The bicentenary in Ambulante too

Those present at the press conference were: Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Batel, vice
president of the Morelia International Film Festival, Miguel Rivera, strategic
planning and programming at Cinépolis; Luciana Kaplan, coordinator of
Gucci-Ambulante scholarships; Pablo Cruz, founder of Ambulante; Elena Fortes,
director of Ambulante and Claudia Contla, Mexico City Commission for the
Celebration of 200 Years of Independence and 100 years of the Revolution. 

Claudia Contla explained that with the support of the Mexico City
Commission for the Celebration of 200 Years of Independence and 100 years of the
Revolution, there will be a section for contemporary documentaries that provoke
reflection on the concept of the revolution and independence from different
perspectives – formal, historic, esthetic and conceptual. Its objective will be
to foment critical analysis, questioning, dialogue and the recovery of the
principals of the independence and the revolutionary movement and how these
principles are observed in 2010. Such an evaluation is aimed to shed new light
on the evolution of the concept of nation throughout our history.

Lucrecia Kaplan announced the winners of the Gucci Ambulante scholarships
for this year. The Tight Rope by Nuria Ibañez and La guerrera by Paulina del
Paso will obtain economic support for the amount of 400,000 pesos.

Pablo Cruz said this year Ambulante will celebrate its five-year
anniversary and among the many activities planned are Ambulante On Demand, in
which users of Cablevision On Demand will be able to see documentaries from
previous editions.

Cruz also announced that Ambulante’s 5th tour will take place in 12 cities
instead of the 16 it traveled to in previous years.  Fortes explained that the
festival will stay two weeks in each city, and its total duration will be three
months.

This year Ambulante received more than 400 shorts from which to choose
those that will make up the official selection for the GIRA 2010, along with
other sections  including Dictator’s Cut, Injerto, Sonidero and Enfoque Bi100.
It will also pay tribute to Australian director Gustav Deutch and present the
program Cine en cambio with debates, round tables and special functions.

Among those works that are already programmed are Presumed Guilty by
Roberto Hernández and Geoffrey Smith; The Forgotten Tree by Luis Rincón and The
Tight Rope by Nuria Ibáñez as well as a special presentation of The General by
Natalia Alamada.

Translated by Cindy Hawes