We plan to launch our Pan American Dreams for Niños program in early 2010. Valeria Britos (photo below left) one of Latin America's most beloved childhood television stars and now a mother herself, will be our bi-lingual host.
 |
Pan American Dreams for Ninos will present a refreshing new look at America through the eyes of our children as Valeria helps kids connect and share their stories across borders. We want children to explore the places we visit and communicate with the people we encounter in our travels across America on their own terms.
We want them to be real reporters and correspondents. We will give them their initial assignments and ask them to work and coordinate action with children's teams in other nations besides their own. For the stories they chose or we initially assign, we want kids to do it all. Photography, video, editing, writing, fact checking and on camera reporting.
Training and security will be part of the program and parental involvement will be encouraged. But the work will be as real as if the kids were adults. The core idea is to help children expand not only their, and our, sense of America and the world, but of their own capabilities. What is America? The children of America will soon be telling us what they see and think.
Perrone Collection (Colección de Perrone)
;
Raúl Perrone is without doubt Argentina's leading underground filmmaker. Perrone has made 21 films since 1990, often on miniscule budgets. Alternately reviled and lauded by critics for his deliberately idiosyncratic production methods, Perrone has flirted occasionally with mainstream critical success and defied mainstream expectations the next moment. In 2007, he made a one hour theatrical film for a few thousand pesos using only the video function of a still photo camera.
Raúl Perrone is without doubt Argentina's leading underground filmmaker. Perrone has made 21 films since 1990, often on miniscule budgets. Alternately reviled and lauded by critics for his deliberately idiosyncratic production methods, Perrone has flirted occasionally with mainstream critical success and defied mainstream expectations the next moment. In 2007, he made a one hour theatrical film for a few thousand pesos using only the video function of a still photo camera.
 |
Perrone's films give us an absolutely unique series of vignettes of America, from offbeat love stories to documentaries capturing Christmas Day at his grandparent's home in a distant suburb of Buenos Aires to an entire film about his grandfather's quest to find a replacement wick for an obsolete kerosene lantern.
Perrone set out to break the traditional way of making movies from the beginning. His weekly workshops on independent filmmaking are packed with aspiring filmmakers every month. What Perrone tells them is that their ideas and creativity come first. A big budget, cutting edge equipment, celebrity actors and special effects are secondary, if not irrelevant.
Perrone's impact on the film community not just in Argentina, but in South America, has almost certainly been profound. Pan American Dreams is in active negotiations with Perrone to jointly offer, for the first time anywhere in the world, a complete, subtitled edition of Perrone's entire collection of films. We anticipate that work on translation, editing and subtitling will begin in early 2010 and will take 12 to 15 months to complete. (click thumbnail image above)
Natalio's Voyage to America
 |
In 2006, independent Uruguayan-U.S. filmmaker and gifted photographer Natalio Mass left his job as a film editor in Los Angeles and embarked on a 12 month voyage through America to reconnect with his Latin American roots.
His spiritual quest took him from California's Pacific coast through the U.S. heartland and on to Cuba, back to Mexico, through Central America, across the Andean nations, ultimately traversing Venezuela and Brazil and ending in Uruguay.
Along the way, Natalio rediscovered an America he had left behind more than a decade ago and gained a larger perspective for his entire uniquely American experience. Natalio is now back in his native Montevideo with four short films, thousands of photos and a detailed written journal of his travels.
Working closely with Natalio, we are just starting the process of review, editing and storyboarding. It will take at least the balance of 2009 to define the multimedia project deliverables and the production timetable and budget.
We estimate that the first multimedia installment of Natalio's Voyage to America will be available late in 2010, and we will have trailers and samples much sooner. Please see the contact info at the bottom of the page for regular updates.
Central Valley Stories
In the United States, California's vast, fertile Central Valley stretches 450 miles from north to south. It is bounded by the Cascade, Sierra Nevada, Tehachipi and Coastal mountain ranges and San Francisco Bay. If the Central Valley were a state, it would rank number one in agricultural output in the United States, growing more than 300 crops, producing 1/8 of U.S. agricultural revenue and providing 1/4 of the food consumed in the U.S. annually.
In the United States, California's vast, fertile Central Valley stretches 450 miles from north to south. It is bounded by the Cascade, Sierra Nevada, Tehachipi and Coastal mountain ranges and San Francisco Bay. If the Central Valley were a state, it would rank number one in agricultural output in the United States, growing more than 300 crops, producing 1/8 of U.S. agricultural revenue and providing 1/4 of the food consumed in the U.S. annually.
This enormous agricultural region has always employed a large population of migrant farm workers, primarily from Mexico and Central America. Today, nearly 40% of the Valley's population is Latino, with a large percentage of that population being second generation. Anyone who spends time in the Valley will be struck by the illuminating array of personal stories found in the Latino community from Fresno to Sacramento. These stories tell us, in deeply personal ways, about the first hand experience of American migration from every conceivable angle - family, relationships, work, struggle, failure, triumph and ultimately self-identity.
Central Valley Stories will begin filming a series of these stories in 2010, each of which reveal new answers to the question What is America? See these Journal entries for a sample of what is in store: America has blue people and Of flamenco dancers and border crossings.
Pan American Music
We want to share with our supporters, and the world, the unique music we find as we travel America. And Argentina, with its rich folkloric tradition, is the perfect starting point for our project.
 |
We are working with five very talented artists, including a folkloric dance troupe, to get their musical performances out to a wider audience.
A raw, vital rough cut live CD with eight songs is being packaged and jacket photography completed in July for our first star, fabulously talented folkloric singer Noelia Carrizo. Noelia has developed her own unique style by combining her vibrant and sinuous vocals on traditional folkloric songs with touches of pop and rock.
By mid-2010, Pan American Music will have a schedule of upcoming releases and new artists who are in development published on the website and updated regularly.
Email updates are available to everyone who is subscribed to our newsletter. Please sign up today here, and consider becoming a sponsor so we can continue to develop these kinds of unique projects.
Inquiries
All inquiries about distribution, co-production or sponsorship for these projects should be directed to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
