Award-winning Colombian director-producer Simon Brand and Miami-based media executive producer Daniel Eilemberg have joined forces with the founders of Emmy-winning Imaginer Films, Julio César and Laura Franco, to launch Clover Studios, a new production services company in Colombia.
The new enterprise is in response to Colombia’s phenomenal growth as a major production center, driven by its competitive production incentives and flourishing creative community.
Led by Netflix’s ambitious series adaptation of Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s literary masterpiece “100 Years of Solitude,” which has entailed a full-scale recreation of the mythical village of Macondo and 20,000 extras, a number of high-profile projects have been lured to the country.
Just last year, upcoming sequel “Paddington in Peru” was mostly shot in Colombia instead of the country in its title. This month Netflix announced its first multi-year creative partnership with Colombian talent, the writer-director team Camilo Prince and Pablo González, whose thriller “The Hijacking of Flight 601,...
The new enterprise is in response to Colombia’s phenomenal growth as a major production center, driven by its competitive production incentives and flourishing creative community.
Led by Netflix’s ambitious series adaptation of Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s literary masterpiece “100 Years of Solitude,” which has entailed a full-scale recreation of the mythical village of Macondo and 20,000 extras, a number of high-profile projects have been lured to the country.
Just last year, upcoming sequel “Paddington in Peru” was mostly shot in Colombia instead of the country in its title. This month Netflix announced its first multi-year creative partnership with Colombian talent, the writer-director team Camilo Prince and Pablo González, whose thriller “The Hijacking of Flight 601,...
- 4/16/2024
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Before Thalia was the long-running queen of Latin pop, she was a superfan.
The Mexican multihyphenate, known for a three-decade career as a singer and a telenovela star, has always been an avid music listener with a love for legendary rock en español bands like Soda Stereo, Maldita Vecindad, and Hombres G. Some of those influences have made it into her music over the years, but on her new Paramount+ series Thalia’s Mixtape, El Soundtrack De Mi Vida, she fully dives in and pays tributes to all the sounds that shaped her.
The Mexican multihyphenate, known for a three-decade career as a singer and a telenovela star, has always been an avid music listener with a love for legendary rock en español bands like Soda Stereo, Maldita Vecindad, and Hombres G. Some of those influences have made it into her music over the years, but on her new Paramount+ series Thalia’s Mixtape, El Soundtrack De Mi Vida, she fully dives in and pays tributes to all the sounds that shaped her.
- 5/15/2023
- by Julyssa Lopez
- Rollingstone.com
Thalia sure knows how to cheer a girl up. On Thursday, the beloved pop singer joined Kenia Os for “Para No Verte Más,” a reimagining of the ska track by La Mosca Tse-Tse that captures both ladies moving on from a man that’s worth leaving behind.
“It brings me joy to be able to bring one of my favorite songs to life, and even more so to be able to revive this classic for new generations at the hand of an artist like Kenia,” Thalia said.
The Simon Brand...
“It brings me joy to be able to bring one of my favorite songs to life, and even more so to be able to revive this classic for new generations at the hand of an artist like Kenia,” Thalia said.
The Simon Brand...
- 3/3/2023
- by Tomás Mier
- Rollingstone.com
One of the Spanish-speaking world’s biggest sales forces, Film Factory Entertainment has swooped on sales rights to thriller “Two” (“Duo”), directed by Mar Targarona and the latest production from top Spanish genre auteur producer Rodar y Rodar.
Producer of two milestone titles of Spain’s genre auteur scene – J.A Bayona’s “The Orphanage” and Guillem Morales’ “Julia’s Eyes,” Targarona has built her own directorial career on suspense thrillers that prove unexpected and unpredictable in tone and resolution, such as 2016’s “Boy Missing” and “The Photographer of Mauthausen” – part true-events inspired record, part edge-of-set entertainment – in particular drawing strong notices. “Two” looks no exception. Its singular premise sees two strangers, a man and a woman in their 30s, wake up in an unknown place, naked and glued to each other by their stomachs. They struggle to understand how and why they got there – becoming increasingly terrified as they discover clues and the truth emerges.
Producer of two milestone titles of Spain’s genre auteur scene – J.A Bayona’s “The Orphanage” and Guillem Morales’ “Julia’s Eyes,” Targarona has built her own directorial career on suspense thrillers that prove unexpected and unpredictable in tone and resolution, such as 2016’s “Boy Missing” and “The Photographer of Mauthausen” – part true-events inspired record, part edge-of-set entertainment – in particular drawing strong notices. “Two” looks no exception. Its singular premise sees two strangers, a man and a woman in their 30s, wake up in an unknown place, naked and glued to each other by their stomachs. They struggle to understand how and why they got there – becoming increasingly terrified as they discover clues and the truth emerges.
- 3/15/2021
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
“Default,” Simon Brand’s new social thriller, will get inevitable comparisons to “Captain Phillips”, the other Somali pirate movie. Yes, the film is about a hostage taking, and the battle of wills and wits between a pirate and a gritty white lead, but what sets it apart as an intriguing answer to the Tom Hanks vehicle is that it’s told almost entirely through ‘found footage.’ Opening with newsreel of a 16-year-old Somali boy on trial for a bloody ship takeover, the story revolves around a television film crew on a flight from The Seychelles to Nairobi. Before takeoff, the plane is commandeered by armed Somali pirates, seeking ransom. Amongst the imprisoned crew are producer Marcela...
- 10/16/2014
- by Zeba Blay
- ShadowAndAct
“I thought that I could put together a found-footage type film…but with a twist. I wanted real terror and fear, as raw as possible, fear spawning from humans inflicting pain onto other humans, but without the crutch of the paranormal stuff," director Simon Brand says in the press notes for "Default." And especially coming in the wake of "Captain Phillips," which utilized Paul Greengrass' shaky cam technique for a whole new level of immersion, Brand's goals make a persuasive argument. And we can only imagine that the filmmaker's enthusiasm is what nabbed the attention of rising star David Oyelowo (who features in "Interstellar," "A Most Violent Year," and "Selma" in the next few months) and "The L Word" and "Ray Donovan" actress Katherine Moennig. None of those actors could have been have drawn to the film's script by Jim Wolfe Jr. and Dan Bence. What starts as an potentially intellectually stimulating.
- 10/16/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Piracy Politique: Brand Uses Topical Subject for Common Critique
Colombian born filmmaker Simon Brand cashes in on the current fascination with hijacking pirates for his latest film, Default, moving the action out of the water and onto a plane. Utilizing the aesthetic of the found footage genre, the perspective is almost exclusively from the camera of the news crew trapped in the hijacked plane. But rather than lending the film a tense, guerrilla style quality, this effect creates a rather visually unappealing, downright drab aesthetic. Moments of violence punctuate this rather overly talkative drama quite effectively, but it’s dismal, almost gimmicky cinematography cheapens the film.
A veteran news correspondent, Frank Saltzman (Greg Callahan), has just completed an assignment in the Seychelles. But after he boards a dilapidated, private plane with his crew, they are taken hostage by a quartet of terrorists led by the well-spoken Atlas (David Oyelowo). As...
Colombian born filmmaker Simon Brand cashes in on the current fascination with hijacking pirates for his latest film, Default, moving the action out of the water and onto a plane. Utilizing the aesthetic of the found footage genre, the perspective is almost exclusively from the camera of the news crew trapped in the hijacked plane. But rather than lending the film a tense, guerrilla style quality, this effect creates a rather visually unappealing, downright drab aesthetic. Moments of violence punctuate this rather overly talkative drama quite effectively, but it’s dismal, almost gimmicky cinematography cheapens the film.
A veteran news correspondent, Frank Saltzman (Greg Callahan), has just completed an assignment in the Seychelles. But after he boards a dilapidated, private plane with his crew, they are taken hostage by a quartet of terrorists led by the well-spoken Atlas (David Oyelowo). As...
- 10/16/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
"Default," directed by Colombian director Simon Brand, and picked up by the distribution company Wild Bunch, had its world premiered at the NY Colombian Film Festival this year, at the end of March. Described as a claustrophobic thriller, "Default," centers on the hijacking of an American news crew's chartered jet off the coast of Seychelles by Somali pirates, and stars David Oyelowo as Atlas, leader of plane hijackers/pirates, who is driven by one goal - to be interviewed by a prominent member of the crew, legendary journalist Frank Saltzman. And for the sake of his colleagues, Saltzman agrees to the demand before realizing they are...
- 10/15/2014
- by Vanessa Martinez
- ShadowAndAct
Before he goes to outer space in Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar," fights for civil rights in "Selma," and mixes it up in "A Most Violent Year," David Oyelowo is hijacking a plane in "Default." The movie finds the ever busy actor in thriller mode, and today we have an exclusive clip from the upcoming film. Co-starring Katherine Moennig, Jeanine Mason, and Stephen Lord, the Simon Brand-directed picture follows an American news crew whose flight is hijacked by Somali pirates. The gang's leader, played by Oyelowo, demands an interview with legendary journalist Frank Saltzman. When the journalist agrees, it soon becomes clear that there is much more at stake, and in the scene below, even a simple question has grave intentions behind it. "Default" opens on October 17th. Watch below.
- 10/14/2014
- by Edward Davis
- The Playlist
There are few filmic genres that get your blood pumping quite like a good hostage drama, thanks to the back-and-forth between characters and the inevitable double-crossing along with last-minute bargaining between the two or more parties. So, following the award-winning success of last year’s astute hostage drama, Captain Phillips, Amplify is hoping to recapture that specific air of tension with this year’s Default.
Billed as a claustrophobic thriller, the film largely takes place 35,000 feet in the air, where an american news crew find their plane hijacked by a gang of Somalian pirates. Led by Atlas (David Oyelowo), the terrorists seek to record an interview with renown journalist, Frank Saltzman.
Default was directed by Simon Brand — known for his work on Paraiso Travel and Unknown — and is said to hone the socio-political undertones found in Tom Hanks’ aforementioned thriller. Joining Oyelowo on the casting list is Jeanine Mason, Stephen Lord...
Billed as a claustrophobic thriller, the film largely takes place 35,000 feet in the air, where an american news crew find their plane hijacked by a gang of Somalian pirates. Led by Atlas (David Oyelowo), the terrorists seek to record an interview with renown journalist, Frank Saltzman.
Default was directed by Simon Brand — known for his work on Paraiso Travel and Unknown — and is said to hone the socio-political undertones found in Tom Hanks’ aforementioned thriller. Joining Oyelowo on the casting list is Jeanine Mason, Stephen Lord...
- 10/5/2014
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
With roles in Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar," J.C. Chandor's "A Most Violent Year" and Ava DuVernay's "Selma" in the next few months, David Oyelowo will have a lot of light of shining on him. Coming before all those movies is something far more low profile, and low-budget, the thriller "Default." And the first trailer is here. Directed by award-winning Colombian filmmaker Simon Brand (who made his name getting behind the camera for music videos for artists such as Shakira and Ricky Martin), the "Captain Phillips"-esque thriller follows an American news crew who have their charter flight hijacked by Somali pirates. As you'll see, what follows looks to be a gritty, intense little picture that hopefully has brings some freshness to the premise. "Default" hits VOD and opens in theaters on October 17th. Watch below.
- 9/26/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
"Default," directed by Colombian director Simon Brand, and picked up by the distribution company Wild Bunch, had its world premiered at the NY Colombian Film Festival this year at the end of March. Described as a claustrophobic thriller, "Default," centers on the hijacking of an American news crew's chartered jet off the coast of Seychelles by Somali pirates, and stars David Oyelowo as Atlas, leader of plane hijackers/pirates, who is driven by one goal - to be interviewed by a prominent member of the crew, legendary journalist Frank Saltzman. And for the sake of his colleagues, Saltzman agrees to the demand before realizing they are...
- 9/24/2014
- by Vanessa Martinez
- ShadowAndAct
Knowing that the Latino community is a pivotal element for its success today, Hollywood has finally adapted open spaces for content and talent that speak directly to an underrepresented sector of the population. However, despite the current outpouring of interest, this was not always the case. Only a few decades ago the Latino market consisted of a few individuals trying to bring attention to projects, actors, and filmmakers that could connect with people that rarely saw their stories on the screen. One of those pioneers was Isabel Echeverry who, through her unceasing efforts, has managed to make a success out of meeting the developing need for Latino talent in both film and advertising.
Together with her business partner Erika Olmos, who is known for her work in different facets of the film industry, Echeverry merged her company, Kontakto Rep with the Olmos Talent Management, forming what is now Olmos Kontakto. This unique new venture aims to provide support and representation to Latino talent working in all aspects of the business. Both powerhouse women saw the potential of the Latino market long before it became a consistent part of the entertainment industry. They share a particular perspective on the ins-and-out of how to create a successful career out of one’s passion.
Echeverry believes dreams are still attainable in Hollywood today when the dreamer is provided with the adequate tools. That’s what Olmos Kontakto wants to do, to offer that support and expose hidden Latino talent to an industry and audiences eager for new and innovative works.
Here is what Isabel Echeverry told us about her journey and this new fantastic project:
Aguilar: How did you get started in the entertainment industry, and how did Olmos Kontakto come about?
Isabel Echeverry: I started out about thirteen years ago working at ICM for Jeff Berg, as an agent trainee, and while I was there I offered the idea of starting the Latin American department. At the time Jennifer Lopez had just done Selena, and it was a big hit of course. They were kind of interested, but really it was too early. Thirteen years ago the Latin market was just starting in terms of people being interested in the power of the Latinos, etc. I remember bringing Sofía Vergara and they passed on her, so funny [Laughs]. After three years at ICM, I left to work with Reber Covington who represents directors in the general market for advertising and production company editors among others. While I was there they said, “Look we have one director who is Colombian, Simon Brand. Since you speak Spanish, why don’t you see if you can start him at Dieste? Dieste was the only company back then that was big in terms of productions for advertising. It was the only company that general production companies also would go after. So I started selling him, and that’s how I started with the Latin market as it grew.
In my six years at Reber Covington I created the successful Hispanic division. Everybody wanted me to represent them, all the general market companies and the Latino companies alike. It was amazing! Then, five years ago I went on my own and created Kontakto Reps., which had been a huge success. I moved back to Miami where I had my three babies, then came back here in June of last year because I have a script, a personal story, that I want to get off the ground. So I thought “I have to be in L.A for this. This is were the whole market for film is” The advertising part of my job I could do from anywhere, but for film you have to be in L.A. My script is actually at CAA right now, I’m very happy.
I always wanted to expand the focus on getting Latinos into film, like I originally did at ICM. So I started asking people in the industry that are Latinos, “Who do you think that I could partner with? I want to expand and invest into a company that is Latino focused and has talent.” Therefore, it was perfect to meet Erika Olmos because she had a wealth of around 25 great actors and actresses; she was also starting with Asher - a project in pre-production right now - so it was a great fit. We get along great and it has been a great success ever since we merged. We named our company Olmos Kontakto. She focuses more on the day-to-day management aspect for the actors, and I continue focusing on the advertising side: directors, editors, etc. We are fully immersed in everything that is Latino, both in Hollywood and in advertising in the U.S.
We have these two great companies and we benefit from each other with our projects. For example, recently one of my clients was shooting a commercial and he said, “I need a Latin actress”. We sent him an actress for casting and he booked her. That works as a vice-versa situation with anything anybody might need. Our main focus is to get people to think of Olmos Kontakto whenever they think about anything Latino.
Aguilar: What do you think has allowed the Latino market to evolve into the highly profitable industry it is today?
Isabel Echeverry: The population has grown, so it is really about the numbers. There are over 50 million Latinos in the U.S. and the number is growing. It has also changed creatively because of the power of the Latino audience who access content in different platforms and have the discretionary spending money to buy tickets and products. All these demographics have affected the investment in brands for this market. Everybody wants to invest in this market right now. There is more money, and both the quality and the demand have increased. There is an awareness of the power of Latinos and what they can offer the general market creatively. It is really powerful!
Aguilar: I understand your focus is on Latino talent here in the U.S. Are there any plans to expand into representing talent from their native countries?
Isabel Echeverry: It is very important that our talent speaks English, like you and I; we are bilingual. That’s who we are. If they do speak English, and we meet them on a trip or someone recommends them, and of course, if they have what it takes, of course we are open. For example, I was in Miami and one of our Venezuelan editors introduced me to an actor. I met him and spoke to him in English, and he is perfect, so we are going to represent him out of L.A. but will find him work in Miami as well. We are going to send him to auditions; we’ll get him an agent and get him working. It is possible to do this anywhere in the U.S. with any Latin talent. There is another actress who lives in Uruguay right now; she wants to move to L.A, and we really believe in her so we are sponsoring her. This is something we will consider case by case, but we are committed. If we see the talent and we believe we can get them a job, we will do anything to help them establish themselves. We really want to help people fulfill their dreams.
Since we started our company we’ve booked three series regulars, that’s very big. The last one was Octavio Pisano, who has a Mexican background. He just booked a series regular job on Tyler Perry’s new TV show. Then two other Mexican-American actors have just booked roles for several seasons in Hulu’s East Los High.
Aguilar: Can you tell us about the current projects being developed through Olmos Kontakto?
Isabel Echeverry: We have a TV project slate and we have a feature slate. On the feature site we have about eight projects that are in the creative development stage. One of them is Asher, directed by Francisco Ordonez, which is getting ready to shoot in New York. We have the funding in place, Danny Glover, Mekhi Phifer, and others are attached to the project.
Then we have Allegro, my personal story. I hired Michael Gottlieb, the director of Mannequin and he has been mentoring me. He sat down with me for five months and showed me how to write the script. It’s about “brujeria” (witchcraft),which is a very Latino subject. It’s now at CAA and they loved it. They sent me a list of writers that they are considering to polish the script, and then they will attach an actress and a director. Lastly, we have Chasing Rubi, which is about Porfirio Rubiosa, a diplomat from the Dominican Republic who was also known for being a playboy. We have a file from the FBI and information on his case, so it’s going to be a really interesting story. That will be a bigger budgeted film.
In terms of TV we have a few unscripted reality shows. One of them is I Am Genie. We have attached Richard Devinki, a producer who worked on The Apprentice. We're moving a lot, there is so much happening. We are overwhelmed with how our company has become a big success so quickly because of the buzz. People are reaching out to us, which is amazing!
Aguilar: Is there anything else about this new venture you would like to share?
Isabel Echeverry: Here is what I want to share. We want to be a bridge or pathway to anyone in the Latino community who has a project and who is talented. It’s a very a hard business to get into. We have the contacts; we know what it takes for anyone to be a director in commercials, in features, an editor, effects, color correction, a writer, actors who want to get their careers to where they need to be, and also anyone needing help with creative development. We have a lot of talent and projects that come to us, but my main focus is offering people an amazing opportunity. That’s really what I love to do; I love making people’s dreams come true. Since I was sixteen when I got into this business to pursue my own acting career (and it was very hard), I have done everything. I have worked at agencies, I have worked as an assistant, I was acting, and I learned the hard way. I’m here to offer people my knowledge. This is my way of giving back.
For more information on Olmos Kontakto you can visit Here...
Together with her business partner Erika Olmos, who is known for her work in different facets of the film industry, Echeverry merged her company, Kontakto Rep with the Olmos Talent Management, forming what is now Olmos Kontakto. This unique new venture aims to provide support and representation to Latino talent working in all aspects of the business. Both powerhouse women saw the potential of the Latino market long before it became a consistent part of the entertainment industry. They share a particular perspective on the ins-and-out of how to create a successful career out of one’s passion.
Echeverry believes dreams are still attainable in Hollywood today when the dreamer is provided with the adequate tools. That’s what Olmos Kontakto wants to do, to offer that support and expose hidden Latino talent to an industry and audiences eager for new and innovative works.
Here is what Isabel Echeverry told us about her journey and this new fantastic project:
Aguilar: How did you get started in the entertainment industry, and how did Olmos Kontakto come about?
Isabel Echeverry: I started out about thirteen years ago working at ICM for Jeff Berg, as an agent trainee, and while I was there I offered the idea of starting the Latin American department. At the time Jennifer Lopez had just done Selena, and it was a big hit of course. They were kind of interested, but really it was too early. Thirteen years ago the Latin market was just starting in terms of people being interested in the power of the Latinos, etc. I remember bringing Sofía Vergara and they passed on her, so funny [Laughs]. After three years at ICM, I left to work with Reber Covington who represents directors in the general market for advertising and production company editors among others. While I was there they said, “Look we have one director who is Colombian, Simon Brand. Since you speak Spanish, why don’t you see if you can start him at Dieste? Dieste was the only company back then that was big in terms of productions for advertising. It was the only company that general production companies also would go after. So I started selling him, and that’s how I started with the Latin market as it grew.
In my six years at Reber Covington I created the successful Hispanic division. Everybody wanted me to represent them, all the general market companies and the Latino companies alike. It was amazing! Then, five years ago I went on my own and created Kontakto Reps., which had been a huge success. I moved back to Miami where I had my three babies, then came back here in June of last year because I have a script, a personal story, that I want to get off the ground. So I thought “I have to be in L.A for this. This is were the whole market for film is” The advertising part of my job I could do from anywhere, but for film you have to be in L.A. My script is actually at CAA right now, I’m very happy.
I always wanted to expand the focus on getting Latinos into film, like I originally did at ICM. So I started asking people in the industry that are Latinos, “Who do you think that I could partner with? I want to expand and invest into a company that is Latino focused and has talent.” Therefore, it was perfect to meet Erika Olmos because she had a wealth of around 25 great actors and actresses; she was also starting with Asher - a project in pre-production right now - so it was a great fit. We get along great and it has been a great success ever since we merged. We named our company Olmos Kontakto. She focuses more on the day-to-day management aspect for the actors, and I continue focusing on the advertising side: directors, editors, etc. We are fully immersed in everything that is Latino, both in Hollywood and in advertising in the U.S.
We have these two great companies and we benefit from each other with our projects. For example, recently one of my clients was shooting a commercial and he said, “I need a Latin actress”. We sent him an actress for casting and he booked her. That works as a vice-versa situation with anything anybody might need. Our main focus is to get people to think of Olmos Kontakto whenever they think about anything Latino.
Aguilar: What do you think has allowed the Latino market to evolve into the highly profitable industry it is today?
Isabel Echeverry: The population has grown, so it is really about the numbers. There are over 50 million Latinos in the U.S. and the number is growing. It has also changed creatively because of the power of the Latino audience who access content in different platforms and have the discretionary spending money to buy tickets and products. All these demographics have affected the investment in brands for this market. Everybody wants to invest in this market right now. There is more money, and both the quality and the demand have increased. There is an awareness of the power of Latinos and what they can offer the general market creatively. It is really powerful!
Aguilar: I understand your focus is on Latino talent here in the U.S. Are there any plans to expand into representing talent from their native countries?
Isabel Echeverry: It is very important that our talent speaks English, like you and I; we are bilingual. That’s who we are. If they do speak English, and we meet them on a trip or someone recommends them, and of course, if they have what it takes, of course we are open. For example, I was in Miami and one of our Venezuelan editors introduced me to an actor. I met him and spoke to him in English, and he is perfect, so we are going to represent him out of L.A. but will find him work in Miami as well. We are going to send him to auditions; we’ll get him an agent and get him working. It is possible to do this anywhere in the U.S. with any Latin talent. There is another actress who lives in Uruguay right now; she wants to move to L.A, and we really believe in her so we are sponsoring her. This is something we will consider case by case, but we are committed. If we see the talent and we believe we can get them a job, we will do anything to help them establish themselves. We really want to help people fulfill their dreams.
Since we started our company we’ve booked three series regulars, that’s very big. The last one was Octavio Pisano, who has a Mexican background. He just booked a series regular job on Tyler Perry’s new TV show. Then two other Mexican-American actors have just booked roles for several seasons in Hulu’s East Los High.
Aguilar: Can you tell us about the current projects being developed through Olmos Kontakto?
Isabel Echeverry: We have a TV project slate and we have a feature slate. On the feature site we have about eight projects that are in the creative development stage. One of them is Asher, directed by Francisco Ordonez, which is getting ready to shoot in New York. We have the funding in place, Danny Glover, Mekhi Phifer, and others are attached to the project.
Then we have Allegro, my personal story. I hired Michael Gottlieb, the director of Mannequin and he has been mentoring me. He sat down with me for five months and showed me how to write the script. It’s about “brujeria” (witchcraft),which is a very Latino subject. It’s now at CAA and they loved it. They sent me a list of writers that they are considering to polish the script, and then they will attach an actress and a director. Lastly, we have Chasing Rubi, which is about Porfirio Rubiosa, a diplomat from the Dominican Republic who was also known for being a playboy. We have a file from the FBI and information on his case, so it’s going to be a really interesting story. That will be a bigger budgeted film.
In terms of TV we have a few unscripted reality shows. One of them is I Am Genie. We have attached Richard Devinki, a producer who worked on The Apprentice. We're moving a lot, there is so much happening. We are overwhelmed with how our company has become a big success so quickly because of the buzz. People are reaching out to us, which is amazing!
Aguilar: Is there anything else about this new venture you would like to share?
Isabel Echeverry: Here is what I want to share. We want to be a bridge or pathway to anyone in the Latino community who has a project and who is talented. It’s a very a hard business to get into. We have the contacts; we know what it takes for anyone to be a director in commercials, in features, an editor, effects, color correction, a writer, actors who want to get their careers to where they need to be, and also anyone needing help with creative development. We have a lot of talent and projects that come to us, but my main focus is offering people an amazing opportunity. That’s really what I love to do; I love making people’s dreams come true. Since I was sixteen when I got into this business to pursue my own acting career (and it was very hard), I have done everything. I have worked at agencies, I have worked as an assistant, I was acting, and I learned the hard way. I’m here to offer people my knowledge. This is my way of giving back.
For more information on Olmos Kontakto you can visit Here...
- 5/7/2014
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Exclusive: When seasoned agents leave one major percentery for another, the tale is told by how many clients change addresses with them. Back in March, Stuart Manashil made the leap to Wme after spending the past 6 1/2 years at CAA and before that spent six years at UTA. In what marks the third case — Dan Aloni and Warren Zavala were the first two — where agents pried their clients away from CAA, Manashil has strengthened Wme’s writer-director roster quite a bit. Related: Selena Gomez Signs With Wme Here’s who he brought with him: Alex Graves, who helmed the most recent Game Of Thrones episode; Pixar’s Day Of The Dead writer Matt Aldrich; Evil Dead‘s Fede Alvarez & Rodo Sayagues; Carlos helmer Olivier Assayas; Simon Barrett (You’re Next); Henry Bean (Internal Affairs); Simon Brand (Default); Juan Campanella (The Secret In Their Eyes); John Dowdle & Drew Dowdle (Quarantine); Kieran Fitzgerald...
- 4/22/2014
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
Default, directed by Colombian director Simon Brand, and picked up by the distribution company Wild Bunch, had its world premiered at the NY Colombian Film Festival this year at the end of March. Described as a claustrophobic thriller, Default, focuses on the hijacking of an American news crew's plan on an African runway, and stars David Oyelowo as Atlas, a Somali pirate and leader of plane hijackers, who want to tape an interview with Frank Saltzman, the plane crew's newsman. With a script penned by Jim Wolfe Jr. and Dan Bence, Default also stars Greg Callahan, Katherine Moennig, and Stephen Lord. Joining Oyelowo, other actors of...
- 4/15/2014
- by Vanessa Martinez
- ShadowAndAct
Reporting from Cartagena Film Festival.
Coproductions are increasing in Colombia.The French are participating as special guests at the Encuentros (Coproduction Meetings) this year but coproductions of the last four years have been with Germany, Norway, Spain in Europe as well as with Argentina, Peru and Uruguay. In 2013 the U.S. joined in as well.
There is a special relationship and notable variations on the coproduction theme between U.S. and Colombia. It doesn’t hurt that there is a direct flight on Jet Blue from N.Y. to Colombia , making travel less difficult to Colombia from the U.S. than it is from Europe.
Colombian directors such as Simon Brand (who lives in U.S.) are making English language genre films such as this year’s festival debuting Default which Wild Bunch has already sold in Hong Kong, the Middle East and the Netherlands. For budgets under Us$1 million, action, thrillers and horror genres can cross borders, and can recoup costs and even profit because they are in English and as such are perceived as more “Hollywood”, a positive marketing point.
There are other such coproductions: Gallows Hill coproduced with Peter Block’s L.A.-based A Bigger Boat, David and Angelique Higgins’ Launchpad Productions and Andrea Chung of Bowery Hills Entertainment which has the further distinction of being sold internationally by Im Global. And there is Out of the Dark, a coproduction with the prestigious Participant. These are not represented at the festival, and so they are not really the subject of this blog.
The reverse is also notable. Four films screening at the Cartagena Film Festival are Colombian films made by Americans. Each one has been created by unique and different types of Americans. They are the subject of this blog.
The winner of three (3!) prizes here for Audience Favorite, Best Director and Best Picture, Marmato by Mark Grieco was work-shopped twice at Sundance labs and premiered at Sundance this January 2014 (Isa: Ro*co, U.S. contact Ben Weiss at Paradigm). Manos Sucias by Josef Wladyka is a film with great pedigrees, directed, produced and shot by a team who have received the highest film and business educations from Tisch and Stern Schools at Nyu, Parador Hungaro by Patrick Alexander and Aseneth Suarez Ruiz a work of passion made with love and sweat, and Mambo Cool by Chris Gude and uniquely beautiful and soulful study of a small part of the underbelly of the underworld in Medelin.
Following is an interview with Chris Gude, the director of Mambo Cool. Interviews will soon follow with the other three directors who came to Colombia and, because of their experiences here, decided to make these exceptional movies. With its 40% cash rebate, Colombia is a great place to make movies.
Mambo Cool
While only 60 minutes long, Mambo Cool stirred great interest in the beautiful and packed theater Teatro Adolfo Maijia Cine Colombia (Tam). In a unique impressionistic style, the depiction of a micro-ecology of the underbelly of Medellin. Colombia. At the core of the film is the connection between the characters' passion for mambo dancing, music and history. Drug dealers and drug takers, whores and salsa dancers spend time in the shadows, in rat-hole apartments or in a dance bar which actually exists in Medellin under the name El Bururu Barara, talking poetically and philosophically about the meaning of friendship vs. loyalty. The main salsero of this film gave us 5 minutes of dancing which I am going to post here as soon as I can figure out how.
I interviewed the filmmaker Chris Gude, an American who in 2006 came here to work with an Ngo for displaced persons, met and established a friendship with the people in this fiction film in Medellín. Chris lives in New York. He graduated from Middlebury and attended Columbia grad school in anthropology. Perhaps his anthropology interests were part of the inspiration for this work. He returned to make this film when his friends here suggested he return to make a movie that he wrote in close collaboration with the film’s protagonist, Jorge Gavidor and other protagonist-friends. Jorge, who is the bald guy in the film is self-described as an industrial mechanic and inventor. The dialogue is stylized to communicate the magic of the environment. Cinema veritè would not work to communicate what they wanted about the environment. Chris also says that the film does not come close to fully communicating the community and mythology of the place. But for me it captures an essential rhythm and soulful quality that kept me immersed in the story.
The film has shown in various festivals and has no sales or distribution representation. Fid Marseilles invited it to play and since then it has played at the Transinema Festival in Lima, Split Film Festival, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma de Montréal, , Free Zone Festival in Belgrade, Serbia, Mar del Plata in Argentina and the Museum of the Moving Image in New York.
Coproductions are increasing in Colombia.The French are participating as special guests at the Encuentros (Coproduction Meetings) this year but coproductions of the last four years have been with Germany, Norway, Spain in Europe as well as with Argentina, Peru and Uruguay. In 2013 the U.S. joined in as well.
There is a special relationship and notable variations on the coproduction theme between U.S. and Colombia. It doesn’t hurt that there is a direct flight on Jet Blue from N.Y. to Colombia , making travel less difficult to Colombia from the U.S. than it is from Europe.
Colombian directors such as Simon Brand (who lives in U.S.) are making English language genre films such as this year’s festival debuting Default which Wild Bunch has already sold in Hong Kong, the Middle East and the Netherlands. For budgets under Us$1 million, action, thrillers and horror genres can cross borders, and can recoup costs and even profit because they are in English and as such are perceived as more “Hollywood”, a positive marketing point.
There are other such coproductions: Gallows Hill coproduced with Peter Block’s L.A.-based A Bigger Boat, David and Angelique Higgins’ Launchpad Productions and Andrea Chung of Bowery Hills Entertainment which has the further distinction of being sold internationally by Im Global. And there is Out of the Dark, a coproduction with the prestigious Participant. These are not represented at the festival, and so they are not really the subject of this blog.
The reverse is also notable. Four films screening at the Cartagena Film Festival are Colombian films made by Americans. Each one has been created by unique and different types of Americans. They are the subject of this blog.
The winner of three (3!) prizes here for Audience Favorite, Best Director and Best Picture, Marmato by Mark Grieco was work-shopped twice at Sundance labs and premiered at Sundance this January 2014 (Isa: Ro*co, U.S. contact Ben Weiss at Paradigm). Manos Sucias by Josef Wladyka is a film with great pedigrees, directed, produced and shot by a team who have received the highest film and business educations from Tisch and Stern Schools at Nyu, Parador Hungaro by Patrick Alexander and Aseneth Suarez Ruiz a work of passion made with love and sweat, and Mambo Cool by Chris Gude and uniquely beautiful and soulful study of a small part of the underbelly of the underworld in Medelin.
Following is an interview with Chris Gude, the director of Mambo Cool. Interviews will soon follow with the other three directors who came to Colombia and, because of their experiences here, decided to make these exceptional movies. With its 40% cash rebate, Colombia is a great place to make movies.
Mambo Cool
While only 60 minutes long, Mambo Cool stirred great interest in the beautiful and packed theater Teatro Adolfo Maijia Cine Colombia (Tam). In a unique impressionistic style, the depiction of a micro-ecology of the underbelly of Medellin. Colombia. At the core of the film is the connection between the characters' passion for mambo dancing, music and history. Drug dealers and drug takers, whores and salsa dancers spend time in the shadows, in rat-hole apartments or in a dance bar which actually exists in Medellin under the name El Bururu Barara, talking poetically and philosophically about the meaning of friendship vs. loyalty. The main salsero of this film gave us 5 minutes of dancing which I am going to post here as soon as I can figure out how.
I interviewed the filmmaker Chris Gude, an American who in 2006 came here to work with an Ngo for displaced persons, met and established a friendship with the people in this fiction film in Medellín. Chris lives in New York. He graduated from Middlebury and attended Columbia grad school in anthropology. Perhaps his anthropology interests were part of the inspiration for this work. He returned to make this film when his friends here suggested he return to make a movie that he wrote in close collaboration with the film’s protagonist, Jorge Gavidor and other protagonist-friends. Jorge, who is the bald guy in the film is self-described as an industrial mechanic and inventor. The dialogue is stylized to communicate the magic of the environment. Cinema veritè would not work to communicate what they wanted about the environment. Chris also says that the film does not come close to fully communicating the community and mythology of the place. But for me it captures an essential rhythm and soulful quality that kept me immersed in the story.
The film has shown in various festivals and has no sales or distribution representation. Fid Marseilles invited it to play and since then it has played at the Transinema Festival in Lima, Split Film Festival, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma de Montréal, , Free Zone Festival in Belgrade, Serbia, Mar del Plata in Argentina and the Museum of the Moving Image in New York.
- 4/12/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Today I am writing from Cartagena, Colombia where I attended Ficci, the Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias.
This former colonial jewel in the crown of Spain offers a huge array of delights, film-wise, art-wise, food-wise and people-wise. Gorgeous arts and gorgeous people, sweet, polite and proud. As much as I love Havana, Cartagena is how Havana should look.
And as much as I loved Careyes where I was last week, the art and artisanal scope here is so wide; from the Colombian painter and sculptor, Botero to indigenous palm weaving – décor for homes (not cheap!), bags, designer clothing, linen and rubies.
Aside from films, my big discoveries of the day are Ruby Rumie, a Colombian artist who spends much of her time here in her studio in the Getsemaní section of town and in Chile. Coincidentally (again) Gary Meyer (Telluride Film Festival) and his wife Cathy who are here with Gary on the Documentary Competition Jury (I just left them in Careyas!) also just discovered her as well. The other artist, Olga Amaral, works in indigenous styles of weaving and textile production and now is favoring gold leaf displays of woven wall tapestries. Stunning. Both are available at the Nh Gallery, a place I just happened to wander into as I was walking from the theater to my equally stunning hotel Casa Pestagua.
The courteous and helpful people here are a proud mix of white, brown and black. They say the blacks will never follow the orders of a white. They say the blood of slaves is embedded in the wall fortifications of the city. The Inquisition here was very powerful, and they say the Jews (Conversos) coming in the conquistadors’ ships went to settle Medellín and the Catholics to Bogotá. Cartagena was the last city to be free of the Spanish crown and as such, it was extremely conservative.
It would take days to visit all the museums throughout the city. The Art Biennale is now in many of them (free entry) including the Museum of the Inquisition with its torture machines. The Museum of Gold with pre-Colombian gold artworks is astounding. All the gold of Latin America (and emeralds, diamonds and silver) went from here in the Spanish galleons back to Spain until the city declared its independence in 1811. We in the North know this history but from a different perspective. Eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins of Latin America and Gonzalo Arijon’s documentary Eyes Wide Open, an update of Galeano’s ideas are good starting points for understanding this part of the world. Eye opening indeed!
The beauty of the city and its people is matched by the food. There is great food here here and some very haute cuisine restaurants. Ceviches of many kinds, new sweet fruits like the pitaya and the drink mixing limeade and coconut milk delight the palate. The festival invites enough but not too many industry folks so it can host lunches and dinners in wonderful venues along with cocktail hours where we can all meet and talk. Talk among us is of food and film, film and food…even of food film festivals that are cropping up from Berlin, San Sebastian, here and in Northern California…stay tuned.
The Colombian government is aware of the need for the public to rediscover their own stories and to this end all the festival screenings are free, and all are packed Sro. The government also supports filmmakers with a deliberate, well-planned and well executed strategy to increase production and create an infrastructure.
Colombian films’ biggest challenge is to increase their share of their rapidly growing domestic market, worth $182.3 million in box office in 2012. One way forward is international co-production, where Bam (Bogotá Audiovisual Market) July 14-18, 2014 plays a large role. There is a mini version of this here (Encuentros Cartagena), centering on French and Colombian co-production, but not limited to that, with guests like George Goldenstern from Cinefondation (Cannes), producer/ international sales agent Marie-Pierre Masia and and the ever present Thierry Lenouvel of Cine-Sud whose film Tierra en la lengua aka Dust on the Tongue won the Best Picture Award in Competition. Vincenzo Bugno of World Cinema Fund of the Berlinale is always here too as is Jose Maria Riba on the Jury of the Competition and programmer for San Sebastian and Directors Fortnight. Also on the jury are Wendy Mitchel and Pawel Pawlikowski whose film Ida (Isa: Portobello Film Sales) is playing (outside of the Competition). A look at the winning competition films shows the strength of co-productions today.
Best Picture: Dust on the Tongue of Ruben Mendoza (Colombia) Colombia Film of $15,000. Special Jury Prize: The Third Side of the River (La tercera orilla) which premiered in Competition at the Berlinale, by Celina Murga (Argentina, Netherlands, Germany) (Isa: The Match Factory) Best Director: Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To kill a man (Matar a un hombre) which premiered in Sundance (Chile, France). Film Factory is selling international rights and Film Movement has U.S. It also won the Fipresci or International Critics’ Award. Best Actor: Fernando Bacilio by El Mudo (Peru, Mexico, France), Urban Distribution International is the sales agent.
Cinema in Colombia continues its steep ascent in the international production world. The reasons, according to Bugno, lie in “new political decisions, funding structures, and the developing of a new producing environment that also has to do with new emerging young talent.”
A visit to the festival headquarters proves the point of the extensive government support of film not only for its own sake, but for the sake of all the people, dispossessed, abused, Lgbt, children and women. It is a beautiful sight to see such support, and the people seem to reciprocate; I hear more praise than complaints about the government and everyone seems cautiously optimistic, aware of its current position vis à vis what has thankfully become recent history with the guerillas who had been waging war with the government for the past 40 years and the current elections and competing points of view between the former President Uribe and the current President Juan Manuel Santos.
Aecid , Association Espagnola de Cooperacon Internacional para el Desarrollo (The Spanish Association for International Cooperation for Development), a festival sponsor supports social cohesion, equality of genders, construction of peace, respect for cultural diversity and the reduction of poverty.
Currently in Colombia, national cinema holds a 10% share of the Colombian market and 8% of the box office. In 2012, 213 films were produced in Colombia, a huge increase since 2009 when 19 were produced according to Ocal, the Observotario del Cine f nCl [sic]. In 2012, 23 of the 213 domestic films were released theatrically, a tremendous increase from the 6 Colombian films released in the year 2000. [1],[2] This number surpasses every record in Colombia’s film history
This 10 day spectacular film festival gives free entry to all at 8 theaters and, proving the point that people love the movies, every single screening is packed solid, Sro. More than 135 films come from 27 countries. 48 daily screenings include 14 open air screenings in great locations. There are 40 world premieres and 26 Latin American premieres.
150 invited guests included Abbas Kiarostami, Clive Owen, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Pavel Pawlikowsky with his film Ida, John Sayles with whom I had an interesting talk about U.S. current distribution and of Return of Seacaucus Seven and Sunshine State. The screening of his film Go For Sisters has received an enthusiastic response from the audiences.
Since 2013, coproductions between the U.S. and Colombia with variations on the theme are on the rise. With its 40% cash rebate, Colombia is proving to be a great place to make movies.
Colombians such as Simon Brand are making English language genre films such as this year’s festival debuting Default (Isa: Wild Bunch). For budgets under Us$1 million, action, thrillers and horror genres can cross borders, and can recoup costs and even profit.
The reverse is also notable. Four films screening here are Colombian films made by Americans. The winner to three prizes here for Best Director, Best Documentary and the Audience Prize, Marmato by Marc Grieco was workshopped twice at Sundance where it premiered this January 2014. It is represented internationally by Ro*co and its U.S. representative is Ben Weiss at Paradigm. The other three remarkable debut films are Mambo Cool by Chris Gude,Manos Sucias by Josef Wladyka (a Japanese-Polish American) and Parador Hungaro by Patrick Alexander and Aseneth Suarez Ruiz. Look for upcoming interviews with these four directors who came to Colombia and, because of their experiences here, decided to make these exceptional movies. My next blog will be interviews with each of these films’ directors.
Secundaria , the first film I saw here was not shot here although it too was directed by an American who made 21 trips to Cuba to make it. Documenting the high school ballet training and competitions held by Cuba’s world famous National Ballet School -- Watch the trailer here -- it was not only beautiful but it magically captured the ever-present economic issues of Cuba. I can’t wait to see Primaria about the grade school of the Nbs.
Director and coproducer Mary Jane Doherty has been an Associate Professor of Film at Boston University since 1990. Proud of her lineage as a student of iconic documentarian Ricky Leacock, she developed B.U.’s Narrative Documentary Program: a novel approach to non-fiction storytelling using the building blocks of fiction film. Lyda Kuth , the coproducer, is founding board member and executive director of the Lef Foundation, which supports independent filmmakers through the Lef Moving Image Fund. In 2005, she established Nadita Productions and was producer/director on her first feature documentary, Love and Other Anxieties.
A cocktail party is given daily at the festival where we can all meet up. It was there I met Gail Gendler VP of Acquisitions for AMC/ Sundance Channel Global (international not domestic) and Gus
Dinner one night was with the jury for Nuevos Creadores (New Creators). Cynthia Garcia Calvo, Editor in Chief of LatamCinema.com, a Latino equivalent to Indiewire.com out of Chile and Argentina and I spoke of possible ways to cooperate. The third member of the jury, Javier Mejia, director of Colombia’s best film of 2008 Apocalypsur also has a documentary here, Duni, about a Chilean filmmaker who left Chile during the dictatorship and came to Colombia where he made political films in Medellin but never discussed his reasons for coming or even his Chilean roots. How happy I was that I had seen and enjoyed the films of the third jury member, Daniel Vega, who with his brother Diego made The Mute aka El Mudo (Isa: Urban Media) which played in Toronto and San Sebastian and his earlier film October, both dark comedies or perhaps dramadies dealing with subjective realities in unique environs of Peru we have never seen. He promised to help me with the Peru chapter of my upcoming book. Peru is in the lower middle of countries which support filmmaking. Their film fund is a rather laid back affair administered by the Ministry of Culture who receives money from the Ministry of Finance when they “get around to it”.
Jury for New Creators: Javier Mejía, Cynthia García Calvo and Diego Vega,displaying the winner for the Best Short Film: Alen Natalia Imery (Universidad del Valle) who won a Sony video camera, 2,000, 000 pesos of in kind services from Shock Magazin, and a scholarship for graduate Project Management and Film Production at the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga
Second prize went to The murmur of the earth Alejandro Daza (National University) - Win a Sony camera, and a Fellowship for Graduate Record Audio and Sound Design of the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga.
Other winners are:
Official Colombian Film Competition
Jurors: David Melo - Alissa Simon - Daniela Michel
Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA) Winner of the I.Sat Award for $30K and the Cinecolor Award for $11k in deliveries
Special Jury Prize: Mateo by María Gamboa
Best Director: Rubén Mendoza for Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua). Winner of Hangar Films Award for $30K in film equipment to produce his next film.
Additional Awards
Audience Award Colombia: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of $15K
Official Documentary Competition
Jurors: Gary Meyer- Luis Ospina - Laurie Collyer
Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of the Cinecolor Award for $13Kin post-production services.
Special Jury Prize: What Now? Remind Me (E Agora? Lembra-me) by Joaquim Pinto (Portugal)
Best Director: Justin Webster for I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) (Spain, Denmark, U.K.)
Official Short Film Competition
JurorsOswaldo Osorio -Pacho Bottia - Denis de la Roca
Best Short Film: Statues (Estatuas) by Roberto Fiesco (Mexico). Winner of a professional Sony camera and $3K from Cinecolor in post-production services for his next project.
Special Jury Prize: About a Month (Pouco Mais de um Mês) by André Novais Oliveira (Brazil)
Best Director: Manuel Camacho Bustillo for Blackout chapter 4 "A Call to Neverland" (Blackout capítulo 4 "Una llamada a Neverland") (Mexico). Winner of a Sony photographic camera.
Gems
Jurors: Mauricio Reina - Manuel Kalmanowitz - Sofia Gomez Gonzalez
Best Film: Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Koreeda (Japan). Winner of the Rcn Award for $50 to promote the release of the film in Colombia.
Special Jury Prize: Ilo Ilo by Anthony Chen (Singapore)
[1] http://www.cinelatinoamericano.org/ocal/cifras.aspx
[2] http://www.mincultura.gov.co/areas/cinematografia/estadisticas-del-sector/Documents/Anuario%202012.p...
This former colonial jewel in the crown of Spain offers a huge array of delights, film-wise, art-wise, food-wise and people-wise. Gorgeous arts and gorgeous people, sweet, polite and proud. As much as I love Havana, Cartagena is how Havana should look.
And as much as I loved Careyes where I was last week, the art and artisanal scope here is so wide; from the Colombian painter and sculptor, Botero to indigenous palm weaving – décor for homes (not cheap!), bags, designer clothing, linen and rubies.
Aside from films, my big discoveries of the day are Ruby Rumie, a Colombian artist who spends much of her time here in her studio in the Getsemaní section of town and in Chile. Coincidentally (again) Gary Meyer (Telluride Film Festival) and his wife Cathy who are here with Gary on the Documentary Competition Jury (I just left them in Careyas!) also just discovered her as well. The other artist, Olga Amaral, works in indigenous styles of weaving and textile production and now is favoring gold leaf displays of woven wall tapestries. Stunning. Both are available at the Nh Gallery, a place I just happened to wander into as I was walking from the theater to my equally stunning hotel Casa Pestagua.
The courteous and helpful people here are a proud mix of white, brown and black. They say the blacks will never follow the orders of a white. They say the blood of slaves is embedded in the wall fortifications of the city. The Inquisition here was very powerful, and they say the Jews (Conversos) coming in the conquistadors’ ships went to settle Medellín and the Catholics to Bogotá. Cartagena was the last city to be free of the Spanish crown and as such, it was extremely conservative.
It would take days to visit all the museums throughout the city. The Art Biennale is now in many of them (free entry) including the Museum of the Inquisition with its torture machines. The Museum of Gold with pre-Colombian gold artworks is astounding. All the gold of Latin America (and emeralds, diamonds and silver) went from here in the Spanish galleons back to Spain until the city declared its independence in 1811. We in the North know this history but from a different perspective. Eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins of Latin America and Gonzalo Arijon’s documentary Eyes Wide Open, an update of Galeano’s ideas are good starting points for understanding this part of the world. Eye opening indeed!
The beauty of the city and its people is matched by the food. There is great food here here and some very haute cuisine restaurants. Ceviches of many kinds, new sweet fruits like the pitaya and the drink mixing limeade and coconut milk delight the palate. The festival invites enough but not too many industry folks so it can host lunches and dinners in wonderful venues along with cocktail hours where we can all meet and talk. Talk among us is of food and film, film and food…even of food film festivals that are cropping up from Berlin, San Sebastian, here and in Northern California…stay tuned.
The Colombian government is aware of the need for the public to rediscover their own stories and to this end all the festival screenings are free, and all are packed Sro. The government also supports filmmakers with a deliberate, well-planned and well executed strategy to increase production and create an infrastructure.
Colombian films’ biggest challenge is to increase their share of their rapidly growing domestic market, worth $182.3 million in box office in 2012. One way forward is international co-production, where Bam (Bogotá Audiovisual Market) July 14-18, 2014 plays a large role. There is a mini version of this here (Encuentros Cartagena), centering on French and Colombian co-production, but not limited to that, with guests like George Goldenstern from Cinefondation (Cannes), producer/ international sales agent Marie-Pierre Masia and and the ever present Thierry Lenouvel of Cine-Sud whose film Tierra en la lengua aka Dust on the Tongue won the Best Picture Award in Competition. Vincenzo Bugno of World Cinema Fund of the Berlinale is always here too as is Jose Maria Riba on the Jury of the Competition and programmer for San Sebastian and Directors Fortnight. Also on the jury are Wendy Mitchel and Pawel Pawlikowski whose film Ida (Isa: Portobello Film Sales) is playing (outside of the Competition). A look at the winning competition films shows the strength of co-productions today.
Best Picture: Dust on the Tongue of Ruben Mendoza (Colombia) Colombia Film of $15,000. Special Jury Prize: The Third Side of the River (La tercera orilla) which premiered in Competition at the Berlinale, by Celina Murga (Argentina, Netherlands, Germany) (Isa: The Match Factory) Best Director: Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To kill a man (Matar a un hombre) which premiered in Sundance (Chile, France). Film Factory is selling international rights and Film Movement has U.S. It also won the Fipresci or International Critics’ Award. Best Actor: Fernando Bacilio by El Mudo (Peru, Mexico, France), Urban Distribution International is the sales agent.
Cinema in Colombia continues its steep ascent in the international production world. The reasons, according to Bugno, lie in “new political decisions, funding structures, and the developing of a new producing environment that also has to do with new emerging young talent.”
A visit to the festival headquarters proves the point of the extensive government support of film not only for its own sake, but for the sake of all the people, dispossessed, abused, Lgbt, children and women. It is a beautiful sight to see such support, and the people seem to reciprocate; I hear more praise than complaints about the government and everyone seems cautiously optimistic, aware of its current position vis à vis what has thankfully become recent history with the guerillas who had been waging war with the government for the past 40 years and the current elections and competing points of view between the former President Uribe and the current President Juan Manuel Santos.
Aecid , Association Espagnola de Cooperacon Internacional para el Desarrollo (The Spanish Association for International Cooperation for Development), a festival sponsor supports social cohesion, equality of genders, construction of peace, respect for cultural diversity and the reduction of poverty.
Currently in Colombia, national cinema holds a 10% share of the Colombian market and 8% of the box office. In 2012, 213 films were produced in Colombia, a huge increase since 2009 when 19 were produced according to Ocal, the Observotario del Cine f nCl [sic]. In 2012, 23 of the 213 domestic films were released theatrically, a tremendous increase from the 6 Colombian films released in the year 2000. [1],[2] This number surpasses every record in Colombia’s film history
This 10 day spectacular film festival gives free entry to all at 8 theaters and, proving the point that people love the movies, every single screening is packed solid, Sro. More than 135 films come from 27 countries. 48 daily screenings include 14 open air screenings in great locations. There are 40 world premieres and 26 Latin American premieres.
150 invited guests included Abbas Kiarostami, Clive Owen, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Pavel Pawlikowsky with his film Ida, John Sayles with whom I had an interesting talk about U.S. current distribution and of Return of Seacaucus Seven and Sunshine State. The screening of his film Go For Sisters has received an enthusiastic response from the audiences.
Since 2013, coproductions between the U.S. and Colombia with variations on the theme are on the rise. With its 40% cash rebate, Colombia is proving to be a great place to make movies.
Colombians such as Simon Brand are making English language genre films such as this year’s festival debuting Default (Isa: Wild Bunch). For budgets under Us$1 million, action, thrillers and horror genres can cross borders, and can recoup costs and even profit.
The reverse is also notable. Four films screening here are Colombian films made by Americans. The winner to three prizes here for Best Director, Best Documentary and the Audience Prize, Marmato by Marc Grieco was workshopped twice at Sundance where it premiered this January 2014. It is represented internationally by Ro*co and its U.S. representative is Ben Weiss at Paradigm. The other three remarkable debut films are Mambo Cool by Chris Gude,Manos Sucias by Josef Wladyka (a Japanese-Polish American) and Parador Hungaro by Patrick Alexander and Aseneth Suarez Ruiz. Look for upcoming interviews with these four directors who came to Colombia and, because of their experiences here, decided to make these exceptional movies. My next blog will be interviews with each of these films’ directors.
Secundaria , the first film I saw here was not shot here although it too was directed by an American who made 21 trips to Cuba to make it. Documenting the high school ballet training and competitions held by Cuba’s world famous National Ballet School -- Watch the trailer here -- it was not only beautiful but it magically captured the ever-present economic issues of Cuba. I can’t wait to see Primaria about the grade school of the Nbs.
Director and coproducer Mary Jane Doherty has been an Associate Professor of Film at Boston University since 1990. Proud of her lineage as a student of iconic documentarian Ricky Leacock, she developed B.U.’s Narrative Documentary Program: a novel approach to non-fiction storytelling using the building blocks of fiction film. Lyda Kuth , the coproducer, is founding board member and executive director of the Lef Foundation, which supports independent filmmakers through the Lef Moving Image Fund. In 2005, she established Nadita Productions and was producer/director on her first feature documentary, Love and Other Anxieties.
A cocktail party is given daily at the festival where we can all meet up. It was there I met Gail Gendler VP of Acquisitions for AMC/ Sundance Channel Global (international not domestic) and Gus
Dinner one night was with the jury for Nuevos Creadores (New Creators). Cynthia Garcia Calvo, Editor in Chief of LatamCinema.com, a Latino equivalent to Indiewire.com out of Chile and Argentina and I spoke of possible ways to cooperate. The third member of the jury, Javier Mejia, director of Colombia’s best film of 2008 Apocalypsur also has a documentary here, Duni, about a Chilean filmmaker who left Chile during the dictatorship and came to Colombia where he made political films in Medellin but never discussed his reasons for coming or even his Chilean roots. How happy I was that I had seen and enjoyed the films of the third jury member, Daniel Vega, who with his brother Diego made The Mute aka El Mudo (Isa: Urban Media) which played in Toronto and San Sebastian and his earlier film October, both dark comedies or perhaps dramadies dealing with subjective realities in unique environs of Peru we have never seen. He promised to help me with the Peru chapter of my upcoming book. Peru is in the lower middle of countries which support filmmaking. Their film fund is a rather laid back affair administered by the Ministry of Culture who receives money from the Ministry of Finance when they “get around to it”.
Jury for New Creators: Javier Mejía, Cynthia García Calvo and Diego Vega,displaying the winner for the Best Short Film: Alen Natalia Imery (Universidad del Valle) who won a Sony video camera, 2,000, 000 pesos of in kind services from Shock Magazin, and a scholarship for graduate Project Management and Film Production at the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga
Second prize went to The murmur of the earth Alejandro Daza (National University) - Win a Sony camera, and a Fellowship for Graduate Record Audio and Sound Design of the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga.
Other winners are:
Official Colombian Film Competition
Jurors: David Melo - Alissa Simon - Daniela Michel
Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA) Winner of the I.Sat Award for $30K and the Cinecolor Award for $11k in deliveries
Special Jury Prize: Mateo by María Gamboa
Best Director: Rubén Mendoza for Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua). Winner of Hangar Films Award for $30K in film equipment to produce his next film.
Additional Awards
Audience Award Colombia: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of $15K
Official Documentary Competition
Jurors: Gary Meyer- Luis Ospina - Laurie Collyer
Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of the Cinecolor Award for $13Kin post-production services.
Special Jury Prize: What Now? Remind Me (E Agora? Lembra-me) by Joaquim Pinto (Portugal)
Best Director: Justin Webster for I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) (Spain, Denmark, U.K.)
Official Short Film Competition
JurorsOswaldo Osorio -Pacho Bottia - Denis de la Roca
Best Short Film: Statues (Estatuas) by Roberto Fiesco (Mexico). Winner of a professional Sony camera and $3K from Cinecolor in post-production services for his next project.
Special Jury Prize: About a Month (Pouco Mais de um Mês) by André Novais Oliveira (Brazil)
Best Director: Manuel Camacho Bustillo for Blackout chapter 4 "A Call to Neverland" (Blackout capítulo 4 "Una llamada a Neverland") (Mexico). Winner of a Sony photographic camera.
Gems
Jurors: Mauricio Reina - Manuel Kalmanowitz - Sofia Gomez Gonzalez
Best Film: Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Koreeda (Japan). Winner of the Rcn Award for $50 to promote the release of the film in Colombia.
Special Jury Prize: Ilo Ilo by Anthony Chen (Singapore)
[1] http://www.cinelatinoamericano.org/ocal/cifras.aspx
[2] http://www.mincultura.gov.co/areas/cinematografia/estadisticas-del-sector/Documents/Anuario%202012.p...
- 3/26/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The International Film Festival of Cartagena de Indias has confirmed the rest of its programme.
Cartagena has added a Midnight Cinema section including two Colombian horror films: Gallows Hill (Encerrada), directed by Víctor García and written by Richard D´Ovidio and starring Peter Facinelli; and Demental by young Colombian David Bohórquez, which will have its world premiere at the festival.
The outdoor series Cinema Under the Stars includes:
Gloria, Sebastián Lelio (Chile)La Jaula de Oro, Diego Quemada Diez (Mexico)The Lunchbox, Ritesh Batra (India)Ciudad Delirio, Chus Gutiérrez (festival opening film)Porro Hecho en Colombia, Adriana Lucía, who will give a concert at the end of the screening.
Special Presentations section include Simon Brand’s Default, Laurie Collyer’s Sunlight Jr, Spike Jonze’s Her, Go for Sisters by John Sayles (the subject of a retrospective), and Medeas by Andrea Pallaoro.
There are also two films that are also part of Tributes: Alejandro González Iñárritu’s [link...
Cartagena has added a Midnight Cinema section including two Colombian horror films: Gallows Hill (Encerrada), directed by Víctor García and written by Richard D´Ovidio and starring Peter Facinelli; and Demental by young Colombian David Bohórquez, which will have its world premiere at the festival.
The outdoor series Cinema Under the Stars includes:
Gloria, Sebastián Lelio (Chile)La Jaula de Oro, Diego Quemada Diez (Mexico)The Lunchbox, Ritesh Batra (India)Ciudad Delirio, Chus Gutiérrez (festival opening film)Porro Hecho en Colombia, Adriana Lucía, who will give a concert at the end of the screening.
Special Presentations section include Simon Brand’s Default, Laurie Collyer’s Sunlight Jr, Spike Jonze’s Her, Go for Sisters by John Sayles (the subject of a retrospective), and Medeas by Andrea Pallaoro.
There are also two films that are also part of Tributes: Alejandro González Iñárritu’s [link...
- 2/27/2014
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Korean actress Kim Soo-hyun ("Brain," "7th Grade Civil Servant") has scored a key villainess role in Joss Whedon's upcoming "Avengers: Age of Ultron". Kim is experienced in action and is fluent in English.
Kim will be on hand for sequences set around Seoul's Gangnam neighbourhood along with Incheon City. [Source: Twitch]
Entourage: The Movie
Billy Bob Thornton is in talks to join the upcoming film adaption of hit HBO series "Entourage". The movie is currently shooting around Los Angeles.
Thornton would play a billionaire cowboy-turned-film financier who sends his twenty-something son to keep an eye on things on set of the latest flick he’s financing - Vincent Chase's upcoming big-budget Dracula movie. [Source: EW]
Robodog
Chris Colfer ("Glee") and Ron Perlman ("Sons of Anarchy") will lend their voices to Henry F. Anderson III's 3D CG animated family adventure film "Robodog" at Marza Animation Planet.
The story follows a bright,...
Korean actress Kim Soo-hyun ("Brain," "7th Grade Civil Servant") has scored a key villainess role in Joss Whedon's upcoming "Avengers: Age of Ultron". Kim is experienced in action and is fluent in English.
Kim will be on hand for sequences set around Seoul's Gangnam neighbourhood along with Incheon City. [Source: Twitch]
Entourage: The Movie
Billy Bob Thornton is in talks to join the upcoming film adaption of hit HBO series "Entourage". The movie is currently shooting around Los Angeles.
Thornton would play a billionaire cowboy-turned-film financier who sends his twenty-something son to keep an eye on things on set of the latest flick he’s financing - Vincent Chase's upcoming big-budget Dracula movie. [Source: EW]
Robodog
Chris Colfer ("Glee") and Ron Perlman ("Sons of Anarchy") will lend their voices to Henry F. Anderson III's 3D CG animated family adventure film "Robodog" at Marza Animation Planet.
The story follows a bright,...
- 1/29/2014
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Sundance: Bruce Willis To Star In Action Pic ‘Vice’, Teaming Again With Emmett / Furla / Oasis Films
Exclusive: Lone Survivor producer Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films is set to produce and finance Vice, an Andre Fabrizio- and Jeremy Passmore-scripted futuristic action thriller that will star Bruce Willis. The $15 million-budget pic will be distributed by Grindstone/Lionsgate Films. The movie is set in a city in which humans can enact their most perverse fantasies onto androids. One android becomes self-aware and breaks out, only to become intent on shutting down the organization. Ambyr Childers, most recently seen in 2 Guns, Ray Donovan and The Master, will play the android, and Willis will play Julian, owner of the Vice resort that caters to the depraved. Pic begins shooting March 15 in Alabama and more casting is pending. George Furla, Randall Emmett and Adam Goldworm are producing. Barry Brooker and Stan Wertlieb will executive produce, and Tim Sullivan is co-producing. Emmett/Furla is fully in the Bruce Willis business these days:...
- 1/21/2014
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
While we may not all agree on the specific severity of awfulness, I think we can all agree that A Good Day to Die Hard was one of 2013.s worst action films, if not all of the year.s films in general. It was almost dangerous to watch Bruce Willis dial in John McClane.s latest exploits, and Willis himself made it clear in August that he was tired of starring in action movies. Naturally, he.s gone and gotten himself attached not just to another action movie but to a role that was vacated by Arnold Schwarzenegger. So, I guess that earlier plan is out the window. Willis has signed on for the lead role in the Brazilian hostage thriller Captive from Emmet/Furla Films and Aldamisa Entertainment. Captive will be directed by Simon Brand, the Columbian director who got his break with the 2006 locked-room mystery Unknown, from a...
- 1/11/2014
- cinemablend.com
Via: Variety
Bruce Willis is looking to possibly join an indie action-thriller film called Captive, which was originally being developed with Arnold Schwarzenegger. He's no longer attached to the project though.
The film will tell the story of an "American real estate magnate living in Brazil who is kidnapped and held for ransom at a prison cell hidden in a Sao Paolo landfill while a detective specializing in ransom cases tries to find him."
The movie will be directed by Simon Brand (Unknown) and is scheduled to start shooting in March. The next movie we will see Willis in will be Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. ...
Bruce Willis is looking to possibly join an indie action-thriller film called Captive, which was originally being developed with Arnold Schwarzenegger. He's no longer attached to the project though.
The film will tell the story of an "American real estate magnate living in Brazil who is kidnapped and held for ransom at a prison cell hidden in a Sao Paolo landfill while a detective specializing in ransom cases tries to find him."
The movie will be directed by Simon Brand (Unknown) and is scheduled to start shooting in March. The next movie we will see Willis in will be Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. ...
- 1/10/2014
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Bruce Willis is in talks to star in Simon Brand's indie action-thriller "Captive".
Ben van der Veen and Kario Salem penned the script which follows an American real estate magnate living in Brazil. Kidnapped and held for ransom in a prison cell under a Sao Paolo landfill, a detective specializing in ransom cases tries to find him.
Willis takes on a role which had originally been developed with Arnold Schwarzenegger in mind. He is no longer attached to the project in any capacity.
Alexandra Milchan, Scott Lambert, Randall Emmett, George Furla, Marina Bespalov and Michael London will produce. Filming is currently slated to begin in March.
Source: Variety...
Ben van der Veen and Kario Salem penned the script which follows an American real estate magnate living in Brazil. Kidnapped and held for ransom in a prison cell under a Sao Paolo landfill, a detective specializing in ransom cases tries to find him.
Willis takes on a role which had originally been developed with Arnold Schwarzenegger in mind. He is no longer attached to the project in any capacity.
Alexandra Milchan, Scott Lambert, Randall Emmett, George Furla, Marina Bespalov and Michael London will produce. Filming is currently slated to begin in March.
Source: Variety...
- 1/10/2014
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
• Bruce Willis (Die Hard) is set to star in the action thriller Captive, taking over for the previously rumored Arnold Schwarzenegger. Simon Brand (Unknown) is directing with a script by Benjamin van der Even (Che: Part Two) and Kario Salem (Chasing Mavericks) from a story by Nicolai Fuglsig. Willis will play a real estate developer who gets kidnapped and held for ransom while at work in Brazil. Production is set to begin in March. [Deadline]
• Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs) will play the woman who claimed to be the Grand Russian Duchess Anastasia, in Duchess. The film will be directed by Arie Posin...
• Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs) will play the woman who claimed to be the Grand Russian Duchess Anastasia, in Duchess. The film will be directed by Arie Posin...
- 1/10/2014
- by Jake Perlman
- EW - Inside Movies
Over two years ago, and indie thriller called Captive was in the works with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead as he was making his way back onto the big screen after ending his run as a governor. However, it appears another team member from The Expendables will step into the role instead. Variety has word that Bruce Willis, who ended up not returning for The Expendables 3, will take the lead role in the film about an American real estate magnate living in Brazil who is kidnapped and held inside of an armored truck for ransom, all while a detective (a role that has yet to be cast) specializing in ransom cases tries to find him. The script came from writer Benjamin van der Veen and a story by Nicolai Fuglsig and has Simon Brand on board to direct. Brand directed a thriller called Unknown in 2006, which also dealt with...
- 1/9/2014
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
Despite playing the same role over and over, and over and over again, there’s no denying that Bruce Willis is good at what he does. Sure, he doesn’t always pick the best projects (A Good Day To Die Hard, Red 2), but no matter where he shows up, you can usally count on the fact that he’ll be entertaining to watch. So, it’s no surprise the the actor is now circling another action thriller. Titled Captive, the film has Simon Brand set to direct and will revolve around a kidnapping plot.
Originally, Arnold Schwarzenegger was eyeing the lead role but that was a couple years ago and never came to fruition. Now, Willis is in talks and he’s expected to join. As I mentioned before, it’s a kidnapping plot which sees an “American real estate magnate living in Brazil who is kidnapped and held for ransom.
Originally, Arnold Schwarzenegger was eyeing the lead role but that was a couple years ago and never came to fruition. Now, Willis is in talks and he’s expected to join. As I mentioned before, it’s a kidnapping plot which sees an “American real estate magnate living in Brazil who is kidnapped and held for ransom.
- 1/9/2014
- by Matt Joseph
- We Got This Covered
Bruce Willis has been set to star in Captive, an action thriller that will begin production in March with Simon Brand directing. Benjamin van der Veen and Kario Salem wrote the script from a story by Nicolai Fuglsig. Willis will play a real estate developer who gets kidnapped and held for ransom while at work in Brazil. The kidnappers think he’s wealthy, but he’s more of an ordinary guy. He frantically searches for a way out of his armored-truck prison cell hidden in a Sao Paolo landfill, while a detective specializing in kidnap and ransom cases works to find him. The film has been reconfigured from last year, when Arnold Schwarzenegger was set to play the role. Aldamisa has come on to finance the film with Emmett/Furla Films. Aldamisa co-chairman Marina Bespalov is producing with Randall Emmett and George Furla, Wolf Of Wall Street‘s Alexandra Milchan...
- 1/9/2014
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
Because action films are his bread and butter, Bruce Willis signed on for yet another one late last year, agreeing to star in The Prince. Now he’s taking on a film that someone else – in this case, Arnold Schwarzenegger – passed on, adding indie thriller Captive to his To Do list.With Simon Brand set to call the shots starting in March, Captive will see an American real estate magnate living the high life in Brazil - until he's snatched from the streets and imprisoned in a cell hidden in a Sao Paolo landfill site. The whiffy prison stay is all a plot to grab a rich ransom, and the crime draws the attention of a detective specialising in kidnap cases to help find the missing man.Schwarzenegger was attached when the film was shopped back in 2011, but it's been through several groups of behind the scenes talent since then,...
- 1/9/2014
- EmpireOnline
News Ryan Lambie 9 Jan 2014 - 07:15
The kidnap thriller Captive could provide a future starring role for Bruce Willis...
It was only the other day that it suddenly dawned on us just how prolific Bruce Willis has been over the last couple of years. Did you know that in 2012 he was credited on new fewer than six films?
The next Willis joint on the horizon is Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez's sequel to their hyper-stylised 2005 film. Further ahead, there's The Prince, which is some sort of kidnap thriller starring John Cusack and 50 Cent.
Clearly intent on keeping himself busy, Willis' latest potential project is called Captive, which is another thriller, this time about a millionaire held to ransom in Brazil and a detective attempting to track him down.
Captive was initially intended as a vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger, who's since dropped out.
The kidnap thriller Captive could provide a future starring role for Bruce Willis...
It was only the other day that it suddenly dawned on us just how prolific Bruce Willis has been over the last couple of years. Did you know that in 2012 he was credited on new fewer than six films?
The next Willis joint on the horizon is Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez's sequel to their hyper-stylised 2005 film. Further ahead, there's The Prince, which is some sort of kidnap thriller starring John Cusack and 50 Cent.
Clearly intent on keeping himself busy, Willis' latest potential project is called Captive, which is another thriller, this time about a millionaire held to ransom in Brazil and a detective attempting to track him down.
Captive was initially intended as a vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger, who's since dropped out.
- 1/9/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Colombian broadcast giant Rcn is looking to shift its film production focus away from local product in favour of low budget English-language genre fare, top brass said on Thursday [11].
During a tour of the company’s premises in Bogota, newly promoted executive vice-president of international channels Julian Giraldo told a group of mostly Us producers and trade press that the move was a result of market forces at home and abroad.
“We are now trying to focus more on co-productions in English,” said Giraldo after screening footage from in-house Rcn Films’ first two such projects, Gallows Hill and Default. Rcn Films is currently raising funds for a couple of further projects budgeted in the $1m-$3m range.
Although Rcn Films has backed more than 45 local titles, Giraldo said it was difficult to raise more than $3m from local investors in Colombia and intimated that indigenous product lacked global appeal.
“That’s why we are moving towards English-language...
During a tour of the company’s premises in Bogota, newly promoted executive vice-president of international channels Julian Giraldo told a group of mostly Us producers and trade press that the move was a result of market forces at home and abroad.
“We are now trying to focus more on co-productions in English,” said Giraldo after screening footage from in-house Rcn Films’ first two such projects, Gallows Hill and Default. Rcn Films is currently raising funds for a couple of further projects budgeted in the $1m-$3m range.
Although Rcn Films has backed more than 45 local titles, Giraldo said it was difficult to raise more than $3m from local investors in Colombia and intimated that indigenous product lacked global appeal.
“That’s why we are moving towards English-language...
- 7/12/2013
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Puerto Rico’s Calle 13 released a music video for their anti-violence anthem “La Bala” on Thursday, People en Español reports.
The band, famous for its left-wing politics and pan-Latin American pride, got a boost for its anti-gun message from Unicef, which throw down money to produce the video and is promoting the video on its social media accounts.
The song’s lyrics lament the proliferation of guns in a world where useful resources are short. From the chorus:
There’s not much money
But there’s a lot of bullets
There’s not much food
But there’s a lot of bullets
There’s few good people
That’s why there’s so many bullets
"The song ‘the Bullet’ comes from the pain I feel when I see how some people devalue life," frontman René "Residente" Pérez said in a press release.
Simon Brand led a team of 12 directors...
The band, famous for its left-wing politics and pan-Latin American pride, got a boost for its anti-gun message from Unicef, which throw down money to produce the video and is promoting the video on its social media accounts.
The song’s lyrics lament the proliferation of guns in a world where useful resources are short. From the chorus:
There’s not much money
But there’s a lot of bullets
There’s not much food
But there’s a lot of bullets
There’s few good people
That’s why there’s so many bullets
"The song ‘the Bullet’ comes from the pain I feel when I see how some people devalue life," frontman René "Residente" Pérez said in a press release.
Simon Brand led a team of 12 directors...
- 11/9/2012
- by The Huffington Post
- Huffington Post
Distribution company Wild Bunch has picked up Colombian director Simon Brand’s English-language, Africa-set found-footage-style thriller titled Default, which stars David Oyelowo, Greg Callahan, Katherine Moennig, and Stephen Lord, in a film that tells the story of "the hijacking of an American news crew’s plane on an African runway by Somali pirates who were the subjects of their reportage," says Screen Daily. It's not clear in what country/city this "African runway" resides, but given that the hijacking is done by Somalis, we can assume that it's a runway somewhere in Somalia. There are more than a dozen airports in the east...
- 10/24/2012
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Kate Moennig has been an AfterEllen.com favorite since she first appeared on The L Word as Shane McCutcheon, the girl everyone wanted to date and just couldn't hate, no matter how many times she screwed them over. The actress behind the role has managed to move on from the series to play a doctor (Three Rivers), a tattoo artist (Dexter) and a druggie prostitute (The Lincoln Lawyer). There's no typecasting for this woman, who told our Lindsey Byrnes (during a shoot for the new issue of Work magazine) about her experiences as an actor, the difference between film and TV and how she developed her own sense of style.
All photos by Lindsey Byrnes
AfterEllen.com: You recently had a part in a big Hollywood movie, The Lincoln Lawyer, starring Matthew McConaughey, and, in 2009, you were in a movie called Everybody's Fine with Robert DeNiro and Drew Barrymore. But,...
All photos by Lindsey Byrnes
AfterEllen.com: You recently had a part in a big Hollywood movie, The Lincoln Lawyer, starring Matthew McConaughey, and, in 2009, you were in a movie called Everybody's Fine with Robert DeNiro and Drew Barrymore. But,...
- 7/22/2011
- by Lindsey Byrnes
- AfterEllen.com
Ricky Martin' "Mas" music video has just been released, featuring his performance footage from one of his live concerts. Directed by Simon Brand, the video was filmed live at the Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot in his native Puerto Rico during the opening show of his current jaunt.
The video captures the essence of Martin's superb show which is his tireless and infectious energy on stage together with his dancers and musicians, accompanied of course by the great Puerto Rican audience which cheered him on during his four completely sold-out performances last March.
"Mas" is taken from Martin's latest studio album "Musica + Alma + Sexo" which has been in stores since January this year. In support of the album, the singer/songwriter has embarked on a massive tour in North America and Europe.
Ricky Martin's "Mas" music video...
The video captures the essence of Martin's superb show which is his tireless and infectious energy on stage together with his dancers and musicians, accompanied of course by the great Puerto Rican audience which cheered him on during his four completely sold-out performances last March.
"Mas" is taken from Martin's latest studio album "Musica + Alma + Sexo" which has been in stores since January this year. In support of the album, the singer/songwriter has embarked on a massive tour in North America and Europe.
Ricky Martin's "Mas" music video...
- 4/29/2011
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
Latin music superstars Placido Domingo, Gloria Estefan, Luis Fonsi, Arthur Hanlon, Wisin & Yandel, and Enrique Iglesias will be lending their voices to record the theme song for the awareness campaign "Unete Con La Gota de la Vida, Benefiting City of Hope."
The campaign aims to create awareness within the Latin community about the importance of bone marrow donation and encourages the community to register with the National Bone Marrow Registry.
The A-list Hispanic stars have joined the cause and will record an epic song titled "La Gota de la Vida." They will join other music stars to create the theme song.
The first recording session will take place in Las Vegas between November 3 and 6. Additional sessions will be held in Miami and Los Angeles. During the same dates, the shooting of the video clip will also take place, led by director Simon Brand and produced by Mauricio Osorio.
The campaign aims to create awareness within the Latin community about the importance of bone marrow donation and encourages the community to register with the National Bone Marrow Registry.
The A-list Hispanic stars have joined the cause and will record an epic song titled "La Gota de la Vida." They will join other music stars to create the theme song.
The first recording session will take place in Las Vegas between November 3 and 6. Additional sessions will be held in Miami and Los Angeles. During the same dates, the shooting of the video clip will also take place, led by director Simon Brand and produced by Mauricio Osorio.
- 11/2/2009
- icelebz.com
Movies about South Americans sneaking across the border into the Us have been done to death.
"Paraiso Travel," by Colombian director Simon Brand, is yet another attempt -- a clichéd, melodramatic one worth seeing only for Angelica Blandon. She portrays Reina, a lusty teenager in Medellin, Colombia, who makes the perilous journey with her boyfriend, Marlon (Aldemar Correa), to whom she promises her virginity when they cross the border.
"You know, all this is yours once we get there," she...
"Paraiso Travel," by Colombian director Simon Brand, is yet another attempt -- a clichéd, melodramatic one worth seeing only for Angelica Blandon. She portrays Reina, a lusty teenager in Medellin, Colombia, who makes the perilous journey with her boyfriend, Marlon (Aldemar Correa), to whom she promises her virginity when they cross the border.
"You know, all this is yours once we get there," she...
- 7/24/2009
- by By V.A. MUSETTO
- NYPost.com
Jessica Postigo is set to write “Operation Checkmate,” a drama about the recent Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia hostage drama, according to Variety.
The story focuses on how military rescuers deceived Farc to rescue 15 hostages, including ex-presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt (pictured).
Apparently, the filmmakers want to go all “24” towards the end of the film by having the 22 final minutes unfold in real time.
Simon Brand will direct Postigo’s script for the Screen Gems project.
The story focuses on how military rescuers deceived Farc to rescue 15 hostages, including ex-presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt (pictured).
Apparently, the filmmakers want to go all “24” towards the end of the film by having the 22 final minutes unfold in real time.
Simon Brand will direct Postigo’s script for the Screen Gems project.
- 9/16/2008
- by Franck Tabouring
- screeninglog.com
Zach Braff Retires His "Scrubs": This upcoming season of "Scrubs" will be Zach Braff's last, said showrunner Bill Lawrence at Wednesday's Television Critics Assn. press tour panel. The ABC Studios series arrives this season after seven seasons on NBC. There was no announcement whether this would be the last season of the show, but it will be Braff's. The actor said he would be open to returning as a guest star, and could possibly also direct. "The end of the show will be about J.D. leaving the hospital," Lawrence said. "When you leave, it's about holding on to your relationships." [Variety] Woo Goes for Arthur Comic: John Woo will direct comicbook adaptation "Caliber," to be unveiled at next week's Comic-Con in San Diego. Radical Comics' hit story sets King Arthur and his knights as 19th century gunslingers in the Pacific Northwest. [Variety] Gems Picks Up Colombian Hostage Pic: Screen...
- 7/17/2008
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Vertigo Entertainment is teaming up with Colombian TV network Rcn to produce a film based on the rescue of Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages in South America. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Columbian director Simon Brand is developing the project, which will be shopped to studios in the coming weeks. Betancourt, a former presidential candidate of Colombian-French descent, was taken hostage by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in 2002. She was freed last week, (more)...
- 7/8/2008
- by By Simon Reynolds
- Digital Spy
Vertigo Entertainment and Colombian television network and production outfit Rcn are teaming up to bring to the big screen the story of last week's dramatic rescue of Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages in Colombia.
Colombian filmmaker Simon Brand, whose credits include "Unknown" and Colombia's highest-grossing movie "Paradise Travel," is working with the producers to develop and direct the project, which has no writer on board yet. The producers are also looking to meet with financiers and studios in the coming weeks.
Betancourt, a former presidential candidate of Colombian and French descent, along with three Americans as well as Colombian police and soldiers, were held captive -- some since 2002 -- by rebels form the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or Farc. Colombian forces took acting lessons and spent months planting themselves among the rebels before culminating in a mission that saw the rebels tricked into thinking the captives were being transferred to another camp.
While many in Hollywood were vying for the rights to the dramatic story, Vertigo had the inside track on securing the rights due to the company's relationship with Rcn. Vertigo worked with Rcn to secure remake rights to the Colombian film "Al Final del Espectro," and has set up the project at Universal with the working title "At the End of the Spectra".
The feature will tell the story from three points of view -- the American, the French and the Colombian -- and recreate the rescue. The project will also be set partially in France and a French production partner is likely to come on board.
Vertigo is behind one of the summer's unlikeliest hits, horror thriller "The Strangers." Brand is repped by Uta.
Colombian filmmaker Simon Brand, whose credits include "Unknown" and Colombia's highest-grossing movie "Paradise Travel," is working with the producers to develop and direct the project, which has no writer on board yet. The producers are also looking to meet with financiers and studios in the coming weeks.
Betancourt, a former presidential candidate of Colombian and French descent, along with three Americans as well as Colombian police and soldiers, were held captive -- some since 2002 -- by rebels form the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or Farc. Colombian forces took acting lessons and spent months planting themselves among the rebels before culminating in a mission that saw the rebels tricked into thinking the captives were being transferred to another camp.
While many in Hollywood were vying for the rights to the dramatic story, Vertigo had the inside track on securing the rights due to the company's relationship with Rcn. Vertigo worked with Rcn to secure remake rights to the Colombian film "Al Final del Espectro," and has set up the project at Universal with the working title "At the End of the Spectra".
The feature will tell the story from three points of view -- the American, the French and the Colombian -- and recreate the rescue. The project will also be set partially in France and a French production partner is likely to come on board.
Vertigo is behind one of the summer's unlikeliest hits, horror thriller "The Strangers." Brand is repped by Uta.
- 7/7/2008
- by By Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Mexico City -- The film division of Colombian network Rcn is producing a movie about last week's bold rescue operation of 15 hostages held by leftist rebels.
Rcn News said in a Sunday report that Simon Brand, helmer of the immigrant-themed drama "Paraiso Travel," will direct the movie. Rcn Cine is looking to partner with a Hollywood studio for the as-yet-untitled project.
The film will center on the daring rescue mission last week by Colombian undercover military operatives, who tricked the rebel group Farc into handing over the hostages. In a plan that unfolded like a Hollywood spy movie, the agents told the Farc they were ordered to transport the captives in helicopter to one of the guerrilla group's leaders.
Among the hostages freed were former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors.
Rcn hasn't decided in what language the script will be written. The shingle mentioned Colombia, France and the U.S. as possible filming locations.
Rcn News said in a Sunday report that Simon Brand, helmer of the immigrant-themed drama "Paraiso Travel," will direct the movie. Rcn Cine is looking to partner with a Hollywood studio for the as-yet-untitled project.
The film will center on the daring rescue mission last week by Colombian undercover military operatives, who tricked the rebel group Farc into handing over the hostages. In a plan that unfolded like a Hollywood spy movie, the agents told the Farc they were ordered to transport the captives in helicopter to one of the guerrilla group's leaders.
Among the hostages freed were former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors.
Rcn hasn't decided in what language the script will be written. The shingle mentioned Colombia, France and the U.S. as possible filming locations.
- 7/7/2008
- by By John Hecht
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Paraiso Travel is the story of a young Colombian couple who brave the dangers of crossing illegally into the United States to find a better life, only to discover the truth about where they're going -- and each other. Director Simon Brand, a native Colombian, discusses the realities of illegal immigration and the human condition with amctv.com.Q: What inspired you to do this movie? A: I read the book about...
- 5/3/2008
- AMC News: Film Festivals
Paraiso Travel is the story of a young Colombian couple who brave the dangers of crossing illegally into the United States to find a better life, only to discover the truth about where they're going -- and each other. Director Simon Brand, a native Colombian, discusses the realities of illegal immigration and the human condition with amctv.com.Q: What inspired you to do this movie? A: I read the book about...
- 5/3/2008
- AMC News Interviews
•Is it time for a fiesta? Variety's Dave McNary reports that Filmax has acquired international sales rights and theatrical rights for Spain to Simon Brand's immigrant drama Paraiso Travel, while John Hopewell delivers news that IFC has picked up North American rights to the Spanish-language film Fermat's Room. •Melvin Van Peebles tells Variety that the plot of his film Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha is all in the title. •Alissa Simon says...
- 4/30/2008
- AMC News: Film Festivals
NALA Films has tapped Norberto Lopez Amado, who helmed the Spanish hit They're Watching Us (Nos Miran), to direct Night of Light. The film is a supernatural horror that centers on a man who was orphaned and raised by two priests. He goes to a small town with them to assist in what he thinks in an exorcism in the town. But a strange turn of events follows. The news follows NALA's recent signing of Columbian director Simon Brand for the film adaptation of La Magdalena in its efforts to develop a new creative platform for young Latin-American directors.
- 5/16/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- Following up on a Screen Daily piece written moments after the Berlin film festival, we’ve decided to go with that list and make a full breakdown of the pictures that we might find at this year’s Cannes film festival. At this point its just speculation - but hell its fun to speculate and after what many consider a long wait for quality projects – I think that buyers and sellers might find themselves in a real frenzy at the Croisette. With the opening of what will be a massive blockbuster hit (hear those cash registers ring) in Ron Howard’s The Da Vinci Code, and by the looks of the names there might be plenty of items to look forward to in the Autumn and be sure there will be plenty of leftovers for both Venice & Toronto (remember: Ang Lee avoided traffic and showcased Brokeback Mountain at Venice.
- 3/8/2006
- IONCINEMA.com
The Weinstein Co. and IFC Films are back together again. This time, the two New York-based companies have acquired North American rights to the thriller Unknown. The film, starring Jim Caviezel, Greg Kinnear, Barry Pepper, Joe Pantoliano, Bridget Moynahan and Jeremy Sisto, is being directed by first-timer Simon Brand. The Weinstein Co. will distribute the film in North America. From writer Matthew Waynee, Unknown, revolves around five men who wake up in a locked-down warehouse with no memory of who they are. They are forced to figure out who is good and who is bad to stay alive.
- 7/21/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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