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Jeremy Schwartz is the Mexico correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He is based in Mexico City.What's on this page?
The entry titled "Did Mexican Cannes winner plagiarize his film?."
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Did Mexican Cannes winner plagiarize his film?
Scandal is rocking a Mexican filmmaker whose short film about a blind beggar won an online competition at the Cannes Film Festival, only to be accused of stealing his idea from a Spanish movie.
Alonso Alvarez Barreda claims there are important differences between his award winning flik “Historia de un letrero (History of a sign)” and the 30-second Spanish movie “Una limosna, por favor (An alm, please).” But both films are short takes on a blind man begging in a public square. And in both, a stranger writes a heartwarming message on the man’s sign helping him earn more money. Unfortunately for the Tamauilpas-born Alvarez, the movie from Spain came out two years before “Historia de un letrero” was honored at Cannes.
The Mexican network Televisa cracked the story, when a viewer emailed a copy of the Spanish film. Alvarez says he will not give up his award and says that a friend pitched him the story idea by telephone. He claims not to have seen the Spanish film until after his version was made. “Some say it’s a rip-off,” he told Televisa in an interview defending his work. “For others it’s a beautiful inspiration.” Spanish speakers can watch Alvarez’s detailed, and at times tortured defense here.
The movie was honored by the National Film Board of Canada, which in conjunction with Cannes held an online competition of Cannes’ short films. Viewers watched the movies on Youtube and then voted for their favorite.
So is the award winner a rip-off? You be the judge. Here is Cannes winner “Historia de un letrero”:
And here is the Spanish film “Una limosna, por favor”:
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By iván s.
May 30, 2008 12:52 PM | Link to this
Both look like adaptations on a lame chain e-mail.
By harmonious monk
August 28, 2008 1:50 PM | Link to this
Sorry to say but it sure looks like the award winner ripped off the earlier plot but extended the visual elements in his version. Maybe the guy whom he said called with the idea got it from the earlier video but it’s the producer/director who has to take the fall for not checking around. I’m going to guess that the Canadian Film organization is going to rescind the award if they haven’t already.