New York-based cYclops Productions has signed Calabazitaz Tiernaz for exclusive spot representation. Calabazitaz Tiernaz is a Mexican directing collective comprised of brothers Everado and Leopoldo Gout; producer/director/cinematographer Mario Mandujano and producer Jorge Canedo are also available via the arrangement….Scott Williams, principal in Flipside Editorial, San Francisco and Santa Monica, is forming Retina, a telecine house in San Francisco. The new shop—a totally separate venture from Flipside—is scheduled to open on May 1. Its resources will include a Spirit 2K telecine system and a Quantel iQ hi-def editing system…..Industry vet Mike Dowd is launching Vapor Post. The Miami-based digital postproduction facility is slated to open on March 1….Los Angeles-based 1171 Production Group has added two music video directors: Ethan Lader and the mono-monikered Farah….Easyway Editorial, Dallas, has added Brad Briggs, Grant Pye and George Kelly to its roster, marketing them exclusively in Texas…. This past weekend, Conrad L. Hall posthumously won the coveted Annual Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Outstanding Achievement Award in the feature film category for Road to Perdition. Best known as a feature cinematographer, Hall—who died on January 4—also directed numerous commercials via the now defunct spot shop Wexler/Hall. This marked the record-setting fourth time that Hall topped the ASC’s feature competition. The ASC Award was accepted on Hall’s behalf by his son, DP Conrad W. Hall….
Karla SofÃa Gascón Could Make Trans History For Role In “Emilia Pérez”
Karla SofÃa Gascón's performance in "Emilia Pérez" as a Mexican drug lord who undergoes gender affirmation surgery to become a woman has brought her global acclaim and set Gascón on a path that may make her the first openly transgender actor ever nominated for an Oscar. But on this morning, she's feeling contemplative. "I woke up with such a philosophical streak," Gascón says, smiling. "In life, everything can be good or bad. We are a mix of so many things. There are things that make you happy and instead they make you sad, or the other way around." The dichotomies of life are a fitting subject for Jacques Audiard's "Emilia Pérez," a film that puts just about every genre — musical, crime thriller, melodrama — into a grandiose mixer, and, by sheer nerve, manages to coalesce into one of the year's most memorable movie experiences. "Emilia Pérez," which began streaming Wednesday on Netflix, is widely expected to be a best picture nominee. At the center of the "Emilia Pérez" phenomenon – which began with a barn-storming premiere at the Cannes Film Festival — is Gascón who plays both the menacing cartel kingpin Manitas and the woman who emerges after Manitas fakes his own death, Emilia Pérez. Years later, Emilia contacts the lawyer who facilitated her transition (Zoe Saldaña) to her reunite with her wife (Selena Gomez) and their children. The wild swings of "Emilia Pérez" – a movie that has earned comparisons to both "Sicario" and "Mrs. Doubtfire" – wouldn't be possible without Gascón. In Cannes, she and her co-stars shared in the best actress prize, which Gascón accepted. "We've been insulted, denigrated, subjected to a lot of violence without even knowing why," Gascón said that evening. "I think this is award is so much more... Read More