07 · 23 · 14

FICM Participates in Sarajevo Film Festival 2014

Thanks to a partnership between the Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE) and the Sarajevo Film Festival, Mexico will be the guest country at the festival’s 20th edition, which will be held from August 15 to 23, 2014. The prestigious European film competition will present some of the best works of Mexican contemporary cinema, including a program of short films from the 11th FICM.

In addition, we are very pleased to announce that Daniela Michel, general director of FICM, will participate in Sarajevo as a member of the international jury. The jury will be headed by Béla Tarr, special guest at the 9th FICM, founder and director of the program Film Factory at the University of Sarajevo and one of the greatest filmmakers of our time.  “It is an extraordinary honor to be in the same jury as Béla Tarr, who I consider to be a genius of the cinema and who has become a true friend ever since he went to Morelia in 2011,” Daniela Michel said. “Even though I’ve never gone to the Sarajevo festival, I’ve visited the city and the Film Factory, Béla Tarr’s excellent school, which greatly impressed me. The Sarajevo Film Festival has had a great reputation ever since its first edition, in which Alfonso Cuarón participated with La princesita (1995). I’m very excited about being a member of the jury.”

Mirsad Purivatra, director of the Sarajevo Film Festival, explained the importance of having Mexico as its guest country: “In recent years Mexican cinema has shown to be not only a rich creative industry, but also a solid platform where diversity, identity and originality coexist to offer high quality audiovisual content.”

The festival will begin with Amores perros (2000) by Alejandro González Iñárritu. “This will be a great opportunity to have the experience of seeing a film that has been a true watershed, which gave impetus to a new wave of Mexican cinema, in addition to allowing us to discover the new currents of the vibrant Mexican cinematography,” said Purivatra. Gael García Bernal will attend the festival’s inauguration ceremony, where he will receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award in recognition of his film career.

The 11th FICM’s short film program that will be shown at the Sarajevo Film Festival will include:

- La banqueta / The Sidewalk by Anaïs Pareto Onghena (Best Fiction Short Film)
- La casa triste / The Sad House by Sofía Carrillo (Best Animated Short Film)
- Las montañas invisibles / The Invisible Mountains by Ángel Linares (Best Documentary Short Film)
- Jerusalén / Jerusalem by Alicia Segovia Juárez (Studio 5 de Mayo Special Award)
- Aningaaq by Jonás Cuarón (Official Selection)
- Porcelana by Betzabé García (Official Selection)

Other Mexican films that will be shown at Sarajevo 2014 are: Güeros by Alonso Ruizpalacios, winner of the Best First Film Award at Berlinale 2014, as well as the award for Best Cinematography and a Special Mention at the Tribeca Film Festival 2014; Workers by José Luis Valle, winner of the Best Picture award at the Biarritz Latin America Film Festival 2013 and the Best Mexican Feature Film award at FICM 2013; La jaula de oro by Diego Quemada-Diez, which has received more than 45 awards, including the Gillo Pontecorvo award, the Un Certain Talent award and the Francois Chalais’ Special Mention at the Cannes Film Festival 2013, as well as the Best Mexican First or Second Feature award, the Public’s Award and the Guerrero Press Award at FICM 2013; and El cuarto desnudo by Nuria Ibáñez, Best Documentary by a Woman and Best Feature Length Documentary at FICM 2013.

The Mexican José Luis Valle will also participate in Sarajevo in the co-production market CineLink with his project in development Operación: Baby. In Sarajevo Talents, the workshop for emerging filmmakers organized by the festival, Eugenio Caballero, who won an Oscar for his work in Guillermo del Toro’s El laberinto del fauno (2006), will share his experience as production designer.

For more information about the Sarajevo Film Festival 2014, check out its official site: here