Jessica Chastain is a caretaker with demons in Michel Franco’s “Memory,” the most touching and sensitive film in the career of the director of apocalyptic nightmares like “New Order” and the school bullying revenge drama “After Lucia.”
Chastain stars as Sylvia, a decade-sober alcoholic and social worker now taking care of Saul, a former high-school classmate played by Peter Sarsgaard, under strange circumstances. Sarsgaard won the Volpi Cup (the equivalent of Best Actor) at the Venice Film Festival for his performance as a man rattled by dementia, who follows Sylvia home from a class reunion. They’re across boroughs in New York City, but form an unlikely spark around their traumas, past and present. Sylvia lives with her daughter, played by Brooke Timber, and not far from a nosy but caring sister, played by Merritt Wever, but is chained to awful memories revolving around her mother, played by “Suspiria” icon Jessica Harper.
Chastain stars as Sylvia, a decade-sober alcoholic and social worker now taking care of Saul, a former high-school classmate played by Peter Sarsgaard, under strange circumstances. Sarsgaard won the Volpi Cup (the equivalent of Best Actor) at the Venice Film Festival for his performance as a man rattled by dementia, who follows Sylvia home from a class reunion. They’re across boroughs in New York City, but form an unlikely spark around their traumas, past and present. Sylvia lives with her daughter, played by Brooke Timber, and not far from a nosy but caring sister, played by Merritt Wever, but is chained to awful memories revolving around her mother, played by “Suspiria” icon Jessica Harper.
- 11/28/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
"Why did you follow me home from the party?" Ketchup Entertainment (yes their real name) has unveiled the official trailer for an intimate drama titled Memory, the latest film (this one is in English set in NYC) by acclaimed Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco. This premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival as one of the final debuts, and it ended up winning Best Actor there. It also played at the AFI, London, San Sebastián, Chicago, and Zurich Film Festivals. Jessica Chastain stars as Sylvia is a social worker who leads a simple and structured life. Everything changes when Saul follows her home from their high school reunion. Their surprise encounter will profoundly impact both of them as they open the door to the past. Peter Sarsgaard co-stars, joined by Merritt Wever, Elsie Fisher, Brooke Timber, with Jessica Harper, and Josh Charles. Reviews are mostly positive, saying "Chastain & Sarsgaard are extraordinary as...
- 11/28/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Clockwise from top left: Margot Robbie in Barbie (courtesy Warner Bros.), Lily Gladstone in Killers Of The Flower Moon (courtesy Apple), Carey Mulligan in Maestro (courtesy Netflix), Emma Stone in Poor Things (courtesy Searchlight Pictures)Graphic: The A.V. Club
We’ve already identified 22 films competing for a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars,...
We’ve already identified 22 films competing for a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars,...
- 11/20/2023
- by Cindy White
- avclub.com
Tessa Ía, who broke out heading “After Lucía,” Michel Franco’s Cannes winning first feature, is set to star in “Hyperballad,” which offers what is proving one of the most potent mixtures in cutting-edge Latin American film: Genre, ambition, and a first-feature young woman director.
Directed by Alejandra Villalba García, “Hyperballad” (“Hiperbalada”) is lead produced by Hiperbalada, a production house lead by Villalba Garcñia and pic producer Carlos Paz.
It is co-produced by Mexico’s Piano, behind some of the boldest Mexican movies of recent years, such as the Alfonso Cuarón endorsed “We are the Flesh.” Its cosmopolitan co-production credits run from “Triangle of Sadness” to “Annette” and “Memoria.” Piano’s Julio Chavezmontes will also produce “Hyperballad.”
Sharpening the project’s contempo edge, “Hyperballad” portrays the digital world’s angst, psychosis and “phantasmagoria,” in producer Paz’s word.
Ía will play Tessa, a popular influencer, who returns to her childhood...
Directed by Alejandra Villalba García, “Hyperballad” (“Hiperbalada”) is lead produced by Hiperbalada, a production house lead by Villalba Garcñia and pic producer Carlos Paz.
It is co-produced by Mexico’s Piano, behind some of the boldest Mexican movies of recent years, such as the Alfonso Cuarón endorsed “We are the Flesh.” Its cosmopolitan co-production credits run from “Triangle of Sadness” to “Annette” and “Memoria.” Piano’s Julio Chavezmontes will also produce “Hyperballad.”
Sharpening the project’s contempo edge, “Hyperballad” portrays the digital world’s angst, psychosis and “phantasmagoria,” in producer Paz’s word.
Ía will play Tessa, a popular influencer, who returns to her childhood...
- 11/17/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Three years after polarizing the Venice Film Festival with his controversial class warfare drama “New Order,” Mexican director Michel Franco returned to the Lido this week to debut his latest movie, “Memory.” The film, which stars Jessica Chastain as an adult caretaker who forms a romantic connection with a dementia patient, was hailed by critics as another strong entry in Franco’s filmography.
While in Venice to promote the film, Franco found time to share his thoughts on the current state of the international film industry in an interview with French outlet Afp (via Barron’s). While he conceded that he’s most comfortable making films in his native Mexico, he said that he believes the best actors can be found in America.
“What is very interesting about the United States are the actors,” Franco said. “In Mexico there are good actors, but the big leagues are in New York,...
While in Venice to promote the film, Franco found time to share his thoughts on the current state of the international film industry in an interview with French outlet Afp (via Barron’s). While he conceded that he’s most comfortable making films in his native Mexico, he said that he believes the best actors can be found in America.
“What is very interesting about the United States are the actors,” Franco said. “In Mexico there are good actors, but the big leagues are in New York,...
- 9/10/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
“Memory” feels like the “Silver Linings Playbook” of Michel Franco’s career: an unexpectedly accessible romance between two damaged human beings, from an independent director who’s been known to put characters through some of life’s most punishing indignities. For those familiar with Franco’s work, the previous film it most resembles is “Chronic,” though the tough-love auteur spares us the bummer ending this time around. In that movie, he followed a hospice nurse through his rounds, then abruptly cut to black when the guy was sideswiped by a car. Womp-womp. When a director does that early in his career, audiences are right to be wary.
Franco is more merciful to his characters in “Memory.” Before meeting one another at a high school reunion, recovering alcoholic Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) and widower Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) have endured more than their share of suffering. She remembers being sexually abused as a girl,...
Franco is more merciful to his characters in “Memory.” Before meeting one another at a high school reunion, recovering alcoholic Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) and widower Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) have endured more than their share of suffering. She remembers being sexually abused as a girl,...
- 9/8/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Venice Film Festival. Ketchup Entertainment releases the film in select theaters on Friday, December 22, with expansion to follow on Friday, January 5.
Michel Franco’s “Memory” is in the tradition of movies about broken people coming together, with all the heartbreak and melodrama required.
But “Memory” bucks the tradition of the cold films previously made by the director of the apocalyptic 99-percent-uprising thriller “New Order” and high-school bullying drama “After Lucia.” They’re films that seem calm at the outset, but you wait for the other blood-dipped shoe to drop. That shoe never quite hits the ground in the peculiar and sensitive “Memory,” which stars Jessica Chastain as a 13-years-sober alcoholic who reconnects with a former school classmate, Saul (played by Peter Sarsgaard), at a reunion she doesn’t want to be at anyway.
Saul, as we eventually learn, has a...
Michel Franco’s “Memory” is in the tradition of movies about broken people coming together, with all the heartbreak and melodrama required.
But “Memory” bucks the tradition of the cold films previously made by the director of the apocalyptic 99-percent-uprising thriller “New Order” and high-school bullying drama “After Lucia.” They’re films that seem calm at the outset, but you wait for the other blood-dipped shoe to drop. That shoe never quite hits the ground in the peculiar and sensitive “Memory,” which stars Jessica Chastain as a 13-years-sober alcoholic who reconnects with a former school classmate, Saul (played by Peter Sarsgaard), at a reunion she doesn’t want to be at anyway.
Saul, as we eventually learn, has a...
- 9/8/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
“Workforce,” Mexican writer-director David Zonana’s first feature, world premiered at Toronto in its Platform section, played main competition at San Sebastian and is now hailed as the most prized Mexican film of 2019, nailing Mexico’s moral deficiencies.
Bowing in World Dramatic Competition Jan. 20 at 2023’s Sundance, Zonana’s follow-up, “Heroic,” is produced by Michel Franco and sold by Wild Bunch Intl. (international) and CAA (U.S.). It’s another trenchant, withering take on modern-day Mexico.
The film’s producers and Wild Bunch Intl. and CAA shared an exclusive first look at the poster of “Heroic”with Variety.
“Heroic” poster
Countries are defined by their institutions, Machiavelli argued. If so,”Heroic,” set at the Mexican army’s Heroic Military Academy, the country’s West Point or Sandhurst, underscores that Mexico is in bad shape. Contained in length – a nifty 88 minutes – though large on ideas, it turns on Luis, a Nahuatl,...
Bowing in World Dramatic Competition Jan. 20 at 2023’s Sundance, Zonana’s follow-up, “Heroic,” is produced by Michel Franco and sold by Wild Bunch Intl. (international) and CAA (U.S.). It’s another trenchant, withering take on modern-day Mexico.
The film’s producers and Wild Bunch Intl. and CAA shared an exclusive first look at the poster of “Heroic”with Variety.
“Heroic” poster
Countries are defined by their institutions, Machiavelli argued. If so,”Heroic,” set at the Mexican army’s Heroic Military Academy, the country’s West Point or Sandhurst, underscores that Mexico is in bad shape. Contained in length – a nifty 88 minutes – though large on ideas, it turns on Luis, a Nahuatl,...
- 1/20/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Mexican director Michel Franco has been making waves for years on the festival circuit with films such as Cannes winner “After Lucia,” “New Order,” and “April’s Daughter.” His latest English-language effort, “Sundown,” starring actors Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg as siblings, made its debut at last year’s Venice Film Festival and was in limited release domestically back in January thanks to distributor Bleecker Street.
Continue reading Michel Franco To Direct Jessica Chastain & Peter Sarsgaard In NYC-Set Movie at The Playlist.
Continue reading Michel Franco To Direct Jessica Chastain & Peter Sarsgaard In NYC-Set Movie at The Playlist.
- 4/21/2022
- by Christopher Marc
- The Playlist
Exclusive: Veteran editor Natalia Lopez Gallardo’s feature directing debut Robe Of Gems screens in competition today at the Berlin Film Festival, check out the first trailer above.
Set in the countryside of Mexico, the film sees the fates of three women collide when the case of a missing person leads them on a path of pain and redemption.
Robe Of Gems stars Nailea Norvind, Daniel García (Narcos) and newcomers Antonia Olivares and Aida Roa.
In the midst of divorce, Isabel (Norvind) settles in the countryside where she discovers that her housekeeper María (Olivares) has a missing sister. When Isabel offers her help, an unspoken pact to find the missing one is born between the two women. Meanwhile, Roberta (Roa), the local police commander, hopes to rescue her son from the criminal underworld, and ends up crossing paths with Isabel and María. Their destinies come together in...
Set in the countryside of Mexico, the film sees the fates of three women collide when the case of a missing person leads them on a path of pain and redemption.
Robe Of Gems stars Nailea Norvind, Daniel García (Narcos) and newcomers Antonia Olivares and Aida Roa.
In the midst of divorce, Isabel (Norvind) settles in the countryside where she discovers that her housekeeper María (Olivares) has a missing sister. When Isabel offers her help, an unspoken pact to find the missing one is born between the two women. Meanwhile, Roberta (Roa), the local police commander, hopes to rescue her son from the criminal underworld, and ends up crossing paths with Isabel and María. Their destinies come together in...
- 2/11/2022
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Michel Franco’s “New Order” went off like a bomb at the Venice Film Festival in the summer of 2020. This dystopian social-uprising thriller that erupts with almost Hieronymus Boschian levels of chaos pits the lower Mexican class against the super One Percent as the under-served and under-represented begin picking off the wealthy. And it all unfolds in explicitly violent, free-for-all fashion from the Mexican director of films like sibling incest drama “Daniel and Ana,” bullying nightmare “After Lucia,” and the end-of-life caregiver drama “Chronic,” starring Tim Roth.
But the chances of “New Order” getting a wide release quickly sank when backlash began to emerge in Mexico in response to the trailer. Critics were quick to point out perceived racial stereotypes in the film, including that the uprisers were more dark-skinned than the lighter-skinned One Percent, and that the Black Lives Matter-inspired protesters in the film were glibly portrayed as one-note,...
But the chances of “New Order” getting a wide release quickly sank when backlash began to emerge in Mexico in response to the trailer. Critics were quick to point out perceived racial stereotypes in the film, including that the uprisers were more dark-skinned than the lighter-skinned One Percent, and that the Black Lives Matter-inspired protesters in the film were glibly portrayed as one-note,...
- 1/27/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
The director of after-school special turned social horror movie “After Lucia” and harrowing class-uprising thriller “New Order” takes on a more relaxed vibe for his latest film, “Sundown.” That doesn’t make the new film from Mexican filmmaker Michael Franco any less bewildering in its story of a man who abandons his life to live beachside in Acapulco. If anything, “Sundown” is even more opaque than the director’s recent efforts. Watch the first trailer for the film below.
The film also stars a potent Charlotte Gainsbourg, Iazua Larios, Henry Goodman, Albertine Kotting McMillan, and Samuel Bottomley.
Here’s the official synopsis: “Neil and Alice Bennett are the core of a wealthy family on vacation in Mexico with younger members Colin and Alexa until a distant emergency cuts their trip short. When one relative disrupts the family’s tight-knit order, simmering tensions rise to the fore in this suspenseful jolt from writer/director Michel Franco.
The film also stars a potent Charlotte Gainsbourg, Iazua Larios, Henry Goodman, Albertine Kotting McMillan, and Samuel Bottomley.
Here’s the official synopsis: “Neil and Alice Bennett are the core of a wealthy family on vacation in Mexico with younger members Colin and Alexa until a distant emergency cuts their trip short. When one relative disrupts the family’s tight-knit order, simmering tensions rise to the fore in this suspenseful jolt from writer/director Michel Franco.
- 1/4/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Bleecker Street has landed North American rights to “Sundown,” a suspenseful drama about family and privilege.
Filmmaker Michel Franco (” After Lucia”) wrote and directed the movie, which will be released in theaters sometime in 2022.
“Sundown” — starring Tim Roth, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Iazua Larios and Henry Goodman — follows a wealthy British family on a vacation abruptly cut short in Acapulco. When one relative disrupts the family’s tight-knit order, simmering tensions threaten to expose long-gestating rifts.
It premiered at Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival to solid reviews. Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge praised “Sundown,” calling it the “high-minded director’s most successful film to date.”
“‘Sundown’ is an intricate, unconventional puzzle — a mystery, complete with murder, in which the solution isn’t nearly so important as the process of putting it all together,” Debruge wrote in his review.
Franco says he hopes the movie sparks a dialogue.
Filmmaker Michel Franco (” After Lucia”) wrote and directed the movie, which will be released in theaters sometime in 2022.
“Sundown” — starring Tim Roth, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Iazua Larios and Henry Goodman — follows a wealthy British family on a vacation abruptly cut short in Acapulco. When one relative disrupts the family’s tight-knit order, simmering tensions threaten to expose long-gestating rifts.
It premiered at Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival to solid reviews. Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge praised “Sundown,” calling it the “high-minded director’s most successful film to date.”
“‘Sundown’ is an intricate, unconventional puzzle — a mystery, complete with murder, in which the solution isn’t nearly so important as the process of putting it all together,” Debruge wrote in his review.
Franco says he hopes the movie sparks a dialogue.
- 10/26/2021
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
Michel Franco's New Order is showing exclusively on Mubi in the United Kingdom starting September 10, 2021.After six features in ten years, Michel Franco’s filmography is now large enough for his latest to court comparisons to his previous works. But both thematically and visually, New Order is something of an outlier. Set in a dystopian present-day Mexico, it’s a chronicle of a revolution gone wrong. Widespread inequalities trigger a mass uprising; the poor turn against the rich, and as the rebellion grows violent, the armed forces seize the opportunity to reinstate their own order, and the uprising turns into a bloodbath. Entry point into the nightmare is Marianne (Naian González Norvind), a young woman from a wealthy family in Mexico City. New Order opens on her wedding day, and for a while Franco lets us hobnob with the crème de la crème partying at her family’s sumptuous villa,...
- 9/9/2021
- MUBI
Violence in Mexico was one of the dominant themes of the press conference for Michel Franco’s Venice competition title “Sundown” on Sunday, with the director and stars Tim Roth, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Iazua Larios in attendance.
Set in the seemingly tranquil Mexican resort city Acapulco, Roth and Gainsbourg play members of a wealthy British family whose vacation there is cut short by a distant death and an existential crisis comes to the fore. Larios plays an Acapulco native who is key to the narrative.
“We have a huge problem in Mexico with violence every day,” said Larios.
Franco is not shy of depicting violence in his films, including in his previous film “New Order,” which won the Silver Lion and the Leoncino d’Oro Agiscuola Award at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. The violence in “Sundown” is comparatively muted and is restricted to short, sharp shocks.
“I do think Mexicans,...
Set in the seemingly tranquil Mexican resort city Acapulco, Roth and Gainsbourg play members of a wealthy British family whose vacation there is cut short by a distant death and an existential crisis comes to the fore. Larios plays an Acapulco native who is key to the narrative.
“We have a huge problem in Mexico with violence every day,” said Larios.
Franco is not shy of depicting violence in his films, including in his previous film “New Order,” which won the Silver Lion and the Leoncino d’Oro Agiscuola Award at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. The violence in “Sundown” is comparatively muted and is restricted to short, sharp shocks.
“I do think Mexicans,...
- 9/5/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Mexico’s Michel Franco is back in Venice after his triumphant Silver Lion win last year for his dystopian thriller “New Order.” His new film “Sundown” is in competition at the Lido where it world premieres on Sunday. Variety spoke to the director and the film’s star Tim Roth.
While “New Order” used thousands of extras and was shot on a larger, more ambitious scale than any of Franco’s previous films, “Sundown” is a return to a more intimate, personal drama with Franco’s long-time collaborator and friend Roth leading the cast.
In it, Roth plays a wealthy man going through an existential crisis while vacationing in Acapulco with his family. Not much more can be said of the plot without revealing its twists.
This is the second time Roth stars in a Franco-directed film. Their relationship sparked nearly 10 years ago when Roth, as Cannes’ 2012 Un Certain Regard jury president,...
While “New Order” used thousands of extras and was shot on a larger, more ambitious scale than any of Franco’s previous films, “Sundown” is a return to a more intimate, personal drama with Franco’s long-time collaborator and friend Roth leading the cast.
In it, Roth plays a wealthy man going through an existential crisis while vacationing in Acapulco with his family. Not much more can be said of the plot without revealing its twists.
This is the second time Roth stars in a Franco-directed film. Their relationship sparked nearly 10 years ago when Roth, as Cannes’ 2012 Un Certain Regard jury president,...
- 9/4/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
This excerpt is from The Faber Book of Mexican Cinema (2021), by Jason Wood. It was conducted before the premiere of Franco's latest film, New Order (2020).As a director, screenwriter and producer, Michel Franco is a prolific figure in Mexican cinema. Daniel & Ana (2009), Franco’s debut feature as director, premiered at Cannes and established him as a film-maker with a forensic eye for detail and character. Franco is also incredibly attuned to contemporary issues in Mexican society, in this instance the rise of underground pornography. The winner of the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes, After Lucia (2012) continues the director’s interest in fractured family lives and how technology can act as a powerful and poisonous tool. A los ojos (2014), a collaboration with Franco’s sister Victoria, adopts a documentary aesthetic to explore the ends to which a parent will go to protect their child, whilst also examining how little...
- 8/11/2021
- MUBI
As Deadline continues to expand its footprint internationally, we launch International Critics Line as a way to incorporate regular reviews of the fine local-language films being made outside of America. These films always have served as a seed bed to break new directors and stars in Hollywood, and we intend to spend more time with them. Major awards-season and festival-launch films now will have a dedicated landing place on Deadline, along with some unsung gems that deserve a close look by our readers and films that have achieved outsized success on their home turf. We will catch up to some films that played the festivals — such as they were — in the pandemic, as we draw even with new releases. We start with Michel Franco’s Nuevo Orden.
Nuevo Orden (New Order)
Parasite seems like a mere hors d’oeuvre compared with the main course of societal upheaval served up by...
Nuevo Orden (New Order)
Parasite seems like a mere hors d’oeuvre compared with the main course of societal upheaval served up by...
- 11/25/2020
- by Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
The annual 16 Days 16 Films short film competition has revealed a heavyweight jury including James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, Emmy-winning actor Anna Friel (“Marcella”) and award-winning “Blue Story” producer Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor.
This jury also includes actor and political activist Ashley Judd (“Berlin Station”), directors Phyllida Lloyd (“Herself”) and Sarah Gavron (“Rocks”), writer Abi Morgan (“Suffragette”), actor Stacy Martin (“Nymphomaniac”), actress and producer Julie Gayet (“Raw”), stunt performer and intimacy coordinator Teniece Divya Johnson (“Succession”), actor Jasmine Trinca (“The Goddess of Fortune”), and director and actor Tamara Yazbek Bernal (“After Lucia”).
The short film competition platforms female filmmakers and their films, which “explore, emote, and educate” on forms of violence against women. Inspired by the Un Women campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, the initiative will run online from Nov. 25 – Dec. 10, between the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women and International Human Rights Day.
Sixteen finalists have been chosen...
This jury also includes actor and political activist Ashley Judd (“Berlin Station”), directors Phyllida Lloyd (“Herself”) and Sarah Gavron (“Rocks”), writer Abi Morgan (“Suffragette”), actor Stacy Martin (“Nymphomaniac”), actress and producer Julie Gayet (“Raw”), stunt performer and intimacy coordinator Teniece Divya Johnson (“Succession”), actor Jasmine Trinca (“The Goddess of Fortune”), and director and actor Tamara Yazbek Bernal (“After Lucia”).
The short film competition platforms female filmmakers and their films, which “explore, emote, and educate” on forms of violence against women. Inspired by the Un Women campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, the initiative will run online from Nov. 25 – Dec. 10, between the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women and International Human Rights Day.
Sixteen finalists have been chosen...
- 11/17/2020
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Michel Franco’s Venice winner “New Order” (“Nueva Orden”) has scored over 330,000 admissions and $950,000 in Mexico off an Oct. 22 bow, according to Comscore.
Released by Televisa’s Videocine distrib label, that box office would be notable in any normal circumstance, given that “New Order,” an often shocking dystopian thriller, is by no stretch of the imagination a comedy nor entertainment for all the family, Mexico’s box office staples.
It’s all the more an extraordinary feat for a Mexican movie during Covid-19 when box office is tracking at some 15%-20% of its full-on power before pandemia.
“It is satisfying to see brave releases that are helping the market and attracting audiences to cinemas,” said Comscore’s Luis Vargas.
Topping Mexico’s box office on release, “New Order’s” domestic box office run is also a good way of showing the distributors who have bought the film for release in...
Released by Televisa’s Videocine distrib label, that box office would be notable in any normal circumstance, given that “New Order,” an often shocking dystopian thriller, is by no stretch of the imagination a comedy nor entertainment for all the family, Mexico’s box office staples.
It’s all the more an extraordinary feat for a Mexican movie during Covid-19 when box office is tracking at some 15%-20% of its full-on power before pandemia.
“It is satisfying to see brave releases that are helping the market and attracting audiences to cinemas,” said Comscore’s Luis Vargas.
Topping Mexico’s box office on release, “New Order’s” domestic box office run is also a good way of showing the distributors who have bought the film for release in...
- 11/9/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Arthouse outfit Mubi has struck a deal with sales firm The Match Factory for all UK and Ireland rights to Michel Franco’s Venice Film Festival drama New Order, which won the festival’s Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize.
Conceived six years ago, Franco’s (After Lucia) timely class conflict drama sees a high-society wedding interrupted by the arrival of unwelcome guests as protests rage on the streets. We debuted first footage for the film earlier this month.
Parasite distributor Neon just picked the Spanish-language film up for North America. It will next play at BFI London Film Festival and Chicago International Film Festival. The movie also played at San Sebastian Film Festival and made its North American debut at Toronto.
Written, produced and directed by Franco, the film features an ensemble cast comprised of Naian González Norvind, Darío Yazbek Bernal, Lisa Owen, Fernando Cuautle, Mónica Del Carmen, Eligio Meléndez,...
Conceived six years ago, Franco’s (After Lucia) timely class conflict drama sees a high-society wedding interrupted by the arrival of unwelcome guests as protests rage on the streets. We debuted first footage for the film earlier this month.
Parasite distributor Neon just picked the Spanish-language film up for North America. It will next play at BFI London Film Festival and Chicago International Film Festival. The movie also played at San Sebastian Film Festival and made its North American debut at Toronto.
Written, produced and directed by Franco, the film features an ensemble cast comprised of Naian González Norvind, Darío Yazbek Bernal, Lisa Owen, Fernando Cuautle, Mónica Del Carmen, Eligio Meléndez,...
- 10/1/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Michel Franco has made a name for himself over the years with Daniel and Ana, After Lucia, Chronic, and April’s Daughter, all of which can be described as miserablist torture tests for audiences. Taking a page from Michael Haneke but only possessing a fraction of the depth, Franco has somehow tormented his way upward in the festival circuit, earning accolades and awards (including a Best Screenplay win at Cannes). Now he returns with New Order, by far his most ambitious and political effort, and it comes as no surprise that a director who peddles in extremes provides both his best and worst work to date.
The film opens at a wedding for a wealthy family, taking place at a house that coincidentally shares some resemblance to the mansion in Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite. A quick series of exchanges show the bride Marianne (Naian Gonzalez Norvind), her well-connected father, greedy mother,...
The film opens at a wedding for a wealthy family, taking place at a house that coincidentally shares some resemblance to the mansion in Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite. A quick series of exchanges show the bride Marianne (Naian Gonzalez Norvind), her well-connected father, greedy mother,...
- 9/14/2020
- by C.J. Prince
- The Film Stage
Mexican director Michel Franco’s latest, dystopian shock drama “New Order,” proves to be the most punishing entry in a difficult oeuvre, which may sound harsh but isn’t meant as an insult.
A cold and sometimes overly intellectual filmmaker, Franco knows how to make an audience squirm. That’s part of the bargain when we buy a ticket to one of his movies. In “After Lucia,” he asked viewers — trapped in their seats, helpless to intervene — to observe a vulnerable teen’s life go off the rails after a video of her having drunken sex went viral. In “Chronic,” he spotlighted the emotional burden society heaps upon hospice nurses, with tragic results.
But how many people actually saw these films? Now, in Franco’s sixth feature, the director demands the public’s attention, launching a full-on assault on our collective comfort zone while doubling down on the very thing...
A cold and sometimes overly intellectual filmmaker, Franco knows how to make an audience squirm. That’s part of the bargain when we buy a ticket to one of his movies. In “After Lucia,” he asked viewers — trapped in their seats, helpless to intervene — to observe a vulnerable teen’s life go off the rails after a video of her having drunken sex went viral. In “Chronic,” he spotlighted the emotional burden society heaps upon hospice nurses, with tragic results.
But how many people actually saw these films? Now, in Franco’s sixth feature, the director demands the public’s attention, launching a full-on assault on our collective comfort zone while doubling down on the very thing...
- 9/10/2020
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
“New Order,” Mexican Michel Franco’s near-future dystopia thriller that world premieres at the Venice Film Festival Thursday, begins with protestors, daubed in green paint, bursting into a swanky wedding peopled by Mexico’s indecently rich. They rob the guests, then shoot them dead. Franco’s heart however is obviously on the side of the protestors.
“A Mexican disaster movie,” as Franco calls it, “New Order,” the only Latin American movie in Venice main competition, is Franco’s first direct social verdict on his homeland. “Mexico’s upper class are asking for trouble: They’re building up to a situation that will finally explode,” Franco told Variety in the run-up to Venice.
“The protesters have been saying for decades, hundreds of years: ‘Here we are. We need to heard.’” But nobody has really listened. “That’s why they explode,” Franco adds.
Breaking out when he won the biggest prize at...
“A Mexican disaster movie,” as Franco calls it, “New Order,” the only Latin American movie in Venice main competition, is Franco’s first direct social verdict on his homeland. “Mexico’s upper class are asking for trouble: They’re building up to a situation that will finally explode,” Franco told Variety in the run-up to Venice.
“The protesters have been saying for decades, hundreds of years: ‘Here we are. We need to heard.’” But nobody has really listened. “That’s why they explode,” Franco adds.
Breaking out when he won the biggest prize at...
- 9/9/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The German sales company unveils exclusive teasers for ‘New Order’, ‘Never Gonna Snow Again’ and ‘Assandira’.
Michael Weber’s The Match Factory is preparing for a very busy Venice Film Festival when it kicks off next week, with four features in official selection.
Michel Franco’s New Order, Malgorzata Szumowska’s Never Gonna Snow Again (co-directed with her regular cinematographer Michal Englert) and Gianfranco Rosi’s Notturno are all screening in Competition, while Salvatore Mereu’s Assandira will play out of Competition.
Screen can reveal the exclusive first teasers here for New Order, Never Gonna Snow Again and Assandira. The...
Michael Weber’s The Match Factory is preparing for a very busy Venice Film Festival when it kicks off next week, with four features in official selection.
Michel Franco’s New Order, Malgorzata Szumowska’s Never Gonna Snow Again (co-directed with her regular cinematographer Michal Englert) and Gianfranco Rosi’s Notturno are all screening in Competition, while Salvatore Mereu’s Assandira will play out of Competition.
Screen can reveal the exclusive first teasers here for New Order, Never Gonna Snow Again and Assandira. The...
- 8/24/2020
- by 1100796¦Matt Mueller¦47¦
- ScreenDaily
Michel Franco’s “New Order,” a Venice Festival main competition premiere, looks set to mark a huge step-up in scale for Franco and indeed most Latin American movies at large.
It couldn’t be otherwise, Mexican writer-director-producer Franco said at a Sarajevo Film Festival masterclass, hosted Wednesday in the Variety Streaming Room.
Teasing through-lines in a career that has made him one of the most laureled of Latin American directors, Franco also used the masterclass to talk, often with refreshing candor, about the game-changing impact of Tim Roth on his career, directors’ necessity for reassurance, and his need to produce his own movies.
A recipient of a Heart of Sarajevo Award at this year festival, Franco has risen rapidly to prominence after releasing debut feature “Daniel & Ana” in 2009, making intimate and intense movies turning on the victims of trauma – high-school bullying in 2012’s “After Lucia,” the death of an...
It couldn’t be otherwise, Mexican writer-director-producer Franco said at a Sarajevo Film Festival masterclass, hosted Wednesday in the Variety Streaming Room.
Teasing through-lines in a career that has made him one of the most laureled of Latin American directors, Franco also used the masterclass to talk, often with refreshing candor, about the game-changing impact of Tim Roth on his career, directors’ necessity for reassurance, and his need to produce his own movies.
A recipient of a Heart of Sarajevo Award at this year festival, Franco has risen rapidly to prominence after releasing debut feature “Daniel & Ana” in 2009, making intimate and intense movies turning on the victims of trauma – high-school bullying in 2012’s “After Lucia,” the death of an...
- 8/20/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Director Michel Hazanavicius and actress Bérénice Bejo, Oscar winner and Oscar nominee respectively for “The Artist,” will present individual Masterclasses at the 26th Sarajevo Film Festival this year. Also delivering Masterclasses are directors Michel Franco and Rithy Panh.
The Masterclasses, which like the rest of the festival are running online via ondemand.sff.ban, are organized in cooperation with Variety, and will be available worldwide via the Variety Streaming Room.
Hazanavicius shot his first feature-length film, “Mes Amis,” in 1999. In 2006, he directed his second feature, “Oss 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies,” and then, three years later, “Oss 17: Lost in Rio.”
In 2011, he made “The Artist,” the silent, black-and-white film starring Bejo and Jean Dujardin, which won five Academy Awards in 2012, including best film, director and actor for Dujardin, while Bejo was an Oscar nominee for supporting actress.
The film premiered at Cannes, as did Hazanavicius’ “The Players” and “Redoubtable.
The Masterclasses, which like the rest of the festival are running online via ondemand.sff.ban, are organized in cooperation with Variety, and will be available worldwide via the Variety Streaming Room.
Hazanavicius shot his first feature-length film, “Mes Amis,” in 1999. In 2006, he directed his second feature, “Oss 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies,” and then, three years later, “Oss 17: Lost in Rio.”
In 2011, he made “The Artist,” the silent, black-and-white film starring Bejo and Jean Dujardin, which won five Academy Awards in 2012, including best film, director and actor for Dujardin, while Bejo was an Oscar nominee for supporting actress.
The film premiered at Cannes, as did Hazanavicius’ “The Players” and “Redoubtable.
- 8/6/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Dystopian drama has been selected for Toronto and will debut at Venice in competition.
Leading German sales company The Match Factory has acquired international sales rights to Michel Franco’s New Order, which was today selected to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
The film, which will receive its world premiere in competition at Venice ahead of TIFF, marks the first collaboration between The Match Factory and Franco’s Mexican production company Teorema.
The dystopian drama explores Mexico’s economic and social inequalities through a high-society wedding, which is crashed by a group of impoverished people. The cast...
Leading German sales company The Match Factory has acquired international sales rights to Michel Franco’s New Order, which was today selected to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
The film, which will receive its world premiere in competition at Venice ahead of TIFF, marks the first collaboration between The Match Factory and Franco’s Mexican production company Teorema.
The dystopian drama explores Mexico’s economic and social inequalities through a high-society wedding, which is crashed by a group of impoverished people. The cast...
- 7/30/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Mexican filmmaker to be awarded Honorary Heart of Sarajevo.
Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco is to receive the honorary Heart of Sarajevo award at the upcoming Sarajevo Film Festival (Sff), which is set to go ahead as a mix of physical and online events.
The Cannes award-winner is expected to attend the 26th edition of the festival, which will take place from August 14-21, as Covid-19 lockdown measures continue to be eased around the world.
The festival will also programme a retrospective of Franco’s films in its Tribute strand.
The Mexican director, writer and producer is best known for features including After Lucia,...
Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco is to receive the honorary Heart of Sarajevo award at the upcoming Sarajevo Film Festival (Sff), which is set to go ahead as a mix of physical and online events.
The Cannes award-winner is expected to attend the 26th edition of the festival, which will take place from August 14-21, as Covid-19 lockdown measures continue to be eased around the world.
The festival will also programme a retrospective of Franco’s films in its Tribute strand.
The Mexican director, writer and producer is best known for features including After Lucia,...
- 7/13/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Tessa Ia may come from a prominent family in the entertainment world, but that isn’t what she’s relying on. It’s her talent that has given her a career of her own and she’s excited to show the world what else she can do. Tessa is best-known for her role in the Mexican film, After Lucia, for which she was nominated for a Young Artist Award. Although most her work has been in Mexican productions, she was introduced to American viewers through her role in the Netflix series, Narcos: Mexico. Her role in the Netflix series, Unstoppable, has continued to make
10 Things You Didn’t Know about Tessa Ia...
10 Things You Didn’t Know about Tessa Ia...
- 4/8/2020
- by Camille Moore
- TVovermind.com
Having been ardent fan of this filmmaker since being introduced to his minimalist essay on how an assault on the affluent can infuse toxicity in sibling dynamics in the Directors’ Fortnight selected gem Daniel and Ana back in 2009, the name of Michel Franco has been synonymous with Cannes, the Un Certain Regard section, Tim Roth (something he has in common with Marrakech jury member James Gray) and the kind of Mexican cinema that can take a sledgehammer in apathy but at time is volcanic in its pathos. We find ourselves about a decade into a rather prolific and uncompromising filmmaking career (and a fulfilling one as a producer), so it was a treat to look back at his filmography and look forward, with a new project being pieced together for what will be a 1st quarter shoot.…...
- 3/18/2019
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Buenos Aires — Kicking off with the Cannes Festival’s Palme d’Or winner, Hirokazu Kor-eda’s “Shoplifters,” and framing multiple Cannes winners, the 10th Cannes Festival Cinema Week will feature a masterclass by Tim Roth, before a projection of “Reservoir Dogs,” and a presentation by Gaspar Noé of his Directors’ Fortnight hit “Climax.”
Curated and M.C-ed by Thierry Frémaux, the Cinema Week will also underscore some of the hallmarks of Cannes as the world’s fall festivals, led by Venice, become ever more important platforms for Academy Award contenders.
The Cinema Week is sold out, some screenings in two hours, Frémaux told Variety on the eve of its opening. That is a reflection on the draw of Cannes, and its Cinema week, in Buenos Aires, where it is a big event. Attending the Cannes Festival Cinema Week in 2011, double Cannes Palme d’Or winners Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne were lionized like rock stars.
Curated and M.C-ed by Thierry Frémaux, the Cinema Week will also underscore some of the hallmarks of Cannes as the world’s fall festivals, led by Venice, become ever more important platforms for Academy Award contenders.
The Cinema Week is sold out, some screenings in two hours, Frémaux told Variety on the eve of its opening. That is a reflection on the draw of Cannes, and its Cinema week, in Buenos Aires, where it is a big event. Attending the Cannes Festival Cinema Week in 2011, double Cannes Palme d’Or winners Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne were lionized like rock stars.
- 12/10/2018
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
A plus-sized makeup artist with candy-colored hair and a marijuana addiction has a hard time holding down a proper job, so to make ends meet she deals drugs door to door, pedaling her bike to a colorful cast of clients – including her landlady, a soap star, and a nun – across a wide swath of Mexico City.
An irreverent, transgressive, psychedelic romp, “Tripping-Thru Keta” (El viaje de Keta) is the feature directorial debut of Julio Bekhór and Fernando Sama. The film is screening in the Sexual Diversity Program in Morelia, coming off its world premiere at the Transylvania Int’l. Film Festival.
Bekhór said the idea for “Keta” was born out of conversations with Sama and scripter Beto Cohen about the taboos around recreational drug use in Mexican society. “We really wanted to…have a dialogue with people who watch the film, and to open the minds of the people about these matters,...
An irreverent, transgressive, psychedelic romp, “Tripping-Thru Keta” (El viaje de Keta) is the feature directorial debut of Julio Bekhór and Fernando Sama. The film is screening in the Sexual Diversity Program in Morelia, coming off its world premiere at the Transylvania Int’l. Film Festival.
Bekhór said the idea for “Keta” was born out of conversations with Sama and scripter Beto Cohen about the taboos around recreational drug use in Mexican society. “We really wanted to…have a dialogue with people who watch the film, and to open the minds of the people about these matters,...
- 10/24/2018
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
If we base ourselves on his first two ventures into feature filmmaking (Daniel and Ana and After Lucia) thesps Tim Roth, Bitsie Tulloch, Michael Cristofer and David Dastmalchian are in for a psychological beating. Deadline reports that the foursome of actors are set to join one of the Mexican talents we’ve blow-horned about in Michel Franco. The pic sees the helmer move into English language territory. No word on who is producing, what the plans are for a production start date on Chronic, but we’ll have our eyes peeled for the latest.
Gist: This tracks a depressed nurse practitioner who assists terminally ill patients and tries to reconnect with the family he abandoned. Tulloch will play Lidia, whose father John will be played by Pulitzer-winning playwright Michael Cristofer. David Dastmalchian is also in talks.
Worth Noting: As the trade mentioned, there is a linkage of sorts between the...
Gist: This tracks a depressed nurse practitioner who assists terminally ill patients and tries to reconnect with the family he abandoned. Tulloch will play Lidia, whose father John will be played by Pulitzer-winning playwright Michael Cristofer. David Dastmalchian is also in talks.
Worth Noting: As the trade mentioned, there is a linkage of sorts between the...
- 7/2/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
★★★★☆ Unfathomably overlooked for UK theatrical exhibition, Mexican director Michel Franco's Cannes 2012 hit After Lucia (Después de Lucía) finally makes its way onto DVD this week through StudioCanal. Undeniably tough, yet one of the finest films made on the subject of teenage bullying seen in recent years, Franco's harrowing second feature is a sobering study on coercion and 'group-think', as a young girl's newly-acquired friendship group savagely turn on her following a drunken fumble with a handsome classmate. Featuring a standout turn from Tessa Ia, there's now no excuse for missing this brilliant drama.
Following the tragic death of his wife Lucia in a car accident, barrel-chested professional chef Roberto (Hernán Mendoza) and his 17-year-old daughter, Alejandra (the outstanding Ia), pack their things and move away for a fresh start in an unfamiliar city. Whilst her father slumps in and out of depression, Alejandra quickly makes friends at her new school,...
Following the tragic death of his wife Lucia in a car accident, barrel-chested professional chef Roberto (Hernán Mendoza) and his 17-year-old daughter, Alejandra (the outstanding Ia), pack their things and move away for a fresh start in an unfamiliar city. Whilst her father slumps in and out of depression, Alejandra quickly makes friends at her new school,...
- 9/17/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
A look back at 2012 reveals an undeniable fact, it has been a great year for Latino film. Sundance started the year off strong with films like Aurora Guerrero’s sweet and tender Mosquita y Mari and Marialy Rivas’ rambunctious Joven y Alocada (Young & Wild). Gina Rodriguez broke out in Filly Brown, as a rapper who needs to make it big so she can raise money to get her mom out of jail. In the film, Jenni Rivera played the part of Filly’s mom in her first, and sadly last, movie role.
There was also a strong Latin American presence at Cannes this past summer, boasting films from Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. It might as well have been called Mexi-Cannes, with Mexican films winning awards across all main sections of the festival. Carlos Reygadas was honored as the Best Director for his controversial film Post Tenebras Lux, despite having received boos at its premiere screening. The prize for the Critics’ Week section went to Aquí y Allá (Here and There) and Después de Lucía (After Lucia) won the top prize for Un Certain Regard.
It’s been an especially favorable year for Chilean cinema. The New York Film Festival, in its 50th edition this past Fall, included three highly anticipated films by Pablo Larraín, Valeria Sarmiento, and the late Raúl Ruiz. And Chile continued to outshine the rest of the region by winning two top spots at the Festival Internacional de Nuevo Cine Latino de La Habana (the Havana Film Festival) just a few days ago. Pablo Larraín’s No, starring Gael Garcia Bernal, won the First Coral Prize. It’s a brilliant take on the real life story of an advertising campaign that ousted General Pinochet from power during a shining moment in Chilean politics. Violeta se fue a los cielos (Violeta Went To Heaven), a biopic about internationally famous Violeta de la Parra, a Chilean singer, songwriter, and poet won the Second Prize.
Whether it was at Cannes, Sundance, or countless other festivals, Latino films were winning award after award this year and even getting distribution (albeit usually in limited release). With the flurry of activity surrounding the region’s filmmaking, it can be hard to keep up with it all. Thankfully, there are professionals who get paid to keep track of what movies are receiving accolades, have the most buzz, and got picked up for distribution. LatinoBuzz went straight to the experts, film programmers, to ask, “What’s your top 5 Latino films of 2012?”
Carlos Gutierrez, Co-Founder and Director of Cinema Tropical
In no particular order, a list of five Latin American films that made it to Us screens in the past year (some of them are a couple of years old), which I highly recommend.
De Jueves a Domingo (Thursday Till Sunday), Director: Dominga Sotomayor, Chile
O Som ao Redor (Neighboring Sounds), Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil
El Estudiante, Director: Santiago Mitre, Argentina
El Velador, Director: Natalia Almada, Mexico
El Lugar Más Pequeño (The Tiniest Place), Director: Tatiana Huezo, Mexico/El Salvador
Juan Caceres, Director of Programming at the New York International Latino Film Festival
Mosquita y Mari is a gorgeous film full of heart. Marialy Rivas (Director of Joven y Alocada) is an incredibly exciting new voice in Latin American cinema. She's fearless and full of love. I'm a huge fan of Lucy Mulloy (Director of Una Noche). She draws these wonderful performances from non-professional actors. A natural at using the lens to tell a story. In Las Malas Intenciones Fatima Buntinx plays the lead perfectly. Andres Wood made a beautiful film called 'Machuca', that captured the soul of Chile in the 70's and he does the same with a bio-pic of Violeta Parra, a folk singer who was a part of 'La Nueva Canción Chilena'.
Mosquita y Mari, Director: Aurora Guerrero, USA
Joven y Alocada (Young and Wild), Director: Marialy Rivas, Chile
Una Noche, Director: Lucy Mulloy, Cuba
Violeta Se Fue A Los Cielos (Violeta Went to Heaven), Director: Andrés Wood, Chile
Las Malas Intenciones (The Bad Intentions), Director: Rosario García-Montero, Perú
Christine Davila, Programming Associate at Sundance Film Festival
There are way too many Latino films and not enough coverage on American Latino films so with that -- mine are going to be strictly American Latino films.
Los Chidos, Director: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, USA/Mexico
Mosquita y Mari, Director: Aurora Guerrero, USA
Elliot Loves, Director: Terracino, USA
Aquí y Allá (Here and There), Director: Antonio Méndez Esparza, USA/Spain/Mexico
Love, Concord, Director: Gustavo Guardado, USA
Lisa Franek, Artistic Director at the San Diego Latino Film Festival
Just 5?? That's tough! In Filly Brown, Gina Rodriguez turns in a great performance, and I expect to see more great things from her very soon. No, I saw at Cannes, and it was fascinating, especially in contrast to Larraín's previous (amazing) films. La Hora Cero has unforgettable scenes and characters! La Mujer de Ivan has amazing acting, and I believe Maria de Los Angeles Garcia is definitely a talent to watch. Reportero is also fantastic.
La Mujer de Iván, Director: Francisca Silva, Chile
No, Director: Pablo Larraín, Chile/France/USA
La Hora Cero, Director: Diego Velasco, Venezuela
Reportero, Director: Bernardo Ruiz, USA/Mexico
Filly Brown, Directors: Youssef Delara, Michael D. Olmos, USA
Marcela Goglio, Programmer for Latinbeat at The Film Society of Lincoln Center
Las Acacias, Director: Pablo Giorgelli, Argentina
As Cançoes (Songs), Director: Eduardo Coutinho, Brazil
Unfinished Spaces, Directors: Alyssa Nahmias & Benjamin Murray, USA
O Som ao Redor (Neighboring Sounds), Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil
Aquí y Allá (Here and There), Director: Antonio Méndez Esparza, USA/Spain/Mexico
Pepe Vargas, Executive Director of the International Latino Cultural Center and Chicago Latino Film Festival
Not an easy task to come up with 5 titles - there are so many good movies.
La Piel que Habito (The Skin I Live In)
Director: Pedro Almodóvar, Spain
Salvando al Soldado Pérez, (Saving Private Perez)
Director: Beto Gómez, Mexico
Un Cuento Chino (Chinese Take-Out)
Director: Sebastián Borensztein, Argentina/Spain
Lobos de Arga (Game of Werewolves)
Director: Juan Martínez Moreno, Spain
Mariachi Gringo
Director: Tom Gustafson, USA/Mexico
Amalia Cordova, Coordinator of the Latin American Program at the Film and Video Center of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
Granito, Director: Pamela Yates, USA/Guatemala/Spain
Desterro Guarani, Directors: Patricia Ferreira y Ariel Duarte Ortega, Brazil
Violeta Se Fue A Los Cielos (Violeta Went to Heaven), Director: Andrés Wood, Chile
5 x Favela – Agora por nós Mesmos (5 x Favela, Now by Ourselves), Directors: Manaíra Carneiro, Wagner Novais, Cacau Amaral, Rodrigo Felha, Luciano Vidigal, Cadu Barcelos, and Luciana Bezerra, Brazil
Un Cuento Chino (Chinese Take-Out), Director: Sebastián Borensztein, Argentina/Spain
Written by Juan Caceres and Vanessa Erazo, LatinoBuzz is a weekly feature on SydneysBuzz that highlights Latino indie talent and upcoming trends in Latino film with the specific objective of presenting a broad range of Latino voices. Follow @LatinoBuzz on twitter.
There was also a strong Latin American presence at Cannes this past summer, boasting films from Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. It might as well have been called Mexi-Cannes, with Mexican films winning awards across all main sections of the festival. Carlos Reygadas was honored as the Best Director for his controversial film Post Tenebras Lux, despite having received boos at its premiere screening. The prize for the Critics’ Week section went to Aquí y Allá (Here and There) and Después de Lucía (After Lucia) won the top prize for Un Certain Regard.
It’s been an especially favorable year for Chilean cinema. The New York Film Festival, in its 50th edition this past Fall, included three highly anticipated films by Pablo Larraín, Valeria Sarmiento, and the late Raúl Ruiz. And Chile continued to outshine the rest of the region by winning two top spots at the Festival Internacional de Nuevo Cine Latino de La Habana (the Havana Film Festival) just a few days ago. Pablo Larraín’s No, starring Gael Garcia Bernal, won the First Coral Prize. It’s a brilliant take on the real life story of an advertising campaign that ousted General Pinochet from power during a shining moment in Chilean politics. Violeta se fue a los cielos (Violeta Went To Heaven), a biopic about internationally famous Violeta de la Parra, a Chilean singer, songwriter, and poet won the Second Prize.
Whether it was at Cannes, Sundance, or countless other festivals, Latino films were winning award after award this year and even getting distribution (albeit usually in limited release). With the flurry of activity surrounding the region’s filmmaking, it can be hard to keep up with it all. Thankfully, there are professionals who get paid to keep track of what movies are receiving accolades, have the most buzz, and got picked up for distribution. LatinoBuzz went straight to the experts, film programmers, to ask, “What’s your top 5 Latino films of 2012?”
Carlos Gutierrez, Co-Founder and Director of Cinema Tropical
In no particular order, a list of five Latin American films that made it to Us screens in the past year (some of them are a couple of years old), which I highly recommend.
De Jueves a Domingo (Thursday Till Sunday), Director: Dominga Sotomayor, Chile
O Som ao Redor (Neighboring Sounds), Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil
El Estudiante, Director: Santiago Mitre, Argentina
El Velador, Director: Natalia Almada, Mexico
El Lugar Más Pequeño (The Tiniest Place), Director: Tatiana Huezo, Mexico/El Salvador
Juan Caceres, Director of Programming at the New York International Latino Film Festival
Mosquita y Mari is a gorgeous film full of heart. Marialy Rivas (Director of Joven y Alocada) is an incredibly exciting new voice in Latin American cinema. She's fearless and full of love. I'm a huge fan of Lucy Mulloy (Director of Una Noche). She draws these wonderful performances from non-professional actors. A natural at using the lens to tell a story. In Las Malas Intenciones Fatima Buntinx plays the lead perfectly. Andres Wood made a beautiful film called 'Machuca', that captured the soul of Chile in the 70's and he does the same with a bio-pic of Violeta Parra, a folk singer who was a part of 'La Nueva Canción Chilena'.
Mosquita y Mari, Director: Aurora Guerrero, USA
Joven y Alocada (Young and Wild), Director: Marialy Rivas, Chile
Una Noche, Director: Lucy Mulloy, Cuba
Violeta Se Fue A Los Cielos (Violeta Went to Heaven), Director: Andrés Wood, Chile
Las Malas Intenciones (The Bad Intentions), Director: Rosario García-Montero, Perú
Christine Davila, Programming Associate at Sundance Film Festival
There are way too many Latino films and not enough coverage on American Latino films so with that -- mine are going to be strictly American Latino films.
Los Chidos, Director: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, USA/Mexico
Mosquita y Mari, Director: Aurora Guerrero, USA
Elliot Loves, Director: Terracino, USA
Aquí y Allá (Here and There), Director: Antonio Méndez Esparza, USA/Spain/Mexico
Love, Concord, Director: Gustavo Guardado, USA
Lisa Franek, Artistic Director at the San Diego Latino Film Festival
Just 5?? That's tough! In Filly Brown, Gina Rodriguez turns in a great performance, and I expect to see more great things from her very soon. No, I saw at Cannes, and it was fascinating, especially in contrast to Larraín's previous (amazing) films. La Hora Cero has unforgettable scenes and characters! La Mujer de Ivan has amazing acting, and I believe Maria de Los Angeles Garcia is definitely a talent to watch. Reportero is also fantastic.
La Mujer de Iván, Director: Francisca Silva, Chile
No, Director: Pablo Larraín, Chile/France/USA
La Hora Cero, Director: Diego Velasco, Venezuela
Reportero, Director: Bernardo Ruiz, USA/Mexico
Filly Brown, Directors: Youssef Delara, Michael D. Olmos, USA
Marcela Goglio, Programmer for Latinbeat at The Film Society of Lincoln Center
Las Acacias, Director: Pablo Giorgelli, Argentina
As Cançoes (Songs), Director: Eduardo Coutinho, Brazil
Unfinished Spaces, Directors: Alyssa Nahmias & Benjamin Murray, USA
O Som ao Redor (Neighboring Sounds), Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil
Aquí y Allá (Here and There), Director: Antonio Méndez Esparza, USA/Spain/Mexico
Pepe Vargas, Executive Director of the International Latino Cultural Center and Chicago Latino Film Festival
Not an easy task to come up with 5 titles - there are so many good movies.
La Piel que Habito (The Skin I Live In)
Director: Pedro Almodóvar, Spain
Salvando al Soldado Pérez, (Saving Private Perez)
Director: Beto Gómez, Mexico
Un Cuento Chino (Chinese Take-Out)
Director: Sebastián Borensztein, Argentina/Spain
Lobos de Arga (Game of Werewolves)
Director: Juan Martínez Moreno, Spain
Mariachi Gringo
Director: Tom Gustafson, USA/Mexico
Amalia Cordova, Coordinator of the Latin American Program at the Film and Video Center of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
Granito, Director: Pamela Yates, USA/Guatemala/Spain
Desterro Guarani, Directors: Patricia Ferreira y Ariel Duarte Ortega, Brazil
Violeta Se Fue A Los Cielos (Violeta Went to Heaven), Director: Andrés Wood, Chile
5 x Favela – Agora por nós Mesmos (5 x Favela, Now by Ourselves), Directors: Manaíra Carneiro, Wagner Novais, Cacau Amaral, Rodrigo Felha, Luciano Vidigal, Cadu Barcelos, and Luciana Bezerra, Brazil
Un Cuento Chino (Chinese Take-Out), Director: Sebastián Borensztein, Argentina/Spain
Written by Juan Caceres and Vanessa Erazo, LatinoBuzz is a weekly feature on SydneysBuzz that highlights Latino indie talent and upcoming trends in Latino film with the specific objective of presenting a broad range of Latino voices. Follow @LatinoBuzz on twitter.
- 12/19/2012
- by Vanessa Erazo
- Sydney's Buzz
Since 2003, the Morelia Film Festival has been nurturing filmmakers and audiences, and has rooted its niche as a discovery festival of up and coming Mexican filmmakers. At the same time it’s earned a prestigious reputation for its expertly curated sidebars that would make the most hard core cinephile drool, and for the Festival’s unparalleled attention and hospitality towards their guests, Invitados. The Festival invites renowned international cineastes to participate in showing their films for the first time in Mexico, in turn enticing them to experience the vibrant scene of Mexican Cinema in the most charming historic city of Morelia, Michoacán.
To celebrate its 10th year anniversary the powerhouse boutique festival has put together an epic program consisting of over 200 hand picked films as part of special screenings, tributes and homages to compliment its more solid than ever Mexican Competition made up of 25 documentaries, 45 shorts, 9 narrative features, along with 12 films from the hosting state of Michoacán. Among the special guests this year, English filmmaker Sally Potter, Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, and Chicano filmmaker Gregory Nava.
I thank the tirelessly dynamic Director of the Festival, Daniela Michel for talking with me about the Festival’s programming then and now. {redacted and translated}
C: From the return of Regyadas with his highly anticipated Post-Tenebras Lux, who was one of three Mexican directors awarded a prize at Cannes (along with Fogo by documentary and fiction director, Yulene Olaizola, and Después de Lucía by Michel Franco which is Mexico’s foreign language Oscar entry), to Locarno Film Festival’s Carte Blanche spotlight of Mexican works in progress, 2012 has been a stellar year for Mexican films. The Festival is showing nine narrative features in competition, seven of them world premieres by first time filmmakers, reflecting this building breakthrough momentum…
D: Yes, we’re thrilled that Cannes was a big year for Mexican film. We were honored to have Artistic director, Thierry Frémaux as a guest at the Festival last year. He’s truly been supportive of Mexican films and we are profoundly thankful. When we first started the festival there just weren’t enough features films to warrant a solid competition program. Our mission was to build a program made up of the next generation of filmmakers and support them. We weren’t interested in showing already established Mexican filmmakers. In 2007 we had our first narrative feature length competition and we were grateful for having such a prominent jury comprised of Trevor Groth, Director of Programming at Sundance Film Festival, Peter Scarlet, at that time Artistic Director of Tribeca Film Festival and Cecilia Suarez, a talented Mexican actress. They bestowed the Best Film award to Nicolás Pereda’s first film, Where are their Stories. Pereda has gone on to be a prolific and singular talent. We are screening his 7th film out of competition, The Greatest Hits.
C: Documentaries are an integral part of the festival, this year the festival is showing a record breaking 25 documentaries in competition. Typically the Mexican documentary genre has generally fit into the ethnographic study type. How has this changed over the years?
D: We are seeing more intimate and personal journey type of stories that are breaking with that notion that there is only that kind of Mexican documentary. There are looks of forgotten history like Flor en Otomi by Luisa Riley about a young female guerilla fighter who disappeared following a violent raid, or Convict Patient by Alejandro Solar Luna about a man who attempted to assassinate the president in 1970 and is now homeless and mentally unstable. There are more experimental films, more personal portraits like Carriere, 250 Meters by Juan Carlos Rulfo and Natalia Gil about the inspiring writer and Bunuel collaborator Jean-Claude Carriere, Diario a Tres Voces by Otilia Portillo Padua, a compelling multigenerational look of three women in relationship to their age, Miradas Multiples (La Maquina Loca) by Emilio Maille which is about the great cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa. Definitely, Mexican documentary is expanding its horizons.
C: Last year you had Luis Valdez and as an honored guest and screened his seminal Chicano film, Zoot Suit. This year you are honoring Gregory Nava with a screening of El Norte and Mi Familia. What prompted this recognition of Chicano filmmakers at the festival?
D: We’ve always had a section called Cine Sin Fronteras (Cinema without Borders) curated by Jesse Lerner an academic expert on border films. While we had not, up until last year, recognized such well known chicano figures like Luis Valdez we’ve shown the work of lesser known, independent filmmakers. We felt it was overdue and important to introduce chicano films to mexico. Not necessarily a border crossing story but the perspective of Mexicans living in the United States. Certainly Luis Valdez deserved a homage here in Mexico. Unfortunately chicano cinema is not well known in Mexico. We are very happy that Gregory Nava who we highly respect, will be joining us this year.
C: The Michoacán section. The festival recognizes the talent of filmmakers from the hosting state with its separate competition section. How do you make sure this section does not fly under the radar or get lost in the shuffle since it competes with high profile national and international films.
D: Well, first of all the caliber has to be there and I think that since the festival’s inception, the filmmaking scene in Michoacán has been greatly stimulated as there’s been more production, filmmaking has become more accessible and over the past ten years we’ve seen the production value and quality getting better and better. Not only indigenous filmmakers which was very important to us like Dante Cerano and Pavel Rodriguez but filmmakers who were born and raised there and may live elsewhere. We make an effort to give these films the highest visibility by giving them the best time slots so that the public can easily find and discover.
C: Given the Festival’s success, there must be a desire and pressure to continue to expand and grow. How do you navigate the appeal of complimenting the festival with an increasing number of programs yet work to keep the mission’s integrity?
D: Interest in participating in the festival has certainly grown but we can’t lose focus that our main goal is to support the young mexican filmmakers so we select only the best work out there, always. Its important not to have any kind of institutional or political ties that might compromise that mission. One of the sections I most love which we created in 2008, based on the invaluable recommendation of Bertrand Tavernier who has an impressive knowledge of film, is called Imaginary Mexico. This section showcases work connected to Mexico imagined by foreign filmmakers abroad, revealing their perception of Mexico. It’s a rich, eye opening trove. For instance Mexico as seen by Hollywood. This year we are showing a number of Sam Peckinpah’s films (The Wild Bunch, among others). Two years ago we had the extraordinary gift of having Quentin Tarantino present Sergio Corbucci’s spaghetti westerns about the Mexican Revolution. These films had been previously banned in Mexico for its scathing portrayal of the revolution….
It’s a rich diaspora. The Festival supports the future of Mexican Cinema with the best work by the next generation of filmmakers just starting out. It celebrates Mexico of the past, through classics and retrospectives like this year’s homage to cinematographer Jose Ortiz Ramos born in the state of Michoacan, and the other, films about Mexico from outside of Mexico. We attack it on all fronts. This intersection of borders, indigenous films made by indigenous filmmakers who have a permanent space in our festival, film students and history.
C: About the Morelia audience
D: There is a big population of university students which combined with the city’s strong tradition of historical culture, we felt there was potential there. It wasn’t easy at first. I remember programming a Woody Allen film against a block of unknown shorts. We realized that once the tickets for the Woody Allen movie sold out, people who weren’t able to get in, naturally found their way into the shorts program. We are indeed grateful for that audience. Obviously showing Bela Tarr’s epic eight hour Satantango last year would not have worked had we programmed it the first year. We owe a lot of this audience development to our extraordinary colleague and dear friend Joaquin Rodriguez (founding programmer who passed away earlier this year). He worked year round developing that audience. His film appreciation classes there would have space for twenty, and five times the amount of people would show up. This edition is dedicated to him for his consummate professionalism, passion and brilliance.
C: We are a few days away from the 10th edition. How are you feeling now and do you remember how you felt ten years ago at this point?
D: It was one of the most stressful moments in my life because I had no idea how it was going to work. It was terrifying. Today I feel very blessed to have this incredible team because the work is put in by all of us and it would be impossible without the dedicated group assembled who I admire and respect very much. …Every year there is stress. But like they say “If you stop feeling the nerves then quit”. I’m a huge cinephile so I love sharing this gift of film with new audiences. Its endless, there is an endless vault of films to be re-discovered and that’s what I love best that these films return to life. You learn a lot about life seeing film.
Follow the Festival @Ficm. To see the competition lineup click here, and to download this year’s catalogue click here.
To celebrate its 10th year anniversary the powerhouse boutique festival has put together an epic program consisting of over 200 hand picked films as part of special screenings, tributes and homages to compliment its more solid than ever Mexican Competition made up of 25 documentaries, 45 shorts, 9 narrative features, along with 12 films from the hosting state of Michoacán. Among the special guests this year, English filmmaker Sally Potter, Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, and Chicano filmmaker Gregory Nava.
I thank the tirelessly dynamic Director of the Festival, Daniela Michel for talking with me about the Festival’s programming then and now. {redacted and translated}
C: From the return of Regyadas with his highly anticipated Post-Tenebras Lux, who was one of three Mexican directors awarded a prize at Cannes (along with Fogo by documentary and fiction director, Yulene Olaizola, and Después de Lucía by Michel Franco which is Mexico’s foreign language Oscar entry), to Locarno Film Festival’s Carte Blanche spotlight of Mexican works in progress, 2012 has been a stellar year for Mexican films. The Festival is showing nine narrative features in competition, seven of them world premieres by first time filmmakers, reflecting this building breakthrough momentum…
D: Yes, we’re thrilled that Cannes was a big year for Mexican film. We were honored to have Artistic director, Thierry Frémaux as a guest at the Festival last year. He’s truly been supportive of Mexican films and we are profoundly thankful. When we first started the festival there just weren’t enough features films to warrant a solid competition program. Our mission was to build a program made up of the next generation of filmmakers and support them. We weren’t interested in showing already established Mexican filmmakers. In 2007 we had our first narrative feature length competition and we were grateful for having such a prominent jury comprised of Trevor Groth, Director of Programming at Sundance Film Festival, Peter Scarlet, at that time Artistic Director of Tribeca Film Festival and Cecilia Suarez, a talented Mexican actress. They bestowed the Best Film award to Nicolás Pereda’s first film, Where are their Stories. Pereda has gone on to be a prolific and singular talent. We are screening his 7th film out of competition, The Greatest Hits.
C: Documentaries are an integral part of the festival, this year the festival is showing a record breaking 25 documentaries in competition. Typically the Mexican documentary genre has generally fit into the ethnographic study type. How has this changed over the years?
D: We are seeing more intimate and personal journey type of stories that are breaking with that notion that there is only that kind of Mexican documentary. There are looks of forgotten history like Flor en Otomi by Luisa Riley about a young female guerilla fighter who disappeared following a violent raid, or Convict Patient by Alejandro Solar Luna about a man who attempted to assassinate the president in 1970 and is now homeless and mentally unstable. There are more experimental films, more personal portraits like Carriere, 250 Meters by Juan Carlos Rulfo and Natalia Gil about the inspiring writer and Bunuel collaborator Jean-Claude Carriere, Diario a Tres Voces by Otilia Portillo Padua, a compelling multigenerational look of three women in relationship to their age, Miradas Multiples (La Maquina Loca) by Emilio Maille which is about the great cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa. Definitely, Mexican documentary is expanding its horizons.
C: Last year you had Luis Valdez and as an honored guest and screened his seminal Chicano film, Zoot Suit. This year you are honoring Gregory Nava with a screening of El Norte and Mi Familia. What prompted this recognition of Chicano filmmakers at the festival?
D: We’ve always had a section called Cine Sin Fronteras (Cinema without Borders) curated by Jesse Lerner an academic expert on border films. While we had not, up until last year, recognized such well known chicano figures like Luis Valdez we’ve shown the work of lesser known, independent filmmakers. We felt it was overdue and important to introduce chicano films to mexico. Not necessarily a border crossing story but the perspective of Mexicans living in the United States. Certainly Luis Valdez deserved a homage here in Mexico. Unfortunately chicano cinema is not well known in Mexico. We are very happy that Gregory Nava who we highly respect, will be joining us this year.
C: The Michoacán section. The festival recognizes the talent of filmmakers from the hosting state with its separate competition section. How do you make sure this section does not fly under the radar or get lost in the shuffle since it competes with high profile national and international films.
D: Well, first of all the caliber has to be there and I think that since the festival’s inception, the filmmaking scene in Michoacán has been greatly stimulated as there’s been more production, filmmaking has become more accessible and over the past ten years we’ve seen the production value and quality getting better and better. Not only indigenous filmmakers which was very important to us like Dante Cerano and Pavel Rodriguez but filmmakers who were born and raised there and may live elsewhere. We make an effort to give these films the highest visibility by giving them the best time slots so that the public can easily find and discover.
C: Given the Festival’s success, there must be a desire and pressure to continue to expand and grow. How do you navigate the appeal of complimenting the festival with an increasing number of programs yet work to keep the mission’s integrity?
D: Interest in participating in the festival has certainly grown but we can’t lose focus that our main goal is to support the young mexican filmmakers so we select only the best work out there, always. Its important not to have any kind of institutional or political ties that might compromise that mission. One of the sections I most love which we created in 2008, based on the invaluable recommendation of Bertrand Tavernier who has an impressive knowledge of film, is called Imaginary Mexico. This section showcases work connected to Mexico imagined by foreign filmmakers abroad, revealing their perception of Mexico. It’s a rich, eye opening trove. For instance Mexico as seen by Hollywood. This year we are showing a number of Sam Peckinpah’s films (The Wild Bunch, among others). Two years ago we had the extraordinary gift of having Quentin Tarantino present Sergio Corbucci’s spaghetti westerns about the Mexican Revolution. These films had been previously banned in Mexico for its scathing portrayal of the revolution….
It’s a rich diaspora. The Festival supports the future of Mexican Cinema with the best work by the next generation of filmmakers just starting out. It celebrates Mexico of the past, through classics and retrospectives like this year’s homage to cinematographer Jose Ortiz Ramos born in the state of Michoacan, and the other, films about Mexico from outside of Mexico. We attack it on all fronts. This intersection of borders, indigenous films made by indigenous filmmakers who have a permanent space in our festival, film students and history.
C: About the Morelia audience
D: There is a big population of university students which combined with the city’s strong tradition of historical culture, we felt there was potential there. It wasn’t easy at first. I remember programming a Woody Allen film against a block of unknown shorts. We realized that once the tickets for the Woody Allen movie sold out, people who weren’t able to get in, naturally found their way into the shorts program. We are indeed grateful for that audience. Obviously showing Bela Tarr’s epic eight hour Satantango last year would not have worked had we programmed it the first year. We owe a lot of this audience development to our extraordinary colleague and dear friend Joaquin Rodriguez (founding programmer who passed away earlier this year). He worked year round developing that audience. His film appreciation classes there would have space for twenty, and five times the amount of people would show up. This edition is dedicated to him for his consummate professionalism, passion and brilliance.
C: We are a few days away from the 10th edition. How are you feeling now and do you remember how you felt ten years ago at this point?
D: It was one of the most stressful moments in my life because I had no idea how it was going to work. It was terrifying. Today I feel very blessed to have this incredible team because the work is put in by all of us and it would be impossible without the dedicated group assembled who I admire and respect very much. …Every year there is stress. But like they say “If you stop feeling the nerves then quit”. I’m a huge cinephile so I love sharing this gift of film with new audiences. Its endless, there is an endless vault of films to be re-discovered and that’s what I love best that these films return to life. You learn a lot about life seeing film.
Follow the Festival @Ficm. To see the competition lineup click here, and to download this year’s catalogue click here.
- 10/31/2012
- by Christine Davila
- Sydney's Buzz
★★★★☆ Screening at this year's London Film Festival is After Lucía (Después de Lucía, 2012), Mexico's official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at next year's Academy Awards and Michel Franco's deeply harrowing follow-up to Daniel & Ana (2009). Franco's latest is a captivating, if not quite tortuous expose of school-yard bullying, told with horrifying intensity through the camera's unflinching gaze. Following the death of her mother, Alejandra (Tessa Ia) and her father (Hernan Mendoza) move to Mexico in order to begin a fresh new life. Starting a new school can be difficult for any child - yet Alejandra fits in instantly, even ingratiated to the 'popular' sect.
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- 10/18/2012
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
14th Mumbai Film Festival (Mff) announced its complete lineup today in a press conference. Mff will be held from October 18th to 25th at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Ncpa) and Inox, Nariman Point, Liberty Cinemas, Marine Lines as the main festival venues and Cinemax, Andheri and Cinemax Sion as the satellite venues. Click here to watch trailers and highlights from the festival.
Here is the complete list of films to be screened during the festival (October 18-25)
International Competition for the First Feature Films of Directors
1. From Tuesday To Tuesday (De Martes A Martes)
Dir.: Gustavo Fernandez Triviño (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 111′)
2. The Last Elvis (El Último Elvis)
Dir.: Armando Bo (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 91′)
3. The Sapphires
Dir.: Wayne Blair (Australia / 2012 / Col. / 103′)
4. The Wall (Die Wand)
Dir.: Julian Pölsler (Austria-Germany / 2012 / Col. / 108′)
5. Teddy Bear (10 timer til Paradis)
Dir.: Mads Matthiesen (Denmark / 2012 / Col. / 93′)
6. Augustine
Dir.: Alice Winccour (France / 2012 / Col.
Here is the complete list of films to be screened during the festival (October 18-25)
International Competition for the First Feature Films of Directors
1. From Tuesday To Tuesday (De Martes A Martes)
Dir.: Gustavo Fernandez Triviño (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 111′)
2. The Last Elvis (El Último Elvis)
Dir.: Armando Bo (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 91′)
3. The Sapphires
Dir.: Wayne Blair (Australia / 2012 / Col. / 103′)
4. The Wall (Die Wand)
Dir.: Julian Pölsler (Austria-Germany / 2012 / Col. / 108′)
5. Teddy Bear (10 timer til Paradis)
Dir.: Mads Matthiesen (Denmark / 2012 / Col. / 93′)
6. Augustine
Dir.: Alice Winccour (France / 2012 / Col.
- 9/24/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
"Despues de Lucia," a drama from Mexican director Michel Franco, was named the best film of Cannes' Un Certain Regard section at a ceremony on Saturday night. The film deals with a young woman and her father who move to a new town, leaving their old lives behind. Actresses Emile Dequenne and Suzanne Clement were honored for their roles in "A Perdre La Raison" and "Laurence Anyways," respectively. Also read: Cannes 2012: Sharon Waxman & Steve Pond Debate the Contenders (Video) A special jury prize went to "Le Grand Soir" by Gustave de Kervern...
- 5/26/2012
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Cannes’ Un Certain Regard jury gave its top prize on Saturday to Michel Franco’s After Lucia (Despues de Lucia) as the film festival headed into its final hours. Jury president Tim Roth chose the film from the 20-strong Un Certain Regard sidebar that was part of the official selection. After Lucia is Mexican writer-director Franco's second feature after Daniel & Ana, which premiered in the Directors' Fortnight in 2009. The disturbing film focuses on bullying and adolescence and follows a father and daughter who move to Mexico City for a fresh start only to find that the girl
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- 5/26/2012
- by Rebecca Leffler
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
★★★★☆ Showing in the Un Certain Regard section at the 65th Cannes Film Festival, Michel Franco's After Lucia (Después de Lucía, 2012) is a devastating and harrowing look into high school bullying. Following the death of her mother in a car accident, teenager Alejandra (Tessa Ia) and her father Roberto (Hermàn Mendoza), a successful high-end chef, move to a new town. Her father, however, is in a deep depression and oscillates between complete disengagement with the world and impatient anger, though never directed at his daughter.
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- 5/22/2012
- by CineVue
- CineVue
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