José María Cravioto’s “Cars, Pot & Rock ’N’ Roll: The Legend of the Mexican Woodstock” and Victoria Franco’s “Twelve Moons” feature in the Mezcal Mexican competition at this year’s Guadalajara Film Festival.
Its other main competition, focusing on Ibero-American fiction movies and doc features, takes in two of the biggest hits this year from Spain, Portugal and Latin America: Brazilian Gabriel Mascaró’s “The Blue Trail” and Spaniard Eva Libertad’s “Deaf,” both big hits at Berlin.
As importantly, the Ibero-American Competition also highlights tales which deserve far more attention: a highly thoughtful first feature from Gerard Oms, “Away” (“Molt Lluny”), with a career-high turn by star Mario Casas; “Martina’s Search,” led by the frequently magnificent Argentinian player Mercedes Morán, and Puerto Rico’s “This Island,” part of a new Caribbean cinema which is ever more frequently scoring top fest berths.
Taken together, Guadalajara’s biggest two festival strands say a lot about where what was formerly called arthouse cinema is heading in the region.
One direction is most certainly co-production. Nine of the 12 titles in the Ibero-American fiction feature competition yoke partners from at least two countries. Three – “Bitter Gold,” “The Blue Trail,” “The Cottage” – feature four, Chile, an inveterate co-producer, partnering on all of them.
Brazil is back to the table, with five titles, as Chile; Argentina has just two.
Debuts – first solo narrative features – abound: Over half of the Ibero-American contenders are first or second features. Increasingly, however, the debutants are highly respected mid-career directors, led by Mexico’s Alejandro Zuno and Brazil’s Marcia Fária, who have carved out a name directing hit series.
The streaming revolution is also caught in a building phenomenon: the number of titles which say a lot about the world but also prime entertainment or genre, whether the insistent comedy of “Cars, Pot & Rock ’N’ Roll,” a film which nails the past and present contradictions of Mexico, the horror undertones of “The Cottage” or the thriller propulsion of “Bitter Gold,” part of a growing crossover Chilean film scene.
“Since we founded Juntos, we have considered ourselves as a production company that seeks to reconcile the artistic gaze with the search for increasingly wider audiences,” Daniela Raviola, at “Bitter Gold’s” lead producer Juntos, has told Variety.
In an age where streamers, global or regional, are one mainstay of cinema, it’s an increasing newer generation calling.
A breakdown of titles in Guadalajara’s Mezcal and Ibero-America Fiction Features competitions:
Mezcal Prize Titles, Focusing on Mexican Fiction Films, Doc-Features
“Cars, Pot & Rock ’N’ Roll: The Legend of the Mexican Woodstock,” (“Autos, Mota y Rocanrol,” (José María Cravioto)
The latest from top-flight maverick Cravioto, a “Diablero” showrunner and director on “El Chapo” and now Alex Pina’s “Billionaires’ Bunker.” Here he delivers an often comedic mockumentary seeking to decipher what he calls one of the most critical episodes of Mexican counter-culture: the Festival de Avándaro. Meant to be a car race, it ballooned into Mexico’s Woodstock, lambasted by one voice in Mexico’s conservative establishment as “a hell of naked depravity, blood, potheads and death.” Mexico’s government cracked down on rock ’n’ roll, which took a decade to recover.
“Café Chairel,” (Fernando Barreda Luna)
Starring “After Lucía’s” Tessa la, a second chance romantic drama, set in the picturesque port of Tampico, as Alfonso (Maurice Isaac) and Katia (la), both suffering deep loss, launch a café and haltingly, awaken to life. The second feature as a director of Barreda Luna, produced by his label Nopal Army Films (“Crocodiles”).
“Crocodiles,” (“Cocodrilos,” J. Xavier Velasco)
World premiered at April’s Chicago Latino Film Festival, a tragically real-event-based thriller, inspired by the murder of at least 141 journalists and other media workers in Mexico this century. Young Veracruz shutterbug Santiago takes on his boss’ final investigation after her assassination by organized crime. Velasco’s feature debut and also a Nopal Army Films production.
“Twelve Moons,” (“Doce Lunas,” Victoria Franco)
A Tribeca International Narrative Competition entry, led by Ana de la Reguera (“Ana,” “Nacho Libre” ), recent star of Ariel Winograd’s Mexican B.O, breakout “Una Pequeña Confusion,” here playing Sofía, 40, an architect in emotional freefall after a loss, battling infertility and ever spiralling addiction. From Victoria Franco, director with brother Michel Franco on 2013’s “Through the Eyes.” “Twelve Moons” is produced by Michel Franco, sold by The Match Factory.
“Newborn,” (“Un Mundo Para Mi,” Alejandro Zuno)
A couple is told its soon-to-be-born baby’s sex cannot be determined. The father wants a sex to be assigned, the mother begins to investigate intersexuality. The latest from Zuno, a director on Series Mania International Panorama best director winner “Tengo Que Morir Todas las Noches” and on “The Secret of the River,” the No. 1 Netflix show in Mexico for five weeks last Fall. Seen in Mar del Plata’s Latin American Competition last year.
Documentaries
“At the End of the World,” (Abraham Escobedo Salas, Mexico, Belgium)
After 2022’s “Breaking la Vida,” the second feature-length doc from Escobedo Salas tracking Cecilio, a Lisbon squatter, as he battle with drug addiction, finding some dignity and solidarity on the way. Based on a 2021 short which scored a Mexican Academy Ariel Award nomination.
“Boca Vieja,” (Yovegami Ascona Mora)
Selected for Berlin’s 2024 European Film Market Equity & Inclusion program, shot in a coastal hamlet in Oaxaca, flooded in the rainy season, its inhabitants fearing they will lose their land forever. Directed by Ascona Mora, winner of Hazlo en Cortometraje with doc short “Mëët Naax” (Con la Tierra).
“Isleño,” (Cesar Talamantes)
The return of Talamantes who directed his admired first doc feature “Los Otros Californianos” back in 2012, about Baja California Sur rancho dwellers. Here he ventures even further afield recording the daily life of inhabitants on remote Baja islands, its challenges and the glorious beauty of the Pacific Ocean.
“I Watched the Drops Fall, Illuminated by the Lightning, and With Every Breath I Took, I Sighed, and Every Time I Thought, I Thought of You,” (“Miraba caer las gotas iluminadas por los relámpagos, y cada que respiraba suspiraba, y cada vez que pensaba, pensaba en ti,” Pepe Gutiérrez, Carlos San Juan)
A doc-feature on the origins and development of colonialism, exploring the Manila-Acapulco Spanish trade route opened in 1565 and used until 1815, exchanging New World silver for Chinese and Asian luxury goods.
“To be Named Olympia,” (“Llamarse Olimpia,” Indira Cato)
A portrait of Olimpia Coral Melo, victim of viral digital sexual assault, who fought for 13 years for the practice to be criminalized in Mexico, now established by the Olimpia Law, adopted in many Mexican states. Directed by Cato, co-writer of 2014’s “All of Me” (“Llévate mis amores”), a breakout hit.
Ibero-American Fiction Feature Section
“Away, (“Molt Lluny,” Gerard Oms, Spain, Netherlands)
The acclaimed feature debut of Oms, turning on the journey of self-discovery of a Spaniard, Sergio, living penniless in he Netherlands’ Utrecht. Sergio is played by Mario Casas in what many critics hail as one of the finest performances of his career which won him best actor at March’s Málaga.
“The Best Mother in the World,” (Anna Muylaert, Brazil, Argentina)
A Sundance, Berlin winner sold worldwide by The Match Factory, Muylaert’s “The Second Mother” nailed the class gulf in Brazil. A Berlinale Special, Muylaert’s latest focuses on one woman’s determined reaction to domestic abuse Muylaert’s hallmark mix of social point and sentiment, as Variety notes. Biônica Filmes, Argentina’s Telefilms, and Galeria Distribuidora produce.
“Bitter Gold,” (“Oro amargo,” Juan Olea, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, Germany)
Shot in Northern Chile by Sergio Armstrong (“Neruda”), an adolescent (Katalina Sanchez) takes over her father’s mine, treads a tense path to empowerment. Lead produced by Chile’s Juntos Films (“Immersion”) in a powerful five-way production, and Olea’s second feature after 2014’s “El Cordero.”
“The Blue Trail,” (“O último azul,” Gabriel Mascaró, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Chile)
The latest from the first Brazilian filmmaker to really hit the international radar one generation on from its ‘big four’ of Salles, Meirelles, Aïnouz and Kleber Mendonça, thanks to a Berlin Special Jury Prize for “The Blue Trail” just weeks before Salles’ Oscar. Sensual, packing some extraordinary visuals, a protest film anticipating state-run segregation of the old.
“The Cottage,” (“La Quinta,” Silvina Schnicer, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Spain)
A horror-tinged family thriller which marks Schnicer’s first solo outing after co-directing Guadalajara best picture and San Sebastian New Directors Award-winner “Carajita.” “This story explores the duality of human nature from an unconventional perspective: kids,” have said its sales agents, Luis Collar and Yeniffer Fasciani at Feel Sales.
“Cuerpo celeste,” (Nayra Ilic García, Chile, Italy)
Produced by Chile’s Oro Films (“To Kill the Beast”) and Italy’s Dispàrte, which caught attention with Maura Delpero’s “Maternal,” here joining Hormágica. Ilic’s second feature after “Square Meter,” it turns on a 16-year-old girl cut adrift after the death of her father who clings to hope for a new beginning with her mother.
“Deaf,” (“Sorda,” Eva Libertad, Spain)
One of this year’s Berlin – and most probably Guadalajara’s – standouts, a Berlinale Panorama Audience Award winner which has sold fulsomely for Latido Films to Australia (Madman), Japan (New Select), France Condor Distribution. Germany (Piffl Medien), Italy (Lucky Red) and the U.K. (Curzon). Libertad’s first feature turns on a pregnant deaf woman’s fears about motherhood.
“Dreaming of Lions,” (“Sonhar com Leões,” Paolo Marinou-Blanco, Portugal, Brazil, Spain)
Word premiering at Tallinn’s Black Nights Film Festival where it opened its 2024 Critics’ Pick Competition, a black tragicomedy on euthanasia from Greek-Portuguese writer-director Marinou-Blanco (“Empty Hands,” “Goodnight Irene”). Brazil’s Denise Fraga (“The Other End”) plays Gilda, terminally ill, who discovers a corporation who could help her die with dignity.
“Martina’s Search,” (“A Procura de Martina,” Márcia Fária, Brazil, Argentina)
A screenplay by Gabriela Amaral (“Friendly Beast”) with Fária, a Palme d’Or nominee for short “Estaçao”; a Mar del Plata 2024 best Latin America film win; and Mercedes Morán, playing Martina. 67, suffering Alzheimer’s, who learns her grandson, born in captivity under Argentina’s Junta, could be in Brazil. Her search becomes a multi-edged battle against time, forgetting and oblivion.
“This Island,” (“Esta isla,” Lorraine Jones Molina, Cristián Carretero, Puerto Rico)
Set for world premiere in the U.S. Narrative Competition of the Tribeca Film Festival, and picked up in April by Habanero Film Sales, the directors’ feature debut described as a deeply personal and poignant portrait of the Puerto Rican experience.
“Tiger,” (“Tiguere,” José Maria Cabral, Dominican Republic)
The latest from one of the Dominican Republic’s most famed auteurs, Cabral, whose “Woodpeckers” played Sundance.
Here he depicts the country’s prevalent machismo via a boot camp where the protagonist’s father teaches young Dominicans to behave like right royal bastards, the establishment’s male M.O.
“The Wild Years,” (“Los años salvajes,” Andrés Nazarala, Chile)
The second feature from writer-director Nazarela (“Debut”). Ricky Palace, the forgotten black sheep of Chile’s ‘60s New Wave in now trouble decades later when the bar where he plays in Valparaíso is closed. Produced by Chile’s Oro Films, a supporter of up-and-coming talent from Chile or beyond.
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