Father Geek here with the regular Tuesday morning Latin-AICN column and our hard working Reporters/Editors LOBO and Coffin Joe. This week we have a Latin report from the Toronto Film Festival also, and some interesting Star Wars news for our Spanish speaking friends out there in cyber space. Also this week LOBO wrote up some of his reviews in both Spanish and English. If you like this approach to the column make sure and let LOBO and me (Father Geek) know and we will continue doing it in the future. Now to the Latin-AICN report for this week...

QUE ONDA CINELOCOS.....

Bienvenidos one more time to LATIN-AICN , This time I (LOBO) have some stuff in Spanish just because I felt like doing it this way this time I hope to see some talkbacks en Español that way I know I can still keep doing this Español thing.

Don't forget to send me whatever you can get about the Latin Film industry (news,scoops,rumors, gossip etc..) whatever you can send me to my cave @ LOBO@aintitcoolmail.com ....

now let's go to lo bueno.. Vamos...

QUICKIES / RAPIDINES

**** Get ready for HBO Latino it looks that might be full of cool stuff, when is this channel going to be out there ? I don't know but be alert and let's see how good this is.

**** E.T. the movie will be re-release in the year 2002, restored and with scenes never seen before.

**** "The Bourne Identity" is the title of a movie where the chick from "Run ,Lola Run" ( Franka Potente) is working next to Matt Damon, this flick is directed by Robert Ludlum.

VII FESTIVAL DE CINE LATINO

This month of September is having a lot of Movie Festivals arround the world and one of them is going to take place in California (US), the VII Festival de Cine Latino is going to take place in San Francisco from the 14 until the 17 and in Berkeley from the 21st to the 23rd, some of the countries that will be participating are; Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, México, Venezuela y Cuba. The first movie that will be shown at the opening of the festival is the Mexican movie "La Otra Conquista" (The other conquest) directed by Salvador Carrasco and produced by PLACIDO DOMINGO ( one of the three Tenors next to Pavarotti and Carrera).

From the other countries there is "Mala Epoca" and "El Amateur" representing Argentina, "Traicao" (Treason) from Brazil, "El Chacotero sentimental" from Chile, "Ratas, Ratones y Rateros" from Ecuador , a documentary called "Nuestra Casa en la Habana" (Our home in Habana) from Cuba and besides "The Other Conquest" there is also "Segundo Siglo" (Second Century) and a series of five shortfilms called " Imagenes del Dia de los Muertos" (Images from Day of the Death) from Mexico.

XTRA COSAS

*** Hey LOBO, I think it was you who had been mentioning this movie, AMORES PERROS, the past couple of weeks. Well, I work at Lions Gate films and my boss/supervisor mentioned that they just picked up that film (Amores Perros) here, after the company that had it went bankrupt or something. Don't know if this is news to you, but I guess it means it will be getting a North American release. It is also in competition at the Toronto film fest right now.

And hey, all you guys working on the Latin column, keep up the good work. It's great to get news from down there.

-P-

*** Dude love your takes on Latino Hollywood and the info you put out there. I work for a new station in LA (KJLA 57) we are producing original programming in English for Latinos. We even have an indie film show Cinema LA and a Wayne's world meets East LA public access (illegalinterntv.com). Have you heard of a project New Line is working on called "Taco Truck" it's being written by Esteban Zul and Lalo Alcaraz aka La Cucaracha (www.pocho.com) I don't know how far the project is but I can find out for you.

Later "El illegal Intern"

*** Well, I've got a very interesting and, of course, cool news for you. Latin-AICN has informed about Spain as one of the settings for Star Wars: Episode II and I got the concrete place. It´s my city: Sevilla.

Next wednesday George Lucas will be filming a little scene of the movie in Plaza de España, a monumental square made for the 1929´s Iberoamerican Exposition. It seems that the regionalistic stile of Plaza de España impressed Lucas and so he decided to make it the Main Square of Naboo. There will be a conversation between two characters, and one of them will be Amidala.

Plaza de España has been a setting for more movies. One of them was the David Lean´s masterpiece "Lawrence of Araby". See it again. It was the british command building in Damasco (or something like that).

Keep the good work.

José Antonio Ceballos

Sevilla (Spain)

QUE NO QUEDE HUELLA / DON'T LEAVE A CLUE (reviews in both Spanish and English)

Esta pelicula se desarrolla en la frontera norte, Aurelia uno de los personajes ve la oportunidad de hacerse de una vida nueva robando la cocaína de su novio Saul. Ella abandona a Saúl y huye con sus dos hijos para despues tratar de cruzar hacia Estados Unidos y obtener dinero por la droga para asi comenzar su nueva vida. No muy lejos de ahí, Ana (el otro personaje) es sorprendida cruzando la frontera de los Estados Unidos a México por un policía judicial que busca intimidarla y hacerla parte de su negocio de tráfico de reliquias mayas. Ana y Aurelia se conocen en la carretera y es entonces cuando cada una intentará utilizar a la otra para lograr sus propios metas. Se caen mal desde el primer momento y se mienten recíprocamente, buscando siempre salvar su propio pellejo. La cinta esta dirigida y escrita por Maria Novarro y producida por Tabasco Films y Altavista Films, tiene como locaciones las ciudades de Tabasco, Cancun y el estado de Veracruz y se piensa que se terminara de filmar a finales de este mes y probablemente se distibuya en el verano del año entrante.

This movie takes place in Mexico's northern border, Aurelia one of the characters sees her chance to start a new life for herself. She steals the cocaine of her boyfriend Saul and runs away with their two children, trying to go to United States and sell the drugs to get some $ and that way start her new life. Not far away from there, Ana (the other character) is caught trying to go across the border into Mexico for an judicial officer that tries to intimidate her to make her his partner in the traffic of Mayan artifacts. Ana and Aurelia meet by accident on the highway, they hate eachother and from there they will try to get what they want by lying and using eachother. The Film is written and directed by Maria Novarro and produced by Tabasco Films and Altavista Films, as filmimg locations there are the cities of Tabasco, Cancun and the state of Veracruz and it seems that it will be finish by the end of this month and probably released next summer.

VERA (reviews in both Spanish and English...

Esta pelicula tiene a un androide llamada Vera, que cobra vida en lo profundo del paisaje Mexicano, en unas cuevas Mayas, y se trata sobre su encuentro con un anciano Maya que esta cerca de morir. Se establece entre ellos relaciones y conocimientos espirituales que ayudan al viejo Maya a liberar su alma. En la búsqueda de sus orígenes, Vera y el viejo se internan en un mundo de atmósferas irreales, fruto de la mezcla entre imágenes vivas y manipulaciones digitales de texturas y colores. Vera es la exploración de la frontera en la que se toca nuestro pasado ancestral y mitológico, con las nuevas tecnologías del desarrollo de las imágenes en movimiento. Es un intercambio de conocimientos entre ellos dejando asi las experiencias y conocimientos del viejo Maya en la memoria del androide Vera. Esta cinta fue escrita y dirigida por Francisco Athie quien tambien dirigio "Fibra Optica" obteniendo el Ariel de plata por el mejor Guion, y es una produccion entre Mexico, Alemania y Estados Unidos. Se tuvieron como locaciones las ciudades de Puebla, Yucatan y la Ciudad de Mexico y se piensa que se estrenara a mediados de Marzo en el año 2001.

This film has a robot called Vera, who comes to life in some of Mexico's Mayan caves and is about the robot meeting a Mayan old man who is dying. They share spiritual knowledge and experiences that help the old Mayan free his soul. In searching for their origins, Vera and the old man enter the realm of dream atmospheres, unreal, created from the mixture of live images and digital manipulations of textures and colors. Vera is the exploration of the frontier in which we touch our ancestral mythical past, with the technologies of the development of moving images. Is a trade of knowledge and experiences having as the goal living in Vera's memory all of what the old Mayan has to share. This Film was written and directed by Francisco Athie who also did "Fibra Optica" that got the Ariel award for best screebplay, and is a production between Mexico, Germany and United States. They had Puebla, Yucatan and Mexico City as the filming locations and this movie will be released on March in the year 2001.

Well this is it from LOBO..I hope you liked the stuff I had this time and as I always say ..Later and see you next week with more okay...

Nos vemos..

Amores Perros; a review from Canada

AMORES PERROS (Love's A Bitch) (Dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)

Love discovering a first time director that's worth watching and Inarritu, a Mexican director, could easily be the next Rodriguez, but he certainly is concerned with combining genre film styles with immense depth in his storytelling which brings him head and shoulders above that.

The structure is similar to Pulp Fiction in that there are 3 major stories that are focused on throughout the 2 1/2 hour running time. These stories also timeshift. However, this is where the comparison ends.

Each story involves the question and pain that various aspects of love can bring. The first involves 2 brothers where one desires his brother's wife and will do anything to get her out of that abusive relationship, even if she may not want it. This includes getting his dog involved in dogfights.

The second story involves a man who leaves his wife for a supermodel, only to have her experience severe trauma that may destroy her career and her sanity.

The third involves a homeless man who loves his dogs. Believe me, there's more to it than that, but the last thing I want to do is ruin the surprises.

There is a surprise cataclysmic event that affects each story, but the interesting thing is it's the end of story 1, the beginning of story 2 and the middle of story 3. The stories are also not exclusive to the episode that's being focused on, which allows certain things you thought had no bearing on one story to affect the other.

The acting is intense and amazing from a cast of (to me) unknowns. The visuals are intense mixing hard drama with some excessive gore, but the film has a huge heart and a great complexity to get you sucked into great characters, an amazing story, and visuals that keep you thoroughly engrossed.

Reprojay

Amores Perros; a review from Mexico...

Harry, I'm a big fan of your site but I have never written a review for it. That's mainly because I'm Mexican living in Mexico and movies here arrive a lot later than they do in the United States. Anyway, as I've just witnessed, you showed quite a bit of interest in a movie they're showing at Toronto right now called "Amores Perros" (Love's A Bitch). This Mexican movie has already been out here for a couple months, not only receiving wide critical acclaim, but also becoming the most succesful mexican movie ever. How about that? That's why I thought you might be interested a little more, and also because it has already won awards at Cannes and Edinburgh. After Toronto it is heading to New York and San Sebastian. It might even get a foreign Oscar nomination. Who knows, but here's my review:

The movie, as the previous reviewer said, is basically set up in three different episodes. This three storylines actually converge at one tragic incident, which changes their lives forever. The interesting thing about it is the way that time is treated. The stories are not all told after the incident happens, but actually take place before and after. Then there are small bits from one story that collide with the other with no apparent reason.

What this movie does that some like Pulp Fiction (which I love) don't, is being really concerned with the human being and the psichology of it all. Even thou it is filmed with a hip and cool style, the movie trascends beyond that and brings us with three very emotional stories which indeed have more layers than one would expect.

Another interesting bit about this movie is the role dogs play in it. You could even say that some of the dogs are key players in the movie. Every single character is somewhat affected by them, and they offer really profound metaphors about the way humans behave and react to situations nowadays.

The film has a lot of violence and gore, but it is never intended as a controversial material. What it ends up being is a very well constructed piece of work, masterfully directed by first time director Gomez Iñarritu, beautifully photographed and perfectly performed by very talented actors, especially Gael Garcia Bernal, Vanessa Bauche and the old guy, who's name I don't remember right know.

This is one not to be missed. Don't shy away just because it is Mexican and it has subtitles, this is a movie that will take your guts and twist them so hard you will feel exhausted, but really glad you lived through the whole experience and got to enjoy it all the way to the end.

That said, I'm gone........

Brazil and Coffin Joe...

Hello there , Coffin Joe here back with another week of Brazilian film news , hope you enjoy it .

-Everyone knows about the Dogma 95 movement , Lars Von Trier´s artsy-fartsy , shaky cam , shoot on video , no music , crap manifesto . Well a film student over here in Brazil has started a similar type of manifesto , called " Dogma Feijoada " ( Feijoada for those who don´t know is a typical Brazilian dish , with pork , rice , beans and other stuff ) . Under the subtitle " A Manifesto about the Image of the Black Community in Brazilian Cinema " ( HOW FUCKIN´ PRETENTIOUS IS THAT ? ) , the movement was created by Jeferson De , director of the short " Gênesis 22 " and a film student over at the University of São Paulo . Here are the rules of the manifesto :

1-The movie has to be directed by a black Brazilian filmmaker

2-The main character has to be black

3-The theme of the film has to deal with the Brazilian black culture

4-The planned schedule has to be followed ( Coffin Joe note : What ? )

5-Stereotypes , black or not , are forbidden

6-Bad guys or Superheros have to be avoided ( Coffin Joe note : That sucks )

7-The script has to privilege the average Brazilian black male or female , in other words no soccer players or samba dancers

-September 15 is the day the 1998 TV mini-series " O Auto da Compadecida " will hit local movie theatres here in Brazil , in a very odd move as the whole 160 minute mini that was shown on TV Globo ( a Brazilian TV station ) has been cut down to 100 minutes for its theatrical run . The director behind the project is veteran Guel Arraes , mostly a TV director at Globo for many years . Columbia Pictures Brazil is handling the distribution over here . Among the cast members are Oscar nominee Fernanda Montenegro ( " Central Station " ) , Selton Melo , who plays Chico , and another " Central Station " cast member Matheus Nachtergaele as João Grilo . This is Guel Arraes´ first film . I´ll be reviewing the movie next week with a full review including details about the story , which I have no clue what it is about , since I missed it when it aired on TV .

-Last August 30th director Hector Babenco spoke after a screening of his last movie " Foolish Heart " here in São Paulo . The Q&A was ok though not much was revealed by him about his next flick " Estação Carandiru " .

-Two of Walter Salles´ movies , both co-directed with Daniela Thomas , are set to be released on DVD over there in the U.S. . " Midnight " , their latest flick , about the last day of the millenium in the lives of a number of characters , will be released by Fox Lorber on November 7th . The other one is their breakthrough film , " Foreign Land " , a B&W movie about two Brazilian lovers who are involved in some shady dealings while out in Portugal . The DVD is going to come out on November 7th as well and it is by Fox Lorber too .

That´s it for me this week , hope you liked it , Sleep well my little demons . Coffin Joe says : bye .