The 55-year-old Mexican singer-songwriter has released new music, a new energetic single entitled “Medusa.”
“Enchanted and powerful/ I dance among the rocks and so I set them spinning/ Enchanted and mysterious/ Brave and proud and so I set them to spinning,” sings Trevi in this song’s chorus, before producers Dabruk, Manu Chalud and Alcover unleash a techno dance frenzy.
The new single sees Trevi owning her radical artistic approach, embodying a mythical figure and singing of rattlesnakes and venom.
“Medusa” is Trevi’s first independent release from her label Great Talent Records, which Billboard Español exclusively announced on Thursday.
“This new stage is very exciting for me,” Trevi said in a statement to Billboard Español. “With our label, I will be able to have more investment, open new markets and work with dream collaborations. I love being the head of my own label now.”
The 50-year-old Mexican Salvadoran filmmaker’s Prayers for the Stolenhas won the FIPRESCI Prize for Best International Feature Film at the Palm Springs Film Festival, which revealed its juried winners this week despite being forced to cancel its 2022 edition.
It centers on three young girls in a mountain town who take over the houses of those who have fled, dress up as women when no one is watching, and have a hiding place as their mothers train them to flee from those who turn them into slaves or ghosts. Until one day, when one of the girls doesn’t make it to her hideout in time.
The jury awarded it the top prize “for a miraculously vivid portrayal of girlhood under siege told with visual exuberance and powerful intimacy from the ensemble cast.”
The film also took the festival’s Ibero-American Award, the top prize in its Ibero-American sidebar devoted to the best films from Latin America, Spain or Portugal.
Special mentions in the Ibero-American sidebar were given to Anita Rocha da Silveira’s Medusa and Víctor Escribano’s 7 Lives, 7 Lakes.
The Palm Springs Film Festival, which had been scheduled to run January 6-17 before being scrapped amid the latest COVID surge, is considered a must-stop forInternational Feature Oscar contenders, with 36 of the 93 official submissions this year slated for the lineup.
Here’s the full list of winners:
FIPRESCI Prize: Best International Feature Film
Prayers For the Stolen (Mexico)
Directed by Tatiana Huezo
FIPRESCI Prize: Best Actor in an International Feature Film
Amir Jadidi
A Hero (Iran)
FIPRESCI Prize: Best Actress in an International Feature Film
Agathe Rousselle
Titane (France/Belgium)
FIPRESCI Prize: International Screenplay
A Hero (Iran)
Screenplay by Asghar Farhadi
Best Documentary Award
Flee (Denmark)
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Special Mention
The Caviar Connection (France)
Directed by Benoît Bringer
New Voices/New Visions Award
Happening (France)
Directed by Audrey Diwan
Special Mention
Wildhood (Canada/Germany)
Directed by Bretten Hannam
Ibero-American Award
Prayers For the Stolen (Mexico)
Directed by Tatiana Huezo
Special Mentions
Medusa (Brazil/USA)
Directed by Anita Rocha da Silveira
7 Lives, 7 Lakes (Spain)
Directed by Víctor Escribano
Local Jury Award
Escape from Mogadishu (South Korea)
Directed by Ryoo Seung-wan.
Special Mention
Mission: Joy – Finding Happiness in Troubled Times (USA)
Directed by Louie Psihoyos, Peggy Callahan
MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award
A Hero (Iran)
Director Asghar Farhadi
Special Mentions
Fear (Bulgaria)
Directed by Ivaylo Hristov
Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America (USA)
Directed by Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler
Young Cineastes Award
Yuni (Indonesia)
Directed by Kamila Andini
Special Mention Any Day Now (Finland)
Directed by Hamy Ramezan
The 44-year-old Colombian and his brother JuanchoCardona’s production company 11:11 Films & TV has signed a first-look deal with VIS, a division of ViacomCBS.
The agreement will encompass creating and developing content including series, films, and special-format programs for a global audience.
“We are excited to continue adding the best talent to our studio’s roster, to create quality content across the globe,” said Federico Cuervo, Senior Vice President of VIS Americas. “Manolo Cardona brings unique insights with his experience both in front and behind the camera as a successful actor and talented producer and we are thrilled to be working with him.”
“We are extremely excited to work with ViacomCBS,” says Cardona. “Our vision is to develop compelling content to entertain audiences around the world and we feel this will be the perfect partnership.”
Manolo is a notable actor and producer known for his work in Narcos, Who Killed Sara?, Covert Affairs, and Reign. His credits also include work in Spanish language television in Rubirosa, El Cartel de Los Sapos, and Maria Magdalena, in which he portrayed Jesus Christ.
His brother Juancho is a film and television director and producer with a long history of creating premium content in Latin America and serves as 11:11 Films & TV’s General Director. The duo founded the company in 2005.
VIS develops and produces content in all formats and genres for global audiences. Current projects in development and production include La Gran Ola, At Midnight, Medusa, and Los Enviados, among others.
Mari Oliveira will be thrilling audiences in North America…
Music Box Films has acquiredNorth American rights to Medusa, the well-received thriller-satire starring the Latina actress.
Hailing from Brazilian writer and director Anita Rocha da Silveira. Medusa follows Mariana (Oliveira), a 21-year-old who belongs to a world where she must do her utmost to keep up the appearance of a perfect woman. In order to resist temptation, she and her girlfriends try their best to control everything and everyone around them. And that includes the town sinners. At night, their girl squad put on masks, hunt and beat up all women who have deviated from the right path. However, the day will come when the urge to scream will be stronger than it ever has been.
The social and political critique, which touches on themes of sexual liberation, violence, and religious fixation in Brazil, marks a follow-up to the filmmaker’s debut feature, Kill Me Please.
The feature debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors’ Fortnight strand before getting its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
Box Films is aiming to release the film theatrically in the summer of 2022 with a home entertainment plan to follow.
“Medusa’s bold commentary on social and political trends in Brazil will resonate with US audiences who can recognize the disturbing parallels in this country,” commented Brian Andreotti, Head of Acquisitions at Music Box Films. “Anita is an exciting filmmaker with a wholly original voice, and we are excited to bring her provocative and aesthetically striking film to a wider audience.”
“We are thrilled to work for the first time with Music Box Films,” added Martin Gondre, Head of Sales & Acquisitions at Best Friend Forever. “We couldn’t find a better home for Anita’s stylish, topical, and striking second feature.”
“Enchanted and powerful/ I dance among the rocks and so I set them spinning/ Enchanted and mysterious/ Brave and proud and so I set them to spinning,” sings Trevi in this song’s chorus, before producers Dabruk, Manu Chalud and Alcover unleash a techno dance frenzy.
