Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the U.S., which specializes in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and action films has announced the first wave of films for its 2013 edition, which includes four Latino titles. As it was previously announced, Robert Rodriguez's grindhouse sequel Machete Kills (pictured) has been selected as opening night of the festival.
Machete Kills continues the story of Machete, an ex-Federal agent, who is recruited by the president to take down a madman revolutionary and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has constructed a plan to spread war and anarchy across the planet. Danny Trejo and Alexa Vega are both slated to make appearances for the film.
Halley, the production from Mexico and the Netherlands directed by Sebastian Hoffman, which made its U.S. premiere at Sundance Film Festival, makes its Texas premiere this time. The film details the story of Beto, a security guard in a Mexico City gym who is decomposing and can no longer hide, so he decides to withdraw from the world. Before yielding to his living death, he forms an unusual friendship with Silvia, the manager of the gym where he works as a guard.
Making its North American premiere is the Argentine film, She Wolf / Mujer lobo (pictured right) directed by Tamae Garateguy. The director has described the story an erotic police story featuring edgy situations. The she wolf of the title is a multi-faced serial killer in Buenos Aires who seduces men, takes them to bed first and them immediately to the grave. She continues this pattern until she bumps into a difficult problem. Also making its Texas premiere at the festival is Shaul Schwarz's documentary Narco Cultura, which was featured at the Sundance Film Festival. The film is an explosive look at the drug cartels' pop culture influence on both sides of the border seen through the eyes of an LA narcocorrido singer and a Juarez crime scene on the front line of Mexico's drug war.
Fantastic Fest will run from September 19-26 at the Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline in Austin, Texas.
Potosí (pictured), the directorial debut of Alfredo Castruita won the prize as Best Mexican film at the 16th edition of the Guanajuato Film Festival in Mexico. Potosi, a rural town in Latin America, is the crossfire of the ravaging that has devastated the north of the country. An accident along a deserted road connects three stories, an 82 year old goat herder that has not shot his gun in 40 years, a woman who is a victim of domestic violence and a humble peasant living on guard to protect his family from the country’s war against organized crime.
The Venice Film Festival has announced its complete 2013 lineup for its 70th edition. Even though there are no Latin American films in competition, two Latin American feature films have been selected for the Orizzonti section, 
As it had been previously announced, Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón's film Gravity (pictured), which stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock will not only have its world premiere but open the festival as well. Closing the festival is Thierry Ragobert’s Amazonia, the Brazilian-Franco 3-D documentary is about a domesticated monkey that is released into the wild.
In the July edition of TropicalFRONT on 
Jerónimo Labrada has been appointed as new interim Director of the International School of Film and Television of San Antonio de los Baños (EICTV). The school is facing a tough financial challenge, and as it was previously announced, it has suspended new admissions for the next academic year. According to press reports, the new director has said that the 40 students who were about to start classes in September will be guaranteed spots at the school for 2014. The measure doesn't has an effect on the students currently enrolled. 
The Argentinean 3D computer-animated feature film Metegol / Foosball (pictured) by Academy Award-winning director Juan José Campanella became the local film with the highest-grossing opening day in the country, selling about 108,000 tickets in its debut on Thursday, July 18.
The film tells the story of Amadeo, a shy but talented boy, and of a foosball team that is trying to get back together after having been dismantled. With the help of the foosball players, Amadeo will have to face his most terrible rival on the football pitch: Grosso. Guided by their leader, the charismatic Right Winger, the foosball players and Amadeo will set off on a great adventure together, like a true team, to get back the dignity that Grosso stole from them. The original song of the film was composed and performed by Puerto Rican duo Calle 13. 
