Miami Film Collective Invites 'Aspiring Filmmakers' to Reinterpret Scenes from ‘Scarface,’ a 'Cultural Phenomenon' Made Famous by Non-Latinos
Miami folk are well-aware of the over-exaggerated depiction of the 1983 hit film "Scarface," made famous by the award-winning, Italian-America actor Al Pacino (who plays Tony Montana), whose Cuban accent and vengeance were over the top.
Yet Pacino, along with writer Oliver Stone and director Brian de Palma, undeniably put the vibrant city and its people on the cinematic map.
While other movies with Latina connections, such as "Chef" (starring John Favreau and Sofia Vergara) and "Something About Mary" (starring Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz), have featured Miami as their beautiful backdrop -- making the city almost a character in itself, "Scarface" is almost always the first film that comes to mind.
However, Miami filmmakers are empowering themselves and changing up the cinematic landscape by encouraging fellow, aspiring filmmakers and movie-lovers to reinvent the classic through the "Scarface Redux" campaign, launched by the Miami-based nonprofit Borscht Corp. So take out your cameras and iPhones and repeat: "Say hello to my little friend!"
Borscht Corp. "awards grants to local filmmakers and artists, throws events such as the biannual Borscht Film Festival (Dec. 16-24) and facilitates the creation of films, music videos, web experiments, and trendzmedia projects."
Why mess with a classic? There are plenty of reasons.
When asked "What was wrong with the original?" the response was: "Nothing! 'Scarface' is perfect, sublime. 'Scarface' presents an interpretation of Miami that a lot of people still picture when they think of the city. We thought it would be a fun experiment to see how Miami would interpret 'Scarface' in return, over 30 years later," Lucas Leyva, Borscht's Minister of the Interior, told New Times Miami in an earlier interview.
"It's our logo: the gator eats the snake eats the gator and so on and so forth forever and ever until we are under water. Instead of one persisting cinematic expression of Miami, we thought we should present 636 different ones in a context where all of them are equally valid," Leyva added.
"Scarface Redux," which is inspired by Casey Pugh's hugely successful "Star Wars Uncut," is "a global, collaborative effort" to remake De Palma's '83 "Scarface," which itself was a remake of Howard Hawk's "Scarface" (1932), and quite possible another one, according to the nonprofit.
"Scarface Redux" has divided "Scarface" into 15 second clips and is inviting the public to remake a clip that can include "live action, animation, puppets, legos, Chihuahuas, it doesn't matter!" and upload your version.
"Scarface Redux gives a platform for everyone in the community (not just experienced filmmakers) to get involved and share their ideas within the Scarface story," Borscht's Jillian Mayer told Remezcla's Andrew S. Vargas. "Many of the uploads we have been receiving are filmed simply on cellphones with creativity and friends. Miami cinema used to be presented by larger companies that would fly into town, shoot, and then leave. This project offers a chance for everyone to join together."
"Once all clips have been remade, we will recombine them to create a new, crowd-sourced 'Scarface Redux!' This isn't just about Miami -- we want this to be a dialogue, so we are inviting anyone who is interested, anywhere in the world, to join us," Borscht Corp. adds.
After the film is completed, Borscht Corp. will premiere it during its free Borscht Film Festival in Miami, Florida, which takes place from Dec. 16 to 21. "Scarface Redux" will also be available online for everyone to see and share, also for free.
For more information or to submit a clip, visit "Scarface Redux."
Watch a famous clip of Al Pacino in "Scarface" (1983) to give you some inspiration.