33 Chilean Miners – Chile

Spaniard will play Mario Sepúlveda, public face of the 33 men involved in 2010 mining accident, in Patricia Riggen’s new film

guardian.co.uk – Antonio Banderas will play Mario Sepúlveda, who became the public face of the 33 Chilean miners trapped underground for 69 days three years ago, according to Deadline.

The 33, the latest film to document the miners’ story, will be the official version of the tale. It has been put together with the exclusive co-operation of the men involved in the incident.

Martin Sheen and Rodrigo Santoro will also star in the film, which will be directed by Patricia Riggen (La Misma Luna) from a screenplay by Mikko Alanne and José Rivera. She expects to shoot in the autumn, once the film has secured investment at this year’s Cannes film festival.

The rescue of the miners, who became trapped more than half a mile underground, was carried out by a Chile-led international taskforce and was watched by more than a billion people. Sepúlveda became known to the world as the ebullient host of regular video journals sent to the surface by the miners, earning the nickname “Super Mario”.

Santoro will star as the group’s second-in-command, Florencio Ávalos. Due to his youth and good health, the 31-year-old was selected as the first miner to ride the rescue capsule to the surface in case of complications during the 15-minute ascent.

It is not clear at this stage whether Sheen, who had a Spanish father and was born Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez, will also star as one of the miners.

Riggen’s project follows a 2010 film about the Chilean miners entitled The 33 of San José. Spanish director Antonio Recio’s little-seen movie emerged on DVD in a handful of European countries not long after the events it documented.

news.com.au – A CHILEAN miner has been rescued unharmed after being trapped underground for 52 hours in the northern Atacama region, where 33 miners were dramatically retrieved in August 2010.

The miner, Mario Lopez, 42, told local radio he had not been injured in the accident, which left him trapped some 100 metres underground. He was then taken to a regional hospital for evaluation.

The incident took place in the Victoria mine, located near Vallenar, a city some 600 kilometres north of the capital Santiago.

The case echoes the 2010 accident that trapped 33 men in a mine 600 metres below the surface, also in northern Chile.

Those miners were rescued after 69 days underground in a dramatic operation broadcast live around the world.

Police said they knew that Lopez was alive because he used a hammer to bang on metal tubes running though the mine shaft. The rescuers responded likewise, signalling that help was on the way.

In a joint Chilean-American effort, led by Mexican director Patricia Riggen, the story of the 2010 Copiapó mining accident will be brought to the big screen for the first time. The incident in the Atacama Desert, when a cave-in left 33 miners trapped underground for 69 days, attracted global news coverage three years ago.

Patricia Riggen, the filmmaker who made a name for herself outside Latin America in 2007 with the Mexican-American drama “La Misma Luna” (Under The Same Moon), confirmed Banderas’ participation to La Tercera on Wednesday.

“Antonio Banderas will be part of our ensemble of actors. We’re very happy to have him in the cast. But he is is only the first confirmed [actor] of many more to come,” Riggen said.

Riggen preferred not to specify the role that Banderas would take on, but it is believed that he will be portraying Mario Sepúlveda, de facto host of the miners’ video journals from underground. Local media christened him “Super Mario” for his energy and humor despite such grave circumstances.

“In general we’re receiving very positive feedback about the project,” Riggen said. “We already can’t wait for filming in Chile to begin, which should be later this year.”

By George Forrester (gforrester@santiagotimes.cl)
Copyright 2013 – The Santiago Times

http://www.santiagotimes.cl/culture/lifestyle/25830-antonio-banderas-to-star-in-film-about-2010-chilean-mining-accident

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) .- On the second anniversary of the historic rescue of 33 workers from a mine in Chile, the group’s leader attended a Mass opening the Year of Faith at the Vatican on Oct.11, thanking Pope Benedict for his prayers.

Luis Urzua Iribarren, 54, was shift leader at time of the collapse in the San Jose Mine in Atacama. He was the last to reach the surface during the rescue effort that began on Oct. 11, 2010, and ended two days later.

The Chilean miner traveled to Rome to attend the opening Mass of the Year of Faith and to thank Pope Benedict XVI for his prayers and support during the ordeal that lasted 70 days.

In an interview with CNA, Urzua said that without the help of their Catholic faith, “we would not have survived that harsh trial.”

“I made this visit to thank the Pope for his care, for being an ambassador of faith to the entire world, which is most important,” he said. “The Holy Father has asked us, and we must all do our part.”

During the Mass, Urzua and other workers from around the world received a copy of the documents of the Second Vatican Council from the pontiff. In return, he gave the Pope a letter and a photo signed by each of the 33 miners.

The group was trapped underground after a collapse occurred in the mine on Aug. 5, 2010. Thanks to the meticulous efforts of rescue workers, they were taken out one at a time Oct. 11 and 12 through a special capsule which brought them to the surface from a depth of more than 600 meters.

At the time, Benedict XVI encouraged them to remain calm as the rescue effort progressed, and he invited them to embrace the word of Christ to grow in faith.

He also sent the trapped miners 33 blessed rosaries to encourage them to pray to Our Lady of the Candelabra and to St. Lawrence, the patron of miners.

Urzua recalled that more than 1 billion people worldwide followed the rescue but said he wants to help rescue the world by encouraging all to live the Year of Faith.

“We need to bear witness to the marvels of God, to how we were rescued, especially during these times in which faith is scarce and needs to be revived with our hearts and souls,” he said.

Sky News – Two years after the high-profile rescue of 33 miners trapped deep below ground for more than two months, most of them were no-shows at a ceremony commemorating their liberation.

The ceremony on Friday, led by President Sebastian Pinera, was attended by just three of the 33 stuck in a dark shaft 622 metres beneath the earth’s surface for 69 days.

The rest excused themselves from the event in the presidential palace for various reasons, a government source told AFP.

‘This is an experience that all Chileans will remember forever,’ Pinera said of the highly publicised rescue operation sparked after a shaft collapsed at the San Jose copper and gold mine in the Atacama desert August 5, 2010, trapping 32 Chileans miners and a Bolivian colleague.

It took rescuers 17 days to drill a small shaft to establish contact with the miners, after which they were able to communicate with their loved ones and receive food from the outside world as efforts continued to open a passage way wide enough to pull them out, one by one.

Their plight and eventual liberation, which was televised internationally, sparked much fanfare – both at home and abroad.

‘Sometimes Chileans tend to forget the nice things that happen to us,’ said Mario Sepulveda, one of the more outgoing miners of the group. ‘But one thing is certain: even if we aren’t good at football, we are world champion rescuers.’

Friday’s ceremony was also attended by some 30 technicians and officials involved in the rescue operation. In the aftermath of their rescue, some of the miners have started new businesses and give motivational talks, while others have returned to mining.

Director of The 33, the 33 Chilean miners movie

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Patricia Riggen, director of “Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna),” will slide behind the camera again to tell the incredible true story of the 33 Chilean miners who were rescued after being trapped half a mile below ground for 69 days, TheWrap has learned.

The project, currently titled “The 33,” will be produced by film veteran Mike Medavoy (“Black Swan,” “Shutter Island”).

Released in 2007, “Under the Same Moon” told the star of a Mexican boy who struggles to be reunited with his mother in the United States. In addition to “Under the Same Moon,” the Mexican-born Riggen has directed the 2011 Disney Channel film “Lemonade Mouth” and “Girl in Progress,” a 2012 coming-of-age drama starring Eva Mendes.

Medavoy said Riggen’s work on “Under the Same Moon” convinced him she was the right fit for the story of the real-life heroes of the San Jose mine.

“I saw in her film not only her talent but the real humanity and humor that this film needs.” Medavoy said in a statement. “Patricia has the heart and sensibility to bring this story to life in a way that accurately reflects what the miners and their families endured.”

Riggen and the producers are currently in Chile meeting with the miners.

The film will depict the mine’s collapse and ongoing rescue efforts, alternating between the miners who are trapped underground and their families and rescuers above. The script was written in collaboration with the miners themselves, and the producers promise the film will include details that have never been made public.

“It’s been an extraordinary experience to meet the miners in person and hear from them the detailed account of their time underground,” Riggen said in a statement. “Since their rescue a little less than two years ago, the real story of their incredible survival has gone untold. In their darkest hour, they struggled to maintain their unity. The collapse brought out the best and the worst in them. Ultimately, the human spirit triumphed and all of them came out alive.”

Medavoy, who lived in Chile for 10 years, secured all 33 of the miners’ rights to the story last year along with executive producers Carlos E. Lavin and Leopoldo Enriquez.

“The 33″ will be shot entirely in Chile, but will be produced in English. Filming is scheduled to start in January 2013, with the producers eyeing a release that fall.

Discussions are under way to cast the film and find distributors. However, the production team is filling out. Edward McGurn, a longtime collaborator of Medavoy’s, is producing along with Medavoy. Also joining the team as producer is Bernie Williams (“A Clockwork Orange”), Martin Laing (“Terminator Salvation”) as production designer, Rafael Cuervo (“Troy”) as production manager and Checco Varese (“True Blood”) as cinematographer.

Patricia Riggen is represented at CAA.

AP – It’s been two years since Chilean authorities rescued a group of 33 miners who grabbed the world’s attention when they became trapped a half-mile below the Atacama desert for 69 days.

President Sebastian Pinera is in the northern city of Copiapo to join the miners Sunday at the mouth of the San Jose copper mine that nearly became their rocky grave. They will unveil a five-meter cross as part of a monument known as the “The 33 miners of Atacama: The miracle of life.”

Before anyone knew that they had survived the collapse, the 33 stretched their meager store of emergency food for 17 days, eating tiny capsules of tuna and sips of expired milk.

The desperate workers even discussed the possibility of cannibalism in the first days of the ordeal.

“It was kind of who died first, that’s where we were, he who died first … the rest will go there, like the little animals,” Samuel Avalos said in a documentary aired on Chile’s TVN public television network

The miners were received as heroes after their globally televised rescue mesmerized millions worldwide. But many still suffer from health and psychological problems, and some have struggled to make ends meet despite becoming famous.

Omar Reygadas, 57, told The AP last year that nightmares still keep him up.

“I try to read, to tire myself out so that I can sleep well,” Reygadas said. “But if I’m alone in a closed space, it still makes me anxious — I have to get out and find someone to talk with or distract myself with something.”

Based on reporting by the Associated Press.

AFP- “We’ll make all kinds of products like mugs, sweatshirts, t-shirts and medals, so that tourists remember us,” the first miner to write a message confirming his team was alive in the reservoir, Jose Ojeda, told Chilean newspaper El Mercurio.

The miners said they registered their trademark after catchphrases used by them had been appropriated by other parties.

August 5 will mark the second anniversary of when the walls caved-in and left the miners trapped at their work site in San Jose, in the Atacama Desert.

The 33 remained around 700 meters below ground for 69 days.

The fanfare around their plight and eventual rescue – which was televised internationally – dissipated in the months after they were brought to safety.

“We had to return to reality,” said one of the rescued workers, Pablo Rojas.

Of the 33, some have started new businesses and give motivational talks, while others have returned to mining.

AFP – Edison Pena, one of the 33 rescued Chilean miners who gained
worldwide attention for their 69-day ordeal trapped underground, has
been admitted to a clinic to be treated for alcohol addiction.

Pena, who became known after the rescue for his Elvis
Presley imitations and appeared on US television with David Letterman,
is “in good hands”, his wife Angelica Alvarez told El Mercurio
newspaper.

Pena, 35, was the 12th miner to emerge in the now-famous
rescue from the copper and gold mine in northern Chile after 69 days, in
scenes watched by millions around the world on live television last
year.

He was hospitalised last year for a panic attack following the media frenzy around the miner rescue.

He also went on a US tour that included a visit to
Presley’s Graceland mansion, a TV appearance and ran in the New York
City marathon.

Pena did not attend the anniversary commemoration of the mine collapse attended by President Sebastian Pinera.

HSN – Chilean First Lady Cecilia Morel traveled to Copiapó on behalf of President Piñera and awarded 14 of the 33 miners a lifetime monthly salary of 250,000 Chilean pesos, almost $540. The miners themselves chose the group of fourteen who would not have to work for the rest of their lives.

During a small ceremony at the Atacama Regional Museum, Mrs. Morel said that these pensions were a part of the government’s commitment to not abandon the miners, as their traumatic experience and larger-than-life rescue has made them a part of Chilean history.

Juan Carlos Aguilar, Jorge Galleguillos, Mario Gómez, pastor José Henriquez, Former soccer player Franklin Lobos, Juan Illanes, the miner who wrote the little paper José Ojeda, Omar Reygadas, cousins Esteban and Pablo Rojas, Victor and Darío Segovia, the miner with a mistress Yonni Barrios and the group leader Luis Urzúa were the miners chosen based on their health, age and life situation in a vote among all 33.

Urzúa thanked the government’s gesture and emphasized that accepting the lifetime pension awards doesn’t mean they’ll withdraw the lawsuit the miners filed against the Chilean State.