By Elia Esparza
John Ortiz, Christina Ochoa Head to ABC’s Promised Land
The epic, generation-spanning drama Promised Land is heading to primetime. It is ABC’s second pilot drama series picked up for the 2021-22 season. The series is about two powerful Latino dynasties that rule California’s Sonoma Valley, starring John Ortiz (Togetherness, Rake) and Christina Ochoa (Animal Kingdom, Blood Drive).
The stellar cast is led by Ortiz as Joe Sandoval, Ochoa as Veronica Sandoval. The cast is rounded out by Cecilia Suarez as Lettie Sandoval, August Aguilera as Mateo, Mariel Molino as Camila Sandoval, Tonatiuh as Antonio Sandoval, Andres Velez as Carlos, Katya Martin as Juana and Rolando Chusan as belly. Cuban-American scripter Matt Lopez (Gone, Gothica), wrote the pilot and is also executive producer.
Lopez is also currently writing the film remake of Cuban-American centered remake of The Father of the Bride for Warner Bros. that stars Andy Garcia, Gloria Estefan, Adria Arjoa, Isabela Merced, and Diego Boneta. Lopez has also developed other ABC projects, most recently the CTV drama Gone, starring Chris Noth, Leven Rambin and Danny Pino. His film credits include The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Race to Witch Mountain, and Bedtime Stories.
Promised Land is also executive produced by Adam Kolbrenner and Maggie Malina and set to direct and executive produce is Michael Cuesta. Promised Land is an ABC Signature studio project.
It is encouraging to see the film and television industry slowly picking up again after the devastating pandemic brought it to a complete halt. While the pandemic continues to hit the TV pilot season hard, it is wonderful to see networks slowly picking up new pilots during this year as they sort through the pilots in the pipeline from last year.
John Ortiz is repped by Gersh, Principal Entertainment LA, Schreck Rose Dapello. Christina Ochoa is repped by Buchwald and The Gersh Agency, and Matt Lopez is repped by Lit Entertainment Group and Lichter Grossman.
AFI FEST Opening Night Film: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s ‘tick, tick…BOOM!’
After Lin-Manuel Miranda’s critical success with his award-winning In The Heights, he now presents his feature directorial debut of tick, tick…BOOM! at this year’s AFI Fest Opening Night on November 10 at the TCL Chinese Theatre.
Miranda, a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner goes behind the camera for his next musical which is a semi-autobiographical about a promising young theater composer who on the cusp of his 30th birthday navigates love, friendship, and the pressures of life as an artist in New York City. Sound familiar? Yeah, it’s about Miranda’s rise from struggling New York artist.
Currently, in post-production, tick, tick…BOOM! stars Andrew Garfield as Jon, the young theater composer, Aleandra Shipp, Robin de Jesus, Joshua Henry, and current Emmy Award nominees MJ Rodriguez and Bradley Whitford, Tariq Trotter aka Black Thought of The Roots, with Judith Light and Vanessa Hudgens. It is written by Steven Levenson, and produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard for Imagine Entertainment, Julie Oh and Miranda.
According to industry buzz, AFI scoping up Miranda’s directorial debut was a coup because they beat other major film festivals for his highly anticipated movie. This drama is based on the musical of the same name by Jonathan Larson. The screenplay is written by Steven Levenson.
“AFI Fest 2021 will captivate our community of film lovers, starting with our opening-night film, tick, tick…BOOM!” said Sarah Harris, Director of Programming at AFI Festivals. “We’re thrilled to elevate the best I global cinema to audiences safely in theaters in Los Angeles and across the nation virtually, celebrating the beauty and power of film.”
AFI Fest is moving on despite the surging COVID-19 challenges and is pushing forward with its prestigious film festival running November 10th through the 14th. AFI is not the only festival continuing, others for this fall include Venice, Telluride, Toronto, New York and London have also announced they are back on at full speed. AFI will use a “hybrid model featuring both in-person screenings and events in L.A., as well as virtual screenings.”
Netflix first acquired the film in June of 2019, and principal photography began in March 2020. COVID-19 pandemic shut down filming In April 2020. Production resumed in October 2020 and wrapped in November 2020.
tick, tick…Boom! premieres on November 12th in select theaters, and on Netflix starting November 19th. Remember, AFI Fest will require that anyone who attends in-person gatherings be fully vaccinated.
Canela TV’s Cantinflas Birthday Streaming Fest
Tell your parents, grandparents and great grandparents that Canela TV is streaming all 52 episodes of the Cantinflas Shows for free!
In honor of the beloved Mexican comedian’s birthday (August 12, 1911), Cantinflas aka Mario Moreno, Canela TV is presenting the complete digital restoration of the beloved animated series Cantinflas Show.
Considered to be the most widely accomplished Mexican quintuple (comedian/actor/producer/writer/singer) who not only was celebrated throughout Mexico and Latin America as a cultural icon, but also crossed over to be a Hollywood legend to star in such mega-hits as in the 1956 Mike Todd feature comedy, Around the World in 80 Days, The Three Musketeers (1942), and El supersabio (1948). During the span of his long career, Moreno garnered many award nominations and wins, including Golden Globes (1961), where he won a special award for comedy for his role in Pepe (1960). On October 10, 1980, he was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6438 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, CA.
Born in Mexico, Moreno was the son of a Mexican postal employee, and was not only a prolific and productive television and movie star but also was quite intelligent and at 15 years, his parents sent him to agricultural college. But nine months later he ran away to join a “carpa” (traveling tent show) and began his career as an actor. He did, however, during his brief college stint, learn a lot about agriculture and medicine. Married to Valentina Ivanova from 1936 until her death. Moreno died on April 20, 1993.
Although Moreno was a millionaire several times over and was one of the biggest stars ever in Spanish language films, he never forgot where he came from. He donated millions to charities dedicated to helping children. Moreno was aware that Latino children needed to see themselves reflected in the media. In 1972, he approached Televisa and the educational animated Cantinflas Show evolved.
Through his animated series, viewers join Cantinflas on his different adventures through time and space where he visited with Shakespeare, saw the ancient pyramids, met Einstein, and even traveled to other planets. No doubt, Cantinflas aka Mario Moreno was ahead of his time.
According to IMDB trivia, Cantinflas was once described as the “world’s greatest comedian” by none other than Charles Chaplin. Indeed, the reason he was such a global success was for two main reasons: his films were enormously popular throughout Latin America and Spain, and he never lost his stardom after he became a star.
Canela Media is a leading digital media tech company whose goal is to connect with multicultural audiences leading with its free streaming service, Canela TV, offering on-demand Latino-focused movies and TV entertainment through multiple platforms.
Happy Birthday, Cantinflas! Looking Good at 110!
Latin Jazz: Rubén Blades & The Robert Delgado Big Band Salswing Tour!
Our favorite Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician, is back! That’s right, Latin music icon, Rubén Blades returns to the stage with the Salswing Tour! & The Roberto Delgado Big Band, and will take him to eight major cities in the U.S.A.
Salswing Tour! Is presented by the media company, Loud And Live, and takes place in Miami, New York, Los Angeles among others, starting out in San Jose, California on November 20, 2021. For tour scheduled dates CLICK HERE.
Blades’ opportunity to resume live concerts is finally here and it kicks off with an exciting tour, which is includes songs from his latest album along with his iconic hits, and is accompanied by amazing The Roberto Delgado Big Band.
“We are very happy to be able to work and engage with our fans again, after almost two years without being able to do so. With the Roberto Delgado Big Band, a band of 20 musicians that continuously sounds better and better, we are eager and excited to share our latest album Salswing!, and my greatest hits… please make sure to get vaccinated,” stated Blades.
Salswing! combines the origins of Latin Jazz and the mutual influences between Son rhythmic Afro-Caribbean music, and swing. Ladies, dust off those crystal encrusted salsa pumps and get ready to salsa-swing with your favorite dance partner.
For more information, CLICK HERE
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