News

Mexican filmmaker Elisa Miller (“Hurricane Season”) is teaming up with “Roma” producer Nicolás Celis and his Pimienta Films on a legal drama-cum-psychological thriller that the duo is pitching this week at the Venice Production Bridge’s Gap-Financing Market, which runs Aug. 30 – Sept. 1.

“Legítima” is based on the remarkable true story of Yakiri Rubio, a young woman who was kidnapped and raped by two brothers in Mexico City in 2013. After killing one of her attackers in self-defense, Rubio wound up finding herself behind bars and charged with murder in a case that shocked and scandalized the nation.

The film is based on “En legítima defensa,” a book written by Ana Katiria Suárez, the charismatic and unconventional lawyer who took up Rubio’s case, doing battle with Mexico’s corrupt and misogynistic legal system until justice was finally served and the young woman was freed.

Speaking to Variety from Mexico City, Miller...

Based on the Booker Prize-nominated novel of the same name by author Fernanda Melchor, Hurricane Season is Netflix’s latest prized possession. As much as I like to hate on Netflix, sometimes (very rarely), the platform provides us with such quality content that I have to be grateful. Only recently has world cinema been on my radar, and every day there’s a growing hunger for more unique, deeply cultural cinema coming from different corners of the world. There is an abundance of thematic exploration in this Mexican film. When a bunch of kids find a corpse in the canal of a village named La Matosa, all the town secrets unravel slowly through the stories of five villagers. The film begins with a cryptic note from “The Dead Girls” stating that some of the events presented are true, but all characters are fictional. Author Fernanda Melchor wrote her book based...

Mexico’s official entry to the Best International Feature Oscar race, Lila Aviles’ “Totem,” and Tatiana Huezo’s documentary “The Echo” (“El Eco”) snagged three prizes apiece at the Morelia International Film Festival (Ficm), which wrapped Sunday, Oct. 29.

The awards doled out Saturday capped a busy 21st edition that saw a constellation of luminaries in town, including Jodie Foster, Jessica Chastain, Peter Saarsgard, Viggo Mortensen, Danny Huston, James Ivory, Irène Jacob and producing partners Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy.

Mexico’s multi-Oscar nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, who received the festival’s Premio Cuervo lifetime achievement award, served as a juror in the official selection which gave best Mexican feature and best director awards to “Totem,” described by Variety as an“intimate, emotionally rich” film. “Totem” also took home the Audience Award, a good indication of its box office potential.

The best screenplay award went to Elisa Miller and Daniela Gómez for their gripping drama,...

"Fear not. Despair not. Darkness won't last forever." Netflix has revealed the full trailer for a Mexican film titled Hurricane Season, which will be streaming on Netflix worldwide for anyone to watch in November. Originally known as Temporada de Huracanes in Spanish, it's adapted from the book of the same name by Fernanda Melchor. Hurricane season is coming in strong. Four souls in search of redemption confront the relentless storm of their destiny in a world where violence fills a space that should belong to love. From filmmaker Elisa Miller, starring Paloma Alvamar, Andrés Cordova, Ernesto Meléndez, Kat Rigoni, and Edgar Treviño. The book has an eerie opener: "Hurricane Season takes place in a world filled with mythology and violence - real violence, the kind that seeps into the soil, poisoning everything around: it’s a world that becomes more terrifying and more terrifyingly real the deeper you explore it.

Netflix has reaffirmed its 300 million commitment to Mexican cinema and series, announcing a slew of new movie projects to celebrate the country’s National Day of Cinema on Aug. 15 and as part of its #QueMéxicoSeVea initiative.

The year-old initiative, which can be roughly translated to “Let Mexico Be Seen” has the mission “to make visible the work of Mexican creators, screenwriters, writers, directors, actors and people who make national cinema possible,” as well as its wealth of original stories.

Leading the pack is the widely anticipated directorial debut of Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto who is helming an adaptation of Juan Rulfo’s seminal novel, “Pedro Paramo.” Produced by Redrum, the film’s crew includes Oscar-nominated production designer Eugenio Caballero and costume designer Anna Terrazas, whose notable credits include “Roma,” “Spectre” and “Bardo.”

“Our commitment to Mexican culture also includes adapting great Mexican works to the cinema, and ‘Pedro Páramo’ will...

Los Cabos — “The Twentieth Century,” Matthew Rankin’s crazed retelling of Canadian history, won the main Los Cabos Competition this Saturday, beating out a prestige lineup of some of the most notable festival standouts of the year.

The win at Los Cabos, whose competition is focused on movies from the U.S., Mexico and Canada, adds to “The Twentieth Century’s” Toronto Best Canadian First Feature prize for a feature made with high style, shot like 1940s melodrama, with a box-like Academy ratio.

Mexico Primero, a showcase of first or second-time Mexican features, was won by “The Dove and the Wolf,” the feature debut of Carlos Lenin, which world premiered at this year’s Locarno Film Festival in Filmmakers of the Present. A young couple love story, “The Dove and the Wolf” is distinguished by its context, a grimy small town assailed by cartel violence, and its unyielding use of...

Los Cabos — Woo Films, producer via Noc Noc Cinema of Netflix’s “The House of Flowers,” is preparing a new movie project from Natalia Beristáin and Diego Enrique Osorno, “Ruido.”

In a further move, Noc Noc Cinema – a TV-film production house set up by “The House of Flowers’” show-runner Manolo Caro and Woo Films’ Rafael Ley and María José Córdova – is backing the feature debut of Natalia García Agraz “ “Extraños Que Se Besan,” from a screenplay being written by García Agraz and Caro.

Portugal’s Rosa Filmes has also just boarded Lisandro Alonso’s “Eureka,” a multilateral international production on which Woo Films serves as the Mexican partner.

The news comes as Noc Noc Cinema has just announced its first production in Spain, Netflix series “Alguien Tiene Que Morir.” Adding to feature titles at Woo Films from Lisandro Alonso, Elisa Miller and Matías Meyer -the last “Modern Loves” which world premiere...

Mexico City — A crossroads for the film industries of Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, Los Cabos Intl. Film Festival opens its doors on Wednesday, Nov. 13 with a lineup which takes on board hot-button issues – gender, violence in Mexico, the impact of global platforms – as the Festival consolidates its status as a Mexican new talent platform. 10 Takes on the 2019 edition:

1.Robert De Niro, Gaston Pavlovich And ’The Irishman’

Robert De Niro will attend Los Cabos’ Film Festival’s Opening Ceremony on Wednesday for a gala screening of “The Irishman.” The movie’s presence at Los Cabos can be seen as part thanks to its cinematographer. Mexico’s Rodrigo Prieto, and above all to its Mexican producer, Gastón Pavlovich. Already producer of Martin Scorsese’s “Silence,” who stuck with “The Irishman,” through thick and thin as it turned from a Paramount/Stx movie to an Oscar-contending Netflix original.

2.Buzzy Projects

Of Mexican titles,...

Cannes — Four Cannes 57th Critics’ Week shorts, sourced from the Morelia Festival – “Vuelve a mi ,” “Under the Sun,” “In Deep Water” and “Land of Waters, Sea of Mermaids” – highlighted Wednesday the seemingly bottomless well of young talent emerging in Mexico.

In a tradition which runs back to 2005, titles were chosen by Cannes Critics’ Week from a vast spread of fiction, animation and documentary shorts screened every year at Morelia, around 45 in 2017: a rich and ranging panoply, recording Morelia’s origins as a short film festival, which still marks it apart from other big Mexican film events.

Distinguished producer Roberto Fiesco (“David”) and director David Pablos (Un Certain Regard screener “The Chosen Ones”) both had early shorts playing at Morelia. Director Elisa Miller (“El placer es mío”) went straight from winning Morelia with “Watching It Rain” to winning a Palme d’Or at Cannes. The Morelia Festival shorts showcase remains...

Projects previously presented at the market include Laszlo Nemes’s Oscar-winning Son Of Saul.

The 14th CineLink Co-Production Market (Aug 18-20), the backbone of Sarajevo Film Festival’s industry section, will this year present 15 projects from South-East Europe, and three guest projects from Qatar and Mexico.

CineLink boasts an impressive track record. An average of 60% of the projects that have taken part at the market in the last 13 years went all the way from development to production.

The most recent success is Laszlo Nemes’ Son Of Saul which won the Grand Prix at Cannes 2015 and Oscar for Best Foreign Language Films.

Other titles developed at the market include two winners of Venice’s Lion of the Future: White Shadow by Noaz Deshe, and Mold by Ali Aydin; two Berlinale Silver Bear winners: Harmony Lessons by Emir Baigazin and If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle by Florin Serban; and Semih Kaplanoglu’s 2010 Golden Bear winner Honey.

The...

Ten projects from South-East Europe, Middle East and North Africa will compete for industry awards.

Sarajevo Film Festival’s (Aug 12-20) Works in Progress strand has revealed the line-up of projects which will compete for three awards during the festival’s Industry Days on Aug 17 and 18.

Prizes will include the traditional post-production in-kind awards from Slovenia’s Restart (€20,000) and Berlin-based The Post Republic (€50,000), as well as a newly established €30,000 cash prize from Turkish broadcaster Trt.

The jury is comprised of Jan Naszewski of New Europe Film Sales, Giona A. Nazzaro from the Venice Film Festival Critics’ Week, Michael Reuter of The Post Republic and a representative from the Trt.

The projects will be presented to funders, sales agents, distributors, broadcasters and festival programmers, including representatives of Bankside Films, the Berlin International Film Festival, Bir Film, Celluloid Dreams, Coproduction Office, the Directors’ Fortnight, Elle Driver, the Festival de Cannes, Indie Sales, Lumiere, The Match...

World premiere of Intimate Lighting restoration, a focus on Mexican female directors, a tribute to Otto Preminger and the first Eurimages Lab Project Award set for 2016 edition.

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff) has unveiled the first wave of titles and industry initiatives set for its 51st edition (July 1-9).

The festival, hosted in the picturesque Czech spa town, will world premiere a digital restoration of Ivan Passer’s Intimate Lighting. The bittersweet comedy about an encounter between two former classmates and musicians is described one of the most striking films of the Czechoslovak New Wave of the 1960s.

The 82-year-old director, who was honoured with Kviff’s Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema in 2008, will be present at the premiere on July 2.

Mexican female directors

Semana Santa

Kviff will also spotlight Mexican female directors, screening nine features and one short from the past five years. The filmmakers include Elisa Miller, who won a Palme...

A panel of film industry experts in Rotterdam shared experiences and tips of how best to tackle the festival circuit.

The “human factor” is all-important when making the most of your time at film festivals, according to a nine-strong panel of filmmakers, sales agents and festival reps at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr).

Speaking on one of this year’s first Iffr industry panels, the line-up told delegates that at a time of technological advance, where so much communication is carried out over laptops and phones, getting face-to-face time with people they may work with for years to come was all-important.

“Before a big festival, you put yourself under pressure as to everything you want to achieve, but you have to focus on watching great movies, meeting great people and being inspired,” said consultant Claudia Landsberger from BaseWorx For Film, previously head of Dutch film promotion outfit Eye International for 20 years.

Producer [link=nm...

Lined up for the International Film Festival Rotterdam's Bright Future program this year are works by Ana Cristina Barragán, Samuele Sestieri, Kaweh Modiri, Lee Seung-won, Jonas Rothlaender, Bernardo Britto, Yi Cui, Paloma Aguilera Valdebenito, Fernanda Romandía, Arun Karthick, Emiliano Rocha Minter, Yosuke Okuda, Pimpaka Towira, Uchida Eiji, Vlado Skafar, Penny Lane, Matt Johnson, Elisa Miller, Adilkhan Yerzhanov, Tsubota Yoshifumi, Lucile Hadžihalilovic, Simon Stone, Pietro Marcello, Bi Gan, João Salaviza, Pascale Breton, Svetla Tsotsorkova, Avishai Sivan, Jony Perel, Alex Santiago Pérez and many others. » - David Hudson...

Lined up for the International Film Festival Rotterdam's Bright Future program this year are works by Ana Cristina Barragán, Samuele Sestieri, Kaweh Modiri, Lee Seung-won, Jonas Rothlaender, Bernardo Britto, Yi Cui, Paloma Aguilera Valdebenito, Fernanda Romandía, Arun Karthick, Emiliano Rocha Minter, Yosuke Okuda, Pimpaka Towira, Uchida Eiji, Vlado Skafar, Penny Lane, Matt Johnson, Elisa Miller, Adilkhan Yerzhanov, Tsubota Yoshifumi, Lucile Hadžihalilovic, Simon Stone, Pietro Marcello, Bi Gan, João Salaviza, Pascale Breton, Svetla Tsotsorkova, Avishai Sivan, Jony Perel, Alex Santiago Pérez and many others. » - David Hudson...

History's FutureScheduled to open later this month (27 January - 7 Febuary 2016), the 45th International Film Festival Rotterdam has announced the titles included in its competition, which has scaled back the number of films competing to eight this year.Tiger Award COMPETITIONHistory's Future – Fiona Tan (The Netherlands, world premiere)The Land of the Enlightened – Pieter-Jan De Pue (Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, European premiere)Motel Mist – Prabda Yoon (Thailand, world premiere)Oscuro animal – Felipe Guerrero (Colombia, Argentina, The Netherlands, Germany, Greece, world premiere)Radio Dreams – Babak Jalali (USA, world premiere)La última tierra – Pablo Lamar (Paraguay, The Netherlands, Chile, Qatar, world premiere)Where I Grow Old – Marília Rocha (Brazil, Portugal, world premiere)A Woman, a Part – Elisabeth Subrin (USA, world premiere)

Bright FUTUREAlba – Ana Cristina Barragán (Ecuador, Mexico, Greece, world premiere)Alone – Park Hongmin (South Korea, international premiere)Animal político – Tião (Brazil, world premiere)The Bear Tales – Samuele Sestieri, Olmo Amato (Italy,...

Of all the upcoming talent in the recent weeks in Mexico at the writers residency "Pueblo Magico", at Flicc, the Latin American Forum for Coproduction and New Talent, in Morelia and at Los Cabos, producer Nicolás Celis ("Heli", "We Are What We Are") stands out on many fronts.

Nico : At 29 years of age, I have worked on 20 to 25 movies. I have learned my craft from the directors I have worked with like Tatiana Huezo and Amat Escalante, to name just two.

I have created my own unique creative process and have learned about financing and distribution as well as production.

Sl: I noticed you work with Sebastian Celis. Who is that?

When our father died, my older brother who was a physicist wanted to do something with me. It was easier for him to go into film than for me to go into physics. We like spending time together. Really he is the perfect partner -- 100% trustworthy: we won't let each other down. We like the the same movies and both work a lot. Working with him brings us very close and we are more attached than ever and more interested in making long term plans. Working with my brother is very interesting. He can work well with the abstract and can understand ideas before they are totally conceived and then put those ideas onto paper. What's beautiful about film is your background is irrelevant.

Sl: What is your approach to producing films?

We always try to budget carefully. We aim to make the films for a reasonable cost which can actually be recouped. With low budgets, you can shoot quickly. We believe now is a very good time to make movies in Mexico. There is a lot of money available here through the various funding schemes, even if there is a lot of competition for that funding. With more and more people coming out of film schools that competition is only going to increase. So we are aggressively looking for private equity as well.

Sl: How did you get into film?

I was never formally schooled in filmmaking. I was rejected twice by Ccc (one of the top film schools in Mexico). In time though by helping to make shorts, I realized that I had skills that directors needed. My first short, "Ver llover" (2006)--I was unit production manager---was directed by Elisa Miller who did study at Ccc. The film went to Cannes and her second short—which I produced – went to Critics Week in Cannes and won the Palme d'Or She has returned to work with me on our upcoming feature "Skin Deep" which is now being presented as a project in development in Los Cabos. I came to realize I did not have to go to film school to be sought after. Directors seek me out now because we enjoy collaboration and they value my ability to work with them.

Sl: What are your most recent and upcoming films?

I have a number of films that are in post production or just completed.

A private screening of the documentary "Tempestad" was held in Morelia just weeks ago in its first edition of Impulso, which is only for works-in-progress. The audience for those screenings is exclusively sales agents, distributors, financiers and festival programmers who want to see films that are currently in post-production. We have big expectations for that film . We are aiming at Berlin or Cannes. This is the second documentary film by Tatiana Huezo whose first doc, “El Lugar Mas Pequeno"/ "The Tiniest Place” (which I also produced) won numerous Best Picture prizes at festivals around the world.

"Soy Negro" now is also in post. It is by Rafi Pitts from Iran and tells a story of migration to the USA from a different point of view with a Mexican touch. It has received support from the French Cnc, funds from Eurimages, Ffa in Germany, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenberg support, and Zdf/ Arte support. The Match Factory will represent the film internationally.

"Desierto" directed by Jonás Cuarón premiered in Toronto where it was acquired from Im Global for the U.S. by Stx, the new China-backed company headed by Robert Simonds and Cathy Schulman. "All of Me", the emotionally touching doc about Las Patronas, premiered in Los Cabos festival last year, won a top prize and was picked up for U.S. by Outsider Films from the new Berlin-based boutique international sales agent for award-winning docs, Rise and Shine.

"Semana Santa" whose international sales agent is Mundial was coproduced with Jim Stark, our new partner. He is the U.S. indie producer of the early Jarmusch films, Icelandic director Fridrik Thor Fridrikson, Bent Hamer and many others.

Sl: How did you join up with Jim Stark? I used to buy his films for the U.S. so I am very interested in what he is doing these days.

Jim was giving a workshop in Morelia four years ago that I attended. Later, he introduced me to Rafi Pitts in Guadalajara. And now he and I are working together on a lot of projects.

Jim makes the same sort of movies we do and is also good at raising money and making international connections. He shoots everywhere and has a couple of projects in Turkey, is still working with Icelanders and even has a project in Africa in Ivory Coast.

We're now working together on a Georgian doc and talking about other coproductions with international co-producers.

We just finished "Semana Santa" together and are finishing Tatania Huezo's new film "Tempestad".

We enjoy the process of working together. We're developing a couple of scripts based on novels we like and on our own ideas. We never know if the film will be a success or failure but we would rather have three years of a good experience working with directors we enjoy on projects we believe in than making "sure hits" or commercial films with directors we don't get along with.

Sl: You've done very well so far.

This is the most important year for us. We have finally established ourselves as an important Mexican production company involved with good directors. There are interesting voices in Mexico. We're now expanding into minority coproductions to do post and at the same time looking at foreign projects at the script stage. It's cheaper to work in Mexico than in Europe and Mexico is ready for coproductions.

It is a way to widen our reach. That's why we're working on Colombian Ciro Guerra's next film. His last film, "Embrace of the Serpent" (Colombia's submission for Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film) is a Colombian-Argentinean-Venezuelan coproduction being sold by Films Boutique, a French-German international sales company. Its U.S. distributor is Oscilloscope. Its French distributor, Diaphana, is a producer as well as a distributor.

Our long range goal is to grow our slate of coproductions. We think it is our best strategy for beating the competition which is quickly escalating here in Mexico.

From our side we can offer all the opportunities we have for financing and the high quality of Mexican services and crew. Also the low costs here mean shooting in Mexico is not a big risk. But having access to international partners and getting additional funding from Norway or Denmark is very prestigious and increases the chances that our films will be seen and appreciated outside of Mexico.

When I can, I like to participate in international workshops, coproduction meetings and even residencies like the new one in Tepoztlan where I met you. I went to an Eave workshop with ten other producers. We still keep in touch, we work together and try to spend some quality time together and when links with these other international producers are strong it increases the likelihood we can collaborate in the future.

The festival, set to run in Mexico from November 11-15, has unveiled the selections in its After Dark, American Specials and Green programmes.

Entries in the After Dark genre section feature films that have garnered acclaim at other festivals and include Matteo Garrone’s Tale Of Tales and the Latin American premieres of Robert Eggers’ The Witch (pictured) and Bo Mikkelsen’s What We Become.

The American Specials selections present Mexican permieres of Scott Cooper’s Black Mass and Marielle Heller’s The Diary of A Teenage Girl.

The Green strand presented by Discovery Channel showcases the Latin American premiere of Cyril Barbançon and Andy Byatt’s Hurricane 3D and the Mexican premieres of Louie Psihoyos’s Racing Extinction and Luc Jacqyet’s La Glace Et Le Ciel.

Festival top brass have also announced entries in the Cabos In Progress initiative for films in post that are made in or being produced with Mexico.

The selections...

Top brass at the festival, set to run from September 24-October 8, have announced the selections in Focus Mexico.

The films are as follows:

Focus Mexico

The Obscure Spring (Las Oscuras Primaveras)

Ernesto Contreras

Manuela Jankovic’s War (La Guerra De Manuela Jankovic)

Diana Cardozo

González

Christian Díaz Pardo

Asteroide

Marcelo Tobar

The Absent (Los Ausentes)

Nicolás Pereda

Cumbres

Gabriel Nuncio

We Are Mari Pepa (Somos Mari Pepa)

Samuel Kishi

The Well (Manto Acuífero)

Michael Rowe

Güeros

Alonso Ruizpalacios

Cantinflas

Sebastian del Amo

Los Angeles

Damian John Harper

The Amazing Catfish (Los Insólitos Peces Gato)

Claudia Sainte-Luce

The Empty Hours (Las Horas Muertas)

Aaron Fernandez.

Panorama section

Words With Gods (Palabras Con Dioses)

Guillermo Arriaga, Héctor Babenco, Warwick Thornton, Mira Nair, Hideo Nakata, Amos Gitai, Álex de la Iglesia, Emir Kusturica, Bahman Ghobadi

Short Plays

Daniel Gruener, Carlos Reygadas, Fernando Eimbcke, Felipe Gómez, Alejandro Valle, Karim Aïnouz, Marcelo Gomes, Pablo Fendrik, Pablo Stoll, [link...

Binger Filmlab may have lost its Government funding (once worth €1.8m a year) but the Amsterdam-based film training and development centre is still as active as ever.

The resilient Binger CEO Gamila Ylstra has been striking a defiant note about the future of Binger, which has changed its financing model since it lost its Ministry Of Culture subsidy. Binger is currently operating on roughly half its former budget.

“We have been able to cut costs dramatically just by working a bit efficiently than before,” Ylstra noted.

“The subsidy stopped more than a year ago. It has not been easy, of course, but I think we’ve done a better Binger year than ever before.”

At the International Film Festival Rotterdam this week, Binger has announced details of a new partnership with Rio de Janeiro’s State Secretariat of Culture. Through the partnership, the Rio cultural body will pay fees for Brazilian writers and directors chosen to take...

International Film Festival Rotterdam 2014

Bright Future

World Premieres

Above: The Pinkie

About Sarah (Elisa Miller, Mexico, United Kingdom)

Bella Vista (Vera Brunner-Sung, USA)

Creator of the Jungle (Jordi Morató (Spain)

La distancia (Sergio Caballero, Spain)

Dzma/Brother (Téona Mghvdeladze & Thierry Grenade, France, Georgia)

L’éclat furtif de l'ombre (Alain-Pascal Housiaux & Patrick Dechesne, Belgium, Germany)

Edén (Elise DuRant, USA, Mexico)

Helium (Eché Janga, Netherlands)

History of Eternity (Camilo Cavalcante, Brazil)

Hotel Nueva Isla (Irene Gutiérrez & Javier Labrador, Cuba, Spain)

The Iranian Film (Yassine el Idrissi, Morocco, Netherlands, Egypt)

Jacky au royaume des filles (Riad Sattouf, France)

L for Leisure (Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn, USA, Mexico, France, Iceland)

Little Crushes (Aleksandra Gowin & Ireneusz Grzyb, Poland)

Masked Monkey - The Evolution of Darwin’s Theory (Ismail Fahmi Lubish, Indonesia)

Oilfields Mines Hurricanes (Fabian Altenried, Germany, Iceland)

The Pinkie (Lisa Takeba, Japan)

The Quiet Roar (Henrik Hellström, Sweden, Norway)

Sitzfleisch (Lisa Weber, Austria)

The Songs of Rice (Uruphong Raksasad,...

Picks include the latest documentary from Ai Weiwei [pictured].

The International Film Festival Rotterdam has unveiled the selections for its Bright Future and Spectrum programmes (list of premiere titles below).

Across both sections there are 37 world premieres.

Bright Future is comprised of 63 films, all first and second features. Bright Future includes five films supported by the Hubert Bals Fund, including Carlos Armella’s Las voces.

Five films from Bright Future will compete in the Big Screen Award Competition, including telepathic dwarf thriller La distancia by Sergio Caballero; and Riad Sattouf’s Jacky au royaume des filles starring Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Other notable seelctions include Burrowing director Henrik Helstrom’s second feature The Quiet Roar, about a dying woman who reconnects with her past through an acid trip.

Spectrum, focusing on artistic and experimental cinema, includes 69 films, including three supported by the Hubert Bals Fund. Five Spectrum Films, including Jos de Putter’s See No Evil and Oxana Bychkova’s Another...

Mexico City -- The 8th edition of the Morelia International Film Festival will kick off with Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's latest drama "Biutiful," marking the Mexico premiere of the Javier Bardem vehicle.

 

"Biutiful," Mexico's foreign-language Oscar submission, made its worldwide debut in Cannes earlier this year, where Bardem won best actor for his role as an underworld businessman.

 

Festival director Daniela Michel told reporters at a Wednesday news conference that Gonzalez Inarritu, Bardem and Argentine actress Maricel Alvarez will attend the film fest, which runs from Oct. 16-24. "Biutiful" will screen out of competition.

 

Also programmed for this year's event is a retrospective spanning the career of Terry Gilliam, which includes all 12 of his feature films. Gilliam will be on hand as a special guest.

 

More than 80 Mexican films will screen in competition, with seven fiction works from first- and second-time directors. The feature films in the official selection comprise Jorge Michel Grau...