In Memoriam: Carlos Fuentes and Film

Filmmaker Luis Buñuel with Carlos Fuentes

Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, the country's most celebrated novelist, died today in Mexico City at the age of 83. Throughout his prolific literary career he had some fruitful and influential relationship to Mexican cinema. Fuentes’ first foray into screenwriting happened in 1964 with the film El gallo de oro / The Golden Cockerel by Roberto Gavaldón which was based on Juan Rulfo’s story.

Fuentes had some participation in the group Nuevo Cine, a cinephile group formed in the early sixties by young artists and intellectuals and aspiring filmmakers that were influenced by the French New Wave. The group established a very influential journal that laid the ground for a new generation of film critics.

During the rest of the sixties, Fuentes continued to be active as a screenwriter. He wrote the scripts for Los bien amados / Un alma pura (1965), and Amor, Amor / Las dos Elenas (1965) both based on his own stories and directed by Juan Ibáñez. He also collaborated with Gabriel García Márquez on the script of Tiempo de morir / Time to Die (1966), Arturo Ripstein’s debut feature film based on García Márquez story.

That same year he also worked as screenwriter for Carlos Velos’ adaptation of the milestone novel by Juan Rulfo Pedro Páramo (1967) starring John Gavin. He worked with Ibáñez again on the script of Los Caifanes / The Outsiders (1967) and few years later he worked with Felipe Cazals on his film Aquellos años (1972).

Fuentes also forayed into directing in 1974, along with Héctor Casillas, he co-directed and co-wrote the short film Enigma compartido. The miniseries The Oil Conspiracy / Complot petróleo (1981) directed by Paul Leduc and based on Fuentes novel La cabeza de la hiedra, was the writer's last screenplay work. 

Additionally, some other work of Fuentes was also adapted to the big screen including the Italian film La strega en amore (1966) by Damiano Damiani based on his novel Aura; and Gringo Viego / Old Gringo (1988), based on his novel of the same name, directed by Argentinean filmmaker Luis Puenzo and starring Gregory Peck and Jane Fonda.

Fuentes was married to film actress Rita Macedo between 1959 and 1973 –with whom he had his only surviving daughter, and reportedly he had affairs with actresses Jeanne Moreau and Jean Seberg.

Colombian Cinema Is Ready for Its Close-up

By Carlos A. Gutiérrez

After more than a decade, Latin American cinema has surprisingly not shown signs of weariness just yet. It’s as vital and vibrant as it was in the late nineties with the emergence of the “New Argentine Cinema,” which heralded an impressive era for filmmaking from the region. One reason why Latin American film is still going strong lays in the fact that it’s been constantly nourished by the talent of young filmmakers emerging from different countries. In addition to Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Brazil, and more recently Chile, among other nations, have all contributed to this unprecedented era for Latin American cinema. Next up at bat: Colombia.

Two factors have been key for the consolidation of Colombian cinema: the 2003 film law and the Cartagena Film Festival. Following on the footsteps of other Latin American countries, Colombia passed a comprehensive film law in 2003, which offered tax incentives to film production, as well as the creation of a film development fund (Fondo para el Desarrollo Cinematográfico) to support local projects. This legal structure proved to be key to support the incipient local film community and to secure funds for film productions.

Secondly, the Cartagena de Indias International Film Festival (FICCI), the longest-running film festival in Latin America, has also proved key in the consolidation of the local film community. The festival was founded in 1959 by Víctor Nieto, who remained its director until his death in 2008. In 2010, Monika Wagenberg was appointed as new director of the festival and tasked to remake FICCI a major international platform for Colombian cinema (for full disclosure, Monika and I are co-founders of Cinema Tropical).

The coming-of-age of Colombian cinema can be testified by the fact that this year two films will represent the country at the Cannes Film Festival: Juan Andrés Arango’s La Playa D.C., selected for the Un Certain Regard Section of the festival, and William Vega’s La Sirga competing at the Directors’ Fortnight section.

La Playa D.C. tells the story of Tomás, an Afro-Colombian teenager who fled the country’s war-torn Pacific coast, yet faces new difficulties of growing up in Bogotá, a city of exclusion and racism. La Sirga is the story of Alicia, who escaping armed violence ends up in La Sirga with the last relative she has left. Both films participated in the co-production meetings at FICCI.

Last year, Alejandro Landes' Porfirio was the big story of Colombian cinema, having premiered at Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes to great critical acclaim and winning numerous awards internationally, from the prize as Best Film Director and Best Colombian Film at the 2012 edition FICCI to the Golden Peacock at the Goa Film Festival. The film was recently seen at New Directors/New Films Festival in New York City.

Two other films that were showcased at Cartagena this past February and are currently touring the international film circuit are Jhonny Hendrix Hinestroza’s Chocó and Carlos Osuna’s Gordo, calvo y bajito / Fat, Bald Short Man. The former tells the story of a Chocó (played by Karent Hinestroza, wife of the director) a woman from the rural areas of the Pacific north coast of the country who is subjugated by her husband and the dominant male tradition, had its world premiere at the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival. The latter is an animated feature film about a lonesome, middle-aged bureaucrat who endures the constant torment at the hands of coworkers and his bullying brother.

Other noteworthy recent titles are from first-time Colombian directors are: Jairo Carillo’s animated film Pequeñas voces / Little Voices; the Sundance-selection Todos tus muertos / All Your Dead Ones by Carlos Moreno; Gabriel Rojas Vera’s Karen llora en el bus / Karen Cries on the Bus; as well as the multi-award-winning films El vuelco del cangrejo / Crab Trap by Oscar Ruiz Navia and Los viajes del viento / The Wind Journeys by Ciro Guerra.

Not only is Colombian cinema is finding its way through the international film festival circuit, some filmmakers have also found local support in the box office. Andi Baiz’s thriller La cara oculta / The Hidden Face released earlier this year had a very good performance at the local box office. That was also the case of Harold Trompetero’s popular comedy El Paseo; Juan Felipe Orozco’s Me saludas al diablo de mi parte / Greetings to the Devil, and Jaime Osorio’s horror film El Páramo / The Squad, which were some of the highest-grossing Colombian films from last year.

Encouraging, too, is the fact that most of the works referred above are first films, which is telling of the diversity of this young generation of directors. It will be crucial that these filmmakers can consolidate a career making a second, third, and more films. Yet for the existing talent and current favorable conditions, it seems Colombia is bound to be the next headliner in world cinema.

Carlos A. Gutiérrez is Co-Founder and Director of Cinema Tropical.

Film Society of Lincoln Center Will Feature Mexico's Cinema Planeta

Greens Screens, the Film Society of Lincoln Center's series programmed by Isa Cucinotta and Marian Masone which addressesthrough film the vital environmental concerns of global warming, the safety of our food supply, sustainable living, among other issues, has announced a special collaboration with Cinema Planeta, International Environment Film Festival of Mexico to take place June 1-3 at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center's amphitheater. The program will consist of the screening of 12 films, from Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Spain, among other countries, some of them in their New York Premiere.

Green Screens:Cinema Planeta will feature the Mexican documentaries Canícula (pictured) by José Álvarez; Silvestre Pantaleón by Roberto Olivarez and Jonathan Amith; as well as the Argentine documentary Yatasto by Hermes Paralluelo and the Brazilian documentary Within the River, Among the Trees / No meio do rio, entre as árvores by Jorge Bodanzky, among others. For the complete lineup and more information visit the Film Society of Lincoln Center's website.

Patricia Riggen's GIRL IN PROGRESS Breaks into the Box Office Top Ten

The film Girl in Progress (pictured) by LA-based Mexican director Patricia Riggen made it to the top ten list of the weekend's box office in the United States by having grossed $1.4 million dollars in its opening weekend. Starring Eva Mendez, Cierra Ramirez, Matthew Modine and Eugenio Derbez, the film was released by Pantelion Films, the Lionsgate and Televisa joint venture. Riggen's becomes the fifth film released by Pantelion that has passed the one million mark after Casa de mi Padre; Saving Private Perez; No eres tú, soy yo; and From Prada to Nada, since the company's creation in 2010.

Girl in Progress, Riggen's follow-up to her debute feature Under the Same Moon / La misma luna is a coming-of-age tale that tells the story of Ansiedad (played by Ramirez) who has to learn to cope with her mom, a single mom who's too busy jugging work, bills and a love affair. According to Variety, Riggen will direct the English-language version of the 2005 Argentine hit Elsa and Fred.

REPORTERO Selected for Human Rights Watch Film Festival

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival announced today the line-up for its 2012 line-up, which features the New York premiere of Bernardo Ruiz's documentary Reportero (pictured) as the only Latin American film participating in this year's festival. The film, which had its US premiere recently at the Full Frame Film Festival follows veteran reporter Sergio Haro and his colleagues at Zeta, a Tijuana, Mexico-based weekly, as they report over one of the most controversial and dangerous issues: drug war fare.

Ruiz's film is released at a time when Mexico has experienced an alarming increase in attacks and threats against journalists and human rights defenders. In the past week alone, there were seven killings of journalists. Whenever they try to report anything involving Mexico's "war on drugs," an issue that has not been adequately investigated, journalists are threatened, attacked, tortured, and even killed.

Filmmaker Bernardo Ruiz along with film subjects Sergio Haro and Adela Navarro will be in attendance for Q&As after the June 22 and 23 screenings. The Human Rights Watch Film Festival will run from June 14 to 28 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City. For complete information and visit Human Rights Watch Film Festival's website.

Marcelo Panozzo Appointed as New Director of BAFICI

The Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival (BAFICI) announced today that film critic Marcelo Panozzo will replace Sergio Wolf as the Artistic Director of the festival. Wolf served as the leader for the Argentine festival for five editions. Since its creation in 1999, BAFICI became one of the leading film festivals in Latin America, and played a critical role in the consolidation of the so-called New Argentinean Cinema which has launched the career of numerous filmmakers that have garnered international acclaim. 

Panozzo has worked as journalist and film critic for the Sur and Clarín newspapers, he also wrote some screenplays and is currently and editor for local publishing house. He has previously worked as programmer for BAFICI. The festival recently held its 14 edition last April in which the Israeli film Policeman by Nadav Lapid took the prize for Best International Film whilst Gastón Solnicki's Papirosen was awarded the prize for Best FIlm in the Argentinean category.