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.

TOP CAT Becomes the Highest Grossing Mexican Debut Ever

The Mexican-Argentinean animated feature film Don Gato y su Padilla / Top Cat became the highest grossing Mexican debut at the box office, in its record breaking opening weekend. The film directed by Alberto Mar was released last Friday, September 16th with 492 prints nationwide, and went to earn over $40 million pesos (around $3 million USD) in the box office landing in the first place of the top ten.

Don Gato claimed the record breaking title over the 2002 release of The Crime of Father Amaro / El crimen del Padre Amaro by Carlos Carrera. The film, is based on the American cartoon created by the Hanna-Barbera team in 1961, and since it premiered in Latin America dubbed in Spanish, became an instant hit more than in the U.S.

Latin America Picks its Candidates for the Oscar

This week several Latin American countries selected their candidate films to represent each country in the Best Foreign Language Film for the 84th edition of the Oscars. It was announced that Gerardo Naranjo's Miss Bala (pictured) will represent Mexico, José Padilha's Tropa de elite 2: O Enemigo Agora é Outro / Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within will be competing for Brazil, Andres Wood's Violeta se fue a los Cielos for Chile. Additionally Daniel and Diego Vega's Octubre / October is Peru's selection; Colombia is sending Carlos César Arbelaez's The Colors of the Mountain / Los colores de la montaña; and Alejandro Bellame's The Rumbles of the Stones / Los rumores de las piedras the will compete for Venezuela. The 84th edition of the annual Academy Awards ceremony will take place on February 26th, 2012 at the Kodak Theater in L.A.

Guadalajara Film Fest Launches Satellite Showcase in LA

The Guadalajara Film Festival has announced the creation of a new and annual satellite program to take place in Los Angeles. The first edition, under the name of CIMEXLA, Mexican Cinema: Guadalajara International Film Festival in Los Angeles will take place September 8th through the 11th at the Egyptian Theater. The series will present seven feature films including the US Premiere of Paula Markovitch's El Premio (pictures), Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas' Jean Gentil, Patricia Martínez de Velasco's Aquí entre nos and Sergio Arau's Naco es chido. Additionally the lineup is completed with a program of short films and a panel on filmmakers working in Mexico and LA with the participation of actor Demián Bichir, director Roberto Sneider and producer Pablo Cruz. This showcase joins the Hola Mexico Film Festival as vehicles for the screening of recent Mexican film productions in LA.