08 · 31 · 18

FICM Opens Its 16th Edition with the Mexican Premiere for First Man

Azul Ramírez @azulartx

The Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) opened its 16th edition with the Mexican premiere of First Man (2018), directed by Oscar winner, Damien Chazelle, present during the ceremony along with Josh Singer, screenwriter of the movie.

On the red carpet, Scottish director and screenwriter Lynne Ramsay, who this year presides over the jury of Mexican Feature Film; Charles Tesson, artistic director of the Cannes Critics' Week, the French filmmaker Nicolas Philibert; the Mexican actors Leonardo Ortizgris, José María Yázpik and Diego Luna; the Mexican director Manolo Caro; the president of the Culture Committee, Sergio Mayer; Damien Chazelle and Josh Singer, director and screenwriter of First Man, among others.

This year the Official Selection of the festival consists of 59 short films, 11 documentaries, 12 works from Michoacan and 11 feature films by filmmakers from different states of the Mexican Republic. In total there will be more than 100 Mexican filmmakers presenting their work.

For the fifth consecutive year, the festival presents the Online Mexican Short Film Selection, which is made up of more than 23 short films from the Official Selection of the 16th FICM. These titles will be available online and free from the 20th to the 26th of October. The short film that receives the most votes by the audiences will be awarded the Online Mexican Short Film Selection Award, granted by Cinépolis KLIC, consisting of a diploma and $50,000 pesos in cash.

As of this year, FICM is part of the newly created Documentary Feature Qualifying Festival List of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), so the winning feature documentary will be considered eligible for the Oscar® nomination. As well as the winning short films in the categories of Fiction, Animation and Documentary that since 2008 are officially recognized by the United States Academy.