Strand Releasing’s The Untamed is now available on VOD platforms. Celebrated filmmaker Amat Escalante follows up his critically lauded features Heli and Los Bastardos with the award-winning The Untamed, which critics have called “ferociously intelligent” (Jonathan Romney, Screen) and “brilliant, frightening” (Rory O’Connor, The Film Stage). The Blu-ray release includes an 85-minute behind the scenes featurette. “Alejandra is a housewife, […]...
- 10/23/2017
- by Brad Miska
- bloody-disgusting.com
Arrow UK today announced the release of The Untamed in theaters August 18th and on Blu-ray and DVD September 25th. Celebrated filmmaker Amat Escalante follows up his critically lauded features Heli and Los Bastardos with the award-winning The Untamed, which critics have called “ferociously intelligent” (Jonathan Romney, Screen) and “brilliant, frightening” (Rory O’Connor, The Film […]...
- 7/14/2017
- by Brad Miska
- bloody-disgusting.com
The Untamed
Director: Amat Escalante
Writer: Amat Escalante and Gibran Portela
Amat Escalante, protégé of Carlos Reygadas, snagged the Best Director award at Cannes 2013 for his unpleasant but striking third feature, Heli (previously, he’d won the Fipresci prize for his debut Sangre in 2005, while his 2008 sophomore film Los Bastardos playing in Un Certain Regard). He’s back with a very ambitious project, The Untamed, described as a “social/sci-fi movie about machismo, homophobia, and the repression of women,” catalyzed by the crash of a meteorite into a mountain. Based on his heavy-hitting past works, we can only image what’s in store for us with this mixture of ‘horror’ and ‘realism.’
Cast: Tba.
Production Co./Producer(s): Mantarraya Film’s Jaime Romandia, SnowGlobe Films’s Katrin Pors
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. Tbd (domestic) Tbd (international).
Release Date: The film’s producers have stated the project will be ready for May,...
Director: Amat Escalante
Writer: Amat Escalante and Gibran Portela
Amat Escalante, protégé of Carlos Reygadas, snagged the Best Director award at Cannes 2013 for his unpleasant but striking third feature, Heli (previously, he’d won the Fipresci prize for his debut Sangre in 2005, while his 2008 sophomore film Los Bastardos playing in Un Certain Regard). He’s back with a very ambitious project, The Untamed, described as a “social/sci-fi movie about machismo, homophobia, and the repression of women,” catalyzed by the crash of a meteorite into a mountain. Based on his heavy-hitting past works, we can only image what’s in store for us with this mixture of ‘horror’ and ‘realism.’
Cast: Tba.
Production Co./Producer(s): Mantarraya Film’s Jaime Romandia, SnowGlobe Films’s Katrin Pors
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. Tbd (domestic) Tbd (international).
Release Date: The film’s producers have stated the project will be ready for May,...
- 1/11/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Amat Escalante's Los bastardos is playing on Mubi in the Us through December 9.Having directed three Mexican feature films, Spanish-born director Amat Escalante, grows more and more ambitious with each film as he refines his sobering and rigorous long-take aesthetic. At the same time, these features form a cohesive unit in which narratives center on, in, and around houses. If Roman Polanski has his apartment trilogy, Amat Escalante has his house trilogy. For now.In the spare opening of Sangre (2005), a man lies flat on his back. Blood trickles down his forehead. As he slowly sits up, a woman briskly walks through the frame, from the upper right to the bottom left-hand corner. She ignores the man completely. What is this abstract image of? Ignorance? Humiliation? Defeat? Sangre unfolds the image like an accordion. The supine position mutates and varies all throughout the film, evoking resting, sex, defeat, and death.
- 11/11/2015
- by Tanner Tafelski
- MUBI
★★★☆☆The third film from Mexican director Amat Escalante (Los Bastardos, Sangre), Heli (2013) could perhaps be accused of following the shoulder-shrug school of social commentary. An at times almost-unspeakably brutal portrayal of one young family caught up in a cocaine deal gone wrong, Escalante's Cannes prize-winner offers little respite for its titular factory worker, who finds himself horrifically tortured for his unwitting role in the theft of several parcels of prime marching powder. Neither does the filmmaker offer any fresh optimism for his country's future, torn apart as it is by corruption, gang violence and narcotics. And yet, Escalante still manages to evoke beauty through some exemplary visuals.
- 8/26/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
In Mexico there has been a lot of buzz surrounding Amat Escalante's third feature Heli. Yes, Steven Spielberg loved it at Cannes and Danny Boyle praised it at the Guanajuato Film Festival, but there's a large group of Mexican critics who aren't quite impressed. I'm right in the middle, as Heli hits me as an important piece that looks at the Mexican drug trade, but it also delivers weak acting, dialog, and a lazy conclusion. It feels less focused than Escalante's previous effort, Los Bastardos, and yet I'm pretty sure some of its scenes will remain with me for a long time. Heli is set in Guanajuato, Escalante's hometown, although that fact is never mentioned in the film. Hence we can say it's about any...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 6/13/2014
- Screen Anarchy
So far onscreen, Mexican narcoculture has generated mostly grim documentaries, but given the carnage and the proximity, you can easily imagine the movies coming from both sides of the border: the mezzobrow hand-wringers, the trigger-joy gangster trips, the based-on-true-story crusades. What we might not have seen coming is something like Heli, a dead-eyed, lyrical art film that kicks you in the throat.
With his two previous films, Sangre (2005) and Los Bastardos (2008), Amat Escalante has been finding his way between self-conscious minimalism and ball-busting shock, and with Heli he strides ever closer to a war-zone balance, a style that dovetails poetic resonance and unblinking horror. In the meantime, he and his mentor, Carlos Reygadas, have red...
With his two previous films, Sangre (2005) and Los Bastardos (2008), Amat Escalante has been finding his way between self-conscious minimalism and ball-busting shock, and with Heli he strides ever closer to a war-zone balance, a style that dovetails poetic resonance and unblinking horror. In the meantime, he and his mentor, Carlos Reygadas, have red...
- 6/11/2014
- Village Voice
★★★☆☆Despite an audacious scene near its midpoint that will undoubtedly prompt much tongue-wagging, Amat Escalante's third feature, Heli (2013), is largely about just how commonplace unexceptional cruelty and bloodshed has become in his native Mexico. His previous film, Los Bastardos (2008), concerned a shocking act of violence committed impassively by two immigrant labourers in Los Angeles. On this occasion, that same callousness is a symptom of a national malady. Claiming the Best Director prize at last year's Cannes Film Festival, Escalante's Heli proves grim viewing that never quite locates a meaningful thesis above a desire to bear witness to Mexico's warped mentality.
- 5/21/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
★★★★☆ Heli (Armando Espitia), the protagonist of Amat Escalante's 2013 Palme d'Or nominee of the same name, is a young Mexican who lives with his father, his son, his young wife (Linda Gonzalez) and 12-year-old sister, Estella (Andrea Vergara). He's prone to bad luck, keen on his naps and, when a census taker comes to the house, hesitates about how many people live there with him. However, when 17-year-old army cadet Beto (Juan Eduardo Palacios) falls in love with Estella and makes plans for the two of them to run away together, Heli's cataclysmic knee-jerk reaction will plunge the family into pitiless and brutal violence.
Narrative films concerned with roving drug gangs, political corruption and barbaric acts of extreme and horrendous violence are depressingly common nowadays and have formed the backdrop for several high profile Hollywood movies in recent years, including Oliver Stone's Savages (2012) and Mexico's own Miss Bala (2011). However,...
Narrative films concerned with roving drug gangs, political corruption and barbaric acts of extreme and horrendous violence are depressingly common nowadays and have formed the backdrop for several high profile Hollywood movies in recent years, including Oliver Stone's Savages (2012) and Mexico's own Miss Bala (2011). However,...
- 10/20/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
In Mexico there has been a lot of buzz surrounding Amat Escalante's third feature Heli. Yes, Steven Spielberg loved it at Cannes and Danny Boyle praised it at the Guanajuato Film Festival, but there's a large group of Mexican critics who aren't quite impressed. I'm right in the middle, as Heli does hit you as an important piece that looks at the Mexican drug trade, but it also delivers weak acting, dialog, and a lazy conclusion. It feels less focused than Escalante's previous effort, Los Bastardos, and yet I'm pretty sure some of its scenes will remain with me for a long time. Heli is set in Guanajuato, Escalante's hometown, although that fact is never mentioned in the film. Hence we can say it's about any place in...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 8/10/2013
- Screen Anarchy
Barcelona-born, Mexico City-raised Amat Escalante is three for three with Cannes. His first two films, Sangre (2005) and Los Bastardos (2008) both played in the Un Certain Regard category and this year...
- 5/16/2013
- by Craig Kennedy
- AwardsDaily.com
Heli – Amat Escalante
Section: Main Competition
Buzz: Steadily guided by Cannes’ fest head honcho Thierry Fremieux, Amat Escalante receives a major big stage showing for his long-awaited third film (worth noting it was among the four hand-picked winners for the 2010 Sundance/Nhk International Filmmakers Awards along with Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Elena” and Zeitlin’s “Beasts of the Southern Wild“). Sangre (Un Certain Regard – 2005), his debut feature announced the helmer as an up-and-comer in Mexican cinema, while his home-invasion follow-up Los Bastardos divided up the critical mass when it showed once again in Cannes in 2008 (Un Certain Regard).
The Gist: In a small Mexican town, where most citizens work for an automobile assembly plant or the local drug cartel, Heli is confronted with police corruption, drug trafficking, sexual exploitation, love, guilt and revenge in the search for his father who has mysteriously disappeared.
Section: Main Competition
Buzz: Steadily guided by Cannes’ fest head honcho Thierry Fremieux, Amat Escalante receives a major big stage showing for his long-awaited third film (worth noting it was among the four hand-picked winners for the 2010 Sundance/Nhk International Filmmakers Awards along with Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Elena” and Zeitlin’s “Beasts of the Southern Wild“). Sangre (Un Certain Regard – 2005), his debut feature announced the helmer as an up-and-comer in Mexican cinema, while his home-invasion follow-up Los Bastardos divided up the critical mass when it showed once again in Cannes in 2008 (Un Certain Regard).
The Gist: In a small Mexican town, where most citizens work for an automobile assembly plant or the local drug cartel, Heli is confronted with police corruption, drug trafficking, sexual exploitation, love, guilt and revenge in the search for his father who has mysteriously disappeared.
- 5/15/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Police corruption, drug trafficking, sexual exploitation and love – all included in Amat Escalante‘s upcoming Heli movie, which has been selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. Today, we’re here to give you an official poster and the first clip from this Mexican drama. Definitely worth your attention, check it out… Escalante, who stands behind 2005′s “Sangre” and 2008′s “Los Bastardos”, brings us this quite intense story which revolves around a 12-year-old girl named Estela, who falls in love with a young police cadet. The pair plans to run away and get married, but the violence in the region...
- 5/14/2013
- by Fiona
- Filmofilia
Today, the Cannes Film Festival revealed the official screening schedule, and this year finds the line-up unusually backloaded, with many of the splashy big titles unspooling in the final days of the fest. And while some may be disappointed (particularly those who weren't planning to stay for the whole fest), it does give the smaller films a better chance to shine and get some attention. One such film that will benefit from a bit more space to spread its wings is Mexican entry "Heli." The film comes from Amat Escalante, a rising filmmaker who first came to Cannes with "Sangre" in 2005, which landed a slot in the Un Certain Regard section, and won the Fipresci Prize from the International Critics. In 2008 he returned to Un Certain Regard with "Los Bastardos," and this year he's in the main Competition with "Heli." Starring Armando Espitia, Andrea Vergara, Linda Gonzalez and Juan Eduardo Palacios,...
- 5/9/2013
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
[Editor's note: I've asked our team of world film correspondents to dish out their top 5 films of the year from their respective countries. Here's Christine Davila's take on the Best in Mexican Cinema in 2010.] To be clear, this is a list of Mexican films which either: traveled far in the 2010 film festival front, were critically acclaimed, received a healthy theatrical run, and which I consider the strongest celluloid among the Mexican narrative feature film trenches from where I culled and screened deep. Okay maybe not that deep, considering there are only about 100 feature narrative films produced in Mexico a year. But given that figure, this small percentage illustrates a strong dose of diversity and range of genre, budget, but more importantly original strong stories and voices. Before I begin....one special mention goes out to REVOLUCIÓN by Carlos Reygadas, Amat Escalante, Fernando Eimbcke, Mariana Chenillo, Patricia Riggen, Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal, Gerardo Naranjo, Rodrigo Garcia, and Rodrigo Plá. The first time I ever heard use of the word Portmanteau was when this movie starting popping up at festivals beginning with the world premiere...
- 12/24/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
At Frightfest, this past August bank holiday weekend, We Are What We Are was touted has being one of the highlights of the festival. It promised to do for the cannibal genre what Let The Right One In did for the vamps. In other words, give it a good kick up the arse.
If you like glacially paced, boring Mexican family dramas that grafts itself on to a horror genre like a mad surgeon creating a movie hybrid, then Jorge Michel Grau’s flick is for you. If you go in imagining an inventive and engaging take on, less face it, a rather grubby and transgressive exploitation film, you’ll be sorely disappointed.
Mexican cinema has undergone a fine mainstream/arthouse type crossover resurgence since Amores Perros ten years ago and it keeps delivering some brilliant efforts from the likes of Carlos Reygadas and Amat Escalante, whose Los Bastardos was...
If you like glacially paced, boring Mexican family dramas that grafts itself on to a horror genre like a mad surgeon creating a movie hybrid, then Jorge Michel Grau’s flick is for you. If you go in imagining an inventive and engaging take on, less face it, a rather grubby and transgressive exploitation film, you’ll be sorely disappointed.
Mexican cinema has undergone a fine mainstream/arthouse type crossover resurgence since Amores Perros ten years ago and it keeps delivering some brilliant efforts from the likes of Carlos Reygadas and Amat Escalante, whose Los Bastardos was...
- 11/9/2010
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
If the Main Competition suffered because of the lack of film output from last year (Venice and Tiff have already seen the benefits), next year's edition of the Cannes film festival is already shaping up to be a fantastic year with names like Pedro, Von Trier, Dardennes, Cronenberg, PTA and Salles in the possible line-up. For those who made a case about there not being much female representation -- they'll be pleased to see that the latest works from Andrea Arnold and Lynne Ramsay should be in the line-up --- and although I didn't add him to the list below, we could also see Steve McQueen's latest project in the fest. Here are a list of 20 projects I think will be in the fest next year. - If the Main Competition suffered because of the lack of film output from last year (Venice and Tiff have already seen the...
- 5/24/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
If the Main Competition suffered because of the lack of film output from last year (Venice and Tiff have already seen the benefits), next year's edition of the Cannes film festival is already shaping up to be a fantastic year with names like Pedro, Von Trier, Dardennes, Cronenberg, PTA and Salles in the possible line-up. For those who made a case about there not being much female representation -- they'll be pleased to see that the latest works from Andrea Arnold and Lynne Ramsay should be in the line-up --- and although I didn't add him to the list below, we could also see Steve McQueen's latest project in the fest. Here are a list of 20 projects I think will be in the fest next year. A Dangerous Method - David Cronenberg Many of you might still know it as A Talking Cure - the screenplay received lots of...
- 5/24/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Like his mentor Reygadas, Escalante favors a brute force aesthetic realism that goes a long way in describing the realities of modern day Mexico. - #23. Heli Director/Writer: Amat EscalanteProducers: Jaime Romandia (producer for Carlos Reygadas' films)Distributor: Rights Available. Photo Exclusive: Featuring filmmaker Amat Escalante. The Gist: In a small Mexican town, where most citizens work for an automobile assembly plant or the local drug cartel, Heli is confronted with police corruption, drug trafficking, sexual exploitation, love, guilt and revenge in the search for his father who has mysteriously disappeared. Cast: None mentioned so far, but I imagine he'll use non-actors who might have experienced some of the realities proposed in the screenplay. Why is it on the list?: Like his mentor Reygadas, Escalante favors a brute force aesthetic realism that goes a long way in describing the realities of modern day Mexico.
- 2/3/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
DVDs may be sooner or later drummed out of existence -- by online downloads, at first, I'd guess, reducing movie "releases" to nothing more than press announcements of availability -- but for now they're still "things" you can buy or rent, physical manifestations of the art form, not just the opportunity for access. In the process, they're continuing as our default B-movie distribution stream, offering up indies and foreign films and unforeseen archivals that had a snowball's hellbound chance at finding theatrical screentime. These are still not eligible for any year-end toasts, absurdly enough, and so here's my list of the best of the year's straight-to-digi-vid, for which the only qualification is being entirely overlooked, this year or ever, by our theatrical distribution wimps, and being new to U.S. home video of any stripe.
15. "Absurdistan"
(Veit Helmer, Germany/Russia/Azerbaijan, 2008)
A bawdy Caucasus folktale, Helmer's nutty yarn visits a...
15. "Absurdistan"
(Veit Helmer, Germany/Russia/Azerbaijan, 2008)
A bawdy Caucasus folktale, Helmer's nutty yarn visits a...
- 12/22/2009
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
You might think that for the inaugural entry here on HuffPost, Mighty Movie Podcast might feature something that would serve as a friendly little hello -- a charming family film, say, or maybe something suitably patriotic to kick off the July 4th weekend. But nooooo. Instead, we've got Los Bastardos, a spare and brutal survey of the suburban wasteland that finds two illegal immigrants (non-pros Jesus Moises Rodriguez and Ruben Sosa) staging a home invasion and finding that their hostage (Nina Zavarin) is too benumbed to care. Director Amat Escalante doesn't try for hyperbolic horror here -- the nightmare purrs along in low key, which makes the scenario almost as unbearable, and the atrocities and violence, when they do happen, all the more indelible. It may not necessarily be the thing to sit down to following the family barbecue, but, trust me,...
- 7/2/2009
- by Dan Persons
- Huffington Post
- From March 1st 2009 to July 15th 2009, the filmmakers mentioned below will be part of Cannes' 2009 La Résidence de la Cinéfondation - a programme which helps young filmmakers write the screenplay and prepare for the production of their first or second feature film. Gilles Jacob and jury chose from over 160 applicants. This year's batch of unknown filmmakers come from Central America and Europe. "La Résidence de la Cinéfondation enjoys very encouraging results: 65% of the projects it has supported since its foundation in 2000 have been made and, for the most part, distributed. This figure can be raised to 89% if the 22 films currently in pre-production are taken into account. On theatre release right now are Pièces Détachées by Aaron Fernandez, Los Bastardos by Amat Escalante, Adrian Sitaru’s Pic-Nic and, coming soon, Delta by Kornel Mundrunczo." Yaël Gidron (Israeli, 27) with Nature Film (1st feature), follows the return of Daphna to the army
- 3/2/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
- I'm a huge fan of Amat Escalante's debut film Sangre, but I was baffled and unimpressed by the Un Certain Regard screening I caught last May of his sophomore piece Los Bastardos. In many ways the story-line of a pair of young migrant Mexican workers who commit a brutal crime reminded me of certain facets from Haneke's Funny Games. I expect the auteur filmmaker to bring much of the same provocation and similar visual treatment to his next work, Heli. Scripted by Escalante, this will be set in the world of Mexican drug dealers and I wonder how far the filmmaker who favors "realism" is willing to go to achieve an aesthetic truth. One thing is for sure, it may be an ideal companion piece to another film I recently saw about gangs and border towns in Sin Nombre. Variety reports that the pic will produced by Jaime Romandia’s Mantarraya Produciones,
- 2/10/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
Mar Del Plata International Film Festival's new market component, Inter-Cine, was organized by the same organizers of the market component of the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival (BAFICI) for the first time this year. Invited guests included FilmFinders (US), Kinoaero (Czech Republic), Art Films (Brazil), Babilla Cine (Colombia), GP Film (Russia), Les filmes de la Arcadia (Chile) and Epicentre Films (France) for one-on-one discussions of future projects with Iberoamerican producers. Kathryn Bigelow, Tommy Lee Jones and Edward James Olmos were among the international guests to the festival itself. The festival itself favored the Japanese in its awards to Hirokazu Kore-eda for 'Still Walking' which won the Golden Astor prize and to Kiyoshi Kurosawa who won best director for 'Tokyo Sonata'. The jury headed by actress/director Sarah Polley (Canada), with director Peter Lilienthal (Germany), film-maker Pedro Olea (Spain), DoP Yu Lik Wai (Hong Kong), director Israel Adrian Caetano (Uruguay) and local film critic David Oubina awarded its Special Prize to 'Involuntary', by Ruben Ostlund (Sweden). The Danish film 'Fear Me Not' received two prizes: best screenplay (Kristian Levring and Anders Thomas Jensen) and best actor (Ulrich Thomsen). Isabelle Huppert was named best actress for Ursula Meier's 'Home'. Mexican Amat Escalante's 'Los Bastardos' won the Latin American competition, while 'Parador Retiro', by Jorge Leandro Colas, and 'Diletante', by Kris Niklison, shared the main prize in the Argentinian competition. Liliana Mazure, president of the national film institute (INCAA), announced at Mar del Plata that Argentina's government raised the maximum amount of film subsidies to $ 1.05m from $ 0.75m per production. 388 features and shorts showed over 11 days. New works by Takeshi Kitano, Olivier Assayas, Terence Davies, Agnes Varda, Abel Ferrara, Jia Zhang-ke, Manoel de Oliveira, Werner Schroeter, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Jerzy Skolimowski were the most interesting.
- 11/18/2008
- Sydney's Buzz
- Day seven's following screening was a film that I had wanted to see even before they announced the selections for the Un Certain Regard - while I'm a huge fan of his first feature Sangre (which also played in the section), unfortunately Amat Escalante's second film didn't do much for me as it is easily comparable to re-doing Haneke's Funny Games for a different setting. Filmed in a style that aesthetically resembles many Mexican productions that have populated Cannes over the years, from the intro title card and accompanying crazed music, to the fact that this is heightened sense of violence and to the fact that this is a home invasion, Los Bastardos comes across as an empty vessel instead of an enlarged window on the difficulties of the immigrant experience. Escalante was on hand for the first 11:00 a.m. screening. ...
- 5/21/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- I’m guessing that with one third of the films representing first time efforts, this year’s Un Certain Regard section will be a crapshoot for buyers and critics alike. Those that stick out among the pack come from promising directors with sophomore features such as…: Milh Hadha Al-Bahr (Salt of this Sea) (Annemarie Jacir)We often see stories about the immigrant struggle in a country that is not theirs…this is the flipside Pov a former Palestinian finding it difficult to find her footing in her native land. Jacir’s debut looks like a sure bet for a healthy film festival circuit. Los Bastardos (Amat Esclante)Crossing the line for a pair of Mexican immigrants appears to take on a whole new meaning with Amat Esclante’s 2nd feature. His debut, Sangre belongs to the contemporary, art-house bunch of films that portrays a dismal life. Los Bastardos
- 5/14/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- Here is the complete 2008 Cannes Line Up. Main Competition: Nuri Bilge Ceylan - Three Monkeys (Turkey-France-Italy) Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne - Le Silence De Lorna (France-Belgium)Arnaud Desplechin - A Christmas Story (France) Clint Eastwood - Changeling (Us)Atom Egoyan - Adoration (Canada) Ari Folman - Waltz With Bashir (Israel) Philippe Garrel - La Frontiere De L'Aube (France) Matteo Garrone - Gomorra (Italy)Charlie Kaufman - Synecdoche, New York (Us) Eric Khoo - My Magic (Singapore) Lucretia Martel - La Mujer Sin Cabeza (Argentina-Spain) Brillante Mendoza - Serbis (The Philippines) Kornel Mondruczo - Delta (Hungary-Germany) Walter Salles & Daniela Thomas - Linha de Passe (Brazil) Paolo Sorrentino - Il Divo (Italy) Pablo Trapero - Lion's Den (Argentina-South Korea) Wim Wenders - The Palermo Shooting (Germany) Jia Zhangke - 24 City (China)Steven Soderbergh - Che (Us-Spain-France) -- one four-hour competion title comprised of The Argentine and Guerrilla Out of competitionSteven Spielberg -
- 5/14/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- Apart from film examples such as The Band's Visit, Munyurangabo (Liberation Day) and Terror's Advocate, last year’s Un Certain Regard Section had its share of misfires – films that took the experimental route but felt more like - old bath tub water. This year’s batch of twenty titles includes another mix of veteran and first time filmmakers with perhaps the James Toback's bio-docu on friend (Iron Mike) Tyson, Abel Ferrara’s latest work Chelsea On The Rocks and finally Bong Joon Ho, Leos Carax and Michel Gondry collab Tokyo! to garner the most attention from buyers and critic crowds. The five films I’m most looking forward to are Germany’s Wolke 9 by Andreas Dresen, Los Bastardos by Amat Escalante (he is the was the Dop for Carlos Reygadas’ first two films and a couple of years back he released another dismal portrait of Mexico with Sangre.
- 4/23/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- South American cinema comes in like a lion at the 61st Festival de Cannes, with three films competing for the Palme D’or. That’s not even counting Steven Soderbergh’s Che films (The Argentine and Guerilla) which also heavily represent the region. Walter Salles, who’s The Motorcycle Diaries competed for the Palme in 2004 (winning two awards), returns to the fest with Linha de Passe, a Brazilian production set in Sao Paolo’s urban projects. The film follows four soccer-obsessed brothers as they fight to escape poverty and realize their dreams. Argentina has two films in competition, both by Cannes neophytes. La Mujer Sin Cabeza by female director Lucrecia Martel, considered one of the pioneers of New Argentina Cinema, is a politically charged women’s drama. The highly buzzed Leonara by Pablo Trapero tells the story of a young mother trying to raise her son from prison. The
- 4/23/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
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