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(kə nā′dē ən) Marc Arellano Canada, Documentary, 20088 min, MiniDV, Color/Black & WhiteSpanish, French, English with English subtitles
(kə nā′dē ən) is a short documentary that explores the notion of identity. Memory, history and family are all interwoven into a narrative about one Canadian family. One of the top 10 finalists in CBC/Radio Canada's Migrations Film Competition 2009.
US Premiere Producer: Marc ArellanoProduction Companies: Transparent MediaScreenwriter: Marc ArellanoCinematographer: Marc ArellanoEditor: Marc ArellanoSound Design: Marc ArellanoMusic: Terry ScarboroughCast: Gizele Arellano, Ron Arellano, Ian Arellano, Ramiro Arellano, Marc Arellano, Natalie Perrier and Camille Arellano
Panorama Documentary Shorts Showcase Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) Tues. April 27 9:00PM FREE In the future, wars will be fought over water, but in Mexico the war has already begun. This documentary contemplates Mexico’s destiny, telling the story of the struggle of its indigenous people to preserve their natural resources and their cultural identity.
Adopción Adoption David Lipszyc Argentina, Drama, 2009 71 min, 35mm, Color Spanish with English subtitles
Richard, a homosexual man, decides to adopt a child named Juan. As the child becomes accustomed to his new home, he continues to suffer from the fears of his past. Ricardo feels that his son should know his roots and begins the quest to discover Juan’s true identity. This search unravels Juan’s real story; a story very different than what was presented before. Slowly, Juan’s life begins to appear, much like the tip of the iceberg submersed within the immense ocean. Selected for competition at Mar de Plata, Festival de La Habana, and Torino GLBT Film Festival.
US Premiere
David Lipszyc, a citizen of Poland and Argentina, is a member of the Directores Argentinos Cinematográficos. He has taken on the role of screenwriter and director for several award nominated films, including Volver (1982). Adopción is his fourth feature film.
Producer: Nestor Sanchez Sotelo Production Companies: Del Toro Films Screenwriter: David Lipszyc Cinematographer: Pablo Gonzalez Editor: Monica Gomez Sound Design: Pablo Sala Music: Pablo Sala Cast: Ricardo Gonzalez
Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) Mon. April 26 7:00PM FREE Filmed in the idyllic Mayan Riviera, All Inclusive follows the story of a Chilean-Mexican family during their summer vacation. Facing the imminent arrival of a storm, each of the characters goes through unexpected situations that cause deep changes in their lives, and they have to deal with their innermost fears, conflicts and secrets. The trip will be unforgettable, but it will remind every member of the family of the ups and the downs that make up life. With a stellar cast featuring Jesús Ochoa, Valentina Vargas, Ana Serradilla, Martha Higareda, Jesús Zavala, Leonor Varela, Jaime Camil, Maya Zapata, Mónica Cruz and Edgar Vívar, All Inclusive is an appealing movie that talks about the search of happiness, the things we don’t say, tolerance and family love. In the 1980s, at the height of the Cold War, a bloody civil war between the Soviet-friendly Sandinistas and U.S.-backed Contras ravaged Nicaragua. Despite the danger, thousands of Americans disobeyed White House warnings and descended upon the Central American nation, determined to lend their skills and labor to the social-democratic Sandinista cause. Using an eclectic mixture of rare archival footage, arresting still photography, and contemporary interviews, American/Sandinista tells the story of a small group of controversial U.S. engineers who partnered with local communities and went further than anyone expected, risking their lives in the process.
Amnesia is a thriller of truth, forgetfulness, vengeance and encounters. Zúñiga and Ramírez, two pawns of a war no one wants to recall, are lonely men that find each other after a long period of time. Set in the city of Valparaíso and the Atacama Desert, the film deals with the encounter of the tortured and their torturers after the end of the Pinochet dictatorship. Amnesia is an essential reference for understanding this dramatic period of transition in Chile.
Amor, dolor y viceversaLove, Pain, and Vice Versa Alfonso Pineda-Ulloa Mexico, Thriller/Romance, 200985 min, 35mm, ColorSpanish with English subtitles
A story of love, pain, and vice versa. For nearly a year, Consuelo has been obsessing over a man that visits her in her dreams; a knight in shining armor that, according to her friends, doesn’t exist. Ricardo has also been dreaming of Consuelo, only his dreams come in the form of terrible nightmares ending with his murder. Little by little, their subconscious invades their reality, as these two strangers are destined to meet face to face in a world where the line between dreams and nightmares no longer exists.
Regional Premiere
Alfonso Pineda-Ulloa recently completed his MFA (Producer’s Program) at UCLA. He is a graduate of the Los Angeles Film School, where his focus was directing and cinematography. Pineda-Ulloa also studied photography at the Escuela Activa de Fotografia and holds degrees in Entrepreneurship and Latin-American Studies. In 2007, he directed two episodes of the highly successful TV horror series, M13DOS, including “La Escuela,” which earned the highest ratings of the entire series. At the same time, he has partnered with Lemon Films, among others, for a variety of film and television projects.
Producer: Billy Rovzar, Fernando Rovzar, Julio Fernández, Nick SpicerProduction Companies: Lemon Films – FilmaxScreenwriter: Alex MarinoCinematographer: Damián GarcíaEditor: Jorge MacayaSound Design: Andrés FrancoMusic: Roque BañosCast: Bárbara Mori, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Marina de Tavira, Joaquín Cosío, Irene Azuela Alamo South Lamar - Wed. April 28 9:45 PMBuy Tickets Fernando Rovzar and Daniel Rovzar of Lemon Films in attendance.
Amorosa SoledadLovely Loneliness Martin Carranza, Victoria Galardi Argentina, Romantic Comedy, 200885 min, 35mm, ColorSpanish with English subtitles When Soledad’s boyfriend leaves her, she makes a resolution to stay single for the next three years to avoid another heartbreak, but as soon as she makes that decision, all her actions seem to contradict her resolve. She meets a man and just when everything seems to be going well, she receives a call from her ex saying he wants to get back together. Her ex’s call forces her into making an important decision. Rounding off the engrossing and fascinating world of Soledad is her propensity for hypochondriasis, her image-conscious mother, her estranged father and her confidant who is overwhelmed with Soledad’s problems.
Regional Premiere
Martin Carranza was born in Argentina in 1968 and studied photography and filmmaking. He worked as an assistant director in more than 20 films with well-known Argentine directors such as Alejandro Agresti, Alberto Lecchi, Juan Taratuto and Fabian Bielinsky. He has also worked on commercials for the US, Mexico and Spain. Victoria Galardi was born in Argentina in 1977 and has worked as a writer before co-directing Amorosa Soledad with Carranza. Amorosa Soledad is both directors’ first feature film.
Producer: Hernan Musaluppi, Natacha CerviProduction Companies: Rizoma FilmsScreenwriter: Victoria GalardiCinematographer: Julian LedesmaEditor: Pablo BarbieriSound Design: No ProblemMusic: Nico CotaCast: Ines Efron, Fabian Vena, Nicolas Pauls, Ricardo Darin
Opening Night Alamo South Lamar, Wed. April 21, 7:00 PM Tickets available at the box office of the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, starting at 6:00 PM
In 1999, two brothers were deported from the United States to Mexico. Within two weeks, one of them overdosed on heroin in a seedy Tijuana hotel room, his body left unclaimed for two months in a mass grave. These U.S.-raised men, military veterans, were deported from the only country they knew—and had sworn to protect—to forge new lives in Mexico. Against the backdrop of increased attention to the U.S.-Mexico border, filmmaker Monika Navarro draws on her family’s experience to explore national identity and ties, the lives of immigrants, and what happens after deportees are sent to a homeland they don’t consider home.
Arráncame la vida begins its journey during a transformative period in Mexican history. The Revolution of 1910 is over and the country’s rule is open to whatever politician had the audacity to grab it. Dominating men fight ruthlessly for control, manipulating and exploiting others to gain power. Growing up in 1930s Mexico, Catalina Guzmán knows little of the world beyond her father’s house, unaware of the political storm that looming over the whole country.
Artzainak: Shepherds and Sheep Jacob Griswold, Javi Zubizarreta USA, Documentary, 2010 15 min, DVCPro HD, Color Spanish, English, Basque with English subtitles
High up in the hills of Idaho, immigrants earn their wages in solitude as the quiet caretakers of thousands of serene sheep. This short documentary traces the history of Basque immigration to Idaho, while addressing the difficulty of life as a shepherd, as well as the current issue of immigration within the sheep herding industry.
World Premiere
Jacob Griswold, a Dominican-American filmmaker from western New York, developed a passion for creating films that provoke thought and create discussion about difficult topics such as struggle, despair, and faith. Javi Aitor Zubizarreta is a Basque-American filmmaker from Boise, Idaho. Throughout his filmmaking career, Javi has searched for new and innovative ways to bring the story of the Basque people into public attention. Javi and Jacob are completing their Bachelor of Arts in Film Production at the University of Notre Dame.
Producer: Jacob Griswold Cinematographer: Jacob Griswold, Javi Zubizarreta Editor: Jacob Griswold, Javi Zubizarreta Sound Design: Jacob Griswold
Regal Metropolitan - Fri. April 23 8:00PM (preceding Which Way Home) Directors Jacob Griswold and Javi Zubizarreta in attendance.
Regal Metropolitan - Sat. April 24 6:00PM (preceding O Areal) Directors Jacob Griswold and Javi Zubizarreta in attendance. In 1973 in Chile, at the height of the internal tension during Salvador Allende’s three years in office, Carmen, a university employee, maintains her faith in the popular government despite the constant questioning by her colleague Juan and her partner Víctor, who, confronted with the imminent coup, opts for a more radical response than she does. Carmen maintains her hope with the support of Carvajal, an exemplary proletarian in charge of cleaning up the university.
Básicamente un pozo narrates the story of a primary school language arts teacher trying to solve a physics problem about perpetual motion. In order to solve it, he decides he must dig a hole that reaches to the other side of the world. He suddenly finds his family, friends, students, and the whole community rooting for him to succeed in his quest.
BigBand is a journey into a contemporary urban world through a mixture of animation techniques and cinematographic narrative, combined with a soundtrack composed of descriptive music. Throughout this vision based on diverse experiences of Caracas, the city of origin for the stories and criticisms described in BigBand, the spectator becomes trapped in a constant transformation of people and places that advances indefinitely, revealing the similarities between the city and the natural cycle of life.
Bracero Stories explores the personal experiences of five former “guest workers” in the controversial US-Mexican government Bracero Program, which granted temporary work contracts to millions of Mexican laborers between 1942 and 1964. Their stories are interwoven and illustrated with archival materials, creating a composite narrative of the “bracero” experience. Interviews with other participants in the program assess its effectiveness—and its justness. These discussions mirror contemporary concerns about illegal immigration and the possible implementation of a new guest worker program. Ultimately, the film seeks to put a human face on the concept of foreign “guest worker.”
A glimpse into the maestro’s life and music, Cachao: Uno más pays tribute to one of the greatest Afro-Cuban musicians of all time, Israel López “Cachao.” This documentary, produced by the DOC Film Institute at San Francisco State, features a live concert in San Francisco and interviews with musical collaborators including Andy García, John Santos, Ray Santos and Orestes Vilató, who help trace Cachao’s musical journey from his early days in Cuba to worldwide fame and recognition.
Cárcel de carne Jail of Flesh Roque Azcuaga Mexico, Documentary, 2009 75 min, BD, Color Spanish with English subtitles
Cárcel de carne is a documentary that delves into the inner workings of a rare neurological disease that is fatal, incurable and stems from unknown causes. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease, attacks the motor neurons, gradually eliminating a person's ability to move. The film is a first person narrative in which the terminally ill patients speak out about their condition. Through their life experiences we try to understand the disease and catch a glimpse into part of the human condition as it relates to death, hope and transcendence.
US Premiere Roque Azcuaga, a native of Mexico City, studied at the UNAM and at the Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos (CUEC) in Mexico. In addition to his work as an editor for commercials, short films and feature films, he has also worked for radio and theatre. In 2007, Azcuaga obtained the support of IMCINE in order to produce the feature documentary Cárcel de carne.
Producer: Elsa Reyes Production Company: CONACULTA-IMCINE, FOPROCINE, Zensky Cine Screenwriter: Roque Azcuaga Cinematographer: Enrique Stone Editor: Roque Azcuaga, Elena Pardo Sound Design: Fabiola Ramos Music: Joseph Saint-Remy
Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) Wed. April 28 7:00PM FREE Casimiro tells the story of an illegal immigrant living in central Texas. As Casimiro tries to write a comforting letter to his family back home, we experience the truth about his days in America. The story follows him through his difficult routine, and demonstrates how a lonely man copes with hardships.
Cerro de la Cruz Constantino Escandón Mexico, Drama, 2009 10 min, 35mm, Color Spanish with English Subtitles
A young man on the verge of death finds himself trapped between his ideals of love and the brutal violence of the revolutionary war.
US Premiere Born in Mexico in 1976, Constantino Escandón studied communication at Tecnológico de Monterrey. He was the director and writer of several short films including Lucio, Philia, El solito. He has also served as location manager on several feature films such as El mago, El cielo dividido and Propiedad ajena. Cerro de la Cruz is his third short film as writer and director.
Producers: Arturo Castelán, Alfonso F. Escandón, Issa Guerra Production Companies: CONACULTA-IMCINE, KODAK, Labofilms, La Manta de México, Libido Screenwriter: Constantino Escandón Cinematographer: Juan Carlos Lazo Editor: Constantino Escandón Sound design: Daniel Hidalgo Music: Antonio Avitia Cast: David Medel, Eduardo Granados, Óscar Ibarra, Neri Paredes, Luis Alberto García, Eduardo Granados
Regal Metropolitan - Thur. April 22 4:00PM (preceding Quanto Dura o Amor?)
Regal Metropolitan - Mon. April 26 8:00PM (preceding Quanto Dura o Amor?) ChamacoThe Kid Miguel Necoechea Mexico/USA, Drama, 200997 min, HD, ColorSpanish, English with English and Spanish subtitles
Chamaco is a contemporary yet timeless story about a father and son who overcome their differences, uniting to mentor a young Mexican teenager with dreams of being a boxer. The father, a doctor, left his home in the U.S. to run a medical clinic in Mexico City. The son, a former U.S. Olympic boxer, burned out too fast as a professional boxer, and is trying to rebuild his life. Abner, coming of age in Mexico, finds himself balancing pursuing his dreams with trying to make enough money to pull his sister and girlfriend off of the streets. Along the way they find each other, find themselves, and face their destinies head on.
Regional Premiere A prestigious producer, editor, and filmmaker, Miguel Necoechea has won Academy Awards (their countries’ respective versions) in Mexico and Spain. He has worked with some of the foremost contemporary filmmakers including Arturo Ripstein, Luis Mandoki, Alfonso Cuarón, María Novaro, and Lawrence Bender, to name a few. Chamaco is Necoechea’s feature film directorial debut.
Producer: Don Franken, Miguel Necoechea, Kirk HarrisProduction Companies: Ivania Films, Rogue ArtsScreenwriter: Kirk Harris, Miguel Necoechea, Carl BessaiCinematographer: Guillermo GranilloEditor: Mario SandovalSound Design: Alberto Castro, Kale DawesMusic: Evan EvansCast: Martin Sheen, Kirk Harris, Alex Perea, Danny Perea, Gustavo Sanchez Parra, Raul Mendez, Michael Madsen Closing Night Alamo South Lamar - Thur. April 29 7:00PM Buy Tickets Director Miguel Necoechea and Producer Don Franken in attendance. Before dying, Nora devises a plan to make José, her ex-husband, take care of her funeral during the height of Passover celebration. But despite her meticulousness she misses something—the only flaw in the plan, a mysterious photograph left under the bed, which leads to unexpected outcomes that remind us that sometimes the greatest love stories are hidden in the smallest places. A heartwarming story of love, doubt, faith, and the importance of family.
Cleats Maria Carter USA, Drama, 2009 7 min, DVCPro - HD, Color Spanish with English subtitles
Each morning shrouded by fog, two pairs of hands sort through curbside garbage looking for bottles and cans. Rising every day at dawn, Sr. and Sra. Martinez gather recyclables in hopes of building an inheritance for their son, one nickel at a time. A story about an immigrant family's unflagging belief in the American Dream, Cleats is a short film inspired by a true story of sacrifice and dignity, where a family’s humble, yet heroic acts help make each other's dreams come true.
Regional Premiere María Agui Carter is the founder of Iguana Films in Boston and a graduate of Harvard University. A former staff producer for WGBH Boston and currently a Brandeis Visiting Scholar, Agui Carter was the only woman director featured for her dramatic work on Discovery En Espanol's Hispanic Heritage Month. Over a dozen of her documentaries have aired on public television.
Producer: Sarah Schenck Production Companies: Iguana Films Screenwriter: Maria Carter Cinematographer: Edwin Pagan Editor: Maria Carter Sound Design: Geof Thurber Music: Joseph Julian Gonzales Cast: Christian Ortega, Brenda Garcia, Ted Mejia
Regal Metropolitan - Sun. April 25 4:00PM (preceding Morenita) Ever since Brian Marquez was murdered on a San Francisco street corner in 2005, his father, Luis, has been on a quest to find the killers that took his son. During the traditional Mexican holiday of Day of the Dead, Close to Home portrays a father that has yet to deal with the death of his son, and a daughter who longs to reconnect with the father she once had.
Sixteen-year-old Pablo lives with his mother, who for a few years has been struggling to make ends meet. Faced with tremendous peer pressure to fit in by his schoolmates, Pablo deeply wishes they could go back to living the way they used to.
Away from its body, the cut-off head of Juan Pérez The Great (a fifth class magician from a small circus), starts remembering how he lost his head to a guillotine. After a terrible six year crisis, the Circo Aztlán (where our magician has lived for so many years), had started cutting acts out. In order not to lose his job, Juan Pérez promised to stage a sensational decapitation act, which could return the circus to its glory days. Running out of time, and without a penny to build the machinery needed for his act, Juan Pérez was forced to steal an original Guillotine from a museum, unaware of its terrible curse.
Conversations II offers an intimate look at the female universe; a journey in time through evocative images and the testimonies of women from the same family. Through the personal search of a daughter into the lives of her mother and grandmother, the film explores the evolution of the female role in a Latin American society and how the views of marriage and motherhood have changed with each generation, as well as the view that women have of themselves.
Don Andrés, the last inheritor of the wealthy Ávalos family, feels that he has wasted the last 58 years of his life, idly reading and searching for the meaning of life. After he employs a 17 year-old peasant girl to care for his senile grandmother, Don Andrés becomes deeply ashamed of the dark desire the girl awakens in him. His inevitable emotional collapse parallels the deterioration of the formerly grand Ávalos mansion. Coronación is based on the novel by Chilean author José Donoso.
Crude tells the epic story of one of the largest and most controversial legal cases on the planet. An inside look at the infamous $27 billion “Amazon Chernobyl” case, Crude is a real-life, high stakes, legal drama set against the backdrop of the environmental movement, global politics, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, the media, multinational corporate power, and rapidly disappearing indigenous cultures. Presenting a complex situation from multiple viewpoints, the film brings an important story of environmental peril and human suffering into focus.
What do you do if the day your first child is to be born is also the same day your father is to be executed? If you are twenty-six-year old Manny, you use your father's impending execution as an excuse to flee the daunting responsibility of fatherhood. There's only one problem: Manny lives in Monterrey, Mexico and his father sits in on death row in Texas. Against his wife's wishes, Manny embarks on an ill-planned quest to cross the border to see his father, hoping that the trip will buy him time and insight into his upcoming responsibility.
CuBata Kevin McSorley Ireland/Cuba, Documentary, 2010 10 min, HDV/MiniDV, Color Spanish with English subtitles
In Cuba, women have traditionally been prohibited from playing the Bata drums due to religious and cultural taboos. In this documentary, female drummer Aleida Sucarrat Torres talks about her experience playing the Bata drums while the “Chinitos,” a family of Bata drum players and makers, share their insights on the traditions and history of this sacred musical instrument.
World Premiere Kevin McSorley is a journalist and has been a researcher and producer in the television industry in Northern Ireland for seven years. He received his MA in Documentary Practice at the University of Ulster in 2008 and was awarded a bursary from One World Media to travel to Cuba to make his short film CuBata in 2009.
Producer: Kevin McSorley Cinematographer: Kevin McSorley Editor: Kevin McSorley Sound Design: Kevin McSorley Music: Piri López Chinito Cast: Pedro López Chinito, Elián López Chinito, Piri López Chinito, Aleida Sucarrat Torres, Odelkis Torres
Panorama Documentary Shorts Showcase Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) Tues. April 27 9:00PM FREEIn a town where fishing is a deeply rooted tradition, women are considered bad omens on a boat. Without entirely comprehending this creed and inspired by her grandfather’s principles, Tere decides to prove that she can become a fisherwoman. Along with her best friend, one day she is able to catch a great cunaro. But, what seemed to be a dream come true for Tere vanishes quickly in the face of reality, and becomes a life lesson that neither girl will ever forget. Nina is a 10 year old girl whose life changes dramatically when her dying father and Scissor Dancer master asks her to fulfill his last wish. Inspired by an Andean myth and by the short story by Peruvian writer José María Arguedas, "The Agony of Rasu Ñiti."
De ollas y sueños Cooking Up Dreams Ernesto Cabellos Peru, Documentary, 2009 75 min, HDV, Color Spanish with English subtitles
Could it be that an entire nation is represented through its kitchen? Crossing air, land and sea, De ollas y sueños explores Peru’s gastronomic revolution for an answer. From the most humble family kitchens to high-end restaurants, this documentary finds that Peru's cuisine is deliciously integrating with its people who have historically been marked by ethnic and economic differences. Renowned chefs such as Gastón Acurio, Ferrán Adrià, Juan Mari Arzak and Bernardo Roca Rey share their views alongside unsung chefs, who also dream of Peru's cuisine as a motor of development. Audience Award winner at Festival Filmar en América Latina (Geneva, Switzerland).
Texas Premiere
Ernesto Cabellos is an award winning Peruvian documentary filmmaker. His first feature documentary, Choropampa, el precio de oro, earned him three awards including the 2002 OCIC Cinematographic Post-Production Award at the Mar del Plata Film Festival. De ollas y sueños is his second documentary feature.
Producer: Ernesto Cabellos, Susana Araujo Production Companies: Guarango - Tal Screenwriter: Ernesto Cabellos Cinematographer: Ernesto Cabellos Editor: Lessandro Sócrates, Antolín Prieto Sound Design: Takuo Shima, Jose Balado Music: Martin Choy-Yin, Jose Balado Cast: Gastón Acurio, Teresa Izquierdo, Bernado Roca Rey
Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) Sun. April 25 5:00PM FREE Using home movies and other media, Diário de Sintra documents director Paula Gaitán’s return to the Portuguese city of Sintra, to search for memories of her late husband, Brazilian cinema novo pioneer Glauber Rocha. Gaitán and Rocha lived exiled in Portugal in 1981 with their two children, Eryk and Ava, before his untimely death. The filmmaker’s layered experimental work creates an impression of the past through its rich accumulation of images, meditations, and reminiscences.
A woman facing a bleak future recounts her life in sketchy, seemingly random, episodes. One by one the scars and despair left by a life ridden with responsibilities and sacrifice, but little joy, inevitably emerge. Diario del fin is a visceral and moving account filled with brutally honest, yet liberating, confessions.
Don't Let Me Drown Cruz Angeles USA, Drama, 2009 98 min, S16mm, Color English and Spanish with English subtitles
It’s October 2001 and New York is still reeling from the attacks on the World Trade Center when Lalo and Stefanie meet. At first, Stefanie projects a hard exterior, rebuffing Lalo's attempts at conversation. But when a later chance encounter brings the couple together, they begin a friendship that evolves into a romance. It's not long before this new relationship runs into trouble as Stefanie's father forbids her to see Lalo. When he finds out she’s been secretly seeing Lalo, his anger threatens to separate her from Lalo. But their bond only grows stronger as they realize that in a time full of hatred and fear, only love can help them pull through and keep their heads above water. Don't Let Me Drown premiered at 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Austin Premiere
Brooklyn-based filmmaker Cruz Angeles was born in Mexico City and raised in South Central Los Angeles. He is a Sundance Institute Screenwriting and Directing Fellow and an alumnus of the prestigious graduate film program at NYU. His student short films have screened at over 30 international film festivals and have been broadcast on Showtime, PBS, Telemundo and Sí TV. Don't Let Me Drown, his feature film directorial debut, was named one of the top ten films out of Sundance by New York Magazine.
Producer: Maria Topete, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, James Lawler Production Companies: Parts and Labor Films, Rollin' Deep Productions Screenwriter: Cruz Angeles ,Maria Topete Cinematographer: Chad Davidson Editor: Andy Hafitz Sound Design: Micah Bloomberg Music: Daniel Belardinelli Cast: E.J. Bonilla, Gleendylis Inoa, Adrian Martinez, Damian Alcázar, Gina Torres, Raul Castillo, Ricardo Antonio Chavira, Yareli Arizmendi
Regal Metropolitan - Sat. April 24 4:00 PMBuy Tickets El acuarelista The Watercolorist Daniel Rodríguez Peru, Dramedy, 2008 88 min, Super 16mm, Color Spanish with English subtitles
T is an office clerk who wishes to fulfill his grand dream of painting a watercolor but his dream is thwarted by his neighbors, who think it is a sublime trifle, something impractical, even immoral, and who of course have a much better idea of how T must spend his time. Funny, absurd and beautifully shot, El acuarelista is a disquieting metaphor on the ease with which we elude the defense of our most intimate essence and yield the control of our life to others.
Texas Premiere www.elacuarelistalapelicula.com
Daniel Rodríguez (Daniel Ró), has a degree in Economics from the University of Missouri. In 2000, he was awarded a scholarship to complete his MFA in film at New York University. Rodríguez’s short films have been awarded prizes at the Montreal World Film Festival, the International Film Festival of Cartagena, and many others in Peru. With themes of love and social reality, his films manage to capture the irony of human nature in a fantastic and timeless manner. In 2008 he produced Altiplano, a Belgian-German-Netherlands co-production that premiered last year at Cannes.
Producer: Daniel Rodríguez Production Companies: Cinecorp Screenwriter: Daniel Rodríguez, Alvaro Velarde, Eduardo Mendoza Cinematographer: Tanon Sattarujawong Editor: Gianfranco Annchini, Jonatan Relayze Sound Design: Rosa María Oliart Music: Omar Garay Cochea, Aníbal Núñez Cast: Miguel Iza, Salvador del Solar, Patricia Pereyra, Sol Alba
Regal Metropolitan - Fri. April 23 6:00 PMBuy Tickets Chang Rodríguez, a delivery boy from Havana’s colorful Chinatown, is tired of his routine and longs for anything that will change his life. But unbeknownst to him, Chang’s life is actually connected to others living in the same building—including a young woman obsessed with collecting books and instruction manuals, a former Cantonese opera singer, and a Wushu practitioner. Completely unaware of his own power, Chang becomes an instrument of destiny every 12 years, during the year of the pig.
El ataque de los robots de Nebulosa-5 The Attack of the Robots from Nebula-5 Chema García Ibarra Spain, Sci-Fi, 2008 7 min, HDV, Black & White Spanish with English subtitles
Almost everybody is going to die very soon...
Austin Premiere
Chema García Ibarra is 28 years old and was born in Elche, Spain. El ataque de los robots de Nebulosa-5, his first short film, was awarded an honorable mention at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Producer: Chema García Ibarra Production Companies: Chema García Ibarra Screenwriter: Chema García Ibarra Cinematographer: Alberto Gutiérrez Editor: Chema García Ibarra Sound Design: Alejandro Martínez Cast: Jose Manuel Ibarra, Carmen Esteve, Leonor Díaz, Pedro Diez
Regal Metropolitan - Thur. April 22 6:00PM (preceding Miente)
Regal Metropolitan - Mon. April 26 4:00PM (preceding Tercer mundo)
It’s 1988, and Melo, an Uruguayan town on the Brazilian border, awaits the visit of Pope John Paul II. Fifty thousand people are expected to attend, and the most humble locals believe that selling food and drink to the multitude will just about make them rich. Petty smuggler Beto thinks he has the best idea of all when he decides to build a bathroom in front of his house and charge for its use. His efforts bring about unexpected consequences, and the final results will surprise everyone.
El bombillo Juan David Soto Taborda Cuba/Colombia, Documentary, 2009 12 min, MiniDV, Color Spanish with English subtitles
El bombillo is the story of two brothers and their journey home from school. They construct a world of adventures surrounding a light bulb they purchased to brighten up the little house they built with their father.
World Premiere Juan David Soto Taborda wrote the short film Oury Jalloh, based on the real life of a Sierra Leone refugee who was burnt in his prison cell by German police. El bombillo is his first documentary short in which he acted as a director and cinematographer.
Producer: Carlos Rodríguez Production Companies: Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV Screenwriter: Juan D. Soto Taborda Cinematographer: Juan D. Soto Taborda Editor: Juan D. Soto Taborda Sound Design: Orisel Castro
Documentary Shorts Competition Showcase Regal Metropolitan - Sat. April 24 4:00PM
Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) Wed. April 28 9:00PM FREE El bosque The Forest Pablo Siciliano, Eugenio Lasserre Argentina, Psychological Thriller, 2008 105 min, HDV, Color Spanish with English subtitles
El bosque is the story of Dannenberg, a man who lives an isolated and terribly monotonous life in the middle of the countryside. Every day, while standing in front of a couple of tombs, he has the premonition that someone will be coming soon. One afternoon a clock’s pendulum, previously at a standstill, starts working on its own. As he nervously makes his way outside, he notices the shadow of two figures approaching. What he was waiting for has now come and from this point forward, everything becomes unpredictable. A psychological thriller with complex and disquieting sound design.
North American Premiere
Pablo Siciliano and Eugenio Lasserre are both 26-year-old Argentinean filmmakers. They attended La Plata National University and subsequently started working on several commercials and institutional videos. They developed Heroes, an animated educational project supported by the Argentinean Education Ministry and they are currently in pre-production for their newest project, Ceremonia. El bosque is their first feature film.
Producer: Gastón Markotic Production Companies: Delindiecine Screenwriter: Pablo Siciliano, Gastón Markotic Cinematographer: Pablo Alberti, Pablo Yannielli Editor: Pablo Siciliano, Eugenio Lasserre Sound Design: Eugenio Lasserre Music: Daniel Soruco Cast: Oscar Pérez, Paula Brasca, Martín Markotic
Alamo South Lamar - Thurs. April 22 9:45 PMBuy TicketsRegal Metropolitan - Tue. April 27 4:00 PMBuy Tickets
An eccentric host of a popular radio show offering offbeat personal advice takes calls from listeners who disclose their trials, tribulations, and passions. The candid exchange between the host and his listeners leads to three stories that, while different from each other, are similar in the callers’ urgency to reveal all to the radio audience. Based on a successful Chilean radio show, the film portrays stories inspired by real listeners of the show. El chacotero sentimental won the audience award at the Chicago Latino Film Festival, Toulouse Latin America Film Festival and Viña del Mar in 2000.
El cielo, la tierra y la lluvia deals with the lives of four lonely people living through monotony and silence in the south of Chile. They meet to eat, walk on the beach, take the ferry or simply to accompany each other without needing to say anything. In a way, they try to save themselves in a silent, furtive, and extreme manner. They search for love, sex, inexistent family affection, and their own space and time, not only to distance themselves from the loneliness that intimately brings them together, but, ultimately, to find themselves. Ana, a 50-year-old woman, falls into a depression when her husband leaves her. Once she finally decides to get over it, she begins to change from the outside in and, led by rekindled desire, starts a process in which she rediscovers her sexuality. Past and present collide as filmmaker Natalia Almada brings to life audio recordings she inherited from her grandmother—reminiscences about Natalia’s great-grandfather General Plutarco Elías Calles, a revolutionary general who became president of Mexico in 1924. In his time, Calles was called “El Bolshevique” and “El Jefe Máximo” (the foremost chief). Today, he is remembered as “el Quema-Curas” (the Burner of Priests) and as a dictator who ruled through puppet presidents until he was exiled in 1936. Through his daughter’s recordings, El General moves between the memories of a daughter grappling with her memory of her family life versus history’s portrait of her father, and the weight of his legacy in the country today.
El informe Toledo The Toledo Report Albino Álvarez G Mexico, Documentary, 2008 85 min, S16mm/HD/HDV, Color/Black & White Spanish, English, Zapoteca with English subtitles
Francisco Toledo made a series of fifteen prints relating to Franz Kafka’s A Report for An Academy. These self-portraits make up the narrative line of this documentary film that searches for the face of the Juchiteco artist. Toledo’s journey takes us from 1960’s Paris to the 2006 teacher's conflict in Oaxaca, Mexico, and interweaves a plot where the passion and mastery of this Mexican artist is inseparable from the chisel in which a man takes part in historical and social matters and struggles against corruption.
US Premiere
Albino Álvarez Gomez is originally from Zacatecas, Mexico. He studied at the University Center of Film Studies and has taught film and television studies at numerous institutions, including at the Casa del Lago in the Mexican Institute of Educational Communication. He was founder and general coordinator of the Workshop on Audiovisual Experimentation at TV UNAM. In 2005 he founded his own production company, Lo Otro Producciones, which has completed fourteen documentaries thus far.
Producer: Martin Burillo Production Companies: Pegaso Films, Lo Otro Producciones Screenwriter: Albino Álvarez G. Cinematographer: Martin Boege Editor: Omar Guzmán Sound Design: Samuel Larson Music: Steven Brown Cast: Francisco Toledo, Carlos Monsiváis, Elisa Ramírez, Elena Poniatowska Regal Metropolitan - Thurs. April 22 8:00 PM Buy TicketsRegal Metropolitan - Fri. April 23 4:00 PMBuy Tickets
Cultured, prosperous, blessed with three children and many friends, Leonardo and Martha are a truly enviable example of the species “married couple.” Leonardo is an author of considerable repute; Martha, a hyperactive housewife with academic interests. Leonardo sits back and observes; Martha forges ahead and acts. An enviable couple?
El peleador Pablo José Lozano Hernández Cuba/Dominican Republic, Documentary, 2009 22 min, Video, Color Spanish with English subtitles
Leonardo is a young boy who likes to train fighting fish. He lives in San Isidro, a hot, picturesque area of the Old Havana district where the Caribbean colors and allure are an everyday occurrence. One day, he sets out to buy some fighting fish in a shop around the corner just to make them fight the ones he keeps back home. Leonardo’s fighting fish parallel his experiences, in the abstract and in the concrete, as a 10-year-old boy amongst his friends and at the gym where he trains to be a boxer.
Regional Premiere Producer: Christian Quiroga Saldaña Production Companies: Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV Cinematographer: Oliver Mota Editor: Ariel Escalante Meza Sound Design: Raynier Hinojosa O’Farrill
Regal Metropolitan - Fri. April 23 6:00PM (preceding La asamblea)
Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) Wed. April 28 9:00PM El poder de la palabra The Power of Speech Francisco Hervé Chile, Documentary, 2009 75 min, Mini DV, Color Spanish with English subtitles
Hardy, along with many other Chileans, makes a living selling knickknacks on the buses of Santiago. But in 2005 the government announces that Chile “will soon become a world class country and we will have a modern and elegant public transportation system,” meaning they will no longer tolerate commerce on buses. As a result, Hardy brings together two thousand colleagues in a struggle to survive modernity. Without attempting to impose a master narrative, the film presents glimpses into the mobilization of proponents of informal economy in the face of government attempts to sell its “modern” policy. El poder de la palabra won a Special Jury Prize at the Festival Internacional de Documentales de Santiago in 2009.
US Premiere
Francisco Hervé is a writer, director and producer with Panchito Films. He studied journalism and film direction at the EICTV in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. He has worked on various documentaries, television series and short fiction films. He is currently doing pre-production for his first feature film, Vaterland.
Producer: Francisco Hervé Production Companies: Panchito Films Screenwriter: Francisco Hervé, Pablo Leighton, Sebastian Brahm Cinematographer: David Bravo Editor: Sebastian Brahm, Francisco Hervé Sound Design: Roberto Espinoza Music: Fernando Milagros Regal Metropolitan - Sun. April 25 6:00 PMBuy Tickets
El relato de Sam Brennan Sam Brennan's Story Manuel Tonatiuh Moreno Ramos Mexico, Animation, 2008 6 min, 35mm, Color Spanish with English subtitles
While working at his father's tavern, a young boy named Sam is constantly exposed to the stories told by travelers. As a result, Sam imagines himself sailing around the world and visiting strange lands and beautiful places. One day the sailors invite Sam to join their boat crew, but only on the condition that he gives them his father's wine and gold. What will Sam decide?
Texas Premiere Tonatiuh Moreno desires to make traditional 2D animation films of a higher quality and he is particularly interested in themes of fantasy and science fiction. El relato de Sam Brennan is his first animated short, which received mention at several international film festivals including the 2009 Short Film Corner at Cannes.
Producer: Karla Uribe Production Company: IMCINE Screenwriter: Manuel Tonatiuh Moreno Ramos Animation: Manuel Tonatiuh Moreno Ramos, Blanca Araceli Mercado Doñate, Ricardo García Paredes Editor: Mario Martínez Sound Design: Mario Martínez Music: Mary Camarena, Saúl "El Muerto" Ledesma Cast: Mary Camarena, Javier Lacroix, Eric “Superman” Ruiz
Regal Metropolitan - Sat. April 24 10:00PM (preceding Dzi Croquettes) Twenty-eight year-old Enrique Heredia, also known as “Cuajo”, is afflicted by cerebral palsy and has difficulty walking. He and Adolfo, a downbeat 30-year-old who lives with his alcoholic father, decide to open a music studio, where they can earn a living while working with music, their passion. To accomplish this goal, they surround themselves with men and women of different origins and cultures but with whom they all share the common denominator of belonging to a long-suffering and deprived urban community. Winner of the 2009 Goya Award for Best First Feature.
El viaje del cometa The Journey of the Comet Ivonne Fuentes Mendoza Mexico, Documentary, 2008 86 min, HD, Color Spanish with English Subtitles
A couple of retired teachers transform an out-of-use school bus into a mobile home. With the help of a few telescopes, their retiree salary and a dream, they begin their cross-country journey to the most isolated places of Mexico in order to teach astronomy to public schools students.
US Premiere
Ivonne Fuentes Mendoza was born in Mexico City and studied at Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos where she produced the documentary short La Virgen Lupita, which won the Mikeldi prize at the Cinema Festival of Bilbao. She has been nominated for the Ariel prize for best decorator and art director for several films. With the support of the Fondo para la Producción Cinematográfica de Calidad and a grant from FONCA, she shot her first feature film documentary, El viaje del cometa.
Producer: Iván Avila Dueñas Production Companies: Fondo para la Producción Cinematográfica de Calidad, 13 Lunas, Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Panasonic de México, MCO Studios Screenwriter: Ivonne Fuentes Mendoza Cinematographer: Alejandro Cantú Editor: Elena Pardo Sound Design: Pedro Jiménez Music: Sánchez y Ledezma Cast: Enoc Fuentes López, María Luisa Aguilar Aranda, Víctor Enoch García Fuentes
Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) Sun. April 25 9:00PM FREEEl vuelco del cangrejoCrab Trap Oscar Ruíz Navia Colombia, Drama, 200995 min, S16mm, ColorSpanish with English subtitles
Set in the Afro-Colombian community of La Barra on Colombia’s Pacific coast, El vuelco del cangrejo tells the story of both the drama of a young man trying to flee his past, and the pending clash between a remote village and modernity. Daniel arrives in the village looking for a boat to leave the country. He intends to stay for only a few days, but finds his destiny entwined with the village’s for a time. Cerebro, the leader of the community, is trying to adjust to the advent of modernity, facing the prospect of a beach resort being built on land that traditionally had been held by the community. El vuelco del cangrejo was awarded the FIPRESCI Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Regional Premiere
Oscar Ruíz Navia was born in Cali, Colombia in 1982. After studying at the National Film and TV school of Colombia, he graduated in Social Communications at Valley University. Aside from working as assistant director in Carlos Moreno’s Perro come perro and a number of other films, in 2006 he founded Contravía Films, an independent production company.
Producer: Diana Bustamente Escobar, Guillaume de SeilleProduction Companies: Contravia Films, Diana Bustamente,Arizona FilmsScreenwriter: Oscar Ruíz NaviaCinematographer: Sofia Oggioni Hatty, Andres PinedaEditor: Felipe GuerreroSound Design: Miguel Vargas, Frederic Thery, Isabel TorresCast: Rodrigo Velez, Arnobio Salazar Rivas
Regal Metropolitan - Sat. April 24 6:00 PMBuy Tickets
Entrevista con la tierra Interview with the Earth Nicolás Pereda Mexico, Documentary, 2009 18 min, HD, Color Spanish with English subtitles
In Entrevista con la tierra, documentary and fiction seamlessly merge to create a hybrid poetic film. Through a series of interviews and enactments we learn the story of Nico and Amalio, two children who lost a friend while climbing a mountain.
Regional Premiere
Nicolás Pereda was born in Mexico City in 1982. His short films Cycle and This Film is not a Thriller have screened in many festivals in Europe, North America and South America. He has made films and videos for several hybrid plays and operas, which have been presented in Mexico and Europe. In 2007 he earned a Masters in Fine Arts from York University in Toronto, Canada. His award-winning first feature film ¿Dónde están sus historias? has screened at festivals around the world, and his subsequent films have all garnered critical acclaim.
Producer: Nicolás Pereda, Sebastián Hiriart Screenwriter: Nicolás Pereda Cinematographer: Sebastián Hiriart Editor: Nicolás Pereda Sound Design: Nicolás Pereda Music: Marcela Rodríguez Cast: Amalio Miranda, Nico Miranda
Regal Metropolitan - Thur. April 22 8:00PM (preceding El informe Toledo)
Regal Metropolitan - Tues. April 27 10:00PM (preceding Todo, en fin, el silencio lo ocupaba)
Epílogo Epilogue Carlos Correa Mexico, Drama, 2009 16 min, 35mm, Color Spanish with English subtitles
When Manuel's lifelong routine is broken, he finds that he must go out and adapt into an unknown world to prevent himself from disappearing.
Texas Premiere Carlos Correa, a native of Guadalajara, Mexico, earned a Bachelors degree in Audiovisual Arts from the Universidad de Guadalajara. He has worked primarily in the areas of direction and photography for various short films, as well as in the areas of television, video and advertising. In 2007 he won a grant from the Academia Jalisciense de Cinematografía to produce Epílogo, his first short film that was subsequently supported by the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía.
Producer: Kenya Márquez-Alcadef Cortés, Karla Uribe González Production Company: CONACULTA-IMCINE, Academia Jalisciense de Cinematografía - Universidad de Guadalajara, Puerco Rosa Screenwriter: Carlos Correa Cinematographer: Javier Morón Tejero Editor: Felipe Gómez Sound Design: Odin Acosta Music: Mauricio Estrada, Rodrigo Castro, Klaus Mayer, Roberto Sánchez Cast: Germán Robles San Agustín, Candelario Pérez, Sara Isabel Quintero, José de Jesús Hernández, Frank Rodríguez, Eduardo Covarrubias, Denis Corona Ramírez
Panorama Narrative Shorts Showcase Regal Metropolitan - Sun. April 25 12:00PM Exiled In America is a film that explores immigration issues in the United States related to detention and deportation from the point of view of those most affected: children. Over 1.5 million immigrants have been deported since 1996—a policy that has torn families apart and led to human rights violations. Exiled In America tells the story of five siblings who struggle to live in America after their mother was deported to Mexico.
Extranjero is a short film about belonging. The smell of things, the noises and the flavors of the country left behind, haunt you and make you realize that life, maybe, wasn't that terrible back in your country.
Fotógrafos reveals the stories of the photographers who work at the foot of the stairs of the Capitol in Havana, Cuba. Their beautiful antique cameras may be relics of the past as supplies become harder and harder to acquire, yet they remain upbeat as they preserve the images of visitors in sepia-toned photographs.
Several characters, feeling isolated and incomplete, share their solitude inside a maze-like house. They desperately seek to find a complement in each other.
Three teenagers—Gerardo, Nano and Raymundo—spend their spare time stealing gasoline to go joyriding. They travel in one of their mother’s car without a fixed destination, looking to entertain themselves. Each stop is a crash with reality that puts their friendship to the test, showing that teenage friendships have a thin line that separates betrayal, deception, and a kamikaze-like solidarity. Gasolina is an intimate story that shows that youth, country, and future are defined by extremes.
A story about an immigrant's beloved, whose sadness and loneliness are not eased by the remittances sent back to them. The jungle madness known as Grissi Siknis is a contagious, naturally bound syndrome that occurs among the Miskito of Eastern Central America and affects mainly young women. Grissi Siknis is typically characterized by long periods of anxiety, nausea, dizziness, irrational anger and fear interlaced with short periods of rapid frenzy in which the victims lose consciousness, and believe that devils beat them, have sexual relations with them, and run away. Traditional Miskito tradition holds that Grissi Siknis is caused by possession by evil spirits or inflicted by a malevolent evil sorcerer. While Western medicine typically has no effect on those affected with the disease, the remedies of Miskito herbalists or healers are often successful in curing the madness. Historias de fútbol portrays the life, love, and passion involved in soccer, one of the twentieth century’s most important rituals, through the lives of three different characters. The star player of a small neighborhood team from Santiago de Chile is offered a bribe and the possibility of playing professional football. A boy from Northern Chile wins a classic neighborhood pichanga football contest. In the process, however, he loses the few pesos he had gained from pawning one of his mother’s last items of value. A kid from the city finds himself stranded in a remote corner of the southern island of Chiloé on the day of the World Cup qualifying match for the Chilean National team. The only television in the area is at the house of the old Serón sisters, where the kid finds himself in the middle of more than he bargained for. The lodging house owned by Rosa Carbajal at the corner of Shakespeare and Victor Hugo streets in Mexico City, is a shelter that hides an intimate and passionate story. Twenty years ago Rosa met Jorge Riosse, a young tenant who became her closest friend and for eight years made indelible marks on everyone he knew. But after his sudden death, some dark characteristics emerged. The film is a profound sketch of two lonely characters whose lives become strongly and strangely entwined.
In a nursing home, where nothing is left but memories and loneliness, an elderly woman weaves her fate…. Winner of the 2009 Mexican Ariel for Best Animated Short Film. Jaulas Cages Juan José Medina Mexico, Animation, 2009 10 min, 35mm, Color Spanish with English subtitles
Two misfits find it difficult to overcome a cycle of abuse and exploitation in the midst of desolation. Although an animated film, Jaulas focuses on the serious issue of child abuse and exploitation within Mexico, as well as other developing countries. It was awarded the Best Animated Short award at the Guadalajara International Film Festival in 2009.
Texas Premiere Juan José Medina was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco in 1974 and studied at the Guadalajara Plastic Arts University. As a painter and sculptor, Medina has participated in over thirty individual and collective expositions. He directed the short film, El octavo día de la creación (co-produced by IMCINE), which has received awards at several international film festivals. He has also participated in a dozen productions as animator and art director.
Producers: Ana de la Rosa Zamboni, Juan José Medina, Rita Basulto Production Company: CONACINE Screenwriter: Juan José Medina Cinematography: Sergio Ulloa Editing: Uri Espinosa Sound design: Miguel Hernández Montero, Mario Martínez Cobos Music: Alfredo Sánchez Gutiérrez, Mario Osuna Cast: Alfredo Sánchez, Ángel López Chávez
Alamo Drafthouse South Thur. April 22 10:00PM (preceding El bosque)
Narrative Shorts Competition Showcase Regal Metropolitan - Sun. April 25 4:00PM Jonathan French, a little white orphan boy, was adopted as a baby by his Mexican Nanny and Gardener in Beverly Hills. On his 10th birthday, he was miraculously blessed by the Virgin of Guadalupe with the gift of music. While Juan rises from the half-empty soccer bars and Mexican restaurants of East L.A. to international stardom, he changes for the worse, under the influence of a wanna-be Puerto Rican movie star and Cuban talent manager. And when the dark truth about his history is revealed, he must choose between the American-Mexican man he feels he is in his heart, and the 33 year-old bald white guy he sees in the mirror. This irreverant musical mockumentary finds the humor in one man’s search for ethnic identity against the backdrop of a celebrity obesessed culture.
Juntos Together Nicolás Pereda Mexico, Drama, 2009 73 min, HD, Color Spanish with English subtitles
Gabino, Luisa and Paco live in an apartment in Mexico City. They don't have cold water and the refrigerator has broken. They make a trip to the country to find a lost dog.
US Premiere
Nicolás Pereda was born in Mexico City in 1982. His short films Cycle and This Film is not a Thriller have screened in many festivals in Europe, North America and South America. He has made films and videos for several hybrid plays and operas, which have been presented in Mexico and Europe. In 2007 he earned a Masters in Fine Arts from York University in Toronto, Canada. His award-winning first feature film ¿Dónde están sus historias? has screened at festivals around the world, and his subsequent films have all garnered critical acclaim.
Producer: Nicolás Pereda Production Companies: En Chinga Films Screenwriter: Nicolás Pereda Cinematographer: Alejandro Coronado Editor: Nicolás Pereda Sound Design: Nicolás Pereda Cast: Gabino Rodríguez, Luisa Pardo, Francisco Barreiro
Regal Metropolitan - Mon. April 26 10:00PM La asamblea The Assembly Galel Maidana Argentina, Documentary, 2008 70 min, HD, Black & White Spanish with English subtitles
This film proposes a voyage of observation through the heart of the Frente de Artistas del Borda. Every conflict and implicit event in the creative process takes place here, only that, in this case, most of the individuals involved live behind the walls of J.T. Borda’s Neuropsychiatric Hospital. They are deprived of their basic human rights and live under the archaic conceptions of mental health. La asamblea won the 2009 Best Documentary award at the Toulouse Film Festival.
North American Premiere
Galel Maidana was born in 1978 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and currently resides in Buenos Aires, Argentina. La asamblea is his fourth film.
Producer: Matías Tamborenea Production Companies: Ryu Cine Screenwriter: Galel Maidana Cinematographer: Galel Maidana Editor: María Galarza Sound Design: Martín Grignaschi Music: Frente de Artistas del Borda Regal Metropolitan - Fri. April 23 6:00 PMBuy Tickets
La buena vida tells the story of four characters that, while strangers to each other, live in the same bustling city. All of them chase after their dreams: Teresa tries to rescue lives as a psychologist; Edmundo is a hairdresser who dreams of owning a car; Mario wishes to join the Philharmonic; and Patricia works on surviving daily life. As they chase after their dreams, but struggle with misfortune, all of the characters will be surprised by where life takes them.
La canción de los niños muertos The Song of the Dead Children David Pablos Mexico, Drama, 2008 38 min, 35mm, Color Spanish with English subtitles
My mother was murdered and my father remained alone with five children to care for. He could not offer us consolation; instead, he isolated us. He took us to the beach to pass the summer in an old cabin and that was where everything changed. My brothers and I became united by depression and alcohol. All I wanted to do was to leave that place.
US Premiere David Pablos received the prestigious Fulbright scholarship and was able to pursue a Master’s degree in the United States, specializing in film direction and screenwriting. He was invited to partake in the 2008 IDF Academy Summer School with his documentary project One Frontier, All Frontiers. David has also been selected to participate in the Visionary Campus Guadalajara, in collaboration with the Berlinale Talent Campus and the International Film Festival of Guadalajara.
Producer: Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica Production Companies: Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica Screenwriter: David Pablos Cinematographer: Hatuey Viveros Editor: David Pablos Sound Design: Rodrigo Lira Music: Sergei Prokofiev, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Cast: Rubén Pablos, José Martínez, Rodrigo Azuela, Ana Elena Kelly, Sebastián Aguirre, Daniel Corkidi, Flavie Boeda
Panorama Narrative Shorts Showcase Regal Metropolitan - Sun. April 25 12:00PM The movie documents a cross-cultural conquest dance, La Danza de la Pluma, which evolved from Zapotec dance rituals in Oaxaca under the influence of the Spanish colonizers. It incorporates the struggle between Moctezuma and Cortez, Christianity and paganism, with several variations as to the ultimate victor. It has deep cultural significance and importance, with dancers committing themselves for a three-year period, and involves much ritual preparation and community involvement. The movie focuses on the dancers' motivations, their three-year commitment, the sacrifices involved, and how this ancient tradition has survived.
A man remembers a childhood promise, which awakens his curiosity to seek out an old girlfriend again.
A small fishing village in the south of Chile becomes a magnet for hordes of divers, fishermen, merchants, businessmen and prostitutes, who flock in from around the country when the ban on a prized, yet endangered mollusk—“el loco” (the abalone)—is lifted ever so briefly by fishing authorities. Father Antonio is intent on both preventing his flock from running wild as well as raising enough cash for a new antenna that would allow his radio station, “Mother of the Divine Providence” to reach the entire region. The fishing village is also invaded by a small band of hookers led by Norma, a madam who drives her girls in a battered bus to any place around the country where there is action. Carlos Maldonado, a former local diver, comes home after a seven-year absence to join this bizarre group of people so he can buy abalone for a Japanese firm, and also to see Sonia, a love interest from the past.
La guerra gaucha The Gaucho War Lucas Demare Argentina, Drama, 1942 95 min, 35mm, Black & White Spanish with English subtitles
Co-sponsored by Austin Film Society An award-winning epic film, La guerra gaucha is set in the Salta Province in 1817 during Argentina’s war for independence, when the irregular forces commanded by General Martín Güemes carry out a guerrilla action against the Spanish army. The commander of a Spanish army contingent, Lieutenant Villarreal, is wounded, captured by the guerrillas, and put under the medical care of Asunción, the mistress of an estancia. When she finds out from his identification papers that the Lieutenant, though serving in the Spanish army, was born in Lima, she persuades him of the justice of liberating America from Spain. The film was awarded the 1942 Silver Condor for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay from the Argentine Film Critics Association.
Lucas Demare, born in 1910, was a prominent Argentine film director, screenwriter and film producer in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. In 1964 he was a member of the jury at the 14th Berlin International Film Festival. He died of a heart attack at seventy-one in 1981.
Production Companies: Artistas Argentinos Asociados Screenwriters: Ulyses Petit de Murat, Homero Manzi, Based on the novel by Leopoldo Lugones Cinematographers: Bob Roberts Editor: Carlos Rinaldi Sound Design: Jorge Di Lauro Music: Lucio Demare, Juan Ehlert Cast: Enrique Muiño, Francisco Petrone, Angel Magaña, Sebastián Chiola, Amelia Bence, René Mugica
Regal Metropolitan - April 25 10:00PM
Does Venezuela represent the dream of a new socialist society or is it just another distortion of populism and dictatorship? A trip with President Chávez over the largest oil reserve in the world, situated beneath the Orinoco River, becomes the occasion in which to enter into the lives of Venezuelans, nine years after the beginning of the Bolivarian Revolution. The government missions to fight illiteracy and hunger, the creation of a public health care system, and the development of an economy based on cooperative work are some of the achievements which characterize the Chavez era. But on the other hand there are the country’s 60 violent deaths a week and its collapsing hospitals, the closure of the most popular television channel, the old European immigrants in flight, the opposition black list, and the ubiquitous government propaganda. Venezuela en route to socialism: is this still possible in our post-ideological times.
A bourgeois woman driving alone on a dirt road becomes distracted and accidentally runs over something. In the days following this jarring incident, she feels dazed and emotionally disconnected from the people and events in her life as she becomes obsessed with the possibility that she may have killed someone. The police confirm that there were no accidents reported in the area and everything returns to normal until a gruesome discovery is made. Lucrecia Martel’s third feature examines the intricacies of class status and the role of women in a male-dominated society.
La mujer sin piano Woman Without Piano Javier Rebollo Spain, Drama, 2009 95 min, 35mm, Color Spanish with English subtitles
La mujer sin piano portrays 24 hours in the domestic, professional, and sexual life of a 21st century housewife in Madrid. The main characters are a suitcase, a pair of shoes, Carmen Machi (delivering her first leading role) and Czech actor, composer, and scriptwriter Jan Budar. La mujer sin piano was awarded the Silver Seashell Award at San Sebastian International Film Festival for Best Director, and co-winner of the AFI New Lights Competition 2009.
Regional Premiere
Javier Rebollo was born in Madrid, Spain. From 1996 to 2002, he directed various feature documentaries for Spanish television network TVE and he shot a series of short films around the same character and actress, Lola Dueñas, a collaboration that reached its highest peak in 2006 with the critically acclaimed feature film Ce je sais de Lola. La mujer sin piano is his second feature film.
Producer: Stefan Schmitz, María Zamora, Damián París Production Companies: Avalon Productora Screenwriter: Javier Rebollo, Lola Mayo Cinematographer: Santiago Racaj Editor: Angel Hernández Zoido Sound Design: Daniel Fontrodona Music: Emile Millar Cast: Carmen Machi, Jan Budar, Pep Ricart, Nadia de Santiago
Regal Metropolitan - Thurs. April 22 8:00 PMBuy Tickets Regal Metropolitan - Wed. April 28 4:00 PMBuy Tickets
La profecía de los justos The Last of the Just Manuel Carballo Mexico/Spain, Thriller, 2009 85 min, 35mm, Color Spanish with English subtitles
After becoming implicated in a murder case, and the police’s prime suspect, Teo is forced to flee his home in Mexico after being pursued by strange men who try to kill him. While trying to find out who is after him and why, he stumbles upon evidence linking his date of birth to a millenary sect that believes in the existence of the 36 chosen ones: the 36 Just. The sect prophesizes that Teo is the last of the just and that the fate of humanity is in his hands. There is another group of individuals that have sworn their lives to defend these just men. Teo, trapped in a religious war that has lasted for thousands of years, must try to stay alive long enough to discover his true destiny.
US Premiere
Born in Barcelona, Manuel Carballo attended the C.E.C.C. and Mirco-Obert, where he studied directing and filmmaking respectively. In 2002, he wrote and directed his first short, Ulises Pesares, which showed in official selection at Málaga and Medina del Campo. In 2003, the short La última vida, screened in official selection at the Festival de Cine Fantástico of San Sebastian to widespread acclaim. This year, Carballo is directing his second film, Exorcismus, a naturalistic nightmare comprised of an international cast, which has been sold to 22 countries.
Producer: Billy Rovzar, Fernando Rovzar, Julio Fernandez, Teddy Villalba Production Companies: Lemon Films - Filmax - CastelaoScreenwriter: Manuel Carballo Cinematographer: Javier Salmones Editor: Xavi Carrazco, Jorge Macaya Sound Design: Jorge Mira, Enrique Grenier, Eric Dounce Music: Zacarias M de la Riva Cast: Diego Martin, Antonio Dechent, Ana Claudia Talancon, Pedro Armendariz, Raul Mendez
Alamo South Lamar - Mon. April 26 7:00 PMBuy Tickets Fernando Rovzar and Daniel Rovzar of Lemon Films in attendance.
The life of actress Camila Quiroga (1891-1948) seems to have been forgotten. In 1943 an autobiography in a magazine detailed her trips around Latin America and Europe, and discussed her pro-proletarian film Juan sin ropa (1919). Juan sin ropa’s scheduled release unfortunately coincided with Argentina’s Semana Trágica (“Tragic Week”), when a series of labor revolts in Buenos Aires were violently suppressed. But 60 years after her death, interviewees throughout this documentary bring to light more intricate details and stories about the acclaimed actress that would have been otherwise left forgotten.
La sombra del tiempo Teddy Barouh Cuba/France, Drama, 2009 15 min, 35mm, Color Spanish with English subtitles
Nina is haunted by the memory of an experience of prostitution at the age of 10. Now at the age of 27, she will deliver this secret to Gabriel, the man who restored her faith in life.
Regional Premiere Teddy Barouh is a 27-year-old director and screenwriter with ties to Cuba and France. La sombra del tiempo is his first short film.
Producer: Yousef Ananda Production Companies: Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV Screenwriter: Teddy Barouh Cinematographer: Stephane Renard Sound Design: Esteban L. Bruzón González Panorama Narrative Shorts Showcase Regal Metropolitan - Sun. April 25 12:00PM Buy Tickets EICTV Shorts ShowcaseMexican American Cultural Center (MACC) Wed. April 28 9:00PM La tarea Milagro Farfán Cuba/Peru, Documentary, 2009 28 min, MiniDV, Color Spanish with English subtitles
Sayné is an eight-year-old girl who must write a short story about her family for a school assignment. As she writes, she makes discoveries about her family members including her mom, dad, as well as her mom’s girlfriend. Although her mother’s partner has been around for a long time, Sayné begins to understand how her family is different than others and wants to ensure that she isn’t treated differently because of that.
World Premiere Producer: Marcela Esquivel Jiménez Production Companies: Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV Screenwriter: Daniel Tavares de Oliveira, Milagro Farfán Morales Cinematographer: York Neudel Editor: Domingo Lemus Sound Design: Albán Henriquez Music: Sexto Sentido
Panorama Documentary Shorts Showcase Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) Tues. April 27 9:00PM FREE EICTV Shorts Showcase Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) Wed. April 28 9:00PM FREE La tierra sin mal The Land of No Evil Anna Recalde Miranda Paraguay, Documentary, 2008 80 min, MiniDV, Color Spanish, Guaraní with English subtitles
After 35 years under the Stroessner dictatorship, the corrupt Colorado Party (the only political party allowed after the democratic transition) ruled Paraguay for 17 years. In 2008, Fernando Lugo, a former bishop running for president, represents the country’s hope to finally build a better future. La tierra sin mal chronicles the quixotic struggle of Martín Almada, an internationally recognized human rights activist who discovered the Archives of Terror, as he fights to expose the links between the old dictatorial system and the corrupted democracy that future president Lugo will inherit. La tierra sin mal was awarded Best Documentary at the Hai Visto Mai Festival in Siena, Italy.
North American Premiere www.kinemultimedia.com/es/documentales/la-tierra-sin-mal
Anna Recalde Miranda, an Italian-Paraguayan filmmaker, has worked as a producer in Italy and France, where she collaborated with director Hubert Sauper. She also worked with director Lech Kowalski as camerawoman and editor on his last film Winners and Losers, which was selected at the 2007 Locarno Festival in Switzerland. She has directed several documentaries and currently works and resides in Paris, France.
Producer: Cristina Rajola, Anna Recalde Miranda Production Companies: Troubled Production, Kinemultimedia Screenwriter: Anna Recalde Miranda Cinematographer: Anna Recalde Miranda Editor: Andrea Gandolfo Sound Design: Germán Acedo Regal Metropolitan - Sat. April 24 2:00 PMBuy Tickets It is a significant day for 80-year-old Antonio—after an absence of many years, his estranged son is coming to visit. All must be perfect. There will be a toast with special champagne, an embrace, warm words that may finally bridge the gap between them…but before all that, Antonio must wait. Bedridden, he looks out his window at the Patagonian landscape and sees light and life, the past and the present, while sensing the future. He decides to secretly leave the house, unseen by his faithful caretakers, to take what might be a last walk in his fields, breathing the air, treading the earth, inhaling the scent of the land that had been his life. What might otherwise seem like insignificant memories or moments in one’s life take a special, beautiful meaning and weight in this poetic, humanistic film.
La vida loca Christian Poveda France/Spain/Mexico, Documentary, 2009 90 min, HDV/35mm, Color Spanish with English Subtitles
In Central America they are referred to as the : modelling themselves on Los Angeles youth gangs, these groups are now further afield. A childhood at once terrifying and hateful but strangely captivating which typifies the disintegration of family life within Salvadorian society and the despair in which they have grown up. La vida loca is what life is really about in these gangs: youths who suffer; who defy us; who look down on us; who resent and dislike us. So, like cornered dogs, this lost generation responds with pessimism, revolt and death. La vida loca is a documentary about absolute human solitude.
Regional Premiere www.lafemme-endormie.com/vidaloca
Photographer and Documentary Filmmaker, Christian Poveda’s political involvement during the Vietnam War in the 1970’s allowed him to experience the power of images, and the influence they can have over certain events, which inspired his career path. His entire filmography is dedicated to extraordinary political and social situations; it includes over 15 documentaries that have been presented at some of the most prestigious festivals and TV markets worldwide. Poveda was murdered on September 2, 2009 in the suburbs of San Salvador.
Producer: Carole Solive, Luis Bellaba, Emilio Maillé, Gustavo Angel Production Companies: La Femme Endormie, Aquelarre, El Caiman Screenwriter: Christian Poveda Cinematographer: Christian Poveda Editor: Merecedes Alted Sound Design: David Enrique Mendez, Sylvianne Bouget Music: Rocca
Regal Metropolitan - Sun. April 25 8:00 PMBuy Tickets Teenager Juan crashes his family’s car into a telegraph pole on the outskirts of town and then scours the streets searching for someone to help him fix it. His quest leads him to Don Heber, an old, paranoid mechanic whose only companion is his dog Sica; to Lucía, a young mother who is convinced that her real place in life is as a lead singer in a punk band; and to “The One Who Knows,” a teenage mechanic obsessed with martial arts and Kung Fu philosophy. The absurd and bewildering worlds of these characters engage Juan in a one-day journey during which he will come to accept what he was escaping from in the first place—an event both as natural and inexplicable as a loved one’s death.
After Julia is sent to jail for the murder of her lover, she gives birth to a son. Raising a child in prison is difficult, but the only thing that matters to Julia is this new being that accompanies her now. There is no life for her beyond that of her child. Her fellow inmate, Marta, becomes her ally; her mother Sofía, her opponent. While Marta attempts to teach her how to be a mother to her child in the least appropriate place; Sofía wishes to take over rearing the child, so that he can grow up free, outside the prison. The duel between mother and daughter reveals the dilemma facing Julia: is it better for her child to grow up next to his mother in prison, or without her, but in freedom?
Lo bueno de llorar tells the story of a couple, Vera and Alejandro, in the midst of ending their relationship. They are faced with a long night of decisions, doubts, fears, lies, silences, reflections and arguments. In a style reminiscent of Richard Linklater’s Before Sunset (2004), Bize’s film ultimately explores the dissolution of the couple. Intent on exploring the hidden feelings involved in a relationship through its minimalist style, the film reveals the dishonesty that may exist in a relationship, but also great truths about human beings.
Lokas Gonzalo Justiniano Mexico/Chile, Comedy, 2008 95 min, 35mm, Color Spanish with English subtitles
Co-sponsored by the Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival Lokas is a comedy about Charly, a con man of sorts and a convinced homophobe who discovers after years of separation from him, that his father is homosexual and is living with his boyfriend. Pedro, Charly's 9-year-old son, reunites the whole family beyond prejudices.
Regional Premiere Gonzalo Justiniano was born in Chile in 1955, and after studying at the Paris University and the Louis Lumière Film School in France, Justiniano moved back to Chile to produce Los guerreros pacifistas (The Pacifist Warriors), a documentary about the punk movement in Chile. His first feature film, Los hijos de la guerra fría, won the award for Best First Feature in Biarritz, among other awards. Since 2000, he has directed the feature films El Leyton, B-Happy--winner of several international awards--and Lokas.
Producers: Daniel de la Vega, Gonzalo Justiniano, Rodrigo Bastidas Production Companies: Sahara Films, Cinecorp, Bastidas S.A. Screenwriter: Rodrigo Bastidas, Gonzalo Justiniano Cinematographer: Andrés Garretón Editor: Carolina Quevedo Sound Design: Andrés Carrasco Music: Cuti Aste Cast: Rodrigo Bastidas, Coco Legrand, Raimundo Bastidas, Fabiola Campomanes, Rodrigo Murray
Regal Metropolitan - Sun. April 25 10:00 PMBuy Tickets
Looking for Palladin Andrzej Krakowski USA/Guatemala, Comedy/Drama, 2009 115 min, HDVcamPro, Color English, Spanish with English subtitles
Arrogant Hollywood talent agent, Josh Ross, is sent to Guatemala to find two-time Oscar winning actor Jack Palladin. Although they’d never met, the search is emotionally complicated as the long-time retired star was once married to the Josh’s late mother. The young agent’s contempt for the old actor mirrors his comedic distaste for the local community whose help he desperately needs in order to find Palladin. What Josh hopes will be a quick and lucrative deal turns into a soul-searching journey. The retired star and his estranged son must confront the past they had forsaken.
Regional Premiere
Andrzej Krakowski studied at the famed Polish National Film School in Lodz, Poland and at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Krakowski has written, produced, and directed over 50 films all over the world, tackling subject matters often considered risky and unpopular by Hollywood standards. Looking for Palladin is his latest feature.
Producer: Mahyad Tousi Production Companies: Looking for Palladin LLC Screenwriter: Andrzej Krakowski Cinematographer: Giovanni Fabietti, Alberto Chaktoura Editor: Babak Rassi Sound Design: Bob Pomann Music: Joel Dancyger, James Skinger Cast: Ben Gazzara, David Moscow, Talia Shire, Vincent Pastore, Angelica Aragon, Pedro Armandariz Jr., Roberto Diaz Gomar, The Morales Brothers
Regal Metropolitan - Sun. April 25 2:00 PMBuy Tickets
In 1930, the American Smelting & Refining Company hired William "Bill" Parker to work at the Angangueo mines in Michoacán. Bill arrived with his girlfriend, Joyce Hartzell, a photographer. Bill and Joyce fell in love with the town and its simple ways and decided to make it their permanent home. Bill was an amateur filmmaker and used his 16mm camera to shoot several documentaries portraying day-to-day life in Angangueo and Joyce’s trips around Spain and South America. But Joyce died in 1975, victim to pulmonary cancer, and 36 days later, Bill shot himself in the head. Bill’s diary describes those last few days: from Joyce’s passing to his own suicide. The movies and photographs made by the Parkers over the years become the material that relives their memories and tells the story of these two lovers that even death couldn’t tear apart.
Los herederos is a portrait of the young children in the Mexican countryside who begin to work at an early age. The film focuses on their daily struggle for survival and their activities in farming, sculpting and painting “alebrijes,” shepherding, making bricks, weaving, looking after their siblings, collecting water, harvesting tomato, chili, maize, and laboring in a myriad of other activities. They have inherited tools and techniques from their ancestors, but they have also inherited their day-to-day hardship because, as generations pass, child workers seem to remain captive in a cycle of inherited poverty.
Los ojos de Javier is a short narrative written and shot in two days for the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities. It tells the story of Javier, who wakes up one day to find that his eyes have walked out on him. They did not bother trying to explain the reasons why, they just packed up their stuff and left. The film deals in a light, comedic way with the serious issues of soul disability and loss of identity.
Los viajes del vientoThe Wind Journeys Ciro Guerra Colombia/Germany/Argentina/The Netherlands, Drama, 2009 117 min, 35mm, Color Spanish with English subtitles
Late in life, Ignacio sets out on a journey to return an accordion to its proper owner vowing never to play it again. Along the way, Ignacio begrudgingly accepts the company of a young dreamer named Fermín. Together they discover new ways of survival and the uniqueness of Colombian culture. Ignacio eventually tries to dissuade Fermín from becoming a traveling musician, as it will only lead to a life of sadness and solitude. However, Ignacio will have to face the fact that perhaps destiny has different plans for him and his pupil. Beautifully composed, with breathtaking cinematography capturing the beauty and diversity within Colombia, this film has won awards including the 2009 Award of the City of Rome (Festival de Cannes).
Regional Premiere
Ciro Guerra, born in Rio de Oro, Colombia graduated with a degree in Film and Television from the National University of Colombia. At the age of 20 he directed his first feature film, La sombra del caminante, which was selected at over three dozen international film festivals. It has also won numerous international awards including the 2005 Jury Prize for Best Debut Film at the Trieste Festival of Latin American Cinema. Los viajes del viento is his second feature film.
Producer: Christina Gallego, Diana Bustamante Production Companies: Razor Films, Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul, Cine Ojo, Primer Plano, Marcelo Cespedes, Pascual Condito, Volya Films, Denis Vaslin, ZDF Screenwriter: Ciro Guerra Cinematographer: Paulo Andrés Pérez Editor: Ivan Wild Sound Design: José Jairo Florez Music: Ivan Ocampo Cast: Marciano Martínez, Yull Nunez
Regal Metropolitan - Tues. April 27 8:00 PMBuy Tickets
Luca is the story of Luca Prodan, a young Italian man educated in Great Britain caught in the frenzy of London’s punk rock scene in the late 1970s, who takes a leap of faith by traveling to Argentina during the military dictatorship just before the war in the Falkland Islands. Here he formed SUMO, a rock band that left its mark on three generations and that, still to this day, remains a legend and an inescapable reference for Latin American musicians.
Mal día para pescar Bad Day to Go Fishing Alvaro Brechner Uruguay/Spain, Drama, 2009 104 min, 35mm, Color Spanish with English subtitles
Jacob van Oppen, the former strongest man on earth, and his manager Orsini, a scrawny yet dapper businessman who calls himself "The Prince," make a good living by traveling around small South American towns and organizing wrestling exhibitions in run down theaters. Jacob is an uncontrollable titan of impressive dimensions who can only be appeased by the soft soothing melody of Lili Marleen. Once this oddball pair disembark at the village of Santa Maríam business really kicks off. Ever so resourceful, Orsini knows how to find the right combatant but fishing in Santa María could lead to a bigger catch than he's hoped for. Although the cunning editor of the local newspaper is convinced to have sniffed out Orsini's secret, he very well might be on a false track.... Mal día para pescar was an official selection in the 48th Cannes International Critic's Week 2009.
Regional Premiere www.verticecine.com/maldiaparapescar
Born in 1976 in Montevideo, Alvaro Brechner has lived in Spain since 1999. He has directed several documentaries for the History Channel, the Odyssey Channel, Spanish National TV (TVE) and three short films. Mal día para pescar is his first feature film.
Producer: Virginia Hinze, Pablo Ramírez Production Companies: Expresso Films, Baobab Films, Telespan 2000 Screenwriter: Alvaro Brechner, Gary Piquer Cinematographer: Alvaro Gutiérrez Editor: Teresa Font Sound Design: Nacho Royo Music: Mikel Salas Cast: Gary Piquer, Jouko Ahola, Antonella Costa, César Troncoso
Regal Metropolitan - Fri. April 23 8:00 PMBuy Tickets Director Alvaro Brechner in attendance.
Mala memoria Bad Memory Alfonso Esquivias Jaime Mexico, Black Comedy, 2009 10 min, 35mm, Color Spanish with English subtitles
Don Bartolo is a forgetful old man who no longer knows or cares what is going on in his daily life so long as he has milk, cookies, and his wife Margarita.
Texas Premiere Alfonso Esquivias is a graphic designer by profession but he has been directing films since 2004. He currently holds the position of creative director at an advertising agency as well as teaches film, design and creativity coursework at the university level. Mala memoria is his second short film as writer and director.
Producer: Leticia Ramírez Fregoso Production Company: CONACULTA-IMCINE Screenwriter: Alfonso Esquivias Jaime Cinematographer: Carlos Davis Collín Editor: César Octavio Valdés Sound Design: Agustín Enríquez Music: Mario Osuna, Miguel Chávez Cast: Emilio Balli, Yosi Lugo
Panorama Narrative Shorts Showcase Regal Metropolitan - Sun. April 25 12:00PM
Memoria de los peces Enrique Mencia Medrano Cuba/Puerto Rico, Fiction, 2009 12 min, MiniDV, Color Spanish with English subtitles
A beautiful and lonely old lady lives alone in a large house full of nothing but memories and her fish. One night she receives a phone call, but encounters only silence. The next night, at the same time, she receives a similar call. The silent, anonymous phone calls continue and begin to change her feelings of solitude, creating an illusion in her life.
World Premiere Producer: Vanesa Portieles Figueredo Production Companies: Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV Screenwriter: Chiara Marañón Cinematographer: Felipe Díaz Cifuentes Editor: Aldo Rey Valderrama Sound Design: Olivia Hernández Fernández Music: Enrique Baydán Ríos Escribano Cast: Eslinda Núñez Regal Metropolitan - Sat. April 24 6:00PM (preceding El vuelco del cangrejo) EICTV Shorts Showcase Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) Wed. April 28 9:00PMMemorias del desarrollo Memories of Overdevelopment Miguel Coyula USA/Cuba, Drama/Experimental, 2010 113 min, HD CAM, Color English, Spanish with English subtitles
Sergio Garcet is a Cuban novelist living an isolated life in New York City, who, despite having experienced the Cuban Revolution, now feels like nothing more than an aging college professor. Frustrated by his publisher’s lack of interest in his new novel and his increased inability to relate to others, he builds collages depicting his mordant vision of the world. The film's narrative structure consists of a mash-up of flashbacks, dreams, and hallucinations mixing live action, animation, and news footage from the last half of the 20th century. Memorias del desarrollo is a follow-up to the Cuban classic Memorias del subdesarrollo, based on the 1968 novel by Cuban writer Edmundo Desnoes. The film was an Official Selection at Sundance Film Festival 2010.
Regional Premiere www.memories-of-overdevelopment.com
Miguel Coyula was born in 1977, in Havana, Cuba. At the age of 17, he made his first short with a VHS camcorder, which led to his admittance to the International Film School of San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. Since then, he has won numerous awards for his experimental short films. His first feature, Red Cockroaches was described by Variety as "a triumph of technology in the hands of a visionary with know-how" and went on to win several international awards.
Producer: David Leitner Production Companies: Memorias LLC Screenwriter: Miguel Coyula Cinematographer: Miguel Coyula Editor: Miguel Coyula Sound Design: Miguel Coyula Music: Dika Durbuzovic, Hayes Greenfield, Miguel Coyula Cast: Ron Blair, Eileen Alana, Susana Pérez, Lester Martínez, Dayana M. Hernández
Regal Metropolitan - Thurs. April 22 10:00 PMBuy Tickets Regal Metropolitan - Tue. April 27 6:00 PMBuy Tickets
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