Diego Calva’s dream(er) project will be hitting U.S. theaters…
Roadside Attractions has acquired the U.S. rights to Dreamer, a thriller starring the 31-year-old Mexican Golden Globe-nominated actor.
Executive-produced by Oscar nominee Yalitza Aparicio, the film examines enslaved child labor in the U.S.
Inspired by a landmark sweatshop case in El Monte, CA, the film marks the feature directorial debut of veteran producer Mohit Ramchandani.
It will bow exclusively in theaters nationwide on April 5, 2024.
Newcomer Ari Lopez leads an ensemble that also includes Alfredo Castro, Paulina Gaitan, Calva and Renata Vaca.
The story follows Jesús (Lopez), a young farmer in rural Mexico who dreams of playing for Club Puebla, his local soccer team. With the promise of training at a soccer camp in Los Angeles, Jesús is convinced by his father to leave home, but he soon discovers that he’s been sold to a sweatshop run out of a decrepit mansion in downtown Los Angeles. Jesús is then subjected to the grueling 18-hour work schedule dictated by El Jefe (Castro), a boss who promises freedom for those who complete their quotas, and whose brutality is motivated by his own desperation to provide for his family back in Mexico. Despite all, Jesús finds solace in Elena (Vaca), a girl who was similarly betrayed and sent to America under the guise of attending a fashion school. When Elena goes missing and another co-worker, Carlitos (Calva), is severely beaten for confronting El Jefe, Jesús realizes his only way out is a daring escape.
Ramchandani directed from his own script, with the film being produced and financed by Rufus Parker of P2 Films, Jon Graham and Matt Diezel. Ramchandani also served as producer. In addition to Aparicio, EPs included Luis Mandoki and Daljit DJ Parmar of Original Entertainment.
Dreamer has garnered praise from L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ Office, the Los Angeles Civil Rights Department, and former Department of State Chief of Staff Mark J Biedlingmaier, who stated: “It is one of the most emotionally engaging films I have ever seen. I’m excited to share this film with my colleagues in Washington, given this topic touches every single American today.”
Ramchandani underscored that “Dreamer has no political bias or agenda. It merely shows you, from the point of view of a young boy, what it would be like to have your dreams stolen and replaced with the hellish nightmare of slavery. His story is only one of over 2.8 million undocumented migrants that crossed the border in 2023 and whose forced labor is an unforgiveable stain on countless corporate products.”
Added Roadside Attractions Co-Presidents Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff, “Directorial debuts don’t get any more exciting than this. Mo takes us into a world that we can barely imagine, yet he convinces us it exists right under our noses. The visceral energy of Jesús’ journey is something filmgoers will not soon forget.”
The 28-year-old Mexican actress, who earned an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma, will star in the horror-suspense filmPresencias.
The Videocine project, also starring Alberto Ammann, will stream via TelevisaUnivsion’s Vix+ Streaming Service.
Aparicio described the project during the streamer’s launch announcement this week.
“This is a story about a man who, after his wife’s murder, launches his own investigation to find her killer,” she said. “His investigation takes place at the scene of the crime: a cabin in the woods where he spent a large part of his childhood. Before long, he notices many strange occurrences taking place and is forced with facing a terrifying reality.”
She continued, “Part of the film was shot in Tlalpujahua, known as the magical village where it’s always Christmas, located in Central Mexico in Michoacan. Where the architecture and the local traditions are a point of pride for my country.”
The Dream Assignment production is directed and produced by Luis Mandoki.
The 52-year-old Puerto Rican salsa singer will now be co-hosting the Latin Grammys this Thursday night alongside previously announced hosts Yalitza Aparicio and Ana Brenda Contreras.
Victor Manuelle replaces Carlos Rivera, who had to back out due to being exposed to COVID-19.
“This has been a tough year for all of us in the music industry,” Manuelle, who served as Latin Grammys host back in 2006, tells Billboard. “But I’m honored to be part of this event that, despite a pandemic, carried on to produce the ceremony.”
Having three hosts already speaks to the uniqueness of an extraordinary 21st annual Latin Grammys featuring star-studded performances from different pockets of the world. So, what exactly can viewers expect to see that night? Without spoiling any surprises, Manuelle shares, “this ceremony will be very special. Production wise it will be very different, for example, for the first time ever, we’ll see artists performing around the world including my island [Puerto Rico] featuring Bad Bunny.”
Manuelle is also set to take the stage with Ivy Queen, Rauw Alejandro, Ricardo Montaner and Reik‘s Jesus Navarro for the night’s opening musical number that will pay tribute to salsa icon Héctor Lavoe.
“Can you imagine? It’s a great honor for me,” he says. “The opening will allow us to relive Héctor Lavoe’s music, the music that is in our blood, that makes us so proud and is part of our musical history and culture.”
The Latin Grammys — which will also showcase diverse stories of hope, community, sense of purpose, and celebration throughout the night as part of their “music makes us human” theme — will air at 8:00 pm ET via Univision.
The event will be preceded by the The Latin Grammy Premiere, which starts at 3:00 pm ET via Facebook Live and is where the majority of the categories will be awarded.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has released its annual list of invitations to join the organization, with the 26-year-old Mexican actress and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Indigenous Peoples among the 819 extended an invite.
Aparicio, one of Timemagazine’s100 most influential people in the world in 2019,earned an Oscar nod in the Best Actress category for her performance in Alfonso Cuarón‘s 2018 Spanish-language drama Roma. With the nomination for her actig debut, she became the first Indigenous American woman and the second Mexican woman to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
But Aparcio isn’t the only Latino/a to make the list…
Other invitees in the Actors branch include Bobby Cannavale, who appeared in The Irishman, Overboard’s Eva Longoria, Knives Out star Ana de Armas and Gringo actor Yul Vazquez.
Invitees in the Music branch include Andrea Guerra (Hotel Rwanda) and Cuban-American jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, who worked on the music for Clint Eastwood’s films Richard Jewell and The Mule.
The Directors branch sent out invitations to Latino filmmakers Icíar Bolláin (Spanish), Felipe Cazals (Mexican), Sebastián Cordero (Ecuadorian), Luis Estrada (Mexican), Alejandro Landes (Colombian-Ecuadorian),Jorge Alí Triana (Colombian) and Andrés Wood (Chilean).
This year’s new class demonstrates The Academy’s commitment to erasing the stigma of not being inclusive, particularly in terms of women, international members and underrepresented ethnic/racial communities.
The organization reports this year’s class breakdown is 49% international, 45% women, and 36% underrepresented ethnic/racial.
The overwhelming number of those invited to join the Academy end up accepting.
The total active membership in 2019 was 8,946, with 8,733 eligible to vote. Total membership including active, voting and retired was 9,794. Today’s additions will take the membership count past the 10,000 mark.
AMPAS says members can voluntarily disclose their race/ethnicity, sex or can choose “prefer not to.” So, demo stats may not be 100% accurate. AMPAS also “recognizes and respects” the personal choice in identification, but doesn’t track LGBTQ+ or differently abled, although a source says, while protecting privacy and not forcing answers, they are “working towards it.” In other words this is no longer your father’s Academy.
“We take great pride in the strides we have made in exceeding our initial inclusion goals set back in 2016, but acknowledge the road ahead is a long one,” said Academy CEO Dawn Hudson. “We are committed to staying the course.”
“The Academy is delighted to welcome these distinguished fellow travelers in the motion picture arts and sciences. We have always embraced extraordinary talent that reflects the rich variety of our global film community, and never more so than now,” said Academy President David Rubin.
Here’s a look at some of this year’s Latino invitees:
Actors Yalitza Aparicio – “Roma” Bobby Cannavale – “The Irishman,” “The Station Agent” Ana de Armas – “Knives Out,” “Blade Runner 2049” Eva Longoria – “Overboard,” “Harsh Times” Yul Vazquez – “Gringo,” “Last Flag Flying”
Casting Directors Libia Batista – “Eres Tú Papá?,” “Viva” Javier Braier – “The Two Popes,” “Wild Tales” Eva Leira – “Pain and Glory,” “Biutiful” Yesi Ramirez – “The Hate U Give,” “Moonlight” Yolanda Serrano – “Pain and Glory,” “Biutiful”
Directors Icíar Bolláin – “Even the Rain,” “Take My Eyes” Felipe Cazals – “El Año de la Peste,” “Canoa: A Shameful Memory” Sebastián Cordero – “Europa Report,” “Crónicas” Luis Estrada – “The Perfect Dictatorship,” “Herod’s Law” Alejandro Landes – “Monos,” “Porfirio” Jorge Alí Triana – “Bolívar Soy Yo,” “A Time to Die” Andrés Wood – “Araña,” “Violeta Went to Heaven”
Documentary Cristina Amaral – “Um Filme de Verão (A Summer Film),” “Person” Violeta Ayala – “Cocaine Prison,” “The Bolivian Case” Julia Bacha – “Naila and the Uprising,” “Budrus” Almudena Carracedo – “The Silence of Others,” “Made in L.A.” Paola Castillo – “Beyond My Grandfather Allende,” “Genoveva” Paz Encina – “Memory Exercises,” “Paraguayan Hammock” Mariana Oliva – “The Edge of Democracy,” “Piripkura” Iván Osnovikoff – “Los Reyes,” “La Muerte de Pinochet (The Death of Pinochet)” Tiago Pavan – “The Edge of Democracy,” “Olmo and the Seagull” Bettina Perut – “Los Reyes,” “La Muerte de Pinochet (The Death of Pinochet)” Marta Rodriguez – “Our Voice of Earth, Memory and Future,” “Campesinos (Peasants)”
Executives Ozzie Areu Barbara Peiro Frank Rodriguez Mimi Valdes
Film Editors Alejandro Carrillo Penovi – “Heroic Losers,” “The Clan” Alex Marquez – “Snowden,” “Savages”
Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Mari Paz Robles – “I Dream in Another Language,” “Cantinflas” David Ruiz Gameros – “Tear This Heart Out,” “Amores Perros” Susana Sánchez – “The Liberator,” “Goya’s Ghosts”
Marketing and Public Relations Inma Carbajal-Fogel Emmanuelle Castro Fernando Garcia Dustin M. Sandoval
Music Andrea Guerra – “The Pursuit of Happyness,” “Hotel Rwanda” Arturo Sandoval – “Richard Jewell,” “The Mule”
Producers Edher Campos – “Sonora, the Devil’s Highway,” “The Golden Dream” Nicolas Celis – “Roma,” “Tempestad” Alex Garcia – “Kong: Skull Island,” “Desierto” Enrique López Lavigne – “The Impossible,” “Sex and Lucia” Álvaro Longoria – “Everybody Knows,” “Finding Altamira” Mónica Lozano – “I Dream in Another Language,” “Instructions Not Included” Gabriela Maire – “Las Niñas Bien (The Good Girls),” “La Caridad (Charity)” Luis Manso – “Champions,” “Binta and the Great Gabriela Rodríguez – “Roma,” “Gravity” Mar Targarona – “Secuestro (Boy Missing),” “The Orphanage” Luis Urbano – “Letters from War,” “Tabu”
Production Design Sandra Cabriada – “Instructions Not Included,” “The Mexican” Estefanía Larraín – “A Fantastic Woman,” “Neruda”
Short Films and Feature Animation José David Figueroa García – “Perfidia,” “Ratitas” Oscar Grillo – “Monsters, Inc.,” “Monsieur Pett” Otto Guerra – “City of Pirates,” “Wood & Stock: Sexo, Orégano e Rock’n’Roll” Isabel Herguera – “Winter Love,” “Under the Pillow” Summer Joy Main-Muñoz – “Don’t Say No,” “La Cerca” Juan Pablo Zaramella – “Luminaris,” “The Glove”
Sound David Esparza – “The Magnificent Seven,” “The Equalizer”
Visual Effects Leandro Estebecorena – “The Irishman,” “Kong: Skull Island”
Members-at-Large Daniel Molina Carlos Morales Jesse Torres
Alfonso Cuaron’s last project is headed beyond the stream…
The 57-year-old Mexican filmmaker’s Oscar-winning film Roma will be the first Netflix film to get a Blu-Ray and DVD release, due to the Criterion Collection launching a special edition in February.
The release will include five separate documentaries about the creation of the film, and will feature the same 4K master and Dolby Atmos sound that were part of the theatrical release.
Roma won Academy Awards for Cuaron’s directing and cinematography, as well as the foreign-language film Oscar.
Roma follows the Oscar-nominee Yalitza Aparicio, who plays a live-in housekeeper in the middle-class neighborhood of Roma in Mexico City. It became Mexico’s first winner of the Oscar for foreign-language feature. The film, produced by Esperanto Filmoj and Participant Media, joined previous foreign-language film nominees Life Is Beautiful, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Letters From Iwo Jima, Babel, and Amour as a nominee in the best picture category.
Roma is also the first Netflix film to be added to the Criterion Collection. The documentaries include “Road to Roma,” about the making of the film, featuring behind-the-scenes footage and an interview with Cuarón; “Snapshots from the Set”; documentaries about the sound, post-production processes, the theatrical campaign and social impact in Mexico.
Executive-produced by Oscar nominee Yalitza Aparicio, the film examines enslaved child labor in the U.S.
