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Alexander Payne is Awarded the UNAM Film Archive Medal and Unveils His Armchair at 22nd FICM

Gustavo R. Gallardo

During the special screening of Anthony Mann's Border Incident ( 1949), director Alexander Payne was awarded the UNAM Film Archive Medal and unveiled an armchair bearing his name.

The screenwriter and producer is also a Special Guest and president of the Jury of the Mexican Feature Film section of the 22nd edition of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) and was presented with the award to celebrate his extraordinary career and contributions to filmmaking.

Since 1987, the UNAM Film Archive has recognized film personalities and institutions for helping enrich the world's film heritage and keeping it alive in the collective memory.

“In addition to taking with you an ounce of pure silver, you are taking with you the lovelorn silver dust that once formed Gabriel Figueroa's transparent threads, María Félix's burning gazes, Pedro Infante's laughing eyes,” said Hugo Villa, director of the UNAM Film Archive.

FICM president Alejandro Ramírez, vice-president Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Batel, and founder and general director Daniela Michel were in attendance to honor Payne.

“What can I say, thank you is not enough. I feel joy to be here and remorse for all the festivals that have passed and I have missed. But now I am here at this festival in this jewel of a city, and this year will be only the first,” said the American director, producer, and screenwriter.

Alexander Payne's eight feature films have received 24 Oscar® nominations, four of them for Best Picture and three for Best Director. Twice he has won the prestigious award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and this year, The Holdovers, his most recent film, received the Oscar® in the Best Supporting Actress category. Downsizing (2017), Nebraska (2013), The Descendants (2011), Sideways (2004), About Schmidt (2002), Election (1999) and Citizen Ruth (1996) comprise her outstanding filmography.

Alexander Payne Unveils Armchair 

As is now a festival tradition, Alexander Payne unveiled an armchair bearing his name in room 5 of Cinépolis Morelia Centro before a special screening of Border Incident.

In the film, a Mexican immigration agent and his U.S. counterpart plan an undercover operation in which the Mexican officer will cross the border as an illegal immigrant to monitor the experiences of braceros entering the U.S., who are often in grave danger. The plot exposes a series of crimes and their perpetrators, until the lives of the agents themselves are at risk.