The Circuit

by Anna Marie De La Fuente and Michael O' Boyle
The inaugural Cancun International Film Festival (CIFF) wrapped Sunday [Nov 18] with the Mexican debut of Mike Newell's "Love in the Time of Cholera."

Fest crowned Brazilian helmer Sandra Kogut's coming-of-age tale "Mutum" best film.

Mexican newcomer Patricia Riggen nabbed the best director nod for her immigration drama "La misma luna" (Under the Same Moon), while Carmen Salinas won best actress for the same film.

Best actor went to Rodrigo Santoro for his portrayal of an obsessive photographer in Brazilian film "Nao por acaso" (Not By Chance), helmed by Philippe Barcinski and produced by Fernando Meirelles.

Camila Guzman Urzua's docu "El telon de azucar" (The Sugar Curtain), about thirty-something Cubans, now mostly in exile, reflecting on their youth, won honorable mention.

Mexico has seen an explosion of new fests in the last few years and this fledgling fest will have a tough time consolidating itself, running only a month after the burgeoning Morelia festival, heading into its sixth year.

"Our challenge is getting people out of the beaches and into the screenings," said fest topper Miguel Ortega who plans to centralize the fest in one of the main downtown hotels of Cancun next year. 

Still, fest attracted an estimated 700 guests ranging from talent, press and some intl film execs. Variety's Up Next event on Saturday honored 10 upcoming Latin American talent which included helmers Nicholas Lopez (Chile), Jonathan Jakubowicz (Venezuela), Rodrigo Pla (Mexico), Rodrigo Bellot (Bolivia), Patricia Riggen (Mexico) as well as DP Alexis Zabe (Mexico) and thesp Marcela Mar (Colombia).

by John Hopewell
Run by fest topper Miguel Ortega and artistic director Jennifer Stark, the fest, which runs Nov.14-18, had a good international lineup: early standouts included “Luna” and “August Rush.” It also opened a window onto new Latin American and Latino cinema. Fest’s international section included “Quien mato a la llamita blanca?” (Who Killed the White Llama?), a rumbunctious Bolivian road movie from Rodrigo  Bellot, and Philippe Barcinski’s “Nao por acaso” (Not By Chance), a typical product of Fernando Meirelles’ O2 Filmes in Brazil: visually sophisticated, stylish, internationally-appealing and contempo, here offering a take on the vagaries of love and family relationships in middle-class Sao Paulo. Both pics are sold by Eric Mathis and Donald Ranvaud’s Latin-America-focused sales company Ondamax, which launched at Cannes. Ranvaud was in Cancun. In fact, Ranvaud’s everywhere in Latin America.

If Ondamax is emerging as a key sales op for new Latin American talent, one reason’s simply that its execs get to countries and events which other companies hardly know about, let alone attend. Over lunch on Thursday on the Hotel Royale beach, Ranvaud described his crusade to create Artes Andes Americas, a Sundance-style institute for cinema and theater in Yotala, Bolivia. Such was his passion that he hardly seemed to notice a beachside catwalk of stunning late-teen girls, who all seemed to have a thing about going out with paunch-bellied men with cigars.

On Friday, Variety contributed to the fest’s Latin America focus, presenting a Latin America Filmmakers: Up Next selection.  Travelling in Latin America is rather like an airport reality Big Brother elimination contest. So only five of the cineastes arrived on time for the round table: Chile’s Nicolas Lopez, director of cult grossout “Promedio Rojo”; Bellot, who’s just finished the English-language “Perfidy;” Rodrigo Pla, whose debut, “La zona” (The Zone), was a hit at Venice and Toronto; Riggen, and Alexis Zabe, d.p. on the exquisitely comphosed “Stellet Licht” (Silent Light) which shared this year’s Cannes Special Jury Prize.

Riggen confirmed that she’s in talks to make a $20 million English-lingo debut in the U.S. Nicolas Lopez, a 24/7 showman, raced through details of his $12 million “Santos,” now in post and co-produced by Elizabeth Avellan’s Troublemaker Studios and “178 Jak Johnsons,” set up at Salma Hayek’s Ventanazul.  Jonathan Jakubowicz made it to the Up Next party, Friday night, organized by the Festival and El Dorado in the spa’s huge raft-beamed barn. There he said that he was currently casting the $25 million “Queen of the South” for Warner Independent Pictures.

Another Up Next talent, Colombian actress Marcela Mar, whose seen in Colombian Oscar entry “Satanas,” another fest player, and Mike Newell’s “Love in the Time of Cholera,” also made the party photo-op. I’m not sure how much current Hollywood Variety brought to the fest this year. But I suspect that it brought Cancun part of its refreshing Latino-mix future.

Photos: Venezuelan helmer Jonathan Jakubowicz, (left, in white), Colombian thesp Marcela Mar and Chilean helmer Nicholas Lopez (wearing glasses) strike a pose at the inaugural Cancun International Film Fest (Nov 14-18) where Variety honored them as Latin America's upcoming talent on Saturday (Nov 17).  Also, John Hopewell presenting Mexican helmer Rodrigo Pla (La Zona).

by John Hopewell
The Cancun Intl. Film Festival is deliciously travel-challenged.

The problem’s not getting to Cancun. It’s just a short 75-minute hop across the Caribbean from Miami. The challenge, once you’re ensconced at the El Dorado Royale Spa resort, the festival’s guest hotel, is getting one’s act together to take the 40-minute shuttle-ride into Cancun.
 
Down south from Cancun on the Riviera Maya, El Dorado’s the sort of hotel which gives you a sudden whim to burn the cell-phone, catching up with old friends, scoring points with in-laws, casually dropping in at the start of the conversation where you’re phoning from. Beyond the palatial hacienda lobby, which is about the size of Texas, is a Casitas bungalo extension, about the size, well, of Latin America. The cottages are Mayan chic: whitewashed walls, wooden staircases, roofs a thick shag of thatch. At night, under the warm lamplight, the thatched roofs look like huge orangy-red Elton John toupés.

Arriving in Cancun on Wednesday, the fest’s opening night, I was picked up from the airport with Thomas Carr, who runs Caribbean Tours & Cruises. Cancun is booming, Thomas explained. It’s accessible from the West and East coasts of the U.S. It boasts postcard turquoise waters and white sand beaches. And a 60-hour hurricane two years ago devastated hotels, closing some for months. That, however, allowed them to renovate, he added.

Also, I’d add, it offers Americans just what they’re looking for when they vacation in Mexico: America in all its comforting upscale brand-glory, plus Mayan touches - some of the hotels have been built like the truncated bottoms of Mayan pyramids - and postcard turquoise waters and white sand beaches.

Cancun’s now making a play for Hollywood and haute fashion. That’s where the 1st Cancun Festival comes in. Its sponsors include El Dorado Spa Resorts & Hotels, its parent company Karisma, which is building new resorts, and another resort builder, Capricho.

Building a fest audience base in a resort is probably more difficult. On the fest’s second day, I caught a latenight screening of Patricia Riggen’s Sundance-hit “La misma luna” (Under the Same Moon). The screening was hardly packed - maybe 50-punters at most - but then “Luna,” which went down well, had opened the fest the night before.

Photo: Cancun Intl Film Fest artistic director Jennifer Stark, Mexico's Claudia Tovar of Riviera Maya Films and PR/Marketing Consultant Bonnie Voland.