Guillermo del Toro Announces Scholarship for Aspiring Mexican Filmmakers

Posted on March 11, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Guillermo del Toro is ready to help the next generation of Mexican filmmakers…

The 53-year-old Mexican writer-director, who won two Oscars earlier this month, has returned to his hometown of Guadalajara with some news.

After his romance-fantasy film The Shape of Water took home four Academy Awards last Sunday, including best picture and director, del Toro attended the Guadalajara International Film Festival, where he’s imparting a series of free master classes to thousands of fans.

Following the first class on Saturday, the festival inaugurated a state-of-the-art cinema named after del Toro, and then organizers announced the creation of the Jenkins-Del Toro International Film Scholarship, a $60,000 annual award for an aspiring Mexican filmmaker to study abroad at a prestigious film institute.

“If we change a life, if we change a history, we change a generation,” said del Toro, whose genre filmmaking has inspired a new generation of talent in Mexico.

Del Toro and fellow countrymen Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman) regularly produce films from up-and-coming Mexican filmmakers.

“The first push is very important,” said del Toro, who will oversee a jury that awards the scholarship at the Guadalajara film fest each year.

del Toro also announced that his At Home with Monsters exhibit will hit museums in Guadalajara and Mexico City next year. The exhibit features 500 drawings, paintings and concept pieces from del Toro’s works, including creepy life-size sculptures of monster figures. The collection, to be curated by Oscar-winning production designer Eugenio Caballero (Pan’s Labyrinth), bowed in 2016 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Guillermo del Toro Wins Best Director and Best Picture Oscars for “The Shape of Water”

Posted on March 5, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

It’s turned out to be a monster night for Guillermo del Toro…

The 53-year-old Mexican filmmaker had a nearly perfect night, picking up his first-ever Academy Awards for his romantic fantasy drama The Shape of Water.

del Toro, who co-wrote, directed and produced the film, was named Best Director, an award he was predicted to win throughout awards season.

Additionally, del Toro’s The Shape of Water took home the night’s top prize, Best Picture.

The romantic fable was conceived by del Toro as a tribute to the monster movies he loved as a child, updated to tell a story about tolerance and compassion that could speak to a contemporary audience.The film ultimately took home four Oscars, the most of any nominee.

“As a kid enamored of movies growing up in Mexico, I thought it would never happened, but it happened,” said del Toro, in accepting the Best Picture award.

del Toro, who missed out on being 3-for-3 when he lost in the Best Original Screenplay category, urged other young filmmakers to take inspiration from his win, and “use the power of fantasy to tell stories about things that are real in the world.”

The award was presented by Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, who famously announced the wrong Best Picture winner last year, naming La La Land instead of actual winner Moonlight.

He’s the latest Mexican filmmaker to take home multiple awards in the same night… Alejandro González Iñárritu previously scored three Oscar wins in 2015 for Birdman: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

One year earlier, Alfonso Cuaron took home two Oscars for his film Gravity: Best Director. and Best Film Editing.

Meanwhile, Disney/Pixar’s Dia de los Muertos-themed animated film Coco won best animated feature and its featured tune, “Remember Me,” won Best Original Song.

And, the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film went to A Fantastic Woman, from Chile, the story of a transgender person struggling in the aftermath of the death of a lover.

The film edged out Ruben Östlund’s Swedish satire The Square and Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Russian fable Loveless.

Directed by Sebastián Lelio and written by Lelio and Gonzalo Maza, the film marks the first Chilean entry for the foreign language Oscar since Pablo Larraín’s No, and the first ever Academy award for Lelio, in his follow-up to the acclaimed film Gloria.

At Sunday’s ceremony, the film’s star Daniela Vega became the first openly transgender person to present an award at the Oscars.

Here’s a look at all of this year’s Academy Award winners.

BEST PICTURE
The Shape of Water

ACTRESS
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

ACTOR
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

DIRECTOR
Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Allison Janney, I, Tonya

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

ORIGINAL SONG (PRESENTED TO SONGWRITERS)
Remember Me, from Coco (Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez)

ORIGINAL SCORE
The Shape of Water, Alexandre Desplat

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Blade Runner 2049, Roger A. Deakins

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Get Out, Jordan Peele

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Call Me By Your Name, James Ivory

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
The Silent Child

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405

FILM EDITING
Dunkirk, Lee Smith

VISUAL EFFECTS
Blade Runner 2049

ANIMATED FEATURE
Coco

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
Dear Basketball

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A Fantastic Woman (Chile)

PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Shape of Water

SOUND MIXING
Dunkirk

SOUND EDITING
Dunkirk, Richard King and Alex Gibson

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
Icarus

COSTUME DESIGN
Phantom Thread, Mark Bridges

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Darkest Hour, Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick

Prieto to Make Feature Directorial Debut with the Revenge Thriller “Bastard”

Posted on March 26, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Rodrigo Prieto is stepping into the director’s chair…

The 51-year-old Mexican cinematographer, who has worked on films such as Martin Scorcese’s Silence and Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, will make his directorial debut with the revenge thriller Bastard.

Based on an original script penned by Bill Gullo, Bastard is a taut revenge thriller with a riveting antagonist at its core, set against a looming flood that will ravage the small town of Bird’s Point, Missouri.

A Mexico-City native, Prieto started his career shooting television commercials at the age of 22 before moving into features in 1992. He broke out into the film scene with his work on Amores Perros, which kicked off his collaboration with director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Prieto boasts a top-notch list of film credits including Julie Taymor’s Frida; Curtis Hanson’s 8 Mile; Spike Lee’s 25th Hour; Iñárritu’s 21 Grams and Babel; Oliver Stone’s Alexander; Kevin Macdonald’s State of Play; Pedro Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces; Francis Laurence’s Water for Elephants; Cameron Crowe’s We Bought A Zoo; Lee’s Brokeback Mountain; Ben Affleck’s Argo; and a clutch of Scorcese titles.

He’s most recently worked on HBO series Vinyl and Silence, the latter of which saw him earn an Oscar nomination.

Prieto directed his first short film Likeness, starring Elle Fanning, which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

Production is slated to begin in the first quarter of 2018.

Rodriguez to Sit Down with Barbra Streisand at the Tribeca Film Festival

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Robert Rodriguez is ready to babble on with Babs…

The 48-year-old Mexican American filmmaker will partner with Barbra Streisand for a special talk at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

Streisand, an icon in multiple entertainment fields, will converse on her unparalleled career and force field of creativity with filmmaker Rodriguez, the mastermind behind such films as El Mariachi, Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, as part of the festival’s Tribeca Talks: Storytellers series.

Streisand has attained unprecedented achievements as a recording artist, actor, director, producer, concert performer, author and songwriter. Streisand has been awarded two Oscars, five Emmys, ten Golden Globes, eight Grammys plus two special Grammys, a special Tony Award in 1970, and two CableACE Awards – the only artist to receive honors in all of those fields of endeavor.

Rodriguez, a horror/cult movie maestro, will pose questions to Streisand on her storied career.

But he isn’t the only Latino taking part in this year’s Tribeca Talks…

Alejandro González Iñárritu will talk part in the Tribeca Talks: Director Series, a series of will “intimate talks and discussions.”

The Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker, who directed Birdman and The Revenant, will discuss his own body of work.

The 2017 Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 19-30. Visit the festival’s website for more details.

Here’s more on the two Tribeca Talks:

Tribeca Talks: Directors Series
Today’s most groundbreaking filmmakers discuss their careers and highlights.

Alejandro González Iñárritu
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu, one of only three directors to ever win consecutive Oscars and the first to do so in 65 years, will talk about his beautifully varied work on films such as Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Biutiful, Babel, and most recently, The Revenant. Iñárritu is the first Mexican filmmaker to have been nominated for Best Director and Best Producer in the history of the Academy Awards.
DATE: Saturday, April 22
TIME: 2:30PM

Tribeca Talks: Storytellers
Some of today’s most innovative creators broke from traditional roles and pioneered their own forms of storytelling, often mastering multiple mediums. This series will celebrate the illustrious careers of those individuals who have broken from the mold.

Barbra Streisand with Robert Rodriguez
Widely recognized as an icon in multiple entertainment fields, Barbra Streisand has attained unprecedented achievements as a recording artist, actor, director, producer, concert performer, author and songwriter. Streisand has been awarded two Oscars, five Emmys, ten Golden Globes, eight Grammys plus two special Grammys, a special Tony award in 1970, and two CableACE Awards – the only artist to receive honors in all of those fields of endeavor. She will converse on her unparalleled career and force field of creativity with filmmaker Robert Rodriguez.
DATE: Saturday, April 29
TIME: 6:00PM
LOCATION: BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center

Gonzalez Inarritu Developing Virtual Reality Short About Immigrants Crossing the U.S./Mexico Border

Posted on September 29, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is planning to shed some light on immigrant experience…

The two-time Mexican Oscar-winning director is working on a virtual reality short, one that he’s been developing for four years.

The short is being produced and financed by Legendary Entertainment and Fondazione Prada, which announced it. ILMxLAB, Lucasfilm’s recently established Immersive Entertainment division, will build the virtual world and characters.

Gonzalez Inarritu will work once again with Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki in what is described as an experiment for their first time within a space narrative in this new visual medium.

The immersive virtual reality piece will explore the intense and excruciating experience of a group of immigrants and refugees crossing the border between Mexico and the U.S.

The companies haven’t disclosed their plans for releasing the project.

Isaac Earns First Acting Critics’ Choice Awards Nomination

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Oscar Isaac is getting a heroes reception…

The 36-year-old Guatemalan and Cuban American actor is among the Latino talents earning a Critics’ Choice Awards nomination.

Isaac earned his nod in the Actor in a Movie Made for Television or Limited Series for his performance in the HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero. It’s his first nomination in an acting category. He previously was nominated in the Song category for co-penning “Please Mr. Kennedy” for the film Inside Llewyn Davis with Adam Driver and Justin Timberlake.

Gina Rodriguez, who earned a Golden Globe earlier this year, picked up her second consecutive nomination in the Actress in a Comedy Series category for her starring role in The CW’s Jane the Virgin.

Rodriguez’s Jane the Virgin co-star Jamie Camil picked up his second nod in the Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category for his role as Rodriguez’s onscreen father. He’ll face off against Mel Rodriguez, who received his nomination for his performance on HBO’s Getting On.

In the film section, Alejandro González Iñárritu earned a nod in the Director category for helming the western drama/thriller The Revenant, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. The Mexican filmmaker was nominated last year in the same category for directing Birdman. He lost in that category, but took home the Screenplay trophy for the same film.

Meanwhile, the film’s lenser Emmanuel Lubezki received a nom in the Cinematography category. He’s the two-time reigning champion in the category after winning for his work on Gravity in 2014 and Birdman in 2015. He also won the prize in 2012 for The Tree of Life.

Paco Delgado picked up a nod in the Costume Design category for his work on The Danish Girl. He previously was nominated in 2013 for his work on Les Misérables.

Hosted by T.J. Miller, the awards show will be held on January 17 at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. It will air simultaneously on A&E, Lifetime and LMN.

Here are the categories featuring Latino nominees for the 21st annual Critics’ Choice Awards:

MOVIE

DIRECTOR
Todd Haynes – Carol
Alejandro González Iñárritu – The Revenant
Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
Ridley Scott – The Martian
Steven Spielberg – Bridge of Spies

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Carol – Ed Lachman
The Hateful Eight – Robert Richardson
Mad Max: Fury Road – John Seale
The Martian – Dariusz Wolski
The Revenant – Emmanuel Lubezki
Sicario – Roger Deakins

COSTUME DESIGN
Brooklyn – Odile Dicks-Mireaux
Carol – Sandy Powell
Cinderella – Sandy Powell
The Danish Girl – Paco Delgado
Mad Max: Fury Road – Jenny Beavan

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Assassin
Goodnight Mommy
Mustang
The Second Mother
Son of Saul

TELEVISION

ACTOR IN A MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES
Wes Bentley – American Horror Story: Hotel – FX
Martin Clunes – Arthur & George – PBS
Idris Elba – Luther – BBC America
Oscar Isaac – Show Me a Hero – HBO
Vincent Kartheiser – Saints & Strangers – National Geographic Channel
Patrick Wilson – Fargo – FX

ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Rachel Bloom – Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – The CW
Aya Cash – You’re the Worst – FXX
Wendi McLendon-Covey – The Goldbergs – ABC
Gina Rodriguez – Jane the Virgin – The CW
Tracee Ellis Ross – Black-ish – ABC
Constance Wu – Fresh Off the Boat – ABC

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Andre Braugher – Brooklyn Nine-Nine – Fox
Jaime Camil – Jane the Virgin – The CW
Jay Duplass – Transparent – Amazon
Neil Flynn – The Middle – ABC
Keegan-Michael Key – Playing House – USA
Mel Rodriguez – Getting On – HBO

Sanchez Earns Two World Soundtrack Awards for Composing the Music for “Birdman”

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Antonio Sanchez is flying high…

The 43-year-old Mexican jazz drummer and composer took home two awards on Saturday at the 15th World Soundtrack Awards which served as the finale to the 42nd Film Fest Ghent in Belgium.

Sanchez, a Critics Choice Movie Award winner earlier this year, was named Discovery of the Year 2015 for composing the music for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Oscar-winning film Birdman.

He also picked up the award for Best Original Film Score of the Year for Birdman.

Sanchez’s work also earned him the nomination for 2014 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, a nomination for the 2015 British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA), and other nominations.

Meanwhile, the honor for the year’s Best Original Song written directly for a movie went to “The Apology Song” from The Book of Life, with music by Gustavo Santaolalla, lyrics by Paul Williams and performed by Diego Luna.

Here’s a look at all the big winners:

Composer of the Year
Michael Giacchino

Original Film Score of the Year
Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) by Antonio Sanchez

Best Original Song Written for a Film
“The Apology Song” from The Book of Life
Music by Gustavo Santaolalla, lyrics by Paul Williams, performed by Diego Luna

Discovery of the Year
Antonio Sanchez for ‘Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)’

Sabam Award for Best Young Composer
Peer Kleinschmidt

Public Choice Award
The Maze Runner by John Paesano

Lifetime Achievement Award
Patrick Doyle

Gonzalez Iñárritu to Lead Panel Discussion at Produced By: New York Conference

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu will school people on his process and latest project…

The 52-year-old Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker will be the featured speaker at the second Produced By: New York conference later this month.

The headlining panel, Producers’ Masterclass: An Adventurous Partnership with Alejandro G. Iñárritu, will feature the Oscar and Producers Guild Award-winning filmmaker alongside his producing team — Mary Parent, Steve Golin, and Brad Weston — as they talk about their latest film, The Revenant.

Iñárritu and his team join previously announced Tina Fey and a roster of leading industry producers and executives including Effie Brown, Bruce Cohen, Barbara Hall, John Hoffman, Navid Khonsari, Michelle King, Robert King, Michael London, Gary Lucchesi, Tom McCarthy, Lori McCreary, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Peter Saraf, Darren Star & Christine Vachon.

Discovery Communications is the presenting sponsor of PBNY, which takes place Saturday, October 24th and is hosted by Time Warner Inc. and HBO at the Time Warner Center in New York City.

Sanchez Earns World Soundtrack Awards Nomination for “Birdman”

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

He’s already the Critics’ Choice… But Antonio Sanchez may soon be the expert’s choice…

The 43-year-old Mexican jazz drummer has been recognized by the World Soundtrack Academy with a nomination for this year’s World Soundtrack Awards.

Sanchez, who won his first-ever Critics‘ Choice Movie Award from the Broadcast Film Critics Association in January, is nominated in the Best Original Film Score of the Year category for his acclaimed work on Alejandro González Iñárritu‘s Birdman.

Sanchez, a multiple Grammy winner, will face off against Patrick Doyle’s Cinderella, Alexandre Desplat’s The Imitation Game, Hans Zimmer’s Intersellar and Johann Johannsson’s The Theory of Everything.

But Sanchez isn’t the only Latino nominee this year…

Gustavo Santaolalla received a nomination in the Best Original Song Written for a Film category.

The 63-year-old Argentine musician, film composer and producer, a two-time Academy Award winner, is nominated for writing the Diego Luna-performed “The Apology Song” from the Guillermo del Toro-produced The Book of Life.

Santaolalla, a two-time World Soundtrack Award receipient, previously won the Discovery of the Year award for 21 Grams in 2004 and the Public Choice Award for Brokeback Mountain in 2005.

The 15th annual World Soundtrack Awards will be the closing event of Film Fest Gent on October 24, 2015 in Ghent, Belgium.

The World Soundtrack Academy aims to support film music, sound design, composers and their worldwide promotion. In fifteen years time, the membership of the WSAcademy grew into a group of 370 international film (music) professionals deciding on the nominees for the annual World Soundtrack Awards through several rounds of voting.

Here’s a look at this year’s World Soundtrack Awards nominees:

Film Composer of the Year
Bruno Coulais ‘Song of the Sea’, ‘Gemma Bovary’, ‘3 hearts’ (‘3 Coeurs’), ‘Mune le guardien de la lune’, ‘Diary of a Chambermaid’ (‘Journal d’une femme de chambre’), ‘Fly Away Solo’
Alexandre Desplat ‘Unbroken’, ‘The Imitation Game’, ‘Everything Will Be Fine’, ‘Tale of Tales’
Michael Giacchino ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’, ‘Inside Out’, ‘Jupiter Ascending’, ‘Jurassic World’, ‘Tomorrowland’
Johann Johannsson ‘The Theory of Everything’, ‘The 11th Hour’, ‘Sicario’
Hans Zimmer ‘Interstellar’, ‘Chappie’

Best Original Film Score of The Year
‘Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)’ by Antonio Sanchez
‘Cinderella’ by Patrick Doyle
‘The Imitation Game’ by Alexandre Desplat
‘Interstellar’ by Hans Zimmer
‘The Theory of Everything’ by Johann Johannsson

Best Original Song Written For A Film
The Apology Song from ‘The Book of Life’: Music by Gustavo Santaolalla, lyrics by Paul Williams, performed by Diego Luna
Carry Me Home from ‘Insurgent’: Music & lyrics by Joseph Trapanese & Christopher Taylor, performed by SOHN
Glory from ‘Selma’: Music & lyrics by John Legend, Common and Rhymefest performed by Common & Legend
Grateful from ‘Beyond the Lights’: Music & lyrics by Diane Warren, performed by Rita Ora
Tell Me from ‘Lost River’: Music & lyrics by Johnny Jewel, performed by Saoirse Ronan

LACMA to Honor González Iñárritu at This Year’s Art + Film Gala

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro González Iñárritu is being feted for his “daring and nimble vision”…

The 51-year-old Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker will be honored alongside light and space artist James Turrell at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s fifth Art + Film Gala on November 7.

LACMA trustee Eva Chow and actor Leonardo DiCaprio will once again co-chair the annual fundraiser presented by Gucci.

“In only a few years, LACMA’s Art + Film Gala has established its reputation for honoring artists and filmmakers whose impact can be felt worldwide and that have particular relevance to Los Angeles, and James Turrell and Alejandro G. Inarritu certainly fit that bill,” said Michael Govan, LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg director, who further elaborated on the selections.

“In the last two decades, Inarritu has displayed a daring and nimble vision for films including Birdman and Babel; his work has rightly garnered the highest of critical acclaim.”

González Iñárritu won three golden statuettes as the 87th Academy Awards for Birdman, becoming the first-ever three-time Latino Oscar winner in history.

His five feature films – Amores perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003), Babel (2006), Biutiful (2010) and Birdman (2014) – have garnered wide acclaim.

Past honorees include Barbara Kruger, Quentin Tarantino, David Hockney, Martin Scorsese, Ed Ruscha and Stanley Kubrick.

“The Art + Film Gala is now an annual highlight and brings together figures from the worlds of art, cinema, fashion and music to support the museum,” said longtime supporter and fashion designer Chow. “It’s a real honor and my pleasure to welcome two such unique and greatly talented artists whose work moves and inspires me deeply. And I am thrilled to co-chair this important fundraiser with Leonardo DiCaprio, whose support for this initiative is so critical.”

Funds from the Art + Film Gala support LACMA’s growing mission to make film a more prominent aspect of the museum’s programming, by way of exhibitions, educational sessions and screenings that explore how the film and art worlds converge.

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