CARMÍN TROPICAL Wins at Morelia

Carmín Tropical (pictured) by director Rigoberto Perezcano was the winner of the award for Best Film at the 12th edition of the Morelia Film Festival. The third feature film by Perezcano (XV in Zachila, Norhless) follows Mabel, who returns to her hometown to find the murderer of her friend Daniela and finds herself on a journey that takes her through nostalgia, love, and betrayal in a town where transvestism takes on an unusual dimension in its day.

Güeros by Alonso Ruizpalacios was awarded with three prizes: for Best First Film, the Audience Award, and for Best Actor (which was shared among the three protagonists). Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán's Dólares de arena / Sand Dollars received a Special Jury Mention in the Mexican fiction feature film category.

In the documentary competition the winner was Matria by Fernando Llanos. The films Sporen / Huellas by Diego Gutiérrez and Danniel Danniel, and La danza del hipocampo / The Dance of Memory by Gabriela D. Ruvalcaba both received a Special Jury Mention. Lourdes Grobet's Bering. Balance and Resistance was awarded with the prize for Best Mexican Documentary Made by a Woman.

The 12th edition of the Morelia Film Festival took place October 17-26 in Mexico.

Venezuelan BAD HAIR Opens November 19 at Film Forum in NYC

Cinema Tropical and FiGa Films present the US theatrical premiere of the acclaimed Venezuelan film Bad Hair / Pelo malo (pictured) by Mariana Rondón, beginning Wednesday, November 19 at the prestigious Film Forum in New York City.

A touching and humorous coming-of-gender story, Bad Hair chronicles the life of nine-year-old Junior, living in a bustling Caracas tenement with his widowed mother. Junior fears he has pelo malo – bad hair. For his school photo, he wants to iron his stubbornly curly mane straight to resemble one of his pop star idols. His mother, unemployed and frazzled from the pressures of raising two children in an unforgiving city, has serious mis-givings; she suspects her son is gay. Grandma is more accepting, teaching Junior to dance to her favorite ‘60s rock ‘n’ roll tunes.

Writer-director Mariana Rondón grounds her film in the cultural realities of working-class Venezuela – and, by dint of two remarkable performances, finds warmth and humor between mother and son, even as the uncertainties of pre-adolescence threaten to pull them apart. Samuel Lange as the mischievous, incipiently stylish Junior is a wonder to behold: whether arguing with adults, hanging out with his chubby gal-pal, or admiring his newly straightened hair. The rest of the cast exude believability as well as poignancy, emotional depth, and joie de vivre.

The film became the first Venezuelan film ever to win Best Film Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival, and it's won more than a dozen directing, acting, and screenwriting awards at festivals throughout the world. The film will have a two-week engagement at Film Forum followed by other engagements and screening across the U.S. 

Valdivia Announces Winners

The documentary film Los castores / The Beavers (pictured) by Nicolás Molina and Antonio Luco was awarded the prize for Best Chilean film at the 21st edition of the Valdivia Film Festival, it was announced today.

The film follows Derek and Giorgia, a young couple of biologists, settle in Tierra del Fuego, to develop their thesis. Loaded with traps and a video camera, they research how to stop a plague of beavers that is devastating the area. The beavers observe these scientists, isolated, exposed to the cold and hunger, just like their prey, exploring the link between nature and humans.

Carolina García Bloj's Respirar helado was awarded the Special Jury Prize in the Chilean competition. In the official international competition, the Mexican film El resto del mundo by Pablo Chavarría was the winner of the Special Jury Prize, while the Chilean film Matar a un hombre / To Kill a Man by Alejandro Fernández Almendras won the Audience Award.

The 21st edition the Valdivia Film Festival took place October 7-12 in Chile.

Rio Film Festival Announces Winners

Blue Blood / Sangue azul (pictured) by Lírio Ferreira was the top winner at the 2014 edition of the Rio de Janeiro Film Festival receiving the awards for Best Film and Best Director in the Premiere Brazil competition. Starring Daniel de Oliveira, Caroline Abras, and Sandra Coverlone, the film offers a parallel between cinema and circus that speaks of the sea, art and love.

Twenty years in the time, on a volcanic and tropical island a 10-year-old boy was separated from his sister. The mother, fearful that an incestuous attraction would develop between the two, sent her son to the mainland with Kaleb, the magician from the Neptune Circus that had visited the island. On the mainland Kaleb teaches the boy the arts of the circus and the spirit, and the ex islander becomes Zolah, the Bullet Man. Zolah is now back visiting the island with the circus.

Chico Teixeira's Absence / Ausência was awarded the Special Jury Prize. In the documentary category the big winner was Point Blank / Á queima roupa by Theresa Jessouroun, which won the awards for Best Documentary Film  and Best Director. The Audience Awards were handed to Fellipe Gamarano Barbosa's Casa Grande and Rodrigo Felha's Favela gay.

The winner in the Novos Rumos section was Davi Pretto's Castanha, and Alfeu Franca's A deusa branca was awarded the Special Jury Prize. The 2014 edition of the Rio Film Festival took place September 24 - October 8 in Brazil.

TropicalFRONT on Intelatin Cloudcast: October 2014

 

The October 2014 edition of TropicalFRONT on Intelatin Cloudcast features a dialogue with Carlos A. Gutiérrez of Cinema Tropical; an interview with director Rodrigo Reyes on his film Purgatorio: Journey Into the Heart of the Border; an interview with Ian Brookfield for Art Redefined; Music by Bostich + Fussible, Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris, Roberta Flack, AC/DC and Jungle Fire. Produced by Sergio C. Muñoz at Intelatin.

Listen to the show on PodBean or iTunes.

Enjoy!

MoMA to Fete Cuarón

The Museum of Modern Art in New York City has announced that Mexican writer/director Alfonso Cuarón will be honored at the the Museum's 2014 Film Benefit, to be held on Monday, November 10. Cuarón is the Academy Award-winning director of Gravity (2013), A Little Princess (1995), Y Tu Mamá También (2001), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Children of Men (2006), and Sólo con tu Pareja (1991).

The Museum's Film Benefit will be highlighted by a tribute recognizing Cuarón's acclaimed work and a gala dinner. Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film at MoMA, states: "Alfonso Cuarón is the rare auteur who is completely fluent in both the grandest studio-scaled pictures as well as the dirt-road indies. There's no one else I'd rather take a cinematic voyage with, whether it be to a hidden beach in Mexico or to orbit upper-Earth."

MoMA's vast film collection includes: Y Tu Mamá También, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Gravity. Cuarón has also participated in MoMA's Contenders series, engaging in a post-screening discussion with his son, Jonas Cuarón, after Gravity was screened as a part of the exhibition in November 2013.

The Film Benefit raises funds for the acquisition and preservation of great film works, as well as providing support for upcoming film exhibitions at MoMA. Previous honorees include Tilda Swinton, Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodóvar, Kathryn Bigelow, Tim Burton, and Baz Luhrmann.