'Three Amigos' join forces to help boost Mexico's film industry
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Directors Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (above), Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron have launched a fund to help workers in Mexico's film industry.
PHOTO: ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ INARRITU/TWITTER
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MEXICO CITY • A trio of Oscarwinning Mexican film directors, known as "The Three Amigos", launched a fund on Thursday to help workers in their industry hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Alfonso Cuaron said their Audiovisual Emergency Fund ("Sifonoforo") was for anyone in the movie industry who was in need of financial help amid the chaos caused by Covid-19.
"This is finding a way, as an industry, as colleagues, as human beings, to hold hands... It is the power of the union without asking anyone for help," Inarritu, 56, said in a video-conference call from Mexico City.
The fund is backed by the Mexican Film Academy, more than 40 production companies and actress and businesswoman Salma Hayek. It has raised 10 million pesos (S$614,000).
It will be distributed in payments of 20,000 pesos among technical workers affected by the pandemic, which has left about 30,000 families without income in the local industry.
The organisation said those interested in the aid should apply through the Mexican Film Academy's website.
The Three Amigos have five Best Director and two Best Picture Oscars among them, while their actors and crews have picked up numerous other Academy Awards.
Cuaron, 58, won the Best Director Oscars for Gravity (2013) and Roma (2018), Inarritu for Birdman (2014) and The Revenant (2015) and del Toro, 55, for The Shape Of Water (2017).
Birdman and The Shape Of Water also won the Best Picture Oscars.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
