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The extraordinary Quentin Tarantino will attend FICM for the 3rd time!

We are deeply honored to announce that Quentin Tarantino, great master of modern-day cinema, will attend the Morelia International Film Festival for the third time in the past five years.

In 2009, Tarantino came to Morelia for the first time to present his stunning World War II epic Inglourious Basterds to rapt audiences at the 7th Morelia International Film Festival. The rapture proved to be mutual. During that visit, he conceived of the idea to present a special program of Westerns that would celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Mexican Revolution the following year. The films would form part of the festival’s Imaginary Mexico program, which since 2007 (after having been suggested to us by another grand cinephile and friend of the festival, Bertrand Tavernier) had explored onscreen representations of Mexico by foreign directors.

Generously lending the festival prints from his own personal archive, Tarantino—a long-time collector and champion of 16 and 35 mm film—presented three classic Spaghetti Westerns by Sergio Corbucci (The Mercenary,1968; Vamos a matar, compañeros, 1970; and What Am I Doing in the Middle of a Revolution?, 1972) as well as a series of Mexican horror and sci-fi films (including cult-classic Tintorera, 1977). The program was a resounding success, not least because many of Corbucci’s films had been banned in Mexico due to their “unfavorable” depiction of the revolutionaries, meaning that it was Tarantino who brought them back to Mexican audiences, nearly four decades after they were made.

As part of the 11th Morelia International Film Festival, we are profoundly honored to once again welcome Mr. Tarantino, a filmmaker whose work has changed the face of modern-day cinema, and whose passion for the medium has allowed audiences worldwide, but particularly here in Mexico, to experience stunning works of classic cinema for the first time. We are humbled to be granted access to the director’s personal film archive, from which we will screen a selection of films as part of our homage to the inimitable Mexican actor Arturo de Córdova. He will also present three cult titles from the 60s and 70s (Blue, Shark! and Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary).

For Tarantino, the relationship between film history and the future of cinema is, and always has been, mutual, fruitful and essential. We couldn’t agree more. We hope that this showcase will offer an exultant celebration, not just of these extraordinary films, but also of the magic of film itself, and of cinephelia at its most profound.

Once again, we give you an extraordinarily warm welcome, master Tarantino.