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Join us for the world premiere official opening of Jose in Venice
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Join us for the world premiere official opening of
José
Venice Days - Sept 6 at 11:30 - Sala Perla
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Click to watch the trailer
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Buyers, festival programmers and press
are cordially invited to attend our world premiere opening
• Thursday 06 September 2018: 11:30 Sala Perla - Tickets, All Accreditations. Followed by Q&A
• Friday 07 September 2018: 20:00 Sala Perla 2 - Tickets, All Accreditations
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Director Li Cheng, a U.S. transplant from China, conducted extensive interviews with gay and marginalized youths across Latin America as the foundation for Jose, a reflective drama set in Guatemala about love, loss and queer desire lived in the shadows of a culture defined by crime, violence, macho attitudes, strict religious beliefs and binding family ties.
Made with nonprofessional actors in a style beholden to the neorealist tradition, the film compensates for its underfed narrative with a tender observational quality backed by confident visual sense.
Its unabashed treatment of gay sex and nudity, which is less about homoeroticism than emotional candor, also should help open doors in specialized LGBT platforms.
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"José" a film by Li Cheng
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José (19 years old) lives with his Mother (50s) in Guatemala City - a typical lower-class existence in one of the world’s most dangerous, religious, and impoverished countries. She never had a husband, and José is her youngest and favorite child.
Her life is her church, and selling sandwiches at a bus stop. José spends his days on cramped buses and fighting traffic as he runs food to waiting drivers. Aloof and resigned to things as they are, he fills his free moments playing with his phone and random sex arranged on street corners and dating apps. When he meets Luis, a migrant from the rural Caribbean coast, they pursue an unexpected relationship and José is thrust into passion and pain and self-reflection that were previously unimaginable.
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"Close relationships between mother and son are a key feature of Latino culture, and research in a dozen Latino countries led me to the JOSE story and to Guatemala: a troubled place where young people told me to find a love-relation amongst it all is an 'impossible dream' "
Li Cheng, director
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The creative team
• Written, directed, produced by Li Cheng: Joshua Tree 2014 - Bratislava IFF
• Cinematography by Paolo Giron: The Last Land 2016 - Rotterdam IFF
• Editing by Lenz Claure - Buy Me A Gun 2018 - Directors’ Fortnight, Festival de Cannes
• Produced by George F Roberson: Jury - Cyprus IFF and Bridges IFF (Greece)
Principle actors
• Jose: Enrique Salanic - ethnic Mayan, speaks fluent English, Spanish and Mayan, and lives in a small rural agricultural village five hours away from Guatemala City
• Luis - Manolo Herrera - studies art at Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala and lives with his Mom in a rough neighborhood in Mixco near Guatemala City
• Mom - Ana Cecilia Mota - a psychologist, she lives with her three daughters in Guatemala City
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Join the José family in Venice
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World Premiere
All rights, worldwide are available
The team will be in Venice to accompany the film and meet the press.
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About Mostra Internazionale d Arte Cinematografica Venice
 Oldest festival in the world, MOSTRA is Non-specialised competitive event for features and shorts. Two competing sections and three Prizes: the Golden Lion, the Lion of the Year and the Lion of the Future to best director`s debut film. Venice Italy View my profileSend me a message
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