Noticias

Woo Films, one of Mexico’s most successful indie companies behind such hit titles as Manolo Caro’s Netflix series “The House of Flowers” and lauded dramas “The Good Girls” (“Las Niñas Bien”) and “Los Adioses,” has teamed up with film collective Colectivo Colmena, to develop and produce three pics. Two of them are based on original ideas from Colmena and the third an adaptation of a Mexican novel.

Woo Films is taking “The Ballad of the Phoenix” (“La balada del fénix”), the first stop-motion animation feature by Cinema Fantasma (“Frankelda’s Book of Spooks”), to participate in the Guadalajara Film Festival’s co-production forum. This is one of three stop motion animation projects from Cinema Fantasma that Woo Films boarded last year.

“It is essential to support the growth of new voices in Mexican cinema to boost their visibility at a time when resources for independent film production and exhibition opportunities are scarce,...

Mexico’s official entry to the Best International Feature Oscar race, Lila Aviles’ “Totem,” and Tatiana Huezo’s documentary “The Echo” (“El Eco”) snagged three prizes apiece at the Morelia International Film Festival (Ficm), which wrapped Sunday, Oct. 29.

The awards doled out Saturday capped a busy 21st edition that saw a constellation of luminaries in town, including Jodie Foster, Jessica Chastain, Peter Saarsgard, Viggo Mortensen, Danny Huston, James Ivory, Irène Jacob and producing partners Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy.

Mexico’s multi-Oscar nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, who received the festival’s Premio Cuervo lifetime achievement award, served as a juror in the official selection which gave best Mexican feature and best director awards to “Totem,” described by Variety as an“intimate, emotionally rich” film. “Totem” also took home the Audience Award, a good indication of its box office potential.

The best screenplay award went to Elisa Miller and Daniela Gómez for their gripping drama,...

It’s relatively easy to invoke nostalgia with a coming-of-age scene, no matter where it’s set or what it deals with. Some aspects of the experience are universal. That said, there’s a pleasing specificity about Mauricio Calderón Rico’s All The Fires which elevates it. It’s also a study of grief and the struggle to find space in which to determine one’s own identity when everybody else seems to see things more clearly.

The only clear point of focus for Bruno (Sebastian Rojano) is fire. His father, who has been dead for two years, used to collect matches, and he likes to light and hold them as they burn all the way down, totally absorbed by the flame. He has developed quite a fan following on YouTube by making videos of his pyromaniac exploits, though his mother has understandably run out of patience with him setting...