“Manuela & Manuel”

Starring Humberto Busto Elena Iguina

Directed & Edited by Raúl Marchand Sánchez

Written by José Ignacio Valenzuela

Produced by Frances Lausell

Executive Producers Sonia Fritz Pedro López

Associate Producer Ileana Ciena

Director of Photography Sonnel Velázquez

Production & Costume Design Rafi Mercado

Music Score Gerónimo Mercado

Art Director Mailara Santana

Costume Director Angie Olmedo

Production Information

Genre: Comedy Nationality: Puerto Rico Language: Spanish (English subtitles) Running time: 94 min.

Production Notes

For me, 'Manuela y Manuel' is not a movie about gays. It is a film about love, friendship, loneliness and the urge to find someone to spend the rest of your life with.

In this story, there is no divide between human beings, gays or straight, only many hearts telling us their stories. The fact that the main character is a transvestite is as irrelevant as the color of his eyes or the charm of his smile. Before being gay, he is just an exceptional character. Does it pay to keep classifying and dividing people when we need to share the same lot of Earth anyways?

José Ignacio Valenzuela Screenwriter

Laughter is a universal emotion. It has no boundaries. It has always been my goal as a storyteller to create narratives that have universal appeal. Manuela y Manuel is, I believe, a good example. It shows the power of true friendship in moments of need.

I'm very proud of Manuela y Manuel and hopefully it will unite movie audiences thru laughter.

Raúl Marchand Sánchez, Director

Synopsis

Deep inside, Manuel has always been Manuela. Amidst her worst love crisis, Manuela reinvents herself as Manuel in order to pass as the fiancée of her best friend Coca – who is pregnant from a one-night stand and must face her conservative family. Hidden identities, misunderstandings, and the tension between two friends pretending to be what they are not, stage a colorful and up-beat story. Manuela y Manuel is a visually captivating comedy about two friends performing in the melodrama of Latin America life.

Principal Cast

Humberto Busto Manuela/Manuel Elena Iguina Coca Luz María Rondón Rosa Emmanuel Sunshine Logroño Germán Marian Pabón Faraona Ineabelle Colón Margarita Marisol Calero Norma Israel Lugo Arturo Johnny Lozada Ramón Orvile Miller Mr. Green Adrián García Taxi Driver Julio Ramos Friend 1 Luis Freddie Friend 2 Toño Jaime Billoch Girl Isabel Gandía Luis Ortíz Faraona’s Assistant Jaime Sunflower Performer 1 Shari Lady Fox Performer 2 Olga Milagros Vega Club Waitress Maine Anders Belly dancer María de Azúa Trapezes

Humberto Busto Manuel, Manuela

Mexico, 1978. Graduate of the university of Theater (CUT). His first feature film was Amores Perros, director Alejandro Gonzàlez Iñàrritu, to which they continue him Survivor of Jesus Magaña, Play of Hands of Alejandro Andrade, The morale in Shift of Alejandro Ramírez, The Color of their Shadow of Eugenio Pulgovsky, Borderland of Zev Berman, and Girls Badly of Fernando Sariñana. This year stars in to be Died in Sunday of Daniel Gruener, recently selected in the International Festival of Movies Donosita-San Sebastián 2006.

It travels to Berlin in the 2004 to form part of the Talent Campus organized by the Berlinale, whose plant of teachers includes Mike Leigh, Stephen Frears, Alan Parker and Frances MacDormand, among others. Al to return directs a series of short films among the ones that is found Three Songs that Suddenly stop Sign but Never End.

In 2005, form splits of the world campaign of MTV "Staying Alive" for information and prevention of the HIV by means of the movie for television Transit of Niall MacCormick.

Since the 2000 it has worked actively in the theater of the hand of the director Mauricio Garcìa Spirited with Geography and As you like, asì like with Vìctor Weinstock in Chaos and Ana Francis Account in Titus Andrònicus, by mentioning some.

SPP and Enamòrate of Tv Azteca they marked their income al àmbito of the melodrama in television.

Elena Iguina Coca

Elena attended a two-year Professional Training Program at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts

Her film experience includes the lead on Manuela y Manuel, directed by Raul Marchand, A supporting role on The Heartbreak Kid, by Farrelly Brothers Film, Co-Star on Daybreak of The Heart by Geneva Robertson, and lead on Six Months Later, directed by Alberto Chamorro

Her theater experience includes Uncommon Women and Others (Holly) , Taming of the Shrew (Katherine), Last Summer at Bluefish Cove (Annie), Hatful of Rain (Celia), Much Ado About Nothing (Beatrice). She has been on varios television programs and ads such as Co-star, on Eden (Pilot), Nissan, American Airlines, AT&T, Kidz Bop (Voice Over), Jack in the Box/Ciabatta Sandwich, Kinecta Federal Credit Union, All State Ins./All State Motor Club.

Emmanuel “Sunshine” Logroño Germán

Emmanuel “Sunshine” Logroño is perhaps one of the most complete and admired artist of our time. His academic background and multiple talents have earned him the respect his peers and the veneration of his audience.

Born in New York in 1951, he obtained his Bachelor in Arts (English & American Literature) degree from The University of Puerto Rico, he continued post- graduate studies in the Drama Department of The University of Michigan.

Sunshine started to develop his career during the early 70’s in the “café teatro” La Tea in Old San Juan (a pub that served as showcase for artists of the time). Sunshine became very popular and solicited fully bilingual actor doing both Drama and Comedy with great success. In 1973, Sunshine became a disc jockey for WBMT/Radio Rock (Puerto Rico’s first rock’n roll station). He has worked at WIAC FM, WKOA AM, 95.X FM and has hosted the radio programs “Rompiendo El Día” and “Agitando El Show” now into its nine year. In this program, the character of “Eleuterio Quiñones” created and performed by Logroño became so popular that in the 2000 Election, many voters nominated him for governor. Sunshine made his first TV appearance as a regular in the Estudios Televisados (channel 40) series still being aired.

Ineabelle Colón Margarita

Ineabelle Colón has been an actor practically since she learned to talk. She has worked as actress, mc, announcer, producer, and scriptwriter for TV shows, theater productions, documentaries and feature films.

She has a Master's degree in Communications, after which she taught radio and TV acting at Sacred Heart University, for 12 years.

She has appeared in Puerto Rican feature films like: Linda Sara, La Guagua Aérea, Cuentos para despertar, Camino Sin retorno, and Luisa Capetillo Pasión de Historia. Recently she was in Cayo (with Roselyn Sanchez), in which her character Matilde is the story's connecting thread and which she also co-wrote and co-produced. Manuela y Manuel is her latest work in film.

Marian Pabón Faraona

She is one of the most versatile Puerto Rican actresses of her generation. She started as a high school student, taking critics by surprise with her interpretations in the musicals "Godspell" y "Jesus Christ Superstar" in the 1970s

Mariam works as well in musical theater as in comedy or drama, in Spanish or English, as demonstrated by her work in the local productions of "West Side Story", "South Pacific", "Piaf!", "Cabaret" and "Chicago".

She has appeared in several soap operas, as well as TV comedy shows, and has recently taken very interesting supporting parts in Puerto Rican films, like "Casi casi" and "Manuela y Manuel".

She has a BA from the American Academy of Dramatics Arts.

Luz María Rondón Doña Rosa

She has participated in four films for theatrical release as well as in several TV movies. Recently, she was part of Christmas in Paradise by Lifetime, playing the grandmother. She was part of the miniseries Guerreras for PBS PR (Channel 6), she played the protagonists’ mother; and she appeared in two chapters in the Telemundo series Decisiones shot in Puerto Rico.

She has appeared in numerous theater plays, most recently in Boutique Assassins playing the protagonist, a grandmother, and in the play Grace and Glory.

Marisol Calero Norma

Marisol Calero is an organic and versatile actress with a prodigious voice. Three professional records demonstrate her talent in addition to her participation as representative of Puerto Rico in the International Festival OTI, in Portugal. Her huge experience and memorable work in Theater, Musical Theater and Television, have made her deserve excellent reviews of the local and international press. With her participation in the soap opera “Vale Todo” the first spanish co-production of TV Globo of Brazil and Telemundo-USA, Marisol became the first Puerto Rican actress in the latinamerican market working with TV Globo.

Marisol experience includes films, as the movie Under Suspicion working with Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman. In this field, she also worked in the puertorrican movies “Una Historia Común”, “Bala Perdida” and “Manuel y Manuela”.

With her indisputable talent, Marisol Calero is one of the most successful and respected figure in the field of the arts and the entertainment.

Johnny Lozada Ramón

Johnny's life changed when he became part of Menudo, the most renowned boys group in the Hispanic mark in history, at age 12. Since then, he has developed a very successful career as an actor, with special talents for dancing, singing.

After Menudo, he successfully went solo for a time. Later he was part of the "Reencuentro", a series of concerts with former Menudo members. He has appeared in several soap operas and TV miniseries, and launched an impressive career as actor and TV personality in Mexico.

Director

Raúl Marchand-Sánchez director and editor of Manuela y Manuel was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is an Arts graduate from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His film 12 HORAS was Puerto Rico’s official selection as nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2001 Academy Awards. This film also received a Special Mention at the 1st Tribeca Film Festival (NYC) for Best Narrative and Best Emerging Filmmaker; and the Audience Choice Award at the 18th Chicago Latino Film Festival.

Frances Lausell Producer

Frances Lausell, cofounder of Isla Films, currently works on several projects, among them: the documentary Little Immigrants, about child smuggling at the border between Arizona and Mexico; and the feature films Manuel y Manuela and Miente conmigo. On her project list for 2007 is the feature film Marina’s Secret World (an adaptation of a novel by Kalman Barsy) and the “Six Pack” – a creative project to produce six Puerto Rican films, with the support of the local film commission (Corporación de Cine).

After 15 years in the industry, Lausell’s filmography includes over 20 productions.

In 2000 she produced the feature film El beso que me diste, directed by Sonia Fritz – which was awarded the Audience Award at the Chicago Latino Film Festival. Lausell has also developed an impressive list of documentaries on personalities and topics representative of Puerto Rican and Caribbean arts. Her most recent productions in that direction are Carnavales del Caribe (2004) and Samuel Lind (2006).

Other works include: the short film Eterno amor (2006, funded by the Office for Women’s Issues and the local film commission); the TV movie Una historia común (2004); and the documentaries Arecibo ayer y hoy and El sueño americano: mexicanos y puertorriqueños en Nueva York, among others.

She recently completed her work with Darlow Smithons Production, from the United Kingdom, on the series Seconds from Disaster — for the National Geographic Channel.

She also finished a couple of bilingual segments for Sesame Street Workshop, aired in September de 2006.

Her commitment to the film industry inspired her to create a local chapter of the National Association of Latin American Producers (NALIP), an organization for Latin American producers in the US. And her interest in women’s role in the film industry gave way to Puerto Rico’s first Women in Film Festival, which se produced in March 2005.

Lausell has been invited to NALIP’s Producers Academy, and has been a panelist at the Miami International Film Festival and the Caribbean Media Summit at Miami.

Sonia Fritz Executive Producer

Sonia Fritz is executive producer for Caleidoscopio Films, the company producing the feature film Manuela y Manuel, Todos esperan por él which will start filming in March of 2007.

Fritz has also directed and produced features for Isla Films, the company she co- founded with Frances Lausell. Among others: Una historia común (2004) and El beso que me diste (2000) -- distribuited by Vanguard y RGH Lions. Both films have been shown at international film festivals like the Montreal Film Festival, Chicago Latino Film Festival, Los Angeles Latino Film Festival, Urban World Film Festival, San Diego Film Festival, Latin American Film Festival of New York, and Cambridge Film Festival at Harvard, in addition to festivals in Switzerland, Denmark, Italy and Mexico.

She has also worked on short films like Hebra rota, Dulce pesadilla, Abnel y Nightstand (based on stories by writer Mayra Santos Febres), and Eterno amor (2006, funded by the Office for Women’s Issues and the local film commission). Her filmography also includes docudramas like docudramas Luisa Capetillo, pasión de justicia andy María de las Mercedes Barbudo.

Right now she works in the adaptation of Esmeralda Santiago’s novel America’s Dream; in the preproduction phase of Isla Film’s next project, Miente conmigo; and the feature film Marina’s Secret World (an adaptation of a novel by Kalman Barsy).

She has directed and produced over 20 documentaries, many of which have been broadcast through public television in the US (WGBH-Boston, WNET-New York) and Puerto Rico. Her documentaries are distributed by The Cinema Guild, and have been awarded at several international festivals (Festival de Mujeres del Mar del Plata, Argentina, San Juan Cinemafest). Her most recent documentary is Little Immigrants (2006), about Mexican children illegally crossing the US border to reunite with their parents.

Her work has deserved recognition form UNESCO and the National Endowment for the Arts and other isntitutions. Her documentary El sueño americano, puertorriqueños y mexicanos en Nueva York (2003) was funded by New York University and Sacred Heart University, among other organizations. Fritz teaches at Sacred Heart University’s Communications Department in San Juan, P.R.

Ileana Ciena Associate Producer

Ileana studied literature, radio and TV production, and production budgeting and scheduling – this last one with distinguished executive producer Tony Ray.

She also worked as an actress for the prestigious Teatro del Sesenta, and was production manager and executive producer for Guede Films, Inc.

Her filmography includes over ten documentary titles, in addition to commercial ads produced for Zaga Films, Guastella Films, Viguié Films, Paradiso Films, La Plaza Films and other companies.

She has worked in feature films with Raúl Marchand (El cuerpo del delito and Ángeles perdidos) and other Puerto Rican filmmakers like Ivonne Belén, Sonia Fritz, Orlando Leal, Abdiel Colberg and Ana María García. She has also produced foreign films.

Rafi Mercado Production & Costume Design

Producer, art designer and creative director Rafi Mercado, best known for his work for Latin Grammy Awards, Jennifer López and Ricky Martin, is the production designer for Manuela y Manuel.

Mercado is the founder of House of Mercado Entertainment (HOME) in NYC. His professional experience in Puerto Rico includes projects for Paradiso Films and Ninguna Ciencia (the producer of Banco Popular’s most recent music specials).

Mercado has set himself apart in NYC for his special-event productions and theme parties at well-known clubs (like Sound Factory). He has also been costume designer for Broadway shows (Rent and others), and production designer and art director for music videos (i.e. Ricky Martin’s “María”, and Sade’s “King of Sorrows”).

He has a B.A. in Film from Boston University and a master’s degree in Art Directing from New York University. He lives in NYC.

José Ignacio Valenzuela Writer

José Ignacio Valenzuela has vast experience as a scriptwriter for theater, TV and film, in addition to writing literature. His stories have been produced in Mexico, Chile, Spain and Puerto Rico.

In 2004, his script Corazón de melón was nominated for the Best Picture category at the MTV Movie Awards in Mexico City. He has been to the writing workshops at Sundance Institute, among others, and has developed soap operas for Televisión Azteca.

He is also a tutor for the Film Development Lab at the Centro de Formación de Guionistas – a project sponsored by Sacred Heart University, Puerto Rico’s Film Commission, and Fundación para la Investigación Audiovisual de Valencia, España.

Gerónimo Mercado Music Score

Gerónimo is a composer, arranger and soundtrack developer. He has a BA in Film Scoring and Music Business and Management, with a Minor in Orchestra Conducting. His principal instrument is the piano.

In 2003 he did arrangements and programming for recording artist NAVA. That same year he conducted, arranged and directed for the Boston Conservatory Dance Workshop.

Other artists he has worked with include Farrel (EMI Latin) and Guadalupe García (WB Warner Chapel Co). He was record producer for the two albums by BAILOS, a modern dance company.

He is a member of the Film Scoring Association and ASCAP.