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Crimson Peak, Opening Film of the 13th FICM

The 13th FICM is honored to present the most recent work by Guillermo del Toro, Crimson Peak, as the festival’s opening film. This extraordinary Mexican director is one of the most creative and visionary of his generation.

Crimson Peak was co-written with Mathew Robbins for Legendary and Universal Pictures, and stars Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam and Jim Beaver. Described by its creators as a gothic romance, the film tells the story of a young woman who falls in love with a seductive stranger and is swept away to a mansion atop a mountain of blood-red clay. It is a place full of secrets that will haunt her forever. Between desire and darkness, between mystery and madness, lies the truth behind Crimson Peak.

Crimson Peak is a ghost story like Pan’s Labyrinth (2006),” Del Toro said. “It is the combination of several genres, a mixture between a traditional ghost story and the class and beauty of a classic. In a gothic romance you have a great love story, supernatural elements, frightening scenes… all these things combined create a film that is visually beautiful.” For Del Toro, this genre may have ghosts, crumbling castles and “it may have all the paraphernalia of a horror film,” but intrinsically there is the classic love story, in which “a virginal character who discovers a secret, a treasure, a dark past…emerges and is transformed.”

Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Del Toro rose to international fame with Cronos (1993), which premiered at the Critics’ Week of the Cannes Film Festival and won the Mercedes-Benz Award. Cronos received nearly 20 international awards, among them eight Ariel prizes, including the Golden Ariel for Best Direction and Best Screenplay. He later directed and co-wrote the supernatural thriller El espinazo del Diablo/The Devil’s Backbone (2001), which together with Cronos, has appeared repeatedly among the 10 best films ever of its genre. Del Toro directed and co-wrote Hellboy, a sci-fi thriller with action and adventure, starring Ron Perlman. Four years later, he wrote and directed the successful sequel Hellboy 2: El ejército dorado/Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Del Toro was also recognized throughout the world as the director, screenwriter and producer of Pan’s Labyrinth, which received various Oscar nominations, including Best Foreign Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Soundtrack, Best Artistic Direction, Best Makeup and Best Photography. In all, the film received more than 40 international awards and was considered the best film of the year on many critics’ lists. In 2013, Del Toro wrote and directed the sci-fi film Pacific Rim, which has made more than 400 million dollars internationally.

Guillermo del Toro’s distinctive style can be identified in his work as a filmmaker, screenwriter, producer and writer. The 13th FICM is proud to present his most recent work, a spectacular display of his fantastic imagination and unique vision. After its exhibition in Morelia, Crimson Peak will premiere in Mexico on October 30, 2015.

*Edited on october 21, 2015.