How to Become a Millionaire Latino Filmmaker

The answer is... make a short film. But before I get to that, a quick, personal update: I finally moved out west! Yes, I am now officially a resident of San Diego, where life is generally uneventful and the weather is always post-card perfect (except this week). And that's exactly what I wanted, so I'm happy. I'll be posting a lot more now that I'm done with the move and all of the expected headaches. Actually, I'm very much looking forward to the San Diego Latino Film Festival, which unspools March 11-21. I've never been to it, but it has a very good reputation. Expect write-ups and reviews from the fest as well as regular posts about other topics in the weeks to come. It's been a slow winter for Latin American cinema - the only major release since "Gigante" in early December is "Los paranoicos" ("The Paranoids"), an offbeat Argentine comedy which was panned by the NY Times today. But hopefully things will pick up now that Sundance is underway and Berlin is coming up.

Ok, so back to the initial question- How do you become a crazy rich Latino filmmaker? Just follow Federico Alvarez's lead. Get incredibly good at computer animation, make a visually sophisticated short for $300 dollars about space machines attacking (and destroying) Montevideo, post it on You Tube, sit back and watch Hollywood throw millions of dollars at you. It's that easy.

After Alvarez's short "Panic Attack!" became a sensation online, Sam Raimi ("Spider-Man") called him up and the two of them hit it off. Alvarez then signed a contract with Raimi’s production company and is now set to make his feature film debut with a $30 to $40 million dollar budget. It's unclear whether it will be a longer version of "Panic Attack!" or something completely different. Frankly, I hope it's not some retread of what Roland Emmerich and Michael Bay already do. I'm banking for something with some social relevance like District 9.

Here's the short in it's entirety. Enjoy it!

THE 2010 SUNDANCE FF LATINO ROSTER

The Sundance FIlm Festival, a.k.a. the golden ticket of independent filmmaking, recently announced the complete roster for its upcoming 2010 edition. It includes a good number of Latino films from the U.S., as well as Spanish and Latin American fare. Even Colombia and Bolivia (the latter rarely, if ever, has a film in the festival). Here are all the selected films by category:

WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Secrets of the Tribe/Brazil (Director: José Padilha)—Scandal and infighting abound in the academic Anthropology community regarding the representation and exploitation of indigenous Indians in the Amazon Basin. World Premiere

Sins of My Father/Argentina,Colombia (Director: Nicolas Entel)—The life and times of notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar are recounted through the eyes of his son, who fled Colombia to move beyond his father’s legacy. North American Premiere (I'm pulling for this one since my good friend Juan Aceves did the sound work on it!)

WORLD CINEMA NARRATIVE COMPETITION

Contracorriente (Undertow)/Colombia, France, Germany, Peru (Director and screenwriter: Javier Fuentes-Leon)—An unusual ghost story set on the Peruvian seaside, a married fisherman struggles to reconcile his devotion to his male lover within his town’s rigid traditions. Cast: Cristian Mercado, Manolo Cardona, Tatiana Astengo North American Premiere

The Man Next Door (El Hombre de al Lado)/Argentina (Directors and Screenwriters: Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat)—A small incident over two neighbors common wall sparks a conflict which affects the intimacy of the view over the chimney; the protagonist sparks a conflict and with a paranoiac obsession destroys everyday life. Cast: Rafael Spregelburd, Daniel Araoz, Eugenia Alonso, Ines Budassi, Lorenza Acuna. International Premiere

Me Too (Yo también)/Spain (Directors and screenwriters: Álvaro Pastor and Antonio Naharro)—A 34-year-old college-educated man with Down syndrome and his free-spirited co-worker forge an unconventional relationship. Cast: Pablo Pineda, Lola Dueñas, Antonio Naharro, Isabel Garcia Lorca, Pedro Alvarez Ossorio. International Premiere

Southern District (Zona Sur)/Bolivia (Director and screenwriter: Juan Carlos Valdivia)—In La Paz, Bolivia, in a villa surrounded by beautiful gardens, an upper-class family experiences final halcyon days of luxury as social change penetrates their bubble. Cast: Ninón del Castillo, Pascual Loayza, Nicolás Fernández, Juan Pablo Koria, Mariana Vargas. North American Premiere

PREMIERES

Abel/Mexico (Director: Diego Luna; Screenwriters: Diego Luna and Agusto Mendoza)—A peculiar young boy, blurring reality and fantasy, assumes the responsibilities of a family man in his father’s absence. Cast: José María Yazpik, Karina Gidi, Carlos Aragon, Christopher Ruiz-Esparza, Gerardo Ruiz-Esparza.. World Premiere

NEW FRONTIER

Memories of Overdevelopment / USA (Director and Screenwriter: Miguel Coyula)—Live action mixes with animation and newsreel footage of historical events to form a collage that emulates the way personal memory works for a misanthropic Cuban intellectual. An adaptation of a novel by Cuban author Edmundo Desnoes. Cast: Ron Blair. World Premiere

Oddsac/USA (Director: Danny Perez)—Perez)—An earthy, psychedelic experimental narrative infused with the band, Animal Collective’s aural and musical sensibilities. World Premiere

PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT

Buried/Spain,USA (Director: Rodrigo Cortes; Screenwriter: Chris Sparling)—A U.S. contractor working in Iraq awakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With only a lighter and a cell phone it’s a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap. Cast: Ryan Reynolds. World Premiere

SPOTLIGHT

Mother & Child/USA/Spain (Director and Screenwriter: Rodrigo García)—The lives of three women—a physical therapist, the daughter she gave up at birth three decades ago, and an African American woman seeking to adopt a child of her own intersect in surprising ways. Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Naomi Watts, David Morse, Annette Bening, Amy Brenneman U.S. Premiere
This year, Sundance decided to start a new category called "Next" to highlight films made on microbudgets that were being left out in previous editions of the festivals. The criticism that I've heard time and time again from filmmakers is that if your submission is unsolicited it's practically impossible to get into Sundance. In other words, without an agent or a friend with power in Hollywood your film doesn't stand a chance. Presumably, the films included in the "Next" category came from average Joes with no connections. But is that enough for Sundance to combat their elitist reputation? Looking at the competition categories, there are a number of films that easily exceed the $1 million dollar budget mark. The question is, why do they need to make special categories for lower-budget films? Does the quality and artistry of a film really depend on the money required to make it? I think Sundance still needs to do more. For starters, how about publishing a list that lets the public know which films were selected via regular submissions versus the ones that were pushed by rep agencies like Cinetic. Until there's more transparency, Sundance will remain, at least in my mind, an exclusive playground for a select few.

PHOTO CAPTIONS:
1. Sundance Film Festival marquee
2. Poster: "Los pecados de mi padre" ("The Sins of My Father")
3. "Zona Sur" ("Southern District")
4. "Mother and Child"

TEN BEST LATIN AMERICAN FILMS OF THE DECADE

DiazFilm, in association with Cinema Tropical, today unveiled the Top Ten Latin American Films of the Decade, as chosen by a select group of New York film professionals whose work has been focused on the promotion and dissemination of Latin American cinema in NY and the U.S. Lucrecia Martel's seminal "La cienaga" took the top spot on the list. Rather than writing a separate article, I'll just post part of the press release we drafted, which has now made its way to news agencies all over Latin America and the world:

CINEMA TROPICAL ANNOUNCES THE TEN BEST LATIN AMERICAN FILMS OF THE DECADE, HEADED BY LUCRECIA MARTEL’S ‘LA CIÉNAGA’

New York, December 1, 2009 – Cinema Tropical, the premier purveyor of Latin American cinema in the U.S., has compiled a list of the Top Ten Latin American Films of the Decade (2000-2009) based on a survey of distinguished critics, scholars and film professionals based in the New York City area.

The respected Argentine director Lucrecia Martel, accomplished an amazing feat by making the top ten with the three films she has directed to date. Her first film La Ciénaga got the first place spot and she also occupies the eighth and ninth spots with La mujer sin cabeza (The Headless Woman) and La niña santa (The Holy Girl) respectively.

Under the initiative and coordination of filmmaker and blogger Mario Díaz (http://diazfilm.blogspot.com/) this first-ever survey of its kind was culled from 33 prominent local voices in film whose work has been devoted to the promotion and dissemination of Latin American cinema in New York and the United States. In all, 122 films representing 13 Latin American countries were nominated for the distinction of being Best of the Decade, demonstrating the great quality and diversity of films from the region.

“The project of creating this list had a two-fold intention, on one hand to serve as a promotional campaign to honor all the great film work that the region has produced in the past few years, and secondly to pay some kind of tribute to the professionals that have helped promote Latin American cinema in this city” says Carlos A. Gutiérrez, co-founding director of Cinema Tropical.


The so-called “Three Amigos,” Mexican directors Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mamá También), Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros) all made the top ten. Their three breakout films earned a combined $56 million dollars at the U.S. box office alone, elevating each of them to A-list status. Indeed the “Three Amigos” went on to direct such high-profile international films as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Cuarón), Hellboy II (Del Toro), and Babel (González Iñárritu). In 2006, they joined forces to form a production company called Cha Cha Cha Films.

Argentina is the country with the most films on the overall list with 43 mentions, whilst Mexico has four films in the first ten places. However, Brazil has a significant presence throughout the survey with 30 films out of 122 films mentioned. This includes two in the top ten: Fernando Meirelles’ City of God at number four and the documentary feature Bus 174 by directors José Padilha and Felipe Lacerda at number five. Looking at the top twenty-five, Karim Ainouz’s Madame Satâ came in at number 14, while the feature documentaries Santiago by Joâo Salles and Jogo de Cena by Eduardo Coutinho came in at 20 and 22 respectively.

Despite the fact that many of the films in the list never had a US theatrical release and that Latin American cinema is not yet widely seen in the U.S., the list demonstrates that there is a wealth of films being produced in the region year after year, and that cinephiles outside the country (or at least in New York) are taking notice. For example, Brazilian director Eduardo Coutinho, who remains largely unknown to audiences in America, has four films on the overall list: Jogo de cena (Playing, #22), Edificio Master (Master, a Building in Copacabana, #27), Peões (Metalworkers, #45), and O fim e o principio (The End and the Beginning #78).

Other notable performers include Argentine filmmaker Pablo Trapero who has four films included in the list, fellow Argentine Carlos Sorín with three, and Mexican arthouse favorite Carlos Reygadas who has three films as well, including the top ten entry Silent Light (#3) and Japón (#14).

“Best Of” lists usually favor recent releases, but the participants of this survey stuck to quality and personal taste as the principal criteria for their selections. The result is a balanced list made up of picks from the entire decade. In fact, six of the films in the top ten were released in 2004 or before.

“The decade that is about to conclude marked a turning point in Latin American cinema. Never before did Latin American films enjoy such critical and box office success internationally and in the U.S.” says Mario Díaz and adds, “this list is not only a powerful reminder of the great quality and abundance of films that emerged from Latin America in the last 10 years but also a celebration of Latin American cinema’s coming-of-age, for it is now considered at par with the world’s best.”

The Top 10 Latin American Films of the Decade are:

FILM DIRECTOR COUNTRY YEAR
1) La Ciénaga Lucrecia Martel Argentina 2001

2) Amores Perros Alejandro González Mexico 2000
Iñárritu

3) Luz silenciosa Carlos Reygadas Mexico 2007
(Silent Light)

4) Cidade de Deus Fernando Meirelles Brazil 2002
(City of God)

5) Ônibus 174 (Bus 174) José Padilha, Brazil 2002
Felipe Lacerda

6) Y tu mamá también Alfonso Cuarón Mexico 2001

7) Whisky Juan Pablo Rebella, Uruguay 2004
Pablo Stoll

8) La mujer sin cabeza Lucrecia Martel Argentina 2008
(The Headless Woman)

9) La niña santa Lucrecia Martel Argentina 2004
(The Holy Girl)

10) El laberinto del fauno Guillermo del Toro Mexico/Spain 2006
(Pan’s Labyrinth)

To view the complete list of films, participants, and individual selections please visit: www.cinematropical.com/programming.php?pid=3.

In case you were wondering, these are my personal selections:

1) Y tú mama también (2001) Mexico
2) La mujer sin cabeza (2008) Argentina
3) La nana (2009) Chile
4) Diarios de motocicleta (2004) Argentina
5) Bus 174 (2002) Brazil
6) Los guantes mágicos (2003) Argentina
7) Cama adentro (2005) Argentina
8) Cidade de Deus (2002) Brazil
9) Turistas (2009) Chile
10) El camino de San Diego (2006) Argentina

THE GOTHAMS

So I got all dressed up in a suit and attended the fancy 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards last night at Cipriani's on Wall Street. I got to rub elbows with the likes of Willem Dafoe, Alec Baldwin, and Meryl Streep, but mostly I was there to see my work projected on two big-ass screens. For the third year in a row, I've produced and edited the Tribute and Nomination Reels shown at the event. This year, the IFP (organizers of the event) paid tribute to Natalie Portman, Stanley Tucci, and director Kathryn Bigelow. I'm happy to report that the reels were well received and there were no technical issues (which is always my fear). Here's the Tribute Reel I edited for Stanley Tucci:

As far as the actual awards go, I was especially pleased that Catalina Saavedra, who gives a powerful performance in "La nana" ("The Maid"), took home an award for Breakthrough Actor. I got to meet her and chat with her for a while, and she couldn't be more gracious and sweet. Fortunately, she's nothing like the dour character she plays in the film. I think she's totally deserving of the award (she beat frontrunners Jeremy Renner and Patton Oswalt). Here's hoping this is just the beginning of a long awards run! For a complete list of winners, click here.

Speaking of awards (and "The Maid"), the nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards were announced today and wouldn't you know it... "The Maid" was nominated for Best Foreign Film. Mexican documentary filmmaker Natalia Almada was also nominated for the Truer Than Fiction award for her film "The General." Finally, Brazilian director of photography Adriano Goldman was nominated in the Best Cinematography category for his work in "Sin Nombre." Here is the complete list of nominees. The awards will take place on Friday, March 5, 2010 at 8:00 p.m and will air on IFC.

Puerto Rico's Oscar Submission

In a previous post, I had anticipated that Puerto Rico would not submit a film to the Academy Awards foreign-language category. An internet search turned up absolutely nothing, plus in 2008 Puerto Rico had opted out of the race rather than submit a sub-par film, so my assumption was that the same thing would happen this year. After all, Puerto Rico had very little presence in international fests in 2009... In fact, the only two Puerto Rican films I'd heard of were "Sin Mapa," a documentary about reggaeton supergroup Calle 13's tour of indigenous South America, and Rafi Mercado's "Miente," a slick-looking urban fantasy. I didn't think either of those were worthy of submission, especially when facing competition like the German-entry and Palme D'Or winner "The White Ribbon" or Peru's lauded "La teta asustada" ("The Milk of Sorrow').

So... when the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences published the official list on October 15th, Puerto Rico was on it! Lo and behold, they submitted a film after all: "Kabo and Platon." It sounded like a war film but I did a quick search and quickly found out that "Kabo y Platon" is a actually reggeaton gangsta film, a straight-to-DVD film if there ever was one. So WTF??? Surely those two films I listed above are more deserving that this one? Guess not.

My feeling is that politics are involved here. Edmundo Rodriguez, the film's director, has been working in the industry for a while. He once directed a TV commercial for my uncle, who at the time was peddling a credit card aimed at the Evangelical community in Puerto Rico. I can't remember the name but it was something like Holy Charge. I'm dead serious - you can't make this shit up. Anyway, maybe the nominating committee (whoever that is) decided to reward their old friend Edmundo by giving the film a little push. Obviously, there's no way it would garner a nomination but the submission could improve its box office prospects at home. After all, the words "Puerto Rico's Official Submission to the Academy Awards" sound like a big deal. But it actually isn't. It's a major waste of time and a step backwards for the island's film industry.

Think about it, if "Kabo and Platon" is what we're showing the world as the best the island can produce, it speaks very poorly of our talent. Granted, I haven't seen it but you can get a pretty good idea of the film's merit from its trailer. The other thing that angers me is the expense. The Puerto Rico Film Commission usually picks up the tab for a film print and all marketing costs involved in sending the film for evaluation by the Academy Awards nominating committee. We're talking about thousands of dollars that are, in my opinion, better spent elsewhere... like fostering filmmaking in the island, which is the Commission's purported main objective. How about taking that money and spreading it around to up-and-coming filmmakers to help them complete their projects? There are lots of good scripts floating around that don't get made because funding is so hard to come by.

The only Puerto Rican film nominated to the Foreign Language Film category was "Lo que le pasó a Santiago" back in 1989. Unfortunately, Puerto Rico's film industry failed to build on that milestone. To be fair, there have been some bright spots. "Maldeamores" ("Lovesickness") was well received a couple of years ago, but overall there's been no initiative to truly cultivate new cinematic voices. In the spirit of recent protests against government ineffectiveness in handling the recession, police brutality, and hate crimes, it's time for the Puerto Rican film community and local audiences to call bullshit on these inane decisions by the government-run Film Commission, which seems to be doing more harm than good.

In other Foreign Film Language news, the controversial decision by Chile to snub Sebastián Silva's "La nana" ("The Maid"), in favor of veteran filmmaker Miguel Littín's "Dawson Isla 10" has both sides swinging. In this post on Cinema Tropical's blog, there are links to statements by both filmmakers.

LATINOS ROCK THE GOTHAM NOMINATIONS!

The 2009 Gotham Independent Film Awards nominations are out. Sebastian Silva's "The Maid" received a Best Feature nod as well as a Breakthrough Actor nod for Catalina Saavedra. Cruz Angeles was nominated in the Breakthrough Director category for "Don't Let Me Drown" and the cast of "Sugar" scored (pardon the pun) a nomination in the Best Ensemble Cast category.

I'm particularly overjoyed that the jury has recognized "The Maid," an unusual choice considering it is a foreign film for all intents and purposes (it qualifies here because Silva is a U.S. resident). As I've said many times before in this blog, "The Maid" is simply great and since it is a small film with limited marketing funds it needs all the recognition and visibility it can get.

Strange that Sebastian Silva didn't get nominated for Breakthrough Director. It may have something to do with the fact that there are different jury pools for various categories.

MAID IN CHILE!

Sebastian Silva's masterful "La nana" ("The Maid") opens today at the Angelika in NY. I saw this film back in April in Argentina and I haven't stopped thinking about it since. There are two main reasons why this film is so hard to forget. The first one is Catalina Saavedra's fierce and fearless performance. An accomplished actress in Chile, she first rejected the role because she was tired of being typecast after having played so many maids in her career. She eventually came around and, perhaps to get even, created THE most complex and heartbreaking portrait of a maid in the history of cinema. I'm not exaggerating when I say that her bravura performance is akin to Robert DeNiro's Jake LaMotta, full of outward anger but concealing a deep self-hatred.

The second reason this film is memorable to me is because of the sense of discovery I felt while watching it. I knew I was watching a true artist, someone with complete control of the medium. The storytelling mastery Sebastian Silva displays in this, only his second film, is astonishing. He was able to construct a compelling narrative that is (1) a study of class structure and social injustice in Chile, (2) an intriguing character study of someone who is deeply unhappy and potentially driven to violence, and (3) a story of friendship and renewal. Despite all these elements, the film is never far from plausible, admirably maintaining a naturalistic style throughout. I see great things happening to Sebastian Silva, both in the short and long run.

I wish I could write a complete review but work is keeping me busy. I just wanted to let you know that "The Maid" is not to be missed.

URUGUAY AT BAM!

Cinema Tropical continues to bring quality Latin American cinema to the Big Apple. In addition to doing a bang-up job promoting "Crude" and "La nana" ("The Maid") - the latter opens, coincidentally, on October 16th at the Angelika - Carlos Gutierrez (co-founder of Cinema Tropical) has now put together a showcase of current Uruguayan films under the banner "Go Uruguay!" It unspools at BAM October 16-18 and it includes the NY premiere of Adrian Beniez's lauded "Gigante" ("Giant"), as well as many other titles worth checking out.

Uruguayan cinema seems to always be under the shadow cast by its more popular and prolific neighbor Argentina. Every time a Uruguayan film gets some attention it feels like a one-off, a curious novelty item from a country no one bothers to think about much. But the truth is that Uruguay has been steadily carving out a unique cinematic identity and making films that have become hugely influential.

What makes Go Uruguay! so interesting and timely is that is has been designed as both a showcase of new works and a retrospective of roughly the last ten years in Uruguayan cinema. So depending on your previous exposure to Uruguayan films, you can either experience these treasures for the first time or use the opportunity to watch them again with fresh eyes and evaluate their merit. Perhaps you will agree with me that Uruguayan cinema deserves more recognition than it usually gets.

Arguably the most important film of the showcase is also the oldest. Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll's "25 Watts" enjoyed international success when it was released in 2001, but over time it has become the Latin American equivalent of Richard Linklater's "Slacker." I'm no film historian but in my mind "25 Watts" is the precursor of films like "Temporada de Patos" ("Duck Season"), "Lake Tahoe," and "Gasolina." Since its release, Latin American directors have not only tried to emulate its minimalist style (made for pennies, BTW), they also became more experimental, defying the formality that characterized Latin American cinema at the time. Suddenly, new possibilities arose. You could now make an entire film about three guys sitting on a curb, shooting the shit on a Saturday. Or a meticulous character study about a quiet sock-factory owner who secretly pines for his sole employee. That's exactly what Rebella and Stoll did with their sophomore effort, "Whisky:"

"Whisky" is my favorite of the bunch. It's quiet and slow, but beautifully acted and directed with wonderful restraint and empathy for the main character (it's also in color, muted browns mostly). It inspired a slew of similar films like the recent "Parque Via" and "Gigante," which share the same dark humor. The directors built upon the promise of "25 Watts" and delivered a meditative gem that strikes a perfect balance between form and content. It's visually very controlled but also puts the main character front and center and makes you empathize with him in a deep way. Too bad that Juan Pablo Rebella passed away. I really believe these two would have had an amazing career together (Pablo Stoll is still making films - his latest "Hiroshima" was recently screened at the Toronto Film Festival).

A hit at Berlin and San Sebastian (where it received various awards), "Gigante," is a recent production that follows in the tradition of "Whisky's" minimalism. It tells the tale of a night-shift security guard at a large supermarket who falls for one of the female nighttime cleaners while watching her every move through his black and white surveillance monitor. He's a burly, "giant" of a man but the twist here is that he has the soul of a child. The movie ends at the moment where most romances begin and I have to say that I don't know if it's enough of a payoff. Still, there are wonderful moments throughout - especially a scene where the security guard ends up having a bite at a restaurant with a nerdy guy his love interest had a date with hours before. Another interesting characteristic is that the film is shot as though we're looking at this guy's life on a surveillance monitor - all long shots, from a distance, where behavior is the main focus and dialogue is almost unnecessary.

I've seen two more films on the list, "La perrera" ("The Dog Pound") and "Stranded: I've Come From a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains." "La perrera" is another darkly comic film about a lazy college student who is forced by his father to build a small house in his property in an ettempt to teach him the value of hard work. In need of a bit of smart editing (I found it overlong), the film picks up in the second half when some of the odd residents of the coastal town begin to help him and turn the new house into a type of hang-out club. One even moves into the house with him.

I watched "Stranded" during a limited run at Film Forum exactly a year ago. I was already familiar with the story of the 1972 Uruguayan rugby team that resorted to cannibalism to stay alive in the Andes after its plane crashed there, but this documentary is so packed with interesting details (told by the survivors themselves) that I was completely absorbed and many things came as a surprise to me. Director Gonzalo Arijón only had a few actual pictures of the survivors during their ordeal, so he relies mostly on reenactments, but they're tastefully done and is able to sustain suspense throughout (much like "Man on Wire").

Rounding up the list are "El baño del Papa" ("The Pope's Toilet") and "Matar a todos" ("Kill Them All"). The only thing I know about "El baño del Papa" is that it was the film Uruguay nominated for the 2007 Foreign Language Film Academy Award. I never heard of "Matar a todos" before but it features Roxanna Blanco, the lead actress in "Alma mater," which would have fit perfectly in this sampling of fine yet unassuming assortment of art films from that country down in God-knows-where.

Here's the complete list of films:

Gigante - dir. Adrián Beniez, Friday 7pm
25 Watts - dir. Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll, Saturday 4:30pm
La perrera - dir. Manuel Nieto Zas, Saturday 6:50pm
El baño del Papa - dir. César Charlone and Enrique Fernández, Saturday 9:15pm
Stranded: I've Come From a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains - dir. Gonzalo Arijón, Sunday 4pm
Whisky - dir. Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll, Sunday 6:15pm
Matar a todos - dir. Esteban Schroeder, Sunday 9:15pm

Uruguayan producer/editor Fernando Epstein (who worked with Rebella and Stoll, and is a prolific producer of films both in Uruguay and Argentina) will be in attendance at some of the screenings to answer questions from the audience.

Latinos Triumph at the Woodstock FF

Cruz Angeles' "Don't Let Me Drown" took home the top prize for Narrative Feature at the 2009 edition of the Woodstock Film Festival. The tale of two Latino teens who fall in love in the aftermath of 9/11, "Drown" received positive reviews and word-of-mouth at the Sundance Film Festival back in January. Even though it didn't win any awards in Park City, the film went on to win the Audience Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival in May. However, it remains without a distributor.

In addition to the top prize, "Drown" also received the James Lyons Award for Best Editing of a Feature Narrative at Woodstock. Andrew Hafitz is the film's editor.

In what was clearly a great festival for Latino filmmakers, Juan Carlos Rulfo received the Haskell Wexler Award for Best Cinematography for "Los que se quedan" (“Those Who Remain”), a film he also co-directed.

For a complete list of winners and more information about this year's Woodstock Film Festival, click here.

Oscar Submissions From Latin America (and Spain)

As promised, here's the list of films submitted by Latin American countries to the 2010 Academy Awards' Foreign Language Film category. Even though the deadline for submissions was October 1st, the Academy of Motion Pictures has yet to release a final list. Without the official list, it's still hard to ascertain whether Puerto Rico will participate this year, or opt out like it did last year. The complete absence of competitive films by Puerto Rico in the festival circuit this year leads me to believe that they will once again choose to stay out of the competition. So sad for my home country.

Turning our attention to the films on the list, I cannot get over the fact that Chile did not nominate "La nana" ("The Maid"). After winning the World Competition at Sundance and garnering honors at worldwide fests throughout the year, it was the obvious choice. But no, Chile chose "Dawson, Isla 10" ("Dawson, Island 10"), the true story of political dissents who were sent to a tiny island in the Atlantic and endured hellish conditions 35 ago. I haven't seen it, but it strikes me as Chile choosing convention over quality. "La nana" is one of the most original, beautifully directed and acted films I've seen this year and I just can't imagine "Dawson" can be as good. By the way, "La nana" opens in the U.S. on October 16th. I'll be publishing a review around that time. And without further ado, here's the list:

Argentina - EL SECRETO DE SUS OJOS (THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES), directed by Juan José Campanella

Bolivia - ZONA SUR (SOUTHERN ZONE), directed by Juan Carlos Valdivia

Brazil - SALVE GERAL, directed by Sergio Rezende

Chile - DAWSON, ISLA 10 (DAWSON, ISLAND 10), directed by Miguel Littín

Colombia - LOS VIAJES DEL VIENTO (THE WIND JOURNEYS), directed by Ciro Guerra

Mexico - EL TRASPATIO (BACKYARD), directed by Sabina Berman

Peru - LA TETA ASUSTADA (THE MILK OF SORROW), directed by Claudia Llosa

Spain - EL BAILE DE LA VICTORIA (THE DANCER AND THE THIEF), directed by Fernando Trueba

Uruguay - MAL DIA PARA PESCAR (BAD DAY TO GO FISHING), directed by Alvaro Brechner

Venezuela - LIBERTADOR MORALES, EL JUSTICIERO, directed by Efterpi Charalambidis

The last Latin American (or Spanish) film nominated in the Foreign Film Category was "El Laberinto del Fauno" ("Pan's Labyrinth") in 2007. Mexico's entry did not take home the award that year. If I had to make a prediction, I would say that without "La nana" on the list, it will be hard for Latin America to get a nod this year. The film that has the best chance, in my opinion, is "La teta asustada." It's the kind of well-made, politically correct film the Academy likes to reward but it might prove to be too sober and low key for them - they often choose bigger, heartfelt dramas like last year's "Departures."

One curious parting note... Taiwan nominated a film with a Spanish title: "No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti" ("I Can't Live Without You"), directed by Leon Dai. It's a black and white film set entirely in Taiwan and concerns a man who struggles to raise his child as a single parent. None of the articles or reviews I read explained the origin of the title.