Jorge Estrada Mora, Argentinian Producer, Dies at 68
Variety
John Hopewell
December 21, 2015
Jorge Estrada Mora, a cosmopolitan, multifaceted and
enterprising producer who helped take Argentina cinema onto the world stage,
died Dec. 9 from a prostate tumor. He was 68.
From the get-go, Estrada Mora’s life and cinema knew few
borders. He was born in Colombia, in the Antioquia highlands, educated at
Washington and Lee University in Virginia – going on to serve on its board
until 2012 — worked in the oil business for Geosource in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador
and Kenya, and settled in Argentina.
It was from Argentina, that he launched an effective
second career as a film producer, emerging from the get-go as one of its
internationally most ambitious producers.
Among early productions, all set up at Buenos Aires’
Jempsa — which he founded in 1987 — 1987’s “Under the Earth,” from Beda Docampo
Feijoo, was set in Poland; 1988’s “Southbound,” from Juan Bautista Stagnaro,
shot in Yugoslavia; “The Loves of Kafka,” also Docampo’s, in Czechoslovakia;
Jeanine Meerapfel’s 1989 “The Girlfriend,” co-produced with Germany and
co-written by Agnieszka Holland, brought Liv Ullmann to Buenos Aires; “Warriors
and Prisoners,” co-produced with France, starred Dominique Sarda; the
English-language “The Perfect Husband,” a riff on Dostoevsky texts, toplined
Tim Roth.
Though his friendships crossed a broad political
spectrum, when producing films in overseas places and with international talent
Estrada Mora skirted neither the Argentine Junta’s Dirty War nor other
political issues. “The Girlfriend” portrayed the Dirty War’s impact on two
women’s lifelong friendship, which is strained by one woman’s years-long search
for her son who disappeared under Argentina’s military dictatorship. Set
against the background of Holocaust, World War II drama “Under the Earth”
follows a Jewish family in hiding in Poland, desperately attempting to avoid
deportation.
From the late ’90s, Estrada Mora found the perfect
alliance for his international ambitions: Juan Jose Campanella, with whom he
teamed to produce in 1997 the noirish English-language “Love Walked In,” then
four further films made out of Argentina in Spanish, three starring Ricardo
Darin and Eduardo Blanco comprising a loose-knit humor-laced trilogy. “Same
Love, Same Rain” (1999), “The Son of the Bride” (2001) and “Moon of Avallaneda”
(2004) drill down on men’s midlife crises: Their struggle to let go of
childhood passions, whether a sports club or the family restaurant; guilt at
being bad sons or fathers; dismay at not achieving their professional dreams;
and above all, an inability to commit in relationships. Using an Argentine
background, but exploring a universal emotional idiom, the trilogy put
Campanella and Estrada Mora on the international map.
It may be little coincidence that their final film
together, 2013’s “Underdogs” was made in the most international of film types,
animation. It weighed in as Latin America’s biggest toon feature ever, was
co-produced with Spain and had as its background the world’s most international
sport: soccer. Turning on Foosball figures who come alive to help their
lifelong player save his village and conquer his childhood love, “Underdogs”
initiated Argentina’s still young tradition of local blockbusters, grossing
$14.3 million, and sold worldwide.
“Jorge was an excellent producer and a much better
friend. Of good taste, a gentleman, you would always savor chatting with him,
about the world, politics and, why not, cinema,” Campanella said.
“I’d like to say of him the best one can say of a
producer and friend: He was always there for the failures. He never complained
about missteps: We’d immediately begin a new project, or a new conversation.
Those who know about cinema will understand when I say that Jorge was the
George Bailey of my life.”
With Campanella, Gaston Gorali and Roberto Schroeder,
Estrada Mora launched MundoLoco Animation Studios, which announced a
three-series deal with Discovery Kids and Cris Morena at 2015’s Mipcom and is
shaping up as one of Latin America’s most important animation hubs. Estrada
Mora also helped launch housing developments, opinion polls – with Enrique
Zuleta Puceiro and Sofres-Ibope – and grew grapes for wine in Mendoza and, in a
bold leap of the imagination, in Mar del Plata, never a traditional wine area.
From 2010, he also served as an honorary consul for Singapore in Argentina.
Jorge Estrada Mora is survived by his wife, Nancy
O’Toole, and their five children Annie, Carolina, Juan, Estefania and Javier.
ESTRADA, Jorge
(Jorge Estrada Mora)
Born:
8/15/1947, Donmatías, Colombia
Died:
12/9/2015 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Jorge Estrada’s
western – producer:
The Last Harvest - 1991
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