The following is the complete list of winners for the 11th Annual Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival:
Features CATEGORY:
Best Film - Rita Award
Winner: El Corazón de la Tierra
Director: Antonio Cuadri
Country: Spain / Portugal / UK
Best Screenplay
Winner: Madrigal
Director: Fernando Pérez
Screenwriters: Fernando Pérez, Eduardo del Llano, Susana María
Country: Cuba/Spain
Best Director
Winner: El Cobrador (In God we Trust)
Director: Paul Leduc
Country: Mexico
OPERA PRIMA CATEGORY: Best Opera Prima
Winner: Ladrones
Director: Jaime Marques Olarreaga
Country: Spain
Special Jury Award: Opera Prima
Malos Hábitos (Bad Habits)
Director: Simón Bross
Country: Mexico
Special Jury Award: Opera Prima
La León
Director: Santiago Otheguy
Country: Argentina
Best Documentary
Winner: Invisibles
Directors: Fernando León de Aranoa, Javier Corcuera, Mariano Barroso, Wim Wenders, Isabel Coixet.
Country: Spain
Special Mention:Documentaries
Estrellas (Stars)
Directors: Federico León and Marcos Martínez
Country: Argentina
Special Mention: Documentaries
Compañeras
Directors: Elizabeth Massie, Mathew Buzzell
Country: USA
SHORTS CATEGORY:
Best Short:
Winner: The Grass Grows Green: Life and Death From Behind the Recruiting Office Desk
Director: Jesús Beltrán
Country: USA
Special Mention: Shorts
Juanito Bajo el Naranjo (Juanito Under The Orange Tree)
Director: Juan Carlos VillamizarCountry: Colombia
Showing posts with label Los Angeles International Latino Film Festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Los Angeles International Latino Film Festival. Show all posts
Monday, October 15, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Los Angeles Latino Film Festival Recap
It's been a somewhat frustrating week. We had high hopes for this year's Los Angeles Latino Film Festival since this was the first year at the Arclight in Hollywood. A beautiful space, top notch screens--a wonderful venue to discover new films in the middle of Hollywood. While there were emails each day relating the days events (a vast new improvement), it was impossible to find out what the repeat screenings would be and which films had been canceled. Posting this on the web site would have been nice--this is basic stuff. Putting on a film festival is hard work and takes a cadre of staff and volunteers who are running around for a week putting out fires and getting very little sleep. The trick is making it seamless and LALIFF is still not there. Even the procedure to pick up tickets changed mid-week, making in harder to get in to see desired screenings.
Los Angeles absolutely deserves and must have a top notch Latino Film Festival in 2007. The explosion of films from Latin America, the U.S. and Spain means there is no lack of films. And there is competition: for years AFI and the Los Angeles Film Festival have bolstered their Latino selections and what they feature is what should be at LALIFF in terms of quality and diversity.
In the end though, it's about the movies, and the week at Arclight did provide a chance to catch something engaging that might not end up on a screen somewhere near you sometime soon.
Los Angeles absolutely deserves and must have a top notch Latino Film Festival in 2007. The explosion of films from Latin America, the U.S. and Spain means there is no lack of films. And there is competition: for years AFI and the Los Angeles Film Festival have bolstered their Latino selections and what they feature is what should be at LALIFF in terms of quality and diversity.
In the end though, it's about the movies, and the week at Arclight did provide a chance to catch something engaging that might not end up on a screen somewhere near you sometime soon.
La Edad de la Peseta- a fantastic way to end the festival
On Sunday, the last day of LALIFF, I was in the mood for a feature film and the day was chock full of documentaries. I took a chance with La Edad de la Peseta (The Silly Age), a Spanish/Cuban production directed by Pavel Giroud.
Giroud's film is a bittersweet coming-of-age tale set in Havana in 1958 on the eve of the Cuban Revolution. Samuel and his somewhat slutty mother, on the heels of yet another divorce, end up not entirely welcome his grandmother Violeta's well to do home in Havana. While his mother looks for work and men, Samuel finds himself on the frustrating cusp of his teenage years as he navigates his own sexuality and love. His anachronistic relationshop with his grandmother, a sometime "blue" photographer changes over time.
Beautifully shot in vibrant colors, La Edad de la Peseta has a Sirkian quality to it mixed with deep, modern sarcasm.
Giroud's film is a bittersweet coming-of-age tale set in Havana in 1958 on the eve of the Cuban Revolution. Samuel and his somewhat slutty mother, on the heels of yet another divorce, end up not entirely welcome his grandmother Violeta's well to do home in Havana. While his mother looks for work and men, Samuel finds himself on the frustrating cusp of his teenage years as he navigates his own sexuality and love. His anachronistic relationshop with his grandmother, a sometime "blue" photographer changes over time.
Beautifully shot in vibrant colors, La Edad de la Peseta has a Sirkian quality to it mixed with deep, modern sarcasm.
Friday, October 12, 2007
La Buena Voz (The Good Voice)
Had I listened to the little voice in my head I would have left the theater in the middle of this muddy melodrama from Spain.
A couple who looks like they've hated every moment they've lived together is come undone by the appearance of an old family friend with a secret to tell. She's the wife's best friend and she's come to tell her that her son was born out of a fling she had with her husband 27 years ago. Instead of getting angry, Rosa is happy since she couldn't have kids of her own. Enter the son, who is also gay and has just found out he has AIDS. Enter his ex-boyfriend, who doesn't want to leave him. Enter the father, who won't accept a gay son.
Enter a thousand cliches of every bad telenovela you will find yourself in the middle of La Buena Voz, trying too hard to be a hip meditation on life in the 21st century.
The one and only saving grace to this film is the cinematography, which is excellent and the opportunity to see Bilbao, where the film was shot.
A couple who looks like they've hated every moment they've lived together is come undone by the appearance of an old family friend with a secret to tell. She's the wife's best friend and she's come to tell her that her son was born out of a fling she had with her husband 27 years ago. Instead of getting angry, Rosa is happy since she couldn't have kids of her own. Enter the son, who is also gay and has just found out he has AIDS. Enter his ex-boyfriend, who doesn't want to leave him. Enter the father, who won't accept a gay son.
Enter a thousand cliches of every bad telenovela you will find yourself in the middle of La Buena Voz, trying too hard to be a hip meditation on life in the 21st century.
The one and only saving grace to this film is the cinematography, which is excellent and the opportunity to see Bilbao, where the film was shot.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Estrellas de la Linea (The Railway All Stars)
By far the most engaging documentary of the festival, Estrellas tells the story of a group of Guatemalan prostitutes who form a soccer team to bring attention to the abuses they suffer at the hands of police and clients in Guatemala City. They live precariously at the end of the line, so to speak, and the doc does an excellent job of treating them with respect and showing their struggle with compassion, dignity and a large unexpected dose of humor. We see them at work, with their families, training for soccer matches and traveling the country.
This doc could easily be turned into a feature film and the hope is that a larger audience would see it.
This doc could easily be turned into a feature film and the hope is that a larger audience would see it.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Evo Morales the Cocalero
Just got out of the screening of Cocalero, which I was really looking forward to seeing. Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia who was also a coca grower union leader, captured the attention of lefties all over the world when he was elected president 2 years ago.
Cocalero takes a meandering look at his life in the months before he won the presidency, the cocaleros of Bolivia and a glimpse of life in a country that isn't really in the news that often. We see Evo jump into a river in his tighty-whities with his campaign staff and a little about a nascent class conscious democracy (watching one of his female staffers/union leaders give workshops on voting to people who can't read or write is particularly stirring) but the film isn't as substantive as it could be and leaves a lot to be desired-Morales isn't asked the tough questions and there's too much of a tribute feel to this documentary.
Note: the film is in Spanish and subtitled in Spanish, which doesn't help anyone who can't read or listen to Spanish fluently.
Cocalero takes a meandering look at his life in the months before he won the presidency, the cocaleros of Bolivia and a glimpse of life in a country that isn't really in the news that often. We see Evo jump into a river in his tighty-whities with his campaign staff and a little about a nascent class conscious democracy (watching one of his female staffers/union leaders give workshops on voting to people who can't read or write is particularly stirring) but the film isn't as substantive as it could be and leaves a lot to be desired-Morales isn't asked the tough questions and there's too much of a tribute feel to this documentary.
Note: the film is in Spanish and subtitled in Spanish, which doesn't help anyone who can't read or listen to Spanish fluently.
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