In Mexico, and increasingly in Europe, the Morelia lnternational Film Festival has become synonymous with independent, innovative film, drawing the likes of Werner Herzog and Quentin Tarantino and also attracting prominent figures such as Guillermo del Toro, Tommy Lee Jones, and Mexico's Gael Garcia Bernal, who attends the festival every year.
During the festival, which ends Sunday, the cafes lining the small city's plazas fill up with cinephiles. Producers, actors and distributors stroll around Morelia's 17th century cobblestone streets, chatting away about the next hot project, or reflecting on the film that they just saw.
Morelia is just a four-hour drive from our Mexico City office. So we couldn't help but go there to check out the festival for ourselves. Here are some interesting films that we learned about during our brief stay in Morelia.
You may see some of these reaching U.S. theaters. Others you may never see. But this list provides an interesting insight into what Mexican filmmakers are up to these days.
The Festival has four official sections in competition: Mexican Short Film, Mexican Documentary, Mexican Feature Film and Michoacán Section (including short and feature-length films, as well as fiction and documentaries from the State of Michoacán). The Festival also has a Michoacán Short Film Scriptwriting Contest, in which scripts by writers born or residing in Michoacán can compete.
In addition to the screenings of each of the films in the different sections, every year FICM celebrates the career of a recognized filmmaker who attends the festival to share his or her experience with young filmmakers and the public.
Among the distinguished directors who have attended FICM since its first edition are: Serge Bromberg, Alfonso Cuarón, Doris Dörrie, Bruno Dumont, Stephen Frears, Gael García Bernal, Terry Gilliam, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Salma Hayek, Todd Haynes, Werner Herzog, Mike Hodges, Tommy Lee Jones, Diego Luna, Cristian Mungiu, Manoel de Oliveira, Arthur Penn, Marisa Paredes, Nicolas Philibert, Carlos Reygadas, Raúl Ruiz, Volker Schlöndorff, Barbet Schroeder, Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, Béla Tarr, Bertrand Taviernier, Guillermo del Toro, Fernando Trueba, Luis Valdez and Gus Van Sant.
Every year FICM honors an important figure of Mexican cinema from the state of Michoacán. In previous years, the festival has paid homage to filmmakers Miguel Contreras, Fernando Méndez, the Alva brothers, cinematographer Ezequiel Carrasco, actor Julio Alemán, Damián Alcázar and the actresses Stella Inda and Lilia Prado.
In its first year, FICM established a solid partnership with the International Critics' Week of the Cannes Film Festival, which has supported Mexican filmmakers such as Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, Guillermo del Toro and Fernando Eimbcke. A selection of films from the Critics' Week is presented each year at FICM with the presence of some of their participants. Likewise, the Critics' Week shows some of the winning films of FICM.
In 2008 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences officially recognized FICM by offering fiction and animation short films that win at FICM the opportunity to be considered for an Oscar nomination.
Film series, outdoor screenings, conferences, round tables and exhibitions in Morelia, Pátzcuaro and Mexico City complete FICM's year-round activities.