Nov 21st through Dec 2nd, 2010.
Movie making in Central America has yet to flourish, due to economic and infrastructural challenges, but a determined group of filmmakers and actors in Nicaragua have completed that country’s first feature in more than two decades, La Yuma. The film begins its exclusive U.S. First Run Theatrical engagement presented in 35mm at the new Coral Gables Art Cinema on Sunday evening, November 21, and will play a seven-days-a-week extended run through Thursday, December 2. Opening night will include a 6:00 pm complimentary reception for all ticket holders, with an open bar courtesy of Barrdi, USA, and a 7:00 pm screening. The evening is hosted by the American Nicaraguan Chamber of Commerce with the film’s director Florence Jaugey in attendance.
La Yuma tells the story of a strong-willed and rebellious young woman from a poor neighborhood of Managua who dreams of being a boxer. More broadly, it paints a portrait of a her dysfunctional family, the violent gang members she works to extricate herself from, her “band-of-outsider” friends and her affair with a man who is a university student from “the other side of the tracks.” La Yuma is simultaneously a realistic and lyrical work that provides insight into today’s Nicaragua, and is unusual in its intensity and authenticity. La Yuma is Nicaragua’s submission for this year’s Academy Awards. It has played at many international festivals, broken box office records in Managua, and opened theatrically in Europe, but this is the first regular theatrical release in all of North America.
“We are very excited to be presenting La Yuma, particularly to South Florida audiences, where Central American culture has been underrepresented, despite the large Nicaraguan population and other interested communities here,” says Coral Gables Art Cinema Director Robert Rosenberg. “La Yuma also is the first of the many films we intend to screen for which we are contracting directly with the filmmaker, which is unusual to do, because no U.S. distribution exists for the movie.” The film is in Spanish with English subtitles, and is written and directed by Florence Jaugey and stars Alma Blanco as “La Yuma.”
The Coral Gables Art Cinema is a new state-of-the-art theater and arts center that includes 141 stadium-configured seats, state-of-the-art 35mm, 16mm and pristine 2k/4k true industry-standard theatrical quality digital projection and Dolby digital sound. It also has an onsite gallery, a gourmet café with wine and beer, and covered outdoor patio seating. In addition the theater is equipped for live presentations and performances, and includes discounted parking in a covered garage. The Cinema will be showcasing the best first-run American independent and international features, both fiction and documentary, in addition to repertory films, special programs and film festival events, which speak to the multilingual and multicultural diversity of South Florida. Upcoming films at the Cinema over the next few months include the Florida Premiere and First Run Presentations of international films from Peru, France and Canada, as well as U.S. titles; films with stars such as Colombian heart-throb Manolo Cardona and Isabelle Huppert; and award-winning directors such as Gasper Noé, D.A. Pennebaker, Claire Denis and Xavier Dolan.
The Cinema is run by the non-profit Coral Gables Cinemateque, Inc., and was developed in partnership with the City of Coral Gables, Magna-Tech Electronic Co. and the Coral Gables Community Foundation. Funding for the Coral Gables Art Cinema comes in part from the City of Coral Gables; the Perrin Fund of the Coral Gables Community Foundation; Steven and Myrna-Blumberg Krams; Bacardi; the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; and the many individual donors and members who have joined to make the Cinema a reality. Major in-kind contributions of professional movie theater equipment, furnishings, fixtures and installations have been contributed by a range of film industry companies and have been key to outfitting the theater.
Coral Gables Art Cinema
260 Aragon Avenue
Coral Gables, Fl 33134
786.385.9689
www.gablescinema.com
Be the first to comment