On Saturday, March 10th, 2012 The Big Deal
shared the screen with some amazing films at The San Diego Latino Film
Festival. The film was programmed under the Cine Mujer Shorts Program –
films about women or the experiences of women.
Matt and I spent the
weekend at the festival and had a great time watching films and enjoying the
festivities. Lisa Franek, Ethan Van Thillo and the rest of the staff
did a great job organizing the event.
Below is a list of
films and filmmakers that attended the screening and took part in the Q&A.
Libre Directo – Bernabe Rico
Herrera – A frustrated wife, unhappy
on her marriage, has the opportunity to win 300.000E by shooting a goal from
half field. She gets trained by a man she meets at a field.
The description does
not do this film justice. It was a lot of fun but also poignant. An older woman
gets the courage to try something new at an age where most women, especially
Latinas are expected to either be content with their choices or “sleep in the
bed they made”. As she was getting trained to kick a soccer ball, I was rooting
for her to make the goal and get the money but also to leave her old life
behind.
Child of the Desert
– Iliana Sosa – A
mother's love knows no boundaries.
Child of the
Desert won the Best Director award at BHLIFE the previous weekend
(see my previous post for coverage from Teri
at Dizzydentfilms). Iliana and her actors made magic in this
film. Dale Dickey’s performance is riveting.
Pescadora –
Daniel Garcia - A young
woman named Dora has always dreamed of becoming a fisherman like her father.
However, everyone in her Peruvian fishing village wants her to marry instead.
When Dora gets in a fight with her boyfriend Steven, she is forced to choose
between marriage and following her dreams.
The description
pretty much says it all. I was impressed with the cinematography set against a
beautiful fishing village and an often “angry sea”. The director talked about
the challenges of filming the scenes that took place at sea, dealing with
a seasick cast and crew and having limited time in the location due to
finances. This short is based on Daniel’s feature film script, I hope he
keeps Jazmine Zapata Morante in the role of Dora.
The Big Deal – Lucy
Rodriguez - Michele
brings home her agnostic, vegan boyfriend to meet her Catholic, meat eating
family. Based on a short story from the book How to Be a Chicana Role
Model by Michele Serros.
The Bride of Frank –
Kristi Uribes - Set in a
1950's Butcher shop, when The Bride wakes up without a memory, in a room full
of meat, and with a lonely Butcher named Frank, she must remember who
she was to discover who she is.
This film
is visually stunning; the art direction and production
design were perfectly in sync to compliment the director’sretelling
of Bride of Frankenstein. In Norman Rockwell America, a seemingly friendly
butcher kills a girl that refused his advances and stitches her up to create
his perfect mate. The film perfectly captures the
nostalgia, innocence and repression of the 1950s. Everything from
the Bride’s stitches to the choreographed dancing meat is beautifully
styled and set to a great score that includes an awesome cover of Mr. Sandman.
It's been great to have The Big Deal screen at two festivals, two weekends in a row. I hope this momentum keeps up.
Catalina Maynard, Me & Teri Carson of Dizzydent Films
I hope this movie runs on the east coast, too :)
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