Noticias
As part of the Germany-Mexico Dual Year
Mexico goes with a strong presence to the Berlinale 2017
February 02, 2017In 2017, Mexico will be the first "country in focus" at the European Film Market (EFM) of the Berlin International Film Festival. This will be possible thanks to the creation of the "Country in Focus", a new EFM program that aims to give the film industry and filmmakers of a country the opportunity to present themselves in greater detail and highlight certain aspects of their industry .
Mexico In Focus is held as part of the Germany-Mexico Dual Year and as an expression of collaboration between the two countries. In addition, it is carried out thanks to the sponsorship and support of the Manuel Antonio da Mota Foundation.
Mexico’s cinematography will be presented at the EFM of the Berlinale 2017 (from February 9th to 19th) from different sections, with the support of the Department of Culture, through the Mexican Institute of Cinematography (IMCINE, for its acronym in Spanish).
"The idea of the event is to support the creators’ work of Mexican cinema. We hope to open bridges for the co-production and distribution of Mexican films in Germany, following a long tradition of collaboration and mutual enrichment”, CEO of Imcine Jorge Sánchez Sosa, said.
He added that the delegation that will travel to Berlin is made up of over 40 representatives of the national film community, including producers, directors, distributors, exhibitors and talents who will participate in different market and festival activities.
Mexican cinema will be present in several sections of the Berlinale: Classics, Forum, Generation, Short (competition) and Berlinale Specials.
In addition to participate in initiatives related to the film industry, including Coproduction Market, Meet the Docs, Drama Series Days, Visions, Berlinale Talents and Coproductions Meeting.
In the selection of Berlinale Classics, Canoa by Felipe Cazals will be presented with a restored copy by the distributor, The Criterion Collection.
Cazals highlighted that the exhibition of Canoa shows the great advance that Mexican cinema has achieved in an undeniable way, "cinematography that has not rested and has multiplied itself constantly."
While in Berlinale Specials, La libertad del diablo (The freedom of the devil) a documentary by Everardo González, was selected and will compete for the Glashütte Original Documentary Award.
The filmmaker said that his movie is a reflection on how fear operates socially "to sow hate in people. But also it is about how capable we are of forgiving or committing acts of revenge uninterruptedly and the idea of what is true in the documentary”.
In the competition section Generation, Tesoros (Treasures) by Maria Novaro which will have its world premiere, will participate. In the section Generation K14, a short film, Libélula (Dragonfly) by José Pablo Escamilla, will compete.
Novaro highlighted that Tesoros (Treasures) is his first children's film, "an optimistic story of Mexico that is much needed for them, which is not easy, because we are overwhelmed with many problems. The idea is to help them become stronger in their own culture, possibilities and capacities in this country of great biodiversity”.
Also in the section Shorts, Esteban Arrangoiz will compete for the Golden Bear with the short film Ensueño de la Pradera (Daydream of the Prairie), while in the section Forum, Casa Roshell a movie by the Chilean Camila José Donoso will be presented.
In Co-production Market, a space that allows the development of projects to facilitate its co-production, A donde fue el verano (Where the summer went) by Inna Payán and Benigno Cruz by Jorge Hernández Aldana were selected.
Also, five Mexican producers were invited to present projects and generate new working models and collaboration: Ximena Urrutia with Aureliano, Miguel Calderón with Presa fácil (Easy prey), Carlos Hernández with La frontera invisible (The invisible border), Martha Sosa with Rush hour and Gerardo Naranjo with Crimen futuro (Future Crime).
The director of the Imcine added that 10 Mexican producers will be participating in various market and industry activities: Juan Pablo Bastarrachea, Pamela Guinea, Jorge Hernández Aldana, Carlos Hernández, Mónica Lozano, Gerardo Naranjo, Gastón Pavlovich, Inna Payán, Martha Sosa and Jaime Romandía.
While in Visions, fragments of five movies selected by curator José María Riba will be shown with the idea of generating interest of programmers and sales agents: La gran promesa by Jorge Ramírez Suárez, Los débiles by Raúl Rico González and Eduardo Giralt Brun, Bruma by Max Zunino, Verónica by Carlos Algara and Alejandro Martínez Beltrán and Ayúdame a pasar la noche (Help me to spend the night) by José Ramón Chávez.
In the event, Meet the Docs, three works in process will be presented: Una corriente salvaje, (A wild current) by Nuria Ibáñez, Rush hour by Luciana Kaplan and Sex Panchitos Punk by Gustavo Gamou.
While in Drama Series Days, producer and director Gerardo Naranjo will give a talk about the production of dramatized series.
The Mexican presence will also be shown at Berlinale Talents, a platform that brings together the world’s most promising emerging talents from cinema and television. This year 11 Mexican will attend, including filmmakers, musicians, actors and film critics.
In addition, Diego Luna will take part in the international jury and Daniela Michel, director and founder of the Morelia International Film Festival, will be a member of the jury of the new Glashütte Original Documentary Award.
The Mexican division includes the presentation of the Nortec Collective group and a gastronomic sampling featuring chefs Manuel Baños and Rodolfo Castellanos, who will show the taste of Mexico’s culinary and cultural richness, specially from Oaxaca, to the representatives of other countries.
To know more about Mexico In Focus, you can visit: www.imcine.gob.mx
Mexico,Distrito Federal
