THE HOLA MEXICO FILM FESTIVAL USA ‘10 ARRIVES TO LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA; SHOWCASING THE BEST OF RECENT MEXICAN CINEMA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

THE HOLA MEXICO FILM FESTIVAL USA ‘10 ARRIVES TO LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA; SHOWCASING THE BEST OF RECENT MEXICAN CINEMA

Hollywood and International celebrities will attend the opening night red carpet and film screening of BALA MORDIDA (BITTEN BULLET) at the Arclight Cinemas on April 29, 2010

Los Angeles, California (April 14, 2010) – The Hola Mexico Film Festival (HMFF) kicks off its USA ’10 edition in Los Angeles, California for the second consecutive year. The festival has established itself as the most important film festival abroad, showcasing exclusively the best of recent Mexican film productions. This year, film aficionados in the USA will get a chance to attend HMFF in various cities including:  Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Chicago, Washington DC and New York.

The Hola Mexico Film Festival features an ambitious program that showcases the rich diversity of current Mexican Cinema, offering a wide selection for different cinematic tastes. The HMFF USA ’10 edition in Los Angeles will showcase 12 feature films and 2 documentaries. The program includes the award winning film in various festivals around the world: Alamar (To the Sea), directed by Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio; it also includes: Sucedió en un día (It Happens in One Day), a collection of eight short films directed each by one of the most important Mexican filmmakers of today. Adriana Barraza (Academy Award™ nominee) and Joaquin Cosio are among the actors participated in exciting project.

The program showcases two films about immigration. Los que se quedan (Those Who Remain) which has earned accolades in various film festivals. It is a film that explores the melancholy, memories and identity of the families left behind of those who have crossed the northern border. A film about absence, about the families whose lives are defined by the voids emigration has created. Norteado (Northless) directed by Rigoberto Perezcano is about a man who travels from Oaxaca to Tijuana determined to cross the US border. Circumstances force him to stay in Tijuana where he starts working in a grocery store. His experience in Tijuana makes him analyze what he’s about to do and become aware of what he is leaving behind. Norteado talks about the illusion that the USA represent for those who decide to cross the border searching for a better life.

The high quality of the HMFF selected films allows the festival to open with a different film in each of the cities in the USA. In Los Angeles, the opening night program will showcase Bala mordida (Bitten Bullet) directed by Diego Muñoz; the film’s cast includes: Damián Alcázar, Dagoberto Gama and Octavio Castro among others.  The films portraits the Mexico of today and its current crisis of corruption and security; seen from a different point of view, it motivates the audience to analyze and perhaps see, what society has become accustomed to.

The retrospective film this year is the blockbuster, winner of six awards around the globe: Sexo, pudor y lagrimas (Sex, Shame and Tears). The cast includes Demian Bichir, Susana Zabaleta and Cecilia Suarez, among others.

New in 2010: Producers Forum – HMFF will present a producer’s forum in Los Angeles, exploring the world of Mexican Cinema by its most influential producers. Pablo Cruz,  co-founder of Canana Films with Diego Luna and Gael Garcia, who also produced “Sin Nombre” and “Revolución”; and Fernando Rovzar, producer from Lemon Films are confirmed to attend. Various producers from the films showcasing at the festival will also participate.

In Los Angeles,  Hola Mexico Film Festival will run from April 29 to May 4, 2010. All screenings will take place at the Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood. (6360 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA). See www.arclightcinemas.com for more information about the venue. Tickets are available in advance at the theater’s website.

Hola Mexico Film Festival USA ’10 schedule:

Hola Mexico Film Festival USA ’10 Program for Los Angeles, California.

The program and Schedule of films changes at each city the festival will take place in the USA. See www.holamexicoff.com  for the full USA ’10 program.

 

Thursday April 

7:30pm. BITTEN BULLET / BALA MORDIDA

DIR. DIEGO MUNOZ (MEXICO 2009, 112MIN, 35MM)

CAST: DAMIAN ALCAZAR, DAGOBERTO GAMA, OCTAVIO CASTRO

Mauro Hernandez is a young cop who believes he can make a difference. But when he gets caught in the middle of a drug deal that involves his commander, things start to fall apart. Now Mauro has to decide whether he´ll become part of the system or if he has the courage to fight back. In one of the best performances by Damian Alcazar (La Ley de Herodes, El Crimen Del Padre Amaro), first time director Diego Munoz, tells a chilling story that depicts how the police functions on a day by day basis.

9:30pm. Opening Night Fiesta

Friday, April 30

5:15pm. BECLOUD / VAHO

DIR. ALEJANDRO GERBER BICECCI (MEXICO 2009, 117MIN, 35MM)

Becloud is the story of Andrés, José and Felipe, three young boys facing post-adolescent limbo. The memory of a man’s lynching – indirectly caused by them during their childhood – brings them together and at the same time separates them. The story takes place in Iztapalapa, a humble and forgotten area, lavish in its fervent demonstrations of faith but, undoubtedly, the most arid place in Mexico City.

 

7:450pm. THE HALF OF THE WORLD / LA MITAD DEL MUNDO

DIR. JAIME RUIZ IBANEZ (MEXICO 2009, 92MIN, 35MM)

CAST: HANSEL RAMIREZ, PAULINA GAITAN, IGNACIO GUADALUPE, FERNANDO BECERRIL

Mingo is a young, shy and innocent young man with a mild mental retardation. He is a romantic and a kind of poet. After an unusual sexual awakening, he gets involved with an older woman who introduces him to the highest pleasures and introduces him to some of her friends, she makes a lover out of him; although he surrenders to such temptations, Mingo is secretly in love with a girl that lives near him. Soon enough his adventures become common knowledge and that awakens his mother’s worries.

 

9:45pm. KITCH IS COOL / NACO ES CHIDO

DIR. SERGIO ARAU (MEXICO 2009, 90 MIN, HD CAM)

CAST: YARELI ARIZMENDI, SERGIO ARAU, FRANCISCO BARRIOS, ARMANDO VEGA GIL

Directed by Sergio Arau (A Day without a Mexican), Naco Es Chido is a rock comedy. In 1988, members of the famous Mexican rock band, Botellita de Jerez disappeared along with the new record after a fist fight in a taxi cab. The story evolves twenty years later when the famous missing recordings are found in a junk yard. This incites the investigation to search for members of the band and the discovery of the plot that caused the disintegration of the group and that threatens them yet again.

Saturday, May 1

1:00pm. THE STUDENT / EL ESTUDIANTE

DIR. ROBERTO GIRAULT FACHA (MEXICO 2009, 98MIN, 35MM)

CAST: JORGE LAVAT, SIOUZANA MELIKIAN, PABLO CRUZ GUERRERO

Set against the colorful atmosphere of Guanajuato, this comedy captures the adventure of Chano, a retired 70-year-old man who decides, after mixed recommendations from his family, to enroll in College. His presence impact on his classmates and breaches the generational gap. Chano gives his college classmates advice, and in the process learns a few lessons along the way.

3:00pm. THE INHERITORS / LOS HEREDEROS

DIR. EUGENIO POLGOVSKY (MEXICO 2009, DVCAM)

At early age children begin to work in the Mexican countryside. “The Inheritors” is a portrait of their lives and their daily struggle for survival. These children work farming, sculpting, and laboring in a myriad of other activities. They have inherited tools and techniques from their ancestors, but they have also inherited their day-by-day hardship. Generations pass, and child workers remain captive in a cycle of inherited poverty.

SELECTION: VENEZIA FILM FESTIVAL 2009

WINNER: BEST DOCUMENTARY – ARIEL AWARDS 2009

 

5:15pm. THOSE WHO REMAIN / LOS QUE SE QUEDAN

DIR. JUAN CARLOS RULFO and CARLOS HAGERMAN (MEXICO 2009, 96MIN, 35MM)

Those Who Remain is a film about the families of those who have crossed the border to the United States in search of better opportunities. A film that explores the melancholy, memories and identity of the families of those who have crossed the border. A film about absence, about the families whose lives are defined by the voids emigration has created.

WINNER: LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL 2009, MAYAHUEL AWARD – GUADALAJARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2009

7:30pm. BITTEN BULLET / BALA MORDIDA  (Second screening. See film information on the April 29 schedule.)

 

9:40pm. IT HAPPENS IN ONE DAY / SUCEDIO EN UN DIA

DIR. JULIAN HERNANDEZ, GUSTAVO LOZA, DANIEL GRUENER, MARIANA CHENILLO, ISSA LOPEZ, IGNACIO ORTIZ CRUZ, ALEJANDRO LOZANO, BETO GOMEZ.

(MEXICO 2010, 102 MIN, HDCAM)

CAST: DOLORES HEREDIA, IRENE AZUELA, DAGOBERTO GAMA, ADRIANA BARRAZA, JOAQUIN COSIO.

8 talented and experienced directors have 24 hrs to shoot and edit a short film in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. Not your typical short film program, Sucedio En Un Dia, also known as Rally Malayerba PRO, show us a mix of short films that promise to make you laugh and cry.

Sunday, May 2

 

12:00pm. THE HALF OF THE WORLD / LA MITAD DEL MUNDO (Second screening. See film information on the April 30 schedule.)

2:00pm. NORTHLESS  / NORTEADO

DIR. RIGOBERTO PEREZCANO (MEXICO 2009, 95MIN, 35MM)

Andrés travels from Oaxaca to Tijuana to cross the US border. Things don’t result as planned and he has to stay in Tijuana where he starts working in a grocery store, there, he meets Elia, Cata and Asensio. What Andres finds in Tijuana makes him think about what he’s about to do and become aware of what he’s leaving behind. Norteado talks about the illusion that the United States represent for those who decide to cross the border searching for a better life.

SELECTION: TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

WINNER: INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM, SAN SEBASTIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

4:30pm. BECLOUD / VAHO (Second screening. See film information on the April 30 schedule.)

7:00pm. LOVE ON A WKND / AMOR EN FIN

DIR. SALVADOR AGUIRRE (MEXICO 2009, 90MIN, 35MM)

CAST: ADRIANA BARRAZA, DANIEL GIMENEZ CACHO, PAOLA NUÑEZ

Three social classes. Three different worlds. Three love pieces during a weekend prior to the most controversial presidential election in Mexico. Intimate stories of couples that did not change history. Starring Daniel Jimenez Cacho (Arrancame La Vida) and Oscar-nominated actress Adriana Barraza (Babel).

9:30pm. SEX, SHAME AND TEARS / SEXO, PUDOR & LAGRIMAS

DIR. ANTONIO CERRANO (MEXICO, 1999, 109 MIN, 35MM)

CAST: DEMIAN BICHIR, SUSANA ZABALETA

Winner of six major festival awards, this Mexican blockbuster is an outrageous comedy that explores the battle of the sexes-and the exes! Sex-deprived Ana is nearly out of her mind with longing, until her wild ex-boyfriend, Thomas, shows up to visit Ana and her husband. Filled with outrageous humour and penetrating drama, Sexo, Pudor & Lágrimas is tantalizing from start to finish!

Monday, May 3

 

5:00pm. THOSE WHO REMAIN / LOS QUE SE QUEDAN (Second screening. See film information on the May 1 schedule.)

7:30pm. THE STUDENT / EL ESTUDIANTE (Second screening. See film information on the May 1 schedule.)

9:30pm. MURDER SERIOUSLY / ASESINO EN SERIO

DIR. ANTONIO URRUTIA (MEXICO/SPAIN, 2002, 84 MIN, 35MM)

CAST: DANIEL GIMENEZ CACHO, JESUS OCHOA

A Mexican entry into the “hip crime” genre popularized by Quentin Tarantino. Detective Martinez has been assigned to investigate a series of very unusual murders. It appears to the detective that a serial killer has been eliminating women by pleasuring them to death. ASESINO EN SERIO is a sexy crime thriller with a heavily comic slant.

 

Tuesday, May 4

 

6:00pm. MOBILE  / PERPETUUM

DIR. NICOLAS PEREDA (MEXICO/CANADA/FRANCE 2009, 86MIN, 35MM)

CAST: GABINO RODRIGUEZ, TERESA SANCHEZ

Gabino, a twenty four-year-old man, works as a moving-truck driver in Mexico City. He lives with his mother, Teresa, with whom he has a distant relationship. She wishes Gabino was more like Miguel, her other son, who she believes has a decent job and a good lifestyle. Miguel, however, doesn’t care much about his family and never visits them.

SELECTION: ACID 09 at CANNES

WINNER: BEST FILM, GUADALAJARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

8:00pm. TO THE SEA / ALAMAR,

DIR. PEDRO GONZALEZ-RUBIO (MEXICO 2009, 75MIN, 35MM)

Jorge and Roberta have been separated for several years. They simply come from opposite worlds: he likes an uncomplicated life in the jungle, while she prefers a more urban existence. He is Mexican and she is Italian, and she has decided to return to Rome with their five-year-old son, Natan. But before they leave, Jorge wishes to take young Natan on a trip, hoping to teach him about his Mayan origins in Mexico.

SELECTION: TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

WINNER: MORELIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, MIAMI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM

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