Strong female coming-of-age stories, two LGBTQ submissions and a smattering of unique, autobiographical features from around the world were among this year’s pitches given by the 12 participants of the Cinéfondation Residence.
And although the Cannes Festival’s international talent-finding initiative pitched to a virtual audience this year, the participants of the Residence’s 39th and 40th cohorts still packed a punch.
Strong submissions included Raven Johnson’s “Ruby: Portrait of a Black Girl Living in the Suburbs” which follows a West African immigrant family living in the predominantly white suburbs in the American Midwest. The loud and colorful Minnesota-set drama shifts between three teen siblings. While it celebrates the experiences and explores the pressures facing Black teens, Johnson claimed that people all over the world would relate to the universality of the characters. With the aim to go into production next summer, the writer/director is currently working on...
And although the Cannes Festival’s international talent-finding initiative pitched to a virtual audience this year, the participants of the Residence’s 39th and 40th cohorts still packed a punch.
Strong submissions included Raven Johnson’s “Ruby: Portrait of a Black Girl Living in the Suburbs” which follows a West African immigrant family living in the predominantly white suburbs in the American Midwest. The loud and colorful Minnesota-set drama shifts between three teen siblings. While it celebrates the experiences and explores the pressures facing Black teens, Johnson claimed that people all over the world would relate to the universality of the characters. With the aim to go into production next summer, the writer/director is currently working on...
- 6/25/2020
- by Ann-Marie Corvin
- Variety Film + TV
Earlier in the week, we finally learned which films would be selected by all of the countries in search of Academy Award love in Best International Feature. Not only did we get the answers to some questions regarding what each nation would pick, but we found that a record breaking 93 submissions have been made here in 2019. It’s truly the largest slate ever for voters to sift through. Talk about a good problem to have! Below you can see all of the titles in competition for the Best International Feature Oscar. Right now, only Parasite from South Korea and Pain and Glory from Spain seem like safe bets, with the former almost assured of winning the Academy Award. Aside from them? Anything goes in this category, which has potential nominees like Atlantics from Senegal, Beanpole from Russia, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind from the United Kingdom, The Chambermaid from Mexico,...
- 10/12/2019
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
A record 93 countries submitted entries in the International Feature Film race at the 2020 Oscars. That is up by six from last year,when the category was still called Best Foreign-Language Film, and eclipses the record 92 submissions in 2018. The nations represented ranged from A (Albania) to V (Vietnam). Predicting the eventual five Oscar nominees is made difficult by the two-step process.
First, the several hundred academy members of the Foreign-Language Film screening committee are required to watch a number of the submissions (upwards of a dozen) over a two-month period that ends in mid December. They will rate them from 6 to 10 and their top six vote-getters make it to the next round, as will three films added by the 20 members of the executive committee.
Those nine semi-finalists will be screened three per day beginning in early January by select committee members in Gotham, Hollywood, London and San Francisco. These 40 folks will...
First, the several hundred academy members of the Foreign-Language Film screening committee are required to watch a number of the submissions (upwards of a dozen) over a two-month period that ends in mid December. They will rate them from 6 to 10 and their top six vote-getters make it to the next round, as will three films added by the 20 members of the executive committee.
Those nine semi-finalists will be screened three per day beginning in early January by select committee members in Gotham, Hollywood, London and San Francisco. These 40 folks will...
- 10/7/2019
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
Expanded shortlist of 10 films to be announced on December 16.
The Academy on Monday (7) confirmed that 93 countries have submitted films for consideration in the international feature film category for the 92nd Academy Awards.
Ghana, Nigeria and Uzbekistan are first-time entrants with Kwabena Gyansah’s Azali, Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart, and Umid Khamdamov’s Hot Bread, respectively.
Earlier this year, the Academy board voted to rename the category formerly known as foreign language film, and expand the shortlist from nine to 10 films.
The shortlist will be announced on December 16. Nominations for the 92nd Oscars will be unveiled on January 13, 2020, and the Oscars...
The Academy on Monday (7) confirmed that 93 countries have submitted films for consideration in the international feature film category for the 92nd Academy Awards.
Ghana, Nigeria and Uzbekistan are first-time entrants with Kwabena Gyansah’s Azali, Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart, and Umid Khamdamov’s Hot Bread, respectively.
Earlier this year, the Academy board voted to rename the category formerly known as foreign language film, and expand the shortlist from nine to 10 films.
The shortlist will be announced on December 16. Nominations for the 92nd Oscars will be unveiled on January 13, 2020, and the Oscars...
- 10/7/2019
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
A record-breaking total of 93 countries have submitted entries to be considered for best international film nominations at the Academy Awards.
The Academy announced the full list of eligible films and countries on Monday. Ghana, Nigeria and Uzbekisztan are competing for the first time in the category, which was previously known as the best foreign-language film category.
The previous high for submissions was 92 in 2017. A total of 87 films were submitted last year. Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” won the category this year, becoming the first Mexican entry to win the award.
High-profile entries include South Korea’s “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho’s black comedy which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival; Spain’s “Pain and Glory” from Pedro Almodovar with Antonio Banderas starring as a film director; Japan’s “Weathering With You,” the country’s first animated entry since “Princess Mononoke”; Senegal’s “Atlantics” from director Mati Diop,...
The Academy announced the full list of eligible films and countries on Monday. Ghana, Nigeria and Uzbekisztan are competing for the first time in the category, which was previously known as the best foreign-language film category.
The previous high for submissions was 92 in 2017. A total of 87 films were submitted last year. Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” won the category this year, becoming the first Mexican entry to win the award.
High-profile entries include South Korea’s “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho’s black comedy which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival; Spain’s “Pain and Glory” from Pedro Almodovar with Antonio Banderas starring as a film director; Japan’s “Weathering With You,” the country’s first animated entry since “Princess Mononoke”; Senegal’s “Atlantics” from director Mati Diop,...
- 10/7/2019
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
The 2020 foreign-language Oscar nominees will come from submissions from 93 countries, up from last year’s 87, and breaking the record 92 from 2017. A contender for the renamed Best International Feature must be a feature-length motion picture (more than 40 minutes) produced outside the United States with a predominantly non-English dialogue track.
Ghana, Nigeria, and Uzbekistan are first-time entrants, but Uganda did not qualify. China (Yu Yang’s “Ne Zha”) and Senegal (Mati Diop’s “Atlantics”) submitted their films under the wire on the deadline of October 1.
Earlier this year, the Academy’s Board of Governors voted not only to rename the Foreign Language Film category, but to expand the shortlist from nine films to 10.
The 2019 submissions, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:
Albania, “The Delegation,” Bujar Alimani, director;
Algeria, “Papicha,” Mounia Meddour, director;
Argentina, “Heroic Losers,” Sebastián Borensztein, director;
Armenia, “Lengthy Night,” Edgar Baghdasaryan, director;
Australia, “Buoyancy,” Rodd Rathjen, director;
Austria, “Joy,...
Ghana, Nigeria, and Uzbekistan are first-time entrants, but Uganda did not qualify. China (Yu Yang’s “Ne Zha”) and Senegal (Mati Diop’s “Atlantics”) submitted their films under the wire on the deadline of October 1.
Earlier this year, the Academy’s Board of Governors voted not only to rename the Foreign Language Film category, but to expand the shortlist from nine films to 10.
The 2019 submissions, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:
Albania, “The Delegation,” Bujar Alimani, director;
Algeria, “Papicha,” Mounia Meddour, director;
Argentina, “Heroic Losers,” Sebastián Borensztein, director;
Armenia, “Lengthy Night,” Edgar Baghdasaryan, director;
Australia, “Buoyancy,” Rodd Rathjen, director;
Austria, “Joy,...
- 10/7/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The 2020 foreign-language Oscar nominees will come from submissions from 93 countries, up from last year’s 87, and breaking the record 92 from 2017. A contender for the renamed Best International Feature must be a feature-length motion picture (more than 40 minutes) produced outside the United States with a predominantly non-English dialogue track.
Ghana, Nigeria, and Uzbekistan are first-time entrants, but Uganda did not qualify. China (Yu Yang’s “Ne Zha”) and Senegal (Mati Diop’s “Atlantics”) submitted their films under the wire on the deadline of October 1.
Earlier this year, the Academy’s Board of Governors voted not only to rename the Foreign Language Film category, but to expand the shortlist from nine films to 10.
The 2019 submissions, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:
Albania, “The Delegation,” Bujar Alimani, director;
Algeria, “Papicha,” Mounia Meddour, director;
Argentina, “Heroic Losers,” Sebastián Borensztein, director;
Armenia, “Lengthy Night,” Edgar Baghdasaryan, director;
Australia, “Buoyancy,” Rodd Rathjen, director;
Austria, “Joy,...
Ghana, Nigeria, and Uzbekistan are first-time entrants, but Uganda did not qualify. China (Yu Yang’s “Ne Zha”) and Senegal (Mati Diop’s “Atlantics”) submitted their films under the wire on the deadline of October 1.
Earlier this year, the Academy’s Board of Governors voted not only to rename the Foreign Language Film category, but to expand the shortlist from nine films to 10.
The 2019 submissions, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:
Albania, “The Delegation,” Bujar Alimani, director;
Algeria, “Papicha,” Mounia Meddour, director;
Argentina, “Heroic Losers,” Sebastián Borensztein, director;
Armenia, “Lengthy Night,” Edgar Baghdasaryan, director;
Australia, “Buoyancy,” Rodd Rathjen, director;
Austria, “Joy,...
- 10/7/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the full list of countries that have submitted a pic for consideration for the new International Feature Film Oscar category.
Here are the 93 nations and their hopefuls, in alphabetical order:
Albania, The Delegation, Bujar Alimani, director;
Algeria, Papicha, Mounia Meddour, director;
Argentina, Heroic Losers, Sebastián Borensztein, director;
Armenia, Lengthy Night, Edgar Baghdasaryan, director;
Australia, Buoyancy, Rodd Rathjen, director;
Austria, Joy, Sudabeh Mortezai, director;
Bangladesh, Alpha, Nasiruddin Yousuff, director;
Belarus, Debut, Anastasiya Miroshnichenko, director;
Belgium, Our Mothers, César Díaz, director;
Bolivia, I Miss You, Rodrigo Bellott, director;
Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Son, Ines Tanovic, director;
Brazil, Invisible Life, Karim Aïnouz, director;
Bulgaria, Ága, Milko Lazarov, director;
Cambodia, In the Life of Music, Caylee So, Sok Visal, directors;
Canada, Antigone, Sophie Deraspe, director;
Chile, Spider, Andrés Wood, director;
China, Ne Zha, Yu Yang, director;
Colombia, Monos, Alejandro Landes, director;
Costa Rica, The Awakening of the Ants,...
Here are the 93 nations and their hopefuls, in alphabetical order:
Albania, The Delegation, Bujar Alimani, director;
Algeria, Papicha, Mounia Meddour, director;
Argentina, Heroic Losers, Sebastián Borensztein, director;
Armenia, Lengthy Night, Edgar Baghdasaryan, director;
Australia, Buoyancy, Rodd Rathjen, director;
Austria, Joy, Sudabeh Mortezai, director;
Bangladesh, Alpha, Nasiruddin Yousuff, director;
Belarus, Debut, Anastasiya Miroshnichenko, director;
Belgium, Our Mothers, César Díaz, director;
Bolivia, I Miss You, Rodrigo Bellott, director;
Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Son, Ines Tanovic, director;
Brazil, Invisible Life, Karim Aïnouz, director;
Bulgaria, Ága, Milko Lazarov, director;
Cambodia, In the Life of Music, Caylee So, Sok Visal, directors;
Canada, Antigone, Sophie Deraspe, director;
Chile, Spider, Andrés Wood, director;
China, Ne Zha, Yu Yang, director;
Colombia, Monos, Alejandro Landes, director;
Costa Rica, The Awakening of the Ants,...
- 10/7/2019
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Which film will follow on from ‘Roma’ in winning the prize?
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2020 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
This is the first year the award will be given under the new name of ‘best international feature film’, after a change in April from ‘foreign-language film’.
The eligibility rules remain the same: an international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the Us with a predominantly non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2020 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
This is the first year the award will be given under the new name of ‘best international feature film’, after a change in April from ‘foreign-language film’.
The eligibility rules remain the same: an international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the Us with a predominantly non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
- 8/30/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Costa Rica 3–5 September 2019The new meeting point of the Audiovisual Industry in Central America and the Caribbean is set for Costa Rica September 3–5, 2019http://www.maucc.netJose Castro of the Costa Rica Film CommissionWe have made an important alliance between the Film Commission of Costa Rica and the organizers of the Expo Andina Link Costa Rica (Latin American meeting of cable and television), to create this new space with the mission of facilitating business and exchange between suppliers in Central America and the Caribbean and buyers of international audiovisual content.This initiative seeks not only to create a market space, but also a space for co-production between the countries of our region.
Central America and the Caribbean are introducing film funds in their countries and awaiting government approval.
Producers of audiovisual content who want to offer their portfolio of contents and projects, must register at www.maucc.net before August 4th.
Central America and the Caribbean are introducing film funds in their countries and awaiting government approval.
Producers of audiovisual content who want to offer their portfolio of contents and projects, must register at www.maucc.net before August 4th.
- 7/31/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Panama City — Posting a record in admissions, said festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron, the 8th Iff Panama wrapped Wednesday with the closing film “The Sentence,” screened in the presence of actor Edward James Olmos.
Gustavo Pizzi’s “Benzinho” won best Ibero-American fiction film, Mauro Colombo’s “Tierra Adentro” Best Documentary, about the endangered jungle on the border between Panama and Colombia, and Sebastian and Rodrigo Barriuso’s “Un Traductor,” about Chernobyl victims being treated in 1989 Havana, won best film from Central America and the Caribbean, sponsored by Copa Airlines, Revista K and Master Card respectively.
In the 5th Primera Mirada, Iff Panama’s pix-in-post sidebar, Ana Elena Tejera’s “Panquiaco” scooped a $10,000 cash prize and a trip to Cannes Film Market and Fernando F. Blanco Rivas’ “Por eso vengo al río” a $5,000 prize. The sidebar screened five films from Central America and the Caribbean.
“Panquiaco,” about Cebaldo – a reincarnation of...
Gustavo Pizzi’s “Benzinho” won best Ibero-American fiction film, Mauro Colombo’s “Tierra Adentro” Best Documentary, about the endangered jungle on the border between Panama and Colombia, and Sebastian and Rodrigo Barriuso’s “Un Traductor,” about Chernobyl victims being treated in 1989 Havana, won best film from Central America and the Caribbean, sponsored by Copa Airlines, Revista K and Master Card respectively.
In the 5th Primera Mirada, Iff Panama’s pix-in-post sidebar, Ana Elena Tejera’s “Panquiaco” scooped a $10,000 cash prize and a trip to Cannes Film Market and Fernando F. Blanco Rivas’ “Por eso vengo al río” a $5,000 prize. The sidebar screened five films from Central America and the Caribbean.
“Panquiaco,” about Cebaldo – a reincarnation of...
- 4/11/2019
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
The Public Mastercard Award for best Central America and the Caribbean story goes to A Translator.
Panamanian director Ana Elena Tejera won the Works in Progress prize for Panquiaco at the Iff Panama closing ceremony on Wednesday (10), hours after festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron announced a $15,000 fund to support films by Central American and Caribbean women.
Panquiaco was the only selection from Panama this year and is inspired by the country’s tradition of oral storytelling and indigenous characters before colonization.
Inter-American Development Bank (Idb) head of strategic communication Paul Constance presented the award, and handed out the second prize...
Panamanian director Ana Elena Tejera won the Works in Progress prize for Panquiaco at the Iff Panama closing ceremony on Wednesday (10), hours after festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron announced a $15,000 fund to support films by Central American and Caribbean women.
Panquiaco was the only selection from Panama this year and is inspired by the country’s tradition of oral storytelling and indigenous characters before colonization.
Inter-American Development Bank (Idb) head of strategic communication Paul Constance presented the award, and handed out the second prize...
- 4/10/2019
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The drama about a couple in need of a caesarean section then closed the event.
Swiss-Mongolian drama Out Of Paradise, directed by Batbayar Chogsom, won best film at the Golden Goblet Awards at this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival.
The film, which played as Siff’s closing film due to its win, follows a couple from the Mongolian steppes in need of a caesarean section who travel to Ulaanbaatar but don’t have enough money for the operation.
Sonthar Gyal’s Tibetan drama Ala Changso picked up Siff’s Jury Grand Prix and the best screenplay award. Best director...
Swiss-Mongolian drama Out Of Paradise, directed by Batbayar Chogsom, won best film at the Golden Goblet Awards at this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival.
The film, which played as Siff’s closing film due to its win, follows a couple from the Mongolian steppes in need of a caesarean section who travel to Ulaanbaatar but don’t have enough money for the operation.
Sonthar Gyal’s Tibetan drama Ala Changso picked up Siff’s Jury Grand Prix and the best screenplay award. Best director...
- 6/25/2018
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
Could there be a more perfect moment than this? Sitting in the garden behind the Hotel Nacional, looking at the Cuban flag so proudly waving over the Straits of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. The same site where the defense was built during the Cuban Missile Crisis, this moment of time marks a particularly precarious balance between peaceful coexistence and military aggression as we contemplate the recent death of Castro and election of Trump, wondering how it will play out in 2017.Hotel Nacional, Headquarters of Festival de Cine Nuevo Iberoamericano, Havana, Cuba
Cuba, ten days after the death of Fidel Castro, head of state for 52 years,may be a bit more subdued, but life here goes on, even with the influx of American tourists (other tourists have always been here); there is a sense of harmony. And in spite of the scarcity of luxuries for its people, the people...
Cuba, ten days after the death of Fidel Castro, head of state for 52 years,may be a bit more subdued, but life here goes on, even with the influx of American tourists (other tourists have always been here); there is a sense of harmony. And in spite of the scarcity of luxuries for its people, the people...
- 12/29/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
This year at the 30th Guadalajara Film Festival (FICG30), the selection of projects in the 11th Coproduction Meeting was especially strong. With a broad mix of festival and “popular” type films, the jury chose the very films I would have chosen myself.
The Market focuses on writers and only chooses those with the strongest scripts. Prizes honor the best proposals and act to connect the producers with those who will become strong future collaborators. Among 295 projects submitted, 28 were selected. The selection is intended to give a new vision to the Latin American film scene.
Five out of the six winners are projects to be directed by women. Two are Cuban. Four others are Mexican, Colombian, Argentinean. And the winners are:
1. Meet Prize: Paid trip and entry to Meets, the Latin American Film Market of the International Film Festival de Panamá includes entry into the competition for Us$95,000 in cash
Winner: “1989," Directors: Sebastián and Rodrigo Barriuso (Canada, Cuba).
A standout project, even a possible future winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Rodrigo and Sebastian Barriuso’s “ 1989" won a paid trip and entry to Meets, the Latin American Film Market of the International Film Festival de Panamá whose competition for Us$95,000 in cash will be at stake.
Based on true events, the story is set three years after the nuclear explosion in Chernobyl, when the first patients to receive medical treatment for cancer arrived in Havana Cuba. Totally unprepared, forced to leave his family to do a job he is untrained to do, he finds storytelling a salvation when a child tells him the story of Chernobyl from his child’s point of view.
This character driven story of a father, forced to become a translator for the sick children and their mothers in hospitals throughout Havana tells how he copes with the separation from his family at the very time that the Russians have withdrawn all aid, the fall of the Berlin Wall and Cuba’s economic collapse, represents the sort of films the brothers Barriuso want to make about under-represented social issues.
The two Cuban-Canadian Barriuso brothers reside in Canada, a great place for coproductions as it has the most coproduction treaties in the world. They look like twins but are three years apart as are the two little boys (one year old and four years old) in their projected film whose father is suddenly torn from his academic post as a professor of Russian literature and told by the Cuban government to work nightshifts in the cancer ward of the victims of the Chernobyl (Ukraine) accident (which will be commemorating the 30th anniversary in 2016).
Rodrigo is art-oriented, curating a show of Cuban artists in Toronto while his brother is business-educated. Their work has premiered and screened at prestigious festivals like Berlinale, Tiff, Miami, Slamdance and Marrakesh. Their work has a strong social and existential appeal and is strongly influence by the art world. This project was developed at Norman Jewison’s Canadian Center and then at the Tiff Studio, programmed by Hayet Benkara. It has already received a quarter of the budget in funds and the brothers are beginning to speak with international sales agents.
2. Churubusco Prize (Mexico’s oldest studio, Churbusco gives Us$100,000 in post-production services.
Winner: “Restos de Viento” (“Wind Traces”), Director: Jimena Montemayor (México). ♀
A family tries to recover after the sudden death of the father. The mother, a victim of depression, is incapable of accepting the loss and tells her children that their father will return. For her seven-year-old son this means a cadaver will return to fulfill the role of his father. The eleven year old daughter experiences a profound rejection of adult life. The two children accompany each other as they try to understand and process what death has brought into their lives.
“Wind Traces” explores the collision of two worlds through death. A child and an adult’s perspective on death shape the portrait of a family that is recovering after a loss.
"Wind Traces" is a coproduction between Mexican production companies Varios Lobos Producciones, with 14% of investment, and Conejo Media with 6%. So far it is a 100% Mexican film, but the filmmakers are looking to find a coproduction partner from other countries, especially from Latin America.
In early 2014, development stage began between the two production houses. In July 2014 the project participated in the International Pitching Market of the Guanajuato International Film Festival where it won the Lci Award, which covers the film insurance of the movie.
The filmmakers are seeking other funds and workshops that allow them to continue developing the project and refine the script. Among those they will apply to are the BaqLab, at the Barranquilla Film Festival and Meets at the Panama Film Festival.
The final funding will be through the Fiscal Stimulus Eficine 189.
Director Jimena Montemayor says that, “with ‘Wind Traces’ I would like to explore the stages of grief as well as the thoughts on a loss that will not go away because it leaves us with an emptiness that in time we learn to inhabit, both physically and emotionally.
I am interested in narrating this process from the child’s perspective. We were all children once, but we tend to forget as we grow older that the world can be an incomprehensible place when we try to communicate with it. Maybe that’s why we are unaware of how children deal with loss.
Their resilience and their ability to overcome adverse situations during childhood [includes] Death as something that they take with them]. The absence of that person lingers like a shadow until you overcome the loss. That is how Daniel, the seven year old, materializes his grief, in the company of a dead man in the house; a man he fears at first but that gradually becomes a companion that finally fulfills his destiny: to part from his father.
Death is also an injection of life, an unparalleled chance to approach it with a much greater understanding and fulfillment. People will empathize and be touched by this story, and not just those who have suffered a loss.
Whoever remembers those formative years knows that there are moments where nostalgia overcomes us; we remember certain scars and despite the fact they can never be erased we will forget them little by little as we head into adulthood, leaving their importance buried in our subconscious.
In ‘Wind Traces’ each character deals with death in the same way they experience life.”
3. New Art Digital Prize (Complete postproduction for a value of Us$ 43,000)
Winner: “Estática Milagrosa” (“Static Miracle”), Directors: Noelia Lacayo ♀ and Gustavo Vinagre Alves (Cuba).
The second Cuban film to win and the second winning film to be directed by a woman deals with the “miracle” in Cuba of houses still standing, propped up by scaffolding and about to collapse while still inhabited with multiple families. Their beauty and their sad shape are analogous to the lives of many people in Cuba as well. “Static Miracle” is the official term for all buildings in danger of collapsing
This film deals with the people whose “static miracle” is that they continue their lives in the midst of imminent disintegration. Eight year old Marion has a collage of Fidel Castro on his bedroom wall but the images deteriorate with the humidity of every rainfall. Seventy-six year old Patria treis to maintina the rules of her aristocratic past, but her mansion is now a hostel for tourists. Eighteen year old Yuri prepares to shoot the video clip that will launch him into stardom but he has not left his room in two years. Twenty-nine year old Nicolas, a foreigner without visa or money, films houses in Havana that move as they resist the passage of time.
4. Equipment & Film Design Prize (Efd) (A package of 7 days of filming with a value of Us$ 23,000).
Winner: “Cuando se silencien los fusiles” (“When the Guns are Silenced”), Director: Nathalia Isabel Orozco Rojas (Colombia). ♀
This documentary will shoot in Havana and Colombia as it concerns the current ongoing negotiations of Farc, the Revolutionary Armed Force of Colombia and the government of Colombia which are taking place now in Havana. After half a century of armed struggle, Farc, the oldest guerilla force in the world, is preparing to silence its weapons. This doc follows Farc’s military strategist and commander, Pablo Catatumbo, who has been part of the war for 40 years. His story and the complex relations with other commanders and rebels reveal the difficulties and challenges for the fighters in their final battle: the transition to democracy.
The Colombian filmmaker and independent news correspondent, Nathalia Isabel Orozco Rojas has won the Cpb Journalism Award 2014 for Best TV interview in 2013 and twice has won the Simon Bolivar National Journalism Award (in 2011 and 2010). Natalia has a B.A. in journalism, a Masters in political science and a Masters in international cooperation from the Sorbonne.
5. Lci Seguros Prize (Discounted Insurance of 50% up to Us$ 50 million).
Winner: “Julia Privada” (“Intimate Julia”), Directors: Karina Mirujin y Mariana Fonseca (Argentina). ♀
This Argentine fiction feature takes place in Buenos Aires in 1989. During the grave economic crisis of the time, the young woman Julia cleans and interfaces with the public for a reclusive boss. The comfort of silence between them from the first day makes her feel good although it is rather odd and mysterious. She is permitted full liberty except for entering his bedroom and writing studio. Curiosity about that makes this apartment, where she originally sought shelter and security, a possible cage.
Honorable Mention: (Support by Churubusco Studios of Equipment & Film Design, New Art Digital y Lci insurance).
Winner: “Donde se quedan las cosas” (“Where Things Remain”), Director: Daniela Silva Solórzano (México). ♀
This documentary is about Federico Solorzano, a paleontologist born in Guadalajara, Mexico. After a lifetime of collecting fossils, teaching and researching, opens the only science museum in the state of Jalisco. He shares his fossil collection, the largest in the country along with his memories through the eyes of his dranddaughter who goes through the more than 50 collections he has kept in perfect condition which creates a collective past of a city, a time period and a generation of more than 70 years.
Director Daniela Silva, born in Guadalajara, Jalisco is the granddaughter of the sculptor Federico Silva and niece of the famous cartoonist Jis. Twenty-two years of age, she has already produced “The Cloud Factory” last year and directed “Good Night, Lucy”.
The winners were selected by the following jury members:
Maru Farías (Director of New Projects at Equipment& Film Design with over 15 years working in the film industry). ♀
Javier Beltramino (Production Manager at Telefónica Studios in Argentina).
Bosco Arochi C. (Technical and Production Director at Estudios Churubusco S. A.).
Raymundo Osorio García (General Director at New Art Digital with 27 years work in publicity, television, and film in Mexico)
José Antonio Asencio (Adviser at Lci Seguros, producer, and Director of Photography of 150 documentaries, shorts, as well as 30 features).
The Market focuses on writers and only chooses those with the strongest scripts. Prizes honor the best proposals and act to connect the producers with those who will become strong future collaborators. Among 295 projects submitted, 28 were selected. The selection is intended to give a new vision to the Latin American film scene.
Five out of the six winners are projects to be directed by women. Two are Cuban. Four others are Mexican, Colombian, Argentinean. And the winners are:
1. Meet Prize: Paid trip and entry to Meets, the Latin American Film Market of the International Film Festival de Panamá includes entry into the competition for Us$95,000 in cash
Winner: “1989," Directors: Sebastián and Rodrigo Barriuso (Canada, Cuba).
A standout project, even a possible future winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Rodrigo and Sebastian Barriuso’s “ 1989" won a paid trip and entry to Meets, the Latin American Film Market of the International Film Festival de Panamá whose competition for Us$95,000 in cash will be at stake.
Based on true events, the story is set three years after the nuclear explosion in Chernobyl, when the first patients to receive medical treatment for cancer arrived in Havana Cuba. Totally unprepared, forced to leave his family to do a job he is untrained to do, he finds storytelling a salvation when a child tells him the story of Chernobyl from his child’s point of view.
This character driven story of a father, forced to become a translator for the sick children and their mothers in hospitals throughout Havana tells how he copes with the separation from his family at the very time that the Russians have withdrawn all aid, the fall of the Berlin Wall and Cuba’s economic collapse, represents the sort of films the brothers Barriuso want to make about under-represented social issues.
The two Cuban-Canadian Barriuso brothers reside in Canada, a great place for coproductions as it has the most coproduction treaties in the world. They look like twins but are three years apart as are the two little boys (one year old and four years old) in their projected film whose father is suddenly torn from his academic post as a professor of Russian literature and told by the Cuban government to work nightshifts in the cancer ward of the victims of the Chernobyl (Ukraine) accident (which will be commemorating the 30th anniversary in 2016).
Rodrigo is art-oriented, curating a show of Cuban artists in Toronto while his brother is business-educated. Their work has premiered and screened at prestigious festivals like Berlinale, Tiff, Miami, Slamdance and Marrakesh. Their work has a strong social and existential appeal and is strongly influence by the art world. This project was developed at Norman Jewison’s Canadian Center and then at the Tiff Studio, programmed by Hayet Benkara. It has already received a quarter of the budget in funds and the brothers are beginning to speak with international sales agents.
2. Churubusco Prize (Mexico’s oldest studio, Churbusco gives Us$100,000 in post-production services.
Winner: “Restos de Viento” (“Wind Traces”), Director: Jimena Montemayor (México). ♀
A family tries to recover after the sudden death of the father. The mother, a victim of depression, is incapable of accepting the loss and tells her children that their father will return. For her seven-year-old son this means a cadaver will return to fulfill the role of his father. The eleven year old daughter experiences a profound rejection of adult life. The two children accompany each other as they try to understand and process what death has brought into their lives.
“Wind Traces” explores the collision of two worlds through death. A child and an adult’s perspective on death shape the portrait of a family that is recovering after a loss.
"Wind Traces" is a coproduction between Mexican production companies Varios Lobos Producciones, with 14% of investment, and Conejo Media with 6%. So far it is a 100% Mexican film, but the filmmakers are looking to find a coproduction partner from other countries, especially from Latin America.
In early 2014, development stage began between the two production houses. In July 2014 the project participated in the International Pitching Market of the Guanajuato International Film Festival where it won the Lci Award, which covers the film insurance of the movie.
The filmmakers are seeking other funds and workshops that allow them to continue developing the project and refine the script. Among those they will apply to are the BaqLab, at the Barranquilla Film Festival and Meets at the Panama Film Festival.
The final funding will be through the Fiscal Stimulus Eficine 189.
Director Jimena Montemayor says that, “with ‘Wind Traces’ I would like to explore the stages of grief as well as the thoughts on a loss that will not go away because it leaves us with an emptiness that in time we learn to inhabit, both physically and emotionally.
I am interested in narrating this process from the child’s perspective. We were all children once, but we tend to forget as we grow older that the world can be an incomprehensible place when we try to communicate with it. Maybe that’s why we are unaware of how children deal with loss.
Their resilience and their ability to overcome adverse situations during childhood [includes] Death as something that they take with them]. The absence of that person lingers like a shadow until you overcome the loss. That is how Daniel, the seven year old, materializes his grief, in the company of a dead man in the house; a man he fears at first but that gradually becomes a companion that finally fulfills his destiny: to part from his father.
Death is also an injection of life, an unparalleled chance to approach it with a much greater understanding and fulfillment. People will empathize and be touched by this story, and not just those who have suffered a loss.
Whoever remembers those formative years knows that there are moments where nostalgia overcomes us; we remember certain scars and despite the fact they can never be erased we will forget them little by little as we head into adulthood, leaving their importance buried in our subconscious.
In ‘Wind Traces’ each character deals with death in the same way they experience life.”
3. New Art Digital Prize (Complete postproduction for a value of Us$ 43,000)
Winner: “Estática Milagrosa” (“Static Miracle”), Directors: Noelia Lacayo ♀ and Gustavo Vinagre Alves (Cuba).
The second Cuban film to win and the second winning film to be directed by a woman deals with the “miracle” in Cuba of houses still standing, propped up by scaffolding and about to collapse while still inhabited with multiple families. Their beauty and their sad shape are analogous to the lives of many people in Cuba as well. “Static Miracle” is the official term for all buildings in danger of collapsing
This film deals with the people whose “static miracle” is that they continue their lives in the midst of imminent disintegration. Eight year old Marion has a collage of Fidel Castro on his bedroom wall but the images deteriorate with the humidity of every rainfall. Seventy-six year old Patria treis to maintina the rules of her aristocratic past, but her mansion is now a hostel for tourists. Eighteen year old Yuri prepares to shoot the video clip that will launch him into stardom but he has not left his room in two years. Twenty-nine year old Nicolas, a foreigner without visa or money, films houses in Havana that move as they resist the passage of time.
4. Equipment & Film Design Prize (Efd) (A package of 7 days of filming with a value of Us$ 23,000).
Winner: “Cuando se silencien los fusiles” (“When the Guns are Silenced”), Director: Nathalia Isabel Orozco Rojas (Colombia). ♀
This documentary will shoot in Havana and Colombia as it concerns the current ongoing negotiations of Farc, the Revolutionary Armed Force of Colombia and the government of Colombia which are taking place now in Havana. After half a century of armed struggle, Farc, the oldest guerilla force in the world, is preparing to silence its weapons. This doc follows Farc’s military strategist and commander, Pablo Catatumbo, who has been part of the war for 40 years. His story and the complex relations with other commanders and rebels reveal the difficulties and challenges for the fighters in their final battle: the transition to democracy.
The Colombian filmmaker and independent news correspondent, Nathalia Isabel Orozco Rojas has won the Cpb Journalism Award 2014 for Best TV interview in 2013 and twice has won the Simon Bolivar National Journalism Award (in 2011 and 2010). Natalia has a B.A. in journalism, a Masters in political science and a Masters in international cooperation from the Sorbonne.
5. Lci Seguros Prize (Discounted Insurance of 50% up to Us$ 50 million).
Winner: “Julia Privada” (“Intimate Julia”), Directors: Karina Mirujin y Mariana Fonseca (Argentina). ♀
This Argentine fiction feature takes place in Buenos Aires in 1989. During the grave economic crisis of the time, the young woman Julia cleans and interfaces with the public for a reclusive boss. The comfort of silence between them from the first day makes her feel good although it is rather odd and mysterious. She is permitted full liberty except for entering his bedroom and writing studio. Curiosity about that makes this apartment, where she originally sought shelter and security, a possible cage.
Honorable Mention: (Support by Churubusco Studios of Equipment & Film Design, New Art Digital y Lci insurance).
Winner: “Donde se quedan las cosas” (“Where Things Remain”), Director: Daniela Silva Solórzano (México). ♀
This documentary is about Federico Solorzano, a paleontologist born in Guadalajara, Mexico. After a lifetime of collecting fossils, teaching and researching, opens the only science museum in the state of Jalisco. He shares his fossil collection, the largest in the country along with his memories through the eyes of his dranddaughter who goes through the more than 50 collections he has kept in perfect condition which creates a collective past of a city, a time period and a generation of more than 70 years.
Director Daniela Silva, born in Guadalajara, Jalisco is the granddaughter of the sculptor Federico Silva and niece of the famous cartoonist Jis. Twenty-two years of age, she has already produced “The Cloud Factory” last year and directed “Good Night, Lucy”.
The winners were selected by the following jury members:
Maru Farías (Director of New Projects at Equipment& Film Design with over 15 years working in the film industry). ♀
Javier Beltramino (Production Manager at Telefónica Studios in Argentina).
Bosco Arochi C. (Technical and Production Director at Estudios Churubusco S. A.).
Raymundo Osorio García (General Director at New Art Digital with 27 years work in publicity, television, and film in Mexico)
José Antonio Asencio (Adviser at Lci Seguros, producer, and Director of Photography of 150 documentaries, shorts, as well as 30 features).
- 3/26/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
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