GUADALAJARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL IN LOS ANGELES 2018

By José Alberto Hermosillo

FICG in LA! 2018 poster

The Guadalajara Film Festival in Los Angeles continues building bridges between Mexico and the USA. Besides the features, documentaries, and short films, the festival brings other essential works from Ibero-America and the USA, including the Oscar entries for Best Foreign Language Film from Peru, “Wiñaypacha/Eternity,” and “Champions” from Spain.

 

Thirty-three years ago in Mexico, the Guadalajara Film Festival was founded by Oscar-winner director Guillermo del Toro. Today, the festival in Los Angeles wants to contribute to the public's necessity for Diversity. The representation of other communities is strong, with the first film about Afro-Mexicans in Oaxaca: “La Negrada.”

  Many Angelinos still need to become familiar with the Guadalajara International Film Festival in Los Angeles. It is celebrated in the heart of Hollywood with the association of the UDG Foundation-USA and the University of Guadalajara-Mexico.

Xavier Lopez “Chavelo,” “The Mongolian Conspiracy”

The festival in Los Angeles brings legendary Latino celebrities such as actor/producer Hugo Stiglitz (“Alive/Sobrevivientes de los Andes”) and the long-lived TV personality Xavier Lopez “Chavelo,” who has a supporting role opposite Eugenio Derbez in the Opening Film “The Mongolian Conspiracy” directed by Sebastian del Amo (“Cantinflas,” “El mundo fantastico de Juan Orol”).

Since the beginning, the festival has given many Latin American personalities recognition with the “Tree of Life” Award.

Omar Chaparro, Martha Higadera. Photo Jose Hermosillo.

This year, Guadalajara honors the work of actress/producer Martha Higadera (“Street Kings,” “Altered Carbon,” “No Manches Frida”). There is also a well-deserved recognition to Omar Chaparro (“Overboard,” “Pulling Strings”) for his participation in films in Mexico and the USA.

Damian Alcazar. Photo Jose Hermosillo

Actor Damian Alcazar (“The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian,” “Herod’s Law,” “Forgotten,” “Cronicas”) will receive his “Tree of Life” Award as well.

Press Conference at the Mexican Consulate of Los Angeles.

The festival has a unique WIP Latino program, which gives economic incentives to the post-production stage of feature films and documentaries. WIP helps talented filmmakers to finish their projects. 

We also hope to focus more on outreach for Distribution Deals and have a fair share of Latino-themed films for movie theaters in the USA. For more information about this program, e-mail info.industria@ficg.mx.

We highly recommend the 8^th Edition of FICG in LA because this year, the program has many exceptional films worth your time.

Tipsheet: FICGinLA
When: Oct 26-29

Where: Opening Night, Egyptian Theater, Hollywood, 

Screenings: TCL Chinese 6, 

Shorts Showcase: Mexican Consulate. 

English subtitles.

PROGRAM: http://www.ficginla.com/

TO ACCESS OUR INTERACTIVE FILM FESTIVAL CALENDAR FROM YOUR MOBILE PHONE, CLICK AT THE END: View web version. 

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Festival in LA ©2018

16 Latino Submissions for the Academy Awards® 2017

By José Alberto Hermosillo,

This year, many great films from all over the world submit for consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film category, a record number of 85 films had the requisites to claim one Oscar.

Notably, 2017 is not a good year for the Latino productions. Most of those submissions have no possibilities to compete with the European productions in contention. 

The list of best foreign films includes legendary directors and some favorites to get a nomination. Paul Verhoeven for "Elle" representing France. Oscar winner Iranian director Asghar Farhadi for "The Salesman." Xavier Dolan for "It's Only the End of the World" from Canada, and the German festival sensation "Tony Erdmann," or the Swiss animation "My Life as a Zucchini."

The Latino-American countries have to learn what kind of movies the Academy is looking for, to choose better and more competitive films. 

We need to have those films screening in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, where the members of the Academy are. Also, they need to invite more press to review our films and meet the filmmakers. Still, a lot of work to do to reach Universality for Latino films

What is important is that the Latino Submissions have to be watched by more Academy members and also by the Latino community, just to appreciate the excellent representation of the Latino culture in films. 

The Latino submissions are hard to catch at regular movie theaters, but we have to watch them somehow.  

ARGENTINA
THE DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN/ 
El ciudadano ilustre
Dir. Gastón Duprat and
Mariano Cohn,
Spanish.

BOLIVIA

SEALED CARGO/

Carga Sellada

Dir. Julia Vargas-Weise,

Spanish.

BRAZIL

SMALL SECRET/

Pequeno segredo

Dir. David Schurmann,

Portuguese.

CHILE

NERUDA/

Neruda

Dir. Pablo Larrain,

Spanish.

COLOMBIA

ALIAS MARIA/

Alias María

Dir. José Luis Rugeles Gracia,

Spanish.

COSTA RICA

ABOUT US/
Entonces Nosotros
Dir. Hernan Jimenez
Spanish.

CUBA
THE COMPANION/
El acompañante 
Dir. Pavel Giroud,
Spanish.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
FLOR DE AZÚCAR/

Sugar Flower

Dir. Fernando Baez Mella,

Spanish.

ECUADOR
SUCH IS LIFE IN THE TROPICS

Sin muertos no hay carnaval

Dir. Sebastián Cordero,

Spanish.

MEXICO

DESIERTO

Dir. Jonás Cuarón,

Spanish, English.

PANAMA

SALSIPUEDES

Dir. Ricardo Aguilar Navarro and

Manuel Rodríquez,

Spanish.

PERU

VIDEOPHILLIA (AND OTHER VIRAL SYNDROMES).

Dir. Juan Daniel Frenández,

Spanish, English.

PORTUGAL

LETTERS FROM WAR

Dir. Ivo M. Ferreira,

Portuguese.

SPAIN

JULIETA

Dir. Pedro Almodóvar,

Spanish.

URUGUAY

BREADCRUMBS/

Migas de pan

Dir. Manane Rodriguez,

Spanish.

VENEZUELA

FROM AFAR/

Desde Allá

Dir. Lorenzo Vigas,

Spanish.

 

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Copyright © 2016 Festival in LA

PLATINO AWARDS 2017 MADRID - CANCUN MEXICO NEXT

By José Alberto Hermosillo

The PLATINO AWARDS were handed to the best of the Ibero-American film productions in an exquisite gala celebrated Saturday night in Madrid, Spain.

Eugenio Derbez ("Instructions Not Included") jokes about winning Platino at an LA press conference in 2015.
File Photo by Jose Hermosillo © 2017 FESTIVAL IN LA

The recipients of the Platino Awards are from Spain, Brazil, the USA, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, and the rest of Ibero-America. They represent the richness of the Latino culture in the world.

The legendary personalities in the Latino Film Industry who won an award during the exciting evening were: Pedro Almodovar, Sonia Braga, Edward James Olmos, Eugenio Caballero, and the music composer Alberto Iglesias.

The Platino Award  Ceremony © 2017 Platino Awards

The Spanish-Argentinean co-production “The Distinguished Citizen/El Ciudadano Ilustre,” directed by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, received the Platino Award for Best Ibero-American Film and two other prestigious awards.

For the first time, a film in the English language was considered for the awards, “A Monster Calls.” A film made by the Spanish visionary director J.A. Bayona (“The Impossible,” “The Orphanage,” and in post-production “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”).

"A Monster Calls" production team and their Platino Award © 2017 Platino Awards.

The British-Spanish-American co-production took home four technical awards, including Best Production Design for Mexican-born Oscar winner Eugenio Caballero (“Pan’s Labyrinth/El laberinto del Fauno”).

 Platino Award  Ceremony © 2017 Platino Awards

The fourth edition of the Platino Awards represented 23 countries that submitted their films for consideration. The Spanish productions and co-productions wiped out the prizes in almost every category.

THE PLATINO AWARDS 4^TH EDITION WENT TO:

The Platino Award Winners © 2017 Platino Awards

Best Ibero-American Film: “The Distinguished Citizen/El Ciudadano Ilustre,” Argentina-Spain.

Pedro Almodovar and his Platino Award © 2017 Platino Awards

Best Director: Pedro Almodovar, for “Julieta.”

 Oscar Martinez and his Platino Award © 2017 Platino Awards

Best Leading Actor: Oscar Martínez, for “The Distinguished Citizen/El Ciudadano Ilustre,” Argentina-Spain.

Sonia Braga and her Platino Award © 2017 Platino Awards

Best Leading Actress: Sonia Braga, for “Aquarius,” Brazil.

Best Screenplay: Andrés Duprat, for “The Distinguished Citizen,” Argentina-Spain.

Best Editing: Jaume Marti and Bernat Villaplana, for “A Monster Calls.”

Best Production Design: Eugenio Caballero, for “A Monster Calls.”

Best Cinematography: Oscar Faura, for “A Monster Calls.”

Best Sound: “A Monster Calls.”

Best Original Score: Alberto Iglesias, for “Julieta,” Spain.

Best Animated Film: “Birdboy: The Forgotten Children/Psiconautas Los Niños Olvidados,” directed by Alberto Vázquez and Pedro Rivero, Spain.

"Born in Syria" Best Documentary:, directed by Hernán Zin. © 2017 Platino Awards

Best Documentary Film: “Born in Syria/Nacido en Siria,” directed by Hernán Zin, Denmark-Spain. 

Best Debut Film: “Desde allá/From Afar,” directed by Lorenzo Vigas, Venezuela/Mexico.

The PLATINO for Education in Cinema Values: “Esteban,” directed by Jonal Cosculluela, Spain-Cuba.

Best TV Mini-Series and Best Ibero-American T.V. Series: “Cuatro estaciones en la Habana,” starring Jorge Perugorría and Juana Acosta, Spain-Cuba. 

Lifetime Achievement Award: Edward James Olmos
 © 2017 Platino Awards

The Lifetime Achievement Award: Edward James Olmos. 

Hosted by Spanish comedian Carlos Latre and Uruguayan actress and singer Natalia Oreiro, the Platino gala was broadcast to over 80 million homes with the collaboration of 17 television and cable stations.

We hope that shortly more categories could be added - such as Best Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress, best original song, short live-action short animated film, and best technological achievement.

To reach a bigger audience, it will be helpful to host screenings of some of the nominated films (best picture, documentaries, and animations) in selected cities and invite the audience of some of the participant countries just to assist in the much-needed distribution of such worthy films.

The Platino Award Ceremony announcing in Madrid that Mexico will be hosting the next Award Ceremony © 2017 Platino Awards

The last big announcement of the night was given at the end; the following hosting city of the Platino Awards will be Cancun, Mexico, one of the world’s most famous tourist destinations.

Filmmakers and film lovers will meet again for the fifth time in the Mayan Rivier in the summer of 2018 to honor the best works of Ibero-America.

PLATINO AWARDS PROMO

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Copyright © 2017 Festival in LA