09 · 04 · 11

Alamar at San Sebastián festival

Clara Sánchez/Translated by Cindy Hawes

Alamar, winner of the Best Mexican Feature and Audience Award at FICM 2009, will participate in the section 4+1: Contemporary Mexican Cinema along with six other films previously screened at FICM: Luz silenciosa, by Carlos Reygadas  (Premiere FICM 2007); Shakespeare and Victor Hugo's Intimacies (Intimidades de Shakespeare y Víctor Hugo) by Yulene Olaizola (Official Selection FICM 2008); Lake Tahoe by Fernando Eimbcke, (Premio Tradicional FICM 2008); Northless (Norteado) by Rigoberto Pérezcano(Official Selection FICM 2009); Summer of Goliath (Verano de Goliat)  by Nicolás Pereda (Premiere FICM 2010); and Revolución by Mariana Chenillo, Fernando Eimbcke, Amat Escalante, Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo García, Diego Luna, Gerardo Naranjo, Rodrigo Plá, Carlos Reygadas, and Patricia Riggen (Special Function FICM 2010).

The program, 4+1: Contemporary Mexican Cinema, was created by the Festival 4+1 de Fundación MAPFRE and IMCINE in an effort to promote the works of contemporary directors who have won awards in diverse festivals around the world. The Festival 4+1 takes place every year at venues in five different countries: the Cineteca Nacional in Mexico; the Cinemateca Distrital and Cine Colombia in Bogotá, Colombia; the MALBA in Buenos Aires, Argentina; the Centro Cultural do Banco do Brasil in Río de Janeiro, Brazil; and the Cines Golem in Madrid, Spain.

This year, 16 Mexican films will participate in the San Sebastián Festival, including Las razones del corazón, an adaptation of the novel Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert and directed by Arturo Ripstein, which was selected for the Official Competition. Ripstein, who presented his feature film El carnaval de Sodoma at FICM 2006, has won two Golden Shell awards for Principio y fin (1993) and La perdición de los hombres (2000).

In addition, the documentary Carrière, directed by Juan Carlos Rulfo, will be screened in the Zabaltegi section. The film is about the life of writer, screenwriter and faithful collaborator of Luis Buñuel -- Jean-Claude Carrière, special guest at FICM 2006. Rulfo received the Audience Award at FICM 2006 for his documentary In the Pit (En el hoyo). He also presented his feature film Those That Remain (Los que se quedan), which he co-directed with Carlos Hagerman, at FICM 2008.

Daniela Michel, director of the Morelia International Film Festival, will be a member of the jury in the Horizontes Latinos section of the festival. Guillermo Arriaga, who screened his first film, Fuego, at FICM 2008, will also be a jury member in the Official Competition section.

Miss Bala by Gerardo Naranjo will inaugurate the Horizontes section. Two other Mexican films will participate in the section: Entre la noche y el día by Bernardo Arellano – winner of the Best Short Documentary award at FICM 2008 for Zoogocho – and Asalto al cine by Iria Gómez.

For more information about the San Sebastián Festival: www.sansebastianfestival.com