Film Society of Lincoln Center Announces Lineup for Latinbeat 2011

The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced its official lineup for the 12th edition of their annual Latin American film festival Latinbeat which will take place August 10 - 24 at the Walter Reade Theater in New York City. This year's festival will showcase 23 films, including four US premieres, and it will open with the Argentine romantic comedy Medianeras / Sidewalls by Gustavo Taretto. Highlights of the festival include Julio Hernández Cordón's Marimbas del infierno / Marimbas from Hell (pictured) from Guatemala; the Brazilian film As melhores coisas do mundo / The Best Things in the World by Lais Bodansky; Marta Ferrer's documentary feature El Varal from Mexico; and Marcel Rasquin's Venezuelan hit Hermano.

Additionally Casa Clementina and Cinema Tropical will also co-present a special panel discussion sponsored by New York Women in Film and Television. as part of this year's festival on the recent emergence of Central American and Caribbean cinema.

Guatemalan and Brazilian Films Receive Support from World Cinema Fund

The World Cinema Fund (WCF) announced the winners of its 14th edition which included two Latin American film projects for production funds: Guatemalan film Polvo / Dust by Julio Hernández Cordón (Marimbas from Hell) and Brazilian film Girimunho / Swirl by Clarissa Campolina and Helvecio Marins Jr. The Fund selected the four winning projects from 135 submissions from a total of 41 countries, each of the selected project will receive 30,000 euros. Additionally it was announced that the Chilean film Huacho by Alejandro Fernández Almendras also received funds from WCF for distribution in Germany. The WCF was created in October 2004 by the Berlin Film Festival in partnership with the German FEderal Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung des Bundes) to support filmmakers from "transition countries" focusing on Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Central and South East and the Caucasus region.

EL LUGAR MÁS PEQUEÑO and THE MEXICAN SUITCASE Headed to DocuWeeks

The International Documentary Association announced the lineup for its 15th Annual DocuWeeks Theatrical Documentary Showcase which includes the Mexican co-production documentary films El lugar más pequeño / The Tiniest Place (pictured) by Tatiana Huezo and The Mexican Suitcase by Trisha Ziff. Presenting 17 feature films and seven shorts in Oscar qualifying theatrical runs, DocuWeeks will play August 12th through September 1st at the IFC Center in New York City and August 19th through September 8th at the Laemmle Sunset in Los Angeles.

Hailed as "one of the most impressive debuts by a Mexican filmmaker since Carlos Reygadas" by Robert Koehler (Variety), the Mexican-Salvadorean film El lugar más pequeño / The Tiniest Place produced by the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica, tells the story about a small village nestled in the mountains amidst the humid jungle in El Salvador. The town was utterly ravaged during the bloody civil war that hit the country between 1980-1992. Throughout the years the community has gone through the process of rebuilding and reinventing itself after surviving a tragedy. The Mexican-Spanish co-production The Mexican Suitcase, tells the story of the recovery of 4,500 negatives taken by photographers Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and David Seymour during the Spanish Civil War. The film follows the journey of these negatives to Mexico – images as exiles, recovered 70 years later. 

CARANCHO the Big Winner at Argentina's Cóndor de Plata Awards

Pablo Trapero's noir thriller Carancho (pictured) was the big winner at the 59th edition of the Silver Condor's Award that has held last night at the Teatro Avenida in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Trapero's film won in four of the nine categories for which was nominated including the awards for Best Film and Best Director. Héctor Olivera's El mural / The Mural, about a trip to Argentina made by Mexican muralist David Siqueiros to paint a mural,  also won four awards including the one for Best Supporting Actress for Ana Celentano. The Uruguayan film Gigante by Adrián Biniez won the award for Best Ibero American film, whilst Natalia Smirnoff Rompecabeza / Puzzle was awarded as Best First Film. Created in 1942, the Cóndor de Plata Award is given by the Argentine Film Critics Association.

Three Projects About Central America Receive Sundance's Documentary Fund

The Sundance Film Institute announced today the 29 feature-length documentary films selected to receive financial support totaling $575,000 as part of their Documentary Film Program. Among the selected projects were three documentary films dealing with Central American themes: Magic Words by Mercedes Moncada Rodríguez; La Camioneta by Mark Kendall; and Who Is Dayani Cristal? by Marc Silver (pictured).

In Magic Words, Moncada Rodríguez returns to her native Nicaragua to explore memory and identity in the form of a poetic documentary fiction, whilst Kendall's La Camioneta documentary focused on an out-of-service American school that travels 3,000 miles to its new owner in Guatemala where its repaired, renamed, requipped and reborn. Silver's British-Mexican co-production Who Is Dayani Cristal is a fusion of drama and documentary, made in collaboration with actor Gael García Bernal, that follows one man's journey from his home in Honduras to the Mexico-US border where he meets his death trying to cross.

Sundance's Documentary Film Program received applications from 650 filmmakers in 80 countries and according to the Institute, the submissions were "judged on their approach to storytelling, artistic treatment and innovation, subject relevance and potential for social engagement."

Maya Indie Film Series Kicks Off Nationally July 29

Maya Entertainment has announced the launching of the third edition of their annual Maya Indie Film Series, a seven-city tour bringing seven critically acclaimed Latino-themed films to New York, Los Angeles, Chicago starting July 29, followed by San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, Miami and San Francisco later this summer.

The lineup for Maya Indie Film Series includes the Sundance favorite All She Can (formerly Benavides Born) by Amy Wendel about a girl from a small Texas town with serious ambitious in life whose only shot to afford a scholarship to go to college is to compete in the State Powerlifting Championship; as well Without Men, the new offbeat comedy by Gabriela Tagliavini, starring Eva Longoria, Kate del Castillo, Christian Slater and Paul Rodriguez about a Latin American village where women are left to rebuild their society after all of the men are recruited by a group of guerrillas.

The series also includes the film Forged by William Wedig, from the same team that produced La Soga; Didi Hollywood by acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Bigas Luna starring Elsa Pataky; and Blue Eyes by Brazilian filmmaker José Joffily.