LOS CABOS, Mexico Music plays an integral part in Mexican producer Carlos Sosa’s life and career, but the documentary he presents at the 5th Los Cabos Int’l Film Fest’s Work-in-Progress program on Thursday, delves more on the harmony between man and nature.
The directorial debut of Monica Alvarez, “Bosque de Niebla” (“The Cloud Forest”), explores a self-sustaining community of 16 families who protect one of the most endangered and unique ecosystems in the country, the Bosque de Niebla (Cloud Forest) in Veracruz. “More than anything, this community is a celebration of life, on the ties between man and nature,” said Sosa of the community, which has built its own homes, schools and farm in search of a simpler, more independent lifestyle.
While he has produced one fiction feature so far, Alejandro Iglesias’ “The Leaf Blower,” and has another in development, the New York-set “Jolene” by Adan Aliaga, docus, especially music-themed ones, remain his passion. He’s still in production on “El Gran Fellove,” a long-gestating doc helmed by thesp Matt Dillon, a Cuban music buff, about the late Cuban musician Francisco Fellove who passed away in Mexico. He’s also in development on Javier Corcuera’s docu about the music and poetry of Sahari migrants in refugee camps, “Voces de Arena,” and “Julien,” Lucia Gaja’s bio-docu about British videographer/documentarian Julien Temple.
Sosa is planning to launch a music docu festival next year, provided he gathers enough sponsors. He’s had some festival experience, having worked at both the Guadalajara and Los Cabos Int’l film fests. Meanwhile, he’s doing his part to give art house pictures a forum with his two-plex alternative theatre La Casa del Cine, where he pledges a minimum of 15 screening days per film and allots 50% of its programming to Mexican pics. “It’s tough sometimes to make ends meet, but we average about 30,000 admissions a year.”
