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- Film: Ladrones y Mentirosos
Film Maker's Blog
THE FESTIVAL RUN --- March-July 2006
Aug 10, 2006 08:40PM
July 25-30, 2006 -The New York International Latino Film Festival (NYILFF)
One of the long lines that cued up on 59th St. at the NYILFF for "Ladrones y Mentirosos"
We spent the last week in July at the Big Apple, for the NYILFF. We screened twice (Thursday and Friday) to a mostly Puerto Rican audience, which sort of caught us by surprise. It shouldn't have, because the city has long been Boricua territory, but somehow we never thought about it. It wasn't until Poli and I were in the theater and the audience began to loudly interact with the screen, laughing, moaning, gasping and talking all through the movie, that we realized this was going to be a very different (and very special) set of screenings.
We got a big applause both times, which was quickly outdone by the even bigger ovation when we introduced actress Magda Rivera during the Q&A. Magda totally steals the movie as "Wanda," and it was never more obvious than here. When I introduced her to the crowd she was sitting on the very back row, and the applause lasted all the way until she had stepped down to the stage. When it finally subsided I added "Isn't she great" -and they gave her yet another big hand! The audience just loves her.
Several of our friends came down to Blackstones after the Thursday screening to celebrate with us.
As it great as it all was, it really brought up why it's always so difficult to sell a Latino film to a US distributor. Movies are made to be seen on the big screen, with an audience, and not on DVD. A potential distributor checking out our screener DVD will not have the slightest clue of how well Puerto Rican audiences react to our movie. These screenings were not just successful; they were full of emotion and pride. The Thursday show was a smash, but by the time Sunday show came around we could already feel the effect of word of mouth. This second audience was "in the know," and eagerly anticipated what was coming. Poli and I were soaring. Sadly, however, our potential distributors will never know. This is one of those Catch-22 scenarios: it's nearly impossible for Latino filmmakers to reach our audience without distribution support, but until we can prove our movie will score with Latino audiences it’s unlikely any distributor will help us deliver it to them. That’s why we are going to self distribute in Puerto Rico in October. If we’re wrong, the movie will fail and that will be that. But if we’re right, and we do well in PR, maybe then we can find a partner to distribute the film in the US. After all, there are more Puerto Ricans living there than on the island.
But let's get back to the festival. The best thing about any festival in New York is of course that it's in New York. Not only did we have the best audiences so far, but we also got a huge amount of press. we were interviewed by Ruth Hernández for the Spanish news agency EFE, Alberto Morales for The Nation magazine, and by María Hinojosa for her NPR show "Latino USA." It was great to get this kind of national coverage, period, but what was ultimately more gratifying was to see three terrific Latino media journalists asking intelligent questions about critical issues. Pop culture can be fun, but one can only read so many news articles about the latest fashion trend, or what celebrity is having whose baby, before one begins to ask what ever happened to serious journalism. As Judith Escalona pointed out during the Medianoche talk, the concept of film aesthetics seems to have sadly gotten lost in the last few years, even more so when it comes to Latino media coverage, and it was very refreshing to meet three reporters more concerned with the pursuit of truth than with the celebration of celebrity.
-You can read The Nation interview on their website, www.thenation.com
-You can listen to the María Hinojosa interview when it airs in early October.
WE GOT GREAT PRESS: Steven Bauer and Lymari Nadal were the cover for the weekend entertainment section of NY's Spanish language newspaper, El Diario-La Prensa
Judith Escalona (top, center) moderated the talk at Medianoche. Among the many friends who attended were Taller Boricua founder and artistic director Marcos Dimas (bottom L) and acclaimed Puerto Rican actor Jaime Sánchez (bottom center). Music was provided by Joe Falcón and Coco Rico.
One of the long lines that cued up on 59th St. at the NYILFF for "Ladrones y Mentirosos"
We spent the last week in July at the Big Apple, for the NYILFF. We screened twice (Thursday and Friday) to a mostly Puerto Rican audience, which sort of caught us by surprise. It shouldn't have, because the city has long been Boricua territory, but somehow we never thought about it. It wasn't until Poli and I were in the theater and the audience began to loudly interact with the screen, laughing, moaning, gasping and talking all through the movie, that we realized this was going to be a very different (and very special) set of screenings.
We got a big applause both times, which was quickly outdone by the even bigger ovation when we introduced actress Magda Rivera during the Q&A. Magda totally steals the movie as "Wanda," and it was never more obvious than here. When I introduced her to the crowd she was sitting on the very back row, and the applause lasted all the way until she had stepped down to the stage. When it finally subsided I added "Isn't she great" -and they gave her yet another big hand! The audience just loves her.
Several of our friends came down to Blackstones after the Thursday screening to celebrate with us.
As it great as it all was, it really brought up why it's always so difficult to sell a Latino film to a US distributor. Movies are made to be seen on the big screen, with an audience, and not on DVD. A potential distributor checking out our screener DVD will not have the slightest clue of how well Puerto Rican audiences react to our movie. These screenings were not just successful; they were full of emotion and pride. The Thursday show was a smash, but by the time Sunday show came around we could already feel the effect of word of mouth. This second audience was "in the know," and eagerly anticipated what was coming. Poli and I were soaring. Sadly, however, our potential distributors will never know. This is one of those Catch-22 scenarios: it's nearly impossible for Latino filmmakers to reach our audience without distribution support, but until we can prove our movie will score with Latino audiences it’s unlikely any distributor will help us deliver it to them. That’s why we are going to self distribute in Puerto Rico in October. If we’re wrong, the movie will fail and that will be that. But if we’re right, and we do well in PR, maybe then we can find a partner to distribute the film in the US. After all, there are more Puerto Ricans living there than on the island.
But let's get back to the festival. The best thing about any festival in New York is of course that it's in New York. Not only did we have the best audiences so far, but we also got a huge amount of press. we were interviewed by Ruth Hernández for the Spanish news agency EFE, Alberto Morales for The Nation magazine, and by María Hinojosa for her NPR show "Latino USA." It was great to get this kind of national coverage, period, but what was ultimately more gratifying was to see three terrific Latino media journalists asking intelligent questions about critical issues. Pop culture can be fun, but one can only read so many news articles about the latest fashion trend, or what celebrity is having whose baby, before one begins to ask what ever happened to serious journalism. As Judith Escalona pointed out during the Medianoche talk, the concept of film aesthetics seems to have sadly gotten lost in the last few years, even more so when it comes to Latino media coverage, and it was very refreshing to meet three reporters more concerned with the pursuit of truth than with the celebration of celebrity.
-You can read The Nation interview on their website, www.thenation.com
-You can listen to the María Hinojosa interview when it airs in early October.
WE GOT GREAT PRESS: Steven Bauer and Lymari Nadal were the cover for the weekend entertainment section of NY's Spanish language newspaper, El Diario-La Prensa
Judith Escalona (top, center) moderated the talk at Medianoche. Among the many friends who attended were Taller Boricua founder and artistic director Marcos Dimas (bottom L) and acclaimed Puerto Rican actor Jaime Sánchez (bottom center). Music was provided by Joe Falcón and Coco Rico.
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