Panama City — An innovative omnibus film, “Dias de Luz” (Days of Light), produced by six Central American countries – Panamá, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador – received the $5,000 second prize at Iff Panama’s 4th Primera Mirada pix-in-post sidebar.
Coordinated by Panama’s Isabella Galvez, the $500,000 project highlights the work of six young directors. It has participated in the Rotterdam Lab, Fundación Carolina’s project development workshop, Costa Rica’s Cine en Construcción and has co-production support from Ibermedia. In April, it will screen at the Malaga Festival’s work-in-progress sidebar and will be released theatrically across Central America.
The six interwoven stories are based on radically different settings, ranging from the tropical forests of Guatemala to the skyscrapers of Panama City.
The characters in the six countries react to a sequence of shared events, that begin when a solar storm leads to a region-wide power outage.
As power is shut down,...
Coordinated by Panama’s Isabella Galvez, the $500,000 project highlights the work of six young directors. It has participated in the Rotterdam Lab, Fundación Carolina’s project development workshop, Costa Rica’s Cine en Construcción and has co-production support from Ibermedia. In April, it will screen at the Malaga Festival’s work-in-progress sidebar and will be released theatrically across Central America.
The six interwoven stories are based on radically different settings, ranging from the tropical forests of Guatemala to the skyscrapers of Panama City.
The characters in the six countries react to a sequence of shared events, that begin when a solar storm leads to a region-wide power outage.
As power is shut down,...
- 4/12/2018
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
The 4th Iff Panama’s Primera Mirada pix-in-post sidebar has selected five features – from Cuba, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama – and an omnibus film, “Dias de Luz” (Days of Light), produced by six Central American countries.
The number of films submitted to the Central America and Caribbean sidebar has risen by almost 50% this year – 32 films were submitted in 2015, 46 in 2016, 48 in 2017 and 67 this year.
Sales agents attending the work-in-progress creenings – which run April 9-10 – include FiGa Films, Habanero Film Sales, Weisner Distribution, the Havana Film Festival, Berlinale and OpenReel.
Projects will be screened in exclusive private sessions for sales agents, distributors, and film festival programmers. The jury members are Mexican producer, Laura Imperiale, Panamanian writer, Daniel Domínguez Z., and veteran Peruvian director, Francisco J. Lombardi.
The sidebar is particularly important for the region’s filmmakers who often desperately require post-production completion finance and mentoring advice. Three out of last year’s...
The number of films submitted to the Central America and Caribbean sidebar has risen by almost 50% this year – 32 films were submitted in 2015, 46 in 2016, 48 in 2017 and 67 this year.
Sales agents attending the work-in-progress creenings – which run April 9-10 – include FiGa Films, Habanero Film Sales, Weisner Distribution, the Havana Film Festival, Berlinale and OpenReel.
Projects will be screened in exclusive private sessions for sales agents, distributors, and film festival programmers. The jury members are Mexican producer, Laura Imperiale, Panamanian writer, Daniel Domínguez Z., and veteran Peruvian director, Francisco J. Lombardi.
The sidebar is particularly important for the region’s filmmakers who often desperately require post-production completion finance and mentoring advice. Three out of last year’s...
- 4/2/2018
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
An exponential surge in the quantity and quality of films is continuing to come out of Latin America. (Hence my urge to write two books on the subject, the next to come out this fall.)
Mexico's output of 140 films, the highest in its glorious if erratic film history, has been accompanied by an explosion of the number of top ranking directors (Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón,Guillermo del Toro), DOPs (Emmanuel Lubezki), actors (Eugenio Derbez, Gael García Bernal), producers, below the line, etc; major blockbusters (“Instructions Not Included”, “The Noble Family”), and festivals in every state of The United States of Mexico from Chiapas, Morelia, Cuernavaca, Oaxaca, Baja, Guadalajara, Puerta Vallarta, Acapulco, etc. What a way to see Mexico through its films and film festivals! USA's partnership in the cross-border cultural achievements of Mexico unites our two countries in culture, a great alliance which benefits us perhaps more than it does them...but that is another article.
Argentina continues, in spite of its erratic politics and economy, to keep its production steady as it always has and continues export the largest number of arthouse cinema of Latin America, Daniel Burman’s "The Tenth Man" being its latest, with Kino Lorber picking it up for U.S. and Canada. Argentina's Latam market, Ventana Sur, in partnership with the Cannes Marché, is the strongest and best market of Latin America for Latino films.
Colombia's systematic, steady work at creating a film culture is paying off in a tremendous outflow of award winning arthouse, indigenous (Ciro Guerra's "Embrace of the Serpent" whose Isa Films Boutique sold to Oscilloscope for U.S., Interior 13 Cine for Mexico, Alfa Films for Argentina, Diaphana Films for France, Mfa Filmdistribution for Germany, Magyarhangya for Hungary, Peccadillo Pictures for U.K.,trigon-film for Switzerland, Natlys for Denmark, Diaphana for France, Alambique for Portugal) , Afro-diaspora ("La Playa DC" whose Isa Cineplex sold it for U.S. to Artmattan Productions, Canada to K Films Amerique, Colombia to Cineplex, France to Jour2fete; and "La Sirga" which Cineplex licensed to Film Movement for U.S., for Colombia to Cineplex, France to Zootrope Films ) and genre films.
Tiny Uruguay has strong films by doubly strong producers like Mariana Secco whose strength at carving out a niche equals the work of Wonder Woman. Guatamala, Paraguay, Peru and Cuba are showing the world their undeniable accomplishments as well.
Central America, long denied its own voice -- first because United States and United Fruit created banana republics out of them, then by the trade in drugs and now by exporting gang members to their parents' countries – all of which has resulted in creating nations of violence and poverty -- is now experiencing the thrill of creating sustainable film economies.
Will Costa Rica prevail? To its advantage, it has not been a part of the violent cycle of drugs and gangs) and its stability and economy are able to sustain growth if the government creates cinema laws to help it along. The film writer María Lourdes Cortés from Costa Rica is the most articulate advocate of Central American Cinema and has established Cinergia, Central America's only homemade film promotion, training, dissemination and funding organ. The astoundingly prolific young producer, Marcela Esquivel, whose "Red Princesses" brought Costa Rica to the world's attention as two frontrunners in Costa Rica's race is another promient voice from Costa Rica. Esquivel's Cuban-Costa Rican coproduction “August”/ "Agosto" (Isa: FiGa) was nurtured by Cannes's Fabrique des Cinemas du Monde and was recently in Ficg’s Coproduction Market along with her project “The Ballroom”/ “El Baile y el salon” about to start production.
Or will Panama prevail? Its Canal has just doubled in size and is a center for international trade to such a degree that China itself is challenging it by tearing up the rain forest of Nicaragua in order to build its own canal.
Panama, with its eye on taking a lead as the internet hub for Latin America, Panama whose Canal creates a Cuba-u.S.-China triangle for trade, Panama whose close history with U.S., its same time zone location with U.S., its direct flights to U.S., its central position for Israeli businesses fleeing the instability of the Mid East, Panama may well come out ahead of Costa Rica. Yes, well there are also the "Panama Papers" whose discovery has come since I first wrote this article. But I don't think this latest revelation of the wealthiest and greediest 1% will put a stop to Panama's growth. These are the two horses I am putting my money on.
I am now at the 5th Panama Film Festival, long headed by the much acclaimed Pituka Ortega-Heilbron and headed on the programming and industry fronts by the Toronto Ff vet Diana Sanchez. Covering it in all its diversity to see if it furthers the odds against the Costa Rica International Film Festival has not been disappointing. Also here is the longtime Costa Rica advisor, 20-year Sundance Film Festival industry vet, Nicole Guillemet. Criff is now, reportedly finally being stabilized by the installation of a permanent producer also attending Iff Panama.
Panama is also premiering six of its own films. Comprised of three documentaries and three fiction films, this year’s Panamanian pictures portray the constant struggle of minorities, problematic life in the city, the search for one’s identity, and unresolved past events, exploring numerous socio-cultural issues living in the isthmus of Panama. Comedy will not be missed.
“Salsipuedes”, co-directed by Ricardo Aguilar and Manolito Rodríguez is about Andrés Pimienta, a young neighborhood boy from Panama who is sent to the United States to remain as far away as possible from his troubled homeland and his father Boby, a boxing ex-champion now serving time in prison. Andrés returns to Panama ten years later to attend his grandfather’s burial, where he meets again with Boby-- a reunion that transforms Andres’ destiny.
“Time to Love, A Backstage Tale”/ "Es la hora de enamorarse", a documentary directed by Guido Bilbao, is the true story of a group of young actors with Down Syndrome who courageously mount the classic Panamanian play La Cucarachita Mandinga, without any previous experience on stage. Many thought it unlikely that they would manage to memorize lines, learn choreography or capture the attention of the public. The artistic process is unveiled as Bilbao shows the intimate world of these young aspiring actors, along with their fears, hopes, and daily struggles.
“Drifting Away”/ "A la deriva", a documentary film directed by Miguel I. González is an expose of the healthcare system in Panama in 2006 when it mistakenly created and distributed over 200,000 jars of a common flu remedy, made of a substance named diethylene glycol used in the automotive industry. This caused the mass poisoning of patients, mostly resulting in permanent illness or even death. This notorious case involved companies in China, Spain and Panama. Highlighted are the lives of Iris, Milagros, and Briseida, three women who were severely affected by the poison, both physically and emotionally telling stories of their inner conflicts, as well as their patience, desperation, solitude, and their yearning to be healthy again.
“The Route”/ "La ruta" is Pituka Ortega-Heilbron’s new documentary.
Every morning from Monday to Saturday Severino González, a construction worker, wakes up at 3:30 A.M. to take the bus to work. For most Panamanians, buses are their only option to get to work and sustain a city that grows so recklessly. Yet these buses are like time bombs, its passengers well-aware of its danger but ignorant of its countdown. Every month people die or get hurt, and Severino knows this, but he has no other choice as he will show us through his everyday bus route and his life. This is the portrait of a nation that claims it is becoming a first world country but lacks the basic resources to live up to it.
“The Check”/ "El cheque" is Arturo Montenegro’s first feature film. It is a Panamanian comedy taking place in the midst of the chaos that haunts the Vinda household. A wild and vigilant vegetarian spirit with massive eyes carrying the name of Dominga changes their lives in unimaginable ways. In her stay with the Vindas, Dominga’s fuss and madness becomes the joy and fervor of the family, except with the household’s spoiled dog, Claudia, who’s the only one aware of Dominga’s secret. Everything seems to work fine until a check raises a debate about identity, happiness, trust and the great beyond.
“Kenke”, directed by Enrique Pérez Him, concerns a professional and successful young man, Josué who accepts the family challenge to help his cousin Kenny get away from marijuana. Unbeknownst to the rest of his family, he too shares this vice. Together Josué and Kenny face a society ruled by double standards and other addictions.
Even if only one of these films is directed by a woman, and that woman is the festival’s own director, it is still noticeable that in all this exciting activity of festivals and countries growing culturally, that women are in the majority taking the lead in innovating and establishing these cultural outposts in counties that have been brought to their knees formerly by the macho impositions of capitalism in its ugliest forms of colonialism and imperialism.
As a side remark here, we are witnessing similar activitiy in Mena's (Middle East and North Africa) Gulf State of Qatar with the Doha Film Institute’s CEO Fatma Al Remaihi and in the Emirate State of Dubai with its long standing Dubai Film Festival led by Managing Director, Shivani Pandya.
Culture, always the first to go when the men get going using armaments to build wealth, is now finding that with the potential strength of 51% of the world’s population behind it, it just might get the upper hand for the first time in "civilized" society. Also we are witnessing the Lgbt community's creative might also being exercised on the side of culture. This always original, innovative segment of world society helps enormously in crossing the lines drawn in the sand by the white male establishment.
So we will put our eye upon Panama, the next possible contender for The Latin American Prize for Excellence in Cinematic Experience.
Mexico's output of 140 films, the highest in its glorious if erratic film history, has been accompanied by an explosion of the number of top ranking directors (Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón,Guillermo del Toro), DOPs (Emmanuel Lubezki), actors (Eugenio Derbez, Gael García Bernal), producers, below the line, etc; major blockbusters (“Instructions Not Included”, “The Noble Family”), and festivals in every state of The United States of Mexico from Chiapas, Morelia, Cuernavaca, Oaxaca, Baja, Guadalajara, Puerta Vallarta, Acapulco, etc. What a way to see Mexico through its films and film festivals! USA's partnership in the cross-border cultural achievements of Mexico unites our two countries in culture, a great alliance which benefits us perhaps more than it does them...but that is another article.
Argentina continues, in spite of its erratic politics and economy, to keep its production steady as it always has and continues export the largest number of arthouse cinema of Latin America, Daniel Burman’s "The Tenth Man" being its latest, with Kino Lorber picking it up for U.S. and Canada. Argentina's Latam market, Ventana Sur, in partnership with the Cannes Marché, is the strongest and best market of Latin America for Latino films.
Colombia's systematic, steady work at creating a film culture is paying off in a tremendous outflow of award winning arthouse, indigenous (Ciro Guerra's "Embrace of the Serpent" whose Isa Films Boutique sold to Oscilloscope for U.S., Interior 13 Cine for Mexico, Alfa Films for Argentina, Diaphana Films for France, Mfa Filmdistribution for Germany, Magyarhangya for Hungary, Peccadillo Pictures for U.K.,trigon-film for Switzerland, Natlys for Denmark, Diaphana for France, Alambique for Portugal) , Afro-diaspora ("La Playa DC" whose Isa Cineplex sold it for U.S. to Artmattan Productions, Canada to K Films Amerique, Colombia to Cineplex, France to Jour2fete; and "La Sirga" which Cineplex licensed to Film Movement for U.S., for Colombia to Cineplex, France to Zootrope Films ) and genre films.
Tiny Uruguay has strong films by doubly strong producers like Mariana Secco whose strength at carving out a niche equals the work of Wonder Woman. Guatamala, Paraguay, Peru and Cuba are showing the world their undeniable accomplishments as well.
Central America, long denied its own voice -- first because United States and United Fruit created banana republics out of them, then by the trade in drugs and now by exporting gang members to their parents' countries – all of which has resulted in creating nations of violence and poverty -- is now experiencing the thrill of creating sustainable film economies.
Will Costa Rica prevail? To its advantage, it has not been a part of the violent cycle of drugs and gangs) and its stability and economy are able to sustain growth if the government creates cinema laws to help it along. The film writer María Lourdes Cortés from Costa Rica is the most articulate advocate of Central American Cinema and has established Cinergia, Central America's only homemade film promotion, training, dissemination and funding organ. The astoundingly prolific young producer, Marcela Esquivel, whose "Red Princesses" brought Costa Rica to the world's attention as two frontrunners in Costa Rica's race is another promient voice from Costa Rica. Esquivel's Cuban-Costa Rican coproduction “August”/ "Agosto" (Isa: FiGa) was nurtured by Cannes's Fabrique des Cinemas du Monde and was recently in Ficg’s Coproduction Market along with her project “The Ballroom”/ “El Baile y el salon” about to start production.
Or will Panama prevail? Its Canal has just doubled in size and is a center for international trade to such a degree that China itself is challenging it by tearing up the rain forest of Nicaragua in order to build its own canal.
Panama, with its eye on taking a lead as the internet hub for Latin America, Panama whose Canal creates a Cuba-u.S.-China triangle for trade, Panama whose close history with U.S., its same time zone location with U.S., its direct flights to U.S., its central position for Israeli businesses fleeing the instability of the Mid East, Panama may well come out ahead of Costa Rica. Yes, well there are also the "Panama Papers" whose discovery has come since I first wrote this article. But I don't think this latest revelation of the wealthiest and greediest 1% will put a stop to Panama's growth. These are the two horses I am putting my money on.
I am now at the 5th Panama Film Festival, long headed by the much acclaimed Pituka Ortega-Heilbron and headed on the programming and industry fronts by the Toronto Ff vet Diana Sanchez. Covering it in all its diversity to see if it furthers the odds against the Costa Rica International Film Festival has not been disappointing. Also here is the longtime Costa Rica advisor, 20-year Sundance Film Festival industry vet, Nicole Guillemet. Criff is now, reportedly finally being stabilized by the installation of a permanent producer also attending Iff Panama.
Panama is also premiering six of its own films. Comprised of three documentaries and three fiction films, this year’s Panamanian pictures portray the constant struggle of minorities, problematic life in the city, the search for one’s identity, and unresolved past events, exploring numerous socio-cultural issues living in the isthmus of Panama. Comedy will not be missed.
“Salsipuedes”, co-directed by Ricardo Aguilar and Manolito Rodríguez is about Andrés Pimienta, a young neighborhood boy from Panama who is sent to the United States to remain as far away as possible from his troubled homeland and his father Boby, a boxing ex-champion now serving time in prison. Andrés returns to Panama ten years later to attend his grandfather’s burial, where he meets again with Boby-- a reunion that transforms Andres’ destiny.
“Time to Love, A Backstage Tale”/ "Es la hora de enamorarse", a documentary directed by Guido Bilbao, is the true story of a group of young actors with Down Syndrome who courageously mount the classic Panamanian play La Cucarachita Mandinga, without any previous experience on stage. Many thought it unlikely that they would manage to memorize lines, learn choreography or capture the attention of the public. The artistic process is unveiled as Bilbao shows the intimate world of these young aspiring actors, along with their fears, hopes, and daily struggles.
“Drifting Away”/ "A la deriva", a documentary film directed by Miguel I. González is an expose of the healthcare system in Panama in 2006 when it mistakenly created and distributed over 200,000 jars of a common flu remedy, made of a substance named diethylene glycol used in the automotive industry. This caused the mass poisoning of patients, mostly resulting in permanent illness or even death. This notorious case involved companies in China, Spain and Panama. Highlighted are the lives of Iris, Milagros, and Briseida, three women who were severely affected by the poison, both physically and emotionally telling stories of their inner conflicts, as well as their patience, desperation, solitude, and their yearning to be healthy again.
“The Route”/ "La ruta" is Pituka Ortega-Heilbron’s new documentary.
Every morning from Monday to Saturday Severino González, a construction worker, wakes up at 3:30 A.M. to take the bus to work. For most Panamanians, buses are their only option to get to work and sustain a city that grows so recklessly. Yet these buses are like time bombs, its passengers well-aware of its danger but ignorant of its countdown. Every month people die or get hurt, and Severino knows this, but he has no other choice as he will show us through his everyday bus route and his life. This is the portrait of a nation that claims it is becoming a first world country but lacks the basic resources to live up to it.
“The Check”/ "El cheque" is Arturo Montenegro’s first feature film. It is a Panamanian comedy taking place in the midst of the chaos that haunts the Vinda household. A wild and vigilant vegetarian spirit with massive eyes carrying the name of Dominga changes their lives in unimaginable ways. In her stay with the Vindas, Dominga’s fuss and madness becomes the joy and fervor of the family, except with the household’s spoiled dog, Claudia, who’s the only one aware of Dominga’s secret. Everything seems to work fine until a check raises a debate about identity, happiness, trust and the great beyond.
“Kenke”, directed by Enrique Pérez Him, concerns a professional and successful young man, Josué who accepts the family challenge to help his cousin Kenny get away from marijuana. Unbeknownst to the rest of his family, he too shares this vice. Together Josué and Kenny face a society ruled by double standards and other addictions.
Even if only one of these films is directed by a woman, and that woman is the festival’s own director, it is still noticeable that in all this exciting activity of festivals and countries growing culturally, that women are in the majority taking the lead in innovating and establishing these cultural outposts in counties that have been brought to their knees formerly by the macho impositions of capitalism in its ugliest forms of colonialism and imperialism.
As a side remark here, we are witnessing similar activitiy in Mena's (Middle East and North Africa) Gulf State of Qatar with the Doha Film Institute’s CEO Fatma Al Remaihi and in the Emirate State of Dubai with its long standing Dubai Film Festival led by Managing Director, Shivani Pandya.
Culture, always the first to go when the men get going using armaments to build wealth, is now finding that with the potential strength of 51% of the world’s population behind it, it just might get the upper hand for the first time in "civilized" society. Also we are witnessing the Lgbt community's creative might also being exercised on the side of culture. This always original, innovative segment of world society helps enormously in crossing the lines drawn in the sand by the white male establishment.
So we will put our eye upon Panama, the next possible contender for The Latin American Prize for Excellence in Cinematic Experience.
- 3/26/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
"Princesas Rojas" (Red Princesses), directed by Laura Astorga, is Costa Rica’s submission for the Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film 2014. It is the first feature of Laura Astorga through which she recreates her own childhood mixed with elements of fiction.
The story begins at the Nicaraguan border in the 1980s. 11 year old Claudia and her younger sister experience the street fighting first-hand outside their car window. Their parents are Sandinista activists and, although the family is now escaping Nicaragua to neighboring Costa Rica, the struggle continues. Their parents fire off terse commands and the girls are packed off to their relatives. There's no other way. Claudia hordes her treasured collection of revolutionary badges and longs for the time when she was a young pioneer. She doesn’t really know what her parents do. Passports are forged, there are nocturnal meetings and car number plates are switched. One day, her mother disappears. They say she’s gone to Miami. The children piece together fragments that give them an insight into their parents’ dilemma of trying to balance their political struggle with family life. The film focuses on the point of view of the two sisters who are very close, as they learn more than they are able to cope with, but too little really to understand. The film is of revolutionary struggle as seen through the eyes of children.
"Red Princesses" was supported by Cinergia, the Audiovisual Promotion Fund of Central America and Cuba) in 2007 in script development and again in 2010 in the category of Feature Film Production. The project was first presented internationally at the International Film Festival of Guadalajara (Ficg[1]) 2012 En Construye (Works in Progress). It was one of four productions which received support from Ibermedia in 2013. It was a coproduction of Costa Rica, Spain and Venezuela.
The film had its world premiere at the 2013 Berlin Film Festival in the section dedicated to children and adolescents, Generation 14plus. It later competed as part of the official selection of feature films from the 25th International Festival Cinelatino: Rencontres de Toulouse, held in the French city of Toulouse in March 2013, one of the most important film festivals in the world for Iberoamerican film coproduction.
It went on to receive awards in the category of Debut Film in Festivals in Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (Laliff), in Venezuela (Festival de Cine de Margarita), at the Festival de Cine Paz con la Tierra San José Costa Rica where it won the Audience Award, and the Awards for Best Art Direction and Best Production, Icaro where it won for Best Script and Best Art Production. It has also shown in Festival Filmar Switzerland, and Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata.
This writer met producer Marcela Esquivel Jiménez and Carlos I. Benavides, credited as the film’s Technical Director, when they attended Ficg Market in March 2013 where they were presenting their newest work in progress and showing "Princesas Rojas" (Red Princesses) in the official selection.
Marcela Esquivel Jiménez and Carlos Benavides work with other recent film school graduates. The following interview with them gives an insight into the state of film today in Costa Rica, and by deduction, the state of the art in all the Americas in the near future.
Although Costa Rica has no formal film commission, the government through several different agencies has always been very supportive of film activities and audiovisual production in Costa Rica. Non-union Costa Rican film crews, no minimums on foreign crews, competitive rates on rooms, and easy international access offered by all major U.S. airline carriers make Costa Rica a location destination to consider. [2]
Sl: What stands out in my mind as we talk about what you all are doing, is the idea that many people -- together since film school -- from all over Latin America are working together as a team in a company. It is not the mere fact of coproduction which is unique as much as the mix of people which is unique.
Carlos: I’ll explain: Bisonte Producciones is a collective we founded about ten years ago. Its members are all from Costa Rica. We met while studying here and started making short films. After a while, many of us went to study in different schools and countries: Eictv, Nyu in Singapore, Chapman University while others went to work and study in places like Spain, Argentina and México. A couple of years ago, many of us returned to Costa Rica, and we have continued working together with short films under the Bisonte banner. We are also working on each other’s feature films and commercials. And on top of all that, many of us are preparing our own first features as well.
There is another group named Best Picture System. This is a production company founded while I was studying in Cuba at Eictv. (Eictv stands for Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV, also known as Los Baños. It is the international film school founded in1986 by the Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez with his Nobel Prize money on land donated by Fidel Castro in San Antonio Los Baños, Cuba just outside of Havana.) The faculty and student body includes people from Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Venezuela, México, Panamá, Cuba, Costa Rica. While I was with them, I worked as a script supervisor in Puro Mula[3], directed by Enrique Pérez of Panamá, written by Pérez and Ariel Escalante of Costa Rica and shot in Guatemala, and Ovnis en Zacapa (UFOs in Zacapa),[4] another Guatemalan film, directed by Marcos Machado of Costa Rica and written by Pérez of Panamá which raised money on Indiegogo. Vilma Liella from Puerto Rico produced both films.
Sl: Who are other key people in these production companies?
Carlos: Marcela Esquivel, the producer of Princesas Rojas, a film which premiered at the 2013 Berlinale, trained at Eictv as I did.
Sl : Red Princesses was a first for everyone. The director, co-director, producer and Dp were all classmates together at Eictv?
Carlos : Marcela, Julio Costantini (Dp) and I were classmates at the Eictv and had worked together on many of our school projects. Marcela and I met Laura Astorga, the director of Red Princesses, here in Costa Rica when we began working on the film. Oh, for which I was credited as Technical Director.
Sl : Red Princesses was a first for everyone. The director, co-director, producer and Dp were all classmates together at Eictv? [5]
Carlos : Marcela, Julio Costantini (Dp) and I were classmates at the Eictv and had worked together on many of our school projects. Marcela and I met Laura Astorga, the director of Red Princesses, here in Costa Rica when we began working on the film. Oh, and the credit I have in that film is as Technical Director.
Red Princesses is the first feature of Costa Rican filmmaker Laura Astorga, and through which she recreates her childhood. It's my story, yes, but mixed with elements of fiction, she says.
This Costa Rican-Venezuelan coproduction in 2013 received awards in the category of Debut Film in Festivals in Los Angeles (Laliff), in Venezuela (Festival de Cine de Margarita), at the Festival de Cine Paz con la Tierra San José Costa Rica where it won the Audience Award, and the Awards for Best Art Direction and Best Production, Icaro where it won for Best Script and Best Art Production. It has also shown in Toulouse, Berlinale Generation Plus, Festival Filmar Switzerland, and Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata.
Sl : I understand that the filmmakers are currently [at the time of this interview] developing a thriller called The Hunt. Can you tell me about it?
Carlos: It is the first new noir film in Central America. In this film the characters are based in Costa Rica where the investigator, a stripper and a doctor (so as not to reveal what’s going on) play in an obsessive story in the underworld in which each undergoes a transformation.
The script’s third draft was just completed this April [2013]. The Hunt is co-writtenEnrique Pérez Him, the Panamanian whose earlier film, Puro Mula[6], was a box office success in Guatemala and which was picked up as one of twenty films by Ibermedia for TV throughout Latin America in a program launched a couple of years ago. The writer-director of Pura Mula, Enrique, is also the writer of UFOs en Zacapa, now in post. Enrique and Carlos will cowrite it.
Although the film is not “ethno”, it is still very Latin American. However, the issue of funding this $400,000 film is more difficult. This is not a “typical” Latin American film which means that the typical European funds will not be available for it. The filmmakers might raise 15% for development from Ibermedia and the rest of the development money from Costa Rica, plus in-kind work. They might look for coproduction partners in Colombia and perhaps México, going to the pre-markets offered by those countries. Perhaps a special European producer, interested in Latin American coproduction could come aboard if only they could find that person.
They might crowdfund from Vodo which is a sort of cross between Kickstarter and Netflix. They will first fund a short film to try that out and to have as a calling card.
Sl : Thank you so much for this insight.
Sl: At the rate you all are going, I expect to see you succeed in making that long sought-after American Latino indie which will be smart enough to grab a large Latino set of moviegoers from all the countries. Your English is fine and you are an integral part of such cross cultures as Argentina, Spain, México, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama and Cuba all working together to bring your visions to appreciative audiences throughout Latin American and the world. If anyone can make that ever-elusive, ever-sought-for Latino film which brings that unique mixture of Latinos for all countries, including those who are living in the U.S., I would say you and your colleagues would be the one to do it.
Suerte!!
[1] Festival Internacional de Cinema at Guadalajara
[2] Sergio Miranda, http://www.costaricaproductionservices.com/
[3] http://www.promofest.org/en/films/puro-mula
[4] http://bit.ly/1mp3lCm
[5] Eictv stands for Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV, also known as Los Baños. It is the international film school founded in1986 by the Colombian Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez on land donated by Fidel Castro in San Antonio Los Baños, Cuba. For more information see the chapter on Cuba. For more information, see the Chapter Seven on Cuba.
[6] Pura Mula
Director: Enrique Pérez Him (Writer-Director Chaos in the City aka Caos en la ciudad)
Writers: Ariel Escalante (Editor on Pura Mula, Editor on El Huaso) | Enrique Pérez Him
Producers: Vilma Liella | Vilma Lopez
Cinematographer: Arturo Juarez (Dp on Chaos in the City)
Editor: Enrique Pérez Him...
The story begins at the Nicaraguan border in the 1980s. 11 year old Claudia and her younger sister experience the street fighting first-hand outside their car window. Their parents are Sandinista activists and, although the family is now escaping Nicaragua to neighboring Costa Rica, the struggle continues. Their parents fire off terse commands and the girls are packed off to their relatives. There's no other way. Claudia hordes her treasured collection of revolutionary badges and longs for the time when she was a young pioneer. She doesn’t really know what her parents do. Passports are forged, there are nocturnal meetings and car number plates are switched. One day, her mother disappears. They say she’s gone to Miami. The children piece together fragments that give them an insight into their parents’ dilemma of trying to balance their political struggle with family life. The film focuses on the point of view of the two sisters who are very close, as they learn more than they are able to cope with, but too little really to understand. The film is of revolutionary struggle as seen through the eyes of children.
"Red Princesses" was supported by Cinergia, the Audiovisual Promotion Fund of Central America and Cuba) in 2007 in script development and again in 2010 in the category of Feature Film Production. The project was first presented internationally at the International Film Festival of Guadalajara (Ficg[1]) 2012 En Construye (Works in Progress). It was one of four productions which received support from Ibermedia in 2013. It was a coproduction of Costa Rica, Spain and Venezuela.
The film had its world premiere at the 2013 Berlin Film Festival in the section dedicated to children and adolescents, Generation 14plus. It later competed as part of the official selection of feature films from the 25th International Festival Cinelatino: Rencontres de Toulouse, held in the French city of Toulouse in March 2013, one of the most important film festivals in the world for Iberoamerican film coproduction.
It went on to receive awards in the category of Debut Film in Festivals in Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (Laliff), in Venezuela (Festival de Cine de Margarita), at the Festival de Cine Paz con la Tierra San José Costa Rica where it won the Audience Award, and the Awards for Best Art Direction and Best Production, Icaro where it won for Best Script and Best Art Production. It has also shown in Festival Filmar Switzerland, and Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata.
This writer met producer Marcela Esquivel Jiménez and Carlos I. Benavides, credited as the film’s Technical Director, when they attended Ficg Market in March 2013 where they were presenting their newest work in progress and showing "Princesas Rojas" (Red Princesses) in the official selection.
Marcela Esquivel Jiménez and Carlos Benavides work with other recent film school graduates. The following interview with them gives an insight into the state of film today in Costa Rica, and by deduction, the state of the art in all the Americas in the near future.
Although Costa Rica has no formal film commission, the government through several different agencies has always been very supportive of film activities and audiovisual production in Costa Rica. Non-union Costa Rican film crews, no minimums on foreign crews, competitive rates on rooms, and easy international access offered by all major U.S. airline carriers make Costa Rica a location destination to consider. [2]
Sl: What stands out in my mind as we talk about what you all are doing, is the idea that many people -- together since film school -- from all over Latin America are working together as a team in a company. It is not the mere fact of coproduction which is unique as much as the mix of people which is unique.
Carlos: I’ll explain: Bisonte Producciones is a collective we founded about ten years ago. Its members are all from Costa Rica. We met while studying here and started making short films. After a while, many of us went to study in different schools and countries: Eictv, Nyu in Singapore, Chapman University while others went to work and study in places like Spain, Argentina and México. A couple of years ago, many of us returned to Costa Rica, and we have continued working together with short films under the Bisonte banner. We are also working on each other’s feature films and commercials. And on top of all that, many of us are preparing our own first features as well.
There is another group named Best Picture System. This is a production company founded while I was studying in Cuba at Eictv. (Eictv stands for Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV, also known as Los Baños. It is the international film school founded in1986 by the Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez with his Nobel Prize money on land donated by Fidel Castro in San Antonio Los Baños, Cuba just outside of Havana.) The faculty and student body includes people from Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Venezuela, México, Panamá, Cuba, Costa Rica. While I was with them, I worked as a script supervisor in Puro Mula[3], directed by Enrique Pérez of Panamá, written by Pérez and Ariel Escalante of Costa Rica and shot in Guatemala, and Ovnis en Zacapa (UFOs in Zacapa),[4] another Guatemalan film, directed by Marcos Machado of Costa Rica and written by Pérez of Panamá which raised money on Indiegogo. Vilma Liella from Puerto Rico produced both films.
Sl: Who are other key people in these production companies?
Carlos: Marcela Esquivel, the producer of Princesas Rojas, a film which premiered at the 2013 Berlinale, trained at Eictv as I did.
Sl : Red Princesses was a first for everyone. The director, co-director, producer and Dp were all classmates together at Eictv?
Carlos : Marcela, Julio Costantini (Dp) and I were classmates at the Eictv and had worked together on many of our school projects. Marcela and I met Laura Astorga, the director of Red Princesses, here in Costa Rica when we began working on the film. Oh, for which I was credited as Technical Director.
Sl : Red Princesses was a first for everyone. The director, co-director, producer and Dp were all classmates together at Eictv? [5]
Carlos : Marcela, Julio Costantini (Dp) and I were classmates at the Eictv and had worked together on many of our school projects. Marcela and I met Laura Astorga, the director of Red Princesses, here in Costa Rica when we began working on the film. Oh, and the credit I have in that film is as Technical Director.
Red Princesses is the first feature of Costa Rican filmmaker Laura Astorga, and through which she recreates her childhood. It's my story, yes, but mixed with elements of fiction, she says.
This Costa Rican-Venezuelan coproduction in 2013 received awards in the category of Debut Film in Festivals in Los Angeles (Laliff), in Venezuela (Festival de Cine de Margarita), at the Festival de Cine Paz con la Tierra San José Costa Rica where it won the Audience Award, and the Awards for Best Art Direction and Best Production, Icaro where it won for Best Script and Best Art Production. It has also shown in Toulouse, Berlinale Generation Plus, Festival Filmar Switzerland, and Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata.
Sl : I understand that the filmmakers are currently [at the time of this interview] developing a thriller called The Hunt. Can you tell me about it?
Carlos: It is the first new noir film in Central America. In this film the characters are based in Costa Rica where the investigator, a stripper and a doctor (so as not to reveal what’s going on) play in an obsessive story in the underworld in which each undergoes a transformation.
The script’s third draft was just completed this April [2013]. The Hunt is co-writtenEnrique Pérez Him, the Panamanian whose earlier film, Puro Mula[6], was a box office success in Guatemala and which was picked up as one of twenty films by Ibermedia for TV throughout Latin America in a program launched a couple of years ago. The writer-director of Pura Mula, Enrique, is also the writer of UFOs en Zacapa, now in post. Enrique and Carlos will cowrite it.
Although the film is not “ethno”, it is still very Latin American. However, the issue of funding this $400,000 film is more difficult. This is not a “typical” Latin American film which means that the typical European funds will not be available for it. The filmmakers might raise 15% for development from Ibermedia and the rest of the development money from Costa Rica, plus in-kind work. They might look for coproduction partners in Colombia and perhaps México, going to the pre-markets offered by those countries. Perhaps a special European producer, interested in Latin American coproduction could come aboard if only they could find that person.
They might crowdfund from Vodo which is a sort of cross between Kickstarter and Netflix. They will first fund a short film to try that out and to have as a calling card.
Sl : Thank you so much for this insight.
Sl: At the rate you all are going, I expect to see you succeed in making that long sought-after American Latino indie which will be smart enough to grab a large Latino set of moviegoers from all the countries. Your English is fine and you are an integral part of such cross cultures as Argentina, Spain, México, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama and Cuba all working together to bring your visions to appreciative audiences throughout Latin American and the world. If anyone can make that ever-elusive, ever-sought-for Latino film which brings that unique mixture of Latinos for all countries, including those who are living in the U.S., I would say you and your colleagues would be the one to do it.
Suerte!!
[1] Festival Internacional de Cinema at Guadalajara
[2] Sergio Miranda, http://www.costaricaproductionservices.com/
[3] http://www.promofest.org/en/films/puro-mula
[4] http://bit.ly/1mp3lCm
[5] Eictv stands for Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV, also known as Los Baños. It is the international film school founded in1986 by the Colombian Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez on land donated by Fidel Castro in San Antonio Los Baños, Cuba. For more information see the chapter on Cuba. For more information, see the Chapter Seven on Cuba.
[6] Pura Mula
Director: Enrique Pérez Him (Writer-Director Chaos in the City aka Caos en la ciudad)
Writers: Ariel Escalante (Editor on Pura Mula, Editor on El Huaso) | Enrique Pérez Him
Producers: Vilma Liella | Vilma Lopez
Cinematographer: Arturo Juarez (Dp on Chaos in the City)
Editor: Enrique Pérez Him...
- 12/14/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
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