Fede Alvarez and Ataque de Panico!

Man, I so love to see this kind of thing.

First, Neill Blomkamp with what was "Alive in Joburg" becoming District 9, then Timur Bekmambetov with "9" (which became, uh, 9), now another independent film maker, Federico "Fede" Alvarez -- who's been scrapping through at least 3 previous films since the turn of the century -- gets Hollywood attention for his short trailer, "Ataque de Panico!" (Panic Attack). And, in Hollywood, "attention" means "money".

So Alvarez is now getting recognition outside of his native Uruguay, $30 million, and -- probably most importantly -- a business relationship with caliber production studio Ghost House Pictures (Sam Raimi? Writer of Spiderman 3 (director of all 3)? Director for everything from Evil Dead to Darkman?)

Neat Cinderella story, and it’s so cool to see a guy who’s been working his tail off in film for at least the last 9 years pocket $30M – and better, build a business relationship with someone like Raimi.

Here's the music video version South American rock / punk band SNAKE, if that's more your thing.



And -- quick rant -- I hope I stop seeing Alvarez called an "unknown". Dude's been working hard for nearly a decade. He's unknown to some U.S. folks. But not for long.