09 · 05 · 17 XV years, 15 editions: FICM 2014, 12th edition Share with twitter Share with facebook Share with mail Copy to clipboard In 2014, for the second time in the history of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), a film by the Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu inaugurated the festival. As in 2010 with Biutiful, Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance opened the 12th edition of FICM, which took place from October 17 to 26. That year, the festival boasted about the growth it had experienced in more than a decade, with a large Official Selection that included 12 feature films, 24 documentaries, 41 Mexican short films and 10 competing Michoacán films. In addition to González Iñárritu, the Special Guests of this edition were the film promoter Pierre Rissient; the director Amos Gitai, who presented films like Carmel (2009) and Lullaby to My Father (2012); actress Juliette Binoche, with Clouds of Sils Maria (2014, dir. Olivier Assayas); and director Pawel Pawlikowski, from whom a retrospective was made. The musician and composer Chucho Monge, author of the emblematic song "Mexico lindo y querido", was the center of the Michoacano tribute. To commemorate the first 20 years of the Jornadas de Cortometraje Mexicano, the direct antecedent of FICM, a small program was presented with films that had been part of that first step for the promotion of national cinema. Alejandro Ramírez, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Batel and Daniela Michel talked about the particular nature of a festival like FICM and its evolution: “Naturally, the Festival has also changed over time, keeping in step with the changing needs of the film community and the Mexican public, which is why we now find in Official Competition both respected directors and young filmmakers who see the Festival as a privileged platform to start their careers. This is where we see the classics share the big screen with the avant-garde, where we can see the perspectives of indigenous people meet the views of those outside of Mexico, where we can get to know and recognize ourselves.” Learn more about the twelfth edition of FICM here.
