Mexican Court Stops DVD Distribution of PRESUMED GUILTY

A Mexican federal court ordered few days ago the halt of the DVD distribution of blockbuster documentary Presunto culpable / Presumed Guilty (pictured) as part of an ongoing trial of appeal. As it was reported by some Mexican newspapers, the filmmakers' lawyer confirmed last Friday the fact that the court ordered Distrimax to refrain from distributing the DVD, which was released last July. It was not clear thought the impact that the order would have on the DVDs that were already for sale at stores throughout the country.

The film directed by Roberto Hernández and Geoffrey Smith went to become the highest-grossing Mexican documentary film when it was released in theaters last spring. The release got an additional boost at the box-office after a federal court ordered the temporary suspension of the film from the theaters based on a legal claim.

NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT Tops IDA Awards as Best Feature

Patricio Guzmán's Nostalgia de la luz / Nostalgia for the Light was awarded the prize for Best Feature at the 27th edition of the IDA Documentary Awards that were handed out this evening at a ceremony at the DGA Theatre in West Hollywood in Los Angeles. The Chilean documentary was competing against the Mexican documentary The Tiniest Place by Tatiana Huezo, as well as documentary films Better this World; How to Die in Oregon; and The Redemption of General Butt Naked. As it was announced last night, Guzmán's film was awarded the prize for Best Documentary Film of the Year at the 2011 Cinema Tropical Awards.

Films from Chile, Brazil and Argentina Headed to Sundance 2012

The Sundance Film Festival announced today the films in competition for its 2012 edition that will take place January 19 through 29 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Four Latin American feature films were selected for the World Cinema Dramatic Competition, including two films from Chile: Andrés Wood's Violeta Went to Heaven / Violeta se fue a los cielos (pictured) and Marialy Rivas' Young & Wild. Completing the Latin American contingent are the Brazilian film Father's Chair / A Cadeira do Pai by Luciano Moura and the Argentinean Film El último Elvis / The Last Elvis by Armando Bo.

Puerto Rico is Left Out of the Oscars

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences decided to deny registration for the Puerto Rican film América directed by Sonia Fritz in the Foreign Language Category on the basis that Puerto Rico is part of the United States of America. According to an Academy official last year was the final year for a Puerto Rican submission in this category, "it is true that we have accepted entries from Puerto Rico in the past, but this is no longer the case" was that the official wrote to the producers of the film. Since 1985 Puerto Rico had submitted 11 films for consideration in the Foreign Language Category nabbing an Academy Award nomination in 1989 for Santiago Morales' film Lo que le pasó a Santiago / Santiago, the Story of his New Life. In response to the film's denial for registration, the producer Frances Lausell has launched an online campaign to collect signatures.

Global Film Initiative Awards Four Latin American Projects

The US based non-profit The Global Film Initiative announced the ten winners of their Summer 2011 granting cycle which included four Latin American projects in total, two as production grant winners and two other as Honorable Mention grant recipients. The Latin American production grant winners are the Guatemalan/Chilean co-production Faith / Fe (pictured) by Alejo Crisóstomo and the Mexican omnibus film The Room / La habitación comprised by eight stories directed by Jorge Pérez Solano, Iyari Wertta, Carlos Bolado, Patricia Arriaga, Alfonso Pineda Ulloa, Alejandro Valle and Iván Ávila Dueñas and Celso García, these two productions were awarded grants of $10,000 each. Additionally the Honorable Mention grant recipients were the Mexican production I Dream in Another Language / Sueño en otro idioma by Ernesto Contreras and the Chilean film Mother's Milk / Leche materna by Sebastián Silva, both films received a cash-grant of $1,000 each. The awarded projects were selected from a group of 98 applications from 44 different countries.

PRESUMED GUILTY Nabs Emmy Award

The Mexican documentary feature Presunto culpable / Presumed Guilty by Roberto Hernández and Geoffrey Smith was awarded the News and Documentary Emmy as Outstanding Investigative Journalism - Long Form in the 32nd annual edition of the awards ceremony that took place at Lincoln Center in New York. The film was nominated for three awards that are given by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.