05 · 20 · 07

Mexicans Celebrate at Cannes 21.05.07

Translated by Paulina Suárez
The Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) will host a party to celebrate Mexican cinema during International Critics´ Week at Cannes. Gael García Bernal, the sidebar’s ambassador, will present his directorial debut, Déficit, prior to the celebration.

Déficit tells the story of Cristóbal, the son of a corrupt Mexican politician, who hosts a party for his friends in Tepoztlán. The gathering, however, is just an excuse to tell a fable about class tension and the decline of Mexico´s ruling class.

International Critics’ Week, founded by the Union of French Film Critics in 1962, celebrates the work of first and second-time filmmakers. The sidebar’s entrepreneurial spirit has served as a platform for films such as Alejandro González Iñarritu’s Amores Perros and Guillermo del Toro’s Cronos.

A panel of international critics selects only seven features and seven shorts to make up Cannes’ oldest sidebar.

The features compete for the Critics’ Week Grand Prix, sponsored by Cinépolis, which will be handed out the 25th of May at the Miramar Theater during a ceremony hosted by Alejandro Ramírez Magaña, President of the FICM and General Director of Cinépolis. The award consists of a cash prize of 5 000 €. Journalists and film critics are invited to vote after each screening. The SCAD award offers 2 500 € cash prize to the best screenwriter, and the ACID Award goes toward distribution costs.

The shorts compete for the Grand Prix Canal + Award, as well as the Kodak Discovery Award for Best Short Film.

Feature films also compete for the Camera D’or. Three Mexican features form part of this years’ competition: Gael García Bernal’ s Déficit, Ernesto Contreras’ Párpados Azules and Simon Bross’ Malos Hábitos.

The Morelia International Film Fest and the International Critics’ Week will also present at Cannes two short films which received awards at last years’ FICM: Natalia López’s En el cielo como en la tierra (Best Experimental Short Film), and Gustavo Gamou’s La Palomilla Salvaje (Best Documentary).

The Critics’ Week will help promote these films by organizing screenings in Porto Vecchio, Paris, Rome, Beirut, and Morelia, among others.

The Celebration of Mexican Cinema, organized with the support of IMCINE and the French Embassy in Mexico, will bring together more than 800 guests.