VAHO and DIOSES Now Available on DVD in the US

The Global Film Initiative, a U.S.-based not-for-profit organization specializing in the support of independent film from Africa, Asia, Central Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East,  has announced the DVD release of two Latin American films that are part of their Global Lens Series: Mexican film Vaho / Becloud (pictured) by Alejandro Gerber and Peruvian film Dioses / Gods by Josué Méndez. Both films are available for purchase as of today, Tuesday, June 28 in their website. Winner of the award for Best Film at the Marrakech International Film Festival, Vaho tells the story of three boyhood friends that reunite in Mexico City to overcome a tragedy that scarred their childhood and the neighborhood where they grew up. Dioses, Méndez's follow up to his acclaimed debut feature Días de Santiago won the prize for Best Peruvian Film at the Lima Film Festival and is a poignant and satirical study of class in Peru.

MoMA Announces Lineup for Premiere Brazil! 2011

The Museum of Modern Art announced the lineup for its 2011 of their annual Premiere Brazil! series, presented in collaboration with the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, which in its ninth edition will run July 14-27 in New York City. This year's survey of Brazilian cinema features 14 films, including four international premieres.  Gustavo Pizzi's debut feature film Riscado / Craft  (pictured) a fictional portrait about the ups and downs of a talented, creative personality, will be the opening night film. Other films in the selection are Amor? by João Jardim; Chico Xavier by Daniel Filho; and VIPS by Toniko Melo's. Additionally, this year Premiere Brazil! will play tribute to the work of filmmaker/visual artist Cao Guimarães with a retrospective of his works which include O film do sem fim / The End of the Endless and Ex isto / Ex It.

Anthology Film Archives Celebrates Mexican Cinema

Anthology Film Archives, Cinema Tropical and the Mexican Cultural Institute have announced a special initiative celebrating the vigorous revitalization of Mexican cinema that involves two special film series and two theatrical releases.  The program starts Friday, July 8, with a retrospective of filmmaker Nicolás Pereda that includes a one week-run of his latest film Verano de Goliat / Summer of Goliath. Pereda, in his late twenties, has quickly amassed a body of work comprising five feature films and one short. His films combine aspects of some of the most notable trends in contemporary world cinema, including elements of deadpan minimalism, slacker cinema, the documentary/fiction hybrid, and long-take formalism. 'The Films of Nicolás Pereda is organized by FiGa Films.

The Mexican celebration continues in September with the theatrical premiere run of Eugenio Polgovsky's Los herederos / The Inheritors ( pictured, distributed by Icarus Films) one of the the most highly praised and awarded Mexican documentary in recent years. Hailed as "remarkable... a sometimes harrowing but also poetic and thoughtful film" by Screen Daily, The Inheritors is an austere portrait of children who have inherited tools and techniques from their ancestors, but have also inherited their day-to-day hardships and toil.

Rounding up the initiative, Anthology Film Archives will host “GenMex: Recent Films from Mexico”, a special series curated by Carlos A. Gutiérrez, presenting works made by some of the most outstanding filmmakers of this generation, including Drama/Mex (pictured), the debut feature film of Gerardo Naranjo (director of the Cannes’ favorite Miss Bala); Rabioso sol, rabioso cielo / Raging Sun, Raging Sky by Julián Hernández, described by Armond White (New York Press) as “Mexico’s finest, yet critically neglected, auteur”, as well as lesser-known yet exciting films that have had very limited exposure in the U.S. such as Jonás Cuarón’s Año Uña and Yulene Olaizola’s Intimidades de Shakespeare y Víctor Hugo / Shakespeare and Victor Hugo's Intimacies, winner of the Best Film award at the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival (BAFICI). 

Tropicast: Lourdes Portillo and Natalia Almada

A few weeks ago renowned Latina filmmakers Lourdes Portillo (The Devil Never Sleeps; Señorita Extraviada) and Natalia Almada (El General; El Velador) got together for a public conversation as part of the 12th edition of the annual conference of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), that took place in Newport Beach, California. The conversation was billed as "Identity & Aesthetics: Creative Choices Based on Cultural Background" with the aim at looking at how one's culture affects an artist's point of view and vision. The discussion was centered around the effects of culture, and how one express oneself through one's media work.  The occasion was a great opportunity for both groundbreaking filmmakers to share perspectives and opinions. The conversation was moderated by Carlos A. Gutiérrez, co-founding director of Cinema Tropical. Click here to hear the podcast.

Pictured (from left to right): Carlos A. Gutiérrez, Lourdes Portillo and Natalia Almada.

Special Screening of SEVA VIVE Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Flaherty Seminar in Puerto Rico

The Puerto Rican documentary Seva vive / Seva Lives by Francisco Serrano was screened last Monday with the attendance of the filmmaker as part of the Flaherty NYC series at Anthology Film Archives in downtown Manhattan. The screening was presented in collaboration with the Puerto Rico Film Society and Cinema Tropical in the context of the 50th anniversary of the 7th Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, that was held in Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, and was programmed by Dorothy Olson.

The Flaherty Seminar and Puerto Rico had a strong ongoing relationship for many years, as some American documentary filmmakers participated with the Division of Community Education (DIVEDCO), Puerto Rican government agency under the Department of Education created in the mid 40s with the purpose of integrating the rural population into the modernization and industrialization process in the island. The agency brought together a group together of artists of different backgrounds, and produced films about different issues including education, hygiene and democracy that mainly featured nonprofessional actors from rural areas. Filmmaker Willard Van Dyke, who would later serve as Board President of the Flaherty and Director of MoMA's Department of Film, made the film El de los cabos blancos / One Lucky Horse for the DIVEDCO in 1957.

Pictured: Film publicist Soldanela Rivera with filmmaker Francisco Serrano following the screening.

TROPA DE ELITE 2 Big Winner of the Grand Prix of Brazilian Cinema

José Padilha's Tropa de Elite 2: O Inimigo Agora é Outro / Elite Squad 2: Now the enemy is another (pictured), which became the highest grossing Brazilian film ever, was the big winner at the 10th edition of the Grand Prix of Brazilian Cinema (Grande Prêmio do Cinema Brasileiro) that took place last night in Rio de Janeiro organized by the Brazilian Film Academy. Padilha's sequel won nine of the 15 categories for which was nominated including the award for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor for Wagner Moura. The award for Best Documentary went to The Man Who Bottled Clouds / O Homem que Engarrafava Nuvens by Lírio Ferreira whilst the award for Best Foreign Film went to the Argentine film El secreto de sus ojos / The Secret in Their Eyes by Juan José Campanella. The Academy gave a special award to producers Lucy and Luiz Carlos Barreto, for their contribution to Brazilian cinema.