Toulouse Roundup

Last week I attended the Cine Latino Film Festival in Toulouse, France. It's an annual showcase of the best in Latin American cinema, one of the biggest in the world. I attended as a guest of the CINEMA EN CONSTRUCCION strand, which is a competition for unifinished films looking for post-production money.

The Festival is very relaxed, laid back, and the beer is cheap. The anti-Cannes, if you will. Lots of directors from Latin America fly in and the atmosphere is positively latino. Last year I attended as part of the CINE SIN FRONTERAS (now CINEMALAB) programme, with the CINE ESTELI project.

I saw seven films in two days, including opener from Argentina ROMPECABEZAS, a tired collection of cliches about a woman who obsesses over puzzles (the title of the film). Not a great beginning. This was a finished film which competed the year before for the CONSTRUCCION prize.

Another finished film I saw was LAS MARIMBAS DEL INFIERNO, from Guatemala, which can only be described as Central America's answer to ANVIL, about a poor marimba player who joins a heavy metal band. This is one of the best films I have seen all year: moving, hilarious, beautifully shot. A real original crowd pleaser, and made in the docu-drama style of ALAMAR.



I won't bore you with the collection of unfinished films because it's not really fair to review something which doesn't even have a sound design, but suffice to say, most were done in the 'slow cinema' style that has completely taken over all festivals worldwide, and they bored me to death. Except one: BONSAI, a Chilean film from Cristian Jimenez (pictured), a director from Valdivia (where I was last year), also produced by Bruno Bettati, a friend and director of the Valdivia Festival. BONSAI, as I tweeted, was like 500 DAYS OF SUMMER with a PhD in Proust. As the director himself sais before the screening, it's a film about love, books and plants. It's also gorgeously shot (in Valdivia and Santiago), well acted, cleverly written and genuinely erudite in its use of literary references (a cat is called Gogol). It should be a festival hit and might even be a minor commercial success in selected territories. This film won the Best Film Prize at the Construccion competition, which ensures its post-production and distribution in France (TONY MANERO was a previous winner).

Valdivia: the end

In a few hours I depart on my 28 hour journey back to the UK. The Cine Sin Fronteras sessions concluded yesterday after we all presented our projects and received feedback and help from the professionals and other trainees. In the end I didn't manage to see any films, as our schedule and the amount of networking events to attend took over.

One of the most interesting aspects of this training was meeting film producers and distributors from Latin America and learning how they do their job. For example, Fiorella Moretti from Mantarraya Films (they produce and distribute films in Mexico) who works with acclaimed Cannes-winning Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas (BATTLE IN HEAVEN, SILENT LIGHT) and who also releases arthouse films in Mexico like UNCLE BOONMEE. I also met Uruguayan producer Fernando Epstein, who produced WHISKY and GIGANTE (winner in Berlin this year). Florencia Schapiro from Lat-E, a sales agent and distributor, looks after the Argentinian arthouse market - check her blog out here.

The challenges they face are huge compared to the issues we face in Western Europe, in what is called 'mature markets': lack of audiences, lack of cinemas, lack of incentives, lack of cash, lack of any coherent cultural policy....these are all problems affecting Europeans, but on a very different scale.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Venezuela seems like an exciting place because of the new laws that have been adopted recently which create incentives (very much in the model of Europa Cinemas) for cinemas to show national, Latin American and European cinema. There is also extensive funding for Venezuelan cinema, and hopefully we'll see the effects of these measures reaching our shores soon.

So thanks to our very lovely hosts in Valdivia who have been sweet from day one, and I shall definitely be returning as soon as I can...

I am heading back to Brighton with a ton of ideas and contacts for the CINE ESTELI project but also keen to get back to work at the Dukes, and catch up with all my favorite customers. See you there!

Valdivia Day 3

As I write we are still in the middle of the training sessions that comprise the work of Cine Sin Fronteras, and tomorrow we present our projects. The days are long and hard, but very productive - and what's the point in sleeping when you travel across the world?

I've made some important contacts that will hopefully help me take the CINE ESTELI project forward, including key funding bodies and festivals. I've also heard some really interesting presentations, including one from Paula Astorga, who is the head of the Cineteca in Mexico City. She talked in depth about audience segmentation and it reminded me of something that I think I already knew: that understanding who your audience is key.

A company called BRAZUCA also presented the work they do in Universities in Brazil, which is much more sophisticated than I expected to find in South America, but that says more about my poorly informed expectations than about the level of the market down here.

Based on my very limited experience and knowledge of Chile, I can categorically say (without trying to sound like a suck up to my gracious hosts) that Chileans are the most polite collection of people I have ever encountered in my travels.

Tonight we finally see a film, Sebastian Silva's GATOS VIEJOS (OLD CATS). Full review to follow tomorrow.

Valdivia, Day 2

Would more cinemas increase admissions? This very theory was presented by Patrice Vivancos, a media expert/consultant yesterday at our first full day of work for the CSF workshops. Using the US market as a model, where there is a screen per each 7,800 inhabitants (and consequently has the highest visit per capita worldwide), he argues that if the industry wants more customers, it needs to start re-opening or building new cinemas. This sparked quite a debate, as the US model is not seen as particularly an enlightened one by arthouse operators, particularly since its the French model that is being presented here as the panacea to all our problems.

The French system taxes all movies, TV and any other audiovisual commercial activities to the tune of half a billion euros each year and then reinvests this money in their national industry. This is a hugely privileged position that few countries can afford, if only because 21st century WTO rules prohibit such protectionism. But in another sign that the world is changing and the Washington consensus is not so consensual, Venezuela have just passed a law (our Venezuelan colleagues tell me) that makes it a legal requirement for multiplexes to play national cinema, and injects a lot of money into production, distribution and exhibition of national and Latin American cinema.

After the sessions we were given a tour of Teatro Cervantes, a 1940s theater that is closed permanently but re-opened each year just for the Festival dates. They have a collection of ancient projectors and were busy making the space safe and ready for audiences when the fest opens tomorrow. They clearly had heard of my obsession with historic cinemas.

As always with these events, the real reward is in meeting likeminded colleagues doing the same work in a different country - with different markets, cultures, and laws. Some of the best debates about the future of arthouse happened over a quinoa risotto (a local speciality).

Valdivia Day 1

After a grueling 20-hour journey with four different flights, we arrived in Valdivia, Chile, yesterday, as part of the Cine Sin Fronteras workshops I am attending here until Saturday. The Valdivia Film Festival doesn't kick off till Thursday (opening film will be OLD CATS, from Sebastian Silva, director of LA NANA, which I saw in Toulouse in March) and I am hoping we'll see a few other films before my departure.

Chile has a long and strong cinematic tradition, linked most notably in the past to its political backdrop. The superb documentary THE BATTLE OF CHILE (PARTS 1, 2 & 3) by Patricio Guzman was the definitive account of the Allende presidency and his demise after the Pinochet-led coup in 1973. Miguel Littin contributed to this genre with the doc COMPANERO PRESIDENTE about Allende. 20 years of Pinochet's rule silenced the industry but recently the country has come back with a vengeance: Pablo Lorrain (TONY MANERO, POST MORTEM), Andres Wood (MACHUCA) and Sebastian Silva (LA NANA) are all filmmakers dealing in new ways with the political realities of Chile. Alejandro Jodorowsky (EL TOPO, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN) is a Chilean filmmaker more known for his Mexican-set films.

Last night we met our Latin American counterparts, which include Venzuelans, Chileans, Mexicans, Argentinians and Uruguayans. We also have observers and presenters from Brazil and Peru. Over dinner last night I heard about the new laws coming into effect in Venezuela, where exhibitors will be forced to show Venezuelan films and multiplexes will have to dedicate one of their screens permanently to non-Hollywood product. This has created a surge in homegrown productions, which the state is funding. We might see in the next few years a new wave of Venezuelan cinema, spurred by direct government intervention.

I shall keep you posted in the next few days. Hasta pronto!

Heading South

Tomorrow I fly to Valdivia, Chile, to attend the second part of the Cine Sin Fronteras workshops that started in March in Toulouse at the Cine Latino Film Festival, where European and Latin American exhibitors get together to present their projects, network and help where possible.

My project is CINE ESTELI, the beleaguered Nicaraguan cinema I am working to bring back to life. In March, I got a lot of great ideas and contacts that have helped me with my work, and I hope this trip will be as fruitful. The Valdivia Film Festival is happening in the background, but one look at our programme tells me we won't have much time to watch films.

I'll update the blog from Valdivia in the coming days so stay tuned. Hasta pronto!