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1. "APOCALYPTO": Gibson's next film and the Mayan year 2012
by Hector Carreon, La Voz de Aztlan

Los Angeles, Alta California - August 22, 2005 - (ACN) After producing and directing the most successful independent film of all time, "The Passion of the Christ", Mel Gibson is today preparing to film, in Mexico, what promises to be yet another blockbuster titled "Apocalypto". Though the script of the film is being kept "top secret", there is no question what the film will be about.
The title "Apocalypto" which in Greek means "an unveiling and a new beginning" and the fact that the film will revolve around the ancient, highly evolved and mysterious Mayan civilization, gives away the theme and content of the film. "Apocalypto" will be filmed entirely in the Mayan language and the cast will consist of local indigenous Mayan actors.
La Voz de Aztlan's article, "The next Pope may be the last" , we believe outlines closely what the contents of "Apocalypto" will be. Published on April 4, 2005, the article describes the highly accurate Mayan Calendar and the Mayan Popol Vuh's (Mayan Bible) concept of the "Fin de los Tiempos" (End of Time). The Mayas were a much advanced people. They were superb mathematicians and astronomers who devised one of the most accurate calendars known to man, far more accurate than the modern Gregorian calendar.
The Mayan Calendar was devised through extremely accurate observations of the sun, the planets, the stars and the Milky Way galaxy. Mayan astronomers knew, through yet unknown methods, the exact location of the center of the Milky Way and attached great meaning to the birth and death of stars at this center.
The Mayas, in addition, possessed the required knowledge concerning the "Precession of the Equinoxes" that is necessary to create an accurate calendar. There is no question that the Mayas viewed time differently than Western man. Their magnificent pyramids were perfectly aligned to the sun and the one at Chichenitza was constructed in such a way that during the equinoxes, the setting sun casts a shadow of a serpent (Kukulcan/Quetzalcoatl/Jesus Christ) descending on the northern steps of the pyramid. This effect could only be obtained by extremely precise architectural and astronomical measurements.
The Maya's astronomical knowledge was inherited from even an older and more mysterious civilization at Teotihuacan near Mexico City which contains the famous Pyramid of the Sun and of the Moon. The Pyramid of the Sun is perfectly aligned with the star cluster called the Pleyades which the Egyptians also took into account in building their pyramids at Giza. There is a connection between the ancient religious beliefs of the Sumerians, the Egyptians and the Mayas, especially as they relate to the creation of the universe, of the human race and of the future.
The Mayas approached "prophecy" by deeply studying the periodicity of cycles, especially astronomical ones, and their connection ( synchronicity ) to human events. They were also deeply spiritual and very aware of the role that human consciousness plays in connecting to and obtaining information from nature. They knew that ingesting certain plants, religiously and with reverence, would open the doors of perception and lift the veil that keeps mankind from seeing certain realities and communicating with God.
This knowledge must explain how they were able to ascertain what will happen on October 21, 2012. Incredibly, they knew, over a thousand years ago, that on this date there will be an astronomical alignment of our sun and the center of the Milky Way. This impending alignment of the sun at that very point, according to Mayan calculations, culminates at the winter solstice of December 21, 2012.
Also, on this date, the tail of the "shadow" serpent descending the northern steps of the pyramid at Chichenitza will be pointing exactly towards the Pleiades star cluster which will be located straight up and over the structure.
Today, modern astronomers, with advanced technological instruments, know that the center of the Milky Way galaxy contains an immense "black hole" which is constantly giving birth and swallowing stars. The Mayas had a glyph that represented a "black hole" in the center of our galaxy. How they were able to know this, no one knows. The Mayas tied their philosophy entirely on what they observed in the heavens.
They thought that the center of our galaxy was a "Cosmic Mother Womb" and that it gave birth to our world. They believed that our world went through cycles of birth, death and rebirth. October 21, 2012, they said will end the cycle and our world will end by fire but will be reborn in a new, different and more evolved form. This will be the beginning of a new sun or the "Sixth Sun" according to the Mexicas (Aztecs).
Mel Gibson's title "Apocalypto", which in Greek means "an unveiling and a new beginning" , certainly fits with the Mayan definition of the "Fin de los Tiempos" as described above and which will occur on Friday, December 21, 2012.
Filming of "Apocalypto" in Mexico is scheduled to commence in October for a planned release of Summer 2006. Notes: Mel Gibson donated last year, $1 Million dollars for the victims of Hurricane Stan.

 

Sony Pictures Classics to Donate Proceeds of the film

2. The Three Burials
of Melquiades Estrada

BY Kit-Kat

April 28, 2006

Sony Pictures Classics co-president Tom Bernard announced today that a percentage of the film THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA, directed by Tommy Lee Jones, which will be re-released in select Los Angeles theatres on April 28, will be donated to the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation, a non-profit organization that offers assistance to Mexican American communities throughout six counties within California. "Tommy Lee Jones made such a compassionate film about the plight of the undocumented worker," Bernard said. "It made us feel the need to give some of the profits from the film back to the community to support the awareness of a difficult problem."

"We are extremely grateful to Sony Pictures Classics for this much needed and generous donation," said Martin Castro, president of MAOF. "Particularly in trying times like these when our country appears to be passionately divided on so many fronts, it is refreshing and encouraging to be able to partner with Sony and thereby come closer to realizing our mission of helping California's predominately Mexican Hispanic community with invaluable educational and professional development programs. Aside from helping us raise funds to help thousands of needy families whom otherwise would have nowhere to turn to, LOS TRES ENTIERROS DE MELQUIADES ESTRADA hits theaters at precisely the right time when we need more open dialogue, understanding and compassion. We encourage all Californians, because immigration affects all of us, to support LOS TRES ENTIERROS DE MELQUIADES ESTRADA."

THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA: A man is shot and quickly buried in the high desert of West Texas. The body is found and reburied in the town cemetery. Pete Perkins (TOMMY LEE JONES), a local ranch foreman, kidnaps a Border Patrolman (BARRY PEPPER) and forces him to disinter the body. With his captive and the body in tow, Pete undertakes a dangerous and quixotic journey into Mexico.

Guillermo Arriaga's dramatic and poetic script weaves past and present as it gradually reveals a great friendship; the lonely subterfuge of an illegal migrant's life, the cost of a promise made and kept, and culminates in the redemption of a callous if accidental killer. The U.S.-Mexico border has long been plagued with violence and racism, and many of the events that unfold in THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA accurately depict the ongoing abuse of human rights in the region. But the film offers, in its conclusion, a pure form of contrition for wrongs committed, and a striking note of empathy for the lives so changed.

Directed by Tommy Lee Jones and written by Guillermo Arriaga, THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA stars Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Dwight Yoakam, January Jones, Melissa Leo, and Julio Cedillo as Melquiades Estrada. Cinematography is by Chris Menges. Produced by Michael Fitzgerald, Luc Besson, Pierre-Ange Le Pogam and Tommy Lee Jones.

About MAOF (Mexican American Opportunity Foundation) go to

http://www.maof.org/newpage1.htm

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