latinos Tagged Articles at Cinematical
PBS Assigns Hispanic Helper to Ken Burns Doc
Filed under: Documentary », Celebrities and Controversy », Home Entertainment », Politics », Cinematical Indie », War »
Earlier this month it was reported that Latino groups have been protesting Ken Burns' latest documentary mini-series. The PBS-funded production about WWII, titled The War, apparently ignored the half-million Hispanic soldiers who fought in the war. Well, the Latinos have won. PBS has hired Hispanic documentarian Hector Galan to assist Burns with a revision to the completed film that will now feature Latinos respectfully represented. Galan, who has directed many programs for PBS, most recently made the feature Los Lonely Boys: Cottonfields and Crossroads. He is currently working on a new film about Latin rhythms, which is now on hold until his work with Burns is completed.Burns, who is one of the most celebrated documentary filmmakers, has to be somewhat upset about being mandated a helper, but of course he isn't displaying any frustration. Following the announcement of Galan's hiring, Burns told reporters that the revision is a win-win solution. Obviously, though, he lost a little bit in the agreement. Considering the 14-hour series took six years to produce, it could take all summer to introduce even a little bit about Hispanic soldiers. The duo will have to work fast if they want to finish in time for the scheduled premiere this September.
Salma Hayek Sets Up Latino Division at MGM
Filed under: Drama », Foreign Language », Independent », Deals », MGM », Sony », Cinematical Indie »
There are about 43 million Hispanics in the United States, and more than half of them speak Spanish frequently. Of course, there are nearly 300 million people total in the country, so for Hollywood, there may not be enough of an audience for movies centered on Hispanic characters, especially if the predominant language of those movies is Spanish. But thanks to the hype surrounding the Mexican filmmakers Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo Del Toro and Alejandro González Iñárritu, and the prideful excitement of actress Salma Hayek, Latin American cinema is superficially hot right now. Never mind that Spanish-language imports and homegrown indies marketed toward Latinos are not particularly big money-makers, the studios are presently interested in focusing on the "untapped" Latin market. We've already witnessed partnerships between Lionsgate and Panamax, and between Warner Bros. and Cuaron's Esperanto Filmoj. Now Hayek is setting up another Latino division called Ventanazul; this one will be at MGM. The difference seems to be that neither Hayek or MGM is specifically interested in targeting Hispanic Americans. Instead, they plan to produce and distribute between two and four films with a Latino focus that are geared toward a wide, mainstream audience. I'm not sure how big they hope to be, but they'll have to do better than last year's Quinceañera, which had a lot of mainstream appeal and which was relatively successful considering its budget, but which still only made a couple million dollars. Hayek's last film hit, Frida, did much better, and her television success with Ugly Betty is huge, but neither one is specifically Latin-themed. So we'll have to see if a wide audience is accepting enough of Hispanic-centric movies to make the division work. It is especially interesting that MGM made this deal while Hayek is currently working on a Spanish-language project for Warner Bros.
Gaviria and the Gabriels to Make New Film, Latinos
Filed under: Drama », Foreign Language », Cinematical Indie »
It's going to be a long time before this film gets made, let alone released, but you might want to keep your eye on Colombian director Victor Gaviria's latest film, Latinos. The film, which is scheduled to begin shooting a year from now, will be an immigration-based movie set in Spain. It is about two teen brothers from Colombia who try to find a new life for themselves with their mother. One is successful at integrating into his new surroundings while the other is not. Gaviria, a Cannes' Golden Palm nominee, is known for conducting extensive research for his films and using amateur thespians to heighten the sense of reality. Latinos is looking to be no different. The film will be an interesting family production -- Laviria's wife, Lina Echeverri, is the executive producer, and he is co-writing the film with siblings Enrique and Masha Gabriel. The film will pull from 15 hours of video interviews and hundreds of e-mails from immigrants in Spain. Although the film will be set overseas, I'm sure that it will be a worthwhile project well beyond Spain's borders, especially here in North America, where Latino struggles are quite prevalent. I, for one, am quite interested to see how the filmmakers will deal with two brothers of the same past who fall into radically different lifestyles. Unfortunately, we're in for a really long wait.
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