08 · 16 · 17 XV years, 15 editions: FICM 2011, 9th edition Share with twitter Share with facebook Share with mail Copy to clipboard Director Chris Weitz and actor Demián Bichir green-flagged the beginning of the ninth edition of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM). A Better Life, directed by Weitz and starring Bichir, was the movie that inaugurated FICM 2011, which took place from October 15 to 23 in the capital of Michoacan. Among the Special Guests were directors Volker Schlöndorff and Béla Tarr, both of whom had their most representative films exhibited; also, Elena Anaya and Marisa Paredes, both stars of The Skin I Live In (2011, dir. Pedro Almodóvar). They were joined by French director Michel Gondry, who introduced Be Kind Rewind (2008); Mexican Luis Valdez, with Zoot Suit (1981); Gael García Bernal, who had just participated in The Loneliest Planet (2011, dir. Julia Loktev); Mexican director Carlos Reygadas and Thierry Frémaux, general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival. Mexican actor Damián Alcázar, born in Jiquilpan, Michoacán in 1953, was honored for his prolific career and for being a versatile, precise and outstanding actor. Paying tribute to him, FICM screened the films The Legend of the Mask (1990, dir. José Bull), Two Crimes (1995, dir. Roberto Sneider), A Wonderful World (2006, dir. Diego Muñoz Vega), The Last Comandante (2010, dirs. Vicente Ferraz, Isabel Martínez) and Expiration Date (2011, dir. Kenya Márquez), which won the Audience Award in the Mexican Feature Film Section. Alejandro Ramírez, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Batel and Daniela Michel recounted FICM's achievements without losing sight of the main purpose of the festival. "Despite its great success during these nine years, the Morelia International Film Festival has been able to maintain its intimate character. Few festivals offer their audience such a close relationship with the directors or the great masters of cinema who attend." Learn more about the ninth edition of FICM.
