THEO FILMS

OFF WORLD will no longer be "OFF" WORLD - Multiple Media Entertainment picked up the film for Canada/US distribution!

2011-03-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

2010-11-10T10:51:00.000-08:00

OFF WORLD had been selected to participate to the CHERIES_CHERIS, PARIS Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival (November 12-21, 2010)

OFF WORLD had been selected to participate to the 22nd OUT ON SCREEN, Vancouver Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival (August 12-22, 2010)

2010-05-05T09:21:00.000-07:00

OFF WORLD had been selected to participate to the FRAMELINE 34, San Francisco Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival (June 17-27, 2010)

2010-04-20T05:57:00.000-07:00

"OFF WORLD" PART OF EARTH DAY CANADA'S

2010-04-16T05:31:00.000-07:00

"OFF WORLD" (90 second trailer) is being named The Second Runner Up of the Over 18 Category in Earth Day Canada’s Every Day Heroes Film Competition and will be viewed by over 2 million Canadians a day on Onestop Media Group’s network of digital displays in Ivanhoe Cambridge Shopping Centres and the Toronto Transit Commission, as well as host on Earth Day Canada’s YouTube channel and website. Winning films will screen every 5 minutes in Ivanhoe Cambridge Shopping Centres and every 10 minutes on the Onestop TTC Network during Earth Week (April 16-25).

OFF WORLD had been selected to participate to the 20th INSIDE OUT Toronto Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival (May 20-30, 2010)

2010-04-13T07:27:00.000-07:00

OFF WORLD - BEST CANADIAN FEATURE FILM AWARD - 10th REELWORLD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

2010-04-12T05:58:00.000-07:00

WEBSITE -OFF WORLD-

2010-04-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

WE JUST LAUNCHED OUR WEBSITE -:)
http://www.theoffworld.com/
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO VISITE IT, LEAVE A COMMENT AND SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWS LETTER!
YOUR OPINION AND SUPPORT IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR US!
XO MATEO

OFF WORLD @ TELEFILM PERSPECTIVE CANADA CANNES 2010 MARKET, MAY 12 -24

2010-03-30T05:11:00.000-07:00

What’s the difference between the people living in Smokey Mountain, in this dumpsite and us? They are born there, and we are born in Paris, or Canada. I was born and raised in Paris and stayed there until I was 19, when I decided to move to Israel. I’m half Jewish, and at the time I was a little bit like ‘Lucky’ in the film, looking for my origins.

People ask, why did you make a movie in Smokey Mountain? Why do you make things complicated? I realized that I’m the kind of human being who has to be in a risky situation to feel alive – to feel that there is a purpose for living – and to produce art.

Off World is about someone trying to find who he is, to go deep into something to die and be born again. All of my movies are about dying and rebirth – it’s my main obsession. When I imagine Lucky, I imagine he has a sweet adoptive family. Yes, they give him everything they can, but he never really fit, because part of him is where he comes from. There is something there that he needs, but it’s buried.

When I visited Smokey Mountain I wanted to make a movie there because my instincts said to. At the beginning I told everyone that I could see the end. I have faith in the kind of films I want to make. We were working with all local people. The only people who were not Filipino were my DOP and myself. And besides the main actors, all the kids, all the other people, are from Smokey Mountain.

In my films, I’m always seeking for identity, to try and understand why things happen to people, and how they can build a future. It’s about finding your destiny, understanding where you come from, why you are here, and what you can do. I think it’s very universal.

Off World is not a perfect film. We don’t think we’re going to change the world. We don’t want to change the world. We are small. We are participating in the process. What we’ve done, we have tried with our talents and vision to give our definition of what we see, to participate in the process bringing awareness to the world.

Smokey Mountain is a mix of all the things everyone is concerned about – environmental issues, health problems, poverty, corruption, the rights of children. As an artist it’s my role and my obligation to participate, to use images to provide something for people to watch they might never hear about. And to be a reminder that humans are used to taking everything for granted, used to not seeing what they have, and used to complaining and asking for more, not realizing that we live in such a luxurious place. Where these people, who have none of these things, are not – it’s how you look at life.

I’m trying to showcase the ugliness, because we are all responsible for it, but also the beauty, because, these people of Smokey Mountain, we have something to learn from them.

OFF WORLD will open the 10th ReelWorld International Film festival in Toronto, April 7th, 2010

2010-03-20T02:31:00.000-07:00

I think of this film as a visual poem. Ethereal, poignant and other-worldly, it is aptly named “Off World”. As a 75-minute film, it packs intensity in short emotional bursts, gorgeous photography and haunting images of children juxtaposed with poverty. Featuring a powerhouse performance by lead actor Marc Abaya, this film offers an unconventional view of the Philippines. Auteur Mateo Guez employs an epic score for this tale about a man who returns to the Philippines to seek out a family he’s never known. He is a child of adoption, and child imagery pervades this movie at every corner – in equal parts wonder, doom and beauty.

While the film sheds some light on the less auspicious parts of his homeland (slums, garbage dumps, etc), the cinematic experience is somehow uplifting. It’s sort of a fairy tale gone wrong – a hopeful dystopia. This story is a complex (but still linear) narrative that follows one man’s journey (Abaya) into himself - with the help of his birth country (that he clearly loves). How can one love something so foreign and unfamiliar – with the same recognition of family? Off World asks these questions in an arresting way, and the result is a sparse narrative that somehow always feels rich and full.

Programmer: Bobby Del Rio

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