Mubi Podcast: Encuentros returns for a fourth season.The first episode features:Ilse Salas (Mexico), a film, TV, and theater actress who is internationally recognized for her leading role in Alejandra Márquez Abella's The Good Girls, a selection of the Toronto International Film Festival and a prizewinner in Malaga. Winner of the Ariel for Best Actress, and a two-time Platino Award nominee, Salas has worked with important Latin American directors such as Abner Benaim, Lucía Puenzo, and Alonso Ruizpalacios.Guillermo Calderón (Chile), a playwright with a deep political commitment and the screenwriter of some of his country's most important films from the last decade, such as Pablo Larraín's The Club (2015), Neruda (2016), and Ema (2019). These films' festival screenings include the Venice Film Festival, the Berlinale, and the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes. In this first episode, the hosts talk about theatricality as an expressive possibility that’s poorly explored in Latin American cinema.
- 8/16/2023
- MUBI
Colombian-Mexican filmmaker Rodrigo García has wrapped his first Spanish-language feature, “Familia,” which was shot in Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico for Netflix.
García, who has directed such acclaimed films as “Mother and Child” and “Albert Nobbs,” and whose TV credits include “Six Feet Under,” “Big Love” and “In Treatment,” said: “Shooting ‘Familia’ has been a great experience.” He added: “Great producers, collaborators, several of my favorite Mexican actors and actresses and Netflix’s full support have made this project an unforgettable trip back home.”
This is the first time García, who is the son of Colombian Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Marquez, has directed a film in Mexico. He’s an executive producer in Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of his father’s literary classic “100 Years of Solitude,” which will be shooting in Colombia.
According to the synopsis, “Familia” follows “a peculiar family and explores the complexities of cohabitation around a decision that will change them forever.
García, who has directed such acclaimed films as “Mother and Child” and “Albert Nobbs,” and whose TV credits include “Six Feet Under,” “Big Love” and “In Treatment,” said: “Shooting ‘Familia’ has been a great experience.” He added: “Great producers, collaborators, several of my favorite Mexican actors and actresses and Netflix’s full support have made this project an unforgettable trip back home.”
This is the first time García, who is the son of Colombian Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Marquez, has directed a film in Mexico. He’s an executive producer in Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of his father’s literary classic “100 Years of Solitude,” which will be shooting in Colombia.
According to the synopsis, “Familia” follows “a peculiar family and explores the complexities of cohabitation around a decision that will change them forever.
- 5/22/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Oscar-shortlisted Panamanian filmmaker Abner Benaim (Plaza Catedral) is gearing up to direct a feature adaptation of Nemesis, the final bestseller by Philip Roth to be published prior to the famed author’s 2018 passing.
Dealing with such timely themes as an epidemic and antisemitism, Nemesis was described in The New Yorker as having “the elegance of a fable and the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama.” The novel published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in October of 2010 is set in the summer of 1944, examining the impact of a polio epidemic on a Newark, NJ community and its children.
Peter Glanz (The Longest Week) adapted the screenplay. Pablo Larraín, Juan de Dios Larraín and Andrew Hevia will produce for Fabula — the production company behind Foreign Language Oscar winner A Fantastic Woman, the Kristen Stewart starrer Spencer, and the upcoming drama Maria starring Angelina Jolie. Fernando Loureiro produces for Tigresa.
Dealing with such timely themes as an epidemic and antisemitism, Nemesis was described in The New Yorker as having “the elegance of a fable and the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama.” The novel published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in October of 2010 is set in the summer of 1944, examining the impact of a polio epidemic on a Newark, NJ community and its children.
Peter Glanz (The Longest Week) adapted the screenplay. Pablo Larraín, Juan de Dios Larraín and Andrew Hevia will produce for Fabula — the production company behind Foreign Language Oscar winner A Fantastic Woman, the Kristen Stewart starrer Spencer, and the upcoming drama Maria starring Angelina Jolie. Fernando Loureiro produces for Tigresa.
- 5/16/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Manuel García-Rulfo has been cast in the title role of Netflix’s Spanish-language film Pedro Páramo. Shooting has begun on the Mexican film, which marks cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto’s directorial debut.
García-Rulfo is best known for Netflix series The Lincoln Lawyer, which debuted last year. He is leading Pedro Páramo opposite Tenoch Huerta, who will play Juan Preciado in the Mateo Gil adaptation of the Juan Rulfo novel.
They are joined by Ilse Salas, Mayra Batalla, Héctor Kotsifakis, Roberto Sosa, Dolores Heredia, Giovanna Zacarías, Noé Hernández and Yoshira Escárrega among others.
Rulfo’s original novel follows a man who attempts to meet his father for the first time after his mother’s death, only to find a ghost town filled with spectral figures and discovers the reckless and dangerous choices his dad made during his life.
“Our commitment to Mexican cinema takes on a whole new dimension with the start of production of Pedro Páramo,...
García-Rulfo is best known for Netflix series The Lincoln Lawyer, which debuted last year. He is leading Pedro Páramo opposite Tenoch Huerta, who will play Juan Preciado in the Mateo Gil adaptation of the Juan Rulfo novel.
They are joined by Ilse Salas, Mayra Batalla, Héctor Kotsifakis, Roberto Sosa, Dolores Heredia, Giovanna Zacarías, Noé Hernández and Yoshira Escárrega among others.
Rulfo’s original novel follows a man who attempts to meet his father for the first time after his mother’s death, only to find a ghost town filled with spectral figures and discovers the reckless and dangerous choices his dad made during his life.
“Our commitment to Mexican cinema takes on a whole new dimension with the start of production of Pedro Páramo,...
- 5/11/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
There’s a popular approach to selling real estate which says that houses should be sold on their external aspects and the space they offer, but that their interiors should be as plain as possible, so that prospective buyers will find it easy to project their own desires onto them. Alicia (Ilse Salas) sells houses like that. She’s an architect whose own ideas get little attention at work, but who is valued for her ability to attract wealthy people to these artificially neutral spaces far removed from the dirt and fumes and crowded streets which constitute reality for many residents of Panama City.
Alicia looks like an empty house. She dresses in similar neutral tones. Her face is a blank. As we follow her home and begin to get to know her, we learn that living this way makes it easier for her to move through the world. She lets people project.
Alicia looks like an empty house. She dresses in similar neutral tones. Her face is a blank. As we follow her home and begin to get to know her, we learn that living this way makes it easier for her to move through the world. She lets people project.
- 11/25/2022
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Chicago – A hybrid spring film festival – both in-person and online – kicks offs with the 38th edition of the Chicago Latino Film Festival (Clff). The Opening Night Panamanian film “Plaza Catedral,” will screen April 21st, 2022, at the Drive-In theater, ChiTown Movies. Click Clff for details.
“Plaza Catedral” tells the story of Alicia (Ilse Salas) – still in mourning after the death of her six-year-old son in a freak accident plus divorced from Diego (Manolo Cardona) – and 13-year-old “Chief” (Fernando Xavier de Casta), who makes a living “watching” parked cars. Alicia meets Chief when she tries to park her car right in front of her building, and days later he appears at her doorstep, bleeding from a gunshot wound. Her decision to let him in leads to an unforeseen emotional bond.
Panamanian’s ‘Plaza Catedral’ Opens the 38th Clff on April 21st, 2022
Photo credit: ChicagoLatinoFilmFestival.org
The 38th Chicago Latino Film Festival (Clff...
“Plaza Catedral” tells the story of Alicia (Ilse Salas) – still in mourning after the death of her six-year-old son in a freak accident plus divorced from Diego (Manolo Cardona) – and 13-year-old “Chief” (Fernando Xavier de Casta), who makes a living “watching” parked cars. Alicia meets Chief when she tries to park her car right in front of her building, and days later he appears at her doorstep, bleeding from a gunshot wound. Her decision to let him in leads to an unforeseen emotional bond.
Panamanian’s ‘Plaza Catedral’ Opens the 38th Clff on April 21st, 2022
Photo credit: ChicagoLatinoFilmFestival.org
The 38th Chicago Latino Film Festival (Clff...
- 4/19/2022
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
En un mundo donde la belleza es lo más importante, nada es lo que parece. Señorita 89 estrena el 27 de febrero por Stream Pantaya en los Estados Unidos y Puerto Rico. Hablamos con Lucia Puenzo sobre su nueva seria con elenco que incluye Ilse Salas, Ximena Romo, Bárbara López, Natasha Dupeyrón, Leidi Gutiérrez and Coty Camacho. Señorita 89 is produced by Spencer director Pablo Larrain and Juan de Diol Larrain.
- 2/24/2022
- by luperhaas@cinemovie.tv (Lupe R Haas)
- CineMovie
The new feminist thriller "Señorita 89" is out this month on the Spanish-language streaming service Pantaya. The hour-long drama tells the story of 32 Mexican beauty queens vying for the country's 1989 crown amid exploitative pageant organizers, lecherous sponsors, and their own secrets. For her part, star Ilse Salas wants the show to inspire conversations around beauty, stereotypes, and violence. She plays Concepción, the woman running the pageant and the show's erstwhile villain. In the first two episodes, Concepción shows her evil streak, nudging the young women in her care toward sex work, worrying about appearing racist, and generally using her power to only advance her own agenda.
Related: Netflix’s "Through My Window" Has Two Sequels In the Works
But simmering underneath the surface, it's clear Concepción is a very nuanced individual. She's a woman who's achieved success by being both hyperfeminine and hypermasculine. On the feminine side, showrunner-slash-executive producer Lucía Puenzo...
Related: Netflix’s "Through My Window" Has Two Sequels In the Works
But simmering underneath the surface, it's clear Concepción is a very nuanced individual. She's a woman who's achieved success by being both hyperfeminine and hypermasculine. On the feminine side, showrunner-slash-executive producer Lucía Puenzo...
- 2/23/2022
- by Cristina Escobar
- Popsugar.com
Content warning: The following story contains brief mention of sexual abuse and drug abuse.
Premiering Feb. 27 on the Spanish-language streaming service Pantaya, the new thriller "Señorita 89" dives deep into Mexican gender norms, using the 1989 Miss Mexico beauty pageant as its fictional setting. Filled with drugs, sex, and violence, the show has plenty of drama, with its main concern being feminine power, outdated beauty standards, and its love-hate relationships with beauty overall.
It starts as the year's 32 contestants sequester themselves in the pageant organizers' remote estate, "La Encantada." It's a mansion combining the vibes of the houses in "Mexican Gothic" and "The Bachelor." There, the power imbalance is immediately clear. The "girls," as everyone keeps calling them even though they're in their early twenties, have to sign super-intense contracts, giving away their legal rights as a precondition to participating. The pageant organizers, headed by Ilse Salas's Concepción in the part of the madame,...
Premiering Feb. 27 on the Spanish-language streaming service Pantaya, the new thriller "Señorita 89" dives deep into Mexican gender norms, using the 1989 Miss Mexico beauty pageant as its fictional setting. Filled with drugs, sex, and violence, the show has plenty of drama, with its main concern being feminine power, outdated beauty standards, and its love-hate relationships with beauty overall.
It starts as the year's 32 contestants sequester themselves in the pageant organizers' remote estate, "La Encantada." It's a mansion combining the vibes of the houses in "Mexican Gothic" and "The Bachelor." There, the power imbalance is immediately clear. The "girls," as everyone keeps calling them even though they're in their early twenties, have to sign super-intense contracts, giving away their legal rights as a precondition to participating. The pageant organizers, headed by Ilse Salas's Concepción in the part of the madame,...
- 2/21/2022
- by Cristina Escobar
- Popsugar.com
Since teaming with “Spencer” director Pablo Larraín and his brother Juan de Dios at Chile’s Fabula, few Latin America writer-directors have shaken up the region’s TV scene as much as Argentina’s Lucía Puenzo.
That cuts various ways, in both artistic and industry terms. “La Jauría” Season 1 premiered at 2019’s Zurich Festival, first flagging the talents of Lucía and brother Nicolas Puenzo, its director/Dp in a series which drilled down on multiple manifestations of sexual abuse.
The series also marked the first fruit of a first-look production-distribution alliance between Fabula and Fremantle.
Unveiled one year later, “Señorita 89” marks Fabula’s first production at its Mexico base and extends its co-production partners to include global streamer Starzplay and L.A.-based Spanish-language platform Pantaya.
Following powerful sales on “La Jauría,” to Amazon and HBO Max for the U.S., Fremantle announced last month that a third season...
That cuts various ways, in both artistic and industry terms. “La Jauría” Season 1 premiered at 2019’s Zurich Festival, first flagging the talents of Lucía and brother Nicolas Puenzo, its director/Dp in a series which drilled down on multiple manifestations of sexual abuse.
The series also marked the first fruit of a first-look production-distribution alliance between Fabula and Fremantle.
Unveiled one year later, “Señorita 89” marks Fabula’s first production at its Mexico base and extends its co-production partners to include global streamer Starzplay and L.A.-based Spanish-language platform Pantaya.
Following powerful sales on “La Jauría,” to Amazon and HBO Max for the U.S., Fremantle announced last month that a third season...
- 2/14/2022
- by John Hopewell and Emiliano Granada
- Variety Film + TV
In a new series, Variety catches up with the directors of the films shortlisted for the International Feature Oscar to discuss their road to the awards, what they’ve learned so far, and what’s taken them off guard.
Two of Abner Benaim’s films, documentaries “Invasion” (2014) and “Ruben Blades Is Not My Name” (2018), were Panamanian entries to the Oscars, but his “Plaza Catedral” is the first time a film from the country has been shortlisted. The film, which portrays a violent society with a gulf between the rich and poor, won major awards at the Guadalajara and Panama film festivals. It follows a grief-stricken woman (Ilse Salas) whose life changes when a wounded teenage street kid (Fernando Xavier de Casta) shows up at her doorstep. Tragically, Xavier de Casta was shot dead months before the film’s premiere.
What does it mean to you to be shortlisted for the best international feature Oscar?...
Two of Abner Benaim’s films, documentaries “Invasion” (2014) and “Ruben Blades Is Not My Name” (2018), were Panamanian entries to the Oscars, but his “Plaza Catedral” is the first time a film from the country has been shortlisted. The film, which portrays a violent society with a gulf between the rich and poor, won major awards at the Guadalajara and Panama film festivals. It follows a grief-stricken woman (Ilse Salas) whose life changes when a wounded teenage street kid (Fernando Xavier de Casta) shows up at her doorstep. Tragically, Xavier de Casta was shot dead months before the film’s premiere.
What does it mean to you to be shortlisted for the best international feature Oscar?...
- 1/30/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Panama makes its debut on the International Feature Oscar shortlist with the character-driven thriller Plaza Catedral. This contender from Abner Benaim (Ruben Blades Is Not My Name) is a taut two-hander between a grieving mother and a young street hustler, with a sobering message about corruption and violence. Samuel Goldwyn Films recently acquired the title.
Alicia (Ilse Salas) is a well-heeled Mexican architect working in Panama, who moves into a swish new apartment in Plaza Catedral. A young teen known as “Chief” (Fernando Xavier De Casta) offers her “VIP parking” and she haggles wearily, assuring him she’s no “gringa.” Over the coming days, they develop a grudging understanding. When he shows up on the stairs of her building bleeding from a gunshot wound, she has a choice. Help the boy and risk her own safety, or turn a blind eye?
It’s a palpable moral dilemma in a city...
Alicia (Ilse Salas) is a well-heeled Mexican architect working in Panama, who moves into a swish new apartment in Plaza Catedral. A young teen known as “Chief” (Fernando Xavier De Casta) offers her “VIP parking” and she haggles wearily, assuring him she’s no “gringa.” Over the coming days, they develop a grudging understanding. When he shows up on the stairs of her building bleeding from a gunshot wound, she has a choice. Help the boy and risk her own safety, or turn a blind eye?
It’s a palpable moral dilemma in a city...
- 1/28/2022
- by Anna Smith
- Deadline Film + TV
Quickly swerving from any expected paths, Senorita 89 looks to be an atypical series, at least judging from its trailer, which you can watch below. Ilse Salas, Ximena Romo, Bárbara López, Natasha Dupeyrón, Leidi Gutiérrez and Coty Camacho star in the series, which comes from director and writer Lucia Puenzo (La Jauria). Per the official synopsis: "Set in the glamour of 80's Mexico, [the series] follows Concepción (Ilse Salas), the matriarch of the most important beauty pageant in the country, who, together with a team of expert makeup artists, trainers, and even surgeons, welcomes the 32 finalists to her estate, La Encantada. There, the contestants will experience a 3-month hard training until they reach the Miss Mexico pageant. "The truth is that underneath the appearances,...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 1/27/2022
- Screen Anarchy
The Miami Film Festival has announced its opening and closing titles for its upcoming 39th edition.
The festival, which showcases works from filmmaker’s in the Ibero-American diaspora, will premiere and end with two films listed on the Oscar shortlist for international feature film. “The Good Boss” (El Buen Patrón), a comedy written and directed by Spain’s Fernando León de Aranoa, will open the festival, which will close with “Plaza Catedral,” the sophomore narrative feature of Panamanian director Abner Benaim.
“The Good Boss” stars Javier Bardem as Blanco, the owner of a family business up for consideration for a local award for business excellence. Determined to win the award, Blanco begins meddling in the lives of his employees, setting off a chain of events that leads to shocking repercussions. In Spain, the film was nominated for a record-breaking 20 Goya Awards, which will be held on Feb. 12. León de Aranoa...
The festival, which showcases works from filmmaker’s in the Ibero-American diaspora, will premiere and end with two films listed on the Oscar shortlist for international feature film. “The Good Boss” (El Buen Patrón), a comedy written and directed by Spain’s Fernando León de Aranoa, will open the festival, which will close with “Plaza Catedral,” the sophomore narrative feature of Panamanian director Abner Benaim.
“The Good Boss” stars Javier Bardem as Blanco, the owner of a family business up for consideration for a local award for business excellence. Determined to win the award, Blanco begins meddling in the lives of his employees, setting off a chain of events that leads to shocking repercussions. In Spain, the film was nominated for a record-breaking 20 Goya Awards, which will be held on Feb. 12. León de Aranoa...
- 1/25/2022
- by Wilson Chapman
- Variety Film + TV
Panama’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 2022 Oscars, “Plaza Catedral,” tells the story of Alicia (Ilse Salas), a 42-year old grief-stricken woman who has become estranged from society. Her world is turned upside down when a 14-year-old boy named Chief (Fernando Xavier De Casta) stumbles into her house, bleeding. Abner Benaim wrote and directed the film and says he is honored to be selected to represent Panama for the first time on the Oscar shortlist. Watch the exclusive video interview above.
“I thought I was having a heart attack for a little bit,” Benaim recalls about hearing “Plaza Catedral” had been shortlisted for the Oscars. “It’s really good for the film. We were a very small film from a very small country and, like any independent film, just struggling to get some visibility. All of the sudden we have that visibility. We’re on the shortlist.
“I thought I was having a heart attack for a little bit,” Benaim recalls about hearing “Plaza Catedral” had been shortlisted for the Oscars. “It’s really good for the film. We were a very small film from a very small country and, like any independent film, just struggling to get some visibility. All of the sudden we have that visibility. We’re on the shortlist.
- 1/24/2022
- by Denton Davidson
- Gold Derby
Mexico’s Tatiana Huezo and Abner Benaim of Panama, whose respective dramas, “Prayers for the Stolen” and “Plaza Catedral,” made the coveted shortlist in the Oscars’ international feature category, have quite a few things in common. Both have mainly worked in documentary filmmaking, although in the case of Benaim, he made a hit comedy in 2009, “Chance,” before focusing on nonfiction films.
Neither are strangers to the Oscar experience. Benaim has represented Panama twice. With its first submission to the Oscars in 2014, an account of the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, “Invasion,” and in 2018 with “Ruben Blades Is Not My Name,” which gets up close and personal with the actor, multi-Grammy winner and activist who also served as minister of tourism and ran for president of Panama.
“Prayers for the Stolen” is Huezo’s first narrative feature and her second turn at representing Mexico, the first time was with her documentary...
Neither are strangers to the Oscar experience. Benaim has represented Panama twice. With its first submission to the Oscars in 2014, an account of the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, “Invasion,” and in 2018 with “Ruben Blades Is Not My Name,” which gets up close and personal with the actor, multi-Grammy winner and activist who also served as minister of tourism and ran for president of Panama.
“Prayers for the Stolen” is Huezo’s first narrative feature and her second turn at representing Mexico, the first time was with her documentary...
- 1/22/2022
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired Plaza Catedral, the Oscar-shortlisted film from writer-director Abner Benaim, which looks to represent Panama at the 94th Academy Awards, in the category of Best International Feature. The company’s release plan has not yet been disclosed.
The drama centers on Alicia (Ilse Salas), a woman who had a perfect life before her 6-year-old son died in a tragic accident. Plagued by grief, she becomes estranged from society – until one night a street-smart 13-year-old boy named Chief (Fernando Xavier de Casta) arrives at her door bleeding from a gunshot wound, and begs her to let him inside.
Plaza Catedral made its world premiere at the Guadalajara International Film Festival, where it won the awards for both Best Actress and Best Actor. The film then went on to win the Audience Award for Best Film at the International Film Festival of Panama. Benaim produced it with...
The drama centers on Alicia (Ilse Salas), a woman who had a perfect life before her 6-year-old son died in a tragic accident. Plagued by grief, she becomes estranged from society – until one night a street-smart 13-year-old boy named Chief (Fernando Xavier de Casta) arrives at her door bleeding from a gunshot wound, and begs her to let him inside.
Plaza Catedral made its world premiere at the Guadalajara International Film Festival, where it won the awards for both Best Actress and Best Actor. The film then went on to win the Audience Award for Best Film at the International Film Festival of Panama. Benaim produced it with...
- 1/19/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
One of the most anticipated of series from Latin America in 2022, Lucía Puenzo’s “Señorita 89” will premiere in the U.S. on Feb. 27, bowing on Spanish-language streaming service Pantaya which has also dropped official teaser key art and a first-look teaser trailer.
Produced by Academy Award winners Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín and Fabula, Pantaya, Starzplay and Fremantle, “Señorita 89” is showrun by Puenzo who is rapidly emerging as one of the Latin America’s foremost film and TV writer-directors after “La Jauría,” first fruit of a first-look deal between Fabula and Fremantle.
“La Jauría” drilled down on multiple forms of sexual abuse, powered by a thriller format. “Señorita 89’ look as if it might do the same but in a far different context, exposing the unseen and unseemly reality behind the glamor of a 1989 Miss Mexico beauty pageant.
As the teaser trailer shows, the drama thriller is set in a seeming paradise,...
Produced by Academy Award winners Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín and Fabula, Pantaya, Starzplay and Fremantle, “Señorita 89” is showrun by Puenzo who is rapidly emerging as one of the Latin America’s foremost film and TV writer-directors after “La Jauría,” first fruit of a first-look deal between Fabula and Fremantle.
“La Jauría” drilled down on multiple forms of sexual abuse, powered by a thriller format. “Señorita 89’ look as if it might do the same but in a far different context, exposing the unseen and unseemly reality behind the glamor of a 1989 Miss Mexico beauty pageant.
As the teaser trailer shows, the drama thriller is set in a seeming paradise,...
- 12/23/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The striking opening shot of Abner Benaim’s plangent drama “Plaza Catedral” induces slight vertigo. The camera rises on an elevator attached to the outside of a partially built skyscraper, looking out across Panama City’s high-rise apartment complexes, and eventually, at the bay beyond. It should be uplifting, but a chilly, murmured voiceover and the opening drone of Matthew Herbert’s rueful score, are like the rainclouds that edge the blue sky in foreboding gray. The view ascends, but it evokes a sinking feeling.
The voice belongs to Alicia, who introduces herself and speaks elliptically, in her emotionless, removed way, of a loss she has suffered in her recent past, that has put her at odds with the world around her. She is an architect by training but a salesperson for an upscale property developer by profession, hence her visit to this half-finished penthouse, with the young family who are thinking of buying it.
The voice belongs to Alicia, who introduces herself and speaks elliptically, in her emotionless, removed way, of a loss she has suffered in her recent past, that has put her at odds with the world around her. She is an architect by training but a salesperson for an upscale property developer by profession, hence her visit to this half-finished penthouse, with the young family who are thinking of buying it.
- 12/21/2021
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Throughout the pandemic that has ravaged Central America, the region’s most prominent film event, the Panama International Film Festival (Iff Panama), has forged on virtually in its continued bid to bolster local projects and talent.
To mark its 10th anniversary this year, a smaller hybrid edition kicks off on Dec. 3 with “Plaza Catedral,” Panama’s submission to the Oscars, and wraps Dec. 5 with Michel Franco’s “Sundown,” starring Tim Roth, which competed for the Golden Lion at Venice.
“We couldn’t pass up celebrating our 10th anniversary, even if it were on a smaller scale this year,” said festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron, who cites encouragement from the international and local industry as key reasons to push onward, notwithstanding the setbacks from the pandemic.
“We’re still very much in the mind of the industry, especially Central America,” she asserted, pointing out that two films spawned by the festival’s rough cuts sidebar,...
To mark its 10th anniversary this year, a smaller hybrid edition kicks off on Dec. 3 with “Plaza Catedral,” Panama’s submission to the Oscars, and wraps Dec. 5 with Michel Franco’s “Sundown,” starring Tim Roth, which competed for the Golden Lion at Venice.
“We couldn’t pass up celebrating our 10th anniversary, even if it were on a smaller scale this year,” said festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron, who cites encouragement from the international and local industry as key reasons to push onward, notwithstanding the setbacks from the pandemic.
“We’re still very much in the mind of the industry, especially Central America,” she asserted, pointing out that two films spawned by the festival’s rough cuts sidebar,...
- 12/3/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Just months prior to its world premiere, young “Plaza Catedral” actor Fernando Xavier de Casta was shot to death. The prescient portrayal of a society fractured by violence is Panama’s submission for this year’s Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. As a co-production between Panama, Mexico and Colombia, it is Benaim’s second fiction feature film after his 2009 comedy “Chance.” It is repped for worldwide sales by Luminosity Entertainment and Gulfstream Pictures. With the logline, “How far would you go to help a stranger?” the film features 40-year old mother Alicia (Ilse Salas) who is grieving over her 13-year old son. After initially avoiding street-kid Chief (Fernando Xavier de Casta), she takes him in when he turns up at her doorstep with a gunshot wound.
A key theme underlying the film is the way that Panama’s affluent elite and foreigners are ignoring the plight of the underprivileged.
A key theme underlying the film is the way that Panama’s affluent elite and foreigners are ignoring the plight of the underprivileged.
- 12/1/2021
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
The first screenings in the programme are the Oscar entries for Luxembourg, Ukraine, Panama, Netherlands and Algeria.
Screen International is hosting an exclusive series of online screenings focused on the international feature awards race.
This initiative is designed to enable each country to organise an event around their submission.
The first screenings in the programme are the Oscar entries for Luxembourg (Io Sto Bene), Ukraine (Bad Roads), Panama (Plaza Catedral), Netherlands (Do not Hesitate) and Algeria (Heliopolis). More titles will be added during this year’s awards season.
Sign up for the screenings here
For the second year, Screen is partnering with Archipel Market,...
Screen International is hosting an exclusive series of online screenings focused on the international feature awards race.
This initiative is designed to enable each country to organise an event around their submission.
The first screenings in the programme are the Oscar entries for Luxembourg (Io Sto Bene), Ukraine (Bad Roads), Panama (Plaza Catedral), Netherlands (Do not Hesitate) and Algeria (Heliopolis). More titles will be added during this year’s awards season.
Sign up for the screenings here
For the second year, Screen is partnering with Archipel Market,...
- 11/19/2021
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Pantaya has signed a deal with Fremantle and Fabula to develop a slate of eight new series. The agreement folds into Pantaya’s plans of aggressively ramping up production capacity of original content for the service.
The companies recently collaborated on the Spanish language series Señorita 89 slated as marquee properties in early 2022 and El Refugio which recently wrapped production.
“We are delighted to continue working with our friends at Fremantle and Fabula after two successful productions,” said Paul Presburger, CEO of Pantaya, in a statement. “Señorita 89 and El Refugio are unique and exciting premium series that are exceptionally well made. We’re excited for our subscribers to be able to watch the series soon and for new viewers to discover this high-end content on the Pantaya platform. We’re eager to expand this partnership and create even more exceptional projects that audiences will love.”
Added Ángela Poblete, Head of Regional Television at Fabula,...
The companies recently collaborated on the Spanish language series Señorita 89 slated as marquee properties in early 2022 and El Refugio which recently wrapped production.
“We are delighted to continue working with our friends at Fremantle and Fabula after two successful productions,” said Paul Presburger, CEO of Pantaya, in a statement. “Señorita 89 and El Refugio are unique and exciting premium series that are exceptionally well made. We’re excited for our subscribers to be able to watch the series soon and for new viewers to discover this high-end content on the Pantaya platform. We’re eager to expand this partnership and create even more exceptional projects that audiences will love.”
Added Ángela Poblete, Head of Regional Television at Fabula,...
- 10/13/2021
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
In a ceremony marked by laughter, tears, a lot of hugs and a celebration of a return to watching films al vivo, the 36th Guadalajara International Film Festival (Ficg) came to a close with the presentation of a long list of prizes to some of Latin America’s top filmmakers, many whose names are well-known in Mexico and across the region and many whose names will, no doubt, be well-known in the future.
In a contradiction fit for the movies, Rodrigo Guardiola and Gabriel Nuncio’s “The Comedian,” a film all about failure, took top honors as this year’s best Mexican film in competition with cinematographer Mario Secco scooping the best cinematography prize for his work on the film.
“It’s wonderful that this movie exists,” said Nuncio at the ceremony. “The truth is, I got to work with very talented people on this movie and I think that...
In a contradiction fit for the movies, Rodrigo Guardiola and Gabriel Nuncio’s “The Comedian,” a film all about failure, took top honors as this year’s best Mexican film in competition with cinematographer Mario Secco scooping the best cinematography prize for his work on the film.
“It’s wonderful that this movie exists,” said Nuncio at the ceremony. “The truth is, I got to work with very talented people on this movie and I think that...
- 10/10/2021
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Elie Samaha’s Luminosity Entertainment and Mike Karz’s Gulfstream Pictures have snagged the worldwide rights to Abner Benaim’s dramatic thriller, “Plaza Catedral.”
The deal, forged by Luminosity partner and co-president Daniel Diamond and Karz, closed just ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Guadalajara Int’l Film Festival (Ficg) on Oct. 3. “Plaza Catedral” is in competition at Ficg’s main category, the Mezcal Awards.
“Plaza Catedral is a very powerful, moving film with superb performances and outstanding direction by Benaim. We are proud to be a part of bringing this film to worldwide audiences,” said Diamond.
This is the first non-English pickup by Luminosity, which was launched in September. “I haven’t represented many, if any, non English-language films but audiences in the U.S. and around the world are demonstrating their interest in content of all nationalities and languages, as evidenced by the success of shows like ‘Lupin,...
The deal, forged by Luminosity partner and co-president Daniel Diamond and Karz, closed just ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Guadalajara Int’l Film Festival (Ficg) on Oct. 3. “Plaza Catedral” is in competition at Ficg’s main category, the Mezcal Awards.
“Plaza Catedral is a very powerful, moving film with superb performances and outstanding direction by Benaim. We are proud to be a part of bringing this film to worldwide audiences,” said Diamond.
This is the first non-English pickup by Luminosity, which was launched in September. “I haven’t represented many, if any, non English-language films but audiences in the U.S. and around the world are demonstrating their interest in content of all nationalities and languages, as evidenced by the success of shows like ‘Lupin,...
- 10/3/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Fabula, the Chile-based film and TV production house of Pablo and Juan de Diós Larrain, is set to produce “Maquíllame Otra Vez,” the first feature film to go into production at Fabula Mexico, launched to complement Fabula’s Santiago de Chile H.Q. and Fabula U.S., run out of Los Angeles.
Slated to go into production from October in Mexico City, “Maquíllame Otra Vez” also marks the directorial debut of Guillermo Calderón, Chile’s foremost living playwright as well as screenwriter of films – Pablo Larrain’s “Neruda” and “The Club,” and Andrés Wood’s “Violeta Went to Heaven,” for example – that have helped propel Chile into the vanguard of Latin American cinema.
“A comedy for our times,” Calderón told Variety, “Maquíllame Otra Vez” will star three Mexican actors who are at the forefront of their generation: Ilse Salas, the female lead of Alonso Ruizpalacios’ “Güeros” and Alejandra Márquez’s “The Good Girls”; Paulina Gaitán,...
Slated to go into production from October in Mexico City, “Maquíllame Otra Vez” also marks the directorial debut of Guillermo Calderón, Chile’s foremost living playwright as well as screenwriter of films – Pablo Larrain’s “Neruda” and “The Club,” and Andrés Wood’s “Violeta Went to Heaven,” for example – that have helped propel Chile into the vanguard of Latin American cinema.
“A comedy for our times,” Calderón told Variety, “Maquíllame Otra Vez” will star three Mexican actors who are at the forefront of their generation: Ilse Salas, the female lead of Alonso Ruizpalacios’ “Güeros” and Alejandra Márquez’s “The Good Girls”; Paulina Gaitán,...
- 6/1/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
L.A.-based Spanish-language streaming platform Pantaya and global streamer Starzplay have revealed that production is underway on the period new drama series “Señorita 89” from Fremantle and the Larraín brothers’ Fabula, the latest co-production stemming from a first-look deal between the two, dating back to 2019.
The first fruit of that combined labor was global hit series “La Jauria,” available on Amazon Prime Video in Latin America and HBO Max in the U.S. Selected as one of Variety’s best international series of 2020, “La Jauria” stars “A Fantastic Woman” lead Daniela Vega and is directed by one of Latin America’s most prominent film and TV writer-directors Lucia Puenzo.
Sticking with a talent alliance that worked so well for Fabula and Fremantle the first time around, Puenzo also co-wrote and is directing “Señorita 89.” She is joined by co-screenwriters María Renée Prudencio and Tatiana Mereñuk, and co-directors Nicolás Puenzo...
The first fruit of that combined labor was global hit series “La Jauria,” available on Amazon Prime Video in Latin America and HBO Max in the U.S. Selected as one of Variety’s best international series of 2020, “La Jauria” stars “A Fantastic Woman” lead Daniela Vega and is directed by one of Latin America’s most prominent film and TV writer-directors Lucia Puenzo.
Sticking with a talent alliance that worked so well for Fabula and Fremantle the first time around, Puenzo also co-wrote and is directing “Señorita 89.” She is joined by co-screenwriters María Renée Prudencio and Tatiana Mereñuk, and co-directors Nicolás Puenzo...
- 4/29/2021
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Plaza Catedral
Panama’s Abner Benaim’s sophomore narrative feature Plaza Catedral is a dramatic thriller featuring actress Ilse Salas (Gueros; Cantinflas) and Manolo Cardona (“Narcos”). Newcomer Fernando de Casta is also amongst the principal cast, with Dp Lorenza Hagerman and editor Soledad Selfate (of Sebastian Lelio’s A Fantastic Woman and Gloria). Benaim’s first narrative feature was the 2009 comedy Chance, but has since become a notable documentarian, with 2018’s Ruben Blades Is Not My Name won the Audience Award at the SXSW Film Festival in the 24 Beats Per Second category.
Gist: Salas stars as Alicia, a 42-year-old-woman whose grief has caused her estrangement from society.…...
Panama’s Abner Benaim’s sophomore narrative feature Plaza Catedral is a dramatic thriller featuring actress Ilse Salas (Gueros; Cantinflas) and Manolo Cardona (“Narcos”). Newcomer Fernando de Casta is also amongst the principal cast, with Dp Lorenza Hagerman and editor Soledad Selfate (of Sebastian Lelio’s A Fantastic Woman and Gloria). Benaim’s first narrative feature was the 2009 comedy Chance, but has since become a notable documentarian, with 2018’s Ruben Blades Is Not My Name won the Audience Award at the SXSW Film Festival in the 24 Beats Per Second category.
Gist: Salas stars as Alicia, a 42-year-old-woman whose grief has caused her estrangement from society.…...
- 1/1/2021
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Two leading lights on the international Spanish film-tv scene, sales agent Geraldine Gonard, director of Spain’s Conecta Fiction co-production forum, and Luis Collar, a partner and CEO of The Circular Group, a diversified film company, have joined forces to create Feel Content, which makes its public market bow at Ventana Sur.
A dedicated sales company, Feel Content, backed by Gonard’s Inside Content and Collar’s Great Waves, aims to exploit new opportunities emerging in the fast evolving sales landscape, acquiring individual titles and catalogs of Spanish-language and European films.
It hits the ground running at Ventana Sur, announcing two new acquisitions, Matías Meyer’s “Modern Loves” and “Karakol,” from Argentina’s Saula Benavente, which join two titles it introduced to buyers at Malaga’s Spanish Screenings: Gracia Querejeta’s “The Invisible” and “Pullman.”
“We think there’s a clear gap to fill in Spain for one more international sales agency,...
A dedicated sales company, Feel Content, backed by Gonard’s Inside Content and Collar’s Great Waves, aims to exploit new opportunities emerging in the fast evolving sales landscape, acquiring individual titles and catalogs of Spanish-language and European films.
It hits the ground running at Ventana Sur, announcing two new acquisitions, Matías Meyer’s “Modern Loves” and “Karakol,” from Argentina’s Saula Benavente, which join two titles it introduced to buyers at Malaga’s Spanish Screenings: Gracia Querejeta’s “The Invisible” and “Pullman.”
“We think there’s a clear gap to fill in Spain for one more international sales agency,...
- 11/30/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Attempting to guess the less than a dozen titles in Sundance’s World Dramatic comp section is a true crapshoot but seeing that Panamanian filmmaker Abner Benaim‘s last picture Ruben Blades Is Not My Name had it’s world premiere at Sundance’s competing festival SXSW means they are keeping tabs on this project. Benaim signed up the very choosey cinematographer Lorenzo Hagerman (Amat Escalante’s Heli and Rick Alverson’s last two features) and by enlisting the excellent Ilse Salas (featured in The Good Girls – check out our portrait of her in our TIFF studio) he assures that there’ll be interest for all Spanish speaking film territories and beyond. …...
- 11/23/2020
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Ilse Salas is sublime as a moneyed idler whose white-picket world is plunged into chaos by the Mexican financial crisis
There is enormous clarity and control in this film from Mexican director Alejandra Márquez Abella, and a tremendous lead performance from Ilse Salas. She is Sofía, one of the ladies-who-lunch who idle away their days in the wealthy gated communities of Mexico City in 1982, just as the country teeters into economic meltdown and the peso slides into worthlessness compared with the US dollar, a humiliation that symbolises the collapse in national self-esteem.
Sofía’s torpid life is spent at the tennis club, or at restaurants, or at the continuous round of birthday parties. During the summer, she and her husband, Fernando (Flavio Medina), pack the kids off to an international camp – telling them not to mix with other Mexicans – and she spends even more time with frenemies she has known since high school.
There is enormous clarity and control in this film from Mexican director Alejandra Márquez Abella, and a tremendous lead performance from Ilse Salas. She is Sofía, one of the ladies-who-lunch who idle away their days in the wealthy gated communities of Mexico City in 1982, just as the country teeters into economic meltdown and the peso slides into worthlessness compared with the US dollar, a humiliation that symbolises the collapse in national self-esteem.
Sofía’s torpid life is spent at the tennis club, or at restaurants, or at the continuous round of birthday parties. During the summer, she and her husband, Fernando (Flavio Medina), pack the kids off to an international camp – telling them not to mix with other Mexicans – and she spends even more time with frenemies she has known since high school.
- 7/22/2020
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Alejandra Márquez Abella's The Good Girls is exclusively showing July 23 - August 22, 2020 in most countries in Mubi's Viewfinder series.Sofía saunters through her birthday party with the regal gait of a monarch. It’s the early 1980s in Mexico City, and she’s hobnobbing with the country’s crème de la crème, a chatty contingent of men and women in glamorous clothes who’ve flocked to her mansion. The 1982 economic crisis has just broken out, but none of the guests can foresee its seismic consequences, the way the peso crash and President López Portillo’s policies will spell the demise of many of the country’s richest. The Good Girls, Alejandra Márquez Abella’s sophomore feature, is the story of a fall from grace. It starts off with the outside world at an arm’s length, watching as...
- 7/22/2020
- MUBI
Alejandra Márquez Abella's The Good Girls, which is receiving an exclusive global online premiere on Mubi, is showing from July 23 – August 21, 2020 in most countries in Mubi's Viewfinder series.I’m very excited to be introducing my film Las niñas bien (The Good Girls) to the Mubi audience. It’s such a great honor! Las niñas bien was a compilation of Guadalupe Loaeza’s humoristic Sunday column in Mexico back in the early 80s. She wrote about what she was observing among her friends, the elite circle, during Mexico’s economic crisis. The column was published in one leftist journal at the time, it was a hit and a scandal for the real Niñas Bien who felt betrayed. Among other infamies, her writing revealed the great disconnection that the wealthy had with the political reality of their country. That book has been around for almost 40 years. Though perceived as pulpy,...
- 7/13/2020
- MUBI
In their continued bid to lock up leading talent for their fledgling TV development-production partnership, Endeavor Content and Exile have signed a first look series deal with lauded Mexican writer-director Alejandra Marquez Abella (“Las Niñas Bien”).
The alliance recently announced first look pacts with Sebastian Hofmann, “Roma” producer Nicolas Celis and Mauricio Katz’s shingle Subtrama.
Marquez Abella’s first project is the scripted dramedy series “La Liberación,” which follows a group of estranged female entertainment industry professionals who realize they need to resolve their differences in order to better face the future together.
“We as women have been condemned to ‘divide and conquer,’ to live clashing with each other,” said Marquez Abella. “Now we’re looking at each other and we’re learning that we don’t have to fight for a spot, that we all can co-exist and thrive together in this world.”
“La Liberación” stars “Los Espookys’” Cassandra Ciangherotti,...
The alliance recently announced first look pacts with Sebastian Hofmann, “Roma” producer Nicolas Celis and Mauricio Katz’s shingle Subtrama.
Marquez Abella’s first project is the scripted dramedy series “La Liberación,” which follows a group of estranged female entertainment industry professionals who realize they need to resolve their differences in order to better face the future together.
“We as women have been condemned to ‘divide and conquer,’ to live clashing with each other,” said Marquez Abella. “Now we’re looking at each other and we’re learning that we don’t have to fight for a spot, that we all can co-exist and thrive together in this world.”
“La Liberación” stars “Los Espookys’” Cassandra Ciangherotti,...
- 3/6/2020
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Los Cabos — The 2019 Los Cabos Film Festival caught the industry in the throes of change. That and other takeaways from the 2019 edition:
1.Indie Mainstream Move
In 2002, Carlos Reygadas’s released “Japan,” an extraordinary debut feature movie which broke just about every rule in the filmmaker’s guidebook, if Reygadas had ever read one. Now, getting on for two decades later, Mexican cinema may be losing its arthouse mojo, if this year’s Los Cabos was anything to go by.
There’s little choice, producer argue: the bottom is falling out of the theatrical market for more rarified indie fare, Panorama Global’s Alberto Müffelmann argued at Los Cabos.“I’m No Longer Here.” Netflix et al., once willing to take a punt on high-art festival standouts, no longer buy them. So films like Morelia winner “I’n No Longer Here” are “no longer financially viable.”
So Panorama’s new slate,...
1.Indie Mainstream Move
In 2002, Carlos Reygadas’s released “Japan,” an extraordinary debut feature movie which broke just about every rule in the filmmaker’s guidebook, if Reygadas had ever read one. Now, getting on for two decades later, Mexican cinema may be losing its arthouse mojo, if this year’s Los Cabos was anything to go by.
There’s little choice, producer argue: the bottom is falling out of the theatrical market for more rarified indie fare, Panorama Global’s Alberto Müffelmann argued at Los Cabos.“I’m No Longer Here.” Netflix et al., once willing to take a punt on high-art festival standouts, no longer buy them. So films like Morelia winner “I’n No Longer Here” are “no longer financially viable.”
So Panorama’s new slate,...
- 11/18/2019
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Mexico City — Mexico’s Cinepolis, one of the biggest movie theater chains in the world, has acquired rights for Latin America to Matías Meyer’s “Amores Modernos” (Modern Loves), which world premieres at this week’s Los Cabos Film Festival, playing in main competition.
In the U..S., “Modern Loves” has been taken by premium Latinx-content streaming platform, Pantaya, via the output deal Cinepolis has with Pantalion.
Moving ever more into distribution and sales for Latin America, as well as Mexican movie production, Cinepolis has also dropped a first trailer.Cinepolis will release “Modern Loves” directly in Mexico, licensing it in the rest of the region. A Mexican opening is scheduled for March 27, 2020.
“Modern Love is a project that we followed since its development,” said Leonardo Cordero, who runs Cinepolis Distribución.
He went on: “Matias’ willingness and bravery to work with actors after his previous work seems to reflect the...
In the U..S., “Modern Loves” has been taken by premium Latinx-content streaming platform, Pantaya, via the output deal Cinepolis has with Pantalion.
Moving ever more into distribution and sales for Latin America, as well as Mexican movie production, Cinepolis has also dropped a first trailer.Cinepolis will release “Modern Loves” directly in Mexico, licensing it in the rest of the region. A Mexican opening is scheduled for March 27, 2020.
“Modern Love is a project that we followed since its development,” said Leonardo Cordero, who runs Cinepolis Distribución.
He went on: “Matias’ willingness and bravery to work with actors after his previous work seems to reflect the...
- 11/13/2019
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Panama’s internationally best-known helmer, Abner Benaim (“Ruben Blades Is Not My Name”) has just completed the shoot for his second fiction feature film, “Plaza Catedral,” starring Mexico’s Ilse Salas (“The Good Girls”), and Manolo Cardona (“Narcos”).
Salas plays a 42-year old grief-stricken woman, Alicia, who has severed her ties with married life and society. Her life is turned upside down when a 14-year old boy, “Chief,” who looks after people’s cars, comes bleeding into her house.
The boy is played by first time actor, Fernando de Casta, who was chosen from over 250 kids who came in for open casting in the same neighborhoods in Panama´s old town where the film’s plot takes place.
“What started out as a very small production quickly turned into medium-size, and sometimes large for Latin American standards,” explained Benaim.
“We had a very demanding schedule, many locations, and Panama’s tropical weather to deal with.
Salas plays a 42-year old grief-stricken woman, Alicia, who has severed her ties with married life and society. Her life is turned upside down when a 14-year old boy, “Chief,” who looks after people’s cars, comes bleeding into her house.
The boy is played by first time actor, Fernando de Casta, who was chosen from over 250 kids who came in for open casting in the same neighborhoods in Panama´s old town where the film’s plot takes place.
“What started out as a very small production quickly turned into medium-size, and sometimes large for Latin American standards,” explained Benaim.
“We had a very demanding schedule, many locations, and Panama’s tropical weather to deal with.
- 10/17/2019
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
Panama’s internationally best-known helmer, Abner Benaim (“Ruben Blades Is Not My Name”) has moved into pre-production on his second fiction feature film, “Plaza Catedral,” which is set to star Mexico’s Ilse Salas, who has just won Mexican Academy’s Ariel Award for best actress for her performance in Alejandra Marquez’s Toronto hit “The Good Girls.”
Salas has also starred in both movies to date from Alonso Ruizpalacios, with Marquéz Mexico’s fasting-rising new director, whose “Museum”proved a standout at the Berlin and Toronto Festivals last year.
“Plaza Catedral” is scheduled to begin its six-week shoot in Panama City in August. In it, Salas plays a 42 year old grief-stricken woman who has severed her ties with married life and society.
“This complex, melancholy character finds herself in the tropical paradise that Panamá pretends to be, with its primary colors and a society obsessed with economic success and having a good time,...
Salas has also starred in both movies to date from Alonso Ruizpalacios, with Marquéz Mexico’s fasting-rising new director, whose “Museum”proved a standout at the Berlin and Toronto Festivals last year.
“Plaza Catedral” is scheduled to begin its six-week shoot in Panama City in August. In it, Salas plays a 42 year old grief-stricken woman who has severed her ties with married life and society.
“This complex, melancholy character finds herself in the tropical paradise that Panamá pretends to be, with its primary colors and a society obsessed with economic success and having a good time,...
- 7/2/2019
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
The Mexican Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences hosted the 61st edition of their Ariel Awards on Monday evening, where Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” and Alejandra Márquez Abella’s “The Good Girls” stood out among the winners.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Cuarón’s “Roma” scooping best picture is that it’s only the second of his films to win an Ariel award, and the first to be nominated for best picture. In 1992 “Sólo con Tu Pareja” was nominated for best first work and screenplay, and won best original story. In 2001 he chose not to submit his Oscar-nominated classic “Y tu mamá también” in protest at the Academy’s voting practices.
By the end of the Monday evening however, “Roma” netted 10 prizes, including best director, supporting actress, photography, screenplay, editing, sound, art design, visual effects and special effects to go along with the best picture prize.
A festival darling over the past year,...
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Cuarón’s “Roma” scooping best picture is that it’s only the second of his films to win an Ariel award, and the first to be nominated for best picture. In 1992 “Sólo con Tu Pareja” was nominated for best first work and screenplay, and won best original story. In 2001 he chose not to submit his Oscar-nominated classic “Y tu mamá también” in protest at the Academy’s voting practices.
By the end of the Monday evening however, “Roma” netted 10 prizes, including best director, supporting actress, photography, screenplay, editing, sound, art design, visual effects and special effects to go along with the best picture prize.
A festival darling over the past year,...
- 6/25/2019
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma swept the boards at Mexico’s Ariel Awards last night in Mexico City.
The black-and-white period drama scored ten wins at the country’s leading film awards, bestowed by the Mexican Academy, including best film, director, cinematography and original screenplay.
Muchas gracias por acompañarnos en la sexagésima primera entrega del Ariel. ¡Hasta el próximo año! #Ariel2019 pic.twitter.com/waria4j1uq
— AcademiaCineMx (@AcademiaCineMx) June 25, 2019
Cuarón was unable to attend the ceremony for personal reasons but most of the Netflix movie’s cast and crew were on hand to collect their awards in the city in which much of the film is set. Multi-Oscar winner Roma, the darling of last year’s festival and awards season, charts a year in the life of a Mexican maid working for a middle class family during the early 1970s.
Alejandra Marquez’s drama The Good Girls was the only...
The black-and-white period drama scored ten wins at the country’s leading film awards, bestowed by the Mexican Academy, including best film, director, cinematography and original screenplay.
Muchas gracias por acompañarnos en la sexagésima primera entrega del Ariel. ¡Hasta el próximo año! #Ariel2019 pic.twitter.com/waria4j1uq
— AcademiaCineMx (@AcademiaCineMx) June 25, 2019
Cuarón was unable to attend the ceremony for personal reasons but most of the Netflix movie’s cast and crew were on hand to collect their awards in the city in which much of the film is set. Multi-Oscar winner Roma, the darling of last year’s festival and awards season, charts a year in the life of a Mexican maid working for a middle class family during the early 1970s.
Alejandra Marquez’s drama The Good Girls was the only...
- 6/25/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The economy’s a mess but Sofía’s hair is perfect in Alejandra Márquez Abella’s “The Good Girls,” a film that is all surface in a way that is not, for once, a negative. The primped, powdered and shoulder-padded story of the fall from grace of a 1980s Mexican socialite is all about buffed and lustrous surfaces — poreless skin, laquered nails, silken fabrics — all the veneer of social superiority that money can buy. It’s an illusion, of course, that such a thin plating of wealth offers any protection against the changeable climate outside. But it’s such a seductive lie that the vacuous, complacent people thus ensheathed are prone to believe it, forgetting that their glaze of perfection is as brittle as the burnt-sugar topping on a crème brûlée. It’s delicious when it cracks.
We’re introduced to Sofía (Ilse Salas) in fragments: her hair being lathered...
We’re introduced to Sofía (Ilse Salas) in fragments: her hair being lathered...
- 6/19/2019
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
The 17th Marrakech International Film Festival (Nov 30 – Dec 08) has set a jury comprising Suspiria star Dakota Johnson, Indian actress Ileana D’Cruz (Barfi!), Lebanese filmmaker and visual artist Joana Hadjithomas (I Want To See), Brit director Lynne Ramsay (We Need To Talk About Kevin), Moroccan director Tala Hadid (House In The Fields), French director Laurent Cantet (The Class), German actor Daniel Brühl (Rush) and Mexican director Michel Franco (April’s Daughter). As previously revealed, director James Gray will serve as jury president.
A total of 80 films will unspool at the festival, with Julian Schnabel’s Van Gogh biopic At Eternity’s Gate among gala screenings and also the festival’s opener. Other galas include Roma, Green Book and Capernaum while special screenings include Wildlife, Her Smell and Birds Of Passage. The official competition, galas and special screenings are listed below.
The festival will also feature tributes to Robert DeNiro, Robin Wright,...
A total of 80 films will unspool at the festival, with Julian Schnabel’s Van Gogh biopic At Eternity’s Gate among gala screenings and also the festival’s opener. Other galas include Roma, Green Book and Capernaum while special screenings include Wildlife, Her Smell and Birds Of Passage. The official competition, galas and special screenings are listed below.
The festival will also feature tributes to Robert DeNiro, Robin Wright,...
- 11/19/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Apa has signed Mexican writer-director Alejandra Márquez Abella on the heels of the Toronto Film Festival, where she world premiered her second feature film The Good Girls in the Platform section. It was a return to the fest for Márquez Abella, whose debut Semana Santa bowed there in 2015.
Set in 1982, The Good Girls captures the camp and kitsch aesthetic of the decade and centers on Sofia (Ilse Salas), an utterly charming, aims-to-be-perfect and inordinately spoiled socialite who confronts the unthinkable: Her own social eclipse, thanks to Mexico’s economic crash. Though she attempts to keep up appearances, her fall wakes her up to what she has lost when her money is gone.
Abella, born in San Luis Potosí and raised in Mexico City, studied film at the Centre d’Estudis Cinematographics de Catalunya in Barcelona. She remains repped by Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
Here’s the Good Girls trailer:...
Set in 1982, The Good Girls captures the camp and kitsch aesthetic of the decade and centers on Sofia (Ilse Salas), an utterly charming, aims-to-be-perfect and inordinately spoiled socialite who confronts the unthinkable: Her own social eclipse, thanks to Mexico’s economic crash. Though she attempts to keep up appearances, her fall wakes her up to what she has lost when her money is gone.
Abella, born in San Luis Potosí and raised in Mexico City, studied film at the Centre d’Estudis Cinematographics de Catalunya in Barcelona. She remains repped by Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
Here’s the Good Girls trailer:...
- 10/27/2018
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Sofía Hernandez (Ilse Salas) has everything: three children she can ignore, servants and maids to take care of her every whim, and a husband (Flavio Medina’s Fernando) who inherited his wealth from his father and still has yet to really work for it thanks to Uncle Javier (Diego Jáuregui) managing things like he always had. Theirs is a charmed life of opulence and excess wherein they can afford to treat aristocratic etiquette and tradition as sacrosanct while “new money” commoners try to enter their social circle as though they are animals just arrived from the wild. Sofía and Fer are practically European by contrast, propping up their Mexican backyard with class and grace. All that could make life better is Julio Iglesias serenading some “Happy Birthday” magic.
Unfortunately for them, writer/director Alejandra Márquez Abella ensures their false sense of financial security crosses paths with Mexico’s 1982 economic crisis.
Unfortunately for them, writer/director Alejandra Márquez Abella ensures their false sense of financial security crosses paths with Mexico’s 1982 economic crisis.
- 9/22/2018
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Her feature debut Semana Santa was selected for the 2015 edition of Tiff, and so it was a special homecoming of sorts for her sophomore feature The Good Girls (Las niñas bien) to be selected among the dozen titles for Tiff’s Platform programme. Part of a new generation of auteur Mexican filmmakers; Alejandra Márquez Abella has a background in docu film and here delves into 1980’s upper middle class crust guided by a precision details in the decor and even sleight of hand glances in the performances. Here is our photo shoot with the filmmaker (look for our interview shortly) and actress Ilse Salas of Alonso Ruizpalacios’ Güeros fame.…...
- 9/22/2018
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Both films recorded an average of three stars from the six critics.
Emir Baigazin’s The River and Benjamin Naishtat’s Rojo have tied at the top of Screen’s complete 2018 Toronto Platform jury grid.
Both films achieved an average of three stars out of four across the six international critics. A score of three stars on the grid represents ‘good’.
The River is about five young brothers living under a controlling father in a remote Kazakh village, whose lives are transformed when they discover a nearby river which had been kept secret from them.
Naishtat’s Rojo follows a...
Emir Baigazin’s The River and Benjamin Naishtat’s Rojo have tied at the top of Screen’s complete 2018 Toronto Platform jury grid.
Both films achieved an average of three stars out of four across the six international critics. A score of three stars on the grid represents ‘good’.
The River is about five young brothers living under a controlling father in a remote Kazakh village, whose lives are transformed when they discover a nearby river which had been kept secret from them.
Naishtat’s Rojo follows a...
- 9/13/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Both films recorded an average three stars from the six critics.
Emir Baigazin’s The River and Benjamin Naishtat’s Rojo have tied at the top of Screen’s complete 2018 Toronto Platform jury grid.
Both films achieved an average of three stars out of four across the six international critics. A score of three stars on the grid represents ‘good’.
The River is about five young brothers living under a controlling father in a remote Kazakh village, whose lives are transformed when they discover a nearby river which had been kept secret from them.
Naishtat’s Rojo follows a strange...
Emir Baigazin’s The River and Benjamin Naishtat’s Rojo have tied at the top of Screen’s complete 2018 Toronto Platform jury grid.
Both films achieved an average of three stars out of four across the six international critics. A score of three stars on the grid represents ‘good’.
The River is about five young brothers living under a controlling father in a remote Kazakh village, whose lives are transformed when they discover a nearby river which had been kept secret from them.
Naishtat’s Rojo follows a strange...
- 9/13/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Museo Reviewed by: Harvey Karten Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios Screenwriters: Manuel Alcalá, Alonso Ruizpalacios Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Leonardo Ortizgris, Alfredo Castro, Simon Russell Beale, Lisa Owen, Bernardo Velasco, Ilse Salas, Leticia Brédice Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 9/6/18 Opens: September 14, 2018 People obsessed with materialism often find that their booty makes them into virtual […]
The post Museo Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Museo Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 9/7/2018
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
"They're looking for you everywhere." Vitagraph Films has debuted the first official trailer for a peculiar, fascinating indie film titled Museo, from acclaimed Mexican filmmaker Alonso Ruiz Palacios (Güeros). Museo, which translates to Museum, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. Inspired by true events, and shot on never-before filmed locations in Mexico, it's a "sardonic cautionary tale" the reiterates old adage: you don't know what you have until you lose it. Gael Garcia Bernal and Leonardo Ortizgris star as friends in Mexico City who decide to steal 140 pre-Hispanic pieces from the National Museum of Anthropology, but run into some troubles. Also featuring Alfredo Castro, Lynn Gilmartin, Ilse Salas, and Simon Russell Beale. I saw this at Berlinale and it's fantastic, a great film with a deep meaning to it. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Alonso Ruiz Palacios' Museo, direct from YouTube: Well into their 30s,...
- 8/27/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Madrid — Having swooped before Berlin on Gael García Bernal starrer “Museo,” Paris-based Paris-based Luxbox has acquired most world sales rights to Alejandra Márquez Abella’s “The Good Girls,” another high-profile Mexican movie.
Mexican exhibition giant Cinepolis’ is handling distribution rights in North and Latin America.
“The Good Girls” is one of the 12 films – and only two Latin American movies – competing at this year’s Toronto Platform Competition, launched in 2015 to mark out new with bold directorial vision not alien to audience appeal. Past Platform titles include Armando Iannucci’s “The Death of Stalin” (2017) Warwick Thornton’s “Sweet Country” (2017), Pablo Larraín’s “Jackie” (2016) and Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight” (2016).
Produced by Gabriela Maire and Rodrigo S. González, a co-founder of Mexico’s Woo Films, “The Good Girls” marks Márquez Abella’s return to Toronto after her feature debut, “Semana Santa,” played at Tiff in 2015, marking her out as a name to watch among...
Mexican exhibition giant Cinepolis’ is handling distribution rights in North and Latin America.
“The Good Girls” is one of the 12 films – and only two Latin American movies – competing at this year’s Toronto Platform Competition, launched in 2015 to mark out new with bold directorial vision not alien to audience appeal. Past Platform titles include Armando Iannucci’s “The Death of Stalin” (2017) Warwick Thornton’s “Sweet Country” (2017), Pablo Larraín’s “Jackie” (2016) and Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight” (2016).
Produced by Gabriela Maire and Rodrigo S. González, a co-founder of Mexico’s Woo Films, “The Good Girls” marks Márquez Abella’s return to Toronto after her feature debut, “Semana Santa,” played at Tiff in 2015, marking her out as a name to watch among...
- 8/20/2018
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
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