Father Geek reporting in with another report from Coffin Joe Jr. our editor in Sao Paulo, Brasil. As always he's turned up some fun stuff....

Of Course the BIG story of interest to the readers of this column is the death of the great Chihuahua, Mexico actor Antonio Rudolfo Oxaca Quinn... for Harry and Father Geek's thoughts on this Just Click Here Now...

Enjoy, CineLocos...

Coffin Joe Jr. is here to take your soul! Just kidding, actually I´m here to give you another edition of our beloved Latin-AICN. So, go ahead, and dig in creepy crawlers..........................

US

-Check out this scoop sent by our new spy NAN, about the latest on Rodriguez´s upcoming "Once Upon a Time in Mexico". A lot of new info on the project:

Iglesias to bow in 'Mexico' film

By Zorianna Kit

LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Latin pop singer Enrique Iglesias will make his feature acting debut in Robert Rodriguez's "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," a co-production of Columbia Pictures and Dimension Films. The project begins shooting this week in Mexico.

"Mexico" starring Antonio Banderas is the long-anticipated third installment in Rodriguez's trilogy that began with 1992's "El Mariachi" and continued with 1995's "Desperado," which also stars Banderas. Iglesias will play one of three mariachis alongside Banderas and Marco Leonardi ("From Dusk Till Dawn: The Hangman's Daughter" ) .Quentin Tarantino and Salma Hayek, who starred in "Desperado," are back for the next installment, with Mickey Rourke, Johnny Depp, Willem Dafoe and Eva Mendes also committed to the film (HR 5/30).

"Mexico" is based loosely on Sergio Leone's classic spaghetti western "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." "Mariachi" and "Desperado" are homages to Leone's "A Fistful of Dollars" and "For a Few Dollars More," respectively. Columbia, which owns rights to the first two movies in the series, will take domestic rights to "Mexico." Dimension, which has three pictures remaining in an overall deal with Rodriguez, will take international rights. By shooting on a tight schedule and using digital camera equipment, Rodriguez is expected to keep the budget at less than $30 million."

-Actor Cristián de la Fuente ("Driven") has a part in the sequel to "John Carpenter´s Vampires", titled "Vampires: Los Muertos" to be written and directed by John´s pal, director Tommy Lee Wallace. The movie also stars singer/actor/loser from Jersey Jon Bon Jovi, hot young lady Natasha Gregson Wagner and Tim Guinee, who returns as Father Adam Guiteau (COFFIN JOE JR. NOTE: Do you guys think he will get constantly beaten up by the slayers like in the first one? I sure hope so. That was fun in the first pic, James Wood beating the living crap out of the poor padre. Good times). Shooting takes place in Mexico, Mexico City and Morelos to be more specific.

ARGENTINA

-The Latin version of the E!, Entertainment Television network, is showing this week some behind the scenes footage from the prison comedy/adventure flick "La Fuga", which was released nationally in Argentina May 24th, on the program "Top E! News". Eduardo Mignogna is the director, with a cast that includes Ricardo Darín, Gerardo Romano, Miguel Ángel Solá, Hugo Arana and Inés Estévez.

BRAZIL

-Good news for U.S. fans of Hector Babenco´s award winning drama "Kiss of the Spider Woman". The 1985 film will be re-released in North America by indie distributor Strand. The movie opens June 29th in limited release, but expanding later; it will play in the states of Florida, New York, D.C., Philadelphia, and a few others.

There will be a special screening held by the Human Rights Watch organization, in its own film festival, June 13th at the Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, in New York.

Further celebration of the movie´s re-release, will take place in San Francisco, where actress Sônia Braga will receive an award at the 25th International Gay/Lesbian Film Festival.

"Kiss of the Spider Woman" was going to be yet another DVD dump by MGM, with no extras on the disc, but Babenco and producer David Weisman, decided to shop it to a distributor who would release it in theatres, and Strand stepped up to the plate.

FILM FESTIVAL NEWS

-Check this out: (scoop sent by Nani and forwarded by AICN´s own Robogeek)

"Notodofilmfest.com is launched as the First International Compressed Film Festival

Notodofilmfest.com has just been launched as the First International Compressed Film Festival, a bilingual competition (Spanish and English) that aims to become the reference point for the best productions of Internet Films. The Festival, organized in Spain, will award $44.000 U.S. (51.086 euros) in prizes, in recognition of the quality, variety and amenity of the films.

An international panel of judges consisting of film directors of the stature of Terry Gilliam (U.S.A.), Eliseo Subiela (Argentina), Sergio Cabrera (Columbia), Guillermo del Toro (Mexico) and the Spaniards Alex de la Iglesia, Julio Medem, Juanma Bajo Ulloa, Javier Fesser, Fernando León and Santiago Segura, will be in charge of selecting the winners of the Awards for the Best Film, the Best Quality/File Size Relation, the Most Innovative Film and the Special Award for the Best Advertisement. What is more, there will be an award selected by popular choice for the Best Film as well as a Special Award Produce + for the Best Film.

Several of the directors belonging to the panel of judges have also made their own short films, which Notodofilmfest.com will premiere outside of the competition. Internet surfers have already been able to view the films of Javier Fesser and Juanma Bajo Ulloa. And coming soon is the premiere of the short film Alex de la Iglesia has made especially for this occasion. The films can be submitted in digital format by way of the form that appears on the webpage (Notodofilmfest.com), no later than June 30. They must not weigh more than 3,5 Mb. Films can be sent in AVI, MPEG, MPEG4 (ASF), MOV, RAM and SWF (FLASH) formats. There is total freedom regarding subject and technique. The more than 75 films received during the first days of the Festival are already available for viewing.

Notodofilmfest.com is an initiative of notodo.com, the leading channel of cultural proposals of the Spanish company La Fábrica, and plus.es, the Spanish platform for the audiovisual content of Canal+ Spain."

For more information: Click Here or Right Here

UNSEEN GEMS

"Heaven" Director: Scott Reynolds

I´m the first one to admit that this isn´t for everybody, it´s pretty out there: a lot of creepy people, some weird sexual tension, disturbing gory imagery, and a psychic transvestite. Sounds like good, decent, family fun doesn´t it? Well, it´s not for all tastes, but those who saw Reynolds´s first flick, the haunting character study "The Ugly", know just what the hell I´m talking about. "Heaven" is another twisted little tale, but unlike "The Ugly" which got decent exposure, "Heaven" played in exactly one theater(!) in L.A., before being dumped on video and a DVD with no extras whatsoever. It´s really a shame because I think the art house crowd would dig this stylish blend of the supernatural and constant suspense, told in a very interesting way. The movie´s structure is very innovative, with some fancy time jumps, achieved with the editing. Cinematography is also striking with the initial sequence of the movie, which is explained and repeated later on, being one of the most impressive.

As always no spoilers in my review, I hope that what I wrote has sparked your interest in this strange, but compelling, movie. Highly Recommended. Check out "Heaven" on DVD, by Miramax/Disney , no extras like I said, but a good transfer and fair sound.

I´m done for the week.

Coffin Joe Jr. says: bye.

P.S.:I saw "Pearl Harbor" today, and man, was that LLLLLLOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGG. Really, really long. I´m amazed it ended. I thought I would never leave the theater. Ever. It went on, and on, and on. Dear God. Michael Bay always talks in the DVD commentary tracks for his movies that he thinks movies should be entertaining, fun, fast. "Pearl Harbor" wasn´t fun. It pissed me off. Most of the dialogue was so awful, come on, give me a break, stuff like "Oh, I´m dying, it´s so cold, I feel so cold!" has been done to death in every movie since like the Dark Ages. Dan Aykroid ruled though. He´s the man. BRING ON "GHOSTBUSTERS 3"!