Prestigious Mexican film fest features Chile as guest of honor
The 34th edition of the Guadalajara International Film Festival kicked off Friday in this western Mexican city, an event that features Chile as guest of honor and a roster of 295 fiction and documentary offerings from different parts of the world.
A total of 113 films are entered in the Official Competition at the week-long festival, which concludes on March 15 and is regarded as the most prestigious event of its kind in Latin America.
Films from Latin America, Spain and Portugal will be in the running for Mayahuel awards (the top prizes) in categories that include best fiction film, best documentary, best director, best actor, best actress and best screenplay.
Mezcal awards (for which only Mexican films are eligible) will be handed out in the categories of best picture, best actor, best actress, best cinematography and best director.
Other awards will be conferred for best animated short and best animated feature film at the festival.
Outside of the Official Competition, the Maguey award (for films that promote sexual diversity) also will be handed out in three categories: best acting, honorable mention and best picture.
English director Hugh Hudson, Spanish producer Esther Garcia, American actor Peter Fonda, Chilean producer Juan de Dios Larrain and Mexican actress Blanca Guerra will be among the recipients of honorary Mayahuel awards in recognition of their career achievements in different cinematic areas.
During the festival, leading figures in the world of cinema such as Fonda; Mexican actor Diego Luna ; Eugenio Caballero, who was nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best Production Design for his work on Alfonso Cuaron’s 2018 film “Roma,” winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film; American documentary filmmaker and producer Carl Deal; and American animation and visual effects expert Kevin Scott will all give talks on different aspects of the cinematic arts.
Chile, for its part, has sent a delegation that includes 40 filmmakers, producers and film professionals.
A total of eight Chilean films will be screened as part of the Official Competition, while 24 pictures will be shown as part of a special section devoted to contemporary cinema from that South American country, including some old movies that have been recently restored.
The guest of honor will screen films including “Gloria Bell,” a picture directed by Sebastian Lelio that is an English-language adaptation of Lelio’s award-winning Chilean-Spanish drama film “Gloria” (2013); “Lemebel,” a documentary that took home the Teddy Award for LGBT-related films at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival; “Perro bomba,” a fiction film on the topic of immigration; and “Cola de mono,” directed by writer Alberto Fuguet.
By Mariana Gonzalez
