Hola, CineLocos... Que Patza? Father Geek aqui... Here in Austin, Texas we're in the middle of the annual South By SouthWest Film & Music Festival (SXSW) and this year they have a really cool line up of films of paticular interest to you readers of this column...

First off they are screening a group of Mexico's award winning Director Jaime Humberto Hermosillo's films:

• De Noche Vienes, Esmeralda (Esmeralda Comes By Night)from 1997 and starring his favorite actress Maria Rojo
• Intimidades En Un Cuarto De Bano (Bathroom Intimacy) from 1989 with Emilio Echevarria and of course Maria Rojo
• Escrito En El Cuepo De La Noche (Written On The Body Of The Night) from last year with Ana Ofelia Murguia and Marta Aura

Hermosillo was long recognized around the world as a great filmmaker, but for years Mexico did not join in on that praise, however now his eye for capturing restrictive social convictions and hypocrisy, comercialismo y presuntuoso o prejuicio en cuaiquier forma, his abilidad para combinar talente y destreza has finally won his due credit at home.

The fest is also showing the fantastic hugely popular motion picture triumph Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN by Alfonso Cuaron and the wonderful documentry feature ESCUELA, as well as the experimental streetlife documentry shorts HAZLO POR CUBA and PAN Y LIBERTAD. There are also screenings of the MusicVideo for Campo De Almas, TUS ALAS CAERAN on tap.

Buuuuuuut, the most anticipated film in the fest is the WORLD PREMIERE of Guillermo del Toro's BLADE 2 at Austin's vintage 1915 movie palace The Paramount. Guillermo will be there along with Ron Perlman and others connected to the film at 7:00pm on the 16th. Now Guillermo showed Harry and me a complete, but rough cut of this phantastic film about a month ago at his home here in Austin, and Father Geek can assure you IT KICKS ASS!!! It is one of the best action/horror films ever made.

Now for un otra contribucion pobre de mi parte today...

Personally I am not very excited about the idea of Ford in a Kathryn Bigelow submarine film.... however when I read this on the guardian's film website I was highly aroused!:

"In brief: Harrison Ford teams up with Amores Perros director

Harrison Ford is to team up with Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the Mexican director of Amores Perros, for a film about the life and death of humanitarian worker Fred Cuny. Ford will play Cuny, who worked in disaster areas such as Bosnia and Guatemala and is believed to have been executed in 1995 while attempting to negotiate a Russian-Chechen ceasefire. Filming is due to start later this year. William Nicholson, who wrote the script for Gladiator, will provide the screenplay."

Call me Captain Katanga!

Now here's Coffin Joe Jr. and his regular Tuesday report for this week...

Hey, how you guys doing? Coffin Joe Jr. is in the building for yet another installment of our very own Latin-AICN. Hope you freaks and geeks enjoy what we have in store for you this particular week.

One tiny tip before we get to the news and reviews: get the movie "No Telling" on DVD, out today, courtesy of World Artists, with a featurette, trailer and a booklet as extras. It is the first chapter of Larry Fessenden´s monster trilogy (the vampire flick "Habit" and the recently released "Wendigo" are the other two), and it packs quite a punch for such a small film. It is Fessenden´s twisted take on the Frankenstein mythos, with some surprising results. Very good stuff, highly recommended. Anyways, here´s this week´s news and reviews.

USA

-Here´s an e-mail I got regarding "Frida", the upcoming biopic starring Salma Hayek and directed by Julie Taymor ("Titus"):

"I have this site as a bookmark and I saw a mini review of FRIDA with Salma Hayek. Movie doesn't come till Oct. I just wanted to pass along the info. The site is pretty neat. Here´s the link: Go Here Now

James"

-Benicio Del Toro is set to star in a remake of the 1974 Sam Peckinpah film "Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia" for MGM and music video/commercial director Samuel Bayer. The screenplay will be written by Harvard English professor Mateo Silva.

-The movie "The Ground Beneath her Feet", which was supposed to be directed by Chilean helmer Raoul Ruiz, with Salma Hayek and Naveen Andrews in the cast, has apparently found a ton of obstacles in the financing department, mainly with the French investors, Studio Canal and Gemini Films. Development hell is the word my friends, so don´t expect this one anytime soon.

ARGENTINA

-One of the few horror filmmaker from the Pampas, Alexis Puig, is currently in pre-production of his next project, an untitled feature film based on the literary works of the legendary Edgar Allan Poe. If you want more info on Alexis, get your ass to his official page on the web: Find Him Here

CHILE

-More horror news from South America, regarding Chile´s premier horror director, Jorge Olguín, director of the slasher flick "Angel Negro". Olguín is also in pre-production of his next horror venture, a vampire movie called "Sangre Eterna", for release later this year. More info on Jorge Olguín, "Angel Negro" and "Sangre Eterna" can be obtained following the links below: Just Click Here or... Get More Here or... Click Here For Still More

I also found a link to an interview Olguín gave to the Quinta Dimension website, where he talks a bit about everything (his life, projects, influences, etc). Check it out: By Clicking Right Here

BRAZIL

-A bit of a misunderstanding happened on the set of Hector Babenco´s ("Kiss of the Spider-Woman, "Pixote") "Estação Carandirú", this last week. The military police thought that a revolt being staged by Babenco´s cast and crew at the penitentiary they are using as a location, was for real, so a helicopter plus three police cars were put on alert and headed to the location where they were told it was just a movie shoot.

FILM FESTIVAL NEWS

-The 42nd Cartagena International Film Festival lasted eight days and ended this last Friday, March 8th, with the announcement of the winners of the Índia Catalina Awards. American actors Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover were among the guests at this year´s festival. Here are the films that were honored:

-BEST FILM:

"Lavoura Arcaica", Brazil, director: Luiz Fernando Carvalho

-MASTERPIECE AWARD:

"Bicho de Sete Cabeças", Brazil, director: Laís Bodansky

-BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:

"Lavoura Arcaica", Brazil

-BEST DIRECTION:

"Táxi para 3", Chile, director: Orlando Lubbert

-BEST ACTRESS:

Lidia Bosh, "You're the One (una historia de entonces) ", Spain

-BEST ACTOR:

Rodrigo Santoro, "Bicho de Sete Cabeças", Brazil

-BEST DIRECTOR (tie):

José Luis Garcí, "You're the One (una historia de entonces)", Spain

Luiz Fernando Carvalho, "Lavoura Arcaica", Brazil

-BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Támara Acosta, "La fiebre del loco", Chile

-BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Fernando Gómez-Rovira, "Táxi para 3", Chile

-SPECIAL JURY AWARD:

"Lavoura Arcaica", director: Luiz Fernando Carvalho, Brazil

If you want more info, get to the festival´s official website at: This Location

I´m done for this week.

Coffin Joe Jr. says: bye.