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XV years, 15 editions: FICM 2012, 10th edition

The Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) celebrated its first decade from the 3rd to the 11th of November 2012, in the capital of Michoacán. No, by Chilean director Pablo Larraín, starring Gael García Bernal, was the film that inaugurated this edition of the festival.

In addition to Larraín and García Bernal, FICM 2012 received amongst its Special Guests the Iranian filmmaker, photographer and poet Abbas Kiarostami, Mexican-American director Gregory Nava, English director Sally Potter and Iranian filmmaker Seifollah Samadian. Also present as Special Guests were directors Whit Stillman, Olivier Assayas and Carlos Reygadas; the actors Edgar Ramírez and Geraldine Chaplin; José María Prado, then director of the Spanish Film Library; Thierry Frémaux, general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival; and Dieter Kosslick, creative director of Berlinale.

The Michoacan homage was dedicated to the cinematographer Jose Ortiz Ramos, born in Tacámbaro, Michoacán, in 1911. Ortiz Ramos began his career in movies in 1930 as a camera operator. After chipping stone as a technician, he did photography for classics like ¡Qué bonito es Michoacán! (1943, dir. Ismael Rodríguez), Nosotros los pobres (1947, dir. Ismael Rodríguez) and Susana (carne y demonio) (1941, dir. Luis Buñuel).

Daniela Michel, general director of FICM, reflected on how several filmmakers who took their first steps throughout the nine years of the festival's life, returned with new aesthetic proposals to further consolidate Mexican cinema. “In 2003, we could never have imagined that our small, local event, our original vision, would grow to such proportions. Looking back, it is also infinitely gratifying to recognize that what inspired the first edition of FICM is what continues to sustain and drive us toward the future; that our goal is the same: to build a space to support the current and future protagonists of our film world.”

Learn more about the tenth edition of FICM