded Vail Film Festival) and is organized by the festival team of Alonso Aguilar (General Director), Alejandra Paulin (General Coordinator) - who was a great market director in Guadajalara before coming here, Maru Garzon (Head of Programming), Ana Molinar Trujillo (Communication Manager), and Monica Herrera (Film Programmer). My friend from Guadalajara, normally an English teacher, Fabian Cruz was also there working for the festival.
When Eduardo Sánchez Navarro Redo remembers how he first came to Los Cabos, there is no doubt in his mind that destiny and luck played an important part. When he married his wife 30 years ago, he decided to travel along the entire Pacific Coast, from Acapulco to Mazatlan, where he crossed over to La Paz eventually driving to Los Cabos. The beauty of the area impressed him and it was during this trip that he and his wife decided to buy a vacation home in Los Cabos, thus beginning a distinguished career as a principal player and developer of what is Los Cabos today. Over the course of more than 20 years, his company, Grupo Questro, has emerged as one of the most highly respected developers in all of Mexico. He, together with Juan Gallardo Thurlow, Scott Cross, and Sean Cross, founded the festival in 2012.
My job as a journalist was to explore and write, hard to do when you are having such fun 24/7. We journalists were all in one hotel where we were given space and time to bond. Travel writers mixed with trade writers: from Film Journal David Noh, whose article is worth sharing here, my colleagues Peter Rainer from NPR and Christian Science Monitor, Anne Thompson from Thompson on Hollywood on Indiewire, Godfrey Cheshire of RogerEbert.com and many others met and mixed. Also Ira Deutchman of Colombia University Film School and Emerging Pictures and Robin Brock of Creative Coalition were there with time to share dinners.
The filmmakers, in another hotel, mixed by day and at the communal lunches and parties. I will write more on them in an upcoming blog! After all, filmmakers are the backbone of our industry. Without them, we have nothing!
The agents, mostly from CAA, were placed in another hotel, luxurious and far away. As someone said, Cabos is like Cannes, only in November. If so, perhaps they were at the Eden Roc in Cap d’Antibes. (Actually they were at Hacienda Beach Club & Residences) CAA has always been an honored part of this festival. I have heard that that is because someone with lots of money from Mexico invests it in cinema through CAA and even started the festival. That is, however, pure conjecture. Under the guidance of CAA agent, Micah Green, people can be assured that the directions he sees and the decisions he makes about investing private individuals' capital into filmed entertainment is priceless. I could think of no one I would trust more --in this untrustworthy business we are in-- than Micah.
At least two other agents – Bec Smith and Rena Ronson from UTA -- were also there. Rena and Micah were on the Film Financing Panel moderated by Variety’s expert in all things Iberoamerican and my idol, John Hopewell. Other participants on the Film Finance Panel were Jonathan King, Evp of Production at Jeff Skoll’s Participant Media whose partnership with Canana formed Participant PanAmerican production fund. “No” by Pablo Lorrain was their first investment. Pp also financed "El Ardor" which played in Cannes and “Cesar Chavez”, directed by Diego Luna. Also on the panel were Mark Musselman of Canada’s 10X2yinc, the exec producer of “Eastern Promises” and most recently of “Remember” by Atom Egoyan which was also produced by Robert Lantos and son, also in Los Cabos. It went into production in 2014 and is tipped for Cannes. Other panelists included Raul Del Alto of Mexico’s Ag Studios (Itaca Films Mexico, Itaca Films USA, Itaca Films Colombia and Itaca Filkms Brazil, and Rena Ronson of UTA who, like Micah Green of CAA focuses on global film finance, distribution and marketing strategies for Independents and co-financed features and is fluent in Spanish because of her long time experience with Latin America.
At one point I looked up and found the European fund chiefs there as well, Laufey Gudjonsdottir from Iceland (where Interstellar was filmed), Katriel Schory from Israel Film Fund and Edith Sepp-Dallas from the Estonian Film Institute. They were there for Bpx. Best Practice Exchange is an initiative that brings together the leaders of film funding agencies from across the world to take part in high-level-workshops – one or two each year – designed to promote new standards of excellence in the provision of public funding for the support of film production, development and distribution. The aim of Bpx is to ensure that policies and procedures adopted by film funding agencies will act together, positively and proactively, to stimulate and sustain practices of international coproduction and cofinancing worldwide.
Triggered by the situation in which filmmaking outside the main production centers of Hollywood and Bollywood now finds itself, Bpx was created by Simon Perry, president of Ace (Ateliers du Cinéma Européen), in collaboration with Katriel Schory, executive director of the Israel Film Fund. It held its first workshop in February 2013 in Israel, and two further workshops in Toronto (September 2013) and Berlin (February 2014) and this was the third! Bravo!
Among the Mexican, Canadian and U.S. films that showed, the winners were as follow:
Mexico First
Mexico First winning film was ¨Llevate mis amores” ("All of Me") by Arturo Gonzalez. The film narrates the story of the generosity of the women of Las Patronas who feed the immigrants who ride La Bestia. The director was awarded a cash Prize of Usd $15,000. This film made me cry. I thought of it again when reading the L.A. Times article about the murder of Adrian Rodriguez and his assistant, Mexican good Samaritans who dedicated their scarce resources to feeding Central American migrants passing by on La Bestia, which is what the women in this movie do. And one of the women was at the festival too.
Los Cabos Competition
The Los Cabos Competition winner was “Güeros” by Alonso Ruizpalacios, also a winner at the Berlinale, Jerusalem Film Festival, Tribeca, Toronto and San Sebastian. Being sold internationally by Mundial, the joint venture of Canana (again!) and Im Global, the film has sold to Kino Lorber for U.S., Cannibal for Mexico, Dreams Hill for Italy, Noori for So. Korea and Maison Motion for Taiwan … "Güeros" is the undeniable triumph of a nouveau director who dares to pay homage the French New Wave on a wild detective hunt through Mexico City. In light of the 43 murdered students, this film, about students on strike, strikes a chord within the watcher. The film´s producer won a Usd $15,000 cash prize.
Work In Progress Mexico
The second Work in Progress Mexico prize was awarded to "Los Herederos," by Jorge Hernandez, a film that describes adolescent effervescence and idleness through a group of friends who spend their vacations adrenaline-seeking through parties, sex and alcohol. The winner received a Usd $10,000 cash prize.
Mexico-usa-canada Co-production Forum
The winner of the first Mexico- USA- Canada Co-production Forum was also announced: "Afronauts" by Frances Bodomo, based on the real life story of the Academia Nacional de Ciencias, Investigación Espacial e Investigación Astronómica of Zambia. Writer- Director Frances Bodomo received a Usd $8,000 cash prize. It also received funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Mexico First: Fox +
In its second year running the México Primero: Fox+ chose one of the films that participated to have its distribution rights pre-bought for the Latin American and Caribbean (Except Brazil) markets. The México Primero: Fox+ prize consists of Usd $40,000 and was awarded to Isaac Ezban´s "El Incidente" ("The Incident"), two M.C. Escher-maze-like parallel stories about characters trapped in illogical endless spaces: two brothers and a detective locked on an infinite staircase, and a family locked on an infinite road… for a very long time. The international sales agent, Shoreline, will be showing the film at Ventana Sur December 3rd at 17:00 at Cinemark 3.
Work In Progress Mexico Fox +
In its second year running as well, Work in Progress México Fox+ selected a participating film to have its distribution rights pre-bought for the Latin American and Caribbean (Except Brazil) markets. The Usd $30,000 prize was awarded to Katina Medina Mora’s "Sabras que hacer conmigo" aka "En Contraluz", produced by Gerardo Gatica and Alberto Muffelmann.
Work In Progress Mexico Chemistry
This Third edition of the Festival also witnessed the first Work In Progress México –Chemistry award. Chemistry post-production studios granted the winner, Jorge Hernandez’s "Los Herederos", $45,000 Usd in color correction services.
Mexico – USA – Canada Splendor Omnia Mantarraya Co-production Forum
On its first year running, the Coproduction Forum Mexico- USA- Canada Splendor Omnia – MANTArraya will be granting a $30,000 Usd equivalent prize worth 40 hours of color correction, 40 hours of sound mixing, as well as a paid stay in Tepoztlan Morelos, site of their studios, to the winner "Afronauts" by Francez Bodomo (U.S.).
The key phrase to understanding Cabo is "Seeing what the neighbors do" as the festival and market connects Canada, U,S, and Mexico in showing of films and exploring coproduction. And the mixing of filmmakers and journalists from all three Americas was exciting in the possibilities it offered to everyone.
As for the hard-core business done there:
Mark Kassen will be directing "Criminal Empire for Dummies" written by Cliff Dorman. Kassen will also be producing the film along with James Gibb of Cutting Edge Group and Greg Hajdarowicz of Gremi Films. The deal took place at the exclusive resort Hacienda Beach Club & Residences and was reported by Variety.
Actor and producer Luis Gerardo Mendez ("Nosotros Los Nobles") signed a representation agreement with Paradigm. Reported by Variety. So I guess Paradigm also sent agents to Los Cabos.
Pat Saperstein of Variety also attended Los Cabos and scooped a story, that “Wolverine Hotel” from director Patricia Chica who was participating in the Coproduction Forum, is closing in on production with a "recent financing commitment from Jean-Guy Després, who will serve as exec producer. The edgy crime thriller is produced by Canada-based Byron Martin. Looking to cast a Latino actor as co-star, Chica met with rising Mexican thesp Luis Gerardo Mendez ('We Are the Nobles') during Afm though he has not yet been attached. 'A Latino star opens up a market', said Martin."
Celebrated producer Monica Lozano announced the launch of Alebrije Distribución. She has had her hand in 23 productions since her first film, "Amores Perros". "Instructions Not Included" the Us$ 5.5 million film that grossed Us$ 100 million worldwide was also her production. With this Pan-American initiative, the company will acquire distribution rights for the Latin and North American markets. Reported by Variety again!! You would think John was the only real reporter there. Pinske should be proud of him! Most of us got no scoops, but then, I guess we have to prove ourselves worthy - which I am not because at heart, I am not a reporter hunting for news, but rather a gatherer of information and a writer.
Speaking of Monica Lozano, the Germany-based international sales agent, Media Luna, acquired world rights to Internet Junkie, directed by Alexander Katzowicz and produced by Monica Lozano. Variety reports on this again!
"Yamaha 300", a participating project of the 1st Mexico – USA- Canada Coproduction Forum, produced by Valerium Arts (Mayra Espinosa y Jorge Michel Grau, producer and writer-director of the horror hit "Somos lo que hay" respectively, and Grau, the writer of the remake "We Are What We Are") and Uncorked Productions (Andrew Corkin, the producer of the horror film "What We Were"), will be one of the first projects to receive the development stage and postproduction support offered by The Good Film Fund, an initiative of Media Darling (Amy Darling) and The Chatanooga Film Festival. See Variety.
New York producer Dodgeville Films ("To Be Takei") will be joining Varios Lobos in Mexico to produce "Ya no estoy aquí", Fernando Frias’s second film, which was also a winner during Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund second edition. This film in the Coproduction Forum was reported on in Variety.
"Siete Horas" ("Seven Hours"), one of the winning projects of the second Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund edition, which will be directed by Chema Rodriguez and produced by Francisco Vargas, the renowned director of the film "El violin", made an alliance with the Spanish production companies Sin un Duro and Noodles Prods to co-produce the project. (Variety)
CineTren closed deals to handle Latin American distribution for Spring, a Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead film, whose Latin American Premiere was held at Los Cabos International Film Festival. Negotiations between Nate Bolotin and Marie Katz fromLos Angeles-based Xyz and Manuel Garcia from CineTren, took place at the Hotel Grand Solmar. Next time, I'll have to visit all the hotels!! See Variety article.
BH5 Group, which participates in the executive production of "Remember" by Atom Egoyan, will be working with Alonso Ruizpalacios, director of Güeros, in his second movie: Museo, a project that participated in the Ist Mexico- USA- Canada Co-production Forum. Even though Variety wrote about this, my blog on the three year old conglomerate of companies, BH5, was more complete:
BH5 Group Makes a Splash with Three Impressive Films at Los Cabos Int'l Film Fest
BH5, a conglomerate of five formerly independent production companies all run by various friends from the same film school, will be working the international markets much more. Besides the Toronto hit, Jodorowsky's "Dance of Reality", they are working with larger companies like Pathe now. Their work in progress, "You Will Know What To Do With Me" ("Sabras que hacer conmigo" aka "En Contraluz") which just won the The Usd $30,000 prize of Fox+, is seeking an international sales agent.
"Entrevero" by Max Zunino, also winner of the Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund second edition, was selected in the development project category by Ibermedia. See Variety.
And though Colombian Ciro Guerra, whose "The Wind Journeys" was produced by our German friends Roman Paul and Gerhard Meixner at Razor Film Production and by Burning Blue's prolific Diana Bustamente -- who is now also heading the Carthagena Film Festival -- showed in 2009 Cannes Un Certain Regard and was sold by Paris’ Elle Driver to 19 countries including Film Movement for U.S., announced to Variety's John Hopewell that his next film, "Embrace of the Serpent" will star U.S. actor Brionne Davis (“Savaged”) and Belgium’s Jan Bijvoet, the lead in Cannes Competition entry “Borgman” a really creepy dark comedy, he did not discuss his next project "Taganga" in the Coproduction Forum. "Taganga" is about a fisherman from a small village by the Colombian coast where many foreign-owned scuba diving centers have been established. A new law requiring local fisherman to change the motors of their boats forces him to earn quick money, so he chooses to dynamite to fish. The owner of the largest scuba diving center opposes this use of explosives. When the fisherman receives a death threat if he continues the dynamiting of fish, he assumes the center's owner is behind the threat. In order to prove it, he begins a series of fateful actions.
Finally, while it seems like Variety wrote all the news, I have one item which no one has reported on. Reese Witherspoon stated at her press conference in Los Cabos, where her film "Wild" premiered in a red carpet gala, that she is talking to Eugenio Derbez ("Instructions Not Included") to make a movie with him. I heard her say it and later spoke of this to Ben Odell (my next blog on Los Cabos features him). Ben (now partners with Eugenio at 3Pas Studios) said, Actually that would be a great idea but they had not spoken about it. However, they are both represented by CAA, so it would seem like a natural and really exciting pairing. After all, aren't "Legally Blond" and "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" the same film? She is certainly on a role as a producer with "Wild" and David Fincher's "Gone Girl" as he is with his U.S. career. The studios are all courting her now, she said. More to come on this...
- 12/1/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Ioncinema has begun rolling out its predictions for the Sundance 2015 lineup, offering updates on over three dozen projects (so far) by the likes of Athina Rachel Tsangari, Bob Byington, Cary Fukunaga, Dees Rees, Jorge Michel Grau, James Ponsoldt, Joe Swanberg, Rick Alverson and Jonás Cuarón. Meantime, James Schamus will make his feature directorial debut with an adaptation of Philip Roth's 2008 novel Indignation. Christian Petzold's working on a crime thriller for Bavarian television. David O. Russell is looking to work with Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro again. And we have more new of projects in the works. » - David Hudson...
- 11/12/2014
- Keyframe
Ioncinema has begun rolling out its predictions for the Sundance 2015 lineup, offering updates on over three dozen projects (so far) by the likes of Athina Rachel Tsangari, Bob Byington, Cary Fukunaga, Dees Rees, Jorge Michel Grau, James Ponsoldt, Joe Swanberg, Rick Alverson and Jonás Cuarón. Meantime, James Schamus will make his feature directorial debut with an adaptation of Philip Roth's 2008 novel Indignation. Christian Petzold's working on a crime thriller for Bavarian television. David O. Russell is looking to work with Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro again. And we have more new of projects in the works. » - David Hudson...
- 11/12/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
Feeding our curiosity for what a major transgressive adonis in future literary world might look like in the pre stench of cigarettes and booze era, I’m imagining something akin to Kill Your Darlings in term of look and feel, and a perfect drinking partner to Bent Hamer’s Factotum. Quite frankly it’s got everything you’d want in a Park City indie biopic – hence why I originally circled Bukowski as a possible 2014 Sundance selection. Little did I know that production would be tied up in legal troubles. The good news is, as of last month, whatever woes existed between right holders of “Ham on Rye” and this project have been resolved. Moving forward, we can expect to see a transformative performance from Josh Peck and peak into the man behind the method, and the madness. Shannen Doherty, Alex Kingston, Keegan Allen (see set pic above) and Tim Blake Nelson support the titular player.
- 11/11/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
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