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| Miami Encuentros 2013 award-winner Neto Villalobos at The Standard Hotel & Spa (Miami Beach) |
MIFF’s Miami Encuentros winning project All About the Feathers (Por las plumas), by Costa Rican producer/director Neto Villalobos has been invited to world premiere in the Discovery Program early next month at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The Discovery section represents diverse perspectives which include 28 first and second feature films made by outstanding filmmakers from Hong Kong, France, Israel, Australia, Uruguay, Italy, Singapore, Costa Rica and South Africa.
Eric Schnedecker of Frederic Corvez’s Paris-based Urban Distribution International (UDI) began negotiations with Villalobos in Miami, where he first saw the film as a MIFF Encuentros jury member. In agreement with fellow jury members Mar Abadin of 6 Sales, Rebeca Conget of Film Movement and Leslie Cohen of HBO, Villalobos’ wry comedy was selected as the recipient of the USD $10,000 cash prize sponsored by EGEDA, the Audiovisual Producers’ Rights Management Association from Spain.
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| Scene from All About the Feathers (Por las plumas) |
All About the Feathers is about Chalo, a lone security guard struggling to find his first gamecock (a rooster trained for cockfights). His job in an abandoned factory is boring and monotonous but it doesn’t seem to bother him that his life is like that as well. Once he manages to get his longed for rooster, which he names Rocky, a chain of funny situations ensues, testing Chalo’s passion and love for his new (and only) friend.
Following its world premiere in Toronto, All About the Feathers will vie for the Kutxa-New Directors Award at San Sebastian Film Festival with 16 first or second directors from Spain, the US, Israel, France, Turkey, Lithuania, Costa Rica, Greece, Mexico, China, Iceland, Ukraine, Holland and Belgium.
Miami Encuentros, created in 2003 with the objective of facilitating and supporting the completion of Latin American and U.S. Hispanic feature film projects in post-production and propelling them towards their debuts on the international stage. — Tatyana Chiocchetti
