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The 9th edition of FICM opens with fanfare

Administrador

The 9th
Morelia International Film Festival opened with a traditional red carpet affair—sponsored
by InStyle magazine—that featured actors, actresses, writers, directors and special
guests.

The
opening ceremony was held at the Teatro Morelos in the city of Morelia, which
was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO 20 years ago.

Mariana
Linares and Roberto Fiesco, masters of ceremony, singled out the crucial
support provided by the city for the festival, while María del Rocío Pineda,
municipal president of the Michoacán capital, welcomed Michoacán Gov. Leonel
Godoy; Consuelo Sáizar, president of the National Council for Culture and the
Arts, as well as FICM directors Alejandro Ramírez, president; Cuauhtémoc
Cárdenas Batel, vice president; and Daniela Michel, director.

Pineda
thanked the FICM organizers, Mexican filmmakers and the international film
community for contributing to the festival's success and invited those
attending the event to enjoy and get to know Morelia, "a great city for a
great a country."

Sáizar
announced that beginning this week, the CCC film school will launch a degree in
film approved by the Public Education Secretariat. She also said that a school
specializing in scriptwriting will open in Morelia in 2012 with the aim of
becoming the best scriptwriting center in the Spanish-speaking world.

Godoy spoke about how FICM
has become an important platform for culture. He highlighted the state
government’s participation in the festival from the outset and made a special
note of his administration’s work with the festival to develop joint strategies
to both generate jobs and promote the state’s rich culture.

Ramírez spoke about the
different sections of the film festival’s competitions, the jury and some of
the activities that will be going on during the week. He thanked the government
of Michoacán for its invaluable support in making the festival a reality, as
well as all the institutions, embassies, film archives, organizations, sponsors
and guests for their participation in this year’s festival. He also mentioned
the presence—for the first time in Mexico—of Thierry Frémoux, general delegate
of the Cannes Festival and—for the first time at FICM—the beloved Spanish
actress Marisa Paredes, who will present Pedro Almodóvar’s film The Skin I Live In.

Cárdenas Batel announced the
debuts of films at the festival by national and international directors,
including Arturo Ripstein, Terrence Malick, Aki Kaurismäki and Michael Nyman.
Cárdenas Batel also announced the winner of the Cuervo Prize, actor and
director Gael García Bernal, and the honored Michoacán actor and friend of the
festival, Damián Alcázar.

Wrapping up his presentation,
Cárdenas Batel quoted the Cuban poet-revolutionary José Martí and the Uruguayan
writer Mario Benedetti as he spoke about the violence that Mexico, and
Michoacán especially, has been suffering. He said that culture is humanity’s
saving grace. His words on peace received a long ovation.

Michel honored the festival’s
special guests: Volker Schlöndorff y Béla Tarr, who will be showing the films
that best represent their respective bodies of work. Tarr is debuting at the
festival his latest film, The Turin Horse.