News

"I won't bug you at all, okay?" "Why aren't you at work?" Ouch! Netflix has revealed the official trailer for an Argentinian comedy called Camp Crasher, also known as just Campamento con Mamá in Spanish. It's ready for a streaming debut on Netflix worldwide this December - if anyone is curious. Uruguayan singer / actress Natalia Oreiro stars as Patri Peiró, a control-freak mother who thinks she's cooler than she really is. Ouch! She's an overbearing mother struggling to connect with her teen son named Ramiro, determined to move in with his father. In an attempt to prove she's cool and keep him under her roof, she offers to take her son and his friends on a camping road trip while vying for his affection. The cast includes Milo Lis as Rami, Pablo Rago, Dalia Gutman, Sofia Morandi, and Sebastian Arzeno. This looks mildly amusing, like those wholesome family comedies Hollywood...

Argentina’s Eo Media, led by CEO Ezequiel Olzanski, has teamed up with Nicolas Aznarez’s Uruguay-based El Camino Films (“Blindness”) to co-produce murder mystery “Punta Blanca” (a working title) with a stellar cast led by Natalia Oreiro, star of Disney’s “Santa Evita” and Prime Video’s “Iosi, the Regretful Spy.”

The six-episode limited series is created by up-and-coming writer-producer Joaquin Romero Vercellino and penned by writers behind the hit Argentine series streaming on Netflix, “El Marginal”: Silvina Olschansky and Guillermo Salmerón, as well as Alejandro Aimetta (“Maradona: Blessed Dream”). Eo Media will also handle international sales.

Described by the producers as a “thrilling whodunit that takes place in the glamorous coast of ‘90s Punta del Este, Uruguay,” it’s inspired by such pics as “Knives Out“ or “Murder on the Orient Express” “where the identity of the killer remains a mystery until the very end and includes...

Salma Hayek Pinault is singing her friend Angelina Jolie‘s praises as a writer and director following the conclusion of production on the film Without Blood.

The film, an adaptation of the best-selling novel by Alessandro Baricco of the same name, is the second collaboration between Hayek Pinault and Jolie who recently co-starred in Marvel’s Eternals from director Chloe Zhao. (Hayek Pinault remained mum regarding whether she would be returning for the rumored sequel.)

“We just finished it,” Hayek Pinault told Deadline. “Angelina is the best director I’ve ever worked with. I absolutely loved working with her; enjoyed every second of it. It’s a tough piece but it was so delicious to come to work every single day. She is a genius and I think this might be her best movie yet. She did an amazing job, really.”

She continued, “I was completely blown away by her mind,...

Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.”

Melissa Barrera admits she had some major issues to overcome while shooting her new Netflix series, “Keep Breathing.” The “In the Heights” star plays an attorney who is the only survivor after her small plane crashes into a lake in the frigid wilderness. “Diving into that water was probably one of the scariest things,” Barrera tells me on this week’s “Just for Variety” podcast. “I have this real fear of drowning. So doing all of that was very therapeutic for me.”

Stunt coordinators gave her breathing exercises to do before diving in. “They would always tell me to take as many deep breaths as I needed until I felt ready,” Barrera recalls.

Like her character, Barrera is a city gal at heart: “I’m a person that enjoys having indoor plumbing and a shower and a toilet. And I don’t...

Executive produced by Salma Hayek Pinault and directed by Rodrigo García (“Nine Lives”), in its second scene, Star Plus Productions’ “Santa Evita” has Dr. Pedro Aru arriving at Eva Perón’s home to embalm her corpse.

Many directors would dispatch his arrival in brief transition shots. García, however, uses eight – to capture the rain on he fateful day of July 26, 1952 (a shot from above of drenched black umbrellas packing out the screen), glimpse the poverty of the crowd lining the road and frame the first hints of Perón’s near sanctification in death with crowds keeping vigil outside the house’s gates, candles in hand.

Previewed at Conecta Fiction, Episode One of “Santa Evita” weighs in as classic Disney Latin America adult audience fare, an heir to 2018’s “Selena’s Secret” and 2019 “Monzón.”

A passion project of Mariana Pérez at The Walt Disney Company Latin America’s which has been 10 years in the making,...

Disney’s Latin American streamer talks up original dramas.

The Walt Disney Company’s Latin American streamer Star+ underlined its original production push by premiering the first episode of its Eva Perón miniseries Santa Evita at Spain’s Conecta Fiction & Entertainment this week, and showcasing four more dramas at the TV networking and co-pro event held in Toledo.

Launched last year, entertainment and sports platform Star+ is available in Latin America as a standalone service or, as part of Combo+, a bundled offering with access to Disney+.

Santa Evita, produced by Star Original Productions and directed by Rodrigo Garcia, tells...

Underscoring a push into more ambitious productions in Latin America, Star Plus, The Walt Disney Company’s year-old general entertainment and sports streaming service in the region, presented an early banner production, “Santa Evita,” at Conecta Fiction & Entertainment in a gala screening on June 22.

Attendees of the Toledo, Spain-based forum got an exclusive preview of the pilot episode to the seven-part limited series, which is set to bow July 26 on Star Plus Latin America, Hulu in the U.S. and Disney’s Star label in the rest of the world.

“Santa Evita” anticipates more “true life fiction” shows that Star Plus is developing, based on larger-than-life figures in Latin America’s culture and history.

“We’re serving several markets, and in order to connect with our audiences, we’re developing stories about people they know, whose stories they know,” said Leonardo Aranguibel, VP, head of production operations & strategy, The Walt Disney Company Latin America,...

Fabula-Fremantle’s “Santa Maria,” Leticia Dolera’s “Puberty” and “Fata Morgana,” a Western thriller executive produced by Béla Tarr, all feature at this year’s vastly expanded Conecta Fiction & Entertainment.

In further news announced Monday, Conecta Fiction will also stage the European premiere of Star Plus’ “Santa Evita,” executive produced by Salma Hayek Pinault and José Tamez, starring Natalia Oreiro, Ernesto Alterio, Darío Grandinetti and one of Disney’s most anticipated titles Spanish-language titles.

“Santa Evita” tells the true events-based and extraordinary story of the odyssey of Argentine First Lady Eva Perón’s embalmed body over three decades, her elevation to near sainthood saying much about Argentina and Latin America at large.

A panel discussion will be lead by the key cast, directors Rodrigo García and Alejandro Maci and the executives who led its production – Mariana Pérez, VP, development and production, Twdc Latin America, and Leonardo Aranguibel, VP, production, Twdc Latin America.

Yosi, The Regretful Spy will go deeper into the international intelligence world on Amazon Prime Video.

The streamer has given the green light to a second season of the show, which is from Daniel Burman’s Mediapro Studios-owned production company Oficina Burman (Pequeña Victoria).

Set in 1994, the second season will deal with the attack on the Amia building, the bloodiest ever terrorist attack in Argentina, which left hundreds of people dead and injured. Protagonist Yosi has become a fugitive determined to go public with the help of a famous journalist, when the Israeli intelligence service asks him to investigate the best kept secret of Argentine arms traffickers: the Condor missile.

Israel’s Moran Rosenblatt (Fauda, Hit & Run) and Itzik Cohen (Fauda) join the Argentina and Uruguay cast, which includes Natalia Oreiro, Gustavo Bassani, Mercedes Moran, Alejandro Awada and Carla Quevedo. Burman will return as Showrunner, sharing directing duties with Sebastian Borensztein,...

Danish helmer Lone Scherfig is already developing the second season of “The Shift[/link]”, she revealed on Monday during an online Berlinale Series Market talk “From Film to Series.”

Set in a maternity ward and starring Sofie Gråbøl and Pål Sverre Hagen, it’s the first series as a showrunner for Scherfig, who in 2019 opened Berlinale with “The Kindness of Strangers” and won a Silver Bear for “Italian for Beginners.”

“It’s a tribute to the people who work in the healthcare system under extreme pressure, to the care and the love they show, even despite tough working conditions,” she said. “The Shift” is produced by Creative Alliance, with Beta Film handling the sales.

Scherfig was joined by another Silver Bear winner, Argentine director Daniel Burman, back in Berlin with Amazon Prime Video’s “Yosi, the Regretful Spy” – the story of a secret agent infiltrating the Jewish community in Buenos Aires,...

Variety reported this morning that our friends at Buenos Aires based sale outfit FilmSharks have acquired the sales rights for Matias Lucchesi’s film The Broken Land (Las Rojas). Touted as a thriller with Western undertones the Argentine film is being presented to prospective buyers at EFM this week. Variety also had the exclusive on the international trailer this morning. You will find it below. Drama centers on two female paleontologists, played by Argentina’s Mercedes Moran (“La Cienaga”) and Uruguay’s Natalia Oreiro (“The Unseen”), who are at loggerheads from the moment they meet. Oreiro’s character, Constanza, has come to the protected national reserve where Moran’s equally strong-willed character, Carlota, has been toiling for years. Constanza has been sent there by the foundation to check...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Top Argentine sales and production company, FilmSharks Int’l, has picked up worldwide sales rights to Matias Lucchesi’s latest film “The Broken Land” (“Las Rojas”) ahead of its debut at the European Film Market (EFM).

This will be the second time for a Lucchesi film to be present in Berlin. Lucchesi snagged the best feature prize at the Berlinale Generation Kplus sidebar with his feature debut, “Natural Sciences,” in 2014.

Shot mainly in the majestic Cordillera de las Andes of Mendoza, Argentina, “The Broken Land” can be described as a thriller with Western undertones, highlighted by the soulful music of composer Hernan Segret.

Drama centers on two female paleontologists, played by Argentina’s Mercedes Moran (“La Cienaga”) and Uruguay’s Natalia Oreiro (“The Unseen”), who are at loggerheads from the moment they meet. Oreiro’s character, Constanza, has come to the protected national reserve where Moran’s equally strong-willed character,...

The program announcements continue for this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, with the Series and Generation strands both unveiling today, as well as the line-up for the Co-Production Market. Scroll down for the lists of titles.

The Berlinale Series selection, which is increasingly becoming a more high-profile part of the festival, again boasts several buzzy titles.

Premiering in Berlin will be Amazon Prime Video’s Argentinian series Yosi, The Regretful Spy, the Swedish show Lust from HBO Max, Sky’s UK series The Rising, and Lone Scherfig Danish show The Shift, which comes from local broadcaster TV2.

The Generation strand, which features youth-focused cinema, includes 14 features this year. The selection marks the last of long-time Generation head Maryanne Redpath.

Elsewhere, the European Film Market has confirmed titles for its Co-Production Market, which like the rest of the industry activity will take place virtually this year.

The Berlinale runs February 10-20 this year,...

Natalia Oreiro (“I’m Gilda”), Gustavo Bassani (“Separados”) and Mercedes Moran (“Spider) head the cast of Argentine Amazon Original “Iosi, El Espía Arrepentido,” one of Amazon Prime Original’s biggest bets to date in Latin America.

The series, an espionage thriller, will be available exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

Showrun by Daniel Burman, a leading light of the New Argentine Cinema and recent Cannes Un Certain Regard jury member, “Iosi, El Espía Arrepentido” is produced by Oficina Burman, part of The Mediapro Studio, whose credits include “Pequeña Victoria” and “Pequeñas victorias, perdidxs en la Tierra,” both produced with Vis, with the latter acquired for Latin America by Amazon Prime Video.

Burman serves a series creator and showrunner on a banner project for the writer-director, which was one of the two he presented in person at Berlin Festival in 2017 when Mediapro confirmed it had taken a substantial stake in Oficina Burman.

Natalia Oreiro (“The German Doctor”) and Juan Minujín are set to star in “Bypass: Almost Dead” (“Bypass: Casi Muerta”).

Adapting the original Basque film “Bypass,” the first feature of Aitor Mazo and Patxo Tellería which scored 15 nominations at the 2013 Spanish Academy Goya Awards, “Bypass: Almost Dead” is produced by Argentina’s Cinema 7 Films and Non Stop and will be directed by Fernán Mirás. The director’s debut feature, “El Peso de la Ley” (“The Heavy Hand of the Law”), snagged six nominations at Argentina’s 2017 Premios Sur.

A screwball romantic comedy, the original “Bypass” turns on the feckless Aitor, who visits a dying woman friend María who, he learns, has always carried a candle for him. To grant her an almost last wish, he falsely confesses he has always loved her, which sparks her miraculous recovery, leaving Aitor to juggle a new love life and a relationship with a girl-friend...

If you’re a Netflix subscriber who regularly tunes in to new content, you’ve probably already got a gigantic list of movies and shows backlogged. And thanks to the platform’s never-ending additions to their catalog, that’s unlikely to change anytime particularly soon. August alone has already brought with it a smorgasbord of new things to check out, such as Jim Carrey in perhaps his most dramatic role in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the Heath Ledger medieval flick A Knight’s Tale, and the often forgotten Adam Sandler movie Mr. Deeds, among others.

Of course, many subscribers are probably still trying to get through the new shows added last month. Most notably, The Umbrella Academy dropped its extremely popular second season on July 31st, and with 10 lengthy episodes to binge, some people will probably be putting off any new content until they see how the Hargreeves family...

Virtual presentation set for Tuesday in A Demain market.

Madrid-based Latido Films has launched talks at the virtual Cannes market on zombie horror Virus 32 from Gustavo Hernandez, director of the Uruguayan Quinzaine 2010 one-take horror sensation The Silent House (La Casa Muda).

Virus 32, which itself succumbed to the Covid-19 pandemic and halted shooting after one day, is a 50-50 Argentina-Uruguay co-production between Aeroplano (Sebastián Aloi) from Argentina and Mother Superior Films (Hernandez and Ignacio Garcia Cucucovich) from Uruguay.

Latido will discuss the project during a presentation in the A Demain Us agency-led virtual market on Tuesday (June 23) at 10.30am Cannes time,...

It looks like no coincidence that two of the biggest announcements concerning celebrated Argentine movie directors and producers this year were their moves into drama series creation. In February, Netflix announced that K & S, producers of “Wild Tales,” “The Clan” and “El Angel,” will produce a series adaptation of legendary Argentine sci-fi graphic novel “El Eternauta,” with Bruno Stagnaro directing.

In March, El Estudio announced two series with another founding father of the New Argentine Cinema, Pablo Trapero: a U.S. series remake

of his movie “Carancho” and bio-series “Galimberti.”

Appointed president of Argentina’s film agency Incaa in December, director Luis Puenzo does enjoy government backing, but he faces a perfect storm.

Even before Covid-19 struck, Argentina sustained crippling inflation: 50% last year and in 2018, plus a plunging peso, which lost 77% of its dollar value from April 2018 and studios’ lock on prime exhibition slots.

Last month, coronavirus had halted some 30 shoots,...

Viacom International Studios (Vis) has signed an exclusive first look development deal with Infinity Hill. The companies will co-develop and co-produce a slate of Spanish-language features, filmed globally and utilizing international talent on both sides of the camera.

Infinity Hill is the new label from longtime Telefonica and Viacom exec Axel Kuschevatzky, one of the Spanish-speaking world’s highest-profile film executives, “Waiting for Anya” producer Phin Glynn and producer Cindy Teperman (“Animal”). With offices in London, Los Angeles and Buenos Aires, the label already has a multilingual slate of films in production, some of which were unveiled at November’s American Film Market.

The company’s first title, “The Doorman,” recently wrapped and stars Ruby Rose (“Batwoman”) and Jean Reno (“Leon”) and is directed by Ryûhei Kitamura. A Lionsgate U.S. pick up which has sold strongly in international, handled by Ddi, off a Berlin European Film Market bow, is produced by Glynn,...

Miami — Three of Latin America’s best known TV execs – José ‘Pepe’ Bastón, Jeff Symon, Carlos Martínez – have unveiled Elefantec Global, a content production-distribution house which adds a new and significant player to Latin America’s – and Turkey’s – content creation scene.

Based out of Los Angeles, Miami and Mexico City, Elefantec Global has also revealed its first talent relationships and a clutch of its first titles, as it made its official market bow at Natpe, hitting the ground running with over 50 original media properties in development, including dramas, biopics, comedies, thrillers and scripted reality.

Unveiled to Variety Wednesday at the Natpe conference in Miami – where the executives took discreet one-to-one meetings with targeted potential clients – Elefantec sees Bastón, a former president of Mexican TV giant Televisa, join forces with Symon, who previously headed up the Global Content, Distribution & Licensing & Merchandising Business for Grupo Televisa, and Martínez, ex-president of Fox Networks Group Latin America,...

Miami — It’s official. Two of the Argentine industry’s biggest name actors, Natalia Oreiro (“Gilda”) and Ernesto Alterio (“Clandestine Childhood”), are attached to star in “Santa Evita,” produced by Salma Hayek and co-directed by Rodrigo García (“Nine Lives”), who will also produce.

Confirmed by Buena Vista Original Productions on the eve of this year’s Natpe conference in Miami, which kicks off Tuesday, Jan. 21, the seven-part drama series looks like the one of the biggest in the pipeline from Latin American – in terms of talent attached, expectation, and its central on-screen figure: Legendary Argentine First Lady Eva Perón.

Eight years in the works, but now the first series to go into production at Disney’s new Buena Vista Original Productions label in Latin America, headed by Leonardo Aranguibel and Mariana Pérez – and a passion project of Pérez’s when she drove original production at Fox Networks Group Latin America...

Los Angeles — Longtime Telefonica and Viacom exec Axel Kuschevatzky, one of the Spanish-speaking world’s highest-profile film executives, is teaming with “Waiting for Anya” producer Phin Glynn and Cindy Teperman (“Animal”) to launch L.A, London and Buenos Aires-based Infinity Hill.

A development-production-financing entity, Infinity Hill has unveiled a first film slate, with some some of the titles on offer at the American Film Market.

First up is “The Doorman,” starring Ruby Rose (Warner Bros.’ “Batwoman”) and Jean Reno (“Leon”). A Lionsgate U.S. pick up which has sold strongly in international, handled by Ddi, off a Berlin European Film Market bow, it is directed by Japan’s Ryûhei Kitamura. “The Doorman” is produced by Glynn, alongside Ddi’s Jason Moring, Immediate Film’s Michael Phillips and Smash Media’s Harry Winer.

Underscoring the film world’s new demands and consumer habits, first slate projects balance English-language projects – adaptations of...

Buenos Aires — Lucia and Julia Meik’s Buenos Aires boutique sales company Meikincine has acquired international sales rights to two of the more mainstream Argentine propositions at this year’s Ventana Sur: Andy Caballero and Diego Corsini’s “Just Love,” and “Re Loca,” the Argentine remake of Chile’s “Sin Filtro.”

The “Re Loca” deal is for world rights outside Latin America, where Paramount will handle distribution, as previously announced.

Teen comedy-musical “Solo el Amor” (“Just Love”) turns on the across-the-tracks romance between a pop band lead singer-writer Noah and Emma, a young over-achiever female lawyer, who literally bump into each other. Their love gives Noah’s songs an authentic edge they previously lacked. But Noah’s fame, millions of online followers and manipulating manager threaten to wreck their passionate affair. Can “just love” pull them through?

Making its market debut at Ventana Sur on Dec. 12, “Just Love” stars 24-year-old Franco Masini,...

In a historic move, Paramount Pictures has acquired all Latin American distribution rights to Argentine women’s empowerment comedy “Re Loca,” marking the Hollywood studio’s first local movie in Argentina.

“Re Loca” also represents the first project partnering Paramount and Argentina’s Telefe, both units of Viacom since Viacom bought broadcast network Telefe in November 2016, adding it to Viacom International Media Networks Americas.

Like Vimn America’s acquisition of a controlling stake in Brazil’s Porta Dos Fundos, one of the country’s hippest comedy creators with a huge online following, Viacom’s purchase of Telefe was designed to drive up its Spanish-language content ownership. “Re Loca” is one movie example of how that strategy can now play out, leveraging and twinning Viacom assets.

Produced by Telefe, along with Sebastián Aloi’s Buenos Aires production house Aeroplano, “Re Loca” stars Natalia Oreiro as Pilar, a downtrodden copywriter at an...

Exclusive: Biopic stars Natalia Oreiro at late pop icon Gilda.

Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks is in talks with international buyers on the biopic I Am Gilda (The Latin Music Saint) starring Natalia Oreiro as the late Argentinian pop icon Gilda.

Buena Vista International has boarded Latin American rights and will release the film in the fourth quarter.

Lorena Muñoz directed I Am Gilda (Spanish title Gilda No Me Arrepiento De Este Amor), which charts the story of how Miriam Alejandra Bianchi became the iconic pop star Gilda and her tragic end in a car crash.

Angela Torres, Lautaro Delgado, Susana Pampin and Daniel Melingo also star.

Oreiro has starred in The German Doctor, among others.

In many territories, Lucía Puenzo’s third feature film – to follow the critically acclaimed Xxy and The Fish Child – actually goes by the name of ‘The German Doctor’. Here, in the UK, it’s called Wakolda, which represents a more fitting, symbolic title to truly capture the essence of this moving, disquieting drama. Wakolda is the name of our 12 year old protagonist’s doll, and is therefore emblematic of her innocence, which is far more poignant. After all, this picture is not about the doctor, as such, but his relationship with the young Lilith, finding a strand of intimacy amidst an otherwise comprehensive, implicative narrative.

Lilith is played by the newcomer Florencia Bado, who is remarkably small for her age, and is often the victim of much teasing at school as a result. However there appears to be a cure for her lack of growth, as a local German doctor...

The subtle veil of horror draped over things we take for granted as good and wonderful aspects of humanity is deeply unsettling… I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

South America, 1960. You can probably guess at the background of the eponymous German doctor (Àlex Brendemühl) who befriends a Patagonian family and slowly inveigles his way into their very heart. Impressionable 12-year-old Lilith (Florencia Bado) falls for his seeming charm the moment they meet, though her mom, Eva (Natalia Oreiro), isn’t far behind. Soon he is living in the lakeside hotel the family operates, investing in dad Enzo’s (Diego Peretti) custom dollmaking business, and making medical suggestions for how undersized Lilith — who looks like an eight-year-old and is teased at school as a “dwarf” — might jumpstart her growth and kickstart her delayed adolescence.

Following the fall of the Third Reich and the liberation of the German Nazi concentration camps, many of the leaders directly involved fled to South America. One of the most famous of those officers was Josef Mengele, a physician in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Due to his barbaric and deadly human experiments performed on prisoners as well as role in the section process for the gas chamber executions, Mengele was known as "The Angel of Death."

Argentian filmmaker Lucia Puenzo's novel Wakolda focuses on this infamous man and the true story of an Argentinian family who unknowingly boarded Mengele at their home, now adapted by Puenzo as the movie The German Doctor. Whereas the novel is told through Mengele’s point of view during his exile in South America, the film instead relies more on 12-year-old Lilith (Florencia Bado). Born premature and having suffered from several illnesses at an early age,...

The German Doctor, Argentina's Submission for the Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. U.S. :Samuel Goldwyn Films. International Sales Agent: Pyramide International

In the quest for perfection humanity has gone to great lengths to alter and manipulate physical processes or unaesthetic features. Striving to improve and increase the species' adaptability is the basis for evolution. Traits and defects are passed on through generations engraved in the DNA. Aware of this, and in an attempt to justice their heinous crimes and bless them as 'scientific purification of the Aryan race', the Nazis fabricated their own branch of Social Darwinism. They pursued a type of homogenous beauty based on phony symmetrical genetics, with which they aimed to craft a special breed of super humans.

Rid of any genetic imperfections or miscegenation these individuals would become the pinnacle of their efforts. Spearheading this research and its consequential experimentation was Josef Mengele, a physician and one of the most notorious German SS officers. Following Germany’s defeat the world was learning of the horrors that took place in the concentration camps. Many Nazi officers and supporters, Mengele included, escaped to South America to avoid facing justice. Lucía Puenzo’s magnificent historical fiction film The German Doctor tries to reconstruct the time the so-called “Angel of Death” spent in Argentina and the moral implications of the unexplored complicity of the locals.

Set in 1960 against the breathtaking scenery of the Patagonian town of Bariloche, the story focuses on a family that serendipitously crosses paths with Mengele (Àlex Brendemühl) on their way to the family owned hostel. Upon meeting Lilith (Florencia Bado), the family’s daughter, the doctor is instantly captivated by the girl’s size and physical features. She is a 12-year-old girl that appears extremely underdeveloped and fragile for her age. He immediately considers her the perfect specimen to test his theories, and to his advantage she seems to be equally intrigued by the foreign man. Her pregnant mother, Eva (Natalia Oreiro), fluent in German, seems to like the doctor who easily gains her trust, despite her husband Enzo’s (Diego Peretti) noticeable suspicion of his intentions.

Once in Bariloche the doctor convinces the family to let him rent a room at their place, clearly part of his plan to stay close to his interest. The city exudes a heavily German influence, including Eva’s old Nazi-supported school where she enrolls Lilith and her two siblings. There, her tall and blond classmates of German descent bully the young girl because of her size. This represents a prime opportunity for Mengele to interfere. He persuades Eva to let him inject Lilith with hormones that will make her grow, and he provides her with pills to help with her pregnancy, all of it behind the patriarch’s back.

Mindful of Enzo’s growing uneasiness towards him, the conniving German doctor shows interest in the man’s passion for designing dolls. With Lilith’s father now distracted with his own project, Mengele has free range to experiment after discovering Eva is expecting twins. Increasingly curious about the doctor’s stories, Lilith begins reading about the Aryan pseudo-mythology in her school’s library where she meets photographer Nora Eldoc (Elena Roger). As the family starts to grapple with the motives behind the doctor’s unsolicited help, Eldoc will prove to be a crucial character when the Israeli secret police, the Mossad, comes hunting down the runaway Nazis.

Conceived with incredible moral complexity and a mysteriously alluring tone, the film doesn’t simply crucify Mengele as the source of all evil, but it instead questions the willing collaboration of others. There is a shared responsibility for his acts occurring between him and the participants. He doesn’t kidnap Lilith or forces Eva to accept any treatment, but they grant him permission. In the same manner, the replication of artificial beauty is not only expressed via Mengele’s vision of what Lilith and the twins can become, but also in Enzo’s obsessive interest in creating the perfect human-like doll.

“Wakolda”, Lilith’s rag doll made by the native Mapuche Indians is not good enough in his eyes, and it must be improved. Just like with Mengele’s grueling fixation with engineering a utopian race, all individuality must be suppressed and replaced by identical flawlessness. This absurd aspiration is shared by both of the their enterprises. Such tacit complicity mirrors that of the entire community, which aware of the numerous Nazis and their supporters, prefers to let them live in obscurity.

Puenzo’s fascinating period piece, based on her own novel, revisits familiar stories of Nazism with a particular focus on the Argentinean involvement. Executed with outstanding attention to detail, a prodigious ensemble cast, and splendid cinematography, the film is a window into a time lost in history. Despite the secrecy surrounding the doctor’s time in her country, the writer/director incorporates the facts available to formulate her own informed version of the story. Her great artistic achievement might be the most plausible retelling of the events one might ever get to see. Evoking a sense impending danger, The German Doctor is a challenging and enthralling masterwork.

The German Doctor opens in L.A. and New York on April 25th, 2014

Read Sydney Levine's Case Study on The German Doctor (Wakolda)

Read more about all the 76 Best Foreign Language Film Submission for the 2014 Academy Awards...

The promise of perfection leads to disaster for an Argentinean family in 1960 Patagonia in The German Doctor, a fictionalized account of one clan's run-in with notorious Auschwitz psychopath Dr. Josef Mengele.

Adapting her own novel, writer-director Lucía Puenzo keeps the evil physician's identity a secret for the first half of her story, in which Mengele (Àlex Brendemühl) meets and takes a liking to Lilith (Florencia Bado), a 12-year-old girl with a growth disorder, and consequently decides to stay at the hotel run by her father, Enzo (Diego Peretti), and pregnant-with-twins mother, Eva (Natalia Oreiro).

Soon, Mengele is experimenting on both Lilith and Eva, with Puenzo insinuating that Eva welcomes these hormone trials because her indoctrina...

A Nazi At My Table: Puenzo’s Latest an Eerie Reimagining

Argentinian director Lucia Puenzo once again adapts one of her own novels for her latest offering, an intriguing period piece, The German Doctor. Whereas her 2009 adaptation of The Fish Child unraveled itself with a series distracting narrative flourishes, her latest effort is a bit more reserved, a simple and straightforward tale that manages to build a sinister simmer, even distracting us from what audiences familiar with historical accuracy already know will happen. While avoiding the use of Nazism and the perverse case of Dr. Mengele as an exploitative element, the rather demure narrative only hints at the possibility of the notorious and despicable terrors residing underneath the calm visage of a stranger that upends one unremarkable family’s livelihood.

Set in early 1960’s Patagonia, a man by the name of Helmut Gregor (Alex Brendemuhl), becomes fascinated with an underdeveloped...

Winners have been announced! See below.

The First Edition of the Platinum Awards, a gala presentation in Panama April 5th, sponsored by Egeda and Fipca was an idea born two years ago in Panama at the Festival'sl Forum with Iberoamerican filmmakers and the Iberoamerican Producers Association (Fipca). Panama's Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce offered to pay for the first edition which is being held now. Jose Pacheco, the Deputy Minister and also the President of the Panama Film Commission, along with Arianne Marie Benedetti, then had to convince their government that the investment in the awards, along with the investment in cinema would further the country's extraordinary influx of capital and would help establish the Premios Platinos as the most important global event promoting and supporting the Iberoamerican film industry. Everyone here for the 4th Annual Panama Film Festival was quite excited and it was an extraordinary affair. Twenty-two Spanish speaking countries in the Americas as well as Brazil, Portugal and Spain gathered along with world press (John Hopewell of Variety and I myself of SydneysBuzz/ LatinoBuzz and Indiewire were the only gringo press around) and producers, directors, actors, cinematographers and writers to pay homage to the great talent arising out of the Iberoamerican countries whose potential audience exceeds that of the United States.

This was pointed out with great enthusiasm by Javier Camára, the actor nominated for Best Male Actor for his role in David Trueba's Living is Easy with Eyes Closed (Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados). He plays a high-school English/ Latin teacher in 1966 Spain who drives to Almeria in hopes of meeting his hero, John Lennon. Along the way, he picks up two runaways. The movie title, Living is Easy With Eyes Closed, comes from a line in Lennon's song Strawberry Fields Forever which he wrote while filming How I Won the War in Almeria. (Camára is also a fan of Real Madrid.)

In this first edition 701 films have participated. Of these, each of the countries made a pre-selection of their candidates through their representatives Fipca and national film academies. Subsequently, a jury of prominent industry professionals has selected the winners just announced at the gala on April 5 in Panama. The Directors of the event are Adrian Solar Lozier for Fipca and one of Chili's most recognized producers and Enrique Cerezo Torres, one of the founders of Egeda twenty-five years ago, its chief executive for the past seventeen years, President of the Madrid Film Commission and President of the Madrid School of Cinema. (He is also the President of the Athletic Football Club of Madrid.)

Mexican singer and actress, Alessandra Rosaldo, and Colombian journalist Juan Carlos Arciniegas whose TV show on film is featured on CNN Latino, co-hosted the televised event. Canal Plus of Spain and others representing television across the Americas were present.

The winners in each of the eight categories were named to a huge audience of the most important Latin American cinema talent who sat on pins and needles waiting to hear the winners.

Accepting the Platinum Award of Honor, Sonia Braga, known to U.S. audiences from the 1976 breakout Brazilian film, Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, and again in 1985 and 1988 with Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Milagro Beanfield War respectively, was elegant and eloquent in her acceptance.

The most nominated films were The German Doctor: Wakolda, Gloria and Living is Easy with Eyes Closed. The surprise was that Living is Easy did not win a single award. Already the winner of 11 Awards and nominated for 5 other awards, David Trueba definitely can not hide behind the loser category. The Spanish film Living is Easy with Eyes Closed won six Goya Awards including Best Director.

And The Winners are:

Best Iberoamerican Fiction Film: Gloria (Chile). Nominated were The German Doctor: Wakolda (Argentina), Heli (Mexico), Witching and Bitching (Spain), La jaula de oro (The Golden Cage) (Mexico), Roa (Colombia) and Living is Easy with Eyes Closed Spain) compete for the title of Best Latin American Film of the Year.

Best Female Performance: Paulina García (Gloria). Nominated were Karen Martínez (The Golden Cage), Laura De la Uz (Ana's Film), Marian Álvarez (Wounded), Nashla Bogaert (Who's the Boss?), Natalia Oreiro (Wakolda). You can read Gloria's review and interview with Sebastian Lelio and Paulna Garcia here: Review by Carlos Aguilar and Interview with Sebastian Lelio and Paulina Garcia by Sydney Levine. You can soon read more about upcoming Dominican Republic's Nashla Bogaert whom I met and interviewed in Panama. She is my choice of the one to keep an eye on.

Best Male Performance: Eugenio Derbez (Instructions Not Included). The equivalent of the Platinos, our own Academy Award usually steers clear of comedy in the best actor category, as if comedy were not as difficult as drama. But this was well deserved in terms of popularity as this film's huge success in both U.S. and Mexico shows. U.S.$44 million in U.S. and U.S.$ 41 million in Mexico are not to be ignored. This major hit hit a major nerve in U.S. and Mexico. Also nominated were Antonio de la Torre (Cannibal), , Javier Cámara (Living is Easy with Eyes Closed), Ricardo Darín (Thesis on a Homicide) and Víctor Prada (The Cleaner).

Platinum Award For Best Director: Amat Escalante (Heli). Nominated were Sebastian Lelio (Gloria), David Trueba (Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed), Lucia Puenzo (The German Doctor: Wakolda). You can read Heli's Review by Carlos Aguilar and the Interview with Amat Escalante by Carlos Aguilar.

Platinum Best Screenplay Award: Sebastian Lelio, Gonzalo Maza (Gloria). Also nominated were Daniel Sánchez Arévalo (Great Spanish Family), David Trueba (Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed), Lucia Puenzo (The German Doctor-Wakolda)

Platinum Award For Best Original Score: Emilio Kauderer for Foosball (Football). Also nominated were Karin Zielinski for El Limpiador (The Cleaner) -- you can read its Review by Carlos Aguilar , Joan Valent (Zugarramurdi Witches)

Platinum Award For Best Animated Film: Foosball (Football). Nominated were Anina -- you can read Anina's Review by Carlos Aguilar , The Secret Of Jade Medallion, Justin And The Sword Of Value, Uma History Of Love And Fury

Platinum Award For Best Documentary: Con la Pata Quebrada (With a Broken Leg). Nominated were: Cuates de Australia (Friends from Australia), Eternal Night Of The Twelve Moons, The Day That Lasted 21 Years from Brazil about the U.S. instigated coup d’etat in 1964, Still Being.

Camilo Vives (recently deceased, head of production for Icaic) Platinum Award for Best Iberoamerican co-production, in memory of his Presidency of Fipca for over 10 years and co-chair of the Forum Egeda / Fipca was The German Doctor Wakolda which beat out Anina, Esclavo de Dios and La jaula de oro. Read more on The German Doctor Wakolda here: Review by Carlos Aguilar and Case Study by Sydney Levine.

See more on the Platinum Award website: www.premiosplatino.com.

Alessandra Rosaldo stated: "These Awards will be the most valuable Iberoamerican Film Excellence Awards, something this industry needs and demands to reward the creativity and talent of our film industry.

Juan Carlos Arciniegas said: "The Platinum Awards are pioneers, transcend borders and put our countries in a fair competition that will highlight the diversity of the region cinematically. These awards will write the history of the participating films."

Eugenio Derbez, Blanca Guerra, Victoria Abril and Patricia Velasquez were some of the presenters.

Check out the first English-subtitled trailer for "The German Doctor," Argentina selection for the 2014 foreign language Academy Award. Though it didn't make the final Oscar five, the film was also a commercial and critical success in its home country, winning 10 Sur Awards from the Argentine Film Academy, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor. It was up for the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes 2013. Based on filmmaker Lucia Puenzo's (the wonderful "Xxy") fifth novel, "The German Doctor" follows an Argentinean family in 1960 who takes in a mysterious German doctor, who becomes especially interested in the family's young daughter Lilith, unusually small for her age. Well that doctor, uh, turns out to be a Nazi, and one in particular whose identity we won't spoil. It's creepy stuff. The film stars Alex Brendemuhl, Natalia Oreiro, Diego Peretti, Elena Roger, Guillermo Pfening, Alan Daicz and Florencia Bado. It opens April 25th via Samuel Goldwyn.

Thriller inspired by Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele’s time in Argentina competes at San Sebastian this week.

Pyramide International continues to tot up sales on Argentine writer and filmmaker Lucia Puenzo’s The German Doctor (Wakolda), some four months after the film first premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.

Review: The German Doctor (Wakolda)

The Paris-based company has unveiled a batch of sales into Central and Southern America including to: Brazil (Imovision), Bolivia and Chile (Los filmes De La Arcadia), Colombia (Cine Colombia), the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico (Wiesner Distribution), Peru (Pucp) and Panama and Costa Rica (Palmera International).

In Europe, Sarajevo’s Obala Art Centre has acquired the picture for multiple territories including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia and Montenegro.

The film has also sold to Hungary (Vertigo), Poland (Hagi), Israel (Nachshon) and South Korea (Company L) since Cannes.

As previously announced, Peccadillo acquired the film for the UK and...

Samuel Goldwyn Films has picked up Us rights from Pyramide International to Lucía Puenzo’s Argentinian thriller The German Doctor, set to screen in San Sebastian on Monday night (September 23).

The film premiered in Un Certain Regard under its original title Wakolda. Sources did not comment at time of writing on whether the film would be named Argentina’s official foreign-language Oscar submission.

Samuel Goldwyn Films plans a spring 2014 release for The German Doctor, based on Puenzo’s novel about a family in post-WW2 Argentina who unwittingly entrust their daughter into the care of the notorious Nazi fugitive Josef Mengele as Israeli agents close in.

Alex Brendemuhl, Florencia Bado, Natalia Oreiro, Diego Peretti, Elena Roger and Guillermo Pfening star.

Samuel Goldwyn Films vp and general counsel Ian Puente negotiated the deal with Lucero Garzon and Valentina Merli of Pyramide International.

Title: Clandestine Childhood Director: Benjamín Ávila Starring: Natalia Oreiro, Ernesto Alterio, César Troncoso, Teo Gutiérrez Romero, Cristina Banegas, Douglas Simon, Violeta Palukas, Marcelo Mininno, Mayana Neiva. When abuse of power and violence take over, the crossroads between ideals and the safeguard of your loved ones is inevitable. The Argentinian director, Benjamín Ávila, was inspired by his personal infancy in the making of this historical film, set during the “Dirty War,” the time of state terrorism in Argentina. ‘Clandestine Childhood’ portrays the story of a married couple of Montoneros (the organisation fighting against the Military Junta ruling the country) living in Cuba with their two children, who manage, through the help [ Read More ]

The post Clandestine Childhood Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

#84. Lucia Puenzo’s Wakolda

Gist: Starring Alex Brendemuhl, Natalia Oreiro, Diego Peretti and Elena Roger, this is based on Puenzo’s own novel detailing the true story of an Argentine family who lived with Josef Mengele without knowing his true identity, and of a girl who fell in love with one of the biggest criminals of all times.

Prediction: Un Certain Regard. Despite Lucía Puenzo making waves when she had Xxy unfold in 2007′s Critics’ Week, by appearances, Wakolda might have a a narrower chance of showing in Cannes as this stylistically looks too mainstream for the Directors’ Fortnight. In between films she premiered El niño pez (2009) in Berlin and this 2013 feature is set to be released in Argentina less than a week before the Croisette opens for business.

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Clandestine Childhood

Directed by Benjamín Ávila

Argentina, 2011

Philadelphia Film Festival

Benjamín Ávila’s debut feature is a fine balance of youthful longing and militant resistance.

Ernesto (Teo Gutiérrez Romero) has two names. One name – Ernesto – is for his schoolmates, but he goes by Juan at home. His parents also have two names. Horacio goes by Daniel (César Troncoso) and Cristina by Charo (Natalia Oreiro). It’s Argentina in 1979, and five years after Perón’s death, Horacio, Cristina and charismatic Uncle Beto (Ernesto Alterio) continue the fight against the existing regime through violent tactics.

Using a mixed-media strategy where moments of extreme violence are depicted through graphic animations, Ávila’s film keeps the focus firmly on Juan and his budding relationship with a classmate’s sister, María (Violeta Palukas).

Romero’s surprisingly tender and mature performance recalls the two great Ana Torrent roles from the 1970s in Spirit of the Beehive and Cria Cuervos.

In Clandestine Childhood (Infancia Clandestina), writer/director Benjamín Ávila drew inspiration from his personal exiled childhood during Argentina's Dirty War as the son of two Montoneros guerillas. The film, which took prizes at both San Sebastian and Havana Film Festivals last year, is set in 1979 during the family's return from Cuba to fight in the Montoneros counteroffensive operation under new assumed identities. Benjamín spoke to LatinoBuzz about what it meant to see memories from his formative years unfold on the big screen.

Clandestine Childhood is being released in NY and CA on Friday, January 11th, 2013.

LatinoBuzz: What did the actors take away from spending several days with former Montoneros?

Benjamín Ávila: I wanted the actors to have the chance to physically live that era. The most complex challenge for an actor is the ability to give dimension to the story from the time that it happened, not from the present. For them it was important to get rid of all the Whys and be able to answer them by themselves. So I decided to have the actors meet a couple of former guerrilla members to do a training drill for two days, the way it was done back then, as well as for them to have a chance to talk and for the actors to be able to ask anything they wanted.

It was very productive because their body changed, as well as their stand before history. It also helped me to confirm some doubts that had arisen during the process of writing the script. And from that moment on, the improvisations we did were very important in defining some scenes of the film. Particularly the argument scene between the grandmother and mother. That improvisation came after the work we did, and some glorious moments emerged as a result, very complex and incorrect that served to give another dimension to the movie.

LatinoBuzz: Was there a particular audience for this film that was most important for you to see it?

Benjamín Ávila: Not really. But firstly, it is a film that I made for my brothers. And for the children of the disappeared and those killed during the last dictatorship in Argentina. They are the primary audience, but the story is not constructed so that only they understand. On the contrary, I wanted the film to move people, to it would provoke feelings and ideas, without sacrificing the cinematic and artistic construction. Luckily, for all the feedback that I receive from the people who have seen it, I think we have achieved that goal. It's a film that provokes many emotions, that endures for days within the people who see it, and that generates the need to reiterate the questions that were supposedly already answered.

LatinoBuzz: When was the first time you realized that 'Infancia Clandestina' was the story you had to tell?

Benjamín Ávila: I always knew it. Since I was 13, I knew I wanted to work in film. I also knew back then that one day I would film my childhood. Somehow I made a tacit commitment at that time with myself, with my family, and with my own story. Therefore it is very important for me to have completed this process. It is a feeling of a debt paid, like I "had to do" this film. It was a duty rather than a necessity. Now that the film is finished I feel a relief, that of mission accomplished. Now I can be at peace.

LatinoBuzz: How much of what was going on were you very much aware of and how did you process that as a young boy?

Benjamín Ávila: My older brother and I were very aware, even though we were 7 and 8 years old at the time. I always think we were like the kids living in the street, who have a very conscious relationship with their environment. We knew what was happening, what we could and could not say. Although we were doing and saying what we were living, we could not have a dialectical discussion nor a real argument. We understood it all.

For us what we lived was not anything special, but it was normal. It was our life. We could not imagine anything different. This is why we were never traumatized. Even nowadays I miss that lifestyle. That clear and powerful bonding we all had. What was traumatizing was everything else: the absence, the persecution, the disappearance of my mother and not knowing anything to this day, not having been raised with my younger brother (Vicky in the movie). It was not until three yeas ago that we started having a life of ordinary siblings. And it cost a lot to have it...

LatinoBuzz: You were a child of Montoneros, so your childhood was unlike many others yet in the film we largely see this sweet portrayal of this blossoming first love between Juan and Maria –just like any teenager experiences. How much of that was Benjamín wishing that childhood was that innocent?

Benjamín Ávila: What you need to understand is that living in hiding was not something different to normality. It had parameters that were unusual, but we lived them like any other, even inside the house. I remember many common and normal family moments. Like waking up too late at night to watch the matches of the national team playing the World Cup youth soccer, Maradona’s first in Japan, and the matches were at 4 or 6 am. I remember going out at 7am in the morning with all the neighbors to celebrate the championship. My mother chastising me because I was late for school, or because I hadn't made my bed. Family barbecues, like any other Sunday, and so on, thousands of memories as normal as any other.

LatinoBuzz: What happened to “María”?

Benjamín Ávila: Maria never existed at that time. I had my Marías, but in other places and other times!

LatinoBuzz: In writing such a personal story what was the hardest thing to

write and did you avoid anything?

Benjamín Ávila: The most difficult part was at the beginning, trying to detach myself from my own history. Because several things were clear to me: the subject of film, that I did not want to be the protagonist of the story, that the most important part was the reconstruction of a routine

that has never been shown but that was not only mine but of many. That's why I took anecdotes and stories from others... Writing the script with Marcelo Muller, a dear Brazilian friend, helped me to achieve that distance I wanted for the construction of the story. With him I was able to rule out what wasn't important to the film’s story even if it was personally very important to me, and so we achieved that distance even though I deepened what remained. It was as if Marcelo pulled out to keep it to the essential, and I pulled inwards to deepen what remained.

LatinoBuzz: Was the casting difficult? Were you looking for yourself in

the Actor?

Benjamín Ávila: The casting of the children was complicated. We did it with María Laura Berch, an incredible casting director specializing in children, and we elaborated a very clear, yet complex, strategy. We saw over 700 children in total for all the roles, and it took us three months as planned.

But most importantly, we wanted to cast very homely, to give the kids the idea of what the shooting was going to be right from the beginning. And as I do my own camerawork every time I film, I decided I was going to shoot the casting so the kids could get used to my presence close to them and behind the camera from the beginning. And it worked really well.

With the adults it was very different. I saw Ernesto Alterio in the TV series "Vientos de Agua" by Campanella miniseries and compared to other roles I've seen him perform, I found the construction of his character wonderful. Something similar happened with Natalia Oreiro, she is very famous in Argentina but because of roles in comedies or romantic comedies, but seeing her in Caetano's "Francia" I noticed a dramatic profile in which I was very interested. With Cesar Troncoso, he was recommended by Luis Puenzo who had worked with him in "Xxy" the film he produced, directed by his daughter Lucía Puenzo. I had seen him in "The Pope's Toilet" and I had loved his role. And it was always a dream that Cristina Banegas play the role of the grandmother, and luckily we did it!

LatinoBuzz: Was seeing the film for the first time like looking at

photographs of your childhood?

Benjamín Ávila: No, this film has a lot of traits that belong to my childhood but they're for the most part, changed or modified. What does happen to me, is that I see through them my own memories. That happens to me, but it's something very intimate. The photos that appear at the end, which are from my family in reality, is the moment that moves me the most as I get haunted by the echoes of that wonderful past that was destroyed at the moment portrayed by the film.

My production company is called Room 1520 in tribute to the last scene of Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders, where the young kid (Hunter) is reunited with his mother after a long time in that same room... My childhood accompanies much of what I do.

LatinoBuzz: How many details from set design and wardrobe to how the actors who played your parents looked and acted did you involve yourself or were you able to separate yourself?

Benjamín Ávila: The shooting process was very intimate, intense and emotional. All of the staff, technicians and actors, we were involved in a special way. I have a way of working which at first puzzled the team. I like getting carried away by what is happening and then decide each scene based on the actors, the set and the light.

I operate the camera, I always do it when I'm the director, and I like to approach it as a documentary, finding the images based on what happens, as it happens. In that sense, each take was a particular universe of its own, unique and not replicable. Of course some takes came out really bad. But others were magical ... and those are the ones remained.

On the third day of filming something happened that made the whole team realize the scope of what we were doing, and from that moment on, everybody trusted my working technique. It happened that we were shooting Juan's (played by Teo Gutiérrez Moreno) first sequence where he burns the photos, near the end of the film. A tough sequence due to the mood that Juan had to reflect (as he just learns that his father was killed and had just hopelessly cried with his mother), and with children you don't work from a rational place but rather from the body directly, something very natural to them. So, I asked Natalia Oreiro to stand off-screen next to me, and that at moment I said 'action', for her to scream inconsolably, begging for help. On the other hand I told Teo that regardless of whatever was happening, he should not take his eyes off the fire, and that he should run out when I called his name. We got ready and at the moment of saying 'action' Natalia started to scream, heart wrenching, and all that I wanted to happen to Teo, started happening to me with the camera on my shoulder. I began to cry inconsolably (if you look carefully at the scene, the camera moves because I'm crying), as if it was an ancestral cry from some other time, and at some point I yelled at Teo and he perfectly did what he had to do, as usual, an he ran. I said 'cut', gave the camera to my assistant and as I was leaving I saw Natalia crying uncontrollably, everyone saw me and realized I was crying. I went to the video assist and as I entered everybody was very excited, they saw me crying. I asked to see the take… At that moment, everybody including actors, technicians and me, realized that we were doing something more than professional, but also very personal.

LatinoBuzz: Were there any films that influenced the look of the film?

Benjamín Ávila: Absolutely. For the tone of the performance and the gaze of the kids, "My Life as a Dog" by Lasse Halstrom. All of Krystof Kieslowski's filmography, and the political view of the films that Ken Loach made in

England such as "Raining Stones", "Riff-Raff" and "Hidden Agenda".

LatinoBuzz: What's the next project?

Benjamín Ávila: I am writing for a TV series of 40 single chapters. Additionally, I am adapting a novel by Elsa Osorio that I've been wanting to do for 12 years. I'm adapting it with her to make a miniseries of 13 chapters. It's about 40 years of history and involves many characters. A different look at the people who survived or were involved in Argentina's dictatorship.

For Screening times in NY and CA visit: http://www.filmmovement.com/theatrical/index.asp?MerchandiseID=314

Like em at: https://www.facebook.com/Infancia.clandestina

Written by Juan Caceres and Vanessa Erazo, LatinoBuzz is a weekly feature on SydneysBuzz that highlights Latino indie talent and upcoming trends in Latino film with the specific objective of presenting a broad range of Latino voices. Follow @LatinoBuzz on twitter.

See that woman with the crossbow? She'll be lining up the shot with Argentinian audiences on Valentine's Day when Adrian Caetano's hitwoman thriller Mala hits the big screen.  Natalia Oreiro plays Rosario, a killer who specializes in taking out pimps, wife beaters and other men who exploit women.The first teaser for the film is freshly online and it's a bloody, action packed affair. Take a look below....

Clandestine Childhood

Directed by Benjamín Ávila

Argentina, 2011

Philadelphia Film Festival

Benjamín Ávila’s debut feature is a fine balance of youthful longing and militant resistance.

Ernesto (Teo Gutiérrez Romero) has two names. One name – Ernesto – is for his schoolmates, but he goes by Juan at home. His parents also have two names. Horacio goes by Daniel (César Troncoso) and Cristina by Charo (Natalia Oreiro). It’s Argentina in 1979, and five years after Perón’s death, Horacio, Cristina and charismatic Uncle Beto (Ernesto Alterio) continue the fight against the existing regime through violent tactics.

Using a mixed-media strategy where moments of extreme violence are depicted through graphic animations, Ávila’s film keeps the focus firmly on Juan and his budding relationship with a classmate’s sister, María (Violeta Palukas).

Romero’s surprisingly tender and mature performance recalls the two great Ana Torrent roles from the 1970s in Spirit of the Beehive and Cria Cuervos.

My First Wedding

Directed by Ariel Winograd

Written by Patricio Vega

Argentina, 2011

Grooms on their wedding day usually consider themselves the luckiest man in the world, but in Ariel Winograd’s My First Wedding, nothing can be further from the truth. Filled with humour, heart, cynicism, and misadventure, My First Wedding’s whirlwind narrative culminates into a perfect storm of marriage clichés.

The betrothed in question are Adrián (Daniel Hendler), a non-practicing Jew, and Leonora (Natalia Oreiro), a quasi-practicing Catholic. With the ceremony already balancing a precarious equilibrium (see previous sentence), Adrián inadvertently knocks it off kilter when he accidently loses the wedding rings, and as the wedding comes crashing down around him, Adrián must try to remedy the situation without furthering the ire of his wife-to-be.

My First Wedding initially feels formulaic, presenting itself as the marital equivalent of Death at a Funeral. The catalyst for the initial comedy...

Ariel Winograd's My First Wedding (Mi primera boda), goes to Seventh Art in N. America The deal was made at the Ventana Sur by Udy Epstein and Ricardo Freixas of Seventh Art, for a limited release in the U.S. sometime in the middle to the late part of next year, reports Variety. Patricio Vega, scribe of The Pretenders, Fratelli Detective, Hermanos y detectives (a.k.a. Brothers and Detectives) wrote the screenplay for the film which stars Natalia Oreiro, Daniel Hendler, Imanol Arias, Martín Piroyansky, Muriel Santa Ana and Gabriela Acher. Juan Jose Campanella produced My First Wedding with Nathalie Cabiron of Tresplanos and Axel Kuschevatzky of Telefe.

Ariel Winograd's My First Wedding (Mi primera boda), goes to Seventh Art in N. America The deal was made at the Ventana Sur by Udy Epstein and Ricardo Freixas of Seventh Art, for a limited release in the U.S. sometime in the middle to the late part of next year, reports Variety. Patricio Vega, scribe of The Pretenders, Fratelli Detective, Hermanos y detectives (a.k.a. Brothers and Detectives) wrote the screenplay for the film which stars Natalia Oreiro, Daniel Hendler, Imanol Arias, Martín Piroyansky, Muriel Santa Ana and Gabriela Acher. Juan Jose Campanella produced My First Wedding with Nathalie Cabiron of Tresplanos and Axel Kuschevatzky of Telefe.

Ariel Winograd's My First Wedding (Mi primera boda), goes to Seventh Art in N. America The deal was made at the Ventana Sur by Udy Epstein and Ricardo Freixas of Seventh Art, for a limited release in the U.S. sometime in the middle to the late part of next year, reports Variety. Patricio Vega, scribe of The Pretenders, Fratelli Detective, Hermanos y detectives (a.k.a. Brothers and Detectives) wrote the screenplay for the film which stars Natalia Oreiro, Daniel Hendler, Imanol Arias, Martín Piroyansky, Muriel Santa Ana and Gabriela Acher. Juan Jose Campanella produced My First Wedding with Nathalie Cabiron of Tresplanos and Axel Kuschevatzky of Telefe.

Pantagonik Film Group

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The magnificent Norma Aleandro plays the title character in this feel-good Argentine road movie that will be particularly appealing to female audiences. As Cleopatra, a dissatisfied older woman who embarks on a life-changing drive from Buenos Aires to the Andes in the company of a younger soap opera actress, Aleandro gives an atypically buoyant performance that is as endearing as it is often hysterically funny. A huge hit in its native country, "Cleopatra" recently received a rousing reception at is U.S. unveiling at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.

Cleopatra, so named because her father ran a repertory theater company and was in love with the classics, is a retired schoolteacher whose 37-year marriage to her unemployed, depressed husband (Hector Alterio) has hit a definite rut. Now selling cosmetics door-to-door, Cleopatra has long given up her dreams of being an actress, but when the chance comes up to audition for a soap opera, she impulsively grabs it, only to disastrously freeze like a stone in the process.

She does, however, meet the gorgeous Sandra (Argentine soap star Natalia Oreiro), who is at a similar crossroads in her life. Her career micro-managed by her domineering husband (Boy Olmi), Sandra is fed up with the demands of stardom and longs for anonymity. Striking up a quick friendship with Cleopatra, she impulsively cuts her trademark luxurious hair and sets out on a road trip with the older woman. This results in a series of predictable but entertaining adventures, most notably Sandra's budding romantic relationship with a hunky cattleman who has no idea of her fame.

While the screenplay (co-written by director Eduardo Mignogna and Silvina Chague) is fairly rudimentary in its themes, it does provide a marvelous vehicle for the two actresses, who play beautifully off each other. Aleandro, best known in the U.S. for her harrowing Oscar-nominated role in "The Official Story", is a delight as Cleopatra, her most priceless moment being a lengthy single-take scene in which she delivers hilarious body language while joyfully singing along with the car radio. She's also particularly effective in the scenes in which she talks directly to the camera, well demonstrating her ability to establish a rapport with the audience. The beautiful Oreiro, clearly enjoying her co-star's comedic antics, manages to hold her own and infuses her often-volatile character with a surprising degree of sympathy.

The episodic story line loses steam along the way, and not all of the plot elements -- such as Cleopatra's poignant reunion with an old lover -- are as well developed as they should be. But most filmgoers will be more than happy that they went along for the ride.the movie's climax.

As one can see from this synopsis, characters and story are woefully thin. Even the villains (Gerard Rudolf, Ali Al Ameri) do little more than furrow their brows. The movie exists for its splendid vistas and the final horse race. These elements do justify "Stallion", but if the Mouse wants to pursue Imax features, much more dramatic meat will have to go into the storytelling.

Young Tamini, who has ridden horses virtually all her life, makes a credible heroine even though little is asked of her as an actress. The other actors are stranded by the weak dramatic material.

Production designer Paul Peters and costume designer Jo Katsaras give the film a Moroccan feel. William Ross' score also is a plus, though it contains more than a hint of Maurice Jarre's musical themes from "Lawrence of Arabia".

THE YOUNG BLACK STALLION

Buena Vista Pictures

Walt Disney Pictures

Credits:

Director: Simon Wincer

Screenwriter: Jeanne Rosenberg

Based on the book by: Walter Farley and Steven Farley

Producers: Fred Roos, Frank Marshall

Executive producers: Jeanne Rosenberg, Kathleen Kennedy

Director of photography: Reed Smoot

Production designer: Paul Peters

Music: William Ross

Costume designer: Jo Katsaras

Editors: Bud Smith, Terry Blythe

Cast:

Neera: Biana G. Tamimi

Ben Ishak: Richard Romanus

Aden: Patrick Elyas

Rhamon: Gerard Rudolf

Mansoor: Ali Al Ameri

Kadir: Andries Rossouw

MPAA rating: G

Running time -- 51 minutesG-13>Emma: Dina Waters

Michael: Marc John Jefferies

Megan: Aree Davis

Running time -- 88 minutes

MPAA rating: PG...

Pantagonik Film Group

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The magnificent Norma Aleandro plays the title character in this feel-good Argentine road movie that will be particularly appealing to female audiences. As Cleopatra, a dissatisfied older woman who embarks on a life-changing drive from Buenos Aires to the Andes in the company of a younger soap opera actress, Aleandro gives an atypically buoyant performance that is as endearing as it is often hysterically funny. A huge hit in its native country, "Cleopatra" recently received a rousing reception at is U.S. unveiling at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.

Cleopatra, so named because her father ran a repertory theater company and was in love with the classics, is a retired schoolteacher whose 37-year marriage to her unemployed, depressed husband (Hector Alterio) has hit a definite rut. Now selling cosmetics door-to-door, Cleopatra has long given up her dreams of being an actress, but when the chance comes up to audition for a soap opera, she impulsively grabs it, only to disastrously freeze like a stone in the process.

She does, however, meet the gorgeous Sandra (Argentine soap star Natalia Oreiro), who is at a similar crossroads in her life. Her career micro-managed by her domineering husband (Boy Olmi), Sandra is fed up with the demands of stardom and longs for anonymity. Striking up a quick friendship with Cleopatra, she impulsively cuts her trademark luxurious hair and sets out on a road trip with the older woman. This results in a series of predictable but entertaining adventures, most notably Sandra's budding romantic relationship with a hunky cattleman who has no idea of her fame.

While the screenplay (co-written by director Eduardo Mignogna and Silvina Chague) is fairly rudimentary in its themes, it does provide a marvelous vehicle for the two actresses, who play beautifully off each other. Aleandro, best known in the U.S. for her harrowing Oscar-nominated role in "The Official Story", is a delight as Cleopatra, her most priceless moment being a lengthy single-take scene in which she delivers hilarious body language while joyfully singing along with the car radio. She's also particularly effective in the scenes in which she talks directly to the camera, well demonstrating her ability to establish a rapport with the audience. The beautiful Oreiro, clearly enjoying her co-star's comedic antics, manages to hold her own and infuses her often-volatile character with a surprising degree of sympathy.

The episodic story line loses steam along the way, and not all of the plot elements -- such as Cleopatra's poignant reunion with an old lover -- are as well developed as they should be. But most filmgoers will be more than happy that they went along for the ride.the movie's climax.

As one can see from this synopsis, characters and story are woefully thin. Even the villains (Gerard Rudolf, Ali Al Ameri) do little more than furrow their brows. The movie exists for its splendid vistas and the final horse race. These elements do justify "Stallion", but if the Mouse wants to pursue Imax features, much more dramatic meat will have to go into the storytelling.

Young Tamini, who has ridden horses virtually all her life, makes a credible heroine even though little is asked of her as an actress. The other actors are stranded by the weak dramatic material.

Production designer Paul Peters and costume designer Jo Katsaras give the film a Moroccan feel. William Ross' score also is a plus, though it contains more than a hint of Maurice Jarre's musical themes from "Lawrence of Arabia".

THE YOUNG BLACK STALLION

Buena Vista Pictures

Walt Disney Pictures

Credits:

Director: Simon Wincer

Screenwriter: Jeanne Rosenberg

Based on the book by: Walter Farley and Steven Farley

Producers: Fred Roos, Frank Marshall

Executive producers: Jeanne Rosenberg, Kathleen Kennedy

Director of photography: Reed Smoot

Production designer: Paul Peters

Music: William Ross

Costume designer: Jo Katsaras

Editors: Bud Smith, Terry Blythe

Cast:

Neera: Biana G. Tamimi

Ben Ishak: Richard Romanus

Aden: Patrick Elyas

Rhamon: Gerard Rudolf

Mansoor: Ali Al Ameri

Kadir: Andries Rossouw

MPAA rating: G

Running time -- 51 minutesG-13>Emma: Dina Waters

Michael: Marc John Jefferies

Megan: Aree Davis

Running time -- 88 minutes

MPAA rating: PG...

MADRID -- Spanish production house Alquimia is joining Argentina's Patagonik and TV channel Telefe on the feature Cleopatra, to be directed by Eduardo Mignogna, Alquimia founder and president Francisco Ramos said Wednesday. The $2 million-budgeted Cleopatra, set to shoot in March, will star Norma Aleandro (The Son of the Bride) and Natalia Oreiro. The project once again teams Ramos with Telefe, which co-produced with Alquimia No Debes Estar Aqui (You Shouldn't Be Here) and Apasionados and is the second Alquimia-Patagonik co-venture after the Cecilia Roth starrer Kamchatka, due out later this year. At the same time, Alquimia is adding a handful of new films to its upcoming slate. Los Malos Vicios, a coming-of-age story of family and change, will be directed by Manuel Toledano and is set to shoot in March. No cast has been announced yet.