A Mexican and a Brazilian Director Selected to Sundance Labs

Writer-directors  Fernando Frías from Mexico and Gabriela Amaral Almeida from Brazil have been selected as part of the 13 projects for the 2014 Sundance Institute's Directors and Screenwriters Labs, as it was announced today. The Labs will take place at the Sundance Resort in Utah from May 26 through June 26. The Labs are the centerpiece of the Institute’s year-round work with narrative feature filmmakers and are part of 10 residential labs the Institute will host for artists this summer, collectively representing the most promising new independent film and theater projects.

Born and raised in Mexico City, Fernando Frias currently attends Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts as a Fulbright Scholar. His first feature, Rezeta, won the Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2014 Slamdance Film Festival. His project I’m No Longer Here Following the death of his older brother, a teenage Mexican boy is forced by his mother to migrate to New York City. When he arrives, he quickly realizes that the violence plaguing his home is nothing compared to the feelings of alienation and loneliness he experiences in America.

Gabriela Amaral Almeida has directed seven short films, including The Comforting Hand and One Spring, which have screened at over 80 international film festivals. She has worked as a screenwriter for directors including Cao Hamburger, Sérgio Machado, and Marcia Faria, and is currently writing the screenplay for Walter Salles’ next feature. She's participating at the Sundance lab with the project The Father’s Shadow, about A nine-year-old girl with strange powers and an obsession with horror films attempts to bring her mother back from the dead as a means of connecting with her sick father.

Since its founding in 1981, the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program (FFP) has supported an extensive list of leading-edge independent films including Lucrecia Martel’s La Cienaga and Walter Salles’ Central Station.

Brazilian Film Fest of NY Announces Lineup for 12th Edition

The Brazilian Film Festival returns to New York City for its twelfth year with an exciting lineup of 13 films, most of them in their New York premiere, and with a special tribute to Bossa Nova composer Vinicius de Moraes, co-writer of the worldwide hit song "Garota de Ipanema" (The Girl from Ipanema), in honor of the centenary of his birth. Presented by the Inffinito Grupo, the 12th edition of the festival will take place June 1-7 at the Tribeca Cinemas and Central Park's SummerStage.

This year’s lineup includes Fernando Coimbra’s acclaimed debut feature film A Wolf at the Door (pictured right), which has won numerous awards at different film festivals including the Grand Jury Prize for Best Film and Best Director at Miami, Best Film at Rio de Janeiro, Best First Film at Havana, Best Director at Guadalajara, and Best Latin American Film at San Sebastian.

The Brazilian Film Festival will also present the New York premiere of another highly praised debut feature film, Tatoo (pictured right) by Hilton Lacerda. Hailed as “bouncy and thought-provoking” (The Hollywood Reporter), the film is set in the last years of Brazil's dictatorship, and it was the winner of the Best Film award at the Gramado Film Festival, as well as a favorite at the Palm Springs and Rio de Janeiro film festivals.

Two films will be screened in honor of Vinicius de Moraes: Orfeu, Carlos Diegues’ film set in Rio during carnival and based on Vinicius’s re-telling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, and Miguel Farias’ Vinicius, the documentary feature film based on de Moraes’ life and work.

Mexican CATFISH Opens in NYC and LA [Updated]

Los insólitos peces gato / The Amazing Catfish (pictured) the acclaimed debut feature by Mexican director Claudia Sainte-Luce will have a theatrical run both in New York City and Los Angeles this June by the hand of distribution company Strand Releasing.

The film opens on Friday, June 13 at the Village East Cinema in Manhattan, and a week later, on Friday, June 20 at the Laemmle's Noho 7 and Playhouse 7 in Los Angeles.

Starring Lisa Owen, Ximena Ayala and Sonia Franco, The Amazing Catfish is a heartwarming tale of two unique women who bond while recuperating in a hospital. Martha, a mother of four rambunctious and imaginative children, finds solace when she meets the younger woman, Claudia, and quickly the two build a strong relationship. When Martha invites Claudia to live with her family, Claudia unwittingly takes on the responsibility of becoming a surrogate mother to Martha’s children.

Since its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival last summer, the film has won numerous awards including Best Film at the Baja Interntational Film Festival, the International Critics' Award at Toronto, and the Junior Jury Award at Locarno International Film Festival.

Watch the trailer:

Argentinean and Cuban Films Awarded at Jeonju in Korea

Historia del miedo / History of Fear (pictured), the directorial debut by Argentine director Benjamin Naishtat was the winner of the top prize for Best Film in the international competition at the 15th edition of the Jeonju Film Festival, which is South Korea's biggest indie film event. The award comes with a cash prize of approximately $19,000 USD.

Set in an economically destabilized Argentina, History of Fear weaves stories of characters from multiple social strata into an interlocking narrative of paranoia and fear. The isolation of wealth and detachment from neighbors causes insecurities to fester, feeding a “security consumption” culture and all its incumbent paraphernalia.

Additionally, the Cuban film Hotel Nueva Isla by Irene Gutiérrez and Javier Labrador was the recipient of the Special Jury Award in the international competition, with a cash prize of $6,000 USD. A documentary-fiction hybrid, the film is about the formerly luxurious Hotel Nueva Isla, which now in ruins, is a shelter for people living on the fringes of society. Jorge, a solitary government functionary retired who is losing his memory, spends his time locked up in the building until the evacuation becomes imminent.

In total four Latin American films -out of ten, were included in the international competition.

Chilean Film TO KILL A MAN Wins IndieLisboa

The Chilean film Matar a un hombre / To Kill a Man (pictured) by Alejandro Fernández Almendras was the winner of the top prize City of Lisbon for Best Film at the 11th edition of the IndieLisboa film festival. The award comes with a cash prize of 10,000 euros.

Fernández Almendras' third feature film tells the story of Jorge, a quiet, middle-class family man whose neighborhood has become overrun by a fringe class of street thugs. His comparatively fortunate existence makes him the target of their intimidation one night, and a hulking outlaw robs him of his insulin needle. Jorge’s teenage son boldly tries to stand up for his father, which only serves to unleash the bully’s terrorizing reign of threats upon the family.

The Chilean film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival last January where it won the prize for Best Film in the world cinema narrative competition.

Additionally, the Brazilian film Pouco Mais de um Mês by André Novais Oliveira received a Special Mention in the international competition. The 11th edition of IndieLisboa took place April 24 - May 4 in Portugal.

Latin American Films Awarded at Visions du Réel

The Mexican documentary film Café (pictured) by Hatuey Viveros was the winner of the top prize for Best Film in the international competition at the 20th edition of the Visions du Réel Film Festival in Nyons, Switzerland. 

In a statement the members of the jury "The extremely sensitive film by Hatuey Viveros shows the relationship between emancipation and tradition, between proximity and separation in the heart of an indigenous family." The award comes with a cash prize of approximately $22,000 USD. Vivero's film was also presented with a Special Mention in the Interreligious Award in the international competition.

Café, is set in the town of San Miguel Tzinacapan, in Puebla’s Nahua Mountain Range, where a family has lost its father. His absence transforms the lives of those who were so deeply connected to him. Tere, now in charge of the family, must make money by selling crafts. Jorge is about to finish school and will soon have to choose his own path. Chayo, 16, must make an important decision. A year has passed, and the members of the family have been able to redefine themselves, finding their own destiny while always venerating their father’s memory.

Other Latin American winners at this year's edition of Visions du Réel include the Chilean documentary Propaganda by the collective MAFI which was awarded with the George Foundation Jury Prize for the most innovative medium-lenght film in the international competition, with a cash prize of approximately $5,700 USD; and the Paraguayan-Swiss co-production El tiempo nublado (pictured right) by Arami Ullón which was awarded the prize for Best First Feature in the New Perspective competition with $11,300 USD approximately and a Special Mention in the Swiss competition.

The Brazilian-Belgian documentary PS Sao Paulo by Leni Huyghe, was the winner of of the Young Audience Award for Best Film in the 'First Step' competition with a cash prize of about $3,400 USD.

The 20th edition of the Swiss festival took place April 25th - May 3rd.