SPAIN / USA / MEXICO 110 MINUTES 1.78 DCP IN SPANISH 2012

Transcription

1 AQUÍ Y ALLÁ

2 PRODUCTION AQUÍ Y ALLÍ FILMS General Oráa 19 Semisótano B Madrid, España Tel Mob info@aquiyallifilms.com TORCH FILMS 409 Johnson Avenue 2 nd Floor Brooklyn, NY USA Tel Mob aya@torchfilms.com INTERNATIONAL SALES AMERICAS SALES ALPHA VIOLET 14 rue Soleillet, BL Paris, France Tel info@alphaviolet.com TORCH FILMS 409 Johnson Avenue 2 nd Floor Brooklyn, NY USA Tel Mob aya@torchfilms.com In Cannes: Marché du Film, Riviera C19 PRESS MAKNA PRESSE 177, rue du Temple Paris, France CHLOÉ LORENZI Tel info@makna-presse.com AUDREY GRIMAUD Tel info@makna-presse.com SPAIN / USA / MEXICO 110 MINUTES 1.78 DCP IN SPANISH 2012

3 STORY AQUÍ Pedro returns home to a small mountain village in Guerrero, Mexico after years of working in the US. He finds his daughters older, and more distant than he imagined. His wife still has the same smile. Having saved some earnings from two trips to the US, he hopes to now finally make a better life with his family, and even to pursue his dreams on the side by starting a band: the Copa Kings. He cherishes the everyday moments with his family. ALLÁ The villagers think this year s crop will be bountiful. There is also good work in a growing city an hour away. But the locals are wise to a life of insecurity, and their thoughts are often of family members or opportunities far away, north of the border. While working in the fields, Pedro meets and begins to mentor a teenager who dreams of the US. That place somehow always feels very present, practically knocking at the door. Aquí y Allá is a story about hope, and the memories and loss of what we leave behind.

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5 FROM THE DIRECTOR It is a film about home, and about the feeling of home while being far away. The return home, to fill in the shoes one left. Presences are felt, and shadows are dark. The future is always close to the US, an overlying shadow. The film was an exercise in trusting the community, in both directions: me in them, and even more so, them in me. I feel extremely grateful that I was able to film the movie as I thought it should be done, as a mixture of documentary and fiction. The film is a blend, as everyone, except the girls who play the daughters of Pedro, are playing their real roles. Pedro is a musician, and returned from the US. His wife in the film is his wife in real life. I was amazed by how much they trusted me in making the film, and how they followed me in the journey. I also decided to fully engage them, and fully trust them and their instincts. The story evolved with them, and I was always open to where the story and the film would go. It was a scripted film, but once we started production many things evolved to feel more real: from characters, to situations, to even entire sequences. Although we did have many impediments, I was able to have enough creative freedom to create the film as I felt best. That creative freedom and the trust of the producers was a blessing. I wanted to continually shoot, to make a movie that never ended. Every door opened a new story. But a film must always end. We now have a feeling that somehow the movie opens up a different world. While shooting I was always looking around, even outside the frame. I thought of the frame as an invitation, as part of a place. We will hear and hopefully imagine what is outside the frame. I do believe, and really hope, that we have managed to really recreate the experience of living there, and to have caught a little of the spirit of the place. I am really looking forward to inviting you to Aquí y Allá. ANTONIO MÉNDEZ ESPARZA

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7 FROM THE PRODUCERS Aquí y Allá is a story about a Mexican immigrant who returns home and fights to rebuild his family. For us, hopefulness and family spirit are at the heart the film. On the other side of the coin is the loss of what we leave behind. The story is set entirely at home ( Aquí ). This different approach to an immigrant story is what initially interested us in the idea for the film. But, as Antonio and we continued to develop a few conceptual ideas in the vision for the film, we really started to believe that our modest-sized film could be relatively outsized in power. For instance, we set out to explore how immigrants such as Pedro are like ghosts at home. Their presence is always felt, even when they are Allá (over there). We have also done our best to show how the presence of the US is so strongly felt in these small Mexican towns, that it feels like Allá is practically knocking at the door. We hope that these concepts, as well as the family spirit of the film, can be generalizeable ideas for most of the world: for any nation with immigrants, and for any nation with émigrés. At the same time, the specifics of the story will be familiar to Mexicans and Americans, as they are very much influenced by the realities of North American economic integration. We have done our best to create a quality film that will speak directly to the audience of over 100 million people in Mexico, and to the audience of over 30 million Mexican-Americans in the US. We also hope the film can somehow more generally help both countries understand each other a little better, in however small a way. Pedro de los Santos has continually been an inspiration for us all. He is most obviously the star of the film, but the role he played in the creation of film was far bigger. Pedro was the integral force that created the trust between our team and the community in Copanatoyac, where the story takes place. Pedro also wrote most of the lyrics and musical compositions in the film. His music in fact plays an important role in the story, and we have always found it particularly thematic. From our vantage point as the producers, the special relationship that Pedro de los Santos and Antonio Méndez Esparza developed over time was the singularly important force behind the creation of Aquí y Allá. They met about five years ago in New York, where Pedro was working in supermarket, and built a bond together over the next few years of collaborating, first on Una y Otra Vez and then on the development of Aquí y Allá. Their fraternal bond was essential in enabling the intimacy, trust, and understanding we hope the audience finds evident in Aquí y Allá. We feel fortunate that this approach to the film was possible, and are especially excited to share that with all of you. THE PRODUCERS

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9 BIOS ANTONIO MÉNDEZ ESPARZA was raised in Madrid, and has lived in New York City, Mexico, and Madrid for most of the past decade. His work is known for its careful observation of its characters, and its celebration of the everyday texture of their dramas. Aquí y Allá, his debut narrative feature film is a culmination of five years of work to bring the story to life through his challenging method of narrative filmmaking. His most recent short film, Una y Otra Vez, also featured Pedro De los Santos and led naturally to the development of Aquí y Allá. Una y Otra Vez won Best Narrative Short at the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival, won first prize at the Concurso de Cortometrajes Versión Española, was a Finalist for the Student Academy Awards, and earned Mr. Méndez the DGA Student Award for Best Latino Filmmaker-East Coast, in addition to other accolades. He holds an MFA in Filmmaking from Columbia University. ORI DOV GRATCH is the Founder of Torch Films, a financing and production company based in New York City. Prior to founding Torch along with Tim Hobbs, he worked on the Equity Derivatives Trading desk at Barclays Capital in Hong Kong, and with the Fixed Income Electronic Trading group at Lehman Brothers in New York. He holds an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from New York University, where he was President of the Jewish Students Association, and a BS from Columbia University. TIM HOBBS is the Founder of Torch Films, a financing and production company based in New York City. Prior to founding Torch along with Ori Dov Gratch, he worked as an Associate at The Walt Disney Studios in Los Angeles, and in management at McMaster-Carr. He holds an MBA in Finance and Media with Stern Scholar honors from New York University, and a BA with Phi Beta Kappa honors from Emory University. PEDRO HERNANDEZ SANTOS is the Founder of Aquí y Allí Films, a production company based in Madrid, Spain. Prior to founding Aquí y Allí Films with Antonio Méndez Esparza, he built a career as a Senior Project Manager of real estate projects with Unibail-Rodamco and Riofisa in Madrid. He holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

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11 CAST (in order of appearance) CREW Producers ORI DOV GRATCH TIM HOBBS PEDRO HERNÁNDEZ SANTOS DIANA WADE ANTONIO MÉNDEZ ESPARZA Executive Producers ALVARO PORTANET HERNÁNDEZ AMADEO HERNÁNDEZ BUENO Associate Producer TERESA GARCÍA HERNÁNDEZ Director of Photography BARBU BALASOIU Editor FILIPPO CONZ Assistant Director JUAN RAIGADA FERNÁNDEZ Support Generously Provided By CINEREACH LTD. SUNDANCE INSTITUTE LEE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION Teresa Pedro Lorena Heidi Juan s Nephew Juan Juan s Wife Cecilia Mari Luz Pedro s Mother Teresa s Mother Miguel Teacher School Kids Grieving Mother Café Owner Ferryman Copa Kings Percussionist Don Nico Noel Leo Karla Pedro s Grandma Nurse Male Nurse Doctor Woman in Pharmacy Man in Pharmacy Fellow Passenger Supermarket Cashier Hospital Receptionist I Hospital Receptionist II TERESA RAMÍREZ AGUIRRE PEDRO DE LOS SANTOS JUÁREZ LORENA GUADALUPE PANTALEÓN VÁZQUEZ HEIDI LAURA SOLANO ESPINOZA ÁNGEL JOSEPH DE LOS SANTOS LEYVA JUAN DE LOS SANTOS JUÁREZ ELIZABETH LEYVA SORIANO CECILIA DE LOS SANTOS JUÁREZ MARI LUZ DE LOS SANTOS JUÁREZ MARÍA ANTONIA JUÁREZ CANO PASCUALA QUIRINA AGUIRRE MORALES MIGUEL DE LOS SANTOS MORALES TEODULFA ABELINA CRUZ PROCOPIO ALUMNOS DE LA ESCUELA PRIMARIA BILINGÜE AZTLAN NIÑOS MIGRANTES INDÍGENAS GLORIA VERDIS FLORES MIGUEL LEYVA VELAZQUEZ JESÚS TELLEZ MARTÍNEZ PEDRO DE LOS SANTOS JUÁREZ JUAN DE LOS SANTOS JUÁREZ MIGUEL DE LOS SANTOS MORALES JORGE DE LOS SANTOS RICARDO GUEVARA VICTORIANO JORGE ARIAS GUZMÁN NICOLÁS PARRA QUIROZ NOEL PAYNO VERDIZ NÉSTOR TEPETATE MEDINA CAROLINA PRADO ÁNGEL MARÍA CANO DÍAZ SUSANA AGUIRRE ROMANO TOMÁS SILVA RAMÍREZ GARDENIA GASPAR OBISPO MARÍA MARLEN ABARCA CASTRO MIGUEL ÁNGEL LÓPEZ SOSA ELISA MARISOL CANTÚ RAMÍREZ REYNA AGUILAR CANDIA LIZEIDY SUSANO LÓPEZ ELIA RAMÍREZ FLORES Unit Production Manager First Assistant Camera Gaffer Second Assistant Camera Grip Art Director Location Sound Mixer Location Sound Recordist Additional Sound Mixers Production Coordinator Assistant Production Coordinators Additional Production Coordinator Location Manager Pre-Production Assistants Script Translator Drivers Sound Re-recording Mixer Supervising Sound Editor Sound Editor Colorist Visual Effects Artist Flame Artists Digital Intermediate Supervisor Web Designer Graphic Designer Post-Production Sound Facility Visual Effects Studio Editing Services Digital Cinema Mastering TERESA GARCÍA HERNÁNDEZ IURIE BUSTIUC ALEXANDRU MARGHIDAN ALFREDO LUNA JONATHAN ROMANO MORÁN PRISCILA CHARLES CALDERÓN LUIS ARGÜELLES MARTÍNEZ LUIS ARGÜELLES MARTÍNEZ MISAEL HERNÁNDEZ ARMANDO NARVÁEZ LUIS ROJO SOLIS ELIA RAMÍREZ FLORES LIZEIDY SUSANO LÓPEZ CARLOS BAEZ ELIA RAMÍREZ FLORES MAYDEE HERNÁNDEZ KURT POLICAO HECTOR VITRAGO ITURBIDE MONICA JORBA-CARTOIXA PEDRO FERNÁNDEZ TRINIDAD JOSÉ EDUARDO BAZÁN LORENZO ANTONIO BARRERA MARTÍNEZ ISMAEL HERNÁNDEZ ALLAN ZALESKI ALLAN ZALESKI LAWRENCE HERMAN GABRIELE TURCHI BRUCE HWANG CHEN JAKE MAYMUDES T.J. BURKE DANIEL PALMER GABRIELE TURCHI TSVIKA SOLAN CHRIS BRIXEY C5 DEADPIXEL VISUAL EFFECTS ZBABAM PRODUCTIONS TITRA FILMS

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