Home Media Magazine - April 13-19, 2008 - (Page 10) NEWS www.homemediamagazine.com DEFINING LATINO FILMS I Comedian Alex Reymundo gave a stand-up performance during Latino DVD 5’s luncheon. The funnyman also co-hosted the fourth annual Latino DVD Awards with Home Media Magazine’s Angelique Flores, Latino DVD 5’s executive producer. Reymundo couldn’t contain his surprise Kristi Alires (center) of Xenon Pictures accepts awards for Best TV DVD and Best Special Features at this year’s Photos by Heather Kincaid Latino DVD Awards. when his DVD, One Funny Hick-spanic, from Vivendi Entertainment/Salient Media, won Best Stand-Up Comedy DVD. ‘PAN’S LABYRINTH’ WINS TOP HONORS By Chris Tribbey ew Line Home Entertainment’s Pan’s Labyrinth: Two-Disc Platinum Series release cleaned up at the fourth annual Latino DVD awards, presented by Home Media Magazine, winning both Best Theatrical DVD and Best of Show honors. The May release of the 2006 Guillermo Del Toro film features a video prologue, an audio commentary, several featurettes, a director’s notebook, storyboards, trailers and more. Also taking top honors at the Latino DVD 5 Conference: Best of Show Pan’s Labyrinth: Two-Disc Platinum Series New Line Home Entertainment Best Theatrical DVD Pan’s Labyrinth: Two-Disc Platinum Series New Line Home Entertainment Best Nontheatrical DVD Así Del Precipicio Lionsgate Best Classic/Catalog DVD A Toda Máquina Warner Home Video Best Childrens DVD Cantemos las Canciones de Animalitos Favoritas Genius Products Best TV DVD Dáme Chocolate Xenon Pictures Best Music DVD Los Zafiros: Music From the Edge of Time Vivendi Entertainment/Shout! Factory Best Stand-Up Comedy DVD One Funny Hick-spanic Vivendi Entertainment/Salient Media Best Boxed Set/Collector’s Edition Viva Pedro: The Almodóvar Collection Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Best Packaging Pedro Infante: Edición Especial No. 2 Laguna Films Best Special Feature/Bonus Material (tie) Finally the Sea Desert Mountain Media America Campeón Xenon Pictures N By Chris Tribbey OS ANGELES — What makes a Latino film? It’s not easy to define, both content owners and content creators agreed April 8 at Home Media Magazine’s fifth annual Latino DVD Conference. “Specifically targeted to the Latino audience, the cast happens to be Latino, it has a Latino story, the language is Spanish,” offered Ligiah Villalobos, director of La Misma Luna. Victor Elizalde with Maya En- Screenwriter and producer Ligiah Villalobos; screenwriter, producer tertainment agreed, saying, “Its and director Youssef Delara and screenwriter and director Josh Evans subject matter, and of course lan- during the Talent Talk panel. guage, makes a lot of sense when defining a cheap. So when it comes to second- and thirdgeneration U.S. Latinos, the story is the focus. Latino film.” “We take some risks of course,” Hernandez But while the subject matter, language and cast may determine whether something is a said. “We do examine our resources … we Latino film, the director doesn’t have to be make sure we look at previous releases. We use the same machine to put out Latino films Latino, everyone agreed. “If I defined myself as a Latino filmmaker, [that is used for everything else].” Maya Entertainment’s Victor Elizalde said I’d get in trouble,” joked Youssef Delara, who is not Latino, but directed ESL: English as a the “low-hanging fruit” in the world of Latino cinema is urban movies, with low-cost actors, Second Language and other Latino projects. David Hernandez of Warner Home Video said: soft production costs and familiar tales for “Just because you have a German director behind today’s younger Latinos. But finding the gems amid all the rough can be tough. the camera, doesn’t mean the film is German.” Challenges for content owners also exist Marketing Latino content correctly is key in trying to reach America’s Latino population, when dealing with content creators. “We’re having an issue with a filmmaker right panelists agreed. Family-friendly fare tends to do well across the board, content owners said, a fact now,” Elizalde said. He described a director of a backed by Nielsen Media Research data which ‘PG-13,’ sci-fi youth movie not wanting the film showed the top Spanish-language shows as be- subtitled in English. Elizalde said the director ing mostly children’s programming and sports. told them, “This is very much a Mexican film.” “No subtitles, no deal,” Elizalde said. “And When it comes to films, big-name Latino actors never hurt, but that’s not easy and not we want a dub.” L Latino DVD Conference Continued from page 1 the Internet, but rent more DVDs and subscribe to video game services more than non-Latinos. That’s just some of the data studios need to have when marketing to Latinos, Darfield said. “When a Latino film comes out … I see it almost as reintroducing ourselves to the market,” said David Hernandez of Warner Home Video. Content owners need to think hard about their Spanish-speaking audience when it comes to marketing a DVD, panelists said. What works for the Mexican population on the West Coast may not work as well with Puerto Ricans on the East Coast. “It’s also diverse in age,” said Monica Ricardez, director of market and business development for Laguna Productions, adding three genera- tions of Latinos often have to be considered. “It’s not just diverse in culture. You sometimes need to separate different types of [product] when doing marketing. “Act national, but also as regional as you can.” Getting Latino content to Latino consumers can be a challenge, however, especially when retailers largely treat Latino DVD as a stepchild to mainstream theatrical and TV DVD. “That’s one weakness they have,” said Haydee Rios of Xenon Pictures. “They’re not promoting their Latino sections yet.” Victor Elizalde of Maya Entertainment said of one of the major chain retailers: “They are evaluating the Latino section they created a few years ago. They’re asking, ‘Are you mainly online and through VOD. “We’re looking at a generation of people …. who are growing up with the Internet,” said filmmaker Anayansi Prado. But getting a Latino-centered digital distribution model set up is proving more difficult than for mainstream films. A bilingual movie Internet site, Butaca, is launching in May, but the kinks are still being worked out, said site co-founder Pedro Alonzo. “Really what we’re trying to do is Xenon’s Haydee Rios, Warner’s David Hernandez, Laguna’s Monica Ricardez, Maya’s create a sustainable model to wait Victor Elizalde and Lionsgate’s Arturo Chavez during one of the executive sessions. it out while the consumer [catches If the big-box retailers aren’t giving on],” he said. “If you look at what holding your own with this space? If Latino DVD its due, smaller brick-and- Comcast delivers [on demand] in not, we’re going to take it out.’” Which makes the idea of releasing mortar stores and digital distribution Spanish, it’s a joke. Starrett Berry, VP of distribution Spanish-language films on Blu-ray channels are the way to go for now. And with the U.S. Latino population for bilingual LATV Networks said: Disc an even riskier idea, panelists said. “Doing something on BD is getting younger and more tech-savvy, “We don’t look at it as the Latino not inexpensive, for us or for the re- it may be only a matter of time before market. We look at it as a segment of they start looking for Latino content the youth market.” tailer,” Warner’s Hernandez said. 10 Home Media Magazine April 13–19, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com
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