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Two children in a small Oaxacan village form an unlikely friendship that’s put to the test when they witness a horrific tragedy that becomes their darkest secret. The eight-episode coming-of-age seriesThe Secret of the River, starring Diego Calva and Trinidad González, explores gender identity and Zapotec culture in Mexico. From Alberto Barrera (Nada Personal), the show was co-directed by Sundance Award winner Ernesto Contreras (I Dream in Another Language), Alba Gil (Triptych), and Alex Zuno (Tengo que Morir Todas las Noches). “It is a story led and told by real trans women and muxes [people in the Zapotec Indigenous culture of Oaxaca who identify as a third gender]. I also love that it represents a very authentic Oaxaca,” lead actor González, who plays Sicarú, told Them about the series. “Unfortunately, we live in a country with impunity, where the rates of femicide and transfemicide increase day by day. I applaud...

Edgar Nito, whose debut feature “The Gasoline Thieves’’ won the Best New Narrative Director award at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, is taking his second feature, “A Fisherman’s Tale,” to world premiere at Spain’s most prominent genre festival, Sitges, and have its Mexican debut at the Morelia film fest, both in October.

Produced by Pablo Cruz and Enrique Lavigne of El Estudio, Nito’s Pirotecnia Films, L.A.-based 4 Ways Entertainment and associate produced by Grupo Morbido’s Pablo Guisa, the fantasy tale turns on a legend when nature once flourished peacefully around a lake and its islands. Men, consumed by dark desires, spread fear, hatred, and death. The fishermen speak of “La Miringua,” a vengeful mythical creature that pulls sinners into the lake’s depths, dragging them to their doom.

Co-written by Nito and Alfredo Mendoza, the film stars a solid cast led by Noé Hernández (“Miss...

Ernesto Contreras has the ability to spot poetry in the smallest of things. Even the title of his 2017 film, I Dream in Another Language, speaks volumes about the kind of world it engages in. However, it is one thing to spot poetry and completely another to be able to capture it. He is able to spot tenderness and truth in the world around him, but what appears to be the problem is the translation of that poetic truth on screen. His 2017 film suffered from the same problem of not being able to take a moment of truth to the next level, and that’s what happens in Where the Tracks End. It is the story of a boy named Ikal living in a railcar in rural Mexico and how he manages to scrape through the troubles of living a life on the margins.

There are multiple ‘tracks’ that the story...

#QueMéxicoSeVea designed to showcase work of local industry.

Netflix has announced the latest film from Fernando Frias and the feature directorial debut of cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto as it launches an initiative to raise the profile of local filmmakers in the run-up to Mexico’s national cinema day on Monday (August 15).

Under #QueMéxicoSeVea, which translates as Let Mexico Be Seen, Netflix will present the latest from Frias – I Don’t Expect Anyone To Believe Me (No Voy A Pedirle A Nadie Que Me Crea) – whose I’m No Longer Here was acquired by the streamer and represented Mexico in the international feature...

Netflix has reaffirmed its 300 million commitment to Mexican cinema and series, announcing a slew of new movie projects to celebrate the country’s National Day of Cinema on Aug. 15 and as part of its #QueMéxicoSeVea initiative.

The year-old initiative, which can be roughly translated to “Let Mexico Be Seen” has the mission “to make visible the work of Mexican creators, screenwriters, writers, directors, actors and people who make national cinema possible,” as well as its wealth of original stories.

Leading the pack is the widely anticipated directorial debut of Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto who is helming an adaptation of Juan Rulfo’s seminal novel, “Pedro Paramo.” Produced by Redrum, the film’s crew includes Oscar-nominated production designer Eugenio Caballero and costume designer Anna Terrazas, whose notable credits include “Roma,” “Spectre” and “Bardo.”

“Our commitment to Mexican culture also includes adapting great Mexican works to the cinema, and ‘Pedro Páramo’ will...

English-language political thriller takes inspiration from events in the aftermath of tragic crash.

Revolver Amsterdam has acquired adaptation rights to Dutch writer A.F.Th. van der Heijden’s novel Play Dead (Mooi doodliggen) to produce the Netherlands’ first feature based on the case of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 disaster.

Van der Heijden’s novel does not deal directly with the tragic plane crash in Ukraine in 2014 but is inspired by its aftermath as state-backed investigators and bereaved relatives of the victims attempted to discover what happened and who was responsible for the tragedy.

“The novelist has taken events...

Dutch production house Revolver Amsterdam has acquired the film rights to A. F. Th. van der Heijden’s novel “Mooi doodliggen” (Play Dead), inspired by the 2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 disaster, and is developing it as a feature.

MH17 was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down on July 17, 2014, while flying over Eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew members were killed.

Dutch director Rolf van Eijk (“My Foolish Heart”) and screenwriter Roelof Jan Minneboo (“Pomegranate Orchard”) are attached to develop the project.

Producers Germen Boelens and Raymond van der Kaaij of Revolver said: “The MH17 disaster is etched in our national memory, a national trauma. Making a film about this is not an easy task, but A.F.Th. Van der Heijden’s novel turned out to be the perfect foundation. It paints a striking and highly topical picture of a political world where everyone is a victim.

Exclusive: Filmmaking brothers Carlos Contreras and Ernesto Contreras have partnered for the immigrant drama Crossing Borders for Latitude Media and Wink Pictures.

Based on a true story, the film follows a 14-year-old immigrant who flees rape and abuse in her native Guatemala. While in Florida, she gives birth to a premature baby and is later wrongfully charged with the murder of the child. A young female lawyer takes on the case and fights for years against stereotypes, systemic racism and a corrupt system to bring vindication to the young woman. Carlos Carlos Contreras wrote the script while Ernesto Contreras will direct.

“What fascinates me about this story is seeing a person slowly discover the depth of her commitment to finding justice, to doing what is right,” said Carlos Contreras of the very timely story of immigrants and social justice. “She becomes a hero without ever setting out to be one,...

Berlin’s Carlo Chatrian and Venice’s Alberto Barbera have also been invited.

Cannes Film Festival delegate general Thierry Frémaux, French actress and gender equality activist Adèle Haenel, and a number of the key cast and crew of Oscar-winning picture Parasite are among the some 400 international film industry professionals invited to join the Us’ Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) on Tuesday June 30.

With 49% of the 819 invitees hailing from 68 countries outside of the Us, the latest round of invitees was one of the most international selections ever.

Frémaux is among a number of festival chiefs to be invited...

As the global film industry faced dire circumstances in recent months, Mexican filmmakers contended with a more specific threat. In early April, the country’s president attempted to eliminate critical funding that has supported generations of acclaimed Mexican filmmakers. The pushback culminated in a dramatic confrontation, with filmmakers such as Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro G. Iñarritu, and Alfonso Cuarón taking a stand to salvage these resources. Their successful efforts — for now, at least — cast light on a community reliant on national support.

Mexico’s film industry has seen astounding growth over the last two decades, in quantity and quality. The defining catalyst remains the creation of two government funds, Forprocine and Fidecine, in the late ‘90s. For several decades prior to these funds, Mexican cinema stagnated, producing less than 10 films per year. Last year, 200 completed features set a new record.

The success of these financing mechanisms is undeniable. Not only...

Madrid — Cecilia Roth starrer “Alice,” Ana Piterbarg’s “La Habitación Blanca,” Brazil’s sure-to-be controversial “Princesa,” and Mexico’s “Intersex” look like potential standouts in the just-announced movie project pitching platform Maff Online by Filmarket Hub, part of the biggest push by far into a virtual marketplace made by any festival in the Spanish-speaking world.

Launched by Spain’s Malaga Festival and Filmarket Hub, a Spain-based year-round online market, Maff (the Malaga Festival Fund & Co-Production Event) will run April 27 to May 10.

Already, however, Málaga is staging a virtual version of Malaga Wip, which last year brought onto the market the Spanish horror allegory “El Hoyo” (The Platform”), a recent No. 1 movie on Netflix in the U.S. despite its Spanish language.

Showcasing movies in post-production, Málaga Wip runs March 23 to April 10. Parallel to this, a series of masterclasses given by experts in Spain and Latin America, aimed at honing the skills of Maff producers,...

Revolver Amsterdam is in Berlin meeting with Us and European sales agents.

Dutch producer Revolver Amsterdam is in Berlin meeting with Us and European sales agents and financiers on a trio of projects as it steps up its strategy of working with international partners on globally appealing content.

Raymond Van Der Kaaij is taking meetings on The Occupant, a sci-fi about two sisters that echoes Arrival and The Revenant. Hugo Keijzer will direct and Revolver Amsterdam is producing with Maurice Schutte, whose short film trailer to The Occupant: Prologue went viral on YouTube.

The roster of $1.5m-$5m projects includes...

Feature takes place in the Paraguayan Chaco region, site of intense deforestation.

Amsterdam-based production outfit Revolver Amsterdam has boarded Memories From The Forest, the upcoming feature from Paraguayan director Paz Encina whose Paraguayan Hammock won the Cannes Un Certain Regard Fipresci Prize in 2006.

The film takes place in the Paraguayan Chaco region on the border with Bolivia that faces rapid deforestation, and explores the plight of the endangered Ayoreos indigenous people, who inhabit a small territory that remains untouched.

Silence Cine from Paraguay is producing in co-production with Revolver Amsterdam, Black Forest Films from Germany, Mpm from France, Louverture Films from the Us,...

Knocking on doors expecting no one to answer is a daily routine for housekeeping staff at hotels local and remote. Their intense physical labor is unseen and taken for granted, almost as if magically performed outside the vision of its beneficiaries, earns them no glory. Unnoticed, they proceed to the next empty scene in disarray. More than merely dignifying their toil, Lila Avilés’ marvelously honest first feature “The Chambermaid” subtly counteracts such dehumanization.

For her sympathetically achieved big-screen debut, Avilés — who honed her skills as a theater director prior to jumping into the film arena — forged an observational character study on 24-year-old chambermaid Eve, short for Evelia, employed at a lavish Mexico City hotel catering mostly to affluent international visitors.

Of few words but purposefully active in shaping her future, Eve channels internalized resilience to persevere under grueling conditions. Above-average dedication shines through her impeccable cleaning prowess room after room.

Guadalajara, Mexico — Mexico’s Ernesto Contreras, best known for his lauded Sundance Audience Award winner “I Dream in Another Language” is preparing his next feature film, “Cosas Imposibles” (“Impossible Things”).

“I Dream…” producers Monica Lozano and Eamon O’Farrill of Alebrije Prods. and Luis Albores and Érika Ávila of Contreras’ Agencia Sha, are re-teaming to make the dramedy.

Set in a Mexico City housing complex, “Impossible Things” turns on a woman in her 60s whose dead abusive husband continues to torment her, but only in her head. She strikes an unlikely friendship with a troubled 19-year-old neighbor. Together they help each other to shake off their inner demons.

Story is by novice writer Fanie Soto, a Guadalajara native, whose first script won the Matilde Landeta top award given to female scriptwriters. “I was intrigued by what the juror said about it and asked to read it,” said Contreras, adding: “I...

A new crop of Mexican fiction films and feature-length documentaries premiering in Guadalajara’s (Ficg) Premio Mezcal section are vying for the festival’s largest cash prize of 500,000 pesos. Winning the prestigious award virtually ensures a good run on the global festival circuit.

As tradition has it, a group of 30 film students from Mexico and other countries will be tasked in selecting the best picture as well as the best in acting, cinematography and directing.

The fiction entries range from mainstream pics such as “The Mongolian Conspiracy” (“El Complot Mongol”), Sebastian del Amo’s conspiracy thriller starring Eugenio Derbez, Damian Alcazar and Barbara Mori, to Antonino Isordia Llamazares’ rural drama “At’ Anii” (“Your Lover”) with 90% of its dialogue in the indigenous language of Teenek.

“The new authorities are encouraging the making of more indigenous-themed films but it’s also important to give equal weight to films with mainstream, international appeal,...

Revolver Amsterdam is working up a 10-part adaptation of “Takeover,” the thriller from Jussi Adler-Olsen, the Nordic crime writer behind the “Department Q” series. Adler-Olsen has sold over 20 million books globally. Several of his “Department Q” books have been successfully adapted for the big screen in the author’s native Denmark.

Dutch director Hanro Smitsman, whose previous credits include Berlin Golden Bear-winning short film “Raak,” is attached and will helm the series. The producers are at Afm with the package to meet with potential partners.

“Takeover” follows a cynical businessman who specializes in bringing down major businesses. He finds himself in hot water when the Syrian intelligence service assigns him to bring down a great a large corporation.

The TV series will be produced by Raymond van der Kaaij and Germen Boelens of Revolver Amsterdam. Jointly, their producer credits include Sundance audience award-winner “I Dream in Another Language,” and “Love & Friendship” by Whit Stillman.

Madrid — In a strong year for Mexican cinema – think Sebastián Hofmann’s “Time Share,” Alfonso Ruizpalacios’ “Museo” – the world premiere at Venice of the latest films by two of Mexico’s biggest names – Alfonso Cuarón and Carlos Reygadas – shouldn’t distract from another narrative: the ever increasing number of movies by Mexican women directors hitting major festivals, scoring deals and winning post-production plaudits.

“The Good Girls,” from Alejandra Marquez Abella (“Semana Santa”), selected for Toronto Platform, has just been picked up by Luxbox.

Now Lila Avilés’ “The Chambermaid” (“La camarista”), one of the most-awaited of Mexico’s feature film debuts, made the Toronto Discovery cut, announced Tuesday, after already being selected for the New Directors’ competition at later-September’s San Sebastian Festival in Spain. Variety has had exclusive access to its first trailer and poster, dropped by sales agent Alpha Violet, which suggests the film’s tenor and charm.

A winningly grounded fiction film,...

Two Dutch Latino coproductions which premiered in Sundance were produced by Raymond van der Kaaij: I Dream in Another Language/ Sueño en otro idioma and Don’t Swallow My Heart, Alligator Girl, a coproduction of The Netherlands, Brazil and Paraguay. Van der Kaaij also produced the award-winning hybrid drama Bodkin Ras and coproduced the U.K. indie hit Love & Friendship.

In a way I Dream in Another Language (U.S.: Filmrise, Isa: Mundial), an intriguing film about saving an aborigine language and love, actually began at the Amsterdam based Binger Institut, now a privately funded development workshop. Back in 2010 it was publically funded by the Dutch Ministry of Culture and was headed by Marten Rabarts who is now head of international film promotion for the Eye Institut, The Netherlands fabulous new film museum, archive and educational hub built on newly reclaimed land behind the train station in Amsterdam,...

I Dream In Another Language (Sueño en otro idioma) FilmRise Director: Ernesto Contreras Written by: Carlos Contreras Cast: Fernando Álvarez Rebeil, Eligio Meléndez, Manuel Poncelis, Fátima Molina Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 7/20/17 Opens: July 28, 2017 Latin is considered a dead language but compared to Zikril, the idiom of the Church would be almost […]

The post I Dream in Another Language Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Exclusive: Mexican director made waves in Sundance with I Dream In Another Language.

Mexican filmmaker Ernesto Contreras has signed with Valor Entertainment and The Paradigm Agency.

Contreras earned wider international renown with his fourth feature I Dream In Another Language (Sueño en Otro Idioma), which premiered in Sundance back in January.

The drama – about a linguist who uncovers a unique story when he meets the last speakers of a dying language in a remote Mexican village – received backing some years ago from the ‎Sundance Institute’s Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award.

It went on to win this year’s World Cinema Dramatic audience award in Park City and Film Rise acquired North American rights from international sales agent Mundial, the Latino subsidiary of Im Global.

Contreras recently directed half of the new series El Chapo for Univision Communication’s Story House Entertainment and Netflix, based on the life of Mexican cartel head Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman. The show premiered...

Ernesto Contreras’s Sundance audience award winner I Dream In Another Language among roster in Mexico.

Top brass at the festival in Jalisco, Mexico, announced on Wednesday the programme.

Selections include José Permar and Omar Robles’ short and Berlin 2016 premiere Aurelia And Pedro, and David Pablos’s The Chosen Ones, which screened in Un Certain Regard section in Cannes 2015.

Highlights of the ArteCareyes Film & Arts Festival include a day-long music festival and a contemporary art programme that features a public art trail, in lieu of traditional galleries, and solo artist exhibitions.

In addition, ArteCareyes will host ‘Acting For Film’ labs to be led by the following directors: Lucía Carreras, Ana Cristina Barragán, Catalina Aguilar, Diego Ros, Daniel Castro, Pablos, Anwar Safa and actors Karla Souza, Irene Azuela, Darío Yazbek, Fernando Alvarez Rebeil, and José María Yazpik.

The festival was founded in 2010 to showcase contemporary Mexican talent in film, music and contemporary art and runs from March 22-26.

What a surprising city Rotterdam is and the Festival and Cinemart are full of surprises too.

Being in The Netherlands is like a homecoming for me. My first major job in the film industry was with 20th Century Fox International and City Fox Films in Amsterdam in 1975 which is when I first attended the International Film Festival of Rotterdam, three years after its founding by Huub Bals. It was much smaller then. Iffr’s logo is a tiger, loosely based on the M.G.M. lion as an alternative. From the beginning, the festival has profiled itself as a promoter of alternative, innovative and non-commercial films, with an emphasis on the Far East and developing countries. It has become one of the most important events in the film world, an integral part of the winter circuit of Sundance, Rotterdam and Berlin Film Festivals.

“Fox and HIs Friends”

Except for my...

Exclusive: Im Global’s Latino sales subsidiary ramps up before Texas festival.

Mexican Rubén Imaz’s feature will receive its North American debut after the recent world premiere in Cartagena.

Tormentero centres on a retired fisherman who discovered an oil field in his village many years ago that caused his friends and neighbours to lose sight of their values and reject him.

Now alcoholic, schizophrenic and haunted by his past, the man sets out to reclaim the love and honour he lost decades ago after his fateful discovery.

Gabino Rodríguez stars with José Carlos Ruiz and Mónica Jiménez. Julio Bárcenas Sánchez served as producer alongside Imaz, Gerylee Polanco Uribe, Oscar Ruiz Navia, Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas.

“Ruben is a filmmaker I have admired since my time at Canana Distribution, when we released his first film Familia Tortuga,” Mundial general manager Cristina Garza, who made the announcement on Monday, said.

“When...

Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.

– Neon, the recently launched distribution company founded by Tom Quinn and Tim League, will release Oscar winning director Errol Morris’ “The B-Side,” a heartfelt portrait of photographer, Elsa Dorfman. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in 2016 followed by a prestigious festival run, screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival and the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam (Idfa).

The film is slated to open theatrically on June 2.

– Gravitas Ventures has secured worldwide rights to “Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo,” the compelling untold story about an extraordinary team.

The story is told told “with unprecedented access to archival footage and stories from the men who lived it, including the creator of Mission Control,...

FilmRise has acquired North American distribution right to Ernesto Contreras’ I Dream in Another Language,The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.

The film, which won the Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at this year's Sundance Film Festival, will be released theatrically in mid-2017. The Mexico-set story follows a young university researcher who is searching for a way to save the lost language of Zikril, though its last two indigenous speakers have separated because of a 50-year-old grudge.

FilmRise has also nabbed North American distribution rights to Felipe Bragança’s debut narrative film Don’t Swallow My Heart,...

Both South American titles premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

The distributor has picked up North American rights to Ernesto Contreras’ I Dream In Another Language.

Contreras’ film won the audience award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at this year’s festival in Park City last month.

FilmRise plans a mid-year theatrical release for the story about a researcher who tracks down the feuding and last-surviving speakers of an indigenous language.

CEO Danny Fisher and vice-president of acquisitions Max Einhorn negotiated with Mundial’s Cristina Garza.

The same parties brokered the North American theatrical deal on Don’t Swallow My Heart,

Alligator Girl!, a Romeo And Juliet story about young love on the Brazil-Paraguay border that screened in Generation 14plus at the Berlinale recently.

Felipe Bragança’s drama will be available to stream later this year on Amazon Prime Video after FilmRise opted in to Amazon Video Direct’s Film Festival Stars programme to establish a platform...

Why Sundance Goers, and Audiences at Every Festival, Should Embrace World Cinema Over Popular Main-Slate Titles“God’s Own Country”

Eager to brave the extreme amounts of snow piling on every sidewalk and road in Park City, scores of freezing, malnourished, and often overworked film journalists and industry professionals line up hours in advance in order to secure a satisfying seat to that star-studded, Oscar-friendly, English-language stunner people have been raving about at every party or bus top around town. It’s understandable, they are desperate to become conquerors and be the first to plant their flag on the year’s big discovery. Trendsetting is a currency that in film criticism, like in many other occupations, is vital to acquire a certain level of recognition and validation.

However, even though being able to predict the future and to see the merits of a film before the crowd has sunk their...

Films and projects travel from Sundance to Rotterdam and Rotterdam’s love affair with Latin America becomes apparent.

Making their way from Sundance to Rotterdam, “Lemon” was Opening Night in the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Sloan Prize Winner “Marjorie Prime” played in Voices while director Michael Almereyda was on the Jury of the Hivos Tiger Competition. His documentary, “Escapes” also played in the Regained section of the festival.

“Marjorie Prime”: Director Michael Almereyda, Lois Smith and Jon Hamm

“Chile’s “Family Life” by Alicia Scherson and Cristian Jimenez, Singapore’s “Pop Aye”, “Lady Macbeth” and “Sami Blood” all screened here after premiering in Sundance as well.

Pop Aye director Kirsten Tan won the Big Screen Competition and in addition to the cash prize may also count on a guaranteed release in Dutch cinemas and on TV.

“The Wound” by John Trengove has even longer legs, reaching from Sundance World...

The Sundance 2017 juries and audiences unveiled their picks on Saturday night.

In the grand jury prizes, Macon Blair’s I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore claimed the Us dramatic award and Dina by Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini won U.S. documentary.

Tarik Saleh’s The Nile Hilton Incident won world dramatic and Last Men In Aleppo by Feras Fayyad and Steen Johannessen prevailed in the world documentary category.

In the audience awards, Matt Ruski’s Crown Heights and Jeff Orlowski’s Chasing Coral were the favourites in the Us dramatic and documentary strands.

World cinema selections I Dream In Another Language by Ernesto Contreras and Joe Piscatella’s Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower emerged victorious in the dramatic and documentary sections.

“This has been one of the wildest, wackiest and most rewarding festivals in recent memory,” said festival director John Cooper. “From a new government to the independently organised Women’s March On Main...

The 2017 Sundance Film Festival is coming to a close with tonight’s awards ceremony. While we’ll have our personal favorites coming early this week, the jury and audience have responded with theirs, topped by Macon Blair‘s I don’t feel at home in this world anymore., which will arrive on Netflix in late February, and the documentary Dina. Check out the full list of winners below see our complete coverage here.

The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented by Larry Wilmore to:

Dina / U.S.A. (Directors: Dan Sickles, Antonio Santini) — An eccentric suburban woman and a Walmart door-greeter navigate their evolving relationship in this unconventional love story.

The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented by Peter Dinklage to:

I don’t feel at home in this world anymore. / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Macon Blair) — When a depressed woman is burglarized, she...

The 2017 Sundance Film Festival is well under way and have already premiered films like Alex Ross Perry’s “Golden Exits,” David Lowery’s “A Ghost Story” and more. The World Dramatic section has already premiered a few of his films, including Ernesto Contreras’ “I Dream In Another Lanuage,” about a linguist desperate to record a dying language. The young Martin (Fernando Álvarez Rebeil) lands in a remote Mexican village with the intention of recording an ancient dying language. He finds the last two speakers of the language — Evaristo (Eligio Meléndez) and Isauro (Manuel Poncelis) — but they refuse to speak to each because of a 50-year grudge. Now Martin and Evaristo’s granddaughter Lluvia (Fátima Molina) must work to convince the men to reconcile. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below.

Read More: 10 Surprises and Hidden Gems from the 2017 Sundance Lineup

Contreras previously directed the feature film “Blue Eyelids,” which...

Film historian B. Ruby Rich credits the 1992 Sundance Film Festival as the cradle of New Queer Cinema, and a quick survey of this year’s festival lineup confirms that Lgbt films stand an excellent chance of attracting audiences. Lesbian filmmaker Dee Rees’ “Mudbound” is one of the most talked about films of the year, trans director Yance Ford’s deeply personal “Strong Island” has been years in the making, and we may have the British “Brokeback Mountain” (but better) with Francis Lee’s “God’s Own Country.”

Perusing the slate of queer films, filmmakers, and performers at Sundance this year, 2017 is set to be the best year queer cinema has seen in a long time. Here’s 10 reasons why:

Read More: 10 Surprises and Hidden Gems from the 2017 Sundance Lineup

Dee Rees is About to Become the Most Successful Black Lesbian Director in Hollywood

Queer audiences have known Dee Rees since...

Exclusive: The Latino film sales subsidiary of Im Global heads to Park City this week with worldwide rights to Don’t Swallow My Heart Alligator Girl! and I Dream In Another Language.

Don’t Swallow My Heart Alligator Girl! marks the solo directorial debut of Brazil’s Felipe Bragança and premieres in World Cinema Dramatic Competition on Sunday ahead of its European premiere in Berlin next month.

Cauã Reymond, Eduardo Macedo, Adeli Gonzales and Zahy Guajajara star in the story of a Brazilian boy who must fight for the love of a Paraguayan girl as war brews between rival gangs on opposite sides of the border.

Producers on the Brazil-Netherlands-France-Paraguay drama are Marina Meliande, Marcos Prado, Dijana Olcay-Hot, Yohann Cornu and Raymond van der Kaaij on behalf of Revolver.

Bragança previously co-directed A Alegria (The Joy) with Meliande, which screened in Cannes Directors Fortnight in 2010.

Mexican filmmaker Ernesto Contreras wrote and directed I Dream In Another Language (Sueño...

You hear it all the time: Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News. But Americans were buying all the same, and to quote Screen International: “The current market is focused on smart money and smart deals, not volume of product”. Business at Afm was also solid though unspectacular. Moreover, the pre-buying of projects may be below the radar of this $3 billion business of international film buying and selling. TrustNordisk’s CEO Rikke Ennis says that 70% of their films are pre-sold. As you look at the upcoming Winter Rights Roundup due out in two weeks from SydneysBuzz.com/Reports, you will notice many of the films have been pre-buys this market and many films screening were already pre-sold during Afm in November.

And for all the complaints about Berlin, many sales agents set up private screenings before the market kicked off. What is that about?

Beki Probst, who has run the Efm since 1988, responded to the many media reports of a quieter market in an interview with ScreenDaily which sounds almost the same as the one she gave in 2009.

Quoting her current statement which I take the liberty of quoting here as it appears in Screen:

“I think that there was a good movement of business this year,” she said. In the opinion of Probst, there had been a muddying of the distinction between the Efm and the more general term of the ‘market’.

“Daphné Kapfer of Europa International representing 35 sales agents said that it was a very good Berlin, and Glen Basner of FilmNation commented that it was ‘the best Berlin’.

“Even Harvey Weinstein came just for 24 hours to sign a $7m check, and Aloft was bought by Sony Pictures Classics.

“It’s the players, and not the market, that is important. The players come here if they have the right line-up. All we can do is provide the best infrastructure, but what happens after that is up to them.”

"Sales agents were not sitting idle at their stands if one takes the example of one company in the Martin Gropius Bau: the CEO met with 90 buyers and the members of staff responsible for marketing had no less than 180 meetings in addition to ad-hoc discussions at events in the evenings."

Coproductions are the engine driving the business these days.

This year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market ended after two-and-a-half days with awards handed out to projects from Kazakhstan and Belgium.

The €6,000 Arte International Prize went to Kazakh film-maker Emir Baigazin’s planned second feature The Wounded Angel, the second part of a trilogy after his Silver Bear-winning Harmony Lessons. The €1.2m Almaty-based Kazakhfilm Jsc production has already attracted France’s Capricci Production as a co-producer and has backing in place from the Doha Film Institute and the Hubert Bals Fund.

The €10,000 Vff Talent Highlight Pitch Award was presented to Belgian director Bavo Defurne for his romantic dramedy Souvenir. The €2m co-production by Oostende-based Indeed Films with Belgium’s Frakas Productions and Germany’s Karibufilm already has backing from Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Cinefinance and public broadcaster Vrt/ Een.

India-Norway’s $55 million film to be directed by Hans Petter Moland (In Order of Disappearance)’s The Indian Bride is an exciting example of an unusual pairing of countries.

Bavaria and Senator’s joint venture Bavaria Pictures’ The Postcard Killers to be directed by Mexican director Everardo Gout shows the international expansion of talent.

The Hungary-Austria-Germany co-production of Stefan Zweig’s Beware of Pity, or U.K.-Lithuania action comedy Redirected being sold by Content brings unusual European partners together.

U.S. born Damian John Harper’s coproduction with the German producers, brothers Jakob and Jonas Weydemann, on Los Angeles will be followed by In the Middle of the River now being developed with Zdf’s Das Kleine Fernsehspiel unit.

Shoreline’s The Infinite Man produced with Australia’s Hedone Productions in association with Bonsai Films with investment from South Australia Film Corporation through its Filmlab funding initiative, development assistance from Screen Australia is also a new sort of pairing.

Film and Music Entertainment (F&Me), Bac Films, 20 Steps Productions and Bruemmer & Herzog’s The President is shooting in Tbilisi, Georgia and is being directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.

Italian-Canadian producer Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s Sights of Death starring Danny Glover, Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer, Stephen Baldwin and Michael Madsen is directed by Allessandro Capone in Rome.

The Spain-u.K. co-production Second Origin is based on the best selling Catalan novel Mecanoscrit Del Segon Orgen.

The Golden Bear Winner Black Coal, Thin Ice is a Boneyard Entertainment (New York & Hong Kong) co-production with Boneyard Entertainment China (Bec), Omnijoi Media (Jiangsu, China), China Film co-production.

A sign of the times is the Swedish Film in Berlin advertisement which lists all Swedish co-productions:

In Competition: In Order of DisappearanceOut of Competition: NymphomaniacBerlinale Special: Someone You Love Generation Kplus: A Christmoose StoryPerspektive Deutsches Kino: Lamento

All are with European co-producers as is Antboy a Danish-German co-production.

One of my favorites is Gallows Hill, being sold by Im Global and already picked up by IFC for U.S. Starring Twilight actor Peter Facinelli, U.K. actress Sophia Myles, Nathalia Ramos and Colombian model and actress Carolina Guerra, it was entirely financed from within Colombia by television network Rcn’s affiliate Five 7 Media which produced with Peter Block's A Bigger Boat, David Higgins and Angelique Higgins' Launchpad Productions and Andrea Chung. The screenplay was written by Rich D’Ovidio ( The Call, Thir13en Ghosts) about a widower who takes his children on a trip to their mother’s Colombian hometown.

Another interesting combo is the Australian-Singapore co-production Canopy being sold by Odin’s Eye which was acquired by Kaleidoscope for U.K., by Kinosmith for Canada and Odin’s Eye itself for Australia. After its Tiff 2013 premiere, Monterrey acquired U.S. rights.

Cathedrals of Culture, was produced by Wim Wenders’ production company: Neue Road Movies in Germany and co-produced by Final Cut For Real (Denmark), Lotus Film (Austria), Mer Film (Norway), Les Films d'Ici 2 (France), Sundance Productions / RadicalMedia (U.S.), Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg In collaboration with Arte (Germany and France) and Wowow (Japan).

Grand Budapest Hotel is a co-production of Scott Rudin in U.S. and Studio Babelsburg in Germany.

Wouldn't you say there had to be an awful lot of business going on? If only the media knew where to look for it. Instead, they moan the same old tired tune, "Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News". Oh well...

Efm Coproduction Market

Asian producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon, who was pitching the Hong Kong comedy Grooms by writer-director Arvin Chen at the Berlin Coproduction Market, announced that Germany’s augenschein filmproduktion will be a coproducer on Singaporean director Boo Junfeng’s second feature Apprentice. The film has already received backing from France’s World Cinema Support, the Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw of Germany and Germany's second network, Zdf’s Das kleine fernsehspiel unit. It also has Cinema Defacto as its French co-producer. Junfeng’s first film, Sandcastle, was screened at the Critics’ Week in Cannes in 2010.

Cologne-based augenschein, who produced Maximilian Leo’s My Brother’s Keeper, the opening film of this year’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino and is handled internationally by Media Luna, is currently in post-production on Romanian filmmaker Florin Serban’s Box, his second feature after the 2010 Berlinale Competition film If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle.

Argentinian filmmaker Santiago Mitre whose debut The Student established him as one of the brightest and most courted young directors in Latin America was in the Co-production Market with his untitled second feature which France’s Full House connected to along with Argentina’s Union de los Rio, Argentine broadcast network Telefe, Ignacio Viale and the ubiquitous Lita Stantic.

Full House was also at the Coproduction Market with Peter Webber’s Fresh about a young thief learning the art of pickpocketing in Bogota, Colombia. It will be co-produced with Rcn affiliate Five 7 Media and 4Direcciones in Colombia and by Webber himself.

Raymond van der Kaaij, the producer of Tamar van den Dop’s Panorama title Supernova, is now financing Sundance winner Ernesto Contreras’ next feature I Dream In Another Language. The Spanish-English language project will be produced with Mexico-based Agencia Sha, and it is now casting the American lead according to producer van der Kaaij of Revolver Amsterdam. Developed at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the winner of the Sundance-Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, I Dream has already received support from Imcine in Mexico. Shooting is scheduled in Mexico for the end of 2014.

Revolver is now editing Bodkin Ras, the debut film of Iranian-Dutch director Kaweh Modiri, an English-language documentary-thriller set in North Scotland. The Dutch-Belgian-u.K. coproduction is set for release at the end of 2014.

Finnish film-maker Jukka-Pekka Valkeapaa’s is editing his latest feature They Have Escaped, which Revolver coproduced with Helsinki Film.

Trend of smart art genres

Another continuing trend, which began with Xyz and Celluloid Nightmares and continued with Memento, is the character-driven art genre films with tight budgets, like the Danish coming-of-age-werewolf-romance, When Animals Dream, directed by first timer Jonas Arnby, sold by Gaumont to Radius-twc for No. Americ. The Scandinavians, formerly making a mark with "Nordic Noir" are now making what they call "Nordic Twilight".

Trend of remake rights

Another trend is that of remake rights. Film Sharks reports it makes more from selling remake rights than from licensing distribution rights.

The Intouchables is selling remake rights to more countries than only India as is the sale of Other Angle’s Babysitting remake rights. Negotiations are underway with Russia, Italy and Germany.

Fruit Chan is considering an English language remake of his 2004 cult horror film Dumplings.

The market is bit too calm?…Then let us look at Cannes…

Usually by Afm you can begin the Tipped for Cannes List (which Gilles Jacob detested), but even that is a little on the quiet side. I begin to question whether all media fueled news is accurate: the slow sales being reported, the lack of pre-Cannes buzz… Is the media really investigating deeply?

Of all the trades, while Screen has the most international news and deepest analyses, Variety reports things no other trade is covering. But…still the non-news of a quiet market persists as if it were headline news. We always hear this and we are still in an economic slump, so what we wish for is not apparent, but this is not news.

Tipped for Cannes

Tipped for Cannes are Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home staring Gong Li and to be sold by Wild Bunch, Stealth’s First Law starring Mads Mikkelsen (Cannes 2012 Best Actor Award for The Hunt); Self Made (Boreg) by Shira Geffen and to be sold by Westend, shot in Hebrew and Arabic by the production and sales team behind Oscar nominated 2011 drama Footnote, the second film after Geffen’s 2007 debut Jellyfish which won the Cannes Camera d’Or. MK2’s Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas and starring Juliette Binoche, Chloe Grace Moretz and Kristen Stewart, and Naomi Kawase’s Still the Water will be delivered in time for Cannes. Pyramide International is plannng for Leviathan, a modern retelling of the biblical story which deals with some of Russia’s most important social issues to be ready for Cannes. It is directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky (Stalingrad) as their followup to Elena. Gaumont-cj co-production, The Target, the Korean remake of Fred Cavaye’s action thriller Point Blank will be ready in time for Cannes.

Rumors and truths about people changing positions

Rumors about Dieter Kosslick replacing Berlin’s Culture Secretary who resigned after a tax evasion scandal in which he admitted to stashing $575,000 in a Swiss bank account…Charlotte Mickie has left eOne and knowing her, she is bound to find something good elsewhere as she's too good to lose...StudioCanals Harold van Lier now leads eOne’s newly ramped international sales team and Montreal based Anick Poirier leads its subsidiary label, Seville International. Jeff Nuyts is leaving Intramovies. Nigel Sinclair and Guy East seem to be leaving Exclusive Media the company they founded as discussions with partners from Dasym Investment Strategies Bv move forward. Kevin Hoiseth from Voltage Pictures has joined International Film Trust as their director of international sales...and of course, Nadine de Barros has founded her own company, Fortitude, and was holding court at the Ritz Carlton the buzziest spot outside of the Martin Gropius Bau.

What I Saw and What I Thought

For what it's worth, here is my limited list of screenings of films seen only in the last 3 days of the festival when I was no longer "working". I am including some I actually saw at Sundance.

First and foremost -- and to be written about further in a "thought piece" as I term the articles I think long about before writing and to include my interview with the director Goran Hugo Olsson's (The Black Power Mixtapes winner of Sundance 2011 World Cinema Documentary Film Editing Award) -- Concerning Violence (Isa: Films Boutique, U.S.: Cinetic), based on Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth and seen at Sundance this year next to Stanley Nelson's outstanding Freedom Summer (PBS) and Greg Barker's We Are The Giant (Submarine), is a call to action for new societal models ringing out loud and clear.

Golden Bear Winner, Black Coal, Thin Ice by Diao Yinan, a Chinese noir, lacked the momentum and substance I would have expected in a winning film, though it was a fascinating way to see today's urban China. Had I been on the jury, I would have chosen the Best Director Award winning Boyhood (Isa: IFC) by Richard Linklater. But perhaps because James Schamus, an American who loves Chinese films, was President of the Jury, there might have arisen a question of disinterested objectivity. I would have to hear what jurists Barbara Broccoli, Trine Dyrhom, Chistoph Waltz, Tony Leung, Greta Gerwig, Mitra Farahani and Michel Gondry would have to say about the deliberations.

Speaking of jury prizes, it was a surprise the much acclaimed '71 (Isa: Protagonist, now headed by our dear Mike Goodridge) won nothing, and good Alain Renais' Life of Riley (Isa: Le Pacte) received recognition. I found Christophe Gans' La belle et la bete (Beauty and the Beast) (Isa: Pathe) an overproduced unwieldy special effects-ridden mess, even though it was exec-produced by Jérôme Seydoux who also produced the masterpiece La Grande Belleza (The Great Beauty), and starred his granddaughter Lea Seydoux. I'll stand by Cocteau's versoin. I heard Claudia Llosa (Milk of Sorrow)'s Aloft was also not widely admired.

About the best actress winning film The Little House (Isa: Shochiku could have marketed it more widely), I heard nothing at all, though it sounds really good. Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross) (Isa: Beta) by brother and sister team Anna and Dietrich Brueggemann (any relation to our own Tom Brueggeman?) had a satisfying denouement and was quite engrossing with moments of humor lightening the heavy weight of the cross carried by 14 year old Maria played by Lea van Acken, a picture face out of a George de la Tour painting (Magdeline with a Smoking Flame or A Piece of Art). Macondo (Isa: Films Boutique - again! ) by Sudabeh Mortezai of Austria was a window on a world never seen before and very engrossing although the coming of age story was one we have seen before.

Not sorry to say I missed The Monuments Men and Nymphomaniac Volume I, but sorry that I missed Beloved Sisters (Isa: Global Screen) of Dominik Graf, The Grand Budapest Hotel (will see it in U.S.), Argentinian Benjamin Naishat's History of Fear (Isa: Visit) -- I'll catch it in Carthegena, Guadalajara or San Sebastian I'm sure, Jack, In Order of Disappearance which sounds like the sleeper hit of the festival, Argentinan (again!) La tercera orilla (The Third Side of the River), Lou Ye's Tui Na (Blind Massage) and Rachid Bouchareb's Two Men in Town (Isa: Pathe - again!), which I heard was rather flat which is not surprising, for when non-Americans try to make an American genre, it usually misses a certain verve, but still is such an interesting subject for him to tackle, Zwischen Welten (Inbetween Worlds) (Isa: The Match Factory) from Germany, another "American" subject, but here about a German soldier in Afghanistan, not an American one.

Among the Berlinale Specials, I wish I had seen Nancy Buirski's Afternoon of a Faun which everyone said was good (Isa: Cactus Three the doc production company of Krysanne Katsoolis and Caroline Stevens) and Volker Schloendorff's 1969 Brecht piece Baal starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Margarethe von Trotta. I did see his Diplomacy (Isa: Gaumont) which was a great treat, erudite, intimate and reminiscent of the novels of Sandor Marai (Embers and Casanova in Bolzano). Wish I could have seen Wim Wenders' Cathedrals of Culture (Isa: Cinephil), Diego Luna's Cesar Chavez (Isa: Mundial) and In the Courtyard aka Dans la cours (Isa: Wild Bunch) starring Catherine Deneuve and The Kidnapping of Michel Houllebecq (Isa: Le Pacte - again!!). I will see The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (Isa: The Film Sales Company) by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, produced by Jonathan Dana, Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller and Celeste Schaefer Snyder (Ballets Russes), back home. The Turning (Isa: Level K), an experimental omnibus produced by my favorite Australian producer, Robert Connelly who also directed in part and Maggie Myles, is also a must-see as is Errol Morris' companion piece to The Fog of War, The Unknown Known (Isa: HanWay) and Houssein Amini's Two Faces of January (Isa: StudioCanal) starring my favorites Viggo Mortenson and Kirsten Dunst. We Come as Friends (Isa: Le Pacte), by Hubert Sauper whose earlier film Darwin's Destiny astounded me, was worth watching although so often his films plunge one into a hopeless helplessness. Fresh from Sundance, it was raising controversy and the story of the Sudan is worth knowing. His particular and peculiar Pov is valuable. Watermark (Isa: Entertainment One), another social issue worth knowing about will have to wait for a more propitious time. Personally I'm hoping Israel's current venture into desalination of water will lead the world into peace and that I will rejoice watching the doc about that.

Difret (Isa: Films Boutique - again!), fresh from Sundance where I saw it was really good and it sold well. I got to hang out with the team at the Panorama party. Gueros (Isa: Mundial - again!), was a disappointment -- too like The Year of the Nail (though different) in tone. But what a great company Canana is!

Panorama's Finding Vivian Maier (Isa: HanWay - again!) is brilliantly interesting. It is about to be released in U.S. by IFC. I highly recommend seeing this documentary about an eccentric, unknown photographer. It premiered at Tiff 2013. Fresh from Sundance where it won a Special Jury Prize, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (Isa: Submarine) was a treasure; Velvet Terrorists was about the oddest piece I have ever seen. About three former opponents of the Czechoslovakian Soviet Regime, each has continued to enjoy blowing up things. One is still training the next generation in urban guerilla warfare. They are otherwise unremarkable, sweet even, but twisted. What an odd documentary.

A quick look at the Market Films I have seen: of the 400+ premieres: Zero -- no I did see German Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Two Lives (Isa: Beta), and I will soon be home to celebrate its nomination at the famous Villa Aurora, the former home of German expatriate writer Leon Feuchtwanger. So many more films look sooooo attractive! A pity I may never get to see them. I would need all the time in the world, and I have so little. I have so much and yet I want more!

Exclusive: Beki Probst, head of Berlin’s European Film Market (Efm), has hit back at claims that the 2014 edition was “sluggish” or “lukewarm” while the Berlinale Co-Production Market has handed out its awards.

Probst, who has run the Efm since 1988, was responding to reports of a quieter market.

“I think that there was a good movement of business this year,” she said in an exclusive interview with ScreenDaily.

“Daphné Kapfer of Europa International representing 35 sales agents said that it was a very good Berlin, and Glen Basner of FilmNation commented that it was ‘the best Berlin’.

“Even Harvey Weinstein came just for 24 hours to sign a $7m cheque, and Aloft was bought by Sony Pictures Classics.

“It’s the players, and not the market, that is important. The players come here if they have the right line-up. All we can do is provide the best infrastructure, but what happens after that is up to them.”

In the opinion...