The film continues to generate passions and winning awards in the United States

CHICO & RITA was nominated in two categories at the upcoming 2013 NAACP Image Awards, for Best International Film and Best Independent Film. The Image Awards are put on by the NAACP, the most prestigious and historic organization in America dedicated to African-American issues, and are nationally televised in February.

In addition, the New York Online Film Critics Society gave Chico & Rita its award for Best Animated Film this year, over all the "new" films competing in the current awards season, so the film is continuing to generate awards love even now!

CHICO & RITA fue nominado en dos categorías en los Premios NAACP 2013, Mejor Película Internacional y Mejor Película Independiente. La NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) es la organización más prestigiosa e histórica en Estados Unidos dedicada a temas afroamericanos, y el evento será televisado a nivel nacional en los Estados Unidos en febrero.

Además, el New York Film Critics Online dio a Chico & Rita su premio a la mejor película de animación de este año, hemos ganado a todas las "nuevas" películas que compiten en la temporada actual, por lo que la película sigue generando premios ahora mismo!

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Chico and Rita has been nominated for the Academy Awards.

It is the first time that an animated feature film from Spain gets this nomination. The ceremony will be held on February  26th in Los Angeles. This nomination comes after a lot of awards and great recognition from all over, like a Goya and an EFA from the European Film Academy among others.

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The best picture in the Any Movie category

We have been awarded another prize. This time it was given to us at the 18th Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film. Chico & Rita was given the first award in the Any Movie category, in which it competed with 10 other animated films produced in different countries of the world. The jury was made up by Aron Gauder, Budapest; Vilnis Kalnaellis, Rija; Issac Kerlow, Singapore.

The festival was held between 3 and 8 of May 2011 in Stuttgart. Almost 1000 full-length animated films were screened, which was seen by 70,000 people. Thank you very much for this award. It is a great compensation for our work!

 

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Calendar of festivals and events

The screening of Chico & Rita opened the 29^th International Film Festival of Uruguay in which there were 135 feature films and 200 short films projected in seven cinemas in Montevideo.

From 18 to 30 April. http://www.cinemateca.org.uy

In addition to this festival, Chico & Rita will be shown at the following international festivals.  

From 26 April to 1 May at the International Festival of Animated Films AniFest, the most important animated film festival in the Czech Republic, celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. http://www.anifest.cz

From 30 April to 8 May at the International Eskisehir Film Days, the only film festival in Turkey which is organised by a university and a film school for cultural purposes. http://www.fest21.com/en/festival/international_eskisehir_film_festival

From 2 to 7 May at the 18th Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film, Chico & Rita will compete for the prize in the AniMovie category. http://www.itfs.de

From 12 to 30 May at the Spanish Fest Australia, where films in Spanish and produced in different countries will be screened in the cinemas of seven large cities in Australia and New Zealand.  http://www.spanishfilmfestival.com

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21st Edition of the Nantes Spanish Film Festival

Carlos Saura, Álex de la Iglesia, Fernando Trueba and Icíar Bollaín are some of the protagonists of the 21^st edition of the Nantes Spanish Film Festival, held in this town in the west of France which contains some of the most film-loving inhabitants of France.

Trueba will be present at the preliminary screening in France of “Chico & Rita” in the French city with the second greatest number of cinema goers per inhabitant, at which the awards will be handed out tomorrow in a competition which is particularly applauded by a public aged under 25.

http://www.cinespagnol-nantes.com

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The best feature length film at the festival

Chico & Rita, the film by Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal and Tono Errando, has been given more recognition by winning the Award to the Best Feature Length Film at the 2011 Anima Festival in Brussels, one of the most traditional and popular animated film festivals in Europe which, at its 30th edition, was attended by 35,000 people. The film was given a great ovation from the critics and from the public, competing with other big films such as the latest production from the Estudio Ghibli, "Kari-gurashi no Arrietty" (The Borrowers), written and planned by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi. 

For years, the festival traditionally only showed short films, with the screening of the odd feature length film. However, for the last few years, feature length films have been part of the competition, and the public is responsible for choosing the award for the Best Feature Length Film, while a jury chooses the awards for the Best Short Films.

This award joins the Goya Award for the Best Animation Film (Spanish Film Academy), the Award for the Best Film at the Holland Animation Film Festival (HAFF 2010) and the Cineuropa Prize at the 2010 Festival de Cinema Europeen des Arcs, as well as being the film that opened, among others the Telluride Film Festival (Colorado), the Miami International Film Festival and the Cartoon Movie Festival, the European professional forum dedicated to animation.

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The three directors went up to collect the prize

We’ve got it! We’re absolutely delighted to have been awarded the Goya. What we really hope is that this will encourage people to go to the cinema to see the film. As you already know, it premiers here in Spain on 25^th February.  The first weekend will be decisive, so make sure you’re among the first people to go and see it. Thank you, you’re great! As Javier said on acknowledging the award, LONG LIVE THE MOVIES!

This film is one of those in which you can enjoy each image on the large screen and it is a true pleasure to listen to the music in Dolby Stereo.

We can’t let cinemas die out because of a lack of audiences. We’ll see what happens with regard to the Internet, but for now, please, go to the cinema and pay for your ticket. The film cost 10 million euros, which will have been well spent if you enjoy it and pay a few euros for the six years of work we invested in it. Thank you once again, and LONG LIVE THE MOVIES.

www.rtve.es

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Cartoon Movie, in Lyon from 2nd to 4th of March

Cartoon producers and directors from all over Europe will present 55 films in different stages of development at the forthcoming edition of the Cartoon Movie Festival, a coproduction forum for animated feature films which will be held between 2^nd and 4^th of March in Lyon, France.

Chico & Rita will participate together with other films by acclaimed directors and producers such as Terry Gilliam, who produced the science fiction film 1884: Yesterday’s Future, or Patrice Leconte who will offer the first stereoscopic images in 3D in The Suicide Shop.

Some of the completed films selected for the event have already enjoyed successful premiers in their countries, such as Animals United or Santa’s Apprentice or have been selected to compete in prestigious festivals, such as the Berlinale, which is the case of A Cat in Paris or The Great Bear.

The competition will also include sequels to films that were successful internationally or in their country of origin, such as Niko 2. Family Affairs or The Happets in the Rainbow Forest.

http://www.cartoon-media.eu/MOVIE/

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The film is to open the festival

Chico & Rita at the Miami International Film Festival
The film is to open the festival

Chico y Rita will be screened at the 28th Miami International Film Festival, to be held between March 4th and 13th, this year.

On Wednesday, the organisers announced the festival programme, which will draw back its curtains on the opening night with a screening with a Cuban flavour to it: Chico & Rita, by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal.
The opening night celebration will take place in the historic Freedom Tower at Miami Dade College and will, in fact, follow on from the screening of the images shown in the Gusman Theatre, paying tribute to Cuban music and the Havana of the 1950s.
It is the first time since its creation in 1983 that the event will open with an animated film and by paying homage to Cuban culture.
Sponsored by Miami Dade College, the festival is considered the most important Latin American film event held in the United States. Every year the event shows some 100 films and attracts more than 400 filmmakers, producers, actors and professionals in the film industry, from all over the world.
http://www.miamifilmfestival.com/

http://www.miamifilmfestival.com/

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Opting for the Goya for the Best Animated Film

Chico & Rita has been selected by the members of the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences as one of the finalists for the Best Animated Film in the 25^th Goya Awards. At the forthcoming Goya ceremony, to take place on 13^th of February in the Teatro Real, we will find out whether the academics have awarded it to us.

The large team that has been given this nomination is extremely happy and we hope to take Goya’s bust home with us. It would be excellent publicity for the film and a recognition that would continue encouraging us in future projects. What a beautiful world the cinema is!

Recently "Chico & Rita" has passed the preliminary selection in the same section for the BAFTA Awards, the top film awards in the United Kingdom.

This original project, which arose from the collaboration between the director Fernando Trueba and the designer Javier Mariscal, continues to accumulate recognition after walking off with the Award to the Best Feature Film at the Holland Animation Film Festival (HAFF 2010) and the Cineuropa 2010 Award at the Festival de Cinéma Européen des Arcs, as well as being the film that opened the Telluride Festival (Colorado).  

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At the New Spanish American International Film Festival and at the Lincoln Center

Chico & Rita’s international circuit continues. On 6 December it can be seen in the 32^nd New Spanish American International Film Festival held in Havana between 2^nd and 12^th December. The following week, on Saturday 11^th and Tuesday 14^th it moves to the Lincoln Center in New York as part of the series presented each year at the Cervantes Institute in New York in collaboration with the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Spanish Ministry of Culture (ICAA). Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal will be present at both screenings. If you happen to be in Havana or New York you will be able to see the film before its premier in Spain. We hope to carry on reading favourable critics to whet your appetite for the premier here in Spain on 25^th February.

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Love is a song that is never forgotten

As from today, you can buy the graphic novel of Chico & Rita by Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba in Spanish bookshops. It has been published by Sins’entido, a Madrid publishing house that takes a stance for authors with a personal world to share, narrators, story tellers. It already has a splendid catalogue of graphic novels. In this comic Javier provides the drawings and Fernando the words. Between the two of them, they narrate a passionate, exciting world in which love and betrayal take place just when Latin jazz is emerging on the musical scenes of Cuba and New York. It costs €22.00, which is not much for such a beautiful book of 210 pages, with a hard cover and good-quality paper. It will soon be published in English, French and Flemish.

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It will compete for the Crystal Arrow awarded by the jury

The Européen des Arcs Film Festival will take place in Les Arcs, France from March 11^th to 18^th. Chico & Rita is one of the 12 films selected to compete for the Crystal Arrow, the award granted by the jury which, on this occasion, will be presided over by the Danish director Thomas Vinterberg. The Spanish film También la lluvia by Iciar Bollaín is also among those selected. We will keep you informed. If you would like information about the festival check out www.lesarcs-filmfest.com

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At last we have a date for the premier!

We can now tell you when Chico & Rita will be premiered in Spain. Many people have been asking about the date, so you can now reserve 25^th of February 2011 as a date for going to the cinema, buying your ticket, settling down in the darkness and enjoying this turbulent love story with its fascinating images and a handful of masterly jazz performances from the 1940s and 50s. We won’t say “your money back if you don’t like it” because going to the cinema involves taking a risk and embarking upon an adventure, but we are convinced you won’t mind having paid for the ticket. Enjoy it!

 

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The most prestigious media give it 4 stars

As we have told you, Chico & Rita has already been premiered in the United Kingdom and we are delighted with the great acceptance it has got from the public and that it has met box office expectations. It has also received excellent critics and almost all the media have awarded it 4 stars. Here are some of the opinions: “Pure pleasure” Meredith Brody (ThompsonOnHollywood), “Impeccable work of art” David Jenkins (Time Out), “Intense, sensual, turbulent love story” (telegraph.co.uk), “Absolutely unique” Chris Sullivan (Metropoli), “Truly a work of art” Shane McNeil (Toronto Film Scene). We couldn’t ask for more. Well, ok, we could! That it is a success when it premiers in Spain.

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November 19th in cinemas

From November 19^th, Chico & Rita can be seen in cinemas in London and other British cities. It is an exciting moment. So far, we have only had feedback from the public at festivals and despite its warm reception, knowing how it will work in cinemas, what the public will like, what they won’t like, what the critics will say, whether it will be successful, whether it will run in cinemas for a long time is the great unknown. The world that Chico & Rita is facing is a complex one, full of expectations. We hope the British public will like it and that the critics will be as good as the one in Time Out. They gave it 4 stars and said that the film is “an impeccable piece of craftsmanship”, they value Mariscal’s creation and the music from the golden age of jazz chosen by Fernando Trueba. The people at mirror.com also enjoyed it.

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The “Making of” has been able to be seen in Granada, Palma and Buenos Aires

The Artfutura festival screened the “making of” Chico & Rita at the Science Park in Granada and at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Palma, Es Baluard. For the second year running, Es Baluard joined the digital art festival of Art Futura, which was held in a parallel way in thirteen other Spanish cities and in Buenos Aires —where the “making of” was also screened with Tono Errando, the co-director of the film, present— Santiago de Chile, Bogota and Andorra. In it, the authors reveal their secrets, the anecdotes of working in a team, the preliminary research for creating the story, the construction of the characters and the environment, step by step, as well as other aspects of the film.

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Good critics in the United States

The cartoon feature film, Chico & Rita, directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, has now started its round of festivals. First of all was the Telluride Festival in the United States and then Toronto, one of the most important ones in the world cinema festival circuit. Toronto is not a competitive event, there are no juries and the only award is given by the votes of the public. It has an immense official section with more than 300 titles. The public is the only jury, which the people in the film industry greatly value. Chico & Rita was given very good critics, such as the one that Gary Giddins, one of the most prestigious jazz and musical film critics in the United States, published in Film Comment, in which he qualified it as “One of the best fiction films on jazz, not to say the best, as I can’t think of another one which is truer or more moving.” Or that of Stephen Farber in Film Review who says that it is “visually hypnotic and musically electric”, praising the creative work of Mariscal and the film soundtrack.

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Unanimity among the international jury

The jury was unanimous in its decision and said that Chico & Rita was the best cartoon in the 2010 Holland Animation Festival (HAFF). This international cartoon festival is based in the centre of Utrecht. Since 1985, it has been held yearly and is the meeting point for cartoon professionals and emerging talents. In addition to projections of the best cartoon films and work, HAFF organises competitions and presents thematic and retrospective programmes, chats, conferences and debates. Chico & Rita was presented as a film that transports us to the best moments in the history of Jazz. A love story which unites different continents through music and that offers a gorgeous, melancholic love story.

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