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December 5
"Luminarias" video update
[Sylvia] recently spoke to Miss Ortelli about the "Luminarias" video and she
told me that they are working on it and
hope to be able to have it ready for sale by the end of February or the
beginning of March.
thanks to Silvia Lomeli
Release Date take two...
"Luminarias," a film directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela and produced by
Sal Lopez is a romantic comedy story staring Evelina Fernandez and Scott Bakula
with cameos by Cheech Marin and Lupe Ontiveros. "Luminarias" is
scheduled to be released in Los Angeles and San Francisco on Friday, 5 de mayo,
2000. [that's May 5 for those of you who can't translate]
Distributor and Release Dates
New
Latin Pictures has picked up the movie.
The film is now expected to open in L.A. on either the 7th or 14th of April.
Basic Info
According to a release Scott's publicist, Jay D. Schwartz, was very generous in
sending, the story is a romantic comedy about four thirtysomething Latina women
looking for love in modern day Los Angeles. Scott plays an attorney, Joseph, who
falls in love with his counterpart in a divorce case. The lady is played by the
movie's author, Evalina Hernandez. This movie is an independent film adapted
from the successful play. Since it's independent, it means there isn't a
distributor yet. The director is Jose Luis Valenzula. Producer is Sal Lopez, and
co-producer is Sleeping Giant Productions, a company founded in Canada which has
won many awards for Canadian TV projects. Producer Lopez is founder of the
Latino Theatre Co.
Info courtesy of Margaret Colchin at PQL fan
club
Pictures
Luminarias picture #1
Luminarias picture #2
Luminarias picture #3
Luminarias picture #4
Luminarias trailer online!
-- April 13
There is a trailer for
Luminarias on the updated Sleeping Giant site. It takes a while to load but
is well worth it --Diana
This trailer is REALLY great. [long download time etc.] But Oh my, this was WORTH
IT!!! There are wonderful scenes with Scott and Evalina about midway through
through this farily long trailer. And it really gives a great overview of the
film -- Anita
Thanks to Diana and Anita, my conscience. : )
Web Site
Official
Luminarias Web Site
Reviews and Summaries
LA Times Review -- May 6
copy of the review from the LA Times
thanks to Barbara
September 15
Review From Anita Balestino
It was a very great pleasure to attend the screening of LUMINARIAS at the
Hirschorn Museum on Sunday evening. Evalina Fernandez, Jose Luis Valenzuela and
Sal Lopez were all present and gave short remarks about the film, how and why
they came to make it, as well as the feasibility and importance of getting
Latino entertainment projects onto the agenda of the main stream media. Sonia
Braga introduced Ms. Fernandez and also spoke briefly to encourage projects for,
by and about Latinos.
The film itself is wonderful – bright, warm, funny and touching. Of course it has a distinctively Latino voice, flavor and rhythm. Yet it depicts such universal themes: the capacity to endure betrayal and regain trust, the loyalty between old friends, the constancy of family, the relationships between different generations, the attempt to release old pain, the struggle to learn how to value diversity yet validate one’s own identity and the serendipity of finding love with the most unlikely people. The performances of the entire cast especially the four female leads are truly memorable. You come away feeling as if you’ve known these women all your life, seen their strengths and their weaknesses and love them as fiercely as they love each other. Cheech Marin is irreverent, irascible and offhandedly affecting as Andrea’s older brother.
As for our dear Mr. Bakula, his performance is so lovely. His Joseph Levinson is all tender, gentle charm, romantic yet respectful, a little tentative with a hint of loneliness, perhaps sadness beneath the veneer of the savvy lawyer. In response to Andrea’s pain, he portrays, as only he can, that exquisitely genuine empathy that seems to begin at soul depth then rise up into his eyes. When he meets Andrea’s extended family at her Mama’s birthday party, his slightly bewildered, self-effacing, totally unselfconscious amusement at his own expense, not to mention his marvelous sense of comedic timing are just perfect.
This thoroughly enjoyable film has much to tell us about our Latino neighbors, about our society and about ourselves. Both highly entertaining and very enlightening, it should not be missed and eminently deserves the wide dissemination that a major distributor can give it.
From Ain't it
Cool News
The reviewer ("Father Geek") is with sitemaster Harry Knowles and
several others at a film festival known as South by Southwest (SXSW).
Here's what "Father Geek" had to say about "Luminarias" (typos are HIS)
FATHER GEEK here with his first report from the SXSW FILM FESTIVAL. ...I have two films I want to tell you about today. Both would fit easily into the SCREW-BALL COMEDY genre so heavily populated by the Preston Sturges and Frank Capra films of several decades ago. ... It's not to be confused with the heavy slap-stick physical comedy pioneered to perfection by Buster Keaton and continued by the Stooges and then Chevy Chase and others. Nor should it be equated to the current stock of shock-comedy hits like SOMETHING ABOUT MARY or the over abundant dummed-down, stupid comedies that populate every multiplex in America. Screw-ball comedy is full of smart, witty, intelligent humor, the kind of rapid fire dialogue/fencing found in BRINGING UP BABY, IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT and SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS.
... I decided to gamble on a movie by a 1st time Latina film maker. The gamble paid off big time for me! Written by and starring Evelina Fernandez (who was in attendance), LUMINARIAS is a beautifully shot motion picture set in contemporary LA and chock full of Latino actors' faces that you will recognize from dozens of feature films made over the last 20 or so years, not the least of which is the lovable Cheech Marin in a small role. It deals with the lives and loves of four middle-aged Latinas who meet regularly at their favorite watering hole the Restaurante Luminarias to talk of love and the lack of it; their men, Asian, Latino, and Jewish; independance; prejudice; and issues of identity. The mix is fantastic and you will fall in love with Lily, Sofia, Irene and Andrea by the end of the movie. Several of the non-principle actors steal every scene that they're in. Watch for Irene's brother Carmela and his "walk of walks" , and the scenes with Cindy, Andrea's receptionist/client, outstanding. I can't recommend this "little" film strongly enough, it is a total delight, even to a Ol' Gringo like me.
By Chris Riemenschneider
American-Statesman Staff
Published: Mar. 16, 1999
"What part of Mexico are you from?" a Jewish lawyer asks his prospective date.
''East L.A.," the woman answers bluntly, asserting that both she and it are still Mexican.
Such is the perspective of ''Luminarias," a ''Waiting to Exhale" for Latinas that playfully chips away at racial and social stereotypes from the perspective of four Mexican American women looking for love in all the wrong, um, colors. One falls for a Korean. One gets involved with the aforementioned Jewish lawyer. One, with a regular caballero who is perhaps too Mexican for her. In between all the romancing, they struggle with their identities and independence while laughing it up over tequila shots at a bar called Luminarias.
Written by Evelina Fernandez, who also stars as an angry attorney and mother named Andrea, ''Luminarias" is at times overburdened with its social messages. After sleeping with the lawyer, Joseph Levinson (Scott Bakula), Andrea confesses that she has racist feelings for him -- feelings that never really subside. Their affair gets more complicated when they end up on opposite sides of a divorce case, with Andrea representing a young mother whose husband abused her.
Like most movies that openly address prejudice, this one gets a little confused. Which only makes it a more honest film. Its attempts are infallibly charming, too, as are many of the characters and a clever cameo by Cheech Marin. ''Luminarias" may stumble a bit, but it never flinches.
Luminarias
The story of four Latinas coming to terms with racial barriers, love and
identity.
By Gissela SantaCruz
Austin 360
Published: March 13, 1999
For too long Latinas have been stereotyped by Hollywood as gang members, poor immigrants, servants or prostitutes. Evelina Fernandez's "Luminarias", with its comical look into the lives of modern-day Latinas, brings to the large screen a different image.
"Luminarias" successfully delivers a film about four educated, successful Latinas who share their stories of loves lost, sex, family and work. Andrea (Evelina Fernandez), an attorney divorcing her husband, must face her prejudices when she starts to fall for a Jewish lawyer. Sofia (Marta Du Bois), who usually only dates white men, finds her roots when she meets a waiter from Jalisco, Mexico. Irene (Dyana Ortelli), who loves young Latinos, is dealing with her Lent "sacrifice" of celibacy. And Lilly (Angela Moya), who usually falls for un-documented men, finds it difficult to understand why her new Korean boyfriend's parent disapprove of her Mexican heritage.
"Luminarias" is rich with its talented cast, cleverly written dialogue and lively soundtrack. With this all-Latino project, maybe Hollywood will finally give Latinos a more updated image. And if this were a five star system, I'd give it five stars.