Father Geek posting up our 7th column from our guys covering the film industries of Latin America. This week we have a healthy dose of news from LOBO about Spanish language cinema and Mexican film news, but we also have another report from Ulysses in Argentina, and of course news from Brasil and good old Coffin Joe . Well, personally Father Geek can't wait until next week's report... NUNS WITH GUNS... DRUG DEALING NUNS... what great explotation titles, the films might stink, but the titles sure got my attention. But that's coming next week, this Tuesday we have...

MEXICO

QUE PASA AMIGOS.!!....LOBO here one more time with news from Mexico and "Que pasa" down there, If there's anything that you want to know about the movie industry in Mexico or if you have something to share let me know , next week I am going to have little reviews of movies to be released in the U.S. and some others that you can rent/buy now....like "Nuns with guns", "Drug dealing Nuns", "El señor de los cielos"( A big MOB guy in MEXICO) and some others......Okay.. but for now we have the following...

FESTIVAL DE CINE DE HUESCA ( 8 - 17 JUNE - MADRID,ESPAÑA) SILVIA PINAL TO GET THE AWARD "LUIS BUÑUEL"

This festival not so far from now, had more than 20,000 visitors last year , it's going to show 225 shortfilms that were selected out of the 1160 that were wanting to participate. Those films will try to take the award "Danzante de Oro" to their home, like Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela or may stay in Spain. Some other films showing are "Modelo antiguo" and "El rey del barrio" from the director Gilberto Martinez Solares who made 152 films between 1936 and 1994.

There is also another Award given this year, and that is the "Luis Buñuel" who is going to be in the hands of the Mexican Actress SILVIA PINAL who worked in some films directed by LUIS BUÑUEL like ; Viridiana(1961) that made Buñuel get " La Palma de Oro" in the Cannes Festival or El Angel Exterminador (The exterminating Angel) that is about a reunion of High-class people in a Mansion and at the end of the party somehow ,all of the guests get trapped in a room, going through different situations during several days without eating ,breaking furniture to make fire and walls to get water, all of this inside that room.....until.... I LET YOU SEE IT BY YOURSELF AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS....

Silvia Pinal is also in the movies mentioned above by the director Gilberto Martinez , she is also in the movie "La Mujer que Yo Perdi" where she worked next to the great Mexican actor PEDRO INFANTE <<-- (D MAN) and on the movie SHARK with Burt Reynolds. She has a history of more than 90 films on her career as an Actress and a lot of Theater background, without forgetting that she is the Mother of "La Diva del Rock" ALEJANDRA GUZMAN.....

The Festival is also going to have a lot more stuff that has to do with Luis Buñuel and his Century. Congratulations to Silvia who has done a great job. MUCHAS FELICIDADES SILVIA Y SIGUE ADELANTE QUE TU ERES OTRA DE NUESTRAS DOÑAS JUNTO CON MARIA FELIX.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER filming in MEXICO.

The Director Andrew Davis who did "A Perfect Murder" and "The Fugitive" is in Mexico Filming the movie "Collateral Damage" written by David and Peter Griffiths. This movie has Arnold S...... playing an officer called "Ben Stride" and the Mexican actress Leticia Huijara (Demasiado Corazon, Herod's Law). Andrew is in the Gulf of Mexico city of Veracruz with the film crew ready to start this film. The movie is about an officer who gets involved with the terrorism in Colombia and wants revenge on the ones who killed his family and then gets caught in the middle between the fights of Colombian gangs and the United States...NO SPOILERS R'mem'r. Anyways this film is programmed to be released in 2001.

THE PEARL - LA PERLA

This movie based on a story by John Steinbeck and once done in 1945 by Emilio El "Indio" Fernandez with the Actors Pedro Armendariz, Maria Elena Marquez and Fernando Warner and filmed in black and white. Indio directed 42 features in Mexico between 1942 and 1979's "Erotica" including the fantastic "Maria Candelaria", but most North Americans know him as Mapache in "THE WILD BUNCH". Now after 55 years Hugo Stiglis,Richard Harris and JORGE RIVERO(George Rivero) who was in the movie "Rio Lobo" with John Wayne and also in "Soldier Blue" as (spotted wolf), in the hands of the director Alfredo Zacharias, who did "Crime of Crimes" , is now been filmed in Baja California Sur,Mexico. This second version is closer to the book and is about a guy(brown and poor) who makes a living by diving in the coast of La Paz and looking for pearls to sell'em later , but one day he finds a pearl that is very valuable and because of that he gets in trouble with the rich people and he doesn't know what to do. Right now they are filming in La Paz but later they will go to Los Cabos and is programmed to be out in the theaters the next year.

DURANGO FESTIVAL

In Mexico there's a fest taking place at the U.N.A.M. (University) called "Durango en el cine" that is going to show some documentaries about that town showing some of the local landscapes and some facts like John Wayne building an entire little 3/4 scale town to film some of his movies , also they will show the biography of a Mexican actor born in Durango named RAMON NOVARRO who was in the silent movie "BEN-HUR" of 1925 as Ben-Hur , also teamed with Alice Terry in the successful 1923 movie "Scaramouche" and also appeared with Garbo in "Mata Hari" in 1932 and also the actress Dolores del Rio who did "Joanna" in 1926. This fest is going to be in the auditorium "Fosforo" until June 12th.

FESTIVAL DE CINE LATINO EN NUEVA YORK

This is the first festival of Cine Latino in New York taking place in the Chelsea Clearview Cinema in Manhattan and showing films of nine countries Latinoamericanos and also films by "Hispanic" directors that work in the U.S.

There's going to be a compilation of 23 shortfilms, feature length and documentaries from Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Brasil and 50 of the U.S. where the people will vote for the best one in each category. The first movie is "King of the Jungle" produced by John Leguizamo followed by "Selena" and "My family" from the director Gregory Nava. (El Norte)

Also there's going to be a documentary made by Edward James Olmos "Americanos" that is about the life of the "Hispanos" and their contribution in the U.S.

Some of the guests that this festival will have are Spike Lee, Marisa Tomei, John Leguizamo and the director Carlos Bolado (Like Water For Chocolate).

Bueno esto es todo lo que tengo esta semana y si estan interesados en otros rollos del cine Mexicano, quieren saber algunas otras cosas o tienen informacion escribanme ....Nos vemos luego

Well that's all for this week and once again if you have interest in knowing something else about the Movie Industry in Mexico or want to share some info. send it to my cave o.k. see yaa later....

LOBO.

ARGENTINA

A look at "Mundo Grua" from a geek's... make that a Greek's point of view...

Ulysses stringing up his bow one more time down in the Pampas of Argentina...

"Mundo Grua" (Something like "Crane World") is an Argentine film produced for the price of a beer. It was filmed during weekends because the director, Pablo Trapero, was studying at the moment and non-professional actors who had other jobs during weekdays made up the entire cast. Plus, all the technicians were paid next to nothing for their amazingly inspired work.

So, the resulting film is a big merit indeed.

The plot is simple, as it follows the story of an ex bass player from a 70s rock band, now working as a crane operator, his slacker son, his quirky friends and his relationship with a woman who works in a drugstore. There is pretty much nothing more to it, but that is the intention of the film, as it chronicles the daily lives of these simple but golden hearted people in a semi-documentary way. And I think this is where the film becomes a true work of art, because the director treated this story the way it had to be treated, with no cheap laughs, no tragic turn at the ending and, thanks god, NO hamfisted, heavy-minded social message, so common in this country's film industry, that could have single-handedly ruined the experience. Instead, we are left with a dead honest and touching impressionistic masterpiece, that portrays a sector of society with warmth and understanding.

This is a film that gets everything right and it is one of the best Argentine offerings of all time, considering that we have quite a small industry and that very few times I have seen a film from my own country with so much pleasure and ease.

The actor who plays Rulo, the central character, is amazing beyond decription. And the truth is, he is not even a professional, he is just a relative or a friend of the director, that's all. His performance is breathtaking and is much more vivid and true than most of the work of many argentine thespians who are like always over-exaggerating their expressions and speaking in a way that reminds me of those school kids who are called to demonstrate their wisdom to the class and they start speaking in a very monotonous way repeating word by word what is written on the textbook.

Of course there are exceptions, but they are scant, and this is a problem that argentine directors have to deal with every time they start a film. If we go way back to the 70s, in the golden ages of our cinema, we are going to encounter some great films, such as The Truce, La Patagonia Rebelde, Man Looking Southeast, The Official Story (Though that is actually an 80s movie), etc. and an incredible group of actors, like Norma Aleandro (Dark Holiday, Foolish Heart), Hector Alterio (Don Juan in Hell, Don Quixote), and Federico Luppi (Cronos, Men With Guns) who are now dead, retired or working in other countries. But it is also true that most of our working directors can't tell a story properly. I am giving a really negative image of our struggling film industry here and I am not contributing in it's growth at all, but I have to be honest and the only way that Argentina will be placed in the film map is if starts to produce quality films with a good story and a sharp execution. Sort of how Brazil is reviving it's own with such films as Central Station and Bossa Nova.! But let's be fair, during the 90s there have been a fair number of very good films and performances (just look at A Place in the World and Dark Side of the Heart), that are surely cherished by anyone who loves movies.

Well fuck, I got quite riled up here and with my rants I probably put everyone to sleep, but I had to remove all of this from my mind. So, all of this started with my praise of Juan Margani´s work in Mundo Grua, where he totally becomes the character he is playing, imitating to perfection the gestures and the characteristics of a real person. In fact, I now a bunch of very similar people and all of their lifestyle, so apart from the vanity and neurosis that are so common in our consumerist society, is translated to the screen with shattering success. I mean, this guy is not getting all worked up because he can't get a table in that hip French bistro. He is concerned because the shadow of unemployment follows him wherever he goes and because his relationship with his son, who does nothing all day, is deteriorating.

This is a film about human values and simple people with not so simple lives. And it is executed brilliantly, in what many would call "a breath of fresh air for Argentine cinema". Personally, I would replace that phrase with simply "A new hope".

Give this a chance..Ulysses

BRASIL

Hello , spooky Coffin Joe here with the latest news I could dig up concerning film in Brasil . Ready ? Let´s go :

-I already reported that Walter Salles (Midnight, Knife Fighter) is set to direct " The Assumption of a Virgin " for Miramax , to be produced by Caroline Choe ( Anthony Minghella´s wife ) and starring Juliette Binoche ; but Walter has another movie to shoot before " Assumption of a Virgin " . It is a movie based on the novel by Albanian writer Ismail Kadaré called " Broken April " . The movie starts shooting this month , in the south of the state of Bahia and in the desert of Jalapão . The movie will deal with the story of a boy who´s 18 , whose father wants him to avenge his brother´s death . Arthur Cohn (Woman Times 7, Black and White in Color} , the producer who previously worked with Walter Salles in " Central Station " , is producing this movie as well . Walter wrote the script himself , while in airports and hotel rooms .

-Brazilian actor Bruno Campos (O Quatrilho, The Last Don) is pretty busy these days , he´s in the " Perfect Storm, " and has been cast in the sequel to Guilhermo Del Toro´s " Mimic " .

Not much this week I know , but the news are slim down here . Sad to say it´s time for me to go . Bye . And send in some South American film news to ol Coffin Joe down in the rainforests of Brasil.

Coffin Joe