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LA Latino Intl FF 2011 Celebrates Quinceañera
- Details
- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Wednesday, 13 July 2011 05:00
- Written by L E Shannon
The 15th Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival is screening July 17 - 25, 2011 
at the Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood, California.
The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) was founded in 1997 by producer/director/actor and activist Edward James Olmos and independent producer Marlene Dermer. LALIFF is a non-profit 501c(3) organization with the mission to support the development and exhibition of diverse visions by Latino filmmakers.
LALIFF 2011 celebrates its quinceañera with feature films, documentaries, shorts, and special screenings, with selected musical events. There will also be conversations with artists and panels presented by the Writers Guild of America, West and Directors Guilds of America.
The GABI Award was created in 1997 to honor legendary Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, the first Mexican cinematographer to be nominated for an Oscar for his work in Night of the Iguana.
This year, LALIFF presents the Gabi Lifetime Achievement Award to Academy Award winner Guillermo Navarro. Navarro‛s work includes:
- The recently completed The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn
- I Am Number Four
- Hellboy II: The Golden Army
- The Devil‛s Backbone
- Pan‛s Labyrinth, for which he won the Oscar for Best Cinematography.
Film highlights are:
Without Men
directed by Gabriela Tagliavini
based on Tales from the Town of Widows by Colombian novelist James Canon
starring Eva Longoria, Kate Del Castillo, Maria Conchita Alonso, Christian Slater, Monica Huarte
All of the men in a small, remote Latin American mountain village are recruited to go fight in the country’s civil war. Left to fend for themselves, the women of the town evolve from their supporting roles as wives and daughters to "become unwitting founders of a remarkable new society: an all-female utopia. When the men, led by an American reporter, return to try to reclaim their power, a clash of sexes ensues with unsuspected consequences."
All She Can
directed by Amy Wendel
starring Corina Calderon, Jeremy Ray Valdez, Joseph Julian Soria
Known at Sundance as Benavides Born, this retitled film is the story of a young girl‛s attempts to outgrow her small South Texas town by becoming a powerlifting champion.
Maya Entertainment, a distributor that caters to Latino and multicultural audiences, acquired the film for US theatrical release. Recut after its Sundance debut, the film will be released under the title All She Can.
Harlistas: an American Journey
directed by Alfredo de Villa
A documentary about the Latino Harley-Davidson culture.
Hidalgo, La Historia Jamás Contada / Hidalgo, The Never Told Story
directed by Antonio Serrano (Mexico)
starring Demián Bichir, Ana de la Reguera
From his jail cell at Chihuahua's Military Hospital, Hidalgo begins to remember moments of his life.
A Tiro de Piedra / A Stone’s Throw Away
directed by Sebastián Hiriart (feature debut) (Mexico)
"A shepherd in the north of Mexico one day finds a keychain. Seeing it as a sign, he will undertake a trip that will take him on a journey of hundreds of miles."
La Vida De Los Peces / The Life of Fish
directed by Matías Bize (Chile)
starring Santiago Cabrera (Heroes), Blanca Lewin, Antonia Zegers
A journalist returns to his home and re-discovers the past he had chosen to forget.
Post Mortem
directed by Pablo Larraín (Chile)
starring Marcelo Alonso, Alfredo Castro, Amparo Noguera
In 1973 Chile, during the last days of Allende's reign, a morgue employee falls for a burlesque dancer who mysteriously disappears.
Todos Tus Muertos
directed by Carlos Moreno (Chile)
starring Fernando Lara, Alvaro Rodríguez
A peasant gets up and goes out to work on his land as usual. He finds a pile of corpses in his crops, and runs to tell the authorities. But it‛s Sunday, Election Day, and nobody seems to care.
Los Colores De La Montaña / The Colors of the Mountain
directed by Carlos Arbeláez (Chile)
starring Genaro Aristizábal, Natalia Cuéllar, Hernán Méndez
A 9-year-old boy dreams of becoming a great goalkeeper in football.
La Hora Cero
directed by Diego Velasco (Venezuela)
starring Zapata 666, Amanda Key, Erich Wildpret
This action thriller follows a hitman trying to save his pregnant girlfriend during a health care strike in 1996.
Boleto Al Paraíso / Ticket to Paradise
directed by Gerardo Chijona (Cuba/Spain/Venezuela)
This film explores the journey of two runaways -- one escaping sexual abuse, the other running from the law. They decide to take refuge in an AIDS hospice.
La Mirada Invisible / The Invisible Eye
directed by Diego Lerman (Argentina)
Set against the backdrop of Argentina’s military regime of the 1980s, a lonely and deeply repressed assistant teacher at an elite Buenos Aires private school becomes obsessed with one of her students, despite "the school's rigid code of conduct and proud identification with the nation state."
La Maleta Mexicana / The Mexican Suitcase
directed by Trisha Ziff
This unique documentary tells of three lost boxes found in a closet in Mexico City in 2007. They had disappeared in the chaos in Europe at the beginning of World War II. The contents were 4,500 unique negatives by some of the world’s greatest photographers: Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and David "Chim" Seymour. A story of how these radical journalists united to fight fascism with their cameras, changing the way war is reported today.
Chico & Rita
directed by Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal, Tono Errando
This award winning animated story takes place in late 1940s Cuba. "Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. He meets Rita a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites them but their journey brings heartache and torment. A gem of a film with music by Cuban maestro, Bebo Valdez."
Also included in the Festival is 100 Sones Cubanos, by Grammy nominated composer Edesio Alejandro. This is a "wonderful journey of music and history of the Son through Cuba’s countryside and cities."
Some of the panels are:
The Business of Entertainment – Breaking in and Succeeding
Presented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA)
The Tricky Business of Making Movies and Television in L.A. – Why the Challenge Won’t Go Away
Presented by LA Business Today
New Modes and Old of Distribution for Latino Films
Moderated by: Sydney Levine, indieWIRE, SydneysBuzz
Conversations in the Filmmakers Café, "Café Con…" are with:
Guillermo Navarro, Award winning Mexican Cinematographer and this year’s LALIFF GABI Award Recipient
Sandie Viquez Pedlow, New Executive Director of Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB)
Showtime’s Dexter, Presented by the Writers Guild of America, West
For more information, visit www.latinofilm.org.
Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival
July 17 - 25, 2011
Egyptian Theatre
6712 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, CA
Maya Indie Film Series Coming This Summer
- Details
- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Tuesday, 12 July 2011 10:00
- Written by Christopher Lai
The third edition of the Maya Indie Film Series (MIFS) will take place July 29th – August 4th, 2011, at the Quad Cinema in New York City, as well as in other six cities:
- Los Angeles and Chicago on July 29th
- San Antonio and San Diego on August 5th
- Dallas on August 12th
- Miami beginning September 9th
- San Francisco on September 16th
The series, under the banner Seven Films, Seven Days, Seven Cities, will run for seven days in each market and will bring seven critically acclaimed, Latino-themed films to these top U.S. markets. Produced by Maya Entertainment, the series brings audiences the best in Latino-themed cinema.
Premiere Brazil! at MoMA
- Details
- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Monday, 11 July 2011 05:00
- Written by L E Shannon
The 9th edition of Premiere Brazil! screens July 14 - 27, 2011 in the The Roy and Niuta 
Titus Theaters at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in Manhattan, New York City.
A collaboration between MoMA and the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, Premiere Brazil! introduces New York audiences to original and accomplished work by both new and established Brazilian filmmakers.
The Opening Night film is Riscado / Craft, directed by Gustavo Pizzi. This fictional portrait of the ups and downs of a talented, creative actress depicts "the casual cruelty of the competitive world in which we live". Pizzi will introduce the film and participate in a post-screening discussion.
Amor?
directed by João Jardim
The director amassed authentic interviews about love between couples gone terribly wrong, re-enacted verbatim by actors, in contrast with idealizations of male-female relationships. This international premiere will be introduced by Jardim.
Samba’s Evening / Noitada de samba foco de resistência
directed by Cély Leal
Under 1971 Brazil’s military dictatorship, Jorge Coutinho and Leonides Bayer "began holding weekly "Samba Evenings" at Teatro Opinião in Rio de Janeiro, importing popular musicians from the suburbs to entertain Rio’s elite. Radical in both concept and execution, the series transformed the theater into a symbol of political and cultural resistance."
VIPS
directed by Toniko Melo
A fictionalized look at real-life con artist Marcelo da Rocha, who realized a childhood dream of aviation by winding up flying for drug traffickers.
Chico Xavier
directed by Daniel Filho
Saint? Nut case? Whichever one thought of him, Spiritist medium Chico Xavier (1910–2002), receiver of messages from his spirit guide Emmanuel, was as controversial as he was zealous. He produced over 400 books through the use of "psychography" (spirit writing) and dedicated his life to philanthropy.
Santos Dumont: Pré-cineasta? / Santos Dumont’s Mutoscope: Early Cinema and Found Footage Film
directed by Carlos Adriano
Adriano uses an unknown reel of photo-cards, which he found and restored himself, from a mutoscope film shot in London in 1901. The reel depicts Santos Dumont, a Brazilian aviator and inventor who lived from 1873 to 1932, explaining his airship to Charles Rolls, the future founder of Rolls-Royce. Thus do early 20th century inventions go hand-in-hand.
Utopia e barbárie / Utopia and Barbarism
directed by Silvio Tendler
More found footage, as Tendler examines post-WWII utopias "that were born and brought to life -- and the barbarism that punctuated them -- with startling images and testimonies, creating a moving portrait of a generation that dreamed of changing the world and fought for freedom through a global movement."
Diário de uma busca / Diary, Letters, Revolutions… 
directed by Flavia Castro
This is the story of Brazilian activist Celso Afonso Gay de Castro, the filmmaker’s father. Guided by her mother, Castro examines the day-to-day life of the leftist militant generation of the 1960s and 1970s as she traces her father’s personal history -- a story that began with a dream of political ideals and ended with a premature death shrouded in mystery.
Complementing the film festival is a retrospective of the works of artist and filmmaker Cao Guimarães. Several of the artist’s documentaries and film essays will be screened at MoMA, including:
- O Fim do sem fim / The End of the Endless – a feature-length documentary about the imminent disappearance of certain jobs and occupations in Brazil
- Ex isto / Ex It – his possible answer to poet Paulo Leminski’s question, "and what if René Descartes had come to Brazil along with Mauríco de Nassau?"
- Acidente / Accident – a beautifully photographed montage following Guimarães as he visits 20 towns in the state of Minas Gerais
- Andarilho / Drifter – a film about three lonely drifters following different paths, each establishing intimate relationships with various elements of a transitory world
- Alma do osso / The Soul of the Bone – a revealing look into the isolated existence of a older man living in a cave
- Rua de mao dupla / Two-Way Street – a documentary that follows strangers who exchange houses for a 24-hour period.
A selection of looped short films by Guimarães will be on view at MoMA PS1 throughout the first weekend of the festival. These short films focus on everyday events and quiet actions in both urban and rural settings -- from billowing tarps to an army of ants to soap bubbles.
For more information, visit www.moma.org/film.
Premiere Brazil!
July 14 - 27, 2011
The Museum of Modern Art
11 W. 53 Street
New York City
212-708-9400
MoMA PS1
22-25 Jackson Ave.
Long Island City, NY 11101
718-784-2084
Sci-Fi Film Series at Denver Science Museum & Denver Film Society
- Details
- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Sunday, 10 July 2011 15:00
- Written by Christopher Lai
Every Wednesday night during the summer, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science along with tthe Denver Film Society will present science fiction films to feed the audience's imagination with the exploration of possible futures, hopes and fears, and the unfolding of technologies.
The series will screen five famous sci-fi films and explore the science behind these alternative possibilities, seeking to separate scientific facts from cinematic fiction. Metropolitan State College of Denver professor Vincent Piturro, astrobiologist David Grinspoon, biologist Paula Cushing, geneticist Nicole Garneau, zoologist Aaron Spriggs, and space scientist Ka Chun Yu will lead discussions before and after the film series.
