Sofia Carson to Participate in Variety’s “FYC Fest: The Shortlist” Virtual Event

Posted on January 8, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Sofia Carson has made the shortlist…

The 29-year-old half-Colombian American actress/singer will take part in Variety’s second annual FYC Fest: The Shortlist.

It’s a virtual event featuring 13 panels with the top contending filmmakers and artisans that were shortlisted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in the documentary film, international film, song, hair and makeup, animated short, live-action short film and visual effects categories.

Other Latinx artists joining Carson include Selena Gomez, Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Santiago Mitre.

Each conversation will last for 15 minutes and be moderated by a Variety editor.

Conversations include:

Colm Bairéad, director and writer of “The Quiet Girl”
Edward Berger, director, producer and writer of Netflix’s “All Quiet on the Western Front”
Jason Billington, VFX supervisor of Amazon Films’ “Thirteen Lives”
Sofia Carson, performer and Diane Warren, songwriter of “Applause” from the film “Tell It Like a Woman”
Chanda Dancy, composer from the Sony Pictures film “Devotion”
Alexandre Desplat, composer for Netflix’s “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”
Simon Franglen, composer; Joe Letteri, senior VFX supervisor; and Julian Howarth, sound mixer for Disney’s “Avatar: The Way of the Water”
Selena Gomez, co-songwriter of “My Mind & Me” from the Apple TV+ documentary “My Mind & Me”
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, director, producer and writer of Netflix’s “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths”
Charlie Mackesy, author and co-director of the animated short film “The Boy, the Mole and the Horse”
Santiago Mitre, director, producer and writer of Amazon Films’ “Argentina, 1985”
Sukari Jones, songwriter; Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, executive producers and songwriters of “Good Afternoon” from Apple TV+’s “Spirited”
Steve Boeddeker, sound mixer; Geoffrey Baumann, VFX; and Camille Friend, hair artist, from Disney’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

Registration is free but required for access. Register at today at https://varietyshortlist.splashthat.com/.

Paul Calderón to Star on the Marvel Studios Disney+ Series “Ironheart”

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Paul Calderón has ironed out details on his next project…

The 63-year-old Puerto Rican actor has joined the cast of the Marvel Studios Disney+ series Ironheart in an undisclosed role.

The 6-episode series, created by Chinaka Hodge, will star Dominique Thorne as Marvel character Riri Williams, a genius inventor and creator of the most advanced suit of armor since Iron Man.

Previously announced cast also includes Anthony Ramos, Shakira Barrera, Manny Montana, Alden Ehrenreich, Regan Aliyah, Rashida “Sheedz” Olayiwola, Shea Couleé, and Zoe Terakes.

Sam Bailey and Angela Barnes are directing, with Ryan Coogler’s Proximity among the production entities.

Coogler, Ironheart head writer Chinaka Hodge, Zinzi Coogler, and Sev Ohanian serve as executive producers alongside Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum and Zoie Nagelhout.

Calderón is a writer, actor, and director who most recently appeared in one of the final episodes of NBC’s This Is Us titled “Miguel,” which focused on the character of Miguel Rivas (Jon Huertas).

Additionally, Calderón starred in multiple seasons of Amazon’s Bosch in the role of Detective Jimmy Robertson.

His other notable TV credits include AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, Hostages for CBS, NBC’s Law & Order, and Miami Vice.

On the big screen, he served as co-writer of Abel Ferrera’s Bad Lieutenant starring Harvey Keitel. Calderón also played a cop in the 1992 film. Film credits also include Sydney Pollack’s The Firm, Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, Cop Land by James Mangold, Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight, and Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s 21 Grams.

The U.S. Army veteran who studied acting under the G.I. Bill went on to become a founding member of the LAByrinth Theater Company where he mentored Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Rockwell and Lauren Luna Velez, among others.

Ximena Lamadrid Named to Variety’s 2022 “10 Actors to Watch” List

Posted on October 16, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Ximena Lamadrid’s star is on the rise…

The 26-year-old Mexican actress has been named to Variety’s 10 Actors to Watch list, the entertainment industry magazine’s list of thespians who are experiencing a major breakthrough on screen.

Lamadrid is being recognized for her performance in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s acclaimed new film Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths.

Acting has always been in Lamadrid’s blood. But it wasn’t until age 5, when she rejected a role in a school play, that she experienced an epiphany.

“It was that ‘no’ that made me realize it’s a ‘yes’ for me, that for the rest of my life I’d be chasing this amazing dream.” She quickly corrects herself, “Well, what began as a dream, but no longer is a dream. It’s a reality.”

After roles in Sofia Coppola’s On the Rocks and the series Who Killed Sara?, Lamadrid plays a pivotal part in Iñárritu’s Bardo as Camila, the loving daughter of a man caught in the throes of an existential crisis.

She concedes her own history — being born in Mexico, growing up in Dubai and studying her craft in New York City — greatly colored her character’s experience.

“It feels like the universe and Alejandro wrote this for me,” she says,adding: “[Camila] has just graduated from university and is figuring it out. As soon as I graduated, I was figuring it out and came back to Mexico — and it connected. I saw all of the love, warmth and everything I had missed about my country all these years.”

The ability to tackle this role has only furthered her confidence. “As an actor, I have to surrender and trust that it’s going to show up, that everything is going to come out, which it did.” She now has her sights set on the literary world, seeking a publisher for her hybrid poetry-memoir Tulip Season. “I want to make this a very big, beautiful first book.”

Variety’s alumni group of 10 Actors to Watch includes more than 35 Oscar winners and nominees including Mahershala Ali, Adam Driver, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Lupita Nyong’o.

This year’s honorees will be feted at a brunch on October 16 at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

Mexico Enters Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s “Bardo” Into Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film Race

Posted on September 29, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro G. Iñárritu is back in the Oscar race…

Mexico has selected the 59-year-old Mexican five-time Academy Award winner’s Bardo as its official entry for the Best International Feature Film Oscar race.

The immersive work stars Daniel Giménez Cacho as a renowned Los Angeles-based Mexican journalist and documentary filmmaker who, after being named the recipient of a prestigious international award, is compelled to return to his native country, unaware that this simple trip will push him to an existential limit.

The film had its world premiere in its three-hour original version in competition at the Venice Film Festival in early September.

Netflix recently dropped a trailer for the film, which opens theatrically in Mexico on October 27, followed by a limited theatrical release in the U.S., Spain and Argentina on November 4 before rolling out in a global expansion on November 18.

The film will debut December 1 on Netflix.

The work reunites Iñárritu with a number of his longtime collaborators including co-writer Nicolás Giacobone, who also took credits on Birdman and Biutiful.

Bardo — whose full title is Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths — marks Iñárritu’s first film to be shot in Mexico since Amores Perros, which also represented Mexico at the Academy Awards and was nominated in 2000.

The film also features production design by the designer Eugenio Caballero, who previously won an Academy Award for his work on Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth and Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma, and costume design by Anna Terrazas (The Deuce, Roma).

Outside of the best international film category and its foreign language predecessor, Iñárritu previously won Oscars for Carne y Arena (2018), The Revenant (2016) and Birdman (2015) and was nominated for Babel (2007).

Mexico has garnered eight nominations to date with Roberto Gavaldón’s Macario (1960), Ismael Rodriguez’s The Important Man (1961), Luis Alcoriza’s The Pearl Of Tiayucan (1963), Miguel Litten’s Letters Of Marusia (1975), Iñárritu’s Amores Perros (2000), Carlos Carrera’s El Crimen del Padre Amaro (2002), Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and Iñárritu’s Biutiful (2010).

Cuaron won the country its only Oscar in the category with Roma in 2018.

Alejandro G. Iñárritu Releases New Trailer for His Upcoming Film “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths”

Posted on September 22, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro G. Iñárritu is sharing his Truths…

The 59-year-old Mexican Oscar-winning filmmaker and screenwriter has released a new trailer for his new film Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths.

The trailer is set to the tune of the Beatles classic “I Am the Walrus.”

The new trailer gives viewers a taste of what Venice Film Festival attendees experienced this month.

The film received six minutes of applause in its three-hour world premiere on September 2 in Venice.

The director has cut 22 minutes of the film since then, bringing the runtime to about 2½ hours.

Written by Iñárritu and Nicolás Giacobone, Bardo is billed as a nostalgic comedy set against an epic personal journey. It chronicles the story of a renowned Mexican journalist and documentary filmmaker who returns home and works through an existential crisis as he grapples with his identity, familial relationships, the folly of his memories as well as the past of his country, all the while seeking answers in his past to reconcile who he is in the present.

Mexican actor Daniel Giménez Cacho plays Silverio Gama in Iñárritu’s first film to be shot in Mexico since 2000’s Amores Perros.

The cast also includes Griselda Siciliani, Ximena Lamadrid and Iker Solano and features production design by Eugenio Caballero and costume design by Anna Terrazas.

Bardo opens theatrically in Mexico on October 27, followed by a limited theatrical release in the U.S., Spain and Argentina on November 4 before rolling out in a global expansion on November 18.

The film will debut December 1 on Netflix.

Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Next Film to be Titled “Bardo”

Posted on September 24, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s next film has an official name…

The 58-year-old Mexican Oscar-winning film director, producer and screenwriter’s upcoming project will be titled Bardo (or False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths)

The news comes as the five-time Oscar winner wraps production on the film in Mexico City.

The feature penned by Iñárritu and longtime collaborator Nicolás Giacobone is billed as a nostalgic comedy set against an epic journey. A chronicle of uncertainties where the main character, a renowned Mexican journalist and documentary filmmaker, returns to his native country to face his identity, familial relationships, and the folly of his memories, as well as the past and new reality of his country.

Daniel Jimenez Cacho and Griselda Siciliani star in the film, which marks Iñárritu’s return to his native country, 20 years after Amores Perros.

Bardo comes on the heels of his Oscar winners The Revenant and Birdman, as well as his virtual installation Carne y Arena.

Oscar nominee Darius Khondji photographed the indie produced by Iñárritu, with Oscar winner Eugenio Caballero serving as production designer and Anna Terrazas as costume designer.

Armando Bó Developing Two Projects for Television: “Las Malas” & “Cromanon”

Posted on July 24, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Armando Bó has lined up two Argentina-themed television projects…

The 41-year-old Argentine screenwriter and film director, who won an Oscar for co-writing Birdman, has unveiled his first television slate since launching his own production company, About Entertainment, earlier this year.

Bo is developing two series based on well-known Argentinian stories.

About Entertainment has acquired the rights to Las Malas, the 2019 autobiographic novel by Camila Sosa Villada. And, Bo’s company is also developing Cromanon, based on true events of the tragedy that took place at the venue in Balvanera, Argentina in 2004.

Las Malas (Bad Girls) tells the story of a 19-year-old trans woman who moves to the big city and joins a group of trans sex workers that create a unique community. This story of self-discovery has two sides: one is realistic, harsh, and hostile; the other is fantastical, united, and thoughtful. Throughout their journey these ‘bad girls’ will take care of each other as a family.

Cromanonis a coming-of-age series that follows a group of teenagers surrounded by the catastrophic true events that took place in Argentina on December 30, 2004, when a fire broke out at the venue, during a rock concert, killing 194 teenagers and injuring over a thousand others. This unnatural tragedy was a breaking point for a generation and changed the culture of a whole country, as never before had so many young people died in a single incident.

Bó is the showrunner, director and executive producer of the eight-part dramedy series El Presidente, which launched in June on Amazon Prime Video.

He shared the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay with Nicolás Giacobone, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and Alexander Dinelaris for Birdman. The quartet also won the Golden Globe.

He followed by writing/directing and producing Animal.

Alejandro G. Inarritu to Receive Special Oscar for His Virtual Reality Installation “Carne y Arena”

Posted on October 29, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro G. Inarritu is getting a special Oscar…

The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has voted to give a special honorary Oscar to the 54-year-old Mexican filmmaker’s extraordinary virtual reality installation Carne y Arena.

It will be presented at the upcoming Governors Awards on November 11 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland.

This joins previously announced Governors Award honorees this year including actor Donald Sutherland, director Agnes Varda, cinematographer Owen Roizman and filmmaker Charles Burnett.

In making the announcement of the Oscar to this unique achievement — full name: Carne y Arena (Virtually Present, Physically Invisible) — the Academy said it was in recognition of a visionary and powerful experience in storytelling. It was first unveiled at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in May in a nearby airport hangar where I was among the lucky ones to experience it. And experience is the word.

“The Governors of the Academy are proud to present a special Oscar to Carne y Arena, in which Alejandro Iñárritu and his cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki have opened for us new doors of cinematic perception,” said Academy president John Bailey. “Carne y Arena, Iñárritu’s multimedia art and cinema experience, is a deeply emotional and physically immersive venture into the world of migrants crossing the desert of the American southwest in early dawn light. More than even a creative breakthrough in the still emerging form of virtual reality, it viscerally connects us to the hot-button political and social realities of the U.S.-Mexico border.”

Los Angeles residents currently have the opportunity to see Carne y Arena as it is on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, as well as at Fondazione Prada in Milan, and Tlatelolco Cultural Center in Mexico City. It’s a collaboration between Iñárritu, Lubezki, producer Mary Parent, Legendary Entertainment, Fondazione Prada, ILMxLAB, and Emerson Collective.

The Oscar will be Inarritu’s fifth Academy Award. He won three for Birdman including Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay as well as becoming only the second helmer in 65 years to win back-to-back awards when he won Director again for 2015’s The Revenant.

Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” Wins Top Prize at the Venice Film Festival

Posted on September 10, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Guillermo del Toro has reason to roar…

The 52-year-old Mexican filmmaker’s lyrical period fairy tale, The Shape of Water, was awarded the top prize Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

del Toro’s fantasy premiered on the Lido last week early in the proceedings, and left viewers swooning in its wake. It was among the best-reviewed films of the festival, and had one of the most emotional gala screenings in memory.

When the Lion was announced tonight, the press room positively erupted with joy.

The Shape Of Water, a Cold War-set parable that stars Sally Hawkins, Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer and Michael Shannon, represents del Toro’s first time in competition in Venice.

The prize, he noted, is the first time a Mexican helmer has won the Golden Lion.

From the stage, the filmmaker said, “I’m 52 years old, I weigh 300 pounds, and I’ve done 10 movies. There is a moment in every storyteller’s life, no matter what age you are, you risk it all and go and do something different.”

Added the teary del Toro, “To every Latin American filmmaker dreaming of doing something in the fantastic genre, it can be done.”

He said he intends to call the statue the “Sergio Leone” and remarked how full the Sala Grande was of the things he believes in, “Life, love and cinema.” That echoed something he’d said earlier in the week of the film, which mixes fantasy, romance, thriller, and old-style Hollywood: it’s a movie that’s “in love with love and in love with cinema.”

Shape took 10 years of struggle for del Toro to get made, and he’s said it was the hardest shoot he’s ever had.

With his Venice appearance, del Toro completed, in a way, a circle begun by his compatriots and pals Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro G Inarritu, whose Gravity and Birdman, respectively, made big splashes in recent years on this island before going on to Oscar glory. The Shape Of Water is a movie we will be talking about all through awards season.

Backstage, del Toro spoke to the press and was asked about the significance of the win for genre movies. “It means a lot,” he said pointing to parables that are “artistic, beautiful, politically charged movies.” It’s about time, he said, that “we understand every vernacular in cinema done with intelligence and passion is valid.”

Here’s a look at the overall winners:

VENICE 74

Golden Lion
The Shape Of Water, dir: Guillermo del Toro

Grand Jury Prize
Foxtrot, Samuel Maoz

Silver Lion, Best Director
Xavier Legrand, Jusqu’à La Garde

Volpi Cup, Best Actress
Charlotte Rampling, Hannah

Volpi Cup, Best Actor
Kamel El Basha, The Insult

Best Screenplay
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Special Jury Prize
Sweet Country, dir: Warwick Thornton

Marcello Mastroianni Award for for Best New Young Actor or Actress
Charlie Plummer, Lean On Pete

VENICE HORIZONS

Best Film
Nico, 1988, dir: Susanna Nicchiarelli

Best Director
Vahid Jalilvand, No Date, No Signature

Special Jury Prize
Caniba, dirs: Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Paravel

Best Actress
Lyna Khoudri, Les Bienheureux

Best Actor
Navid Mohammadzadeh, No Date, No Signature

Best Screenplay
Los Versos Del Olvido, dir: Alireza Khatami

Best Short Film
Gros Chagrin, dir: Céline Devaux

Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film
Jusqu’à La Garde, dir: Xavier Legrand

VENICE CLASSICS

Best Restoration
Idi I Smotri, dir: Elem Klimov

Best Documentary on Cinema
The Prince And The Dybbuk, dirs: Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosolowski

VENICE VIRTUAL REALITY

Best VR
Arden’s Wake (Expanded), dir: Eugene YK Chung

Best VR Experience
La Camera Insabbiata, dirs: Laurie Anderson, Hsin-Chien Huang

Best VR Story
Bloodless, dir: Gina Kim

Gonzalez Iñárritu to Lead Panel Discussion at Produced By: New York Conference

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu will school people on his process and latest project…

The 52-year-old Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker will be the featured speaker at the second Produced By: New York conference later this month.

The headlining panel, Producers’ Masterclass: An Adventurous Partnership with Alejandro G. Iñárritu, will feature the Oscar and Producers Guild Award-winning filmmaker alongside his producing team — Mary Parent, Steve Golin, and Brad Weston — as they talk about their latest film, The Revenant.

Iñárritu and his team join previously announced Tina Fey and a roster of leading industry producers and executives including Effie Brown, Bruce Cohen, Barbara Hall, John Hoffman, Navid Khonsari, Michelle King, Robert King, Michael London, Gary Lucchesi, Tom McCarthy, Lori McCreary, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Peter Saraf, Darren Star & Christine Vachon.

Discovery Communications is the presenting sponsor of PBNY, which takes place Saturday, October 24th and is hosted by Time Warner Inc. and HBO at the Time Warner Center in New York City.

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