THE INDEPENDENT" by Sarah Coleman
"....The film is beautifully shot, and the screenplay is a marvel of minimalism in which every word matters. As América, newcomer Kristen Gonzalez gives an utterly compelling performance, her smoldering temper perfectly offset by the bone-weariness portrayed by veteran Argentinian actress Ana Maria Colombo. If the story has a somewhat predictable arc – two prickly, difficult women gradually come to care for each other – it’s handled gracefully and with infinite subtlety. ....the film is a cliché-free zone, and a richly nuanced character study." (read full review at www.aivf.org/node/701)
Directors
Cristina Kotz Cornejo
Festivals
Yale University (February 2009); Hartford International Film Festival (November 2008); New York International Latino Film Festival (July 2008); Reel Rasquache Film Festival (June 2008); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (SNEAK PREVIEW - May 2008); BAMCinematek, Brooklyn (April 2008); XXVI Festival Internacional Cinematográfico del Uruguay (March 2008);7th Tiburon International Film Festival (March 2008); Harlem Stage Creatively Speaking Film Series, Harlem, NY (March 2008); Olafest: Orlando Latin American Film and Heritage Festival; Woodstock Film Festival (WORLD PREMIERE- October 2007);Official Script Competition of the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, Havana, Cuba; NALIP 2004 Latino Writer’s Lab; 2004 & 2005 Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab Finalist; IFP/NY Feature Director’s Lab
3 Américas's Interests
Music
Score Composed by Germaine Franco; Score Performed by Papa Ginou; Federico Ramos & Eliseo Borrero. Rap Music Composed by Andy Kotz & Performed by George Johnson, Mike Smoove, Darrell Nelson
About me: WORLD PREMIERE - WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL - OCTOBER 2007
When tragedy strikes, 16 year old, América Hart Campos is sent to Argentina to live with her anti-American grandmother, Lucía América. América struggles to find her place with a grandmother she has never known and to hold onto a friendship with Sergio, a neighbor twice her age.
Directed by Cristina Kotz Cornejo
Produced by Angela Counts & Cristina Kotz Cornejo
Director of Photography - Chad Davidson
Production Design by Toni Barton
Costume Design by Cynthia August
Music by Germaine Franco
Additional Music by Andy Kotz
