Father Geek back from Madrid Spain, and Toledo, and Consuegra's windmills, and Avila, and La Granja de San Ildefonso, and Segovia, and the Hunting Palace of Riofrio, and... Well, you get the picture. Harry and I spent 8 days absorbing as much Spanish culture as we could in that short length of time. We met with Director Del Toro (Cronos, Mimic) and spent an entire night on his set for THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE watching him create movie magic from the rubble and dead bodies scattered throughout a ruined school for orphans during the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930's. We met with one of our Paris Euro-AICN editors, Darth Bond, who was originally from Madrid. We ate Black Rice, Suckling Pig, Roasted Lamb, Squid, some very sharp cheeses, Clams, Argentine-style beef, Quail, and of course alot of Tapas washed down with rich Spanish wine and a beer or two. We stared open-mouthed at Goya's, El Greco's, and Dali's, and I spent hours exploring the narrow streets and alleys of El Rastro's street market. Yes, Father Geek loved it; Beautiful art, beautiful buildings, and beautiful people, a country of rich history that I simply didn't want to leave, but we had to return to Geek Headquarters here in Austin, and our keyboards, and all of you...

SPANISH LANGUAGE FILM NEWS from LOBO...

Que pasa Cinemaniacos !! I am back and this time I have some news related to futbol (soccer) and a undergraund Film festival in Chicago that will have Jodorowsky movies and more, so I hope that for all of you that have a chance to go to that fest, you should try and make it there because Jodorowsky himself is schedule to be present at the Festival..so if you really want to know this guy and see his work again but on the big screen...this is your chance to do so..

QUICKIES/ RAPIDINES

1..2..3. SO QUICK THAT YOU DON'T EVEN SEE THEM.

"ATLETICO SAN PANCHO"

This is a cool thing to know, cause I haven't really heard about a movie having soccer as the main thing, the first movie I saw and so far still one of my favorites is "Victory" where Sylvester Stallone and Michael Cain had the honor to be next to "El Rey del futbol"(The King of soccer) PELE where he does some of his extraodinary magic moves and awsome tricks..I have to admit I am a big time geek when it comes to soccer and even more when it comes to PELE (my heroe). Anyways as I was saying about the movie "ATLETICO SAN PANCHO", well this is a movie that is on production right now in Mexico and where the crew is filming in a town called "San Francisco del Monte" where as far as I've heard that is where the first game of soccer was played in Mexico. This movie is pretended to be for the kids than for the adults, but still I won't say this is going to be like "Green", this film has more of that feeling for soccer, friendship and team-work, and mainly is about a little kid "Toño" of 9 years old who wants to create a team in his town with all of his friends so they can participate and win a tournament. The film is directed by GUSTAVO LOZA and written by CAROLINA RIVERA. The producers of the movie are FERNANDO SARIÑANA and FRANCISCO GONZALEZ COMPEAN, both of them known from previous movies where they partipipated like "AMORES PERROS"(Life is a Bitch) and "TODO EL PODER"(Gimme the Power). Also "ATLETICO SAN PANCHO" counts with the colaboration of the Actor LUIS FELIPE TOVAR who worked next to Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt in the upcoming film "THE MEXICAN" and also HECTOR SUAREZ who is known for his long carrer as an Actor on stage and on the screen. So this is all I can say for this film right now, but I will make sure to follow it and bring some updates on it. Last I heard the film will be ready in about 6 weeks and is programmed to be release next Summer in Mexico and other countries. GOOOOOOOOOOOLLLL !!!!!!!

"RAQUEL"

That is the working title of a movie that is about to start its filming in Mexico, the movie was written and will be directed by JOSE QUINTERO, and is about a guy from Mexico that lives in New York and wants to go back to his country also in the movie this character played by VICTOR GONZALEZ helps an old ladie played by YOLANDA ANDRADE to translate some of the things that her husband left her when he died. The rest of the cast is formed by LYN MAY who will play a waitress, Monserrat Oliver and PAULINA RUBIO that has the role of a model. The film crew has a million dollars to put on the creation of the filmand they said that it will take them around eight weeks to complete the work betwen New York and Mexico City.Rigth now the still have some little things to work on, like if the guy actually returns to Mexico or stays in New York because of the model which he has a crush on or because of what he learn from the old ladie and the things the dead man wrote, but after they come up with that final decicion they will start filming hopefully on a week from now.

CHICAGO UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL

Well folks this is for all of you who like the Underground Film or for those who are interested in checking some of this stuff and for some X reason won't be able to come to AUSTIN for the Tarantino Fest or The BUTT- NUMB -A- THON, that's right there is going to be a Festival with a lot of undergraoud films and this time it will be in Chicago. The Fest is going to start this Friday August 18 and will show all of this films until the 24th. So if you have a space on your agenda or itinerary I will recomend for you not to miss this great opportunity. As one of the many great things this Fest will have is the prescence of ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY that so far it seems that his appearance is confirmed and his movies EL TOPO, SANTA SANGRE,LA MONTAÑA SAGRADA" (Holy Mountain) where who knows he might talked about his work on the sequel of El Topo, being the last thing I heard about it was not going to be called "The Sons of El Topo" because one MOFO from here in the U.S. bought all of the rights of it, so ALEX had to go with ALFONSO ARAU to make another version (but not really) and decide to call it ABELCAIN from which I haven't heard anything else. He also had another thing on mind called DUNE (????). But anyways as I was saying before this Fest is full of those kind of movies that are consider UNDERGRAOUND because of their surrealism.

Here are some of the movies that will be present at the Festival :

STRAIGHTMAN; The movie that will open the Festival on Friday

DREAMS OF LIFE

METAL

ELTOPO

HOLY MOUNTAIN

LIVE, NUDE , GIRLS UNITE

KISS XXX

EL REY DE ROCK & ROLL (El Vez- The Mexican Elvis)

MIGRATING FORMS

FUCKED IN THE FACE

SMACK

GANG GIRLS 2000

RUIN

All of these plus a lot more and several groups of Short-films. If you want more info on this festival go to cuff.org and try to get a spot on the Plaza..and if some of you make it there I think it will be really cool if you can share your experience and see if you can get more info on ALEX's stuff and if you do E-call me and let me know all about it, okay..

Well folks thats it for me, LOBO, this time I hope you like the stuff and see you later. Nos Vemos Luego !!!! And make sure to send all your Spanish language Film News to me at MY CAVE high up in the hill country.

P.S. Don't forget to check the new section of this column called LATINDIE that has news of the Latin independent cinema.

ARGENTINA and Ulysses...

Hey central.Ulysses reporting

I just hate this. I am sitting at my desk, in my dull little town, when at the same moment, Bob Le Flambeur is being shown in it's full glory. Damn it. I can't be here while that cooler than cool film festival is playing in Buenos Aires. ¡Why the hell did my father choose to be an agronomist and move 600 Km. from DC! Shit!

THE MOTHER OF ALL FILM FESTIVALS: BLACK SAGA, THE BEST OF FRENCH NOIR.

Yes, you heard right. Can a film fest actually be cooler than this? No waaaay. Where the hell will you get to see some of the best work of such directors as Jean Pierre Melville, Alain Corneau and Claude Chabrol, among others. Sure, they made some questionable omissions. Like, for example, they are not screening the superclassic "Rififi" by Jules Dassin and Jean Renoir's incursions are nowhere to be found. But anybody who shows Bob Le Flambeur and The Samurai in the big screen, with another dozen noir classics is a good friend of mine.

You know, I have always been an ardent fan of noir. I love everything signed by Jim Thompson and I hold a dear place for movies ranging from The Asphalt Jungle and The Killing all the way up to The Grifters and The Usual Suspects. For anyone who shares this passion of mine and has the chance to attend this unique festival, go for it. Strange things happen all the time, but great ones such as this don't.

This is the list of films that will be screened:

GRISBI (Jacques Becker)

BOB LE FLAMBEUR (Jean-Pierre Melville)

THE SAMURAI (Jean-Pierre Melville)

THE HOLE (Jacques Becker)

SECOND BREATH (Jean Pierre Melville)

FRANTIC (Louis Malle)

SERIE NOIR (Alain Corneau)

DOSSIER 51 (Michel Deville)

DIVA (Jean-Jacques Beniex)

CRIME IN PARIS (Henri-Georges Clouzot)

POULET AU VINAIGRE (Claude Chabrol)

HELL (Claude Chabrol)

ARMY IN THE SHADOWS (Jean-Pierre Melville)

THE COUSIN (Alain Corneau)

Of course, when you've got just fourteen days to screen the most important noir classics, you'll have to make many omissions. But anyway, I would have liked to see "Pepe le Moko" in the big screen, though given this impressive selection, I have nothing to complain about. Except the fact that, given the schedule, I won't be able to catch many of these amazing movies.

From the southern pampas.Ulysses out.

Thanks a bunch.

BRAZIL and Coffin Joe...

Hello everybody Coffin Joe here for another week of news from Brazil . Here we go freaks and geeks :

-Last week the talk of the town was Spanish director Pedro Almodovar´s surprise appearance at this year´s MTV Brazil´s Video Music Awards . Mr.Almodovar presented the best directing award in a music video , handing out the award to fellow directors Katia Lund , Breno Silveira and Paulo Lins for their work on the video " A Minha Alma " by the band O Rappa . Well the surprise part of his appearance was jinxed by one of MTV´s hosts , who gave it away during one of the pre-show interviews , without knowing it was supposed to be a secret . Another interesting fact about the video is that it was produced by Walter Salles´ ( Central Station ) brother and partner in their production company , Videofilmes , João Moreira Salles . Watch the video at : www.mtv.com.br

-While we´re talking about the band O Rappa and director Katia Lund , let´s adress one of their other projects , namely a feature film which is supposed to revolve around Brazil ( I know , pretty vague description , but that´s what they said ) . The film will be a collaboration between director Katia and the band´s drummer , Marcelo Yuka , who wrote the script for the video " A Minha Alma " .

-Well , director Ruy Guerra´s controversial adaptation of Chico Buarque´s book , " Estorvo " , starring Cuban leading man Jorge Perugorria as the main character who is on some sort of mind trip/search/paranoia frenzy , finally hit theaters over here in São Paulo . So the movie wasn´t that well received in Cannes , and it opened in only two screens , so you can kind of guess it wasn´t for everyone . That´s cool with me , I´m used to weird , twisted shit , I dig Jodorowski , Peter Jackson , Jeunet/Caro , Coffin Joe , Shynia Tsukamoto , and other extreme filmmakers who make movies that speak to a certain audience , but this puppy here speaks to no one . Nobody . No I´m not being too radical , this is weird for weird´s sake , without any redeeming quality whatsoever , not trashy fun or out there experimentation , it´s just unpleasant and senseless . I have to give kudos to DP Marcelo Durst for a job well done ( HE´S THE BEST DP IN BRAZIL ) , but other than his work this movie has ! ! nothing going for it . I´ll try to make my point a bit clearer : Have you seen Jim Van Beeber´s " Deadbeat at Dawn " ? That´s unpleasant , but it´s aware of it , it does not try to be something it isn´t . It´s a revenge vigilante flick , with gore and violence and explosions in it , AND THAT´S IT . This movie is supposed to have a deeper meaning as some sort of Kafka-esque type of journey for our nameless hero , but geez , guess what , it doesn´t . If they tried to make a point with this movie , I don´t have a clue of what it was . Soderbergh´s " Kafka " I get , Gilliam´s " Brazil " I get ( I LOVE both films ) , this I don´t get . Fuck I don´t think they get it . Plus the Spanish/Portuguese hybrid of a language that some characters speak throughout this movie is just fucking annoying . Go see Terry Gilliam´s " Brazil " , you´ll see how these themes are supposed to be dealt with . More info at : www.estorvo.com.br

That´s all for me this week ( Go see " The Tao of Steve " you guys in the U.S. , it´s a great indie flick , that has opened limited . Tell ´em Coffin Joe sent ya , ok ? )And write me at my Sao Paulo Office here in Brasil.

Coffin Joe