STELLAR EVENING WITH AWARD CEREMONY AND SPECIAL SCREENING AT
THE 12TH ANNUAL LOS ANGELES LATINO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL CLOSING NIGHT IN HOLLYWOOD
Filmmakers, talent and celebrity guests celebrated another great year of film with an Award Ceremony honoring Latino cinema and a special screening at the Egyptian Theater.
Los Angeles, CA, September 21st 2008. - The 12th Annual Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) concluded on Friday, September 19th, with its Award Ceremony and Closing Night Gala. The event took place at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood and celebrated the work of the filmmakers who presented their work in competition. The guests were surprised with an advanced special screening of the upcoming feature film Nothing Like the Holidays, directed by Alfredo de Villa.
The red carpet star-studded event included appearances by Gustavo Santaolalla (LALIFF’s GABI Lifetime Achievement Award 2008 recipient), Demián Bechir, Carina Ricco, Alexa Vega, Maya Zapata, Lupe Ontiveros, Rick Najera, Montserrat Roig de Puig, Marlene Forte, Simon Rex, Jesse Garcia and other celebrity guests, along with community leaders and entertainment industry experts.
LALIFF co-founder, Executive Director and programmer Marlene Dermer dedicated the night to acclaimed filmmaker Humberto Solás who passed away on Wednesday, September 17th in his native Cuba. Solás, one of Cuba’s brightest and most outstanding figures in cinema, directed many films that gave voice to his country around the world including: Lucía, a film considered as the birth of the Golden Age of Cuban filmmaking, Un hombre de éxito (1986), El siglo de las luces (1991), and Barrio Cuba (2005).
Dermer also acknowledged the wishes of festival co-founder Edward James Olmos to be present at the ceremony to celebrate the closure of the festival. Olmos is currently directing a film and was unable to attend the festival.
Dermer with the help of the jury members announced the winners in the categories of Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Opera Prima, Best Short, Best Documentary, and Audience Awards in the Shorts and Feature Film categories. The jury also announced Special Mentions in some categories.
The following includes a list of the winners for the 12th Annual Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival:
Features Category
Features/ Best Film (RITA AWARD)
Sponsored by: Deluxe Laboratories
Winner: Paraíso Travel
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Audience Award: Best Film
Sponsored by: CineLatino
Winner: Paraíso Travel
Director: Simon Brand -
Country: Colombia
Synopsis: Adapted from Jorge Franco’s acclaimed novel of the same title, Paraíso Travel is the story of Marlon Cruz, a young Colombian man who motivated by his girlfriend Reina, leaves his comfortable life in Medellín, an flees with her through Guatemala and Mexico, across the borders, illegally into the United States. Marlon’s journey, which takes him through seedy strip clubs, dance halls, homeless hostels, and the streets of Jackson Heights ultimately takes him to a place he could not have predicted. Directed by Simon Brand with a screenplay by Jorge Franco and Juan Rendón, Paraíso Travel also stars John Leguizamo, Margarita Rosa de Francisco and Ana de la Reguera.
Features/ Best Director
Sponsored by: Entertainment Partners, Final Draft
Winner: Lucia Murat
Film: Maré, Nossa Historia de Amor
Country: Brazil
Synopsis: Living in a slum divided between two rival gangs of drug traffickers, Analídia is the daughter of one of the gangs’ leaders and Jonatha is a childhood friend of the other. Both study in a dance group situated exactly in the middle of the two groups. Openly inspired by Romeo and Juliet, the film is a review of our strong sense of music, our contemporary dance as well as the strange mix we find in slum, where violence lives along side artistic possibility brought by social projects.
Features/ Best Screenplay
Sponsored by: Entertainment Partners, Final Draft
Winner: Issa López
Film: Casi Divas
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Features/ Honorable Mention – Best Actor
Sponsored by: Entertainment Partners, Final Draft
Daniela Schmidts
Film: Casi Divas
Director: Issa López -
Country: Mexico
Synopsis: Casi Divas is the story of four ambitious and beautiful young women from four very different corners of Mexico. Just like hundreds of others, they are caught up in the frenzy that sweeps the nation when Alejandro Mateos, one of the country’s most powerful producers, dreams up a massive, nationwide talent search to cast the lead in his next big movie. But all this is news to Alejandro’s on-again, off-again lover, Eva Gallardo, a temperamental diva of epic proportions, who expected to play the part. While Eva schemes to nail down the role, our four leads will do whatever it takes for a chance to be cast. As Casi Divas unfolds and comedic sparks fly, they will all discover who will eventually and surprisingly become the country's new superstar.
Opera Prima/ Winner
Sponsored by: Entertainment Partners, Final Draft
Winner: Desierto Sur
Director: Shawn Garry - Country: Chile
Synopsis: Sofía is a Spanish swimming protégé who loses her mother to cancer. An enigmatic letter falls into her hands, one that her mother sent to Chile when she was alive. The letter is returned by the post office when the recipient could not be found. The content of the letter raises stirring questions in Sofía. To resolve the emotional conflicts caused by the letter she embarks on a journey to Chile. The destination: An unknown and remote town called “Desierto Sur” in the northern Atacama Desert of Chile
Honorable Mention: Features
Sponsored by: Entertainment Partners, Final Draft
Limbo
Director: Horacio Rivera -
Country: Mexico
Synopsis: Limbo tells the story of Isao, a gay teen, who suffers an accident and goes to limbo, a mysterious place where he will meet a suicide lawyer and a crazy nurse, two characters that will change the life of the kid forever.
Special Mention: Opera Prima
Sponsored by: Entertainment Partners, Final Draft
Cochochi
Director: Israel Carteras, Laura A. Guzman -
Country: Mexico
Synopsis: Evaristo and Tony, two brothers from northwest Mexico, receive an assignment from their grandfather: to deliver some medicine to the other extreme of the Sierra Tarahumara. Dreading the long road ahead, they decide to take their grandfather’s horse and set off into a journey that becomes longer than they expected.
Documentary Category
Documentaries/ Best Documentary
Sponsored by: Fuji Film
Winner: The Promise of Music
Director: Enrique Sánchez Lansch -
Country: Germany
Synopsis: A film about the passion for music, this documentary tells the stories of four young Venezuelan orchestra players and their young conductor, Gustavo Dudamel. It shows their upbringing in mostly remote and poor places, their daily lives and their future perspectives. While rehearsing for a challenging concert tour to Europe, Félix, Jhoanna, Katherine, Diego and Gustavo embark on a journey into their pasts revealing what their lives could have been without the chance to play from early childhood on within the unique musical education program of Venezuela. Eventually they travel to Germany to perform a concert in Bonn.
Audience Award: Best Documentary
Sponsored by: CineLatino
Winner: Fraude: Mexico 2006
Director: Luis Mandoki -
Country: Mexico
Synopsis: A documentary about the recent presidential election in Mexico on 2006. Records the events that occurred prior to, during, and after an electoral campaign. In addition, it contains extremely powerful visual evidence of its fraudulent practices, which are captured by the cameras of numerous individuals in the general public.
Special Mention: Documentaries
Sponsored by: Entertainment Partners, Final Draft
Café de los Maestros
Director: Miguel Kohan -
Country: Argentina
Synopsis: With the return to democracy, Argentina is experiencing an extraordinary rebirth of its main national musical tradition, the Tango. Café de Los Maestros is the gathering of the greatest living legends of this formidable musical genre. These extraordinary men and women, ranging from 70 to 95 years old, reveal to us the mysteries and essence of this melancholic and sexy music. Acclaimed musician, producer and composer Gustavo Santaolalla (winner of 2 Academy Awards®) leads us on a journey to bring together these unique "maestros." Reconstructing historical arrangements and recording unpublished material for the first time, this collaboration culminates with a grand performance of Tango music and dance at Buenos Aires’ famous Colon Theatre.
Special Mention: Documentaries
Sponsored by: Entertainment Partners, Final Draft
La Americana
Director: Nicholas Bruckman -
Country: United States
Synopsis: Carmen never planned to come to the United States, but when her daughter Carla was only nine-years-old, tragedy struck. Carmen left Carla behind in Bolivia and made the dangerous and illegal journey to New York City where she could earn enough to support her ailing daughter, knowing she may never return home. But after six years of separation, congress proposes 'amnesty' legislation that could allow Carmen and Carla to be reunited again. Will Carmen stay and fight for the American dream, or be home as promised for Carla's quinceañera? Filmed in three countries and told through an intimate cinema-vérité narrative, her unforgettable story is woven into the current immigration debate in the United States, putting a human face on this timely and controversial issue.
Special Mention: Documentaries
Sponsored by: Entertainment Partners, Final Draft
13 peoples, defending water, air and land
Director: Francesco Taboada Tabone -
Country: Mexico
Synopsis: In the future, wars will be fought over water. In the Mexican state of Morelos, this war has already begun. “13 Peoples defending water, air and land” tells the story of the struggle of Mexican indigenous people to preserve their natural resources and their cultural identity. A documentary that contemplates Mexico’s destiny.
Shorts Category
Shorts/ Winner
Sponsored by: Entertainment Partners, Final Draft
Winner: A Day’s Work
Director: Rajeev Dassani -
Country: USA
Synopsis: What was a simple job escalates into a violent misunderstanding in this heart-stopping drama involving an American family and the three immigrant laborers hired to help them move. Enrique, a young man far from home, must quickly decide where his loyalty really lies.
Special Jury Award: Shorts – Animation
Sponsored by: Entertainment Partners, Final Draft
Sebastian’s Voodoo
Director: Joaquín Baldwin -
Country: USA
Synopsis: A voodoo doll must find the courage to save his friends from being pinned to death.
Special Mention: Shorts
Sponsored by: Entertainment Partners, Final Draft
Catharsis
Director: Daniel Chamorro -
Country: Spain
Synopsis: A man and a woman talk about their relationship in two interviews. They seem to be arguing very strong, but at the end they are just trying to understand each other.
Special Mention: Shorts – Best Actor
Sponsored by: Entertainment Partners, Final Draft
Winner: Jorge Palacios
Film: El Pasajero
Director: Hector Palma -
Country: Venezuela
Synopsis: Based on a true story, El Pasajero is a penetrating look at the nature of violence and the effects of isolation. On New Years Eve in Caracas, Venezuela, a desperate cab driver attempts to rob a wealthy passenger, but when the passenger offers to buy the drivers gun, it leads to a night neither of them will ever forget.
Following the award ceremony, filmmakers, celebrities and guests enjoyed an advanced screening of Nothing Like the Holidays, an Overture Films production directed by Alfredo de Villa. Starring Luis Guzmán, John Leguizamo Debra Messing, Alfred Molina, Freddy Rodriguez and Elizabeth Peña, the film will be released in December.
“We are pleased to continue showcasing the talented work of Latino filmmakers and their contributions,” stated Dermer. “This night celebrates the films that have made this festival possible and also a great Cuban director who contributed to the world of cinema. We look forward to a successful festival next year.”
The closing gala successfully concluded the 12th year of LALIFF where more than 130 films were showcased. The festival ran from September 12th to the 19th in Hollywood, California.