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Mexican novelist, screenwriter and occasional director Guillermo Arriaga made his name in the film realm penning multi-threaded dramas about the ripple effects of tragic incidents. “Amores Perros” and “Babel” stand out among them. Now the scribe’s cinematic legacy turns into a family affair with his children Mariana and Santiago Arriaga making their feature directorial debut via a searing coming-of-age road trip movie their father wrote.

But don’t expect the breezy sexiness of something like Alfonso Cuarón’s “Y Tu Mamá También.” Despite featuring adolescent protagonists, this journey into maturity holds major emotional stakes but few flutters of careless abandon. As is common in Arriaga’s scripts, the tale finds its potency in the intricate moral grays of the human condition, here portrayed through a collection of strikingly incisive performances by the young cast.

Set in early 1990s Mexico, “Upon Open Sky” begins on an empty desert highway. Twelve-year-old...

Pierson Fodé, 31, might be cast as Superman in the upcoming film, Superman: Legacy.

Although an official Superman hasn’t been named, it seems that writer-director James Gunn has taken a liking to Fodé’s audition tape.

The 31-year-old’s tape featured his family farm in Moses Lake, Washington. As evidenced by his farm montage, Fodé is apparently a farm boy at heart, similar to the comic-book superhero’s background.

The Emmy nominee made his acting debut in 2012 when he played Todd in Nickelodeon’s iCarly. He has also appeared in Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List and is also known as Brooks in Disney Channel’s Jessie and Ely. Most recently, he shared the screen with Woody Harrelson and Kevin Hart in The Man from Toronto.

50 Best Celebrity Bikinis Slideshow!

Henry Cavill, 40, previously played the role of Superman but announced late last year that he would not return for...

Ludovico Einaudi stunned a young fan at an airport when he joined him on the piano over the weekend.

The Italian pianist stood alongside the fan to play his track “Nuvole Bianche” while people waited in an airport sitting area.

Einaudi who started his career as a classical composer, is also known for his moving piano ballads and film and TV scores, including This Is England.

In a video shared on Einaudi’s Tiktok, he can be seen approaching the piano and playing with one hand alongside the young boy.

The video, captioned “a truly special moment” has amassed almost 200,000 views on TikTok.

In recent months, Einaudi’s piano instrumentals have gained popularity on the platform, being used to soundtrack users’ videos.

@ludovicoeinaudimusic

A truly special moment...

Jason Derulo is doing everything he can to be peformance-ready for the forthcoming Super Bowl, according to reports.

The singer is due to appear as a headliner ahead of the game next weekend for the NFL TikTok Tailgate.

The “Wiggle” singer injured his foot playing basketball a few weeks ago and is now unable to walk without a cane, TMZ reports.

According to the publication, Derulo landed badly on another player’s foot after jumping for the ball.

Durulo has avoided surgery for his torn ligament, but has been reportedly receiving stem cell injections and daily physio to speed up his recovery.

The Independent has contacted the singer’s representatives for comment.

Despite his predicament, the singer is apparently adamant that he will perform at the show.

Derulo was announced as a headliner for the pre-game alongside US rock band, The Black Keys last week.

The NFL have partnered with...

It has been announced that the slogan for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest will be “United By Music”.

The forthcoming contest, which will take place in Liverpool in May, will display the new slogan alongside an array of beating hearts in the colours of the Ukrainian and UK flags.

The typeface of the slogan has been named “Penny Lane”, after the 1967 Beatles song, in a nod to the city’s cultural heritage.

Last year, Ukraine won the contest with Kalush Orchestra, and the UK came second with singer Sam Ryder.

Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the UK took over hosting duties for this year, with Liverpool selected as the location for the contest.

Following the announcement, the BBC said that the new slogan “reflects the very origins of the contest, developed to bring Europe closer together through a shared TV experience across different countries”.

The branding, which...

French sales company’s titles include ’The Book of Wonders’, ‘The Baby’ and ’The Braid’.

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French sales company Snd has revealed a first look image and fresh production details for Princes Of The Desert, Eric Barbier’s adventure film starring Alexandra Lamy, and has unveiled details of its extensive AFM slate.

Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Mika is behind the soundtrack for Princes of the Desert which was previously titled Tehu. Lamy, whose credits include Rolling To You, replaces the previously announced Charlotte Gainsbourg in the film.

The film, produced by Snd alongside Vertigo Productions, follows a young Berber boy who...

Snd has boarded “The Braid,” an adaptation of Laetitia Colombani’s bestseller which is currently shooting in Italy, Canada and India with Kim Raver (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Fotini Peluso (“Romanzo famigliare”) and Mia Maelzer (“Beyond the Clouds”).

Colombani is directing the film based on her book which sold more than two million copies worldwide and was translated in 40 languages. Olivier Delbosc’s Curiosa Films, whose credits include Claire Denis’s “Stars at Noon” and “Lost Illusions,” and Marc Missonnier’s Moana Films (“The Odyssey””) are producing the movie with Snd, Canada’s Forum Films and Italy’s Indigo Film co-producing. Snd will handle worldwide sales and French distribution. MK2 Mile End is set to handle Canadian distribution.

The movie opens in India, where Smita (Maelzer) dreams of giving her young daughter an education and will go to any length to make that happen, including leaving behind all she knows in search of a better future.

The Sounds of 2021 mix of movie soundtracks comes in at just over two hours: a synergy of cerebral, graceful, paranoid, turbulent, and wondrous sounds from across all genres, merged to tell its own sonic story. The focus is mainly Hollywood and American indie movies, with a few excursions to Ethiopia, Chile, Japan, France, United Kingdom, Italy, and Sweden. My moviegoing practices became ever more erratic this year after a move to a new country, on-off rule changes in cinemas, and a tendency to have cinematic interests in something specific that was not part of the current slate. That being said, there was excitement in the air when it came to new cinema that felt more powerful this year than last and I hope that grows. New work from Mica Levi, Ludovico Einaudi, and a country soundtrack from Clint Eastwood’s latest film are a few of the exciting moments from...

With today’s release of Ludovico Einaudi’s “Cinema,” Universal Music Group confirms its status as one of the world’s most soundtrack-friendly music companies.

Music by Einaudi, the Italian composer and pianist, was featured in recent Oscar winners “Nomadland” and”The Father.” “Cinema” collects 28 pieces featured in those films and such earlier projects as “The Water Diviner,” “The Intouchables” and the miniseries “Doctor Zhivago.”

Each of the last seven Academy Award winners for original score was released or distributed by a Umg label or composed by a Umg artist, according to a spokesperson. Umg artists Jon Batiste and Hildur Guðnadóttir were the composers of “Soul” and “Joker,” respectively. “Grand Budapest Hotel” was on Abkco, “The Hateful Eight” and “The Shape of Water” on Decca, and “La La Land” and the “Black Panther” song album on Interscope.

Similarly, the last seven Grammy-winning scores, and the last seven BAFTA winners, were also Umg-affiliated.

The movies have masterfully exploited viewers’ terror of heights, bats, rats, sharks, spiders and snakes over the years, and for anyone whose greatest fear is growing old and lapsing into frightened confusion, “The Father” will be their “Jaws.”

Not that first-time director Florian Zeller (co-adapting his own play with Christopher Hampton) is making a ghoulish or garish horror show out of a difficult and sensitive subject, far from it. But as Anthony Hopkins masterfully portrays a man slipping further and further into dementia, the film captures the terrifying sensation of not remembering and not understanding the people and places around us, and the helplessness of having to have your reality explained to you.

Hopkins stars as Anthony, who’s rattling around a very large London apartment on his own, much to the consternation of his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman), who’s upset that another home-care nurse has quit after Anthony...

The main characters of The Father, the directorial debut of French playwright Florian Zeller, are Anthony (Anthony Hopkins), Anne (Olivia Colman) and Ludovico Einaudi’s score, which in its unsettling brilliance evokes the horror genre much more than any family drama we might have expected. That’s no accident.

Adapted from Zeller’s own acclaimed play, The Father is a breathtakingly original take on a well-known recipe. Anthony must come to terms with his rapidly developing Alzheimer’s. Chaos, tragedy and shouting ensue. We’ve seen this many times on screen, never mind on stage, with just about every illness there is. The best of the genre leave a mark and are duly labelled “important”, the worst are quickly forgotten.

The Father isn’t like any of those: it’s much, much better than it is important, though important it still is. Without giving too much away, Zeller’s conceit...

Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland” is a tiny indie film on a huge scale, an intimate drama set against the vast spaces of the American West. It’s also a typical production for the young Chinese-American director Zhao in that its cast is made up of non-actors playing themselves, or versions of themselves — except that at the center of the film is a two-time Oscar-winning actress whose very presence, you’d think, would upset the delicate balance that Zhao struck in her films “Songs My Brothers Taught Me” and “The Rider.”

Then again, Frances McDormand isn’t your usual two-time Oscar-winning actress. Grounded and devoid of vanity, she’s probably the only double Oscar-winning performer who doesn’t seem out of place pooping in a bucket, as she does on screen in this film.

That’s not to say that she can’t glam it up when the part calls for it.

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Chloé Zhao’s Oscar contender “Nomadland” premiered to critical acclaim at the 2020 Venice Film Festival, and now it’s available for viewers to stream at home on Hulu. Beginning Friday, Feb. 19, the film will run on IMAX and regular screens in areas where movie theaters are open, and will be available to stream at the same time on Hulu.

There’s no additional purchase necessary; like 2020’s “Palm Springs,” “Nomadland” will premiere on the streaming service’s regular tier. Not a subscriber? You can join for just $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year at its most basic level, or upgrade to commercial-free (at $11.99 per month) or Hulu plus live TV (starring at $64.99 per month).

Thanks to corporate synergy,...

St. Louis Film Critics Announce 2020 Awards

The independent drama “Nomadland” has won four awards from the St. Louis Film Critics Association, including film, director, editing and cinematography.

After losing everything in the 2008 recession, middle-aged Fern (Frances McDormand) embarks on a journey through the American west in writer-director Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland.” Zhao also edited the film. Joshua James Richards earned Best Cinematography.

“Promising Young Woman,” writer-director Emerald Fennell’s social commentary thriller about toxic masculinity, was recognized for Carey Mulligan’s performance and Fennell’s original screenplay as well as soundtrack for a total of three awards.

Other multiple award winners included Pixar’s “Soul” for animated feature and music score by Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste; Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” as best action film and visual effects; and “The Invisible Man” for best horror film and best scene in which the sisters meet to dine at a restaurant.

The music branch has been notorious for high-profile disqualifications and ineligibilities in the last few years. Last week, the BAFTA Awards website released a draft of what films are eligible for the upcoming show, set to take place on April 11, with nominations being announced on March 9. The list notes a film’s eligibility during the newly revamped round one voting period, which began on Jan. 12 and will conclude on Jan. 26.

The British Academy provided a roadmap of the musical scores that are not eligible for the Academy Awards and should not be expected for the shortlist announcement of 15, scheduled for Feb. 9.

The biggest contender that will be missing is “One Night in Miami” by composer Terence Blanchard. Distributed by Amazon Studios and directed by Academy Award winner Regina King, the film was seen as a major hopeful for the veteran musician, who received his first nomination for 2018’s “BlacKkKlansman.” To be eligible for the BAFTAs,...

The physical experience of the cinema in 2020 has been a fragmented stop and start scenario. Not being able to visit the cinema has been discouraging, but in putting this mix together I was reminded, pandemic aside, there have been new movies worth getting excited about and distinctive music and sounds to accompany them. Over the 1 hour, 39 minute run time this mix stops and starts in different mood zones, symmetrical to the year it represents. Between pieces of original score and soundtrack are voices and sounds, sometimes of hope, sometimes more sinister. Meandering in pace, this mix is a snapshot of feelings, as quickly as they come they move into different territory. We open with extracts from Garrett Bradely’s Time, these echoes of childhood and family swirl forward years as if inside a sonic time capsule. We hear voices weave in and out, “lots of things changed since the beginning of this tape.

What makes a great movie or television series trailer? It’s less about conveying the plot and more about selling the overall atmosphere of what it will feel like to watch the entire project. The best trailers bottle up the energy of an entire show or feature-length movie and unleash that same energy in under three minutes without losing any edge. These 10 trailers below did that the best in 2020.

“Killing Eve” Season 3 Official Trailer

A perfect example of a trailer that is more tantalizing than the resulting show, the sneak peek at “Killing Eve’s” third season even cleverly obscures the fact that one of the heavily featured characters (spoiler!) dies in the first episode. Get excited by Villanelle’s fashion choices and deeply weirded out by her homicidal clown, because it’s pretty much all diminishing returns from there.

“Perry Mason” Official Trailer

Wait, wait, wait, Matthew Rhys scruffily...

One of the more highly praised films of the year so far, Nomadland is not just a critical favorite, but a surefire Academy Award contender. Before it competes for Oscar love, however, it’s going to need to actually come out. We now know that February 19th is when it goes into wide release, just in time to qualify with the Academy. Frances McDormand is phenomenal in Chloé Zhao’s touching movie, commenting beautifully on the tough state of those living on the fringes of society. To coincide with the date announcement, a full trailer has been released as well, which you can see below. This is a top notch flick, folks, so believe the hype… Once again, here is the official synopsis from Searchlight Pictures: “Following the economic collapse of a company town in rural Nevada, Fern (Frances McDormand) packs her van and sets off on the road...

by Cláudio Alves

After its premiere in Venice and the Golden Lion victory, Chloé Zhao's Nomadland has quickly become one of the most talked-about and most critically acclaimed films of 2020. Personally, I can't wait to watch the nomadic drama starring Frances McDormand, though I'm uncertain when the picture will be coming to Portugal. For the cinephiles of the USA, however, Nomadland is being theatrically released tomorrow, December 4th. If you feel safe enough to do so and it's playing nearby, you can venture into the cinema and experience Zhao's new film.

Meanwhile, I'll wait and let my expectations ferment and grow like some metaphorical sourdough starter. While much has been written about the picture's sweeping landscapes, intriguing narrative, and applause-worthy performances, I confess the singular element I'm most excitingly anticipating is its music. Specifically, Ludovico Einaudi's latest film score…...

“Home, is it just a word? Or is it something you carry within you?”

These Morrissey lyrics are at the heart of Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland,” a film that follows the itinerant lives of older Americans searching the country for a living wage with their campers, vans, and trailers in tow. While prefaced as an account of the economic collapse of Empire, Nv due to the closure of their sheetrock factory in 2011, this Searchlight Picture shines a light on the rise in migrant workers due to the Great Recession of 2008 and the plight of this marginalized group’s eroded American Dream.

Zhao adapted the 2017 non-fiction book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century” by Jessica Bruder. Frances McDormand stars as Fern, a widow at a crossroads with only her trusty van, cleverly named Vanguard, by her side. She is joined by David Strathairn and a supporting cast of many non-actor...

The rapturous response to the unveiling of “Nomadland” at the Toronto and New York Film festivals has catapulted director Chloé Zhao’s new film as an instant Oscar contender for Best Picture, Actress, Director, and Cinematography. The film’s subtle and moving score by Ludovico Einaudi has also received positive notices, but “Nomadland” and the Italian composer will not qualify for Best Score this awards season.

The reason is simple: Einaudi did not write the “Nomadland” music specifically for the film. Zhao used tracks from his previous albums, with much of it coming from a 2019 seven-album collection titled “Seven Days Walking.”

The music was inspired by hikes the prolific composer took in the Italian Alps. According the film’s press notes, Einaudi followed the same hiking path for seven days, but opened “himself up to the different emotions and stimuli he experienced while negotiating changing light, temperature, wildlife and weather conditions.

Chloé Zhao talks about longtime collaborator singer/songwriter Cat Clifford and composer Ludovico Einaudi Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

At the Venice Film Festival, the competition jury led by Cate Blanchett with filmmakers Veronika Franz (Goodnight Mommy), Joanna Hogg (The Souvenir) Christian Petzold, actors Ludivine Sagnier (Paolo Sorrentino’s The New Pope), Matt Dillon (Alice Winocour’s Proxima), and novelist Nicola Lagioia (La Ferocia) awarded Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, based on the book by Jessica Bruder, starring Frances McDormand, the Golden Lion as Best Film.

Frances McDormand as Fern in Nomadland

The tone of Nomadland is set from the get go, when we learn about the fate of Empire, a small town in Nevada that ceased to exist within six months after US Gypsum shut down its plant there in 2011 after 88 years. The film follows Fern (Frances McDormand), a widow, who, after a short seasonal stint as a Christmas helper in an Amazon warehouse,...

Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland was one of the hottest tickets at Venice and Toronto this year. Screening on the last day of competition in Venice, it was certainly worth the wait.

Starring Frances McDormand as the nomad in question, we follow Fern as she wanders the American west, constantly uprooting herself as she follows seasonal work: packing for Amazon, picking beets, cleaning on campsites. The reason for her nomadic lifestyle is the death not just of her husband, but of her town, which has ceased to exist following the closure of the town’s mine. The film opens with Fern locking her belongings in a storage unit, slamming shut her belongings and her painful memories.

Zhao’s film is based on Jessica Bruder’s book of the same name about the precarious lives of many older transient workers. As she has done in her previous two features, Zhao has incorporated...

“Nomadland” is the kind of movie that could go very wrong. With Frances McDormand as its star alongside a cast real-life nomads, in lesser hands it might look like cheap wish fulfillment or showboating at its most gratuitous. Instead, director Chloé Zhao works magic with McDormand’s face and the real world around it, delivering

Zhao previously directed “The Rider” and “Songs My Brother Taught Me,” dramas that dove into marginalized experiences with indigenous non-actors in South Dakota. “Nomadland” imports that fixation with sweeping natural scenery to a much larger tapestry and a different side of American life. Inspired by Jessica Bruder’s non-fiction book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century,” the movie follows McDormand as Fern, a soft-spoken widow in her early 60s who hits the road in her van, and just keeps moving. The movie hovers with her, at times so enmeshed in her travels that it practically becomes a documentary.

Sometimes, a Trailer doesn’t have to do much. If it only gives you a taste of what’s to come…well, it’s a Teaser Trailer, but it’s also whetting your appetite. Earlier in the week, we got just such a Teaser, and it’s for a major Academy Award contender in Nomadland coming from Chloé Zhao and starring Frances McDormand. This big time Oscar player is going to be at just about every fall film festival this season, so it’s certainly one to watch. Obviously, prestige fare like this is going to be on our radar, even without a Teaser. Still, this one does the trick in a really subtle way. You can see the Teaser Trailer for the flick below, so read on and check it out… The movie is an intimate drama and character study. This is the official synopsis from Searchlight Pictures:...

With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a major streaming platform.

Few movie endings over the last several years have proven to be as divisive as “The Florida Project,” Sean Baker’s 2017 drama about a single mother and her young daughter living in a Florida budget motel on the outskirts of Walt Disney World. The film, now streaming on Netflix, world-premiered to universal acclaim at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, but even admirers of Baker’s slice-of-life vision have found the film’s last one minute sequence to be tough to swallow. Baker makes such a jarring filmmaking shift that it’s hard to enjoy “The Florida Project” finale, and yet it’s without a doubt one of the most perfect and most fitting movie endings in recent memory.

More from IndieWire'Never Have I...

Isabelle Huppert as Marie Stuart in Robert Wilson's production of Mary Said What She Said to be presented at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August Photo: Théâtre de la Ville Paris

Isabelle Huppert admits she has an obsession with Mary Stuart, the Queen of Scotland and France who lost her crown because of her passions.

She has already played her on stage in London at the National Theatre in a 1996 production (directed by Howard Davies) of Schiller’s play, opposite Anna Massey as the Protestant Elizabeth of England.

One review said that Huppert “devoured the stage with the animal vigour of a refined thoroughbred.”

At the Rendezvous with French Cinema in Paris, Huppert, who was there primarily to talk about her role as a woman facing up to death in Ira Sachs’s film Frankie, revealed that she will bring Mary back to Scotland as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August,...

Exclusive: Legal thriller starring Masaharu Fukuyama due to hit screens in Japan in September.

Japan’s Gaga Corporation and Wild Bunch are re-teaming to jointly sell Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s upcoming legal thriller The Third Murder.

Popular Japanese singer and actor Masaharu Fukuyama reunites with Kore-eda to play a lawyer who takes on a complicated murder case that will shake his very belief in the law.

Fukuyama starred in Kore-eda’s 2013 Cannes Jury Prize winner Like Father, Like Son, playing a successful businessman faced with a tough decision on discovering the child he brought up as his own was swapped with his biological son at birth.

Gaga will represent Asian territories and Wild Bunch is handling the rest of the world.

The new deal extends a collaboration begun on Kore-eda’s 2011 film I Wish and continued on his subsequent films Like Father, Like Son, Our Little Sister and After The Storm.

Toho Co., Ltd...

The Star Wars franchise has, over the course of its run, grown into one of the most popular franchises in cinema history, spawning not only numerous films, but a number of tv shows, video games, and comics as well, with its fans stretching across generations and many accomplished performers finding some of their most famous roles in the series. The success of the first trilogy, which was released in 1977, 1980, and 1983, caused the franchise mastermind George Lucas to revisit the universe in the last decade, exploring the origins of numerous characters and watching how the events unfolded to lead to the state they did in 1977’s Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope.

Now vimeo user whoispablo has put together a compilation of shots and scenes from both trilogies to show how they mirror each other, as was Lucas’ intent. Titled Star Wars Poetry, the video is set to Experience by Ludovico Einaudi,...

The tourism board for Turkey owes Leonardo Dalessandri all of their money. He’s crafted a short film that spins and flashes through the many souls of the country, offering a gorgeous view of crowded city streets, solemn spaces and bright natural landscapes. Dalessandri’s visuals are hypnotizing in both a picture postcard and “Humans of New York” kind of way, but beyond the poetry, he’s utilized hyperlapse and A.D.D. editing to create a euphoric, disorienting experience. Shots of flying birds and people in prayer and men selling ice cream seem to fold into one another as Dalessandri uses similar shapes to make his cuts for him. Frame different shots of a dog and a jaguar leaping over fences in the same space, smash cut, and the result is a magic trick that pours fizzy water on the brain. The sound design also aids the task by punctuating key moments and offering a percussive...

Depending which critics you choose to believe, Xavier Dolan is either the wunderkind or enfant terrible of Canadian cinema. This critic finds his talent both humbling and energizing, a rare excellence that's easily the equal to some of the best in world cinema.

"Mommy" is the fifth feature for the 25-year-old Dolan, who turned a quarter-century just two months before his third Cannes premiere. Joining Canadian luminaries such as Atom Egoyan and David Cronenberg at the festival, it was Dolan's film that took home one of the major festival prizes, with some murmuring that he should have been granted the Palme D'or award for this astonishing film about family, betrayal, and culture.

"Mommy" is slowing rolling out across the country, and it was recently selected as Canada's official Oscar entry, with many thinking it stands an excellent chance at winning a golden trophy. Moviefone Canada spoke to Dolan during the Toronto Film Festival in September.

If you haven't yet seen The Intouchables you're missing out on a truly well-acted, wonderful film and directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano are back with their first film since and have reteamed with Intouchables break-out star Omar Sy for a bit of a crowd-pleaser. Attempting to walk the line between drama, comedy and romance, for the most part it works if not a little incongruous, but overall it's too much of a soft lob, eliminating any need to get overly excited. Sy plays the film's title star, a migrant from Senegal that has been working and living in France for the last ten years, doing what he can in an attempt to get working papers so he can stay in the country, earn a living and send money back home to his family. Samba works in catering and has just received an offer for a new, longterm contract, something...

We asked a few LatinoBuzz amigos to get their Robinson Crusoe on and pick a film, an album, a book and a companion from the movies to join them in their shenanigans were they to be stuck on a deserted island (and before anyone nitpicks, filmmakers are resourceful, so of course they built solar powered entertainment centers made from bamboos, coconuts and grass to watch movies and listen to baby making slow jams). We figured we'd start with the narrative filmmakers since they probably sit around thinking about this kinda stuff anyway.

Film: Choosing desert island items may mean sacrificing taste and/or reason, thinking about those items that you wouldn’t forgive yourself for not bringing them as your company, it´s like choosing the woman of your life. Here it goes: Hiroshima Mon Amour; there might be others I fancy as much as or more than (La Dolce Vita, Vertigo, M , some Lubitsch or Preminger), but I can think of no other as unique. I wouldn’t be able to choose any other without feeling Hiroshima’s absence - the best love film, the best movie about war, the best motion picture regarding the memory and its consequences. I can spend my whole life learning about film and the world because of Hiroshima...'.

Album: “Los Preludios de Debussy” by Claudio Arrau. These were so important to my life (I'm referring to my childhood of course) and I think no one does it better than Arrau. Same thing: it is endless. I think I could never tire of this and I could still wake up each and every morning amazed by it.

Book: “Sentimental Education”, by Flaubert. Similar to “Hiroshima”, a book that changed my outlook on literature and the world and I am certain it will keep transforming it forever.

Companion: Susie Diamond (Michelle Pfeiffer in 'The fabulous Baker Boys'). Since I saw the film (which I liked very much!) in the provincial movie theater of my childhood, I felt as Jack Baker´s relative and I loved Susie. If we had a piano, it would all be all be perfect. - Santiago Palavecino (Algunas chicas/Some Girls)

Film: This is a tricky question. I've always said that on a deserted island you should bring some porn. You could use that more than regular movies. But since I've got to pick a film I guess it'd be Jaws. Why? Because it's one of my favorites (I could also go with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly). But being on a deserted island, Jaws will remind me all the time what'll happen to me for sure if I try to get away!

Album: “ Appetite for Destruction” (Guns N' Roses). Hey, I was 13 when this came out. I listen to it every day while I work, anyways. My favorite, by far.

A Book: I'm going to cheat on this one: 'The Complete Works' by Jorge Luis Borges. The best writer, and enough labyrinths to get lost on endless nights.

Companion: Sherlock Holmes. He's always been my favorite, and also, since my guess is he'll be pretty useless in a deserted island, every time we fail to get out because of him I can get to tell him "Is that the best you can do, Sherlock? - Alejandro Brugués (Juan of the Dead)

Film: Los Olvidados- this is punk rock and Pachuco. Mexico City style before the bombed out bunkers of Sid & Nancy. Bunuel is a hero and I wanna buy Jaibo a beer and milk for the old poetic man!

Album: The Blade Runner album. I can play it over and over, get cranked up or mellow with Blade Runner Blues and the constant rain.

Book: '20 years of Joda' - poems of Jose Montoya, my pop. Epic stuff! 'Ran with Miguel Pinero in the Lower Eastside!”

Companion: Michael Corleone cause he's Mack in my book! Jaibo gets an honorable mention. - Richard Montoya (Water & Power )

Film: I´d choose Misery because a year can go by and I can watch it again eagerly. It's simple and the director (Rob Reiner) and Stephen King are both masters of suspense.

Album: I know this may be considered cheating but it would have to be 'The Best of David Bowie'. That way I have 2 CD's with nearly 40 songs!

Companion: There's many great people who I would to live with but on a deserted Island? It would have to be Mary Poppins for obvious reasons.

Book: And finally the book would be 'Blood Meridian' by Cormac McCarthy because it's one I haven't read yet. Analeine Cal y Mayor - (The Boy Who Smells Like Fish)

Film: I would say White Chicks. I’m going to need some humor! White Chicks is the movie that I put on when I need a good laugh. It does it for me every time. I grew up with characters like that; and admittedly, I can regress back to a few of them myself when no one is looking.

Album: ' Songs From the Capeman' - Paul Simon. I can’t get enough of that album. It instantly takes me to that world and electrifies that side of me that’s determined to make a change for Latinos. I want to keep that feeling with me alive eternally…wherever I’m at.”

Book: There are many but 'Anatomy of the Spirit' by Caroline Myss has been my compass. It taught me how to take control of my destiny by listening to my intuition and body. I stand by her quote: “Your biography becomes your biology.

Companion: The first person that came to mind when I read the question was silly Clarence from “It’s a Wonderful Life”. I guess I’m going to need an angel with me, and he’s perfect. He has a pure childlike spirit that would help me find gratitude in the most unlikely moments… even on a deserted island! That right there is the meaning of life. - Carmen Marron (Endgame)

Film: There are so many brilliant, groundbreaking favorite films that have influenced me (The 400 Blows; Jules and Jim ; Law of Desire; et al) but I wouldn't bring any of them. If I'm stuck on a deserted island, I'm bringing Neil Simon's Murder by Death so I can laugh my ass off. Not a great film at all, it's true, but it's a classic comedy.

Album: Oh, this is easy: Madonna's "Ray of Light." I am no Madonna fanatic, but "deserted island, " means beach + summer weather + Fire Island-like atmosphere. So somewhere nearby there's got to be gay guys partying and I will use Madonna to lure them to me so I can be rescued.

One Book: Varga Llosa's "Feast of the Goat" ("La Fiesta del Chivo") -- it's action-packed historical fiction. It will keep me occupied. One of my favorite novels.

Companion: Huckleberry Finn. He will be a great companion: not only will he tell great stories, but undoubtedly, the ever-resourceful Huck Finn will figure out how to build a raft and get us out off that island! - Terracino (Elliot Loves )

Film: Whenever anyone asks me this I always think of what use these items would serve practically on a deserted island, so I answered this in that respect. Tokyo Story - Yasujiro Ozu. This would be a great film to take on a deserted island because it's really about the unavoidable suffering of the cycle of life, which I'm sure you'd relate to if you were stuck on an island. I really could watch this film a million times over and notice something new every time. Watching most Ozu films is not unlike participating in a Zen meditation practice. It's patience and slowness and trying to empty your mind of thought until your left with the basics of existence. Kind of like sitting on a deserted island alone. I can watch the scene where Kyoto says “Life is disappointing, isn't it?” and Noriko smiles and says “Yes it is.” I can watch that endlessly and cry every time. It's so true.

Album: ' Tusk' - Fleetwood Mac. I could also deal with 'Rumours' but I picked 'Tusk' because it's longer and denser; probably better for an island. 'Sara' is maybe my favorite song in the world and so it would be nice to have that with me. I think channeling the powerful witchy energy of Stevie Nicks would be a real asset on an island. This album has so much strange material on - you wouldn't get bored too easily with it. It's also got a range of emotions so if you get too depressed on the island you can just put on 'Never Forget' and feel better. And 'Sisters of the Moon' would be good around a fire at night. Even though you're stuck on an island, it's good to create an ambiance to remind you that life is worth living.

Book: ' In Search of Lost Time' - Marcel Proust. I've only read 'Swann's Way' which is first part of this. My analyst recommend it to me when I was totally heartbroken after someone broke up with me. It really did the trick. This would be a good long epic read that has enough complex ideas in it to keep you occupied for a life time. Probably a good book (or set of books) to get back to nature with.

Companion: I'll say Terry Malloy from “On the Waterfront”. He'd be strong and good to have around to cut down trees and hunt and stuff. He's also easy on the eyes and someone that could do with a little lonely contemplation away from the loading docks. That doesn't sound half bad...stuck on like a tropical island with a young, cute Marlon Brando, watching Ozu, reading Proust and listening to Fleetwood Mac all day. Sign me up! - Joshua Sanchez (Four)

Film: My film would have to be Luis Buñuel's Los Olvidados. I have been a movie watcher since I was a child. Raised on mainstream American films and Wuxia flicks, it wasn't until I was a late teen that I took my first film class and was introduced to the work of Buñuel. Los Olvidados literally changed my perception of the world, both socially and visually. It was also the gateway for me to progress from movie watcher to film student.

Album: Music is my religion and I belong to the church of Robert Nesta Marley. I would prefer the whole anthology, but if I had to choose one album it would be “Exodus”. When on an island listen to island music.

Book: Right around the time I discovered the work of Buñuel, I was gifted Jose Montoya's 'In Formation: 20 years of Joda'. The book is a treasure of epic poems, sketches, and corridos. All testaments to the beauty and strength of Chicana/o culture. 20 years later I pay homage to both of these Maestros in my debut feature film, “Cry Now”. The film's protagonist is nicknamed 'Ojitos' during the course of the narrative, a reference to one of the characters in Los Olvidados. The late great Lupe Ontiveros playing the role of a sage loosely recites Montoya's mantra 'La Locura Cura' (In madness you find truth) while she councils our protagonist.

Companion: To bring it all full circle my fictitious character would have to be a Wuxia hero. As a child I was awe inspired by these bigger than life martial artists. As an adult, Ang Lee's “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” did the same. I know all would be as it should if Yu Shu Lien was on that island with me. - Alberto Barboza (Cry Now )

Film: Nothing But a Man (1964) It's a film that does an incredible job balancing a character-driven story within a politically charged context. It's a film I'm finding myself inspired by as I continue to write Los Valientes.

Album: I'm not a fan of albums, but if I had to choose one I guess I would have to go with any of Prince's albums. His music always puts me in a trance.

Book: My dream journal so I can look back look for signs of what is to become of my future.

Companion: Who better than TV's MacGyver. I'd put his ass to work on getting me off the island! -Aurora Guerrero (Mosquita y Mari)

Film: Hell in the Pacific so that I can be reminded that even in paradise there is a duality.

Album: “La Scala: Concert” by Ludovico Einaudi – I've listened to it a thousand times and each time I feel or discover something new.

Book: “ Voces Reunidas” by Antonio Porchia. Each time I read one of his poems I learn something new and I'm deeply moved.

Companion: Barbarella, so I could never be lonely and I could enjoy this planet-island – Diego Quemada-Díez (La jaula de oro/The Golden Dream)

Written by Juan Caceres . LatinoBuzz is a weekly feature on SydneysBuzz that highlights Latino indie talent and upcoming trends in Latino film with the specific objective of presenting a broad range of Latino voices. Follow [At]LatinoBuzz on Twitter and Facebook...

Hans Zimmer wins a double at the Classic Brit Awards for his work on the scores of Man of Steel & The Dark Knight Rises. The soundtracks won Zimmer the composer of the year prize at the ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall, fighting off competition from fellow nominees Ludovico Einaudi and Arvo Part. He was also rewarded for his outstanding contribution to music, recognising a career which has also included the soundtracks to Christopher Nolan’s Inception and the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise. The German-born composer – who accepted the latter award from Sir MIchael Caine, also performed at the event, accompanying the London Chamber Orchestra on the piano as they delivered a medley of his work. The composer is currently working on The Amazing Spider-man 2 soundtrack. Highlights of the event will be screened on Sunday evening on ITV at 10.20pm. Leave comments below in the usual place...

This year's iTunes Festival will air on Channel 4, it has been confirmed.

The month-long music event will return to Channel 4, E4 and 4Music next month, with Lauren Laverne hosting the coverage.

Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Elton John, Arctic Monkeys, Kings of Leon and Robin Thicke will all play Camden's Roundhouse as part of the festival.

The lineup also includes Jessie J, Queens of the Stone Age, Pixies, Vampire Weekend, Chic featuring Nile Rodgers, Rizzle Kicks and many more.

Jonathan Rothery, commissioning editor for music at Channel 4, said: "We are delighted to welcome iTunes Festival back to Channel 4 for a second year.

"The lineup for 2013 proves the event's repeated ability to attract the biggest and most varied acts in the business."

Highlights will be broadcast across the three channels from Wednesday to Friday during September, with a weekly highlights show featuring exclusive interviews and performances...

Music is, of course, an essential part of any cinematic experience. A good score or soundtrack can make a movie ten times better than it would otherwise be. It is a perfect way to encapsulate a moment or set a tone or atmosphere and it’s something that has become commonplace in Hollywood, therefore we expect it.

However, some musical numbers appear quite unexpectedly in certain movies and this can be for a variety of reasons. Whether it’s because the actors/characters break out into song in a film that otherwise is not a musical, or whether it’s because the music in question simply juxtaposes the atmosphere completely (which can be quite unsettling), there have been a number of instances in which music has surprised us. However, this often works just as well as a more ‘fitting’ musical piece might have worked.

In this article, I take a...