Alejandro González Iñárritu "Mexican Filmmaker Magnet of the Oscars"

Alejandro González Iñárritu

"Mexican Filmmaker Magnet of the Oscars"

The director producer and scriptwriter of movies Alejandro Gonzáles Iñarritu was born in 1963, in the Federal District of Mexico.
At the age of 17, González Iñárritu moved to Europe while working on a freighter; and at 19 to Africa. He attributes to these physical and intellectual experiences the greatest influence in his work.
Throughout his life he has lived great experiences thanks to his great vocation for the arts, mainly for the cinema.

He studied at the Universidad Iberoamericana. In 1986, he began his professional career at the WFM radio station after two years of work he left his studies at the Universidad Iberoamericana to dedicate himself fully to WFM, beginning as an announcer, from which he would begin to introduce himself in the media.
At the end of the 80s, González Iñárritu became one of the directors of this station when he interviewed world rock stars and broadcast live concerts via satellite. In 1988, he found himself working on the musicalization of some feature films, among them "Garra de tigre" (1989).

Ludwik Margules guided him in his first steps in cinematography, studying film at the University of Maine. Then, later in the city of Los Angeles, he would study under Judith Weston.
His career as a filmmaker began in the 90s when he created Z Films with Raúl Olvera in Mexico. With her he began to write, produce and direct short films and advertisements. González Iñárritu had become one of his youngest directors.
After a short time Iñarritu takes a direct jump to Hollywood where he has been recognized for all his work leading him to win two Golden Globes, a BAFTA and the Best Director of the Cannes Film Festival (2006). Becoming the first Mexican filmmaker to be nominated by the Academy of Hundred and Cinematographic Arts of Hollywood and by the Directors Guild of America (DGA) as a candidate for the best director award.
His five feature films, Amores perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003), Babel (2006), Biutiful (2010) and Birdman (2014) have been acclaimed by critics worldwide, and they have all received awards at international festivals and Oscar nominations in different categories.
Thanks to everything if work has managed to become one of the few Mexican filmmakers who can boast of hobnobbing with Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro and Javier Bardem, and therefore have managed to succeed in Hollywood. Today Alejandro Gonzales Iñarritu, winner of five Oscars. He is considered one of the best filmmakers today.

The unknown canceled projects of Guillermo del Toro

Not everything is a fairy tale for del Toro Guillermo del Toro, but a humanoid amphibian and a mute but intelligent and brave girl gave him two Oscars of the best movie of the year and the best director of the year. Del Toro is more than a genius to make films and even with all the successes, he has had several innovative projects and wanted to take them to another level that sadly were canceled. Over the times not only movies have been canceled but also a work of theatre and even a video game. Something that del Toro want to do the stop-motion animation, adapting the story of Pinocchio with the team of The Jim Henson Company, who had not worked on such a large film project since The Dark Crystal. A videogame of THE SAGA OF SILENT HILL made by Guillermo del Toro and Hideo Kohima was canceled and that disappointed all the fans and according to Guillermo “the cancellation didn’t made sense”. “We were hoping to really create a really scary experience with some of the devices we were working on, and it's really a shame that that isn’t happening. When you ask yourself about how things work, you realize that it does not make a sense that that game is over... It does not make any sense.”-Guillermo del Toro. It is a Mexican pride that a Mexican has won two Oscars for best director and best picture. It’s necessary to emphasize that the movie Shape of the Water had several Oscar nominations, best photography, best costume design, best supporting actor and actress, and best actress just to name a few. Del Toro is characterized by having a bright and above all extravagant mind because all the things that we see in the movie come out of his mind, the power of imagination has no limits and he has the ability to make them a reality and that is something incredible. The admirable thing of Guillermo del Toro is that he has always this characteristic humility and never forgets where he comes from and he is proud to be Mexican. A01411562-Victor Mata

THE REVOLT OF SALMA HAYEK IN HOLLYWOOD

Salma Hayek reveals why she was discriminated against when she started in Hollywood.

She did not have easy professional beginnings: because she was a woman, everyone laughed at her from her dream of being an actress.

It was a difficult moment, he felt unrecognizable, it was more than his beauty.

Although she was the only Mexican and Latina in drama school, except for Benicio del Toro, who is a Puerto Rican, and is a man. Nobody was laughing at him, for Salma Hayek it was not easy to reach the top because even Mexico, all the agents and in all the studios also laughed at her.

When Salma Hayek recorded the movie "Frida" she was very excited to work with Harvey Weinstein did not care about the money, with his naivety he thought he had fulfilled his dream. Until he realized the person he was and what he was going to do in the movie. She feels offended by the big sexual scenes in which she had to interpret. And that's how Salma Hayek broke her silence about the famous Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, in an opinion column published in the New York Times: she details the sexual harassment and abusive behavior on the set of the movie Frida. Hayek's text comes to light two months after a group of women, including actress Ashley Judd, publicly denounced the disgraced movie mogul for the first time.

Hayek battled legally to put the production back into action but doing so resulted in numerous conditions virtually impossible to meet, such as rewriting the script, raising $ 10 million for funding and selecting four famous actors for smaller characters. Then came the actor Edward Norton, who rewrote the script without demanding any credit, the producer Margaret Perenchi and the director Julie Taymor. And they were the ones who brought the movie back to the movie afloat. It started, "the sexual harassment stopped, but the anger increased," Hayek said.

Although the scene was included anyway, but Hayek maintains that filming it caused so much emotional anguish that he had to take a tranquilizer to be able to record it. When the filming of the film ended, Hayek was so "emotionally distraught" that she had to "distance herself during post-production." Frida was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Hayek for the Best Actress award, and won two Oscars.

 

Brenda 

 https://www.univision.com/noticias/acoso-sexual/la-escena-de-frida-que-hizo-llorar-a-salma-hayek-y-otras-secuencias-de-sexo-en-que-las-actrices-sufrieron-vejaciones-reales

http://www.revistavanityfair.es/la-revista/articulos/salma-hayek-actriz-familia-paris/27814

Little Jaibo

Little Boy (2015)

Have you ever heard that faith moves mountains? How strong are our beliefs? Just when everyone says it's over, our mind keeps insisting that more can be given. Alejandro Monteverde gives us a character who has everything against us from the beginning and shows us the path he takes to get ahead, shows us the greatest battle of a child with the purest feelings.

Little Boy is a film based on the 40s directed by Alejandro Monteverde of which he is also co-writer with Pepe Portillo.

Synopsis.
In a small town in the USA 7-year-old boy who suffers from developmental problems lives. When his father, almost his only friend, goes to the front to fight in World War II, the boy will have to face not only the indifference of his classmates but also that of his neighbours.

"Little Boy" is a film that leaves us a very deep message, tells us that faith is a weapon of the human being that allows us to achieve our goals. "Little Boy" exposes human drama in a way that alternates between the gentle and the tragicomic. It could be labelled, by abounding in categories, as magical realism. Also, of course, and here is the question, of ethics, of philosophy; with a background theme that turns out to be the development of self-confidence.

Alejandro Monteverde shows us the fascination he has for past eras, he captures everything perfectly well, helping himself with the excellent lighting and the very successful scenography.

Lighting emotions

Instead of trying to modify what nature brought us, we embraced it. -Emmanuel Lubezki

Emmanuel Lubezki, the person who makes us feel the lights. The person who makes us fall in  love through his eyes. Who gives meaning to the whole film. The person who changed the concept of filming through lights. The person who tries, and sucessfully achieves it, is to bring emotion to shades, highlight what we think is irrelevant, and finally show us that every spotlight is the difference between hope and bloom. 

Bringing back his history of life, knowing that he is a mexican, knowing that mexican culture is all about deep emotions, he is bringing passion, strong feelings, weaknesses in his maximum splendour.  

Life is a work of art that requires having all colors and possible shades, dark colors that represent your fears and insecurities, those that highlight the brightest colors that signify faith, good things, pure things, positivism and joy, those things that make you get out of bed to continue painting your canvas. Light are the emotions, that highlight our colors. But color, regardless of its tone or hue, is what makes us feel alive.

Because any award could be delivered without all his passion, innovation and dedication, thank you Lubezki.

El chivo Lubezki

The way "El chivo" changed the cinema

Ever since Emmanuel Lubezki was a child he was passionate about the way the camera captured the actors. In college he met people who would be a key part of his professional life. He started his career doing commercials, which did not please him at all, but he helped him to adapted to new technologies. After entering Hollywood with small but important films like Sleepy Hollow by Tim Burton that helped him to become famous in international cinema.

"El chivo" Lubezki, a Mexican who has made history in international cinema. His care in the details, audacity, ingenious use of resources, leadership and thought without limits have made his films become fantastic for everyone, in which you can appreciate a very innovative and special way of recording them, with fantastic shots in each one. Of them, he learned to make the camera have a more real effect and achieve effects never seen in the cinema. An example of his incredible work, dedication and audacity is the movie The Revenant in which, he got to the point of going to unbearable climates with temperatures below zero only for the camera to have good shots, take care of every detail from the aspect of the environment up to the aspect of those that will be recorded by the camera. In this same film there were people who left the set because of the perfectionism that Lubezki asked, he knew how to use the environment and natural light in his favor in an incredible way, this was what made him win his last Oscar. Birdman's film was recorded by him completely in a single sequence; a technique previously seen in the world of cinematography which also earned him another Oscar, his techniques and perseverance make Lubezki an example of triumph and greatness for all Mexicans.

Who was behind Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban?

Who was behind Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban?

Do you think you know everything about harry potter?

I bet you didn't knew Alfonso Cuarón directed the third movie of the series, Harry Potter and the

Prisoner of Azkaban. 

Alfonso Cuarón Orozco is one of the top Mexicans in hollywood he is a film director, screenwriter, producer, and editor. Cuarón was born in Mexico city on November 28 of 1961. He studied philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and filmmaking at Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos (CUEC), a school within the same university. Alfonso Cuarón career was about to start when he met the director Carlos Marcovich and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki in the university, mexicans as well. As a team they worked on ‘’Vengeance Is Mine’’ what would be Cuarón first short film.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
In 2004, author J. K. Rowling, who had seen and loved Cuarón's film Y Tu Mamá También wanted him to direct the third movie of the serie. Alfonso Cuarón with no prior knowledge of the serie accepted the challenge. Cuarón directing the movie created criticism and opposition by Harry Potter's fans due to the fact that there was an established director in the prior two films.

Alfonso Cuarón made significant changes to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, using his personal style to make this movie different from the past two. Cuarón created more tension and better scenography though the film. Some of this changes caused continuity errors in relation to the previous films, which were directed by the american film director Chris Columbus. What Alfonso Cuarón did in this masterpiece was to ‘’change the appearance and layout of Hogwarts Castle, by adding the Clock Tower, the Central tower and changing the location of Hagrid's Hut. The rooms have less light and they seem dingy by comparison to the grand buildings we were treated to in The Philosophers Stone and The Chamber of Secrets. He also changed the appearance of Filius Flitwick and the appearance of all wands in the films. Most of these changes were accepted by the two future director.’’(Harry Potter Wikia)

This changes later became so popular and unique to The Harry Potter Film Series.
Alfonso Cuarón challenges during film were not easy, characters were growing up through a difficult age. Behind the scenes, better cameras were used to film.


Furthermore, after the excellent work Alfonso Cuarón was doing for the third movie of the serie he was chosen again to direct the fourth. Unfortunately Cuarón had to decline the opportunity because he would not finish working on the third film in time to begin the fourth. It is a pride that a mexican directed a movie of this magnitude. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban impact the cinematography industry making 796.7 million USD in box office.

Ten years after Alfonso Cuarón directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban he directed Cuáron won best director and best film editing awards by the academy. He has had an amazing career winning multiple awards.
‘’Gravity’’ which made him achieve his biggest dream.
Who will be the next Mexican in hollywood?






References:
“When Harry Met Darkness | Alfonso Cuaron and The Prisoner of Azkaban.” Headstuff, 20 May 2017, www.headstuff.org/film/alfonso-cuaron-and-harry-potter/.
“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” RegMovies, www.regmovies.com/movies/harry-potter-and-the-prisoner-of-azkaban/B00696837883/trivia.
“Alfonso Cuarón.” Harry Potter Wiki, harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Alfonso_Cuar%C3%B3n.

The woman behind the stereotype.

The woman behind the stereotype

Scarlett Hernandez

Salma Hayek, Is one of Hollywood’s most remarkable leading actresses. She has earned a mention in different magazines, as one of the hottest women in America. She also has proven herself multiple times that she is more than a pretty face, or the latina girl stereotype. Salma Hayek is the second Latin American actress to be nominated for the Best Actress in a Leading Role Academy Award. An as a great actress she is there is an even more impressive woman behind the camera. She  is strong willed decided, to fight for what she thinks is right, but most of all she is a very loving person.

What is important is to believe in something so strongly that you're never discouraged.

“Life is tough, and if you have the ability to laugh at it you have the ability to enjoy it.}

An as  her acting career is indeed impressive with a reputation as one of the first Mexican actress to make it in Hollywood having even her very own production company, Ventanarosa., Salma Hayek, has also proven to be an activist, rising awareness about violence against women, discrimination against immigrants and in recent years she added helping charities for children. In May 2-5 of 2005 she visited Guatemala as ambassador to youth/AIDS. Ashley Judd and Colombian pop singer Juanes also came with her. She has donated $25,000 to a shelter in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, for battered women.

Salma Hayek owns a charity, the Salma Hayek Foundation, it focus in fighting for justice for women in the world in every aspect relating to justice, education and health. Salma believes that there is still a lot to do about domestic violence and a general lack of laws to protect women. Their mission is to make sure women around the world are respected and valued.

Her foundation which now branched a found for street children in mexico, who suffer problems like drugs, violence, and lack of education. She said in an interview that her parents inspired her  to carry on helping people. Her mom was devoted to helping people who had great voices but didn't have the financial means to study music. He and my mum gave away dozens of music scholarships, and my mum opened a school in town, introduced opera to children and created fantastic programmes.

Salma is also a loving wife and mother. She and Pinault married in a secret ceremony on Valentine's Day 2007 in the city hall of the Second Arrondissement in Paris, which make her the step mother of Pinault's children, Francois, Mathilde and Augustin. In september 2009, her daughter, Valentina Paloma, was born. She says she loves being a wife and a mother, in her words “A good marriage, full of love, is my biggest accomplishment," she said. "Home is where my husband is. He is home. Everything outside of the family nucleus is an adventure that you're living together." Even if being mom of valentina at her age can be challenging sometimes, she pushes herself for valentina, they have never spent more than a week apart.  After all the valentina is her miracle and she loves her and her family to pieces.

“You've got to take who you are and love who you are and do the best you can with what you've got. It goes for the figure, and it goes for everything else”