4-25-08
Mariscal Signs Global Deal
Jaime Mariscal’s gangster drama Welcome Back to the Barrio has signed a worldwide distribution deal with Laguna Entertainment of Santa Clarita, Calif. Laguna will release the film on DVD this summer, followed by cable and video-on-demand.
“We chose Laguna because of their commitment to the project and their ties to distribution both domestically and abroad, especially Mexico and other Latin countries,” said producer Juan Frausto of Orta-Mex Films.
Welcome Back to the Barrio is the story of a young man who returns home from college and is pulled into his best friend’s conflict with a neighborhood gang leader. “The film is loosely based on people I knew when I was growing up in Little Village,” Mariscal said. “I thought a story of struggle with family, friendship and becoming a man was an important story to tell.”
Mariscal wrote the script with producer David J. Miller of Mindlight Films. Starring Ramses Jimenez, Tony Ramirez, Carmen Cenko, Phil Camacho, Tony Zurita, Jr. and David Marrero. Barrio screened at the 2006 New York and Chicago Latino film festivals. See mindlight.com.
Joe Swanberg’s fourth feature Nights and Weekends sold to IFC for worldwide rights, including a possible late summer release. The deal was announced in March at the South by Southwest Film Festival, before Nights and Weekends’ world premiere—Swanberg’s fourth feature bow there in four years. Swanberg wrote, directed and starred with Greta Gerwig, the lead in his 2007 IFC release Hannah Takes the Stairs. The cast features Jay Duplass and Kent Osborne, also from Hannah, and IFP/Chicago executive director Elizabeth Donius. Production for Swanberg’s next feature, Save the Date, was pushed back from May to August or later, according to producer Anish Savjani, to accommodate the tour schedule of co-star Kevin Barnes, lead singer of art rockers Of Montreal. The cast also includes Jess Weixler, Justin Rice, and Osborne. See joeswanberg.com.
Alexa Vega stars in Windward Entertainment’s new thriller Helix, which shot here in March. Vega, 19, is best known for her role in the Spy Kids franchise. First-timer Aram Rappaport is directing as one 96-minute continuous take. Austin O’Brien and Carlo Lorenzo Garcia play unlikely kidnappers who abduct Vega to pay off their debt to a heavy. Producer James Toland said Helix “is the story of a beautiful young woman, two under-privileged thugs, a homeless man and a crooked detective who all find their lives intertwined on a cold Chicago night when nothing seems to be going their way.” See www.windwardentertainment.com.
Ben Byer’s documentary Indestructible, about the former stage actor’s battle with the muscular degenerative disease, ALS, follows up a stellar festival run with a limited theatrical release this May. Indestructible plays May 2-9 at the Westgate Art Cinemas in Madison, Wisc., and May 16-22 at the Laemmle Cinemas Grande 4 in Los Angeles. Indestructible picked up recent awards at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival in Greece and the Byron Bay International Film Festival in Australia. See indestructiblefilm.com.
Rusted Rhino Productions releases its feature Dimension in a limited theatrical run this month. Matthew Scott Harris wrote and directed. Harris produced with co-star Mary Kay Cook. Dimension is the story of the residents of a Chicago neighborhood “who are given the opportunity to change their lives in one small way: by the dimension of three inches,” Harris said. Paul Turner stars. See rustedrhino.com.
Kai-Duc Luong and Avisheh Mohsenin’s documentary Someplace Else follows parallel stories of Luong’s own arrival in Chicago as a student and artist, and his meditations on life in the city through the story of Vance Kelly and performances by Kelly’s Backstreet Blues Band. Someplace Else screens in the Asian American Showcase, April 14 at 8 p.m. and April 21 at 6 p.m. at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St. Luong and Kelly will attend. See faaim.org.
Mark Harris’ romantic drama I Used To Love Her continued its series of successful independently booked screenings, with a “parent and teen event” co-sponsored by Bean Soup Times, April 13 at 6 p.m. at Chatham ICE Theatres, 210 W. 87th St.
Suree Towfighnia’s documentary Standing Silent Nation, about Lakota Indian Alex White Plume’s struggle with the DEA to grow industrial hemp on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, won audience awards at the Sedona and Big Muddy film festivals, and an Insight Award from the Association for Film and Digital Media Arts. Standing Silent Nation screens this April at the Green Indigenous Film Festival in Santa Fe and the Indie Spirit Film Festival in Colorado Springs. The 8th Annual Hemp Hoedown May 8-10 in Sturgis, SD, will benefit the effort to rebuild White Plume’s house, which burned down Dec. 21. See standingsilentnation.com.
Catherine E. Rubey’s long-gestating For Pete’s Sake (formerly Baggage) finally went into production in March, starring Cheryl Ladd, Barry Bostwick and Chelcie Ross.
Steven Weiss-Smith and April Sugarman’s Dear Me, A Blogger’s Tale premieres April 26 in Rosemont. Sarah Thompson stars as a young woman whose blog elevates, then threatens, her career and love life. Weiss-Smith is a principal in Riverview Films, a Los Angeles-based company composed of Chicago expats developing films to shoot here. April 26 at 5 p.m. at the Rosemont 18 Theatres, 9701 Bryn Mawr Ave., Rosemont. See dearmethemovie.com.
Brad Hansen is directing the coming-of-age road movie Driver’s Ed Mutiny this July and August. It’s the story of three teenagers who need to get from Chicago to Los Angeles, who hijack a car from driving class and journey across country on Route 66. Matt Olsen and Jenny Stolte of Collateral Damage Productions are producing. See thechemistryofdating.com.