Arte Mecanica nabs Mariana Rondon’s award-winning “Bad Hair”March 29, 2014 - 16:08 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Mariana Rondon’s “Pelo Malo” (Bad Hair), which vied for the Ibero-American Fiction and Maguey awards at the Guadalajara Int’l Film Fest, sold to Mexico’s Arte Mecanica Friday, March 28 at Guadalajara, making it the 24th territory to nab the young gay drama, Variety said. U.S.-based distrib/sales co. FiGa Films snatched Venezuelan pic at Toulouse’s Cinema en Construction last year where it went on to win a string of awards, starting with the Concha de Oro for best film at San Sebastian, a best actress award for lead Samantha Castillo at the Montreal Festival of New Cinema and the Special Jury and Fipresci prizes at the Thessaloniki fest last November. “It’s our biggest hit ever, we couldn’t be happier,” said FiGa Films’ Sandro Fiorin who founded company with Cuban partner Alex Garcia. Shot in Caracas, Venezuela for close to $600,000, pic tracks a young 9-year old boy who wants to straighten his curly hair against the wishes of his mother, who’s certain that he’s gay. “On a fundamental level, I wanted my film to be a reflection on the value of respect for diversity and on another level, a reflection on the polarization of society in Venezuela,” said Rondon. “It’s hit a nerve with audiences as it’s a multi-layered story; it’s not just about a gay kid but is also set against what’s happening in Venezuela now,” said Garcia. FiGa plans to release pic in New York and L.A. in July and roll out to other U.S. cities in August and September, per Garcia. Company has also sold it to HBO and HBO Latino for a 7-year run, starting September 2014. Pic opened in Spain mid-March and is next bowing in France and Switzerland. In the summer, it opens in the U.K, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Venezuela among other territories. Rondon’s producing partner Marite Ugas will helm their company Sudaca Films’ next pic, as they take turns in producing and directing. Next pic is tentatively titled “Contactado” and dwells on the theme of faith in Latin America. Related links: Top stories The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. The festival made the news public on March 19, saying that “several options are considered in order to preserve its running” Partner news | Ucom General Director gives lecture at French University in Armenia The General Director of Ucom Ralph Yirikian delivered a lecture at the French University of Armenia. Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. Aliyev says no need for mediators in Armenia-Azerbaijan process Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes that Baku and Yerevan do not mediators in the process of normalizing relations. |