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Luc Dardenne opened the activities of the 17th FICM with a talk about Young Ahmed

Aranza Flores @Alvayeah

The Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) began its activities with the presence of the acclaimed Belgian filmmaker Luc Dardenne, who starred in the event prior to the inauguration; Daniela Michel, director of the festival, who accompanied him in this talk at the Centro Cultural Universitario.

Dardenne, director and producer who, in company with his brother Jean-Pierre has twice won the Golden Palm at the Cannes festival, spoke of his film Young Ahmed, whose function will inaugurate the edition of the FICM. This is the first year that the work of a European filmmaker opens the festival.

The filmmaker spoke about the main issues he addresses in his most recent film, such as religious identity, purity, youth, fascination with death and fanaticism, as well as the impact of globalization on Middle Eastern societies.

Dardenne expressed his taste for the cinema of Mexicans Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu, particularly the latter who in the 72nd edition of the Cannes Festival, as part of the jury, delivered the Dardenne brothers the award to Best Direction forYoung Ahmed.

In the same way he expressed: “We must not be utopians and believe that cinema changes the world, but what can be done is to show realities”, and he congratulated those who seek to make a social change through art and cinema in Mexico.

Lastly, he spoke about the transformation that cinema is going through because of streaming platforms, which he considered “dangerous” because it prevents people from having that unique contact that is obtained in an exhibition room: “The film cinema must be seen in the cinema,'' said Dardenne.

During this edition of the FICM, the Dardenne brothers and American filmmaker James Ivory will receive the UNAM Film Library Medal for their prolific careers and their great contributions to the history of world cinema.