Sundance: Jennifer Lopez and Viola Davis on Hollywood Diversity, TV Careers and ‘Lila & Eve’

Source by Ramin Setoodeh &  Brent Lang          

This year’s Sundance Film Festival closes with “Lila & Eve,” a gritty crime drama starring Jennifer Lopez and Viola Davis as two moms who lose their children to crime, and take vigilantism into their own hands. The two actresses, who first worked together on 1998’s “Out of Sight,” share other common ground. Both of the leading ladies juggle television (Lopez on “American Idol,” Davis on “How to Get Away With Murder”) with film careers. They talked to Variety separately by phone this week about their new movie, diversity in Hollywood and why it’s still so hard to get financing for a project with two female leads.

 

Read the interview with Jennifer Lopez and Viola Davis here.

Roberto Carlos, Ruben Blades, Myriam Hernandez & More Nominated for Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame

By Leila Cobo
The Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame officially set forth its third year of operations with the announcement of finalists for the third annual La Musa Awards 2015. The eventual winners will be inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame in a ceremony on Oct. 15 at the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami Beach.

A total of 12 nominees were announced in both the performers (or singer/songwriters) and non-performers categories. Names included Joan Sebastian, Myriam Hernandez, Roberto Carlos and Ruben Blades in the performers category and Lalo Schifrin, Leo Brouwer and Ramon Arcusa in the composers category.

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Diversifying Hollywood About More Than the Academy Awards

by Brennon Marcano

I will join the chorus of voices who think it is a terrible shame that Ava Duvernay will not be up for an Academy Award for her work on Selma. It's equally concerning that not a single actor or actress of color will be eligible for awards in the four acting categories and that only men will be under consideration for Best Director. While it's terrible that Ms. Duvernay won't be able to make history this year, perhaps it's even worse that there are so few women and people of color for awards panels to even choose from.

This year's Academy Awards are set to be the least diverse in 17 years. It doesn't just stop at the Oscars, a lack of diversity plagues Hollywood even more broadly. Out of the vast amount of movies produced this year only a small number featured women directors and producers or lead actors and actresses of color. We should be able to name many more African American, Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander actors, directors, screenwriters, and producers who should have been up for consideration in addition to those who worked on Selma.

During a tearful acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez said, "This award is so much more than myself. It represents a culture that wants to see themselves as heroes." Her words resonated with many viewers that night because they were true. Women and people of color want and deserve to see their stories accurately represented in television and on the silver screen. They also deserve consideration for Hollywood's top honors for the quality of their contributions.

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Disney Launching Latin-Inspired 'Sofia the First' Spinoff

by Kimberly Nordyke

Disney Junior is launching a new animated series about a teen princess that takes inspiration from by Latin cultures.

Princess Elena of Avalor, described as "a confident and compassionate teenager in an enchanted fairytale kingdom inspired by diverse Latin cultures and folklore," will be introduced in a special episode of Disney Junior's Sofia the First. The episode is going into production for a 2016 premiere, with Princess Elena voiced by Aimee Carrero (ABC Family's Young & Hungry). The debut of the new series Elena of Avalor, produced by Disney Television Animation, will follow later that year.

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Luis Guzman Movies and TV Shows: Puerto Rican 'Boogie Nights,' 'Miami Vice' Actor to Receive Hispanicize 2015 Latinovator Award

By Yara Simon

Luis Guzman is well-known for his varied movie appearances, and the actor is going to honored with the Latinovator Award at Hispanicize 2015.

Guzman, who was born in Puerto Rico, will be awarded in March when the sixth annual Hispanicize takes place in Miami, according to Hispanicize Wire. Hispanicize aims to recognize Latinos in film, media and music. The event is running from March 16-20 at the InterContinental Hotel.

"Luis is a standout, crossover actor who in his 30-plus years in show business is best known for his character actor and cameo roles in dozens upon dozens of incredibly well known films," said Manny Ruiz, organizer and creative director of Hispanicize 2015.

Guzman has more than 100 film and TV credits. Read more.

'The Book Of Life' Puts Latino Culture Front And Center

Source by Mark Hughes

The Oscar race has brought a lot of attention to the fact Hollywood is — let’s face it — very white. This year, a lot of films, filmmakers, and performers of color found themselves largely MIA during award season. One of the most surprising Oscar omissions of a film reflecting ethnic and cultural diversity was in the animated feature film category, when The Book of Life failed to receive a nomination. This gorgeous animated tale adapted from Mexican folklore is unique and imaginative, with a visual style that stands out at a time when most other computer animated movies tend toward a lot of the same visual choices. Yet the originality of the material and animation, and the fact it represents a sadly ignored demographic who are among the most important for cinematic success, weren’t enough to win a nod.

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Year in Review: The 2014 Top Grossing Latino Films in the U.S.

In 2014 two animated films -and both released by 20th Century Fox- were the top grossing Latino films of the year in the United States: Rio 2 by Brazilian director Carlos Saldanha and The Book of Life by Mexican director Jorge R. Gutiérrez and produced by Guillermo del Toro.

After last year’s success of Eugenio Derbez’s Instructions Not Included which earned an impressive $44.4 million, Pantelion Films released Sebastián del Amo’s Cantinflas and Diego Luna’s Cesar Chavez to lukewarm box office numbers, but enough to land them in the third and fourth place of the chart.

Acclaimed Paris-based Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky made it to the list with two different titles: The Dance of Reality, his long anticipated return to cinema, and the documentary film Jodorowsky’s Dune, which narrates his doomed film adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi novel for the big screen.

Complete list of top grossing Latino films of 2014:

1. Rio 2 (Carlos Saldanha, Fox), $131,538,435

2. The Book of Life (Jorge R. Gutierrez, Fox), $49,289,238

3. Cantinflas (Sebastián del Amo, Pantelion Films), $6,382,924

4. Cesar Chavez (Diego Luna, Pantelion Films), $5,571,497

5. The Fluffy Movie (Manny Rodriguez and Jay Lavender, Open Road Films), $2,827,393

6. Gloria (Sebastián Lelio, Roadside Attractions), $2,107,925

7. Más Negro que la Noche (Henry Bedwell, Pantelion Films), $870,063

8. Jodorowsky's Dune (Frank Pavich, Sony Pictures Classics), $647,280

9. The German Doctor (Lucía Puenzo, Samuel Goldwyn), $418,392

10. The Dance of Reality (Alejandro Jodorowsky, ABKCO Films), $293,680

Source: Boxofficemojo.com. For practical and informative reasons, films made in the U.S. and abroad were also considered for this list. Theatrical figures for Panic 5 Bravo were not reported.