Besos de azúcar now filming

Carlos Cuarón’s second feature Besos de azúcar (Sugar Kisses?) is now well into production, according to El Universal’s César Huerta.  The film will star 17 y.o. Chistian Ferrer (of El infierno and Sin nombre) as its villain, with Verónica Falcón as his mother.  Kevin Hernández will play an American teenager (Get the Gringo).

Besos is being produced by brothers Carlos and Alfonso Cuarón with support from Fidecine, Mexico’s Film Investment and Stimulus Fund.  Read more.  IMDb also lists production companies Vista Hermosas Films and Delicious Films.

Carlos Cuarón’s first feature Rudo y Cursi came out in 2008 with the 5th biggest box office opening in Mexican history.  Since then, he also wrote and directed a ten-minute English-language adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s The Second Bakery Attack, which screened around the world in 2010.

Valladolid to honour Mexican cinema

EFE: The 57th edition of the Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid (a.k.a. la Seminici) will honour Mexico with a retrospective of twenty feature films, and screen a number of short films by Mexican filmmakers never before seen in Spain, including undistributed works by Iñárritu, Cuarón, and del Toro.

Festival director Javier Angulo explained that the retrospective will cover three generations of Mexican cinema, beginning with “first generation” director Jorge Fons, and including films produced before 2010.

The program is being coordinated by Iván Trujillo, currently director of the Guadalajara International Film Festival and former director of Mexico’s National Film Archive.  It will include panel discussion with directors, actors, and experts in Mexican cinema, including representatives from IMCINE (Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía) and the Spanish press.  In recent years, Valladolid also hosted retrospectives of Indian, Swedish, and Brazilian cinemas.

The retrospective will take place 20-27 October.  Read more.

The official program is still TBA but the festival website is already up.

AXN winners, Carlos Cuarón news, and decade’s end

The winners of the AXN Film Festival were announced at the Teatro Ángela Peralta  last week, selected from over five hundred short films entered from across Latin America by a jury which included Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Eduardo Noriega, Demián Bichir, Cecilia Roth, Alex Brendemuhl, Carlos Cuarón, Fina Torres, José Padilha, Marcos Jorge, and Simon Brand.  Read more here and here.

• First Prize: Carlos Hernández (Colombia), Marina, la esposa del pescador
• Second Prize: Juan Manuel Betancourt (Colombia) , Rojo Red
• Third Prize: Maricarmen Merino (Costa Rica), El mar

Another short film recently receiving attention online is Carlos Cuarón’s  Juego de niños (2002).

Originally published in the journal Generación, the Quiñonera blog has recently posted online an essay by the filmmaker about his experience with the nonprofit community created to disseminate contemporary art engaged with the real world.  “The Quiñonera is a place of convergence and divergence, loves and heartbreaks, friendships and hatreds, work and leisure. It is a space of creation and recreation.”  Read more.

More recently, the Cuarón has been promoting his book on his most recent work and first feature film Rudo y Cursi, due for release in Spain and across Latin America.   The text includes not only production notes and exclusive photos, but also essays on fraternity, soccer, and society by Félix Fernández and Sabina Berman  Read more.

Unsurprisingly, Alfonso Cuarón’s films have made a number of “decade’s best” lists drawn up as the year comes to an end, notably Y tu mamá también and Children of Men.  There is little new said about these awesome films, but IndieWire has republished its 2002 interview entitled ‘Not Another Teen Movie: Alfonso Cuarón on Truth, Style and “Y Tu Mamá También”.’ Check it out.

Catching up (I)

Since September, Cuarón made the news not only by signing a controversial petition by the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques’ (SACD) protesting the extradition of Roman Polanski from Switzerland for an outstanding warrant dating back to his 1977 rape conviction but also for his participation in  Autism Speaks‘ “I am Autism” campaign (details below the cut).

More recently, HR reported that the director was in early stage talks to direct the remake of Jérôme Salle’s The Tourist (original title: Anthony Zimmer) , replacing Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others), originally attached to the project.  Variety reports that the production is to finally begin in February after a number of cast and crew changes since 2005.  However, as recently as last week, von Donnersmarck asserted that he was still attached to the project.  “In the trades, everything they say…I think you can discount a lot of it.  It’s just a way of talking about the business, and sometimes things get out about heated points of discussion. We’ll see how it plays out with that one.”

In October, the finalists for the AXN Film Festival were announced.  Jury members – including Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, and Carlos Cuarón, among others – selected ten short films from across South America which will air on AXN from 15th November to to 6th December in Brazil, Mexico, Columbia, Argentina, and Venezuela.  The winner will be announced Sunday, 13th December.  Read more.  The Sunday Times carried an interview with Carlos and Alfonso Cuarón by Beverley D’Silva ahead of of the DVD release of Rudo y Cursi in the UK mid-November.  The brothers discussed their relationship growing up and making films, “Writing [Y tu mamá también], we were laughing like crazy and getting very excited. We learnt that the only way to make things happen is to take control of your material from the get-go. And it all happened from there.”

Apologies for the great delay!

Año uña in Mexico, Rudo y Cursi on DVD, and more

After screening at international festivals for the last two years,  Año uña finally premiered today in Mexico (after a delay due to the H1N1 epidemic).   Speaking to Reuters, director Jonás Cuarón shared his belief in the film’s universal appeal overcoming any linguistic barriers.  “Adolescent guarrada* is universal, whether in Japan, Mexico, or England; all thirteen year olds are filthy,” he remarked.  Read more.

Also, Rudo y Cursi comes out on DVD and Blu-ray on 25th August:

AXN Film Festival; Cuarón signs to Anonymous content

In June, television station AXN announced the jury for the 4th edition of its film festival, which will search for the best short film in Latin America.  Jury members will include Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, and Carlos Cuarón, among other actors and filmmakers.  The winner will receive a Sony HDV camera and the equivalent of ten thousand dollars.  Second and third place recipients will receive an HDV and MiniDV camera respectively.  Read more (EFE).  Submissions are due 15th August.

In other news, Videography reports: Alfonso Cuarón has recently signed to production and management firm Anonymous Content‘s commercial division.  Of the director’s credentials, executive producer Dave Morrison said, “He has a rare insight into human nature and the even scarcer ability to convert those instincts into a story. We are really looking forward to doing whatever we can to help Alfonso put out more incredible work into the advertising space.”

Win Rudo y Cursi promotional goodies

FutureMovies.co.uk:

“To celebrate the UK release of RUDO & CURSI a comedy about the rivalry between two brothers trying make it in the world of football, set in Mexico starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, produced by Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo del Toro. We have 3 bundles of RUDO & CURSI goodies to give away including books, soundtracks, DVDs and posters.”

The condition for entry is not very difficult, especially for Cuarón fans: “Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna previously starred in which Mexican road movie?” Check it out (NB: This contest is for UK residents only).