09 · 26 · 10

CCC celebrates its 35th anniversary at FICM

Clara Sánchez translated by Cindy Hawes

The shorts that make up the program “CCC at Cannes” include:  El deseo by Marie Benito, Official Selection at Cannes 2008; Rebeca a esas alturas by Luciana Jauffred Gorostiza, third place in the Cinéfondation, 2003, and El violín by Franciasco Vargas, Cinéfondation selection, 2005.

Thanks to the partnership that has existed since 2003 between FICM and Critics’ Week of the Cannes Film Festival, the following CCC award-winning films have been presented at Cannes: Trópico de cáncer, by Eugenio Polgovsky; En el cielo como en la Tierra, by Natalia López; La palomilla salvaje, by Gustavo Gamou; Peces plátano, by Natalia Beristáin; La canción de los niños muertos, by David Pablos; Zoogocho, by Bernardo Arellano; Roma, by Elisa Miller, and Señora pájaro, byVéronique Decroux and Julio Bárcenas.

Since its founding in 1975, the CCC has been a center of academic activity and cultural difusion that links cinema with other artistic manifestations and expressions. Today, together with the CUEC-UNAM film school, it is one of the most important public schools in the country.

Known as a vanguard institution dedicated to the teaching of cinematography, it received an award for academic excellence at the Tel Aviv Film School Festival in Israel in 2005, and a Golden Ariel in 2006 for its 30 years of educational work and contribution to national cinema. In addition, the CCC film school is a member of CILECT (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Televisión) and the Asociación Internacional de Escuelas de Cine y Televisión.

More than 30 generations of filmmakers have graduated from the CCC and have gone on to receive more than 100 national and international awards. These include two student Oscars for Javier Bourges, El último fin de año (1991), and another for Rodrigo Plá, El ojo en la nuca (2001); and two Palme d’Or in the short film category for Carlos Carrera, El héroe  (1994), and for Elisa Miller, Ver llover (2006). 

Many well-known figures in the film world are CCC graduates: cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, (Amores Perros, Frida, Alexander, Brokeback Mountain) and a member of the ASC and the AMC, nominated for an Oscar, and winner of many international prizes, including the Golden Osella, from the Venice Festival; Felipe Fernández, art designer and winner of an Oscar for the film Frida; Gabriel Beristain, winner of the Silver Bear at Berlin in 1986 for cinematography in Caravaggio, and member of the ASC and BSC; Carlos Carrera, nominated for an Oscar; Ignacio Ortiz, winner of several Ariels and director of Mezcal; Francisco Vargas, winner of an Ariel for his direction in the feature El violín.

In 2009, the CCC received several Arieles: Marco Antonio Hernández, member of the CCC postproduction team, for Best Sound with the film Desierto Adentro, by director Rodrigo Plá, former CCC student; Yulene Olaizola, for Best First Film with the documentary Intimidades de Shakespeare y Víctor Hugo; and Isabel Muñoz Cota for Best Short Film with the documentary Su mercé. 

CCC’s professional staff is made up of experienced filmmakers, including Marina Stavenhagen (director of IMCINE), Francisco Athié, Sigfrido Barjau, Carlos Bolado, Christiane Burkhard, Simón Bross, Carlos Carrera, Felipe Cazals, Nicolás Echeverría, Luis Estrada, Jorge Fons, José Luis García Agraz, Guillermo Granillo, Henner Hofmann, Alfredo Joskowicz, Toni Khun, Beatriz Novaro, María Novaro and Ignacio Ortiz.