Tag Archives: Day Of The Dead

Rodrigo Prieto to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at GuadaLAjara Film Festival 

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Rodrigo Prieto is earning a special award…

The 57-year-old Mexican Oscar-nominated cinematographer will be honored with the 2023 Árbol de la Vida, a lifetime achievement award, at the 13th edition of the GuadaLAjara Film Festival on November 1.

Rodrigo Prieto,Taking place at the Theater at the Ace Hotel in Downtown L.A., Prieto will be honored at the opening night gala celebration. Past honorees have included Oscar-winner Patricia Arquette, in addition to stars such as Xolo Maridueña, Rosario Dawson and Danny Trejo.

Prieto has garnered worldwide acclaim for his work on various feature films, collaborating with some of cinema’s most vital masters. He has picked up his three Oscar nods for Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain (2005) and two with Martin Scorsese — Silence (2016) and The Irishman (2019).

He’s teamed up with the iconic filmmaker again for Killers of the Flower Moon, the story of a group of men that murdered Osage tribe members in the 1920s. The Apple Original Films and Paramount Pictures co-distributed feature stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone.

Prieto also lensed Greta Gerwig’s billion-dollar Mattel meta-comedy Barbie from Warner Bros — now the highest grossing release of 2023.

Curated with Latinx and BIPOC communities in mind, GLAFF’s programming is a mix of films that aim to attract cinephiles and art and culture enthusiasts. The 2023 program and official selection includes a special Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) centerpiece gala screening of the 1960s Mexican classic Macario from director Roberto Gavaldón. More films will be announced in the coming weeks.

“GLAFF continues its mission to be a bridge between Latin America and U.S.-based Latinx/BIPOC creators,” says Ximena Urrutia, festival director. “Being part of a festival run by Latina women, we strive to add to the efforts of ensuring domestically and internationally Latinx representation.”

The GuadaLAjara Film Festival is supported by the University of Guadalajara, Guadalajara, the University of Guadalajara Foundation USA, the Grodman Legacy Family Foundation and the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG).

Mexico’s Olympic Ski Team Dons Dia De Los Muertos-Inspired Uniforms

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Mexico’s Olympic ski team is drop (Day of the) Dead gorgeous…

The country’s two Alpine skiers at the 2018 Winter Games, Rodolfo Dickson and Sarah Schleper, are competing in uniforms with a “Day of the Dead” theme, an homage to the country’s Dia de los Muertos holiday in which people pray for and remember their family members and friends who’ve died.

Mexico's Olympic Ski Team

The outfits, which feature colorful, bejeweled and beflowered skulls on a black background, follow in the proud tradition of Hubertus von Hohenlohe, who designed them.

The 59-year-old Mexican Alpine skier represented Mexico in six Winter Games. In Sochi in 2014, von Hohenlohe memorably wore a mariachi outfit, and in Vancouver in 2010, he went with a desperado look.

He failed in his attempt to become the oldest winter Olympian this year.

Meanwhile, Dickson was adopted from a Puerto Vallarta orphanage by Canadian parents and Schleper, who is from Vail and has competed for the United States, is married to a Mexican citizen and has dual citizenship.

“I don’t live in Mexico but I am very proud of the place where I was born,” Dickson told USA Today. “I really want to start something new. There are a lot of young guys in Colorado who could represent Mexico, so in a few years I hope there will be a big team and athletes capable of being really successful.”

“Coco” Co-Director Adrian Molina Picks Up Three Trophies at the Annie Awards

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Adrian Molina has plenty of reason to celebrate…

The 32-year-old Mexican American filmmaker, screenwriter and storyboard artist’s Coco was the big winner at the 45th annual Annie Awards.

Adrian Molina

The Day of the Dead-themed Disney/Pixar film pummeled the competition, going 11-for-13 in its nominated categories including Best Animated Feature.

Molina, Coco’s co-director, screenplay writer and lyricist, picked up three awards, sharing the trophies for Outstanding Achievement, Directing – Animated Feature Production, Outstanding Achievement, Writing – Feature Production and Outstanding Achievement, Music – Feature Production.

Presented by ASIFA-Hollywood, the Annie Awards honor overall excellence as well as individual achievement in a total of 36 categories including Best Animated Feature, Best Animated Special Production, Commercials, Short Subjects and Outstanding Individual Achievements.

 

Anthony Gonzalez’s Disney-Pixar Film “Coco” Wins Thanksgiving Holiday Box Office

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He’s nowhere near voting age, but Anthony Gonzalez is beating superheroes at the box office…

The 13-year-old Latino actor voices the character of Miguel, a young Mexican boy with musical dreams who has a wondrous adventure in the Land of the Dead in Disney–Pixar’s animated film Coco, which won the Thanksgiving holiday box office.

Anthony Gonzalez

Gonzalez’s Coco earned $71.2 million at 3,987 North American sites during the Wednesday-Sunday period, while Warner Bros.–DC Entertainment’s Justice League pulled in $60 million at 4,051 locations during the same timeframe in its second weekend in theaters.

Coco posted for the fourth-best Thanksgiving holiday opening ever, trailing three other Disney titles — Frozen with $93 million in 2013, Moana with $82 million in 2017 and Toy Story 3 with $80 million in 2010.

Audiences surveyed by comScore’s PostTrak gave Coco strong ratings with 66% calling it “excellent,” and another 23% rating it “very good.”  Surveys also showed 77% of viewers saying they would “definitely recommend” the movie to friends and 20% saying they would watch it again in a theater.

Coco

Coco, directed by Lee Unkrich and co-directed by Adrian Molina, is based on the traditions surrounding the Day of the Dead holiday in Mexico and centers on a 12-year-old boy who dreams of becoming a musician and explores his family history in the Land of the Dead. The studio hasn’t released a price for the movie. Disney-Pixar titles are usually budgeted in the $175 million to $200 million range.

In addition to Gonzalez, in his breakout role, Coco’s ensemble voice cast includes Benjamin Bratt, Gael Garcia Bernal, Renee Victor, Edward James Olmos, Ana Ofelia Murguia, Jaime Camil, Sofia Espinosa, Gabriel Iglesias, Cheech Marin and Lombardo Boyar.

The holiday weekend is one of the busiest moviegoing periods of the year. According to comScore, this year’s five-day Thanksgiving weekend saw total grosses his $268 million — $7.5 million better than last year’s when Moana opened with $82 million, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them taking in $65 million in its second weekend.

The strong holiday performance left the 2017 overall domestic total at $9.71 billion, or 4% behind the same point last year, according to comScore. The industry fell behind last year’s record-setting total due to downbeat performances in August and October — so much so that the much-anticipated Dec. 15 opening of Star Wars: The Last Jedi will probably not be enough to pulled this year even.

Chiquis Rivera Partners with Estrella Jalisco & Lyft to Promote Safe Cinco de Mayo

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Chiquis Rivera is offering Lyfts…

The 31-year-old Mexican American singer and beer brand Estrella Jalisco have partnered with Lyft to promote a safe Cinco de Mayo, the unofficial day of fiesta adopted as a national holiday in the U.S.

Chiquis Rivera

As part of the partnership, Estrella Jalisco will offer up to 10,000 discounted round-trip Lyft rides in the Los Angeles area on May 5 during peak hours (5 p.m. – 5 a.m.). The “Horas extras” singer and Estrella Jalisco kicked off the partnership at special event in East L.A. earlier this week.

“My values and cultural pride are aligned with Estrella Jalisco, and giving back to my community is at the core of my principles – especially when it comes to encouraging safe celebrations on one of the largest drinking holidays of the year,” Rivera said in a statement.

The singer added: “I’m not only proud to share my cultural heritage with Estrella Jalisco, but I am also proud to support a Mexican brew that takes a responsible approach to celebrating Cinco de Mayo.”

Chiquis Rivera

“We know that many beer lovers like to celebrate on Cinco de Mayo, and through our partnership with Lyft we’re able to help them celebrate the holiday responsibly,” Yonathan Bendesky, brand director for Anheuser-Busch, Mexican Imports, said.

In October, the Rivera family and Estrella Jalisco partnered for the Jenni Rivera hologram, which made its debut at the annual Day of the Dead event at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Pixar to Release the Dia de los Muertos-Themed Animated Film “Coco”

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Mexico’s El Dia de los Muertos celebration is getting the Pixar treatment.

Pixar has revealed plans to release a new film, Coco, about Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebration, helmed by Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich and producer Darla Anderson.

Pixar's Coco

The duo unveiled a first look at the film’s protagonist, a teen named Miguel, and showed a film clip of a musical celebration at Disney’s D23.

Unkrich learned more about Dia De Los Muertos through the artwork for the holiday, which begins on October 31 and ends of November 2. His appreciation for the colorful skeleton folk art led to his emotional investment in the holiday, which Unkrich described as a sort of “big family reunion between the living and the dead.”

The premise of the story comes from a simple question: “What if you could meet your long dead family members?” For research, Unkrich traveled to Mexico to see how the holiday was celebrated in different places, meeting many families and experiencing the traditions with them.

Pixar's Coco

Described as “breathtaking, beautiful, and fun” by John Lasseter and “emotional” by Unkrich, Coco follows Miguel, who sets off a chain of events relating to a century-old mystery.

The official story description is: “Coco is the celebration of a lifetime, where the discovery of a generations-old mystery leads to a most extraordinary and surprising family reunion.”

Pixar has not set a release date for Coco yet.

Blacc Receives Two NAACP Image Award Nominations

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Aloe Blacc may be the man to beat…

The 35-year-old Panamanian American singer-songwriter has landed two NAACP Image Award nods, making him this year’s most nominated Latino entertainer.

Aloe Blacc

Presented by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the awards honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music and literature.

Blacc, earning his first-ever Image Award nominations, received a nod for Outstanding New Artist, where he’s up against
Erica Campbell, Jhene Aiko, Liv Warfield and the 
3 Winans Brothers.

Additionally, he scored a nomination in the Outstanding Song category for his smash hit single “The Man.”

Meanwhile, Sofia Vergara has earned fourth NAACP Image Award nomination the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category for her star-making role as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on ABC’s Modern Family. The 42-year-old Colombian actress, ranked as one of the most powerful women in the world by Forbes, won the award in 2011.

Zoe Saldaña picked up a nomination in the Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for her voice work on Guillermo del Toro’s animated film The Book of Life. The 35-year-old half-Dominican/half-Puerto Rican American actress voices the character of Maria in the CGI romantic comedy, which is set during the Mexican holiday of the Day of the Dead.

Other Latinos nominated for a 2015 NAACP Image Award include Scandal’s Guillermo Diaz, Dora and Friends: Into the City’s Fatima Ptacek, Soledad O’Brien and Rosie Perez.

The 46th annual NAACP Image Awards will be handed out on February 6 in a ceremony telecast live by TV One.

Here’s the full list of categories with Latino nominees:

Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance
Jamie Foxx – “Rio 2″ (20th Century Fox)
Loretta Devine – “Doc McStuffins” (Disney Junior)
Morgan Freeman – “The Lego Movie” (Warner Bros. Pictures/Village Roadshow Pictures/Ratpac-Dune Entertainment/Lego System A/S/Vertigo Entertainment/Lin Pictures)
Tracy Morgan – “The Boxtrolls” (Focus Features)
Zoe Saldana – “The Book of Life” (20th Century Fox)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Adrienne C. Moore – “Orange is the New Black” (Netflix)
Laverne Cox – “Orange is the New Black” (Netflix)
Lorraine Toussaint – “Orange is the New Black” (Netflix)
Sofia Vergara – “Modern Family” (ABC)
Yara Shahidi – “black-ish” (ABC)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Alfred Enoch – “How to Get Away with Murder” (ABC)
Courtney B. Vance – “Masters of Sex” (Showtime)
Guillermo Diaz – “Scandal” (ABC)
Jeffrey Wright – “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO)
Joe Morton – “Scandal” (ABC)

Outstanding Performance by a Youth in a Youth/Children’s Program (Series or Special)
Amber Montana – “Haunted Hathaways” (Nickelodeon)
China Anne McClain – “How to Build a Better Boy” (Disney Channel)
Curtis Harris – “Haunted Hathaways” (Nickelodeon)
Fatima Ptacek – “Dora and Friends: Into The City!” (Nickelodeon)
Taliyah Whitaker – “Wallykazam!” (Nickelodeon)

Outstanding Documentary (Television)
“American Experience: Freedom Summer” (PBS)
“Bad Boys” (ESPN)
“Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown” (HBO)
“Rand University” (ESPN)

“The War Comes Home: Soledad O’Brien Reports” (CNN)

Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series
Brigette Munoz-Liebowitz – “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” – Road Trip (FOX)
Aisha Muharrar – “Parks and Recreation” – Ann & Chris (NBC)
Regina Hicks – “Instant Mom” – A Kids’s Choice (Nickelodeon and Nick@Nite)
Sara Hess – “Orange is the New Black” – It Was the Change (Netflix)
Mindy Kaling – “The Mindy Project” – Danny and Mindy (FOX)

Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series
Ken Whittingham – “Parks and Recreation” – Prom (NBC)
Ken Whittingham – “The Mindy Project” – Think Like a Peter (FOX)
Reginald Hudlin – “Bad Judge” – Knife to a Gunfight (NBC)
Linda Mendoza – “Bad Judge” – One Brave Waitress (NBC)
Stan Lathan – “Real Husbands of Hollywood” – No New Friends (BET)

Outstanding New Artist
Aloe Blacc (XIX Recordings/Interscope Records)
Erica Campbell (My Block Inc./eOne Music)
Jhene Aiko (Def Jam Recordings)
Liv Warfield (Kobalt Label Services)
3 Winans Brothers (BMG)

Outstanding Song
“We Are Here” – Alicia Keys (RCA Records)
“The Man” – Aloe Blacc (Interscope Records)
“Pretty Hurts” – Beyoncé (Columbia Records)
“i” – Kendrick Lamar (TDE/Interscope)
“Good Kisser” – Usher (RCA Records)

Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/ Auto Biography

“Breaking Ground: My Life in Medicine” – Louis Sullivan with David Chanoff (University of Georgia Press)
“Handbook for an Unpredictable Life: How I Survived Sister Renata and My Crazy Mother, and Still Came Out Smiling (with Great Hair)” – Rosie Perez (Crown Archetype)
“Life In Motion” – Misty Copeland (Touchstone)
“Mayor for Life” – Marion Barry, Omar Tyree (Strebor Books)
“Stand Up Straight and Sing!” – Jessye Norman (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Outstanding Literary Work – Children
“Beautiful Moon” – Tonya Bolden (Author), Eric Velasquez (Illustrator) (Abrams/Abrams Books for Young Readers)
“Little Melba and Her Big Trombone” – Katheryn Russell-Brown (Author), Frank Morrison (Illustrator) (Lee & Low Books)
“Malcolm Little” – Ilyasah Shabazz (Author), AG Ford (Illustrator) (Simon & Schuster)
“Searching for Sarah Rector” – Tonya Bolden (Abrams/Abrams Books for Young Readers)
“Dork Diaries 8: Tales From A Note-So-Happily Ever After” – Rachel Renee Russell with Nikki Russell and Erin Russell (Simon & Schuster)

Saldaña Joins the Voice Cast of Guillermo del Toro’s Animated Film “Book of Life”

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Zoë Saldaña will be sharing the Book of Life with moviegoers…

The 35-year-old Dominican and Cuban American actress has joined the voice cast of 20th Century Fox Animation‘s Book of Life, which is being produced by Guillermo del Toro and directed by Mexican animator and filmmaker Jorge R. Gutierrez.

Zoe Saldana

Originally titled Day of the Dead, after the famous Mexican celebration, the movie’s title is now Book of Life.

Guiterrez’s credits include Nickelodeon‘s award-winning animated television series El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera.

Along with Saldaña, the voice cast includes Channing Tatum, Diego Luna, Christina Applegate, Ice Cube, Kate del Castillo and Ron Perlman, along with Cheech Marin, Hector Elizondo, Placido Domingo, Ana de la Reguera (Nacho Libre, Eastbound and Down), Eugenio Derbez (Instructions Not Included), comedian Gabriel Iglesias (Stand-up Revolution) and Danny Trejo.

Fox will open the film in October 2014.

del Toro’s “Book of Life” to be Released by Fox Animation Studios

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Guillermo del Toro’s latest animated project should be making its way to the big screen next fall…

Fox Animation Studios has reportedly signed on to make the 48-year-old Mexican filmmaker and Reel FX‘s adventure Book of Life, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Guillermo del Toro

Fox will release the film, which del Toro is producing, in the United States on October 10, 2014.

Originally titled Day of the Dead, after the famous Mexican celebration, the films’s title has been changed to Book of Life (Pixar has its own Day of the Dead project in the works).

Latin-themed projects are in hot demand; Hispanics are the most avid moviegoers in the U.S., while animated family fare can do huge business throughout Latin America.

del Toro and Fox are keeping mum on the exact details of the film, but the Mexican filmmaker did personally Mexican animator and filmmaker Jorge R. Gutierrez to direct Book of Life. Gutierrez’s credits include Nickelodeon‘s award-winning animated television series El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera.

del Toro is currently in post-production on Pacific Rim, a film he directed for Legendary Pictures. Warner Bros. will release Pacific Rim on July 12, 2013.

del Toro Developing “Pan’s Labyrinth” for Broadway…

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He’s already conquered Hollywood with films like Hellboy and the highly anticipated Pacific Rim… And now Guillermo del Toro is setting his sights on the Great White Way…

The 48-year-old Mexican filmmaker is developing his award-winning film Pan’s Labyrinth as a Broadway musical.

Guillermo del Toro

del Toro has already reportedly written a book for the stage version of the 2006 Mexican dark fantasy film, which centers on the young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer who finds refuge and terror in a fantasy world in 1944 Fascist Spain.

Paul Williams has just signed on to write the lyrics, while Academy Award-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla is writing the music.

del Toro has been working quietly on the stage version of the film for four years, interviewing directors, librettists and composers.

del Toro, Williams and Santaolalla are also currently working on the music for the del Toro-produced animated film Day of The Dead, currently in the advanced stages of production.

“I admire and love Gustavo and Paul wrote the perfect album in Phantom Of The Paradise, which I have loved for decades,” said del Toro, who just wrapped Pacific Rim for Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. and who’ll next direct the haunted house tale Crimson Peak.

“I’m so excited about translating Guillermo’s magical vision into music and songs,” said Santaolalla. “I’m such a longtime fan of both Guillermo and Paul that to work on this with them is truly a dream come true.”