Producer Fernando Epstein joins four other representatives from Uruguay in the select group.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Hollywood, which already has in its ranks musician Jorge Drexler – winner of an Oscar for the song “Al otro lado del río” from the film Diarios de motocicleta – and Uruguayan cinematographers César Charlone, Pedro Luque and Bárbara Álvarez, now adds producer Fernando Epstein.
With this addition, there are now five Uruguayan representatives in the Academy who will be able to vote in the next editions of the Oscars.
Epstein is a film producer and editor, recognised with more than 70 awards for feature films and documentaries in Latin America. He is part of the birth of contemporary Uruguayan filmmaking and of recent successful Latin American films such as Monos and Las Herederas.
Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll’s film 25 Watts (2001) was his first experience as a film producer and editor. The same year he founded Control Z Films to distribute and produce feature and short film projects such as Whisky (Rebella – Stoll, 2004), La Perrera (Manuel Nieto, 2006) and Gigante (Adrián Biniez, 2009).
All his films have won awards at Cannes, Berlin, Rotterdam and other festivals. Whisky was released in cinemas in more than 40 countries and Gigante in 20 countries.
In 2011, together with Agustina Chiarino he founded Mutante Cine, a new production company focused on discovering new talents, but also with a strong focus on audiovisual training. Their first feature film was El 5 de Talleres (Adrián Biniez, 2014), which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Since then they have produced several feature-length fiction and documentary films such as Locura al aire (Alicia Cano – Leticia Cuba, 2018).
They also participate as minority co-producers in several Latin American feature films such as Historia del miedo (Benjamín Naishtat, Argentina, 2013), which premiered in Competition at the Berlin Film Festival, Mi amiga del parque (Ana Katz, Argentina, 2016), which premiered in the International Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, and Las herederas (Marcelo Martinessi, Paraguay, 2018), winner of three Silver Bears in the Official Competition at the Berlin Film Festival.
His latest production is the Colombian feature film Monos directed by Alejandro Landes, which received the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival 2019, the Audience Award at the Cartagena Film Festival and Best Film at the London Film Festival among others. It had its European premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival and was commercially released in the United States, Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, France and 15 other territories.
Source: Uruguay XXI
