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.

“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

Film of the week: Vuelve a la Vida/Back to Life

Vuelve a la Vida/Back to Life (Mexico, 2010)
Starring Robyn Sidney and John Grillo
Directed by Carlos Hagerman
Have you ever had a film just fill you with so much hope and goodness that as soon as you leave the theater you want to stop everyone on the street and say, “You HAVE TO see this movie!”? That’s exactly what I felt immediately after the screening of Carlos Hagerman’s “Vuelve a la Vida,” (the name of a ceviche so good it cures hangovers).  It is a  documentary about a model, a scuba diver, a shark and the legendary shark hunt that epitomized what it is to live in and be from Alcapulco, Mexico.
This is the story of Perro Largo (Long Dog), an Alcapulco legend, known for his aquatic prowess, machismo and charm; as told by those who knew and loved him and were a part of a great shark hunt in November of 1975.
Hagerman came across the story via Perro Largo’s step-son John Grillo, and both he and Grillo were attempting to make a huge Hollywood production based on the legend. But a funny thing happened as they gathered first-person accounts from El Perro’s f

Three films from Peru to be screened in Washington film festival

La Teta Asustada

Three award-winning Peruvian films will be screened in Washington DC, United States, reports Peru.com.

These films are: The Milk of Sorrow (2009 Berlin Golden Bear winner, by Claudia Llosa), Undertow (Sundance Festival Audience Award, by Javier Fuentes-Leon) and October (awarded in Cannes with “Un Certain Regard” prize, by Daniel and Diego Vega), which will be shown at the Washington Latin American Film Festival opening today, Sept. 21, in Silver Spring, a suburb near Washington D.C.

Cuba arrives to London: Marti, the Eye of the Canary – Special Preview this Saturday

Marti, el ojo del canario

Marti, the Eye of the Canary (Marti, el ojo del canario) (15*) – UK Premiere
20:45 / A fascinating insight into the inner world of famed Cuban revolutionary Jose Marti from acclaimed director Fernando Perez (Suite Havana, Madrigal)
25 September 2010
Barbican – London

In his new film, acclaimed Cuban director Fernando Perez (Suite Havana, Madrigal) focuses on the early years of famed

AFI Latin American Film Fest Opens with “Revolution;” Closes in and with “October”

An image from Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas's "Linha de Passe."

AFI has announced their complete lineup for the 2010 AFI Latin American Film Festival in Silver Spring, MD.
The fest will open on September 21 with “Revolution,” a shorts compilation commissioned by Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna and Pablo Cruz, featuring some of Mexico’s leading contemporary directors (among them, Fernando Eimbcke, Carlos Reygadas, Rodrigo Garcia, Bernal, and Luna) exploring themes and stories inspired by the Mexican Revolution, in honor of its 100th anniversary.
The festival will close on October 13 with “October,” Daniel and Diego Vega Vidal’s film that won the Jury Prize in the 2010 Canne Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section.  “October” follows Clemente, a moneylender, who enters his office to find a baby girl in a basket.  He must search among the prostitutes he frequents to find the baby’s mother, as his neighbor looks after the baby and his office. 

11th Annual VISTAS Film Festival: North Texas’ Largest Latino Film Festival

The VISTAS Film Festival shows great Latino films year-round. Each fall, VISTAS hosts a four-day festival at the Angelika Film Center at Mockingbird Station in Dallas, attracting directors, producers and stars from around the globe. Thousands of film lovers from across North Texas attend the festival to watch movies, have coffee with the filmmakers and mingle at the after-parties. This year we expand the festival to include an outdoor block party on the last day, October 31st. We invite you to attend the 11th Annual VISTAS Film Festival from October 28- 31, 2010 at the Angelika Film Center.

New England Festival of Ibero American Cinema is brand new venture

Northless

More than 20 feature films and documentaries from Spain, Portugal, Latin America and the Caribbean (not counting a bunch of short films from Cuba), will be screened between Saturday and Sept. 26 in the first annual New England Festival of Ibero American Cinema.
If that sounds like the Providence Latin American Film Festival which has been showing feature films from Spain, Portugal, Latin America and Cuba for the past 17 years, sorry for the confusion. PLAFF will be held this year for four days beginning Sept. 30,

Film of the week: Paraiso/Paradise

Paraiso/Paradise (Peru, 2009)
Starring Yiliana Chong, Gabriela Tello and Joaquín Ventura
Directed by Hector Galvez
In the dry, dusty slums just outside of Lima, Peru, five friends attempt to make a future for themselves after the murder of one of their own by a rival gang. Their options, the military, university or a job with a traveling circus, all come with an obstacle that’s difficult to overcome.
Although the story could be anybody’s story in any town’s slum, Galvez introduces the audience to the harsh reality of the Peruvian condition, and how its poorer residents have dealt with the aftermath of terrorist invasions that plague the region. Galvez has the viewers focus on a twisted tree that grows in the midst of the arid terrain where these kids live; an obvious metaphor for the kids themselves. “How can it still grow?” asks one of the friends. How, indeed.
I can’t say that I was moved by the film or the performances, but the saving grace was that