‘Hands of Stone’ great movie: Ramirez – ‘It was an honor to play Duran’
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LOS ANGELES, April 11, (RTRS): Venezuelan-born actor Edgar Ramirez (“Joy,” “Carlos”) spoke to Variety at IFF Panama about his role as Panamanian boxer, Roberto Duran, in Jonathan Jakubowicz’s soon to be released “Hands of Stone”, also starring Robert de Niro, as his trainer, Usher as Sugar Ray Leonard, and Ellen Barkin, Ana de Armas, and Panamanian cult salsa singer, Ruben Blades.
Ramirez says that it was an honor to play Duran, who was nicknamed “Hands of Stone” because his hard hits led him to 103 wins in 119 fights. He considers Duran to be the greatest—ever Latin American boxer and one of the top ten all-time greats.
The pic is produced by Jay Weisleder, Carlos Garcia de Paredes, Claudine Jakubowicz and Jakubowicz of La Piedra Films and the executive producers include Ben Silverman, Max Keller, George Edee, Ricardo del Rio and Roberto Duran’s son, Robin Duran.
Robert de Niro championed the film for a long time, even before becoming involved as an actor in the pic. Ramirez says that he worked with helmer Jonathan Jakubowicz right from the beginning of the project and helped put the different partners together.
The Panamanian government put up significant funding for the pic, which lensed for four months in Panama in 2014, as well as a one-week shoot in New York. The production involved 15,000 Panamanian extras.
The pic is primarily Spanish-language with some English.
At Cannes in 2015, The Weinstein Company outbid Relativity to secure US distribution rights, with a commitment to release on 2,000 screens. According to Ramirez, the pic will bow on 2,600 screens on Aug 26, which he says will make it the biggest ever US opening for a Latin American film.
“I think it’s a great movie,” says Ramirez. “It not only tells the tale of a legendary Latin American boxer, it also tells the story of a man who became a hero in his country and his region. Panama has somehow always been a country under foreign control, so there’s always been a question of identity. Roberto Duran in many moments, including in some of the most difficult moments in the country’s history, has served as an instrument of unification and celebration of the pride of the country, and that’s is very beautiful.”
Jakubowicz and Ramirez are long-time friends from Venezuela and are planning a further collaboration on a pic to be released in 2017, but cannot disclose details at present.
Problems
Ramirez considers that it’s a particularly interesting moment for Latin American cinema but identifies distribution problems as one of the main factors holding back cinema from the region. At the Panama Festival, he bemoaned the fact that it’s often easier to catch a Latin American film in New York, London or Paris than in Mexico City, Sao Paolo or Buenos Aires.
He says that he was delighted to portray a Latin American hero whom he says is also a “good man” — an example to others.
“Latin American characters portrayed in films are often the bad guys. It’s very important to also show role models, that can help Panamanians and Latin Americans feel pride. Many countries in Latin America, including Panama, suffer from an identity crisis, in part due to their dependence in the past on foreign nations. Icons such as Roberto Duran can bring people together and make them feel proud of their heritage.”
Ramirez says that he loved filming in Panama and feels that it’s his second home. He visits the country whenever he can and says he especially likes the friendliness of the people and the sense of joy.
Having worked in films made in France, Latin America and the US, Ramirez believes that there are tremendous opportunities for Latin American filmmakers at present, notwithstanding the numerous obstacles.
“We are nothing but diversity in this continent — across North America, Central America and South America. This is the New World — because people from all over the world were welcomed here. And the stories on both sides of the continent are the product of our contradictions. The Americas, as a continent, has always been a place of hope, of renewing things, the hope of change for a better life, the place of new ideas. There’s always the possibility of creating new things in the Americas. In Latin America, this is even truer because of our contradictions. We have to capitalize on that heritage.”
Ramirez considers that one of the greatest problems facing Latin America is the gulf between the super rich and super poor, but that such problems are not unique to this part of the world — quipping that “L.A. is the perfect example of the problems found in the Third World, one only has to travel along the full length of Sunset Boulevard and you’ll find a tremendous spectrum of social privilege along a single street.
“That somehow unifies us as well,” he went on. “Cinema comes as a way to deal with these social and economic contradictions.”
One of the main problems for Latin America in his opinion is the legacy of colonial rule, via which Spain made sure that no individual Latin American country was stronger than it was. He believes that this fragmented mentality persists and is one of the main obstacles to creating a stronger Latin American cinema.
“Cinema can play an important role in building bridges,” he says. “Through films we can understand our neighbors.”
He believes that to build a stronger Latin American cinema will require leaps of faith at many levels, for distributors who will bet on the films and for directors who need to believe in their productions. “We cannot blame Hollywood for everything. There are a lot of local distributors who also need to take a leap of faith.”
One of the core goals of IFF Panama when it was founded in 2012 was to provide a new window and international launch-pad for films from Panama and the rest of Central America and the Caribbean.
Last year the festival bowed a Primera Mirada pix-in-post sidebar, including a cash prize to help with post-production and a screening at the Cannes Film Festival.
The initiative was immediately welcomed by the region’s filmmakers: They often have to work miracles just to get their shoots completed and desperately require post-production completion finance.
Last year’s Primera Mirada winner, “I Promise You Anarchy,” by Guatemalan director Julio Hernandez Cordon, is returning to the fest this year, after its world premiere at Locarno, followed by screenings in Toronto and San Sebastian.
“Winning Primera Mirada last year was extremely important for the film,” explained Cordon. “Not just because of the financial injection, which enabled us to secure all the music rights we wanted for the soundtrack, but also because we were able to go to Cannes and the prize created a buzz for the film which was essential in getting it known.”
Costa Rican Ariel Escalante’s “The Sound of Things” also won a smaller prize last year and went on to screen in various festivals; “Kenke,” from Panama’s Enrique Perez Him, another 2015 entry, is screening in this year’s Panama Fest.
Receive
The second edition of the Primera Mirada films-at-roughcut sidebar offers a $15,000 post-production award. Also, via a IFF Panama-Cannes Marche du Film alliance, Panama Goes to Cannes, the winning film will be shown to fest programmers, sales agents and distributors at a special screening during the Cannes Film Market. Unlike last year, its producers will also receive Cannes Film Festival accreditation, including full travel and accommodation.
At IFF Panama, all Primera Mirada projects will be screened in exclusive private sessions for industry representatives – including guest sales agents, distributors, and film festival programmers.
The films are selected by IFF Panama’s artistic director Diana Sanchez, who is also Pprogrammer for Latin America for the Toronto Festival.
“There are other work-in-progress competitions in the region, including in Guatemala’s Icaro fest and Havana’s Cinema in Progress sidebar, but our initiative has really galvanized the interest of the region’s filmmakers,” said Sanchez. “We’ve received submissions from most countries in the region. There are also a few others, such as Haiti, from where I’d also love to receive a film.”
Dimension
“Primera Mirada has reinforced the industry dimension of our fest,” said IFF Panama director Pituka Ortega. “Our goal is to spark the imagination of industry professionals and provide a platform for the region’s filmmakers who need an injection of energy and funding to get their films completed and onto the festival circuit. We’ve been amazed by the response.”
A total of 46 eligible films were submitted to the competition this year — compared to 32 in 2015 — and five will screen at the fest.
Three of the five films are by female directors. Enrique Castro Rios’ “Sultan,” from Panama, takes place ten years after the 1989 US military invasion of Panama, in which three estranged survivors reconcile their previous differences after finding out that they all lost loved ones in the invasion.
In a gala ceremony held Saturday evening in Panama’s majestic 1000-seater Teatro Balboa, Italian actress Lucia Bose received a lifetime achievement award and the keys to the city, from the Mayor of Panama City, Jose Maria Blandon.
Guests at the star-studded event included Lucia’s son, actor-singer Miguel Bose, Spanish actress Marisa Paredes, New York performance artist Laurie Anderson, Chilean-American composer Nicolas Jaar and Venezuelan thesp Edgar Ramirez,
Bose’s career spans major roles in post-war Italian and Spanish cinema, having collaborated with helmers such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Luis Bunuel, Juan Antonio Bardem, and Giuseppe De Santis.
The tribute included a speech by writer Boris Izaguirre, a close family friend. He said that Bose is an icon of post-war Italian cinema, who epitomized the new roles assumed by Italian women as the country rose from the ashes of war, confronting issues such as infidelity, equal rights for women at the workplace, and the struggle to balance the tasks associated with being a working mother.
Izaguirre added that Bose’s subsequent work in Spanish cinema boldly addressed issues that were often repressed by the censors.
As Bose took to the stage to receive a framed “Mola” — an intricate embroidery work that is hand sewn by Panama’s Kuna Indians — she was greeted by a standing ovation.
She confided to the audience that she has a special relationship with Panama, having first visited the country with her former husband, Luis Miguel Dominguin, a famous Spanish bullfighter. Son Miguel Bose, was also born in Panama City.
After the ceremony, Juan Antonio Bardem’s “Death of a Cyclist,” starring Bose, was screened. The fest also includes special screenings of her pics, Antonioni’s “Story of a Love Affair”, and Giuseppe De Santis’ “No Peace Under the Olive Tree”, as well as Pedro Almodovar’s “High Heels,” starring Miguel Bose and Marisa Paredes.
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