Luna to Serve on the Berlin Film Festival’s International Jury

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Diego Luna is joining the judge’s panel…

The 37-year-old Mexican actor, producer and director has been named to the Berlin Film Festival’s International Jury this year.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, German actress Julia Jentsch, Tunisian producer Dora Bouchoucha, Iceland’s Olafur Eliasson and Chinese writer-director Wang Quan’an will join Luna to round out the jury that will decide who will receive the Golden and Silver Bears at Berlinale next month.

Dutch helmer-writer Paul Verhoeven will lead the jury as President.

Luna’s breakthrough role come with Alfonso Cuarón’s Y Tu Mamá También and he’s recently stared in Disney’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and has had roles in Contraband, Milk and The Terminal. His directorial debut Abel premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010.

The Berlin Film Festival takes place February 9-19.

Oscilloscope Laboratories Picks Up U.S. Rights to Case’s “The Second Mother”

Posted on February 7, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Regina Casé’s mother a movie is heading stateside…

Oscilloscope Laboratories as picked up the U.S. distribution rights to The Second Mother, a Brazilian drama starring the 60-year-old Brazilian actress, comedian, television host and director.

The film won a Special Jury Award for Acting at the Sundance Film Festival last month.

Casé and Camila Mardila star in the story of a wealthy family’s live-in housekeeper whose confident and ambitious estranged daughter shows up and throws the entire household into chaos as she refuses to accept the upstairs/downstairs dynamic.

The film is set to play in the Panorama section at the Berlin International Film Festival, Berlinale, this month.

Bustamante’s Debut Feature “Ixcanul” to Premiere at the Berlin Film Festival

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Jayro Bustamante  is headed to Germany…

The Guatemalan director’s first feature film Ixcanul has been chosen as one of the first seven films for the 65th Berlin Film Festival Competition program.

The film, which Bustamante wrote, centers on a 17 year-old Mayan Kaqchikel girl named Maria, who lives with her parents in a coffee plantation on the side of an active volcano in Guatemala. She’s part of an arranged marriage she doesn’t want but can’t escape her fate.

Bustamante’s short films have earned him acclain at a number of film festivals. The most recent, Cuando sea grande, premiered at the Clermont-Ferrand Festival in 2012, where it landed the CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée) quality award and was aired on television networks in France, Sweden and the Netherlands.

The film stars María Mercedes Croy, María Telón, Manuel Antún, Justo Lorenzo and Marvin Coroy.

Also in the Berlinale mix is Kenneth Branagh’s live-action Disney film Cinderella, although it’s playing out of competition. Lily James plays the titular role, while Helena Bonham Carter portrays the fairy godmother.

Other films that made the first cut include Peter Greenaway’s Eisenstein In Guanajuato. Shot in Mexico, the film stars Stelio Savante, Lisa Owen and Maya Zapata. It follows Eisenstein as he spends 10 days in 1931 in Guanajuato, Mexico, where he falls in love. His sensual experiences there turn out to have been crucial in his life and his films. From being a formal filmmaker with films about conceptual ideas, his trip to Mexico humanizes Eisenstein as a filmmaker, and his films become more sympathetic to the human condition.

Berlinale runs from February 5-15.

Here’s a look at the selected film featuring Hispanic talent in front of and/or behind the camera:

Cinderella
U.S.
By Kenneth Branagh with Cate Blanchett, Lily James, Richard Madden, Stellan Skarsgård, Holliday Grainger, Sophie McShera, Derek Jacobi and Helena Bonham Carter International premiere – Out of competition

Eisenstein In Guanajuato
The Netherlands / Mexico / Belgium / Finland
By Peter Greenaway With Elmer Bäck, Luis Alberti
World premiere

Ixcanul (Ixcanul Volcano)
Guatemala / France
By Jayro Bustamante With María Mercedes Coroy, María Telón, Manuel Antún, Justo Lorenzo, Marvin Coroy
World premiere – Debut feature

Luna’s “Chavez” Claims an Audience Award at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

The future looks like bright for Diego Luna’s biopic on Cesar Chavez…

The 34-year-old Mexican actor-turned-director’s film Chavez about the life of the life of Mexican American labor leader and civil rights activist earned an audience award at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival.

Chavez, which stars Michael Peña, America Ferrera, Rosario Dawson and John Malkovich, took home the audience prize in the Narrative Spotlight category.

The film premiered in the Berlinale Special Galas section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival last month.

Here’s a look at the SXSW Film Festival Audience Award winners:

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION Audience Award Winner: Before I Disappear Director: Shawn Christensen

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION Audience Award Winner: Vessel Director: Diana Whitten

DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT Audience Award Winner: DamNation Director: Ben Knight & Travis Rummel

NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT  Audience Award Winner: CESAR CHAVEZ Directors: Diego Luna

VISIONS Audience Award Winner: Yakona Director: Anlo Sepulveda & Paul Collins

MIDNIGHTERS Audience Award Winner: Exists Director: Eduardo Sánchez

EPISODIC Audience Award Winner: Silicon Valley Director: Mike Judge

SXGLOBAL Audience Award Winner: The Special Need Directors: Carlo Zoratti

FESTIVAL FAVORITES Audience Award Winner: The Case Against 8 Director: Ben Cotner & Ryan White

SXSW Film Design Awards  EXCELLENCE IN POSTER DESIGN

Audience Award Winner: Big Significant Things Designer: Corey Holms

EXCELLENCE IN TITLE DESIGN  Audience Award Winner: True Detective Designer: Patrick Clair for Elastic

Film Movement Acquires North American Rights to Fernández Almendras’ “To Kill a Man”

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro Fernández Almendras’ Sundance Film Festival hit will be heading to North American theaters in the near future.

The Chilean filmmaker’s To Kill a Man, which won the world cinema grand jury prize at Sundance last month, has been picked up for North American distribution by Film Movement. It’s the company’s first acquisition of 2014.

The Chilean drama, which Fernández Almendras directed, first premiered at Sundance and is currently screening at the European Film Market in Berlin.

Film Movement is looking toward a fall theatrical release in the U.S. and Canada, followed by a video on demand and DVD release.

The film depicts hardworking family man Jorge, who is just barely making ends meet. After he’s mugged by a neighborhood delinquent named Kalule, his son confronts the young man and gets shot by Kalule. The killer is released after two years in prison, and he is set on revenge against Jorge’s family.

The deal was struck in the final days of Sundance Film Festival and confirmed just as Berlinale kicked off, by Film Movement president Adley Gartenstein and Vicente Casales, managing director at Film Factory.

To Kill a Man is Almendras’ third feature. His first film, Huacho, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009, where it won Critics’ Week.

Hispanically Yours

Celebrating the Latino Influence

Tag Archives: Berlinale

Luna to Serve on the Berlin Film Festival’s International Jury

Oscilloscope Laboratories Picks Up U.S. Rights to Case’s “The Second Mother”

Bustamante’s Debut Feature “Ixcanul” to Premiere at the Berlin Film Festival

Luna’s “Chavez” Claims an Audience Award at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival

Film Movement Acquires North American Rights to Fernández Almendras’ “To Kill a Man”