Lopez swaps A-list stardom for activism in film
Pop star and actress Jennifer Lopez swaps her "A"-list celebrity for social activism in a new film about the plight of Mexican women working in factories near the US border who are raped and murdered.
Bordertown, which reunites the singer with director Gregory Nava, is based on real events and was made to draw attention to what the film's makers say are deliberate attempts by authorities and companies to cover up the crimes.
In the film, which had its world premiere at the Berlin film festival on Thursday, Ms Lopez plays an ambitious reporter from Chicago who travels to Mexico on an assignment she hopes will get her a cherished overseas posting at her newspaper.
At first cynical and self-serving, her character becomes increasingly concerned by the disappearance of hundreds of women whose graves are unearthed with alarming regularity, while the task of uncovering the truth becomes more and more dangerous.
Antonio Banderas plays a campaigning journalist in the city of Juarez, where the action is set, while Mexico's Maya Zapata is Eva, the girl who is hunted after she survives a brutal attack and can identify her assailants.
"When they came to me with the project, I immediately became very passionate about it and said that I would do it and I would help them get it made," Ms Lopez told reporters after a press screening. The film is in the main competition in Berlin.
"What I thought (when I read the script) was, I couldn't believe it. I really couldn't believe this was going on. And then the more I found out about it the more real it became to me," the 37-year-old said.
Ms Lopez, who worked with Mr Nava 10 years ago on Selena, said the film and what was happening along the US-Mexican border, had changed her perspective on life.
"It changed my life a lot. It changed the way I think. You do it and it does change your life."
Mr Nava said he could not have raised the money to make the film without Ms Lopez's involvement. She is also a producer.
While critical reaction to the thriller may be cool, judging by the boos after its press screening in Berlin, Nava will be hoping Lopez's name will bolster the box office.
"It was a very, very tough journey to get this movie made, and I have to thank... Jennifer, because if Jennifer had not gotten involved... it would never have been made," Mr Nava said.
He told reporters he received death threats during the making of Bordertown, which he first conceived in 1997, and Ms Lopez and Banderas could not shoot scenes in Juarez because it was deemed too dangerous.
"In making the film we found that there were people who didn't want the movie to be made, but there were also many more people who supported what we were saying," he added.
Bordertown argues that huge economic interests in the factories where the young women work, called "maquiladoras", mean that corporations and governments do not want to ruin business by exposing the issue.
Mr Nava, who worked with Amnesty International on the project, said more than 400 women had been murdered.
"These are human beings, with dignity, with lives, with hopes and with dreams but in this great global economy, a few hundred, a few thousand young women get killed - well, it doesn't matter, let's just cover it up and get some more."
Scarlett Johansson leads irreverent Harvard parade
Braving freezing weather, actress Scarlett Johansson led a parade of students including young men dressed in drag to receive Harvard University's irreverent Hasty Pudding Theatricals award.
"Everything I ever dreamed of when I was a little girl is happening to me right now," Ms Johansson joked as two flamboyantly dressed male members of the theatrical troupe kissed her while she rode down Massachusetts Avenue in a Bentley.
The troupe named Ms Johansson, who appeared in films including Lost in Translation and Woody Allen's Match Point, its Woman of the Year for her "lasting and impressive achievement to the world of entertainment."
Actor Ben Stiller, the troupe's pick for Man of the Year, will be honoured next week.
Both honourees receive a golden pudding pot, a tradition that dates to 1795 when 21 Harvard students pledged that each member of their new club would, in alphabetical order, provide "a pot of hasty pudding" for every meeting.
The annual rite by the amateur acting group, America's oldest, has for 56 years honoured - and embarrassed - such stars as Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Katharine Hepburn, Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, Richard Dreyfuss and Alan Alda.
While hundreds of Harvard University students and locals turned out to see the 22-year-old starlet and the annual spectacle, some of the troupe's dozen members in the parade admitted their skimpy costumes were ill-suited to the freezing conditions.
"I had second thoughts about these heels," said Brian Polk, 19, of San Diego, who was dressed in a floor-length gown, wig and high-heeled shoes. "I can't even dance in them, let alone walk on ice."
Ms Johansson told reporters she admired the actors for going on with the show.
"I wouldn't be caught dead in a bra and panties on a day like this," she said. "They were really suffering for their craft."
The actress, who did not attend college, noted that her mother still pesters her about seeking higher education. "This is the closest I'll ever get to a Harvard degree, for sure," she said as she hoisted her pudding pot.
Pop star and actress Jennifer Lopez swaps her "A"-list celebrity for social activism in a new film about the plight of Mexican women working in factories near the US border who are raped and murdered.Bordertown, which reunites the singer with director Gregory Nava, is based on real events and was made to draw attention to what the film's makers say are deliberate attempts by authorities and companies to cover up the crimes.
In the film, which had its world premiere at the Berlin film festival on Thursday, Ms Lopez plays an ambitious reporter from Chicago who travels to Mexico on an assignment she hopes will get her a cherished overseas posting at her newspaper.
At first cynical and self-serving, her character becomes increasingly concerned by the disappearance of hundreds of women whose graves are unearthed with alarming regularity, while the task of uncovering the truth becomes more and more dangerous.
Antonio Banderas plays a campaigning journalist in the city of Juarez, where the action is set, while Mexico's Maya Zapata is Eva, the girl who is hunted after she survives a brutal attack and can identify her assailants.
"When they came to me with the project, I immediately became very passionate about it and said that I would do it and I would help them get it made," Ms Lopez told reporters after a press screening. The film is in the main competition in Berlin.
"What I thought (when I read the script) was, I couldn't believe it. I really couldn't believe this was going on. And then the more I found out about it the more real it became to me," the 37-year-old said.
Ms Lopez, who worked with Mr Nava 10 years ago on Selena, said the film and what was happening along the US-Mexican border, had changed her perspective on life.
"It changed my life a lot. It changed the way I think. You do it and it does change your life."
Mr Nava said he could not have raised the money to make the film without Ms Lopez's involvement. She is also a producer.
While critical reaction to the thriller may be cool, judging by the boos after its press screening in Berlin, Nava will be hoping Lopez's name will bolster the box office.
"It was a very, very tough journey to get this movie made, and I have to thank... Jennifer, because if Jennifer had not gotten involved... it would never have been made," Mr Nava said.
He told reporters he received death threats during the making of Bordertown, which he first conceived in 1997, and Ms Lopez and Banderas could not shoot scenes in Juarez because it was deemed too dangerous.
"In making the film we found that there were people who didn't want the movie to be made, but there were also many more people who supported what we were saying," he added.
Bordertown argues that huge economic interests in the factories where the young women work, called "maquiladoras", mean that corporations and governments do not want to ruin business by exposing the issue.
Mr Nava, who worked with Amnesty International on the project, said more than 400 women had been murdered.
"These are human beings, with dignity, with lives, with hopes and with dreams but in this great global economy, a few hundred, a few thousand young women get killed - well, it doesn't matter, let's just cover it up and get some more."
Scarlett Johansson leads irreverent Harvard parade
Braving freezing weather, actress Scarlett Johansson led a parade of students including young men dressed in drag to receive Harvard University's irreverent Hasty Pudding Theatricals award."Everything I ever dreamed of when I was a little girl is happening to me right now," Ms Johansson joked as two flamboyantly dressed male members of the theatrical troupe kissed her while she rode down Massachusetts Avenue in a Bentley.
The troupe named Ms Johansson, who appeared in films including Lost in Translation and Woody Allen's Match Point, its Woman of the Year for her "lasting and impressive achievement to the world of entertainment."
Actor Ben Stiller, the troupe's pick for Man of the Year, will be honoured next week.
Both honourees receive a golden pudding pot, a tradition that dates to 1795 when 21 Harvard students pledged that each member of their new club would, in alphabetical order, provide "a pot of hasty pudding" for every meeting.
The annual rite by the amateur acting group, America's oldest, has for 56 years honoured - and embarrassed - such stars as Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Katharine Hepburn, Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, Richard Dreyfuss and Alan Alda.
While hundreds of Harvard University students and locals turned out to see the 22-year-old starlet and the annual spectacle, some of the troupe's dozen members in the parade admitted their skimpy costumes were ill-suited to the freezing conditions.
"I had second thoughts about these heels," said Brian Polk, 19, of San Diego, who was dressed in a floor-length gown, wig and high-heeled shoes. "I can't even dance in them, let alone walk on ice."
Ms Johansson told reporters she admired the actors for going on with the show.
"I wouldn't be caught dead in a bra and panties on a day like this," she said. "They were really suffering for their craft."
The actress, who did not attend college, noted that her mother still pesters her about seeking higher education. "This is the closest I'll ever get to a Harvard degree, for sure," she said as she hoisted her pudding pot.