NALIP LPA MENTOR LUIS MANDOKI CRIES FOUL OVER DOCUMENTARY RELEASE

By Reed Johnson, Los Angeles Times

In 1988, filmmaker Luís Mandoki left his native Mexico to work in Hollywood because at that time, he says, "it was very difficult to make quality movies in Mexico." Mandoki went on to direct such Hollywood fare as "Angel Eyes" with Jennifer Lopez.

Now Mandoki says one of Hollywood's major players, Warner Bros., is partly responsible for blocking the release of his new documentary about last year's disputed Mexican presidential election. According to Mandoki, the company's Mexican representative feared that parts of the film might displease the heads of Mexico's giant Televisa entertainment network and the powerful Cinépolis movie theater chain, among other interests.

Mandoki says Warner Bros. Mexico backed out of a verbal commitment it had made this summer to distribute the documentary, tentatively titled "La Democracia Simulada" (The Simulated Democracy), through the Mexican company Videocine, which is owned by Televisa, whose chairman and chief executive, Emilio Azcárraga Jean, and executive vice president, Bernardo Gómez, are depicted briefly and unflatteringly in the film.

"Basically, we were closing a deal with Warner for distribution," Mandoki said in a phone interview this week. "Warner Bros. Mexico and Televisa blocked it at the last stage. There were intimidations and threats, and they said at the end they couldn't do it."

Juan Manuel Borbolla, director of Warner Bros. Mexico, did not respond to repeated phone calls from The Times after previously agreeing to an interview on Wednesday. But in interviews with Mexican newspapers this week, he insisted that Warner Bros. had passed on distributing the documentary purely for business reasons.

A spokeswoman for Warner Bros. corporate offices in Burbank also said that the company's choice not to distribute the film was a business decision. She declined to discuss the matter further on the record.

Fernando Pérez Gavilán, director of Videocine, was quoted in Mexican newspapers as saying that the decision not to distribute the film was made because documentaries generally don't do well at the box office in Mexico. "Luís is doing all this with the eagerness of selling his product to another distributor," Pérez Gavilán said. Asked whether his statements were a strategy for gaining publicity for his film, Mandoki said, "My response would be it's not me who's doing this, it's them who are doing this. We had a distribution deal, we closed it verbally, they backed off."

The documentary deals with the complex and controversial events surrounding last year's presidential contest between the victorious Felipe Calderón of the conservative, pro-business National Action Party and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a left-leaning populist and former Mexico City mayor known by his initials as "AMLO."

After backtracking through Mexico's history of revolutionary upheavals and political repression, the film recounts last year's campaign and its bitter aftermath, in which López Obrador and his supporters raised accusations of widespread voting fraud, leading to a civil disobedience campaign that continues to this day.

Mandoki already has released a separate documentary, "¿Quien Es el Señor López?" (Who Is Mr. López?), after being given virtually unrestricted access to the then-candidate. Mandoki says that movie has sold 2 million DVD copies in Mexico.

Mandoki and the new film's producer, Federico Arreola, publicized their grievances at a packed Monday morning press conference at a downtown hotel here. From its inception, Arreola said, the documentary had encountered financial challenges due to its political content. "It was very hard to finance this project," he said. "All the world was afraid."

The two men said that Borbolla had responded positively to the film after they showed it to him last July, and that he had agreed to negotiate a distribution contract with their company, Contra el Viento Films. They said that Warner Bros. had offered to make 150 copies of the movie and had planned to open it in Mexico in November.

But Warners began getting cold feet, according to Mandoki and Arreola, after Alejandro Ramírez Magaña, chief executive of the Cinépolis movie chain, the largest cinema chain in Latin America, told Borbolla that he would not exhibit the film because he is a personal friend of President Calderón.

Ramírez could not be reached for an interview. But in a statement issued by Cinépolis, the company disputed the filmmakers' claims. "Cinépolis has not been contacted by any distributor in order to establish an agreement of exhibition about the said material," it read in part.

Mandoki and Arreola said that at an Aug. 23 meeting at a Mexico City restaurant, Borbolla also informed them that Pérez Gavilán had warned him "not to make an enemy of anyone as powerful as Bernardo Gómez" of Televisa. The men said that Borbolla then suggested that if they edited out the part of the film dealing with Azcárraga and Gómez, Warners would distribute the documentary.

The next day, according to Mandoki and Arreola, Borbolla called to tell them that "my boss" at Warner Bros. in the United States had agreed that Warners would distribute the film. But according to the men, at a subsequent Aug. 29 meeting Borbolla told them that the company had reversed course, and that his superior at Warner Bros. had agreed with Televisa not to distribute the documentary because it lacked commercial potential.

Mandoki said that he has been in discussions with another distributor to release the film in the U.S. "I still expect it to premiere in Mexico at the end of November," Mandoki said.

At least one theater chain, Cinemex, has said it would be willing to show the movie in Mexico. Miguel Angel Dávila, the company's director and president of the National Chamber of the Cinematographic Industry, said he had been "surprised" by Mandoki's statements that his movie was being blocked from distribution. Dávila said that documentaries are indeed a tough sell in Mexico.

"I understand perfectly the decision of Warner not to distribute it for the risk that would be involved in the transaction, because very probably it would not be a success in money," Dávila said.

Nonetheless, he added, "The screens of Cinemex are open and they will be open to the material of Luis and of anyone else."

Thanks to the Los Angeles Times for the article, readable online at:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-mandoki7sep07,1,6013438.story

LANDMARK PRODUCTIONS LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE

Hello Friends, Supporters, and Patrons!

Our new web site, www.landmarkproductionsllc.net is up and running!

Please, sign our Guest Book and enjoy the trailers from the stage play El Bandido. More trailers from all of our productions (stage, film, and television) will be coming to the web site very soon. We will also have DVD's available from our stage productions for sale on the web site by November.

Our television series The Saints is being courted now by a few major producers of prominent cable networks. We're excited about it, but it's a process still. Keep us in your prayers. You can take a look at The Saints trailer at www.thesaints.biz .

ADOPT A FILM (SF)

You and your friends can help us bring the best Latino films to the Bay Area. Maybe you are Brazilian or Bolivian and want to see your culture reflected on screen. Or maybe you love our LGBT, Jewish, Afro-Latino, Women's and Emerging Filmmakers programming that is essential to our work.

In four easy steps you can adopt a film:
1. Get your friends together
2. Raise $1000
3. Let us recognize all of you in our catalog, on screen, and on our website.
4. Come and enjoy the film!

This 11th Annual Latino Film Festival kicks off November 2nd and runs through November 18th showcasing the very best in new Latino Cinema from around the globe. With films from Argentina to Venezuela to the Bay Area, our films represent the breadth and diversity of the Latino voice both here in the US and across continents. Chances are you'd love to help us present these important works that may not otherwise be seen in the Bay Area.

Adopt a Film by September 25th and we'll include you in our Festival catalog! You'll still be recognized on the big screen during the Festival and on our website if you reach us later.

Please contact our new Associate-Executive Director Deldelp Medina at deldelp@latinofilmsociety.org for more information. See you soon at the festival!

Sep. 5, 2007 - (Comics2Film) - Comics2Film has heard a few more tidbits of info about the 'Preacher' series at HBO. Turns out director Howard Deutch is no longer on the project. Deutch, who previously worked with Mark Steven Johnson on 'Grumpier Old Men', had been set to direct the initial episode since the development of the project was announced last November. His attachment raised a few eyebrows among fans as the director is not really known for helming edgy material like a 'Preacher' show would have to be. So who is lined up to bring Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's shocking tale of angels and demons in the American west to Home Box Office? Word is Robert Rodriguez is circling the project and he's just one of many top-shelf directors interested in the series. FULL STORY HERE

BERNAL TO STAR IN MOODYSSON'S ENGLISH-LANGUAGE DEBUT "MAMMOTH"

Sep. 5, 2007 - (ScreenDaily.com) - Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal is to star in Lukas Moodysson's Mammoth, the controversial Swedish writer/director's first English language feature. Mammoth is a drama centering on the domestic dynamics of a couple, their child and Filipino nanny. It is in final casting and pre-production. FULL STORY HERE

IN THIS TELENOVELA, EVEN SMOOCHES HAVE SPONSORS

Sep. 3, 2007 - NEW YORK (AdAge.com) - Marketers are using a coming telenovela to try several advertiser-friendly formats new to Spanish-language TV, from a sole-sponsored first episode to sponsored replays of the novela's best kisses. NBC Universal-owned Telemundo's "Pecados Ajenos" ("The Sins of Others") will roll out next month with a commercial-free episode sponsored by Kraft Foods' DiGiorno pizza, with opening and closing billboard ads for DiGiorno. The marketer will also be involved in segments the day of the premiere promoting the novela on two other Telemundo shows. FULL STORY HERE

"RIGHTEOUS" ADDS TO KILLER CAST

Sep. 3, 2007 - (ComingSoon.net) - Golden Globe winner Brian Dennehy is in negotiations to join newly added cast members John Leguizamo, Academy Award nominee Dan Futterman, Trilby Glover and professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek in Righteous Kill, the Jon Avnet production which begins filming September 4th in Connecticut and New York. This rounds out the cast which includes Academy Award winners Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, 50 Cent, Carla Gugino and Donnie Wahlberg. FULL STORY HERE

BRIDGING CULTURES AT THE BOX OFFICE

Sep. 2, 2007 - (Los Angeles Times) - For nearly a decade, actress Salma Hayek and her production partner, Jose Tamez, have been trying to launch a mini studio that caters to the Hispanic audience. They're finally getting some traction, thanks in part to the success of "Ugly Betty," the popular television show they produce for ABC that is based on a Colombian soap opera, "Yo Soy Betty, la Fea," and "Frida," the 2002 biography of artist Frida Kahlo that Hayek also starred in. In April, the pair got another break when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. agreed to finance, market and distribute several Latin-themed movies under the label, Ventanazul, a 50-50 venture with the studio. Hayek and Tamez said in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times that they intended to make mainstream English-language films with talent from Latin America as well as the U.S. FULL STORY HERE

TV RESEARCH INTERN AND LEAD POST TECHNICIAN AT SiTV

Si-TV is a fresh irreverent, English-language Latino cable network that connects with young viewers through vibrant and relevant programming made just for them. Our 24-hour network delivers a mix of original and acquired programming including the latest in entertainment, lifestyle, talk, standup comedy, classic series and feature films, as well as irreverent reality programming that pushes the boundaries of the genre. Si-TV goes beyond tradition by catering to today's English-speaking Latinos who consume English media, but still want shows that speak to their Latino roots.

We are looking to fill the following positions:

Television Research Intern

Responsibilities will include but are not limited to the following:
o Run Media Metrix reports for Total U.S. and Hispanic web traffic.
o Generate competitive advertising lead lists for Ad Sales using TNS.
o Pull local market demographic data through Claritas for Affiliate Sales.
o Summarize syndicated Latino and Multicultural research studies.
o Assist with organization of focus groups and other forms of primary research.
o Create weekly newsletter with Latino media articles – to be distributed to company.

REQUIREMENTS:
o Bilingual (English & Spanish) with knowledge of Latino and/or multicultural demographics is preferred.
o Must have interest in Television and Entertainment research.
o Must be proficient in Microsoft Office: Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
o Must have strong organizational skills and have the ability to juggle multiple tasks in a fast - paced environment.
o Applicant should be a college junior, senior or graduate student studying Research, Marketing, Multicultural Studies or related field.
o Candidate should be organized and capable of learning quickly in a fast-paced and creative environment. Must possess a strong sense of detail and be eager to learn.

Qualified candidates are asked for forward their resume to jobs@sitv.com

EOE

Lead Post Production Technician

Responsibilities:
· Provides expert knowledge of FCP and professional A/V & FCP troubleshooting skills as well as advanced networking skills, server media management with individual cut/projects.
· Managing, overseeing and maintaining all technical/broadcast standards and delivery elements for all original programming.
· Troubleshoots and resolves various hardware and software related problems including the installation of such requiring extensive experience working with various broadcast components.
· Recommend, research, design and submit purchase proposal for needed equipment.
· Serve as backup to Director, Technical Services, as needed.

Requirements:
· Extensive experience with various editing software including Final Cut Pro Studio package (FCP, Motion, Live, DVD Studio Pro, and Compressor).
· A Bachelors degree is preferred.
· Must be able to multi-task under extreme pressure and tight deadlines.
· Ability to work various shifts including night needed.
· Exceptional communication and leadership skills are required.
· Seeking an energetic and reliable candidate with the strong need to achieve excellence.
· Must have the ability to train staff of typical technical processes found in post production such as reading scopes and properly learning and using software(s).
· HD exp preferred.
· Must have a “can do” attitude and help to assist with the overall needs of the Production Team.
· Knowledge of the Latino culture helpful.
· Previous supervisory experience is helpful.

Qualified candidates are asked for forward their resume and salary history to jobs@sitv.com

EOE

WRITER/PRODUCER FOR ENTERTAINMENT MAGAZINE STYLE TV SHOW

Seeking a writer-producer for a entertainment magazine-format TV show.

This will be a salaried position.

You'll be helping to conceptualize, plan, write and coordinate various segments within a 1-hour formatted show. You should be very Hollywood-savvy - celebrities, movies, TV, etc.

The show is being made for Russian TV, produced here in Los Angeles. It will be produced in both English and Russian, however you do NOT need to speak or write Russian.

TO SUBMIT: email your resume, references and salary requirements - as well as a writing sample if possible, to:
wpcast@highdefhollywood.net
OR
Fax to: (702) 947-5789

CASTING: "LAST CALL" ONE-ACT PLAY

Last Call will be performed at the Strawberry One-Act Festival on October 20 and 21st at the Complex Theatre. Additional performances will be added if the play advances into the semi-finals and final rounds. For more info on the festival go to www.therianttheatre.com

SEEKING- The following roles are open. This breakdown will also be listed on
Nowcasting.com.

Paul Bristow- Lead / MALE / 50 TO 60 / Caucasian
Paul Bristow was once a successful businessman. Now he's lost everything. Actor should have a prescence but can be a little hardened by life.

Juan Ortiz- Lead / MALE / 21 TO 30 / Latin
Juan Ortiz is early to late twenties, an immigrant from South America. He is sarcastic and funny with a dark secret. Should have an accent that has faded over time.

Last Call" tells the story of Paul Bristow, a down on his luck businessman who walks into Maguire's Pub for one last drink before he takes his own life. At the bar, he finds Leslie Wallace , a friendly bartender stuck in her own rut but confident that life will one day work out the way she's planned.

Comforted by her easy going nature, Paul reveals in a moment of weakness his plans to kill himself. The barback Juan Ortiz wants nothing to do with Paul's plan and tries to get him to leave. The battle of wills between these three very different people will test them all. In one evening, each of them will be changed by secrets revealed and irreversible decisions. "Last Call" is the story of hope, redemption and finding a rainbow at the end of every cloud.

Contact asap: hollienoverton@aim.com

3D CHARACTER ANIMATOR FOR CHILDREN'S TV SHOW

Class Clown Productions is looking for experienced 3D Character Animators to work on a childrens show pilot.

Good pay, negotiable depending upon experience.

You must be able to start no later than September 24th and based in the Los Angeles area.

TO SUBMIT: email your resume and a LINK to your online demo (Links only, please do not email large video files!) to:
iva_antioco@classclownproduction.com
OR
Mail physical submissions to:
Class Clown Productions
9025 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 450
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

ASSISTANT AT HBO (NY)

This position requires the ability to interact well with all levels of management, personnel, and outside individuals and organizations. Primary duties include the following:

- Daily maintenance of GIFTS database system; Input requests, process check requisitions, send approval and declination letters, maintain files, prepare auction packages, assist with special events and projects as needed.

- Performs other related duties and projects as necessary.

- Assist with Corporate Affairs special events/projects.

Candidate should have at least 2 years experience as an administrative assistant and experience with data processing. Should have an interest in cable/television. Prefer an individual with some experience in public relations and non-profits. Must be able to pay close attention to detail. Must be a resourceful and professional individual willing to work flexible hours, including overtime if and when necessary. PC Skills: Proficiency in MS Word & Excel. Must have knowledge of file set-up, maintenance, and filing procedures. Must have good writing skills. Must have knowledge of report and letter formats. Must have knowledge of general office equipment, such as fax, copier, printer, etc. Must be able to organize & schedule work effectively. Must be able to work efficiently under time constraints in a fast paced environment. Must be able to handle multiple tasks. Must be a team player.

Apply on the HBO jobs website:
http://www.timewarner.com/corp/careers/jobtools_us/index.html

ACTION-ADVENTURE OR THRILLER SCREENPLAYS SET IN THE PHILIPPINES

We are looking for completed feature-length action/adventure or thriller scripts that are set in the Philippines. NO horror submissions, please. A combination of city location(s) (25%) with beach/resort and jungle locations (75%) would be ideal. We will NOT shoot in Manila.

A lead role for an American martial artist in his 20's is a definite plus.

Non-WGA writers only should submit.

Budget will not exceed $100K, so minimal locations and cast size are essential ˆ although we do have access to boats and a small plane for shooting.

Emerald Films has produced award-winning shorts and documentaries, including 'Tears of a Lotus' and 'Yesterday Upon the Stair,' and our producing partner in this venture has directed four features and produced and/or line produced more than a dozen low budget features.

TO SUBMIT:
1. Please go to www.InkTippro.com/leads
2. Enter your email address (you will be signing up for InkTip's newsletter - FREE!)
3. Copy/Paste this code: vdh7huahac
4. You will be submitting a logline and synopsis only , and you will be contacted to submit the full script only if there is interest from the production company.

OPPORTUNITY: PANEL OF LITERARY AGENTS AND MANAGERS

Scriptwriters Network Speaker Series presents

PANEL OF LITERARY AGENTS & MANAGERS
WITH BARRY KATZ, BRAD KUSHNER, AND MARC MANUS

Saturday, September 8th, 2007
1:00pm - 3:30pm

Raleigh Studios
Charlie Chaplin Theater
5300 Melrose Ave.
(between Bronson and Van Ness)
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Enter through the Van Ness gate.

Parking is available for $5 on the studio lot;
there's also metered street parking.

BRING A COPY OF THIS EMAIL and mention INFOLIST.com at the door when you arrive, and your admission is *ONLY $5!* (normally $15!)
No RSVP is required.
Free to SWN members and employees of Raleigh Studios.

Scriptwriters Network is thrilled to present a panel of agents and managers, talking about current industry trends, what they look for in new writers and more!

Guest speakers include:

BARRY KATZ
A talent manager at *New Wave Entertainment*, Katz, sold and executive produced multiple television, DVD, and CD projects, which include Dane Cook's "Tourgasm" & "Vicious Circle" for HBO; "The Next Best Thing" for ABC; "U.S. of ANT" for Logo; "Houdini: Unlocking the Mystery " for the History Channel; "I Married a Princess" Lifetime, "Action" for FOX; and the Emmy nominated "Last Comic Standing" for NBC. Feature films he's produced include: EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH; GOOD LUCK CHUCK and BACHELOR #2.

BRADLEY KUSHNER
Oversees the management division of *Creative Convergence*.* *The company's literary clients include: *Gary Sinyor* (THE BACHELOR), *Stacy Lumbrezer* (HOLLOW MAN, STARSHIP TROOPERS), *Michael Scott Myers* (THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD), *Chuck Austen* (TRIPPING THE RIFT), *Ann Knapp-Austen* (POWER RANGERS) and many more.

MARC MANUS
His company, *Manus Entertainment*, features an eclectic roster of up-and-coming writers and directors. Previously, Marc worked for various management companies and agencies—including working with Cathryn Jaymes, who represented Quentin Tarantino.

For more information about the Scriptwriters Network please visit:
www.scriptwritersnetwork.org
OR call: 1-888-796-9673 (1-888-SWN–WORD).

OPPORTUNITY: AUDIO POST SEMINAR

SoundDesignLA
GET THE MOST FROM YOUR FILM'S AUDIO
GET FEEDBACK ON YOUR OWN FILM!
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007
7-10pm

Greetings Directors, Producers, Sound Designers, Music Composers, and Editors!

Would you like personal consultation on your film to get the most out of your soundtrack? We're accepting signups for narrative, documentary, educational, interactive, and experimental projects at SoundDesignLA , so let me know asap if you'd like to screen that night.

Based ! on the 32 hours of Sound Design curriculum I teach at Video Symphony, and my internationally utilized textbook "Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice and Sound Effects in Cinema" , the 3-hour SoundDesignLA gives you immediate access to amp up your creative and technical audio skills.

You will discover how to:
* Find a competitive edge to thrive with tight budgets and deadlines
* Integrate audio techniques to support character, plot and emotion
* Master the language of sound design in fiction, documentary and commercial projects
* Learn how psycho-acoustics can really impact your audience physically and emotionally

WHAT WE'LL DO
SoundDesignLA offers a unique experience where we screen and analyze several sound design works-in-progress each night. (Yours can be next!) We identify how to fulfill client/audience expectations, when to apply psychoacoustic principles for effectiveness, what plug-ins can solve creative and technical challenges, and how to develop the soundtrack in collaboration with all your production partners. You'll find how Sound Design theory operates in the real world, developing your fluency in a powerful language to work and create effectively.

DO YOU WANT PRECISION FEEDBACK ON YOUR WORK?
We're filling up with the screenings scheduled for this SoundDesignLA , and will start booking for next month's, so email me ASAP at dsonn@charter.net if you may have something ready now, including information on what genre, and total running time. If it's a long piece, we'll screen a portion and talk about the overall sound design.

SoundDesignLA is open to professionals and students, offering everyone a rich networking experience with potential collaborations in the industry. Please feel free to forward this announcement to anyone that may have interest.

SoundDesignLA
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
7pm-10 pm
Video Symphony
266 E. Magnolia Blvd., Rm. 6
Burbank, California 91502 PARKING: structure entrance on E. Palm
(map http://videosymphony.com/map.html )
Last minute messages, call (310) 963-0807.

Fee : $25, check or cash please. (Current Video Symphony students no charge, must RSVP by Aug. 5.)

TOATTEND:
Limited Seating - Please RSVP to ensure your spot. Be sure to mention you heard about this from Jeff Gund at INFOLIST.com, and please email your RSVP to:
dsonn@charter.net