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FICM celebrates 50-year anniversary of the
UNAM’s Film Archive

Doris Morales translated by Cindy Hawes

Those present at the showing
included Pátzcuaro Municipal President Antonio García Velázquez, Jaime
Hernández Díaz, Secretary of Culture of the State of Michoacán; Alejandro
Ramírez Magaña, president of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM);
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Batel, vicepresidente of FICM; Daniela Michel, director of
FICM; Consuelo Sáizar, President of the National Council of Culture and the
Arts (CONACULTA), Guadalupe
Ferrer Andrade, director of the Filmoteca of the UNAM, Sealtiel Alatriste,
coordinador de cultural affairs at the UNAM.

 Antonio García Velazquez emphasized
the important work of the university institution in preserving the filmic
history of the country, adding, “What better way to celebrate than to screen
the film Maclovia, directed by Emilio Fernández
in 1948 on the island of Janitzio, one of the five main islands in Lake
Pátzcuaro.”

 Jaime Hernández Díaz congratulated the Film
Archive of the UNAM for its outstanding work during the past 50 years and
expressed his appreciation for its support in the screening of Maclovia.

 Alejandro Ramírez Magaña presented a
diploma to Guadalupe Ferrer in recognition of her excellent work in conserving
and preserving films, and he expressed his gratitude for her support in loaning
movies to the festival for the past eight years. He said that 13 features from
the Filmoteca will be screened at this eighth edition.

Guadalupe Ferrer

Foto: Paulo Vidales / Imagen Latente

Ferrer, who was accompanied by Sealtiel
Alatriste, thanked the festival for its tribute to the Filmoteca and said one
of the main functions of the archive that she heads is to exhibit what they
have preserved – as in the screening of Maclovia.  Alatriste also expressed his
appreciation to FICM and state officials for their special recognition of the
university institution.

 Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Batel said the history
of cinema in Mexico would not be the same without the tremendous work
undertaken by the Filmoteca of the UNAM that celebrates its 50-year
anniversary. He added that the Morelia International Film Festival pays tribute
to the archive at the Teatro Emperador Caltzontzin, which “was inaugurated by
my grandfather, Gen. Lázaro Cárdenas [former president of Mexico], 72 years ago
today.

 Prior to the screening of the film, a group
of dancers presented La danza de Corpus, a dance
from the lake dwelling region of Pátzcuaro.

 The enthusiastic audience watched the 35 mm
screening of Maclovia, starring María Félix,
Pedro Armendáriz, and Carlos López Moctezuma, and photographed by Gabriel
Figueroa.

 In 1949, the film received various awards
and recognition: At the Venice Festival, banners with the face of María Félix,
as Maclovia, hung from the bridges at the plaza at San Marcos; Columba
Dominguez won an Ariel for Best Supporting Actress and Arturo Soto for Best
Supporting Actor. The film also was awarded a prize at the Festival Karlovy
Vary for best photography.

 For more information:
www.moreliafilmfest.com