Entertainment | More from LALIFF
In the Spotlight at the 14th Annual
Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival
Producer Antonio Merlano will screen his second movie at LALIFF. Last year Merlano made his debut as an actor and producer with the movie “La Milagrosa” from director Rafa Lara, and this year he screens the short titled “Love”, which he co-produced and is directed by the Mexican Guillermo Iván Dueñas.
Antonio Merlano
“Love” is a modern tale of father–son love with an oedipan twist. A troubled young man haunted by memories of his childhood comes back after ten years of absence to face his father, a drunken strip club owner who abused him sexually for years. The young man has never forgotten and claims to be in love with him, his father speechless and disgusted rejects him, unleashing a fury out of love.
Antonio Merlano has more upcoming projects. Due to the huge success “La Milagrosa” had in Colombia as it became the bestseller box office movie in 2008, the movie will come out in theaters in Mexico and the United States in the month of October 2010. Merlano is also set to start shooting his next film “Balls”, which he wrote, and already has Héctor Jimenez (“Nacho Libre”) and César Ramos (“Trade”) attached to the project. He will also be seen acting next to Silvia Navarro and Jorge Salinas in the movie “Labios Rojos” (Dir. Rafa Lara), opening in theaters in Mexico at the beginning of 2011.
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The much talked about mega-talented Isabel Cueva and her film “In The Name of Freedom” continues to garner a lot of much deserved attention in Hollywood.
Isabel Cueva’s award-winning short film IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM has been meeting with one success after another on the film festival circuit. The emerging Latina mega-talent wrote, directed, produced and starred in the film, and in just 6 months since its debut,
Filmmaker, Isabel Cueva
“In The Name Of Freedom” has generated buzz and honors on the film festival circuit and has been invited to a dozen festivals and events. To date it has won two “Best Short” awards, a Cine Golden Eagle award she now shares with Stephen Spieldberg, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard and many other top directors. She recently received a “Best Short” nomination at the Imagen Awards 2010. This Sunday, the Los Angeles Latino International film festival will screen IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM at the legendary Mann’s Chinese Theaters on
The short screens at the Los Angeles Latino Film Festival on August 22nd at 12:00 PM at the Mann’s Chinese in Hollywood.
Cueva wrote, directed, produced and gives a tour de force performance as the lead character; a female soldier deployed in Iraq who is captured by insurgents. Though it was made on a micro-budget, IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM realistically recreates a war situation and shows that Cueva is equally talented on a number of fronts.
