Film festival shows contrasts of Mexico’s drug war

 

Mexican director Alejandro Inarritu, left, and Spanish actor Javier Bardem pose for photographers at the Morelia International Film Festival in Morelia, Mexico, Saturday Oct. 16, 2010.

From afar it seems like Baghdad: car bombs, beheadings and corrupt politicians.
Up close, Mexico remains magical and picturesque in parts, feeling oddly safe even in the hardest-fought territories of the drug war.
The 8th annual International Film Festival opened Saturday in the drug-plagued state of Michoacan to its largest turnout ever, drawing the contrast that defines Mexico today.
Only blocks from the site where a 2008 grenade attack killed eight people, hundreds lined the red carpet to squeal at one of Hollywood’s leading men, Oscar-winning Spanish actor Javier Bardem. Unlike the Jonas Brothers in the drug-war-ravaged city of Monterrey, no one canceled – organizers say – for a festival that also features Hollywood blockbuster director Robert Rodriguez and Monty Python funnyman-turned-director Terry Gilliam.
“I’m waiting to see the bad side of Morelia,” Gilliam told reporters Sunday. “Since I’ve been in Morelia, I’ve been blown away by the architecture. It’s such a beautiful place.”
Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, whose film “Biutiful” starring Bardem opened the festival, acknowledged to a full auditorium in cocktail attire that his homeland is seeing a difficult time.
He told The Associated Press on Sunday that violence in Mexico appears to be out control. But culture and education are very powerful weapons in the war against it.
“These are very powerful acts of resistance. I think the seed or the root of what we’re experiencing is a

UNRELEASED FILMS AND INTERNATIONAL GUESTS MAKE CINEBH A WINDOW OF THE INDEPENDENT BRAZILIAN CINEMA TO THE WORLD

 

El Boanerense

Minas Gerais state capital event exhibits national and international unreleased films in Brazil and invites international professionals to get to know and discuss the Independent Brazilian Cinema and International Coproduction
As a closure for the 2010 season of the Cinema Sem Fronteiras program (which also includes the Tiradentes and Outro Preto Exhibits), CineBH Exhibit reassures, in its fourth edition, its goal to become one of the main windows of the independent Brazilian cinema to the international market, proposing dialogues with this foreign coproduction through the exhibition of some of the main films released in the great international festivals and with the presence of renowned professionals from the USA, Europe and Latin America who will have a chance to meet the new harvest of the Brazilian audiovisual production in Belo Horizonte and also debate and exchange experiences with its producers and filmmakers.
The whole program holds 78 national and international films, being 31 features, a media-film and 46 short-films, divided into 59 sessions during the six days of program offered for free to the public. This year there’s also the Brasil CineMundi – 1st International Coproduction Meeting, and intense programming of debates and

Chilean film “Huacho” to participate in South Korean festival

 

"Haucho" Chilean Feature Film

The movie describes the social conflicts in Chile during the period of its modernization, and will be one of four Latin American films presented at the event.
The Chilean film “Huacho” will be one of the four Latin American movies that will compete at the Jeonju Cinema Festival, one of the most prestigious of South Korea. The event is scheduled to take place between 29 April and 7 May next, revealed the organizers of the event.
Eleven movies will be presented at the festival, among them, “Castro”, by the Argentine Alejo Moguillansky; “Crab Trap” (“El vuelco del cangrejo”), by the Colombian Óscar Ruiz Navia, and

LatAm Film Festival Concludes in Venezuela

The Margarita 2010 Latin American and Caribbean Film Festival concluded on Thursday after a week of exhibitions, competitions, and workshops with filmmakers from Cuba, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Venezuela.

25 best action films of all time by The Guardian: n.6 “City of God”

 

City of God (Cidade de Deus).

This ground-level report on gang life in the slums of Rio de Janeiro exploded with thrilling and terrible force. An electrifying piece of cinema packed full of visual invention and dazzling set-pieces, it owes a debt to Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas and audaciously pays it off. Though it unfolds at an exhilarating pace and crackles with danger, the film never allows itself to become seduced by the abundant violence of favela life. Instead, it keeps its lens trained on the attendant horrors, which mount up as the narrative jumps forward in time. What is most horrifying of all is how those caught up in the violence – victims and perpetrators alike – keep getting younger and younger.

Mexico’s drug wars captured in film comedy named Hell

Story of El Infierno follows cartel foot soldier capable of ‘insane levels of brutality’ and is tipped to be a box office hit
A black comedy taking Mexican cinema audiences on a rollercoaster ride through the horrors of the country’s drug wars is set to become one of the year’s big box office hits, even in areas worst affected by the violence.
El Infierno, or Hell, tells the story of a well-meaning middle-aged deported migrant called El Benny as he transforms into a drug cartel foot soldier capable of insane levels of brutality.
The film has been doing well in cities across the country for a month now, and was released in Ciudad Juárez this weekend. So far this year more than 2,400 people have been killed in drug war linked violence in and around the border city.
“The cinema was unusually busy and the audiences came out laughing and repeating scenes from the film,” Juárez usher Armando Martínez said in a phone interview. His own opinion? “It’s funny, but it’s hard too.”
The film’s director and co-writer, Luis Estrada, says his initial inspiration came from

“Even the Rain,” starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Luis Tosar, opens the Recent Spanish Cinema

“Even the Rain,” starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Luis Tosar, opens the Recent Spanish Cinema series Thursday evening at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre. After the screening of Spain’s official entry for the 2010 foreign language film Oscar, there will be a discussion with Tosar. The festival, which continues through Sunday, features several U.S. premieres including “Lope” and “Paper Birds,” both screening Friday. http://www.americancinematheque.com

Source: LA Times

Latin America Presente at Chicago International Film Fest

One of North America’s oldest film events will once again take over the AMC River East theaters for its annual celebration of the best and brightest in World Cinema: a staggering 122 feature films, seven short film showcases, seven panels and three tributes to actor Forest Whitaker, filmmaker and novelist Guillermo Del Toro and producer Paula Wagner.
Some of the festival’s highlights have already made the rounds of the most important film festivals and will soon land at a multiplex or indie house near you: Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan,” John Wells’ “The Company Men,” Julie Taymor’s “The Tempest,” and Stephen Frears’ “Tamara Drewe,” for example. Other films, like the ones showcased in the “Cinema of the Americas” program, may never reach our theaters.
Latin America is represented by 14 films from Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba and a co-production between Costa Rica and

Rio International Film Festival 2010

Rio will become the meeting point of cinephiles and film industry professionals from around the world during Festival do Rio 2010 (Rio International Film Festival), the 12th edition of Latin America’s biggest film festival, which kicks off on Thursday, September 23rd for an ambitious two week run.

Over 300 films from more than sixty countries will be screened

The best of The trinidad & Tobago Film Festival (TTFF)

Moloch Tropical

Whether you are new toThe trinidad & Tobago Film Festival (TTFF) or have become a regular, here is what you need to know to get the most from your festival experience. Panels will comprise local and international experienced and accomplished industry specialists and filmmakers.
The People’s Choice award
The public will get the opportunity to choose the winners of three awards—Best Short Film, Best Dramatic Feature and Best Documentary Film. This year all the awards carry cash prizes. Members of the public are asked to also fill in answers to the simple questions at the back of the People’s Choice award forms so that the organisers of the festival could become more familiar with their audience.
FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
African Cinema
Last year the TTFF started a heritage focus initiative with the screening of a selection of films from India. This year the initiative will continue with a number of films from Africa. Indigenous African cinema has mushroomed in recent years.
The festival will be showing a number of films from the Zanzibar International Film Festival,