10 · 23 · 14

Press Screening of Carmín Tropical by Rigoberto Perezcano

Carmín Tropical (2014) by Rigoberto Perezcano, from the Mexican Feature Film Section in competition at the 12th FICM, was presented to the press at the Cinépolis Morelia Centro.

Before Carmín Tropical, Rigoberto Perezcano directed his feature film, Norteado (2009), with which he participated in more than 60 festivals around the world and received more than a dozen awards including: Best Director at the Brussels Independent Film Festival, Jury Special Award at the Fribourg International Film Festival, the Golden Star at the Marrakech International Film Festival, and the Casa de América and Film in Progress Awards at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. Regarding Norteado, acclaimed filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, Special Guest at the 10th FICM, said he rarely sees a film twice, but with Norteado he made an exception. Rigoberto Perezcano has now participated twice in FICM. In 2003, he won the Best Documentary Short Film with Los XV en Zaachila (2001) and in 2009 he was selected with Norteado, in the same category in which he is competing this year.

The screenplay for Carmín Tropical was written with the support of the Rockefeller-McArthur Ford Grant and revolves around the trip that Mabel makes to her hometown in order to find the murderer of her friend, Daniela. The story deals with varies issues, such as tranvestism, sexual intolerance, nostalgia, disappearance and death.

Rigoberto Perezcano, director of the film, Christian Valdelièvre and Cristina Velasco, producers, and actors José Pescina and Luis Alberti attended the press screening.

Christian Valdelièvre on the premiere in Morelia:

“Thank you very much for coming to the simultaneous international and Mexican premiere. We’re super happy to have the premiere here in Morelia. It is one of our favorite festivals in the world and it has supported us in many previous projects.”

Rigoberto Perezcano on the genre of Carmín Tropical.

“It is not a completely film noir, we flirted a bit with that, but we wanted to play around with it. I’ve always liked to try and find a combination of genres. At first, it seems like a criminal investigation film, but it ends up being something that I’m still not sure what it is.”

Luis Alberti on his role as the murderer:

“I usually play the bad guy and I’ve spent some time now with that idea of generating empathy for the bad guy. You need to understand, beginning with fear, the disgust toward that which is different, which makes you feel the need and the impulse to kill someone. I began to understand that there is a lack of empathy toward the other, the different one, and when the other is gay, it has to do with a certain degree of attraction and it is there where the greatest repulsion reaches the impulse to kill someone.”

José Pescina on his role of Mabel:

“It was very revealing because the hardest thing, more than the transvestism and seeing myself physically different, was to understand where this lifestyle came from and to realize what is most important is the everyday life.”

The premiere of Carmín Tropical will be at a gala on Thursday, October 23, at 6:40 pm at the Cinépolis Morelia Centro, with a red carpet and the presence of the talent.

Coverage by Gabriel Andrade Espinosa (@gabolonio)