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.

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.