-Cannes Film Festival
-Tribeca Film Festival
-Palm Springs International Film Festival
-Inside Out Toronto (Audience Award Winner)
-Out in Africa (South Africa)
-Fairy Tales International, Alberta Canada
-Hong Kong G&L Film Festival
-Out Takes, Dallas
-Family Lyfe, New Jersey
-San Francisco's Frameline -Los Angeles's Outfest
-Expresion en Corto (Mexico)
-Bent Lens, Boulder, Colorado
-Manila GF Film Festival
-Reel Affirmations, Washington DC
-Tampa Clic Film Festival
-Seattle GF Film Festival
-Copenhagen GF Film Festival
-Queersicht, Switzerland
-Santa Barbara Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
-"Gay Film Nights" - ROMANIA
-ISRAEL LGBT International Film Festival
-LIFT Budapest
-Pink Apple, Bern Switzerland
My interests include challengeing stereotypes thanks to my patented,
"EDUCATION THROUGH COMEDY PRINCIPLE"
and eating mexican food.
Music
MIA, Cole Porter, Barbra Streisand, Miami Booty Base, most girl bands, Celia Cruz, Pulp, Go Team, The Smiths, New Wave 80's music, Miami Sound Machine, kd lang, old style music...
Movies
Yentyl, All of Wong Kar Wai, Guy Maddin,
Mel brooks movies, Sixteen Candles,
Saved!, Harold and Maude,
Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Persona
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Stardust Memories, Dangerous Liasons,
A bout de souffle, Cabaret, L'Homme qui aimait les Femmes, 8 and a half, Super 8 and a half, All that jazz, every musical comedy from 1900 to today, Go fish, Dancer in the Dark, The Law of Desire, Fear of Fear, Young Frankenstein, Pennies from Heaven, Funny Girl, The Bicycle Theif, Valley of the Dolls, Derek Jarman stuff, Drowning by Numbers, oh and so much more!
Television
I Love Lucy, Soap, Strangers with Candy, Saturday Night Live, French and Saunders, Smack the Pony, Can't get a Date, Les Nuls, all documentaries, experimental flicks, blips, and historical melo-dramas...
Books
Bell Hooks, Henry Miller, Gore Vidal, Dorthy Parker, Marguerite Duras, Woody Allen, Virginie Despentes, Francoise Sagan, Simone de Beauvoir, The Awakening, Wuthering Heights, The Well of Loneliness, History Books, Cook Books, Biographies, Auto-Biographies, Auto-fiction
The adventure is heating up for my dream movie, SWEET 15!
After 2 years of writing and leaving my beloved Paris for Los Angeles I feel like my script is in a great place and have started meeting with DP's, crew, and hopefully very soon, actors!
The story, dedicated to my family and to teen girls everywhere who need SMARTER movies is a mixture of history, comedy, and the importance of love from those dearest to us (especially our MOMS!!)
It's a beautiful and hilarious story of a girl making her dreams come true set in the 80's with great music, costumes, and of course, the incredible city of Miami!
It's also a Cuban American perspective on the American Dream and my chance to contribute to the image of Latinos in film!
I'll keep you posted on the journey and remember:
Keep following your dreams!
xoxo Anna
My feature script, Sweet 15/The Papaya Factory was a Narative Feature at IFP's NO BORDERS 2008!
My documentary, "GAY AND SO WHAT? in CUBA" just premiered at OUTFEST 2008 in Los Angeles and will start touring the festivals.
My short film, "The Turkey" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival's Critic's Week in May and also screened at Tribeca and Clermont Ferrand, 2008.
My feature film script, "THE PAPAYA FACTORY" was selected for the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival's ON TRACK program.
Anna's travel documentary for Canal Plus on the Dinah Shore Weekend is currently touring the world!
__________________ Biography of Anna Margarita Albelo, FILMMAKER:
Cuban-American, Anna Margarita Albelo is a globetrotting artist, filmmaker, and cultural activist. Her work encompasses narrative, documentary and experimental film, shown in over 30 international film festivals. Anna is also a regular collaborator for Canal Plus France for whom she has written and directed the short fiction film, "The Turkey" (Cannes Film Festival's CRITIC'S WEEK, 2008), as well as, several original documentaries on gay and lesbian culture exploring Cuba, Palm Springs and Los Angeles.
A multifaceted visual artist in terms of her expression, Anna works with film, video, photography, installations, performances, and sound. Her experimental work has been featured by A.S.T.A.R.T.I. for Audiovisual Arts, inaugurated Outfest’s experimental category, “Platinum shorts”, and was selected for Gallery Loevenbruck’s Art Critic’s Choice exposition by Francois Jonquet (art critic of Liberation). An activist of media crossover, Anna works to underline the need to push the boundaries of the formal rules of conventional television and film through the integration of visual, audio, and tonal experimentations.
In the past few years, Anna has had 5 retrospectives of her films in Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam, Turin and Ladyfest Berlin. She was a semi-finalist for Sundance’s Screenwriting Workshop, served on the Jury at the Turin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, and was a Narrative Honoree at the IFP New York's Project Involve. While in New York, she co-directed with famed performance artist, Penny Arcade and Steve Zehentner the feature documentary, "Queer Realities and Cultural Amnesia", which won the prestigious Audience Award at OUTFEST.
Her feature coming-of-age script, "The Papaya Factory," recently selected for IFP New York's NO BORDERS program has also participated in the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival's ON TRACK program as well as, the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival's, ALL ACCESS program for Narratives . The film is currently in development with producer Jamin O'Brien and Amy Slotnick, Worldview Entertainment.
Anna is a graduate of Florida State University and attended film school in London as a Bernard Sliger scholarship winner. Since 1993, she has been living and working in Paris, France and is fluent in English, Spanish, Italian and French. She is a fanatical supporter of film festivals, women's interest, French wines, and her "education through comedy" principle.
Anna currently lives in Los Angeles.
__________________ Biography of La Chocha, STAR Journalist, Host, and Performer:
Social cameleon made for home and travel.
Great side-kick and partner in crime,
said to be an innovative humanitarian and friend to all animals.
My dream is to see Napoleon's tomb in Paris where his imperial coffin floats on a sea of gold.
Who I'd like to meet:
People who want to contribute good things to the world.
How much do I miss you already?? A TON!! E-mail me your number so we can at least chat...Maybe we will have to throw a party in LA and come visit...thoughts?
Hey you...the pleasure was all mine meeting you over the weekend! I had a great time hanging with you and I hope I get to see you again soon! Hit me up anytime!
All Girl SuperHOTSuperBOWL Party: Disco Circus Days of Studio 54, "Staying Alive", Hippies, 8Tracks, Afros, and Polyester Bell bottoms all under a Circus Big Top with live performers! 1.30. 09 @Czar Hosted by Dinah Shore and Sweet Cruises
