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,

Geneva: Filmar Latin American Film Festival 5-21 Nov

Be transported to South America, as the Filmar Latin American Film Festival returns to Geneva this year to showcase the best in both classic and contemporary Latin American Cinema. Screening at cinemas and theatres around Geneva, but mostly at the grand Art Deco Alhambra Theatre, the Filmar Latin American Film Festival spans the gambit of Latin American film. From drama to comedy to thrillers and romance, all films are screened in their original language and shown with French subtitles. Film discussions and talks with the directors are also on the bill.

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

National Gallery of Art Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with Concert, Films, and Spanish-Language Offerings

Film still from Alamar (Pedro González-Rubio, 2010, 35 mm, Spanish with subtitles, 73 minutes), to be shown at the National Gallery of Art on Saturday, September 18, as part of the GenMex: A New Generation of Cine Mexicano film series.
As Hispanic Heritage Month is observed from September 15 to October 15, 2010, the National Gallery of Art presents an array of offerings honoring this rich and diverse cultural legacy.

San Diego Latino Film Festival (SDLFF)

The San Diego Latino Film Festival (SDLFF) now in its 18th year, has grown to be one of the largest film festivals on the west coast and with over 205,000 past attendees, and growing, the San Diego Latino Film Festival is amongst the largest Latino film festivals in the world. Dedicated to the works of Latinos/Latinas and/or about the Latino experience, this annual celebration of Latino cinematic heritage continues to bring together the best in Latin Hollywood with the world’s biggest Latin-American stars.  More than just the biggest San Diego Latin event of the year, the San Diego Latino Film Festival strives to focus attention to and about the local Latino community, national issues, and international trends that impact the Latino/Hispano community locally and throughout the world.

Film of the week: El Vuelco del Cangrejo/Crab Trap

El Vuelco del Cangrejo/Crab Trap (Columbia, 2009)
Starring Arnobio Salazar Rivas and Rodrigo Vélez
Directed by Oscar Ruiz Navia
What can only be called as a cinematographer’s wet dream, “Crab Trap” (described as a weaving of documentary and fiction) is certainly a feast for the eyes. Each shot is like a still life portrait that hangs in your favorite art museum. The light is caught just right. The subjects of the photographs emote for the camera. The viewer thinks, “I want to be there, in that picture.”
But “Crab Trap” isn’t a portrait hanging in the Met, it’s supposed to be a film, ‘moving pictures’ that tell a compelling story about characters you love or love to hate. Unfortunately Navia directs the cinematic equivalent of a really pretty girl with no smarts- so nice to look at but you’d rather she didn’t speak. The film claims to be about the everyday life of the jungle village in La Barra, Columbia, and that it is. But I was left wondering, “What about La Barra? What are you trying to tell me? What is the point of your story?”

New York City Int Film Fest: Special Event – Cine Argentino -

Tres Deseos

New York City International Film Festival (NYCIFF) will celebrate the 200th Anniversary of Argentina showcasing five films by Argentine independent filmmakers.
Tuesday, August 17,  at  10:00 am to 9:30 pm

About the Films:

Luna de Avellaneda, also known as Avellaneda’s Moon in English, is an Argentine feature film directed by Juan Jose Campanella, winner of 2009 Best Director Oscar Foreign Language Film award

Premiere Brazil! 2010 – Brazil Film Festival – Moma NY – Today: Bye Bye Brasil -

Bye Bye Brasil
1979. France/Brazil/Argentina.
Directed by Carlos Diegues. With José Wilker, Betty Faria, Fábio Júnior.
A traveling sideshow made up of a magician, a strongman, and an exotic dancer stops in rural villages hoping to mesmerize the townspeople out of whatever money they may have. When a young accordionist becomes enamored of the show’s exotic dancer, he and his pregnant wife join the show as it sets off deeper into the country’s interior.
In Portuguese; English subtitles. 100 min.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 8:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1

Film of the week: Hermafrodita directed by Albert Xavier

The Dominican Republic is known for its delicious food, merengue dancing, and the jovial carefree attitude of its warm and friendly people. It is not however, known for its work of queer cinema, which is just one of the reasons why Albert Xavier’s feature film, Hermafrodita, marks itself as a brave and important new work.

La Melaza witnesses his younger brother killed by a local gang leader. In a fury of anger he extols revenge by sneaking into his house to kill his brother’s murderer. Realizing that he in lo longer safe in Santo Domingo

Javier Bardem Gets Emotional in ‘Biutiful’ International Trailer

The first full trailer for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu-directed film “Biutiful” has been made available for viewing pleasure. Though it is cheap in sharing the dialog, the video’s narration by Javier Bardem‘s Uxbal explains that his life is controlled by fate which keeps changing direction.

Little is known about the storyline but the film centers its story on a man embroiled in shady dealings who is confronted by a childhood friend, now a policeman. Sensing the danger of death, Uxbal tries to reconcile with love and save his children, as he tries to save himself.  Click here for trailer.