Daily Archives: June 15, 2022

LONDON, ENGLAND, June 15, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ Film production company Aberrant Gene Films will launch its crowdfunding campaign on Monday 20th June, to raise funds for its debut feature film Soma.

The premise of the film is a familiar one: a group of old friends reunite after a long time spent apart. In Soma, you can expect the usual tensions, rivalries and betrayals, along with the occasional moments of hilarity and nostalgia that characterise films within this genre.

But that is where the similarities end. Soma, a dark twisted thriller, is a deep dive into the human psyche, its fears and desires, and its potential for brutality in the face of degrading social values.

In recent decades, Western society has introduced a range of structural ideologies and frameworks in an apparent attempt to make our interactions nicer and kinder. To the list of these safety measures we can add political correctness, wokeism, social justice and a host of other new isms and interventions that apparently serve to create a filter between each one of us and the others.

The film takes a bold move to suggest that regardless of whatever these ideologies may have fixed, they have nonetheless constricted our comfort zones and tolerances thus contributing to social isolation, anxiety, paranoia, mental illness, toxicity, disconnection, narcissism and brought in a new type of evil that is poisoning the fabric of our relationships.

If were serious about salvaging our relationships, its time we stop turning a blind eye to what makes us feel uncomfortable! says writer/director Fay Beck.

The Company is looking for funds and collaborators and wants to reach out to like-minded people who are not afraid of re-opening conversations that have been shut down for too long turning human connection into a mockery.

Its not just about financial support, its about helping us make truth (vs deceit) pop again, say the creators.

Producers Martina Avogadri and Fay Beck welcome further enquiries on the project. Producer Martina Avogadri is happy to be contacted via email at any time.

Link to the crowdfunding campaign Pre-Launch page: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/soma3/coming_soon/x/29395638

Contact info:Name: Martina AvogadriOrganisation: Aberrant Gene FilmsAddress: 2/20 Eccleston Square, SW1V 1NS London, UKPhone: +447428812678

Aberrant Gene Films (AGF) is an independent film production company based in London.

Our aim is to bring to audiences provocative content, presented in visually engaging ways. As filmmakers we believe that art should impact, move, excite, inspire and challenge, and we believe that this is possible whilst keeping commercial significance.

Press release service and press release distribution provided by http://www.24-7pressrelease.com

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We Have Become Lonely and Our Relationships Increasingly Toxic: What Has Happened to Us? - Digital Journal

Whether its a wind-up butterfly you stick in a card to surprise someone for their birthday or a deck of cards for your favorite trick, the Jest For Fun Joke Shop in downtown Waukesha has been able to provide magic tricks and jokes to the Waukesha community for 50 years.

The shop recently reached its 50-year anniversary on May 19 and has plans to celebrate the milestone this year.

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The Joke Shop was first started by Don Lamb, who opened the shop on May 19, 1972, in downtown Waukesha on Gaspar Street before moving within a year to where Martha Merrells Books & Toys is located now.

Lamb owned the shop for approximately five and a half years before Jeff Campbell took over the Joke Shop, moving to Broadway and then to 265 W. Main St., where the shop is currently.

Campbell owned the shop for 37 years before the business was taken over by current owner Jonathan Archimede in 2015.

The store has always been family-friendly.

Who would have ever thought that when we started it would last 50 years? There probably arent many stores downtown that are 50 years old now, Lamb said.

Campbell, who worked with Archimede for a few years after he took over the shop, said the anniversary is wonderful and incredible.

Against all expectations of a lot of people it is a landmark in Waukesha, he said. Everyone seemed to know where it was and its a good, clean family fun image that weve maintained, which is important.

Archimede started going to the shop when he was about 10 years old. Archimede said the shop needed a younger spin on it, resulting in him utilizing social media and creating an online store. In addition, the store added Pokemon cards, which has amounted to almost half of the business revenue every month, he said.

My first year was OK we had nothing, no road construction, no pandemic, no nothing, but every year since then has been road construction, pandemic, a whole bunch of stuff, Archimede said. And were still here we survived all of the stuff that can interfere with a business, which is really cool.

Over the years, Archimede said the fake dog poop is still the #1 seller, although, due to the supply chain, Archimede is making his own. The shop also sells other classics, such as whoopee cushions and hand buzzers.

Archimede said customers often feel nostalgic in the shop, with many remembering their experiences of shopping at the Joke Shop over the years or reminiscing on an old joke or prank when they see familiar merchandise. In addition, the shop is sometimes a safe haven for local kids.

This store has never really been about making profit, its about making people happy and good, light fun, Archimede said. Especially with todays society of political correctness and other junk thats going on in the world, you can come here, have fun, take a joke home with you, see some magic tricks and kind of forget about other stuff going on outside.

Archimede said the shop is planning on celebrating the anniversary at the July 22 Friday Night Live. He is hoping to have the worlds largest balloon sword fight.

Its not a Guinness World Records thing or anything, but its one of those things that someone did with 300 people and I was like, eh, we could probably beat 300 people for Friday Night Live, he said.

However, he is still checking with law enforcement on those plans. Either way, Archimede ensures that there will be something with balloons and magic shows.

To learn more, visit: http://www.facebook.com/Jest-ForFunJokeShop.

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50 years of jokes and tricks at Waukesha's Jest For Fun Joke Shop - Greater Milwaukee Today | GMToday.com

The Tampa Bay Rays baseball team found itself embroiled in a bit of a political and public relations dilemma last week. To paraphrase what they no doubt say to their rookies, Welcome to the big leagues of partisan politics.

In what most probably consider to be a sincere gesture of solidarity with those rightfully horrified by the killing of 10 people in a Buffalo supermarket and 19 children and two teachers in a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school, the team said: We all deserve to be safe in schools, grocery stores, places of worship, our neighborhoods, houses, and America. The most recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde have shaken us to the core. The Tampa Bay Rays are mourning these heartbreaking tragedies that took the lives of innocent children and adults. This cannot become normal. We cannot become numb. We cannot look the other way. We all know, if nothing changes, nothing changes.

The team then announced it would partner with an anti-gun violence group and donate $50,000 toward that cause.

Some likely felt that was a sign of the growing progressive posturing by corporate C-Suites. One person who may have felt that way was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who then zeroed out $35 million in the state budget that was intended to help fund a Tampa Bay Rays training facility.

I dont support giving taxpayer dollars to professional sports stadiums, period, DeSantis declared. But he hinted at a bit of political payback, by adding: Its inappropriate to subsidize political activism of a private corporation.

As with his stance against Disneys woke policies, DeSantis has made it clear he will take on Florida corporations he believes are choosing political sides. The Tampa Bay Rays may have moved to the top of the list temporarily.

But lets assume the Rays are sincere with their statement and their admonition to the rest of us not to become numb to mass shootings or to look the other way. In that spirit, I have a few questions for the teams leadership and public relations advisers.

As The Chicago Tribune detailed last year, over the course of the past six decades, more than 40,000 men, women and children have been murdered in the city, and more than 100,000 wounded. Are the Tampa Bay Rays numb to those killings? Have they chosen to look the other way regarding that jaw-dropping murder rate?

Now, if the Rays leadership would care to extrapolate that number and timeframe across the cities of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Trenton, Newark, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Oakland, Houston and other large urban areas, they would discover shockingly that over 250,000 have been killed in our nations major cities and more than a million wounded.

Over the recent Memorial Day weekend, 51 people were shot in Chicago, and last July Fourth weekend, 108 people were shot there. The team didnt release a statement about that. And Chicagos murder rate ranked 28th among 65 major U.S. cities, according to FBI statistics for 2019, the latest year available.

Since the Rays chose to address the violence in cities as far away as Buffalo and Uvalde, one would think the seemingly endless shootings in Chicago would have attracted their attention. The loss of those innocent lives should have produced an equally moving statement of outrage and support from the team.

One should never assume in these cases but, hopefully, the violence in our major cities many of them run by Democrats is not being swept under the rug or ignored because of political correctness, because we dont want to implicate the political party in charge at the moment, or because we dont want to give the other side horrifying statistics to use in debates and tirades against us.

Maybe the tens of thousands of lives lost in major U.S. cities simply escaped the notice of the Tampa Bay Rays. So, lets constrict the circle of violence closer to the Greater Tampa area.

In 2020, there were 1,285 murders in Florida 165 more than in 2019 and 80 percent of them were committed with firearms. There were nearly 5,000 more aggravated assaults in the state in 2020 than the year before, and 38 percent of those involved a gun. I looked for, but could not find, a statement from the Tampa Bay Rays regarding the violence and murders taking place in the Sunshine State.

Lets constrict that circle of violence and murder even tighter. Since 2014, the city of Tampas homicide rate has been about 50 percent higher than the state and national averages, and about twice those rates in 2017 and 2021, the Tampa Bay Times reported. The number of homicides in Tampa in 2020 was the highest since tying that number in 2003, and the 48 homicides last year were the most since 1994. Yet, the citys Major League Baseball team hasnt issued a statement that I could find, saying We cannot look the other way, about the murders happening in their home city.

I pay attention to such statistics because during my childhood, I was counted among the inner-city poor. My family was evicted often, and I was regularly homeless. As a white child, I often lived in housing projects that were majority-minority. And during that time, I was blessed to discover that Black America is a great America. During those years, single Black moms working two to three jobs to support their children became not only my role models, but my enduring heroes.

Today, the urban poor again, mostly minorities have difficulty getting their voices heard in this country if they have no champions. Assaults, robberies, shootings and other crimes plaguing their neighborhoods apparently have become an inconvenience to liberal politicians and many mainstream media members. Everyone seems to be numb to that violence and looking the other way. Arent those who are killed in Americas major cities deserving of heartfelt statements from sports teams, corporations, politicians and others?

As we rightfully scream out in anger and anguish over mass killings at least 33 have occurred in the U.S. since the May 24 school shooting in Uvalde let us not forsake those who suffer in silence and obscurity because they have no voice or because the deaths of their loved ones evidently are not politically expedient.

Douglas MacKinnon, a political and communications consultant, was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communications at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration. His latest book is The 56: Liberty Lessons From Those Who Risked All to Sign the Declaration of Independence.

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Tampa Bay Rays decry 31 killed in Buffalo and Uvalde what about 40,000 in Chicago? - The Hill

Revamped with a Latino cast, the 2022 iteration of Father of the Bride harnesses the generational and cultural divide between immigrants and their children to put a spin on this romantic comedy premise 30 years after the release of the previous version starring Steve Martin and Diane Keaton (and 72 years after Spencer Tracy walked Elizabeth Taylor down the aisle).

With new gravitas, this venerable property serves as an excellent vehicle for veteran Cuban-born actor Andy Garcia to savor a lead role that feels custom-made for him.

This is Mexican filmmaker Gaz Alazrakis first feature since his 2013 mega hit We Are the Nobles (Nosotros los Nobles) broke box office records in his home country. Alazraki went on to create Netflixs first Spanish-language episodic series, the soccer comedy Club de Cuervos. That screenwriter Matt Lopez is an American-born Latino and the director a Mexican national making strides in Hollywood make this reboot surprisingly insightful both in the experiences it portrays and in its portrayal of distinct subsets of a community so often painted with a broad brush.

Also Read:Father of the Bride Remake Trailer: Andy Garcia Cant Fathom Why His Daughter Would Propose (Video)

Traditional in his views on marriage and work ethic, the self-made patriarch of the Herrera family, Billy (Garcia) often pontificates about the hardship he faced as a Cuban exile to attain his current status as a prominent architect. He designed the Coral Gables house where he and his wife Ingrid (Gloria Estefan) raised their daughters Sofia (Adria Arjona, daughter of famed Guatemalan musician Ricardo Arjona) and Cora (Isabela Merced, Dora and the Lost City of Gold).

Billy cherishes old rituals that highlight his paternal role in the life of his children and as head of the household. But in his narrow-minded perception of how things should operate, both at home and at the office, hes lost sight of why he worked so diligently in the first place. As Ingrid informs him she wants a divorce, tired of his dismissive and workaholic behavior, Sofia visits them to announce she is marrying a Mexican man and moving with him to his country. The parents agree to keep their separation a secret until after the wedding.

Story continues

Diego Boneta (Netflixs Luis Miguel: The Series) plays Adan, the future son-in-law who doesnt fit the standards of rugged and stoic masculinity that Billy upholds. And so begins an arduous battle between Sofia and Billy over the number of guests, the location and who will foot the bill. Over the course of the ordeal, Garcia traverses a range of demeanors that give Billy a full-bodied personality. First uncompromisingly proud, later angry at being vilified, melancholic and sad, and eventually allowing his vulnerability to show, Garcia always plays the right tone for the humor, mostly at his characters expense, to work.

Also Read:One Day at a Time on Pop TV Will Have to Sacrifice That Catchy Theme Song (Video)

In this struggle between outdated views and modernity, the film falls into plenty of clichs about millennials, including dietary restrictions, political correctness, and a brief altercation about the contested, gender-neutral term Latinx. Parodying Instagram-obsessed influencers, SNL star Chloe Fineman carries one of the most hilarious supporting parts as the over-the-top wedding planner, filling Martin Shorts thoroughly unsensible shoes.

Tension mounts when Billy meets Adans father Hernan (Pedro Damin), a wealthier and cooler man with a wife several decades his junior and an infant child. With every stand Sofia takes against his wishes, Billy sees his relevance decimated. There are inevitably formulaic elements that push the plot forward in a direction that ensures Billy has a defined and poignant character arc, coming to understand how his stubborn desire for control impacts others before ultimately granting him a pathway to redemption on all fronts.

Yet, though we absolutely know the outcome, this take delivers its message of understanding and personal evolution in a way that will strongly speak to those who are both appreciative of their immigrant parents sacrifices and burdened by the expectation to honor that gift professionally without deviating from the status quo. While Sofia has always done right by her father until now aspiring fashion designer Cora illustrates the struggle of those first-generation Americans pursuing non-traditional careers that their stability-minded loved ones cant fully comprehend.

Also Read:Andy Garcia Joins Katey Sagal in ABCs Erin Brockovich-Inspired Pilot Rebel

Halfway through, as both families meet, the Mexican parents question why, if everyone speaks fluent Spanish, they communicate in English. Garcias Billy goes on to explain the difficulty of preserving ones language and culture for the next generation the more they assimilate into American society. The unexpectedly revealing speech smartly notes the distinction between the lived experience of people in Latin America and their compatriots who migrate to forge a life in a new country raising bicultural children in a multicultural society.

Father of the Bride deserves praise for not reinforcing Hollywoods homogenous Latino culture, instead highlighting the distinctions between the Cuban and the Mexican sides even if with very blunt tropes about music and food without losing sight of the profound similarities. However, other than the presence of Afro-Latino reggaeton star Ozuna, the depiction of Latinos remains racially uniform here, an issue Latino creators must address.

Stylistically, what stands out is how intently Alazraki and cinematographer Igor Jadue-Lillo (Four Good Days) make sure that their sun-dappled Miami locations get appreciated on screen, even if at times excessively. Postcard-ready vistas of Calle Ocho and Ocean Drive parade across the screen to Terence Blanchards jazzy score. That nurtured sense of place ties to the narrative in the third act, when the citys propensity for rough weather coming from the Caribbean adds drama.

For their reinvention of Father of the Bride, Alazraki and Lopez manage to make it feel so rooted in the Latino background of their characters that comparison to the older films doesnt seem all that relevant. This one stands on its own.

Perhaps even more significant in todays divisive climate than ever before is the notion of allowing people from earlier generations the grace to acclimate to societal changes unfolding rather than immediately to ostracize them. Most of us, Latinos or otherwise, know a relative with similarly rigid worldviews, often not out of malice but circumstance. Putting Garcia and Estefan, both trailblazers for Latinos in entertainment in this country, in a project where they are the stars and not the secondary players to the younger cast, goes in line with that.

Father of the Bride premieres Thursday on HBO Max.

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Father of the Bride Film Review: Latino Specificity Makes This Remake Feel Like an Original - Yahoo Entertainment

As was the case with Miss Americana and Framing Britney Spears, Halftime joins the canon of documentaries that seeks to re-examine the inherent viciousness of the paparazzi culture that profited off turning female celebrities into tabloid fodder.

Language: English

For most of Jennifer Lopezs career, Jennifer Lopez has been seen less as an actress or a singer or a dancer than as a body, began a 2019 Vox piece about the multi-hyphenate artist. The piece came right on the heels of Lorene Scafarias Hustlers(2019) the movie that revitalised Lopezs cache as an actress worth taking seriously and indicted the media for historically undermining her achievements and sexualising her very existence. In a way, the piece summarises the central thesis of Amanda Michelis Halftime, a Netflix documentary that tracks the sheer craft of Lopezs artistry through the events of a seminal year in her life. Jennifer Lopez has been universally successful, says one character midway through the documentary. But she hasnt been universally respected. Over its 86-minute-long runtime, the documentary, fascinating even when it is by-the-books, examines Lopezs fame at the intersection of her talent, image, and ambition.

The film opens at Lopezs birthday party in 2019. The multi-hyphenate global icon turns 50, an age widely deemed as an expiry date for female artistry. But Lopez, who enters the fourth decade of her career, doesnt see it that way. I really feel like my life is just beginning, Lopez says to her family in under a year, she ends up proving that to the world as well. The straightforward narrative of the documentary goes from event to event: first, it chooses to focus on Lopez finding herself in the middle of an aggressive award season campaign for Hustlers before tracking the six-month prep for her sensational Superbowl halftime performance in 2020. In that sense, Halftime, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival this week, takes a celebratory approach, putting its subject on a pedestal and at a remove from the world at large.

Still, if Halftime manages to become illuminating, its solely due to the candid vulnerability that Lopez brings to the outing. The documentarys (deserved) praises about her grit, resilience, undeterred talent and hard work gains an added poignancy due to Lopez underlining exactly why this acclaim for her is long overdue. That is to say, she brings clarity to the direction of the narrative for instance, she eschews making her personal life a part of the films narrative, partly in resistance to how throughout her career, the frenetic curiosity about her relationship status has overshadowed any interest in her professional achievements. In fact, anyone who complains that Halftime doesnt dig into her personal affairs will effectively be proving her point. Thats exactly the ask that she brandishes in this documentary through voiceovers, intimate archival and home footage, rehearsals prep, and interviews why is it not possible to see Lopez as an artist in her own right?

To Michelis credit, the documentary is equipped to hold place for deeper levels of introspection about the language of sexism and racism that was collectively directed toward Lopez, an artist of Puerto Rican descent, in the 2000s. Armed with archival footage, Halftime paints an uncomfortable portrait of how Lopez was relentlessly mocked for her curves (her butt became the topic of magazine covers and prime-time talk shows; Conan OBrien and Jimmy Kimmel are guilty of casually normalising that sexism), berated for her acting skills, and packed off to the sidelines of Hollywood. As was the case with Miss Americana and Framing Britney Spears, Halftime joins the canon of documentaries that seeks to re-examine the inherent viciousness of the paparazzi culture that profited off turning female celebrities into tabloid fodder.

As with Miss Americana, my favourite part about the documentary was Lopez witnessing her own transformation in the same way that Taylor Swift underwent her own: if Swift stopped caring about being liked by the whole world, then Lopez took charge of her own sexuality on her own terms. Think Ramona in Hustlers but also Lopezs taking the ramp at 50 in that exact green dress that raised eyebrows decades back. Even Lopez and Swifts political awakening bears resemblance, in the sense that both artists convinced themselves that being apolitical was part of the playbook of being a female pop star.

On her part, Lopez doesnt appear hesitant in directing the documentary toward uncomfortable areas instead of hiding under the cloak of political correctness. The highlights of Halftime are for me, embedded in Lopez realizing the responsibility of her voice and the immense value of her artistry especially when the world chooses to look the other way. The camera catches Lopezs dejected face right after her Golden Globes loss and her angry resolve when NFL Superbowl officials try to interfere in her act, demanding that she drop the bits where she takes a pro-immigrant stance. But the moment that takes the cake though is watching Lopez publicly admit that the Superbowl deciding to have two Latina headliners for the halftime performance traditionally reserved for one performer is the worst decision in the world.

Still, this self-esteem is hard-earned, suggests Halftime. In the opening minutes of the documentary for instance, were treated to a sequence of Lopez learning pole-dancing for her role in Hustlers, boasting an opening pole-dancing number performed by Lopez that is as sensational as any action set piece in the Mission Impossible franchise. The camera briefly focuses on the terrifying height of the heels she wears before getting up on the pole and then on the bruises she accumulates on her legs and arms in the process. The point of the wordless scene isnt just to posit that Lopez is a hardworking artist; rather, it frames it as an extension of Lopezs desire to be taken seriously even when she succeeds.

In fact, Halftime dedicates a significant portion of its runtime on the unfettered acclaim that came Lopezs way for Hustlers. The film made all kinds of lists and the actress racked up endless nominations and several nominations, upending the myth that female actresses cant headline the biggest hit of their careers once they turn 50. Still, it proved to not be enough for the Oscars Hustlers, a film helmed entirely by people of colour, was curiously absent from the Academy Award nominations.

Its fascinating how sharply the documentary treats Lopezs Oscars snub as a connecting thread for its argument about the film industry routinely undermining Lopez as a lead actress.

As it suggests in Lopezs own candid words, she should have been there and her absence is proof of the long-standing intolerance toward the success of people of colour and of the unequal footing provided to female artists. Its as if the cycle never ends: Lopez keeps proving herself, racking up one success after the other only to have the gatekeepers of Hollywood tell her that shes not good enough.

This exact treatment ruined her self-esteem back when she was just about making a name for herself in the industry. But right now, it only hardens her resolve to take up more room. The closing Superbowl performance is proof of that. Lopez brings out the dance movies, the curves, and the unshakeable confidence during her Halftime performance, going from one act to another like a restless acrobat. But the pice de rsistance of her act is when she brings out her pole-dancing act from Hustlers. Its magnetic, electrifying, and completely award-worthy. By then, its clear as day that not recognizing Lopezs work on Hustlers is nothing short of an act of malice. Halftime ensures that the world remembers it.

Halftime is streaming on Netflix

Poulomi Das is a film and culture writer, critic, and programmer. Follow more of her writing onTwitter.

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Halftime review: Jennifer Lopez asks Hollywood for her long overdue standing ovation in rousing, effective documentary - Entertainment News ,...

The second round of Colombias presidential election on June 19 will pit leftist Senator Gustavo Petro against populist businessman Rodolfo Hernndez. While Petro would represent big structural change from the conservative establishment that has governed the country for decades, Hernndez would represent a change in the way politics are done. Petro, a three-time presidential candidate and prominent critic of the current administration of President Ivn Duque, had initially appeared likely to run away with the election. But Hernndez, a newcomer to the national political stage, came on strong in the late stages of the campaign and finished a close second to Petro in the 29 May first round of the election.

We spoke to Eurasia Group analyst Sara Torres Raisbeck to find out a little more about who Hernndez is, and what Colombia might look like if he wins.

Who is Rodolfo Hernndez?

The 77-year-old Hernndez, a construction magnate, served as the mayor of a medium-sized city called Bucaramanga from 2015-to 2019. He is running for president on an anti-corruption and anti-establishment platform. The son of farmers, he got a degree in civil engineering and built a successful business that focused on urban housing for low- to middle-income residents. He has three sons and a daughter. His daughter disappeared in 2004 after she was allegedly kidnapped by the National Liberation Army, a Marxist guerilla group.

In a shift from the traditional practice of organizing campaigns around public events, the plain-spoken (and sometimes profane) Hernndez has built support for his candidacy with TikTok videos he calls himself the King of TikTok and online outreach. He has said he has financed the operation himself and has a staff of just 13 people, most of whom are under the age of 30.

As mayor of Bucaramanga, Hernndez was popular, leaving office with an 84% approval rating. Thats despite the fact that he was suspended from office twice: once for slapping a local council member and another time for endorsing his chosen successor, which is not permitted in Colombia. On the second occasion, he decided to quit and was replaced by his chief of staff.

Moreover, Hernndez is under indictment for unlawful favoritism in the award of contracts for garbage collection in Bucamaranga when he was mayor and has been charged.

What are his politics?

Hernndez shows both libertarian and social-democratic streaks. He wants small government and less regulation of businesses, but he has also made progressive proposals, such as legalizing narcotics, supporting adoption by same-sex couples, opposing fracking, and implementing protectionist measures to help the agricultural sector.

Hernndez has drawn comparisons to Donald Trump why is that?

Both are wealthy businessmen who abhor political correctness and say the establishment is inherently corrupt. Also like Trump, Hernndez has shown a disdain for political processes and existing institutions. He has said he would declare a state of emergency on his first day in office to allow him to rapidly push through measures such as the closure of 27 Colombian embassies abroad and the reduction of legislators salaries. He has also said that he admires Latin American populist leaders such as El Salvadors Nayib Bukele and Mexicos Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador. Both campaigned on anti-corruption platforms and, once in office, tried to concentrate more state power in their own hands.

What are his chances against Petro?

The runoff will be very tight. Both candidates appeal to an electorate suffering from economic malaise and deep discontent with the political status quo. Petro wants to radically expand the social safety net and raise taxes on the wealthy, while Hernndez proposes changes in the way government works. He says he would approach the presidency in the same way a CEO manages a company, focusing on results and cost-effectiveness. Hernndez, in addition, can appeal to conservative and moderate voters who see Petro as too leftist.

However, some of Hernndezs novelty may be wearing off as his liabilities come under greater scrutiny. Petro is somewhat unexpectedly after years of being an opposition leader positioning himself as someone who will preserve the countrys relatively strong institutions. Hernndez, Petro says, is a jump into the unknown.

What would a Hernndez administration mean for Colombia?

It would represent a very new way of doing things. As mayor of Bucaramanga, Hernndez sought to fill offices with technocrats as opposed to political appointees, and he sought to make the awarding of public contracts more competitive and transparent.

He has repeatedly said there are many subjects he is unfamiliar with, so he would rely on a team of technocrats to make decisions. Yet the legislative process would likely be gridlocked owing to Hernndezs lack of representation in congress. His political movement Anti-Corruption League holds just two of the 172 seats in the lower chamber of congress and his confrontational stance toward traditional politicians would complicate his ability to build new bridges.

If he wins the presidency, his garbage-related corruption case would pass to the Accusations Committee in Congress, which could in principle oust him from office leaving his Vice President Marelen Castillo as president.

Is there any aspect of Hernndez's candidacy that you think isn't being covered well enough by international media?

Hernandezs technocratic approach to governance and focus on results doesnt get enough focus. Members of his staff when he was the mayor of Bucaramanga recently issued a statement highlighting his achievements in office there. They said Hernndez expanded the average number of companies bidding on public contracts from 1.4 companies to over 40, reduced the citys debt to zero, and reactivated social investment projects that had languished under previous mayors. Moreover, he placed women in most of the key decision-making positions, including those of secretary of finance, infrastructure, security, and transport.

In a word, what is the choice that Colombians are being asked to make this Sunday?

Change.

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Will the Colombian Trump win the presidency? - GZERO Media