I have spent two days at a great new film residency program in Mexico. Tepoztlan is a village an hour out of Mexico City and home to many filmmakers and artists. Pueblo Magico offers a three week workshop for first and second time filmmakers. It was founded by Flavio Florencio whose own first feature, the award winning transgender doc “Made in Bangkok” will screen at the Palm Springs Film Festival this coming January.
Read more about “Made in Bangkok” when covered at Guadalajara Film Festival L.A.
“I launched this residency because I realized there was a need for such a space for budding filmmakers where they can be free of distractions and pressure,” said its founder, Flavio Florencio. Florencio also founded the Human Rights Film Festival and the African Film Festivals, Africalal in Mexico.
Within 48 hours after opening the first call for entries for the three week workshop (October 17 to November 5), 120 projects from a dozen countries were received and reviewed by the selection committee that included Florencio, Guanajauto Festival Programming Director Nina Rodriguez and cinematographer Maria Secco. “The projects were so interesting that we have accepted more than the requisite eight this year,” said Florencio.
Projects of the 10 residents included eight fiction features and two docs, the bulk of them debuts. Five projects were from Mexico:
The two favorites (voting was by mentors who also attended the event) include the debut film project of Florian Seufert (Germany), the fiction feature, “Dragonflies Don’t Die”. Florian gathered his family to celebrate his parents 30th anniversary and his own 28th birthday on the same day. The footage already shot shows an atmospheric and mysterious world set within the ordinary confines of the large family celebration.
The “runner up” is the second fiction feature of Mauricio Lopez Fernandez (Chile), “La Jauria” in which a pack of dogs kill a herd of cows in a remote Andean hamlet, forcing village elders to make a sacrifice for the future of their youth. The film is still in early development. Mauricio's short film "La Santa" (2012) premiered at Berlinale Shorts and was a finalist for the Teddy Award. His first feature film, "The Guest" ("La Visita") won Best Picture and Best Actress at the Rencontres du cinema Sud-American de Marseilles et Region 2015 and was nominated Best Latin American Film at San Sebastian Film Festival 2015..
The winner receives post-production services, prestige, honor and glory!
Other debuts included:
Faride Schroeder (Mexico)
“Por el Amor a mi Madre” (fiction)
A young teen realizes her mother is an imperfect and vulnerable human being. Faride has served as second assistant director on “The Noble Family” and “Soy Negro” now in post.
Luis Horacio Pineda (Mexico)
“La Cosecha de los Naranjos” (fiction)
A group of teens affected by a fire 15 years ago in the nursery school Guarderia ABC seek revenge upon those responsible for it.
Luis now lives in Los Angeles where he is seeking to establish roots.
Alexander Albrecht (Switzerland)
“Brooklyn Treehouse” (fiction)
This is the story of four young creatives who come to New York; and through their experience of sharing an apartment with a eccentric French artist, they are pushed to make decisions about their own lives.
Produced by Edher Campos from Machete Producciones ("La Jaula de Oro", "Año Bisiesto")
Veronika Mliczewska (Poland)
“Where the Grass is Greener” (fiction)
A Jamaican dreams of living in Ethiopia while an Ethiopian family sends their son to London to seek a better life.
Antonella Sudasassi (Costa Rica)
“El Despertar de la Hormigas” (fiction)
A young mother who questions what she wants for the first time starts taking birth control pills without telling her husband. Pitting her will against social expectations and the fear of being discovered slowlysubmerge her into a state of psychosis with hallucinatory episodes that portray her feeling of guilt, her relationship with her body and sexuality.
Those with second film projects:
Mak Chun Kit (Singapore)
“Huruma” (docu)
Documentarian Mak Chun Kit returns to Tanzania eight years after he volunteered in an orphanage to find out how his friends there have fared.
Pablo Perez Lombardini (Mexico)
“Los Suenos de Geronimo” (fiction)
A seven-year-old boy runs away to seek answers about his father’s death and comes upon a haunted village in the desert.
Maria Fernanda Galindo (Mexico)
“Defensores” (docu)
Two women fight to defend the rights of a group of women who seek the escape the misogyny of their communities.
The program will be offered three times a year for three weeks at a time. The next one is scheduled for March 2016. “We’d like to focus on American indie filmmakers then, as few applied this time,” said Florencio.
In our time, the idea of slowing down is ever more attractive, more important and more difficult. This is a program which offers time for that. “ Pueblo Magico offers its residents a less frenetic pace and a less impersonal approach to developing their projects, with time to enjoy the beauty of their surroundings, visit the pueblo and hang out with mentors,” he added. The serious business of relaxation was led by yogi Namhari teaching meditation and yoga.
It is not by chance that the filmmakers find their needs fulfilled. Their needs are determined first and then the right mentors are found just for them. “If necessary, we’ll find not just film professionals but scientists, shamans or whatever sources they need,” said Florencio.
Mentors this session included Mexican producers Laura Imperiale,Christian Valdelievre and Nicolas Celis; screenwriter Carlos Contreras; Danish directing and acting coach Birgitte Staermose, festival pros/ consultants Mara Fortes, Christine Davila and Blanca Granados and yours truly, Sydney Levine, giving the closing presentation about the international film circuit, what it is exactly and how to enter its charmed circle of networking and screening opportunities.
A Master Class was given by Fernando Trueba, producer of the 2000 classic doc “Calle 54”, writer of the beautiful “Belle Epoque”, writer and director of the fabulous animated music feature “ Chico and Rita”. Residents also made a trip to D.F. for a private screenwriting session with Guillermo Arriaga.
The master class of Nicolas Celis who has formed a coproduction entity with trend setter Jim Stark (producer of Jim Jarmusch’s first films and films of Icelandic filmmaker Fredrik Fredrikson) will be the subject of an upcoming blog.
And soon, a call will be made to first and second time American indie filmmakers to come this March to Tepoztlan.
Read more about “Made in Bangkok” when covered at Guadalajara Film Festival L.A.
“I launched this residency because I realized there was a need for such a space for budding filmmakers where they can be free of distractions and pressure,” said its founder, Flavio Florencio. Florencio also founded the Human Rights Film Festival and the African Film Festivals, Africalal in Mexico.
Within 48 hours after opening the first call for entries for the three week workshop (October 17 to November 5), 120 projects from a dozen countries were received and reviewed by the selection committee that included Florencio, Guanajauto Festival Programming Director Nina Rodriguez and cinematographer Maria Secco. “The projects were so interesting that we have accepted more than the requisite eight this year,” said Florencio.
Projects of the 10 residents included eight fiction features and two docs, the bulk of them debuts. Five projects were from Mexico:
The two favorites (voting was by mentors who also attended the event) include the debut film project of Florian Seufert (Germany), the fiction feature, “Dragonflies Don’t Die”. Florian gathered his family to celebrate his parents 30th anniversary and his own 28th birthday on the same day. The footage already shot shows an atmospheric and mysterious world set within the ordinary confines of the large family celebration.
The “runner up” is the second fiction feature of Mauricio Lopez Fernandez (Chile), “La Jauria” in which a pack of dogs kill a herd of cows in a remote Andean hamlet, forcing village elders to make a sacrifice for the future of their youth. The film is still in early development. Mauricio's short film "La Santa" (2012) premiered at Berlinale Shorts and was a finalist for the Teddy Award. His first feature film, "The Guest" ("La Visita") won Best Picture and Best Actress at the Rencontres du cinema Sud-American de Marseilles et Region 2015 and was nominated Best Latin American Film at San Sebastian Film Festival 2015..
The winner receives post-production services, prestige, honor and glory!
Other debuts included:
Faride Schroeder (Mexico)
“Por el Amor a mi Madre” (fiction)
A young teen realizes her mother is an imperfect and vulnerable human being. Faride has served as second assistant director on “The Noble Family” and “Soy Negro” now in post.
Luis Horacio Pineda (Mexico)
“La Cosecha de los Naranjos” (fiction)
A group of teens affected by a fire 15 years ago in the nursery school Guarderia ABC seek revenge upon those responsible for it.
Luis now lives in Los Angeles where he is seeking to establish roots.
Alexander Albrecht (Switzerland)
“Brooklyn Treehouse” (fiction)
This is the story of four young creatives who come to New York; and through their experience of sharing an apartment with a eccentric French artist, they are pushed to make decisions about their own lives.
Produced by Edher Campos from Machete Producciones ("La Jaula de Oro", "Año Bisiesto")
Veronika Mliczewska (Poland)
“Where the Grass is Greener” (fiction)
A Jamaican dreams of living in Ethiopia while an Ethiopian family sends their son to London to seek a better life.
Antonella Sudasassi (Costa Rica)
“El Despertar de la Hormigas” (fiction)
A young mother who questions what she wants for the first time starts taking birth control pills without telling her husband. Pitting her will against social expectations and the fear of being discovered slowlysubmerge her into a state of psychosis with hallucinatory episodes that portray her feeling of guilt, her relationship with her body and sexuality.
Those with second film projects:
Mak Chun Kit (Singapore)
“Huruma” (docu)
Documentarian Mak Chun Kit returns to Tanzania eight years after he volunteered in an orphanage to find out how his friends there have fared.
Pablo Perez Lombardini (Mexico)
“Los Suenos de Geronimo” (fiction)
A seven-year-old boy runs away to seek answers about his father’s death and comes upon a haunted village in the desert.
Maria Fernanda Galindo (Mexico)
“Defensores” (docu)
Two women fight to defend the rights of a group of women who seek the escape the misogyny of their communities.
The program will be offered three times a year for three weeks at a time. The next one is scheduled for March 2016. “We’d like to focus on American indie filmmakers then, as few applied this time,” said Florencio.
In our time, the idea of slowing down is ever more attractive, more important and more difficult. This is a program which offers time for that. “ Pueblo Magico offers its residents a less frenetic pace and a less impersonal approach to developing their projects, with time to enjoy the beauty of their surroundings, visit the pueblo and hang out with mentors,” he added. The serious business of relaxation was led by yogi Namhari teaching meditation and yoga.
It is not by chance that the filmmakers find their needs fulfilled. Their needs are determined first and then the right mentors are found just for them. “If necessary, we’ll find not just film professionals but scientists, shamans or whatever sources they need,” said Florencio.
Mentors this session included Mexican producers Laura Imperiale,Christian Valdelievre and Nicolas Celis; screenwriter Carlos Contreras; Danish directing and acting coach Birgitte Staermose, festival pros/ consultants Mara Fortes, Christine Davila and Blanca Granados and yours truly, Sydney Levine, giving the closing presentation about the international film circuit, what it is exactly and how to enter its charmed circle of networking and screening opportunities.
A Master Class was given by Fernando Trueba, producer of the 2000 classic doc “Calle 54”, writer of the beautiful “Belle Epoque”, writer and director of the fabulous animated music feature “ Chico and Rita”. Residents also made a trip to D.F. for a private screenwriting session with Guillermo Arriaga.
The master class of Nicolas Celis who has formed a coproduction entity with trend setter Jim Stark (producer of Jim Jarmusch’s first films and films of Icelandic filmmaker Fredrik Fredrikson) will be the subject of an upcoming blog.
And soon, a call will be made to first and second time American indie filmmakers to come this March to Tepoztlan.
- 11/6/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Although it was announced just yesterday, we know that Gkids, the animation distributor folks who brought us Michel Ocelot’s Azur & Asmar, Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues and Tomm Moore’s The Secret of Kells, were dancing the bolero around Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal’s Chico & Rita when it was presented at Tiff last year. After a year of festival play and favorable reviews, fans of animation can expect to see the musical romance drama circa 1948 sometime in 2012, and La folks can see it during its Oscar qualifying run in the month of December. Gkids will release through its new Luma Films label - animation geared towards adults. Gist: Cuba, 1948. Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites them, but their journey – in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero – brings heartache and torment.
- 9/29/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
The book of the animated film about the lives of two Latin musicians leaves Rachel Cooke feeling exhilarated
Ten years ago, the Spanish film director Fernando Trueba asked the artist Javier Mariscal to create a poster for his Latin jazz documentary, Calle 54. Though neither of them knew it at the time, this was to be the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership and, last year, the pair finally released Chico & Rita, an animated film. Chico & Rita tells the story of a gifted piano player and a beautiful singer and their adventures in 50s Havana, Las Vegas, Hollywood and New York – and it has a superb soundtrack by the Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés (it also features numbers by Thelonious Monk, Cole Porter, and Dizzy Gillespie). When it hit the festivals, it was widely acclaimed – our own Philip French called it "utterly delightful... affecting, funny... erotic" – and no wonder. Truly,...
Ten years ago, the Spanish film director Fernando Trueba asked the artist Javier Mariscal to create a poster for his Latin jazz documentary, Calle 54. Though neither of them knew it at the time, this was to be the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership and, last year, the pair finally released Chico & Rita, an animated film. Chico & Rita tells the story of a gifted piano player and a beautiful singer and their adventures in 50s Havana, Las Vegas, Hollywood and New York – and it has a superb soundtrack by the Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés (it also features numbers by Thelonious Monk, Cole Porter, and Dizzy Gillespie). When it hit the festivals, it was widely acclaimed – our own Philip French called it "utterly delightful... affecting, funny... erotic" – and no wonder. Truly,...
- 6/4/2011
- by Rachel Cooke
- The Guardian - Film News
As a student in Toronto and a lover of animated films, I attended a Tiff screening of Chico & Rita. The collaboration of Fernando Trueba, Oscar- winning director of Belle Époque, and Javier Mariscal, notable Spanish artist and designer, have created a visually stunning story of romance and music, truly capturing the 40′s and 50′s lifestyles present in Havana, New York, Las Vegas and Paris. I had no expectations of Chico & Rita as I had never seen a film by Trueba or artworks by Mariscal, but as I was watching it, I was completely blown away by its soundtrack and details in design.
Chico (Eman Xor Oña) is a talented piano player looking for a singer to accompany him. He meets Rita (Limara Meneses), a beautiful singer with a sultry voice. They meet in Havana in 1948, and the story shifts between different times and spaces. Chico and Rita are united by their love for music; however,...
Chico (Eman Xor Oña) is a talented piano player looking for a singer to accompany him. He meets Rita (Limara Meneses), a beautiful singer with a sultry voice. They meet in Havana in 1948, and the story shifts between different times and spaces. Chico and Rita are united by their love for music; however,...
- 9/23/2010
- by Minhee Bae
- The Film Stage
Announced on Tuesday, the Toronto Int. Film Festival has padded another four Spanish produced or co-produced titles to their 2010 edition. In the Contemporary World Cinema section, we have the International Premiere for Achero Mañas's Anything You Want aka Todo Lo Que Quieras. Mañas, a former actor, returns to fiction after directing the documentary “Blackwhite” in 2004, his latest film tells the story of how a lawyer (Juan Diego Botto from The Dancer Upstairs) undergoes an identity metamorphosis in order to please and secure the emotional stability of his daughter - this after the sudden death of her mother. In a recent interview for film magazine Fotogramas the director declared: "I talk about ambiguity. Of a change in the role of man that puts him in the most ambiguous and insecure place…" and "the change of the man in modern society, which I think is one of the most radical changes of the last years.
- 8/27/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
- I can't say that I've been following Fernando Trueba's career as a filmmaker, I've only seen his 1992 Oscar winning Belle Epoque (which along with Jamón, jamón launched Penelope Cruz's career) and I missed his much adored jazz documentary Calle 54. Variety's article reveals that the Spanish filmmaker has been extremely busy as of late with The Dancer and the Thief (Fall 2009), the animated Chico y Rita (2010) and is mounting the French-language L'Artiste et son modele which stars Aida Folch and Jean Rochefort (I can't remove the image of him not being able to mount a horse as witnessed in Terry Gilliam's meltdown Lost in La Mancha). The screenplay for The Artist and his Model was written by Trueba and prolific scribe Jean-Claude Carriere (Birth) and is set in occupied France in 1943, it turns on an ageing hedonist painter and his relationship with beauty and with beautiful women.
- 7/2/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
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