Latino Titles Selected for Sundance

From a total of 12,166 submissions from 29 countries the Sundance Institute has announced its picks for the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions, as well as their NEXT, Premieres, Spotlight, New Frontiers Films and Park City at Midnight selections. This year’s Latino lineup features films from and about Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and the United States, ranging across all the categories.

In the U.S. Dramatic Competition Latino director Alfonso Gomez Rejón will be premiering his film Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. The film follows Greg, who is coasting through senior year of high school as anonymously as possible, avoiding social interactions like the plague, while secretly making spirited, bizarre films with Earl, his only friend. But both his anonymity and friendship threaten to unravel when his mother forces him to befriend a classmate with leukemia.

The U.S. Documentary Competition contenders include two films hailing from the U.S. and Mexico, both set on the border. Director Matthew Heineman’s Cartel Land (pictured above left) is in the shape of a classic Western but takes place in the 21st century as vigilantes on both sides of the border fight the Mexican drug cartels. Heineman questions lawlessness and whether citizens should fight violence with violence. Brothers Bill and Ross Turner’s submission in the same category, Western, portrays a cowboy and a lawman as their harmonious vision of the border and way of life is threatened by a specter of cartel violence. 

Brazil makes it to the World Cinema Dramatic Competition with acclaimed director and writer Anna Muylaert’s The Second Mother / Que horas ela volta? (pictured right). The Second Mother is the story of Val, a loving nanny in São Paolo, who has left her daughter to grow up with relatives in Northern Brazil. When she sees her daughter 13 years later turmoil erupts in the household. The screening at Sundance will mark its world premiere. 

Sundance’s NEXT section showcases low-budget films which are innovative and present a forward-thinking approach to storytelling. The Institute describes NEXT as “a section that will shape a “greater” next wave in American cinema.” Acclaimed Chilean director Sebastián Silva will be having the world premiere of his most recent film Nasty Baby.

Shot in U.S., and starring Silva himself along with Kristin Wiig, Tunde Adebimpe, and Alia Shawkat, the film is about a gay couple trying to have a baby with the help of their best friend. The trio navigates the idea of creating life while confronted by unexpected harassment from a neighborhood man called The Bishop. As their clashes grow increasingly aggressive, odds are someone is getting hurt.

Argentinean-American film H. is also featured in this category from directors and screenwriters Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia. In H. two women, each named Helen, find their lives spinning out of control after a meteor allegedly explodes over their city of Troy, New York. H.’s screening at Sundance will also mark its world premiere.

Also premiering in the NEXT section is The Strongest Man by Kenny Riches which follows an anxiety-ridden Cuban man who fancies himself the strongest man in the world attempts to recover his most prized possession, a stolen bicycle. On his quest, he finds and loses much more.

Colombian film Liveforever / Que viva la música by director Carlos Moreno will be premiering in the New Frontiers Films section of Sundance. Driven by the music and dancing she finds along the way, a teenager leaves home willing to try anything her provocative and tolerant city has to offer, even if she burns out in the process. Inspired by the best-selling novel "Que viva la música" by Andres Caicedo.

In the Premieres section of the festival, Latin American director Rodrigo García will be presenting his most recent feature Last Days in the Desert in which Ewan McGregor plays Jesus — and the Devil — in an imagined chapter from his 40 days of fasting and praying in the desert. On his way out of the wilderness, Jesus struggles with the Devil over the fate of a family in crisis, setting himself up for a dramatic test.

In the Spotlight section Peruvian director Claudia Llosa will be having the North American premiere of her most recent film Aloft. Starring Jennifer Connelly, the Spanish-French-Canadian co-production tells the story of a struggling mother, Nana, and her evolution to becoming a renowned healer. When a young artist tracks down Nana's son 20 years after she abandoned him, she sets in motion an encounter between the two that will bring the meaning of their lives into question.

The popular film Wild Tales / Relatos salvajes by Damián Szifrón, Argentina's Oscar submission, will also be featured in Spotlight. Inequality, injustice, and the demands of the world cause stress and depression for many people. Some of them, however, explode. This is a movie about those people. Vulnerable in the face of an unpredictable reality, the characters of Wild Tales cross the thin line dividing civilization and barbarism.

The Park City at Midnight will host the world premiere of the gritty psychological thriller Reversal by Mexican director J.M. Cravioto. The film tells the story of a young woman chained in a basement of a sexual predator and manages to escape. However, right when she has a chance for freedom, she unravels a hard truth and decides to turn the tables on her captor.

The 2015 Sundance Film Festival will take place January 22 - February 1 in Park City, Utah.

Slamdance to Host World Premiere of ASCO from Brazil

The Slamdance Film Festival has announced the lineup for its 2015 edition, which includes the World Premiere of Brazilian film Asco (pictured).

Director Ale Paschoalini’s experimental, black and white portrayal dives into a man’s broken heart and the the deep destruction it rattles inside of him. He follows his former love and threatens her routine and lifestyle until it becomes a poisonous obsession for him.

Paschoalini’s first feature film and was funded in part by crowdfunding via Brazil’s version of Kickstarter, Catarse. The Slamdance Film Festival began in 2005 when a group of filmmakers weren’t accepted into the Sundance Film Festival, in turn Slamdance was created as an organization to foster the development of unique and innovative filmmakers.

The 2015 Slamdance Film Festival will take place January 23-29 in Park City, Utah.

In Memoriam: Vicente Leñero

Celebrated and award-winning novelist, journalist, and playwright, Vicente Leñero (pictured) passed away of lung cancer Wednesday in his home in Mexico City at age 81. He began as a novelist, penning his first novel La voz adolorida in 1961 and followed by one of his best known works Los albañiles / The Bricklayers in 1963. 

His theater play Pueblo rechazado launched him into the film world when he decided to adapt it to the big screen, becoming the feature film El monasterio de los buitres (1973), directed by Francisco del Villar. From there on he developed a fruitful career as a screenwriter writing the scripts for 18 feature films, some of them becoming the most influential and popular Mexican films of past 40 years. 

Leñero worked with del Villar again in El llanto de la tortuga (1975). The following year he worked on the film adaptation of his acclaimed novel Los albañiles. The film version directed by Jorge Fons and starring Ignacio López Tarso, Katy Jurado, and José Alonso was released in 1976 and won the Silver Bear (ex aequo) at the Berlin Film Festival 1n 1977. The film portrayed Mexican society of the 1970’s through the eyes of the construction workers.

After the critical acclaim of Los albañiles, Leñero went on to work with filmmaker Roberto Gavaldón in Cuando tejen las arañas (1977), which became the last film of the prolific director. One year later he worked with Arturo Ripstein on the screenplay of Cadena perpetua / In for Life (1978), based on a novel by Luis Spota, which earned him his first Ariel, Mexican Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay.

In 1987 he worked with director Alberto Isaac on Mariana Mariana (pictured left), the film version of José Emilio Pacheco's acclaimed novel Batallas en el desierto. The film marked Leñero's second Ariel nomination and first win. In 1993 he worked with director Alejandro Pelayo on the biopic film Miroslava, which narrated the final days of popular actress Miroslava Stern.  

Leñero worked with Fons again in 1995 writing the script for El callejón de los milagros / Midaq Alley, the film adaptation of the Egyptian novel by the Nobel Prize Winner Naguib Mahfouz which was set in Mexico City. Starring Ernesto Gómez Cruz, María Rojo and Salma Hayek, the film was awarded with numerous prizes at different international film festivals.

In 1999, he worked in the controversial film La ley de Herodes / Herod's Law by Luis Estrada, a political comedy that became a very popular and contested film after some reported attempt of censorship. In 2002, he went on to write the Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated film El crimen del Padre Amaro / The Crime of Father Amarostarring Gael Garcia Bernal, based on a novel by Portuguese writer Eça de Queiroz, which became one of the highest-grossing Mexican films of all time. 

Leñero's last screenplay work was in 2010, working again with Jorge Fons, in El atentado based in Álvaro Uribe's novel.

In Memoriam: Chespirito and Film

Acclaimed Mexican comedian Roberto Gomez Bolaños "Chespirito" died today at the age of 85 in Cancun. Even though he's mostly known and celebrated for the characters he created for television, including "El Chavo del Ocho," and "El Chapulín Colorado" Chespirito also had considerable and popular film career having acted in several films, writing screenplays for several films, and directing a handful of feature films.

As a screenwriter, Gómez Bolaños worked in numerous comedy films between 1959 and 1970. His first incursion into film as an actor was in in 1960 in the comedy film Dos locos en escena directed by Agustín P. Delgado and starring popular comedians Viruta and Capulina. He also appeared in several films including Dos criados malcriados (Agustín P. Delgado, 1960), The Crazy World in Film (José María Fernández Unsaín, 1967), Operación Carambola (Alfredo Zacarías, 1967), and El Zángano (Agustín P. Delgado, 1968).

In 1979, based on the success of his television shows, he wrote and starred in the film El Chanfle (pictured right), directed by Enrique Segoviano. The film follows the adventures of a props of a football team who sees thwarted the dream of having a child after 10 years of marriage. The film was a huge success  at the box office in Mexico and other countries in Latin America. Based on the popularity of the film Chespirito himself wrote and directed the sequel El Chanfle II in 1982. 

He'd direct three other feature films starring the same actors of his popular TV shows: Don Ratón y Don Ratero (1983), Charrito (1994), and Música de viento (1988).

In 1996 he was appointed director of Televicine, the film arm of the Mexican media conglomerate Televisa. In his tenure as director of Televicine the company produced La última llamada (Carlos García Agraz, 1996), Elisa antes del fin del mundo (Juan Antonio de la Riva, 1997), and La primera noche (Alejandro Gamboa, 1998).

AURORA and LA ONCE Awarded at SANFIC

 The Chilean films Aurora by Rodrigo Sepúlveda and La Once (pictured) by Maite Alberdi were the top winners at the 10th edition of the SANFIC Film Festival. Sepúlveda's third feature film was the winner of the award for Best Film in the international competition

The film follows Sofía, a teacher, living in a polluted coastal city who is in the process of adoption of a minor when she reads in the newspaper that a newborn girl was found dead in a landfill. She becomes obsessed with the fate of the creature, which legally has no rights, neither to have a name nor to be buried. Sofia will engage in a legal fight which will have profound consequences on her life.

Alberdi's documentary film La Once was the winner of the award for Best Film and Best Director in the Chilean competition. The film tells the story of six old friends, meet for tea once a month for sixty years. In these meetings, they try to look their best, jovial, as if they had their whole lives ahead of them, trying to momentarily hide the fact that time is inevitably passing for them.

The 10th annual edition of the SANFIC Film Festival took place October 21-26 in Santiago, Chile.

José Cohen and Lorenzo Hagerman Win the Margaret Mead Filmmaker Award

Mexican directors José Cohen and Lorenzo Hagerman are the winners of the 2014 Margaret Mead Filmmaker Award for their feature documentary film H20 MX (pictured), it was announced last night in New York City.

The Margaret Mead Filmmaker Award recognizes documentary filmmakers who embody the spirit, energy, and innovation demonstrated by anthropologist Margaret Mead in her research, fieldwork, films, and writings. The award is given to a filmmaker whose feature documentary displays artistic excellence and originality of storytelling technique while offering a new perspective on a culture or community remote from the majority of the audiences’ experience.

H20 MX is a documentary about the economic, political and geographical difficulties that stand between Mexico City’s 22 million residents and a safe, reliable water supply. The film investigates the daily issues that the megalopolis faces, from dangerous detergent buildup in the clouds to farmers in Mezquital living off wastewater irrigation to Chalco citizens fending off perennial floods. It’s an unsettling but beautiful watch, and a persuasive one, reminding us that sustainability is more than just a buzzword—it’s a philosophy deeply linked to social justice in an urban setting.