07 · 11 · 16

FICM presents the image of it’s 14th edition!

Mónica de la Mora (@monicamoraku)

To talk about the image of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) is to talk about more than thirteen years of exhaustive work, of an almost artisanal labor, by Rodrigo Toledo, who has been in charge of creating the festival’s visual concept for almost it’s entire history. With clear references to the essence of Morelia, like the pink quarry, the arches, the cathedral and even it’s representative drain covers, each and every one of these elements have remained, one way or another, present in the festival’s image.

For this edition we find ourselves before a proposal that combines the Russian avant-garde and constructivism, with a detonating element: the film camera; made with a 3D animation program. This required Toledo to get acquainted with the program, to play with it and with the idea of creating a monumental sculpture.

During the 20’s, the Soviet poster was a key element for the promotion of films, this period was even considered the Golden Age of the poster; a moment when it became a fundamental component of cinema, not as something accessory but as an essential part of the cinematographic process.

For the creation of the image that identifies our 14th edition, Rodrigo Toledo built each element with an almost mathematical precision. As usual, each detail was constructed meticulously. It is a creative process, that most of the time he finds hard to let go of, but that transports us not only to a graphic achievement but to an artistic plane and a visual concept that distinguishes FICM beyond our borders.

Following is an interview with Rodrigo Toledo:

Why a camera?
This is not a particularly original idea, but it is not only a film camera. It is, in the first place, a film camera made of pink quarry (igneous rock, of volcanic origin, like the rhyolites and the ignimbrites), material on which the beautiful city of Morelia is built, and of which it is made of. Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí and San Miguel de Allende are also built of quarry, but Morelia is the authentic “City of the Pink Quarry”. There are other reasons why this is not just a film camera and, although it seems recurring, the graphic process changes, it takes on weight and character.

Yes, it seems as if instead of falling into the trap of cliché, which everyone avoids, in this case it is strengthened, which is the intention.
The graphic images that have represented FICM, almost always in a indirect manner, are inspired in other expressions related to film to art in general, particularly to Mexican art, but not exclusively. This year is no exception and, once again, the proposal is an homage.

Where did the idea come from? How did you arrive at this proposal?
The idea came up a few years ago, as a way of paying tribute to Mexican nationalist revolutionary art and of lamenting the energetic reform that was passed on December 20 of 2013, among other motives, but also out of sheer admiration and fascination for this artistic movement. The main source of inspiration is Mexican monumental sculptural art from the 20’s and up to the 50’s, but the final result has features of Soviet constructivism, which by the way had a significant influence on Mexican art of the period.

What at the beginning was meant to be the representation of a whole film crew: the director, photographer, sound mixer, etc…, like, to mention an example, the Monumento al Caminero, ended up becoming simply a film camera.

Maybe the most sensible thing to do would have been to represent a contemporary movie camera, a digital camera. But a digital camera is not very interesting, compared to how emblematic a traditional film camera can be. The result is an eclectic machine. A mixture of elements that result in a 35mm film camera, but composed of loose parts of cameras from the 30’s.

Could you talk about the process of creating the image?
The camera was created using the modeling and animation program 3D Blender 2.76b and the texture was created using a composite of photographs of the walls of Morelia. The typography is a free interpretation of the typeface “Duke” by the designer James T. Edmonson.

And with this same monumentality we give way to the celebration of cinema:

This is the 14th FICM!

Welcome!