New World Distribution in the Old World

As DVD sales continue to crumble (allowing us to use less petroleum), VOD is growing (now in 65.7 million US homes — about 55.7% of TV homes, according to MagnaGlobal). Digital distribution revenues are starting to percolate and be more reliable. Worldwide revenue from video-on-demand movies and TV programs will reach $5.7 billion in 2016, up 58% from revenue of $3.6 billion in 2010, according to a new research report. The tally does not include pay-per-view sports events, adult entertainment or subscription-based VOD services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Google,

The Cinesul Short Film Festival

If you have a taste for modern cinema, particularly the best and brightest of Latin American film, then you’ll want to check out the Cinesul Short Film Festival and see some of the newest and most exciting short films released within Latin America this year.
Each year, nearly a thousand short film entries are turned in from all over Latin America, including Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, Chile, Spain and Peru. Only the best 250 make it to the semi-finals. Of the finalists, 20 feature length and an additional 54 shorter length movies are chosen to appear in the

Funds will increase Latin production investment

 

Dynamo's 'Bunker' is Fox Intl. Prods.' first Spanish language production.

The Berlin Film Festival often celebrates Latin American artistic excellence, but this year, financial clout was also on the program
Colombia’s Dynamo Capital unveiled a planned $150 million-$200 million private equity fund for investment in Latin American film, TV and animation outfits.
RioFilme, a Rio de Janeiro public film fund, announced aims to double funding at Funcine Rio 1, its tax-driven investment vehicle, to $20 million.
Latin America has a new management class: DC senior fund manager Cristian Conti is a former Salomon Brothers investment banker; RioFilme’s director-president Sergio Sa Leitao advised the

Film of the week: Interview with Carlos Moreno Talks All Your Dead Ones

One of our favorite foreign films at Sundance was All Your Dead Ones, directed by Colombia’s Carlos Moreno. It’s a slightly absurdist fable in which a poor farmer finds a pile of dead bodies dumped in his field on election day. The story is slow-moving but powerful, the acting is wonderful (especially by lead Alvaro Rodriguez and by Jorge Herrema as the mayor), and the cinematography is marvelous (the film won a Special Jury award for cinematography). Moreno sat

Latino cinema shines at Wex

 

Courtesy of the Wexner Center Lorena Velazquez consorts with an extraterrestrial extra in the 1960 mexican sci-fi film, ‘The Ship of Monsters.’

The Wexner Center for the Arts is hosting Cinema Latino this month. The annual series spotlights Latin American filmmaking by showing some of the most popular films of the year as well as some classics.
All films are shown in Spanish with English subtitles. Countries with films being presented include Mexico, Argentina and Colombia.
Chris Stults, the associate curator of film and video at the Wexner Center, said selecting the films to show can be difficult because there are so many films to choose from.
“We try hard to present a nice variety of films in terms of theme and country represented,” he said.
The Center for Latin American Studies and the Department of Spanish

Santa Barbara Film Festival announces 2011 program

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival, which runs from Jan. 27 through Feb. 6, announced its lineup Thursday morning. The 26th edition of the festival will feature films representing 49 countries and numerous premieres.
The festival kicks off at the Arlington Theatre on Thursday, the 27th with the U.S. premiere of “Sarah’s Key,” directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner and starring Kristin Scott Thomas. Both the filmmaker and

Santa Barbara Fest World Premiere from the Chilean Dir: Patricio Guzman, “Nostalgia for the Light”

The Santa Barbara Film Festival will kick off Jan. 27 at the Arlington Theater with the U.S. premiere of “Sarah’s Key,” directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner and starring Kristin Scott Thomas.
The fest announced its lineup Thursday for the 26th edition of the event, which runs through Feb. 6. The closing night film will feature the premiere of “Carmen in 3D,” directed by Julian Napier and marking the first time ever that an opera has been filmed and shown in digital 3D.
“We’ve taken a cue from Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’ — ‘You mustn’t be

‘Elite Squad 2′ becomes Brazil’s top movie of all time

“Elite Squad 2,” a Brazilian movie mixing explosive action with political intrigue, has become Brazil’s top movie of all time, besting even the US blockbuster “Avatar” at the national box office, producers and industry specialists said Tuesday.

The movie, a sequel to a 2007 original that also became a huge success, has taken 60.5 million dollars in Brazilian ticket sales since its premiere three months ago, topping the 60.4 million dollars “Avatar” pocketed over a similar period, the industry outlet Filme B said.

Film of the week: “Post Mortem”

Chilean director Pablo Larrain’s last film, Tony Manero, followed an obsessive Saturday Night Fever fan/John Travolta impersonator, whose absurd passion for disco dancing turned to extreme violence and even murder – all against a backdrop of Pinochet’s repressive and equally murderous regime. It was disturbing, dark and satirical masterpiece of modern Latin American cinema. Its star, Alfredo Castro, was intense and quietly dangerous – seemingly born to play the sociopathic lead role.
Now, two years later, both the director and star have reunited for Post Mortem.
If Sofia Coppola is going to be accused of re-making the same film,

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