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What I appreciate about Netflix is that it will give us a show with a 40-year-old female protagonist like it’s no big deal, but if that show is unoriginal and practically crap, I don’t know what to do with myself. In all honesty, Envious is almost like Emily in Paris, but it’s Emily in her 40s, and she’s an Argentinian interior designer in Buenos Aires. What I’m trying to say is if I had to rank obnoxious lead female characters, Emily and Vicky might be fighting for that number one spot. I’m not opposed to a dramatic character arc and a character who is sure of herself, because you best believe that’s me, but this show is relentless at showing the lead character as someone who just doesn’t get the hint. Vicky’s covetous behavior only makes us as the viewer more...

Italian producer Manuel Tedesco of Baires Produzioni has boarded Rispo Films’ “The Night Belongs to the Monsters,” the companies’ second feature from filmmaker Sebastian Perillo, and one of this year’s hottest titles in the Blood Window Works in Progress section at Ventana Sur.

Tedesco joins as a minority co-producer, partnering once again with regular associate and fellow co-producer on the film Javier Krause of Kafilms in Argentina and the newly-formed Kaf Suisse. Tedesco will provide post-production services from Italy, employing Luca Vulterini for Image and light and Pino Curci of Italia Film for sound; Lucas Savioti will handle VFX. His involvement is the final piece of the post-production pie, assuring that the film will be finished in early 2021.

“The Night Belongs to the Monsters” stars exciting newcomer Lu Grasso (“Terror 5” – also produced by Rispo), Argentine Academy Award-winner Esteban Lamothe (“El estudiante”), Jazmín Stuart (“Recreo”) and Gustavo Garzón (“Sueño Florianópolis...

Strong interest from US, Russia, Cis.

Madrid-based Latido Films continues to field strong interest on its zombie horror Virus 32 and has struck several key Asian deals.

Rights have gone in South-Korea (Contents Gate Co.) and Taiwan (Medialink Entertainment), while Bodhi Films has acquired the film for Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Myanmar.

A deal is understood to be close on Hong Kong, and Latido is fielding strong interest from the US, Russia, and Cis.

Virus 32 hails from Gustavo Hernandez, director of Uruguayan one-take horror sensation The Silent House (La Casa Muda) that played in 2010 Cannes Quinzaine and inspired...

One of Latin America’s biggest genre propositions, the Latido Films-sold “Virus 32,” from Uruguayan director Gustavo Hernandez (“You Shall Not Sleep”), was unveiled Tuesday on the A Demain Cannes market platform.

The $1 million pic is a 50-50 Argentina-Uruguay co-production between Aeroplano, run by Sebastian Aloi, and Mother Superior Films, run by Hernandez and Ignacio García Cucucovich.

In addition to subsidy support from Argentina and Uruguay, the horror-thriller has funding from private investors and a pre-sale to Buena Vista for Latin American rights, including a theatrical release in Argentina and Uruguay. Rest of the world rights, including U.S. rights, are sold by Latido.

The video presentation of the new project featured producer Aloi, director Hernandez and screenwriter Juma Fodde Roma.

The story unrolls in a 24-hour period, and is shot in the 13,000 sq. ft. abandoned Neptuno Sports Club in Montevideo. It was written prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and...

Virtual presentation set for Tuesday in A Demain market.

Madrid-based Latido Films has launched talks at the virtual Cannes market on zombie horror Virus 32 from Gustavo Hernandez, director of the Uruguayan Quinzaine 2010 one-take horror sensation The Silent House (La Casa Muda).

Virus 32, which itself succumbed to the Covid-19 pandemic and halted shooting after one day, is a 50-50 Argentina-Uruguay co-production between Aeroplano (Sebastián Aloi) from Argentina and Mother Superior Films (Hernandez and Ignacio Garcia Cucucovich) from Uruguay.

Latido will discuss the project during a presentation in the A Demain Us agency-led virtual market on Tuesday (June 23) at 10.30am Cannes time,...

Lleida, Spain — The feature directorial debut of producer Sebastián Perillo “Amateur” scooped both best feature and director at the 24th Lleida Catalonia Latin America Festival, hosted by the city known by gourmets as the Mecca of grilled snails.

Internationally sold by Switzerland-based Kafilms, “Amateur” is an erotic thriller produced by Argentina’s Rispo Films, Amada Films and Tecno Films, and world-premiered at Mar del Plata festival where it took the best original music award.

“Amateur” follows Martin (Esteban Lamothe), a solitary TV director who becomes obsessed with his neighbor and boss’ wife Isabel (Jazmín Stuart), when he finds a porno in which she appears. The jury described Perillo’s debut as “a surprising genre feature made with courage, and without prejudices.”

Best screenplay was granted to “Family Life,” co-helmed by Alicia Scherson (“Il futuro”) and Alejandro Zambra (co-writer of Cristián Jiménez’s “Bonsái”). International sales on “Family Life” are handled...

Read More: How NYC Became the Nexus of Latin American Films in the U.S. Currently, one of the best showcases for Latin American Cinema is the American Film Institute's "Latin American Film Festival" which takes place with participation from Spain and Portugal in Silver Spring, Maryland. This year's gathering — its 26th edition — opens today with "Sand Dollars," from the Dominican Republic. The film stars Geraldine Chaplin as an older lesbian in a love triangle with a local girl. The festival ends October 7 with "Trash," a Brazilian film about trash pickers and local corruption, starring Martin Sheen and Rooney Mara, set in the favelas. In between, more than 40 films from 20 countries will screen. While fine films represent Latin American cinema hotspots like Argentina — for example, "El Cinco," about a retiring soccer player (Esteban Lamothe)— some of the best features hail from smaller countries, like Paz Fábrega's enchanting...

Set in a chaotic period in 2008 when a disrupting layer of smoke covered the city of Buenos Aires, Natalia Smirnoff’s sophomore directing effort "Lock Charmer” is a subdued character study about a locksmith’s newfound gift to see hidden aspects of people around him. Heavily marked by superstition and his unwilling journey into self-discovery, the film’s protagonist exhibits an absorbing complexity, which is central to making this uncanny mix of credible performances and magic realism work. Surrounded by a group of opinionated middle-aged coworkers, Sebastian (Esteban Lamothe) is a charismatic man in his 30s whose relationships are marked by his inability to commit. While certainly vocal about his fondness for having multiple partners, his intimate friend Monica (Erica Rivas) is probably the most constant presence in his life. Thus, when she confesses that she's pregnant and doesn't know the identity of the father, Sebastian’s first instinct is to suggest an abortion.

The 2014 Sundance Film Festival is right around the corner, and the Sundance Institute has released the full line-up for the competition films that will be premiering!

This year there were 12,218 total submissions, and 117 films were accepted from 37 countries around the world. It looks like there's a lot of good selection of films this year.

The Sundance Film Festival 2014 runs from January 16th to the 26th, and the GeekTyrant team will be there to cover as many movies as we possibly can.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

The 16 films in this section are world premieres and, unless otherwise noted, are from the U.S.

“Camp X-Ray” — Directed and written by Peter Sattler. A young female guard at Guantanamo Bay forms an unlikely friendship with one of the detainees. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Payman Maadi, Lane Garrison, J.J. Soria, John Carroll Lynch.

“Cold in July” — Directed by Jim Mickle, written by Nick Damici.

Sundance Film Festival continues to be one of the most popular, and arguably one of the most important, events on the industry calendar, launching as it does some of the most prominent independent films at the start of each year.

This year will be no different, with Sundance announcing last night the initial line-up of films screening in competition, led by Song One, starring Anne Hathaway; Camp X-Ray, starring Kristen Stewart; Infinitely Polar Bear, with Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana; Joe Swanberg’s Happy Christmas, starring Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey, Mark Webber, Lena Dunham, and Swanberg himself; The Skeleton Twins, with Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Luke Wilson, and Ty Burrell; Life After Beth, with Aubrey Plaza, Dane DeHaan, and John C. Reilly; Listen Up Philip, with Jason Schwartzman and Elisabeth Moss; Whiplash, starring Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons; and many, many more.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

Presenting the world premieres of 16 narrative feature films,...

It's that special time of year again when films are announced for Sundance and we have to do our best to figure out from very brief descriptions if they're horror or not. In any event, here's the first wave of what we think are the genre highlights.

First to be announced are the films selected for the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions and the out-of-competition Next <=> section of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, which runs January 16-26 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah.

For the 2014 fest 118 feature-length films were selected, representing 37 countries and 54 first-time filmmakers, including 34 in competition. These films were selected from 12,218 submissions (72 more than for 2013), including 4,057 feature-length films and 8,161 short films. Of the feature film submissions, 2,014 were from the U.S. and 2,043 were international. 97 Feature films at the Festival will be world premieres.

In addition to those announced today, the Festival...

God’S Pocket

Sundance Institute announced today the films selected for the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions and the out-of-competition section of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, January 16-26 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

Robert Redford, President & Founder of Sundance Institute said, “That the Festival has evolved and grown as it has over the past 30 years is a credit to both our audiences and our artists, who continue to find ways to take risks and open our minds to the power of story. This year’s films and artists promise to do the same.”

For the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, 118 feature-length films were selected, representing 37 countries and 54 first-time filmmakers, including 34 in competition. These films were selected from 12,218 submissions (72 more than for 2013), including 4,057 feature-length films and 8,161 short films. Of the feature film submissions, 2,014 were from the U.S. and 2,043 were international. 97 feature films at...

It’s among the two sections that we usually don’t put much focus on (yes, we love subtitles, but we’re more concerned, naturally more inclined to cover the deluge of American Indie film offerings) but among the dozen film selections in the World Cinema Dramatic Comp section we find the latest from Argentinean director Natalia Smirnoff (she gave us the Berlin Film Fest winner The Puzzle) who returns with Lock Charmer, we find the highly anticipated film from Hong Khaou (Lilting) and a title which we start speculating on last year in Stuart Murdoch’s God Help the Girl which stars Emily Browning, Olly Alexander and Hannah Murray (see pic above). Also worth the mention is the directing debut from writer Eskil Vogt – who co-wrote Reprise and Oslo, August 31st for Joachim Trier. Here are the dozen selected.

“52 Tuesdays” (Australia) — Directed by Sophie Hyde, written by Matthew Cormack.

The U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competition lineups for the 2014 Sundance Film Festival were announced today and just below I have featured pictures from the 16 films that will be competing in the U.S. Dramatic competition and they feature a lot of names you're going to recognize. The titles begin with Camp X-Ray, which stars Kristen Stewart as a guard in Guantanamo Bay, where she forms an unlikely friendship with one of the detainees. Jim Mickle made an impact earlier this year with We Are What We Are and he returns with Michael C. Hall with Cold in July. Fishing Without Nets looks to tell a story similar to that of Captain Phillips, only this time from the Somali side of things; God's Pocket is "Mad Men" star John Slattery's writing and directorial debut and he's lined up an impressive cast including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Richard Jenkins,...

Operation Condor was a United States–aided effort to crush communism in several South American countries during the 1970s and 1980s. It empowered rightwing military dictatorships that kidnapped, tortured, and killed citizens deemed political dissidents; somewhere between 15,000 and 30,000 such people died during Argentina's Dirty War alone. Young Argentine filmmaker Santiago Mitre's dynamically paced debut feature, The Student—an international festival hit in 2011 only now entering its U.S. theatrical premiere run—studies what can be learned from this period through the contemporary tale of Roque Espinosa (played by wide-eyed Esteban Lamothe), a pensive, aggressive young man attending the University of Buenos Aires. The son of a former leftwing activist faces i...

Victoria Galardi's I Thought It Was a Party has added guests Elena Anaya of The Skin I Live In, Valeria Bertuccelli (A Boyfriend For My Wife) and The Student's Esteban Lamothe Variety reports that Argentinian helmer Victoria Galardi, known for Mount Bayo, directs and scripts the drama which tells of Ana (Anaya) who sparks a passionate relationship with her close friend Lucia's (Bertuccelli) ex-husband (Lamothe) while house-sitting for her and looking after her daughter. Lucia feels betrayed about the relationship.

Victoria Galardi's I Thought It Was a Party has added guests Elena Anaya of The Skin I Live In, Valeria Bertuccelli (A Boyfriend For My Wife) and The Student's Esteban Lamothe Variety reports that Argentinian helmer Victoria Galardi, known for Mount Bayo, directs and scripts the drama which tells of Ana (Anaya) who sparks a passionate relationship with her close friend Lucia's (Bertuccelli) ex-husband (Lamothe) while house-sitting for her and looking after her daughter. Lucia feels betrayed about the relationship.

Six films from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay participated in the 21st edition of Films in Progress at the Rencontres Cinémas d’Amérique Latine in Toulouse, jointly organized with the San Sebastian Festival. The second part of this twice yearly rendezvous will take the shape of Films in Progress 22 at San Sebastian this coming September. A total of 118 films were received for Films in Progress 21.

The Selected Films

Cores (Isa:kinoosfera Films)

Brazil

Director: Francisco García

Cast: Pedro di Pietro, Simone Iliescu, Acaüa Sol.

A tale of friendship and let down between three young friends in Sao Paulo as Brazil undergoes its strong economic upsurge. Despite the odd feeling that things could actually change, the meaning of life disappears on those days when «all that is solid melts into the air».

El Lugar Del Hijo

Uruguay - Argentina

Director: Manuel Nieto.

Cast: Felipe Dieste, Alejandro Urdampilleta, Roxana Cabrera, Leonor Courtoisie, Germán de Silva.

Learning that his father has died in an inland town, a student sets out to the funeral. There he discovers that his father has left him an indebted estate and a house inhabited by his mistress, who has no intention of moving out and obliges the young boy to share. A tale of losing one’s roots and personal reconstruction; a metaphor on the inherited country and the youngsters who will eventually have to take charge of that inheritance.

Halley

Mexico

Director: Sebastián Hofmann

Cast: Alberto Trujillo, Lourdes Trueba

Alberto is dead and can no longer pretend otherwise. A degenerative disease makes his decomposition increasingly more noticeable. No make-up or perfume can disguise his condition. He leaves his job to fade into the boundaries of his death, but not before striking up an unusual friendship with Luly, manager of the gym at which he works as a night watchman.

La Sirga (Isa:tiburon)

Colombia - France – Mexico

Director: William Vega

Cast: Joghis Arias, Julio Cesar Roble, David Guacas, Heraldo Romero, Floralba Achicanoy

Alicia feels lost. The memory of war clings to her mind in a terrifying rumble. Thrown off her land by armed conflict, she tries to build a new life at “La Sirga”, a rundown boarding house on the shore of a large lagoon high up in the Andes mountain range. The place is owned by Oscar, her only surviving relative, an unsociable, solitary old man. There, in a miry, unstable beach, Alicia tries to plant new roots, until her fears and the threat of war reappear once again.

Tanta Agua (Isa:control Z Films)

Uruguay – Mexico - Holland

Directors: Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge

Cast: Néstor Guzzini, Malú Chouza, Joaquín Castiglioni

Family holidays where nothing goes as planned. A tale set in a half-empty thermal spa lashed by constant rain where the only thing they can do is stay together.

Villegas (Isa:cine-sud Promotion)

Argentina – Holland – France

Director: Gonzalo Tobal

Cast: Esteban Lamothe, Esteban Bigliardi.

Reunited after several years, cousins Esteban and Pipa travel by car to their grandfather’s funeral in Villegas, the small inland town where they grew up together. Their return becomes an intense emotional journey marked by reunions, the weight of the past and the end of an era.

Films in Progress 21 in Toulouse carried the following awards :

Films in Progress Award Toulouse, in which several entities collaborate: Cnc (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée) will contribute with a grant towards the completion of a project, carrying €10,000 for post-production work in France. MacTari will provide sound mixing services worth €15,000. Titra Tvs: will provide the subtitling for a first copy of the winning film. Caisse Centrale D’ActivitÉS Sociales Du Personnel Des Industries Electriques Et Gazieres (Ccas) will provide 5 weeks’ accommodation to the winning director in order that he or she may secure post-production or promotion of the film in France. Eaux Vives will coordinate post-production of the winning film, during four weeks and for an equivalent worth of €8,600. Firefly will provide the use of a suite of Firefly software tools for colour correction of the winning film. Commune Image will provide a film theatre equipped with a Christie Dlp Cinema projector with real-time viewing on an 8-metre screen and a Firefly Cinema calibration console for digital post-production in HD, 2K or 4K, for an equivalent worth of €17,000, or a similar service for 10 days in an image editing room for an equivalent worth of €10,000. Special CinÉ + in Progress Award, granted by the CinÉ + TV channel, worth €15,000, which guarantees purchase of the winning film by the channel and broadcast on television following release of the film in France.

European Distributors and Exhibitors Award: Europa Distribution undertakes to promote the winning film among its network of 110 members and particularly among the 35 European distributor members of the Europa Distribution International (Edi) project. Cicae (Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et Essai) will provide aid to diffusion of the winning film by distributing related information to the 2,000 Cicae member cinemas, thereby creating awareness of the film among distribution companies and boosting its circulation.

Starting off with its premiere at Bafici, Santiago Mitre's debut feature El Estudiante (The Student, 2011) has proceeded on an aggressive campaign trail, stopping to woo votes at Locarno, the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff), and next at the New York Film Festival.

In his review from Locarno, indieWire's Eric Kohn dubbed Santiago Mitre "a South American Aaron Sorkin." Mitre has previously worked as a screenwriter, crafting the scripts for Leonera (2008) and Carancho (2010), both directed by Pablo Trapero. He also co-directed the film El amor—primera parte (2005) with Alejandro Fadel, Martín Mauregui, and Juan Schnitman. I caught up with Santiago in Toronto where we sat down to talk about El Estudiante. My thanks to Tiff publicist Lina Rodriguez for facilitating the interview and for providing translative assistance.

Michael GUILLÉN: El Estudiante rests on the shoulders of your lead actor Esteban Lamothe. What were the qualities within Esteban that convinced you...

In an effort to not fall behind on Nyff coverage, here's a double feature from Argentina (possible Oscar submission) and Iran (Oscar submission!) .

The Student

Have you ever longed to learn every detail of the chaotic, multi-partied, backroom deal heavy politics of Argentina through the metaphorical microcosm of elections at a Buenos Aires university? If you answered "yes" than Santiago Mitre's The Student is the movie for you! If you answered "huh, what?" than I should quickly add that I'm not entirely sure that that's what The Student is on about. The movie's continual barrage of name-and acronym heavy information, both in dialogue and in dry omniscient narration, and its crowded character map of continually changing alliances and sudden betrayals suggests to me that politically aware Argentinians would understand and revel in its deeper implications more clearly than I possibly could.

As it is I was, like the titular...

The highlight of my recent Toronto screenings was Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne's The Kid with a Bike, which Danny Kasman covered extensively for Mubi when it premiered at Cannes. Tiff attendees were divided on whether the film's final section was difficult to assimilate, or whether it was the film's high point; I'm in the latter camp, and in fact was suspending judgment on the movie until the last scenes fired my enthusiasm.

Terence Davies' long-awaited The Deep Blue Sea, his first fiction feature since 2000's The House of Mirth, had its world premiere at Toronto this week. Davies has once again adapted a literary property, Terence Rattigan's play about a young woman who finds her fulfillment and her sorrow in physical love, much to society's discomfort. Despite my pleasure in Davies' stately rhythms and his loving attention to the material, The Deep Blue Sea made me wonder...

#18. The Student Director: Santiago MitreCast: Esteban Lamothe Romina Paula Ricardo Felix Valeria CorreaDistributor: Rights Available Buzz: Coming in from Bafici, and preceding its big center stage Nyff unveiling, The Student is one of the year's most promising unknowns. As the writer for Cannes-competing Lion's Den, it's no surprise that Mitre's got big-name potential. This is his second feature, and his first to play anywhere in North America. If it does well, look for huge things in this guy's future. The Gist: A university-hopping student rations his time negotiating politics and opposite-sex seductions. When these hobbies set sights on one of his professors, matters become predictably grave. Tiff Schedule: Monday September 12 Tiff Bell Lightbox 4 6:15pmWednesday September 14 AMC 9 9:00pmSaturday September 17 AMC 7 10:00am  ...

The 49th New York Film Festival has announced their main slate which takes place September 30th thru October 16th at Lincoln Center. The closing night selection is Alexander Payne’s The Descendants which joins the gala screenings of opening night’s Roman Polanski’s Carnage, David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, and the Almodóvar/Banderas reunion The Skin I Live In. Check out the lineup below along with a synopsis of each film:

Opening Night Gala Selection

Carnage

Director: Roman Polanski

Country: France/Germany/Poland

Centerpiece Gala Selection

My Week With Marilyn

Director: Simon Curtis

Country: UK

Special Gala Presentations

A Dangerous Method

Director: David Cronenberg

Country: UK/Canada/Germany

The Skin I Live In

Director: Pedro Almodóvar

Country: Spain

Closing Night Gala Selection

The Descendants

Director: Alexander Payne

Country: USA

Main Slate Selection

4:44: Last Day On Earth

Director: Abel Ferrara

Country: USA

The Artist

Director: Michel Hazanavicius...

Press Release:

New York, August 17, 2011 -The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today that Alexander Payne.s The Descendants will be the Closing Night Gala selection for the 49th New York Film Festival (September 30-October 16). Nyff.s main slate of 27 feature films was also announced as well as a return to the festival stage of audience favorite, On Cinema (previously titled The Cinema Inside Me), featuring an in-depth, illustrated conversation with Alexander Payne.

The 2011 edition of Nyff will also feature a unique blend of programming to complement the main-slate of films, including: the Masterworks programs, additional titles added to the previously announced Ben-hur, Nicholas Ray.s We Can.T Go Home Again and Velvet Bullets and Steel Kisses: Celebrating the Nikkatsu Centennial, as well as Views from the Avant-Garde, and several special event screenings, all of which will be announced in more detail shortly.

.In many of the films in this year.s Festival,...

Craig reporting from the London Film Festival.

Argentinian film editor Delfina Castagnino makes her directorial feature debut with What I Love the Most / Lo que más quiero, a slight but thoughtfully quiet film full of long takes and extended pauses. The slim plot follows Pilar, who has recently lost her father, visiting her friend Maria, who is absconding from her boyfriend. The two spend their days by nearby lakes, at gigs or on the beach, idling away the time. Pilar ties up her father’s business loose ends and Maria meets a local guy (Esteban Lamothe) who takes her mind off her relationship and the friends begin to drift apart.

What I Love is a cleanly directed, well-composed film. Each scene is clinically precise in its framing, though often deliberately askew – actors awkwardly shot from just below waist-height, tree-lined landscapes partially obscure parts of the film frame. Most shots outlast...