The Puerto Rican filmmaker Ángel Manuel Soto is convinced that presenting his short film “El Púgil” at the next edition of the Tribeca Film Festival, in New York (USA), will make his career progress “by leaps and bounds”.
In an interview today with Efe, the also director of the feature film “The farm” emphasized that taking “El púgil” to the Tribeca festival, which will be held between April 13 and 24, will help “open the doors to people looking at Puerto Rico as a country that makes movies ».
As Soto explained, “El púgil” tells the story “of improvement and example” of Ángel “Tito” Acosta, a promising young boxer from the San Juan sector of Barrio Obrero.
“The piece highlights the fighting spirit, effort and positivism of the neighborhood,” said Soto, who with “El púgil” will mark its premiere at the Tribeca film festival, where he said that “very few Puerto Rican films have come” to be presented.
“The Boxer” will be included in the sports shorts category, where the project “AC Green: Iron Virgin” will also be presented, which tells the story of former American basketball player AC Greenn who, in addition to achieving the feat of playing 1,192 games, “achieved” get a virgin to your marriage.
Another standout short to be shown is “The Best Last Best Plane Ride,” which recreates the moment when the New York Mets baseball team nearly destroyed the interior of an airplane after winning the National League Championship Series a the Houston Astros in 1986.
Soto explained that “The Boxer” came to Tribeca with the backing of the production company Ryot, whose short film “Body Team 12” was nominated at the last Academy Awards.
The filmmaker showed “The Boxer” to the production team of “Body Team 12” and “they loved it, despite not having subtitles,” he said.
Later, the firm’s producer, Bryn Mooser, encouraged him and helped present the documentary to the competition, as did Peter Berg – director of the films “Lone Survivor”, “Hancock” and “Friday Night Lights” – who He was also “delighted” with “The Boxer.”
The Tribeca Film Festival will open with the documentary film “The First Monday in May”, about the back room of the Metropolitan Museum of New York (MET).
Similarly, the comedy with Kevin Spacey and Michael Shannon, “Elvis & Nixon”, as well as the biopic of the legendary Brazilian soccer player Pelé, “Pelé: Birth of a Legend”, will also be premiered worldwide at that New York festival.
As for Soto’s first feature film, “La Granja” won the category of Best First Feature at the recently concluded Guadalajara International Film Festival, a distinction that, he told Efe, will also be an important boost to his career.
«I was very moved by the reaction of the Mexicans. All this that is happening in my career right now is great and with the potential that the film has in the international market, it is a plus “, said Soto, who hopes that the film will be presented” as soon as possible “in the cinemas of Puerto Rich. EFE
Puerto Rican filmmaker Ángel Manuel Soto will present his short “El Púgil”
