Strand Releasing Acquires Karim Aïnouz's PRAIA DO FUTURO

IndieWIRE has reported on Strand Releasing's acquisition of the North American rights to the Brazilian film Futuro Beach / Praia do Futuro (pictured), the most recent film by Karim Aïnouz, which had its world premiere at the last edition of the Berlin Film Festival last February.

Starring Wagner Moura (Elite Squad, Elysium), Clemens Schick and Jesuita Barbosa, the film tells the story of Donato, a lifeguard (played by Moura) who rescues a German tourist from drowning at the Praia de Futuro in Brazil. As the two try and locate the body of Konrad's friend, they embark on a steamy romance. The lovers face problems when Donato decides to leave his home and family to join Konrad in Berlin.

"We're thrilled to work with Karim again. Not only is he a longtime friend of our company, but someone we've worked with previously with on Love for Sale as well as his short films," said Marcus Hu of Strand Releasing as reported by indieWIRE.

Strand Releasing recently announced the acquisition of another Brazilian film, The Way He Looks / Hoje eu quero voltar sozinho, the debut feature film by Daniel Ribeiro, which also premiered at Berlin, and is scheduled for a theatrical release this fall in the U.S. No release date for Aïnouz's Praia do Futuro was announced yet.

Cinema23 Launches Fénix Award for Ibero-American Cinema

Cinema23, an association created to promote the film culture of Latin America, Spain and Portugal, recently unveiled the Fénix Awards for Ibero-American Cinema, which will be presented for the first time in October 2014 in Mexico City.

In an event that took place at the Cannes Film Festival few days ago, the association made the official  announcement of the Fénix Awards with the participation of Ricardo Giraldo, director of Cinema23; Rodrigo Peñafiel, executive director of the awards; and the actresses Maria de Medeiros, Alice Braga, Ana de la Reguera and Paz Vega (pictured).

“We have a great diversity of cinemas with different languages and structures, which we fail to enjoy in our countries and in many cases reflects part of who we are. The activities that we hold at Cinema23 help develop a complicity and a closer relationship between the audience and the filmmakers," said Giraldo. "Therefore, it is important to have a platform that give us greater visibility so people learn what we do. This is the reason behind the creation of the Fénix Awards."

The Fénix Awards for Ibero-American Cinema will be presented by more than 350 film professionals from Latin America, U.S.A., Europe and Canada, in 12 different categories and four special awards. 

Some of the Cinema23 members include filmmakers Karim Aïnouz, José Carlos Avellar, Hector Babenco, Demian Bichir, Sebastián Cordero, Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro, Amat Escalante, Gael García Bernal, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Iván Giroud, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Salma Hayek, Pablo Larraín , Sebastián Lelio, Emmanuel Lubezki , Diego Luna, Fernando Meirelles, Wagner Moura, Luis Ospina, Fito Paez, Edgar Ramírez, Carlos Reygadas, Catalina Sandino, Ilda Santiago, Rodrigo Santoro, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Juan Carlos Tabío, and Monika Wagenberg.

The maiden ceremony of the Fénix Award will be held in October 2014 in Mexico City and will be broadcast live on E! Entertainment Television.

LA JAULA DE ORO Tops Mexico's Ariel Awards

La jaula de oro / The Golden Dream (pictured), the debut feature film by Spanish-born director Diego Quemada Diez was the big winner at the 56th edition of Mexico's Ariel Awards winning in nine of the 14 categories for which was nominated, including the prizes for Best Film and Best First Film.

La jaula de oro, which narrates the odyssey of three young Central American immigrants in their journey through Mexico in their way to the United States, was also awarded with the prize for Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.

The non-professional cast was also awarded with acting awards, Rodolfo Domínguez was the winner of the Ariel for Best Supporting Actor and Guatemalan-born Brandon López (pictured below right) was the recipient of the Ariel for Best Actor.

The award for Best Director was presented to Amat Escalante for his acclaimed film Heli. The Best Documentary award went to Roberto Fiesco's Quebranto, while the Chilean film Gloria by Sebastián Lelio was the winner of the Ariel for Best Ibero-American film. Actors Ernesto Gómez Cruz and Ignacio López Tarso, as well as director Arturo Ripstein were presented with the Golden Ariel Awards for their film careers.

The winners of the 56th Ariel Awards were presenting this evening at a ceremony at the Fine Arts Palace in Mexico City.

Meet All the Latin American Short Film Winners of the Palme d'Or [Video]

   

The Palme d'Or for the Colombian short Leidi by Simón Mesa is a benchmark for the South American country at the Cannes Film Festival, and marks the third time a Latin American film wins the top prize at the French festival in the short film competition.

The very first Latin American short film to be awarded at the French Riviera was the Brazilian short film Di Cavalcanti by Cinema Novo master Glauber Rocha in 1977. The experimental documentary short, which is about the funeral of Brazilian painter Di Cavalcanti, was awarded with the Special Jury Prize.

Few years later, in 1982, another Brazilian film would repeat with the same Special Jury prize: the animated short film Meow by Marcos Magalhães. In this short film, two people are arguing because of a cat: one of them has some milk to offer to, while the other tries to persuade it to drink dark colored exotic refreshments. In the end, the first person is victorious but discovers that the cat no longer meows in the same language.

It was in 1994 that a Latin American film would win the Palme d'Or for Best Short Film for the first time, the honors went to Carlos Carrera for his animated short film El héroe / The Heroe. In the five minute short, a man watches a girl acting strange in the subway platform. He realizes that she might commit suicide by jumping into the tracks, and tries to stop her, but one never knows where a good deed might take you.

Over a decade later, the short film Primera nieve by Pablo Agüero was awarded the Special Jury Prize in 2006. The film is about a young woman with her child in an isolated hut during a hard winter. She is fighting for their survival. He is fighting to get affection. Driven by their own urgencies, they are unaware they could die before the snow comes.

Just one year later, a Mexican short film would be awarded with the Palme d'Or for the second time. Elisa Miller's Ver llover / Watching It Rain won the top prize in 2007. In the film, two teenagers (played by Diego Cataño and Sofía Espinosa) live in a little Mexican town. Sofia wants to leave. Jonas has to decide whether to stay or leave with her.

Watch Elisa Miller's Ver llover (Mexico, 2006):

Watch Carlos Carrera's El héroe (Mexico, 1994):

Watch Marcos Magalhães' Meow (Brazil, 1981): 

Watch Glauber Rocha's Di Cavalcanti (Brazil, 1977, no subtitles):

Colombian Short Film Wins Palme d'Or at Cannes

Leidi by Colombian director Simón Mesa Soto (pictured with jury president Abbas Kiarostami) was the winner of the Palme d'Or for Best Short film at the 67th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, setting a benchmark for Colombia at the influential French festival.

Starring Alejandro Montoya and Héctor Orrego, the film tells the story of Leidi, who lives with her mom and her baby. Her boyfriend, Alexis, hasn't shown up in days. That sunny morning, after she bathed her baby, Leidi was sent to buy plantains. Outiside, a guy tells her he has seen Alexis with another girl. Leidi won’t return home until she finds the father of her child.

The previous Latin American director to win the Palme d'Or for Best Short Film was Elisa Miller from Mexico with Ver llover in 2007. The 28 year-old Mesa Sota was born in Medellín and he studied Communications at the Universidad de Antioquia and at the London Film School where he developed Leidi as his thesis project, which is presented as a Colombian-British co-production film. 

Even though most of the feature Latin American films participating at the festival received great critical acclaim, the filmmakers from the region received received few awards this year. Brazilian director Julian Ribeiro Salgado, along with German director Wim Wenders, received a Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section for their documentary film Salt of the Earth, a tribute to his father, the famed photographer Sebastião Salgado. Lisandro Alonso's Jauja, one of the best reviewed films at Cannes this year and a top contender at the Un Certain Regard, had to settle with one of the ecumenical Critics Prize.

The 67th edition of the Cannes Film Festival took place May 14-25 in the French Riviera.

Cannes 2014: Latin American Report

As the 67th edition of the famed Cannes Film Festival winds down, the five selected Latin American films competing in the different sections have all premiered by now. 2014 will be marked as another solid year for Latin American cinema at Cannes -even though the region was only represented by Argentina and Colombia in this edition.

The Latin American film that has gotten the most critical acclaim is Lisandro Alonso's Jauja. The fifth feature film by the Argentinean director is participating in Un Certain Regard, and it has been one of the best reviewed film in the festival so far. Starring and produced by Viggo Mortensen, in Jauja, a father and daughter journey from Denmark to an unknown desert that exists in a realm beyond the confines of civilization.

"We have in Jauja the most beautiful scenes we've seen since the beginning of the festival" wrote Le Monde, while the Hollywood Reporter noted that "its reception in Cannes' Certain Regard was ecstatic." "The effect is nothing if not poetic," wrote Screen.

Damián Szifron's Relatos salvajes / Wild Tales, the only Latin American film competing in the official selection, was also well received getting a long and loud standing ovation and with (mostly) enthusiastic reviews. "A little bit Almodovar, a little bit Tarantino (...) Wild Tales is loose-limbed, rowdy and exhilarating" wrote Village Voice's Stephanie Zacharek on the the Argentinean film starring Ricardo Darín, Darío Grandinetti and Leonardo Sbaraglia.

Vulnerable before a reality that can suddenly be modified and become unpredictable, the characters of Wild Tales cross the thin line that divides civilization from brutality. A story about love deception, the return of the past, a tragedy, or even the violence contained in an everyday detail, appear themselves to push them towards the abyss, into the undeniable pleasure of losing control.

Szifron's feature film has been acquired for U.S. distribution by Sony Pictures Classic, so the ingredients are in the table for the film to make a big international splash. 

Participating in the Directors' Fortnight independent section, Diego Lerman's fourth feature film Refugiado was also received warmly by the press. In Refugiado, Matias and his mother Laura, find themselves forced to hurriedly abandon the house they live in to escape another outburst of violence from Fabian. Matias is 8 and Laura is newly pregnant. Thus they begin a wandering journey in search of a place they can feel safe and protected. They embark on an unusual road-movie of everyday life, a drama shot through with great humanity. Hollywood Reporter hailed it as a "poignant, admirably executed, and touchingly performed by its two leads."

Participating in the International Critics' Week parallel section as the only Latin American selection, was the Colombian-French production Gente de bien by Franco Lolli's. In the film Eric, 10, finds himself almost overnight living with Gabriel, his father, who he barely knows. The man has trouble keeping their heads above water and building a relationship with his son. Maria Isabel, the woman Gabriel works for as a carpenter, decides to take the child under her wing.

Last, but not least, the Argentinean film El ardor / Ardor by Pablo Fendrik was premiered out-of-competition in the official selection. Starring and produced by Mexican actor Gael García Bernal -who is also participating as a member of the jury this year, as a mysterious man who emerges from the Argentinean rainforest to rescue the kidnapped daughter (played by Brazilian actress Alice Braga) of a poor farmer after mercenaries murder her father and take over his property. The film received some lukewarm reviews from Variety and the Hollywood Reporter.

Additionally and even though it's not officially Latin American production, German director Wim Wenders premiered in Un Certain Regard his most recent film Salt of the Earth, a documentary celebrating the work of Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, which he co-directed with Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, the phorographer's son. Hailed as a "stunning visual ode" by Variety's Jay Weissberg, the film also received an enthusiastic standing ovation.

The awards for the 67th edition will be announced this weekend, we can only hope any of the above film productions will be awarded. 

Photos: FDC