Buenos Aires Lab ‪#‬BAFICI together with ‪#‬Cannes2013 @mdf_cannes will showcase 6 New Latin American Directors @INCAA_ARGENTINA

Cannes is spotlighting six young Latin American directors in the fest’s first focus on yet-to-be-completed movies.
The showcase, titled BAL Goes to Cannes: Bafici Work in Progress, will take place May 21, organized by Cannes’ Film Market and the Buenos Aires Lab, the industry forum of the Buenos Aires Intl. Independent Film Festival (Bafici).
The list includes Santiago Palavecino’s psychological drama “Some Girls” (which won an Arte Prize mid-week), and the biggest production in the mix, “After the Rain,” from Brazil’s Claudio Marques and Marilia Hughes,

13 Films Featuring Hispanic Talent in 2013

Jack Rico at NBC Latino welcomes the new year with a list of his top 13 most anticipated films of 2013 starring Hispanic actors, helmed by Hispanic directors, or both.

13. Parker (Jennifer Lopez – Jan 25th)
Anytime you have Jennifer Lopez in the cast of a movie, it is something to look forward to. ‘La Lopez’ bizarrely teams up with British B-actor Jason Statham in this crime caper flick about a thief with a unique code of professional ethics who is double-crossed by his crew and left for dead. Lopez plays the role of Leslie, who forms an unlikely alliance with Statham as they look to hijack the score of a gang’s latest heist. Quick reminders of “Out of Sight” and “Money Train” come to mind as Lopez returns to the action genre and leaves behind the syrupy romantic comedies of the early 2000′s. Will this be a hit? Probably not, since there is no way I can see Statham and

Salma Hayek Production Company Ventanarosa acquires “The Boy Kings of Texas” by Domingo Martinez

Actress and producer Salma Hayek has optioned The Boy Kings of Texas, a memoir by Domingo Martinez.
The book was a finalist for the National Book Award for nonfiction this year.
Hayek acquired the rights for her production company, Ventanarosa. The deal was negotiated by Bruce Vinokur of CAA and Alice Martell of The Martell Agency.
Here’s more about the book, from the release:
Plucked from obscurity from a pile of unsolicited manuscripts, THE BOY KINGS OF TEXAS [is] first-time author Martinez’s coming-of-age story about the traumas and pleasures of growing up in Brownsville, Texas, in the 1980s … In telling his story, Martinez provides a real glimpse

Joint venture between IM Global (@imglobalfilm) and Canana (@CANANApresenta) will finance, sell Latin American movies

Creating a powerful new Latin American player, Hollywood’s IM Global and Mexico and L.A.’s Canana, headed by Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna and Pablo Cruz, are teaming to launch Mundial.
The Mexico City-based joint venture will focus on the financing and worldwide sales of Latin American movies, IM Global CEO Stuart Ford, Cruz and Canana CEO Julian Levy announced Tuesday.
Run by Canana VP Cristina Garza, its former distribution head, Mundial will rep 8-10 titles a year, sourced from all over Latin America, including Canana productions.
The new venture launches with three Canana titles:

Ecuador’s biggest box office hits

La Tigra (The Tigress) – Camilo Luzuriaga (1990)
Que tan lejos (How Much Further) – Tania Hermida (2006)
Ratas, Ratones, Rateros (Rodents) - Sebastian Cordero (1999)
Con mi corazon en Yambo (With My Heart in Yambo) – Maria Fernanda Restrepo (2011)
A tus espaldas (Behind Your Back) - Tito Jara (2011)
Pescador (Fisherman) - Sebastian Cordero (2012)

Benicio del Toro will start filming in March “Paradise Lost” in Panama

International star Benicio del Toro and newcomer Josh Hutcherson are to star in Italian actor Andrea Di Stefano‘s directorial debut, Paradise Lost. These media-friendly American actors’ participation in the project was revealed by its French production company Chapter 2.
Written by the recent filmmaker, the screenplay is to follow Nick (Josh Hutcherson), a young Irish surfer who thinks that all his dreams have come true when he goes to visit his brother in Colombia. In an idyllic setting of blue lagoons and white sand beaches, he falls madly in love with a young Colombian called Maria. Everything seems perfect until he meets her uncle, a man named Pablo Escobar (Benicio del Toro)…
Born in 1949, Pablo Escobar was a famous Colombian cocaine trafficker who headed the Medellin Cartel. He died

Hubert Bals Fund @IFFR announces winners with a staggering selection from Latin America CONGRATULATIONS!

After poring over a record number of 399 entries, the Hubert Bals Fund has finally chosen its Fall 2012 winners. 25 new film projects will receive grants from IFFR‘s fund for script development, digital production, post-production, distribution or workshops. Among the lucky ones are IFFR favourites as well as promising newcomers.

Tarde para morir joven, Tiger Award winner Dominga Sotomayor‘s new project, gets support for script development. The Chilean filmmaker’s debut De jueves a domingo was supported by the

Ecuador’s film industry sees boom in productions

It took Ecuadorean director Ivan Mora five years to raise enough money to make his first feature film.
His initial break came in 2007 when he received a $10,000 (£6,200) grant from Ecuador’s newly-formed National Film Council to work on his script.
He still had to raise a further $600,000 but without these first funds, Sin Otono, Sin Primavera (No

Alejandro A. Riera, of the Chicago Latino Film Festival, on giving Latin American cinema the respect it deserves

As we celebrate our third year with GFI, Global Lens Series Manager Jeremy Quist asked me to reflect on the state of Latin American film distribution in the United States. And the more I thought about the subject, I found myself asking: When will Latin American cinema get the respect it deserves?
Yes, our cinema has an illustrious history that dates back to the silent era and includes such high points as the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema; the rise of Brazil’s Cinema Novo movement in the 50s and 60s; the emergence of post-Revolutionary Cuban cinema in the 60s and 70s; and, more recently, what some critics describe as the “New Argentinean Cinema.” And yet, even when countries such as Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela — not exactly film production powerhouses — are coming out with powerfully moving visual

Walter Salles new film ‘Terra’ to start shooting this year with Gael Garcia Bernal & Ricardo Darin

First announced during Cannes in 2010, “Terra” — the next film from Walter Salles — took a backseat as the director embarked on the lengthy production for the long-developing “On The Road.” But it hasn’t fallen off his radar, and with the Jack Kerouac adaptation wrapping up, we’re heartened to learn we won’t have to wait long for Salles to get cracking on another project.
Screen Daily report that production company Tu Vas Voir are set to reteam with Salles (whose “The