Monday, March 11, 2013

(ENG) Wednesday March 6, FICG

I headed to Zapopan today, I had never been to either Zapopan, or to MAZ (Museo de Arte, Zapopan) the contemporary art museum. I was astounded by the huge zócalo and the Basilica of our Lady of Zapopan.














More selections from  Premio Maguey: This time Programma Div.A, which included lots of animations from all over the world with GLBT and queer themes. I really liked ANYTHING by Lisa T. (also Lasse Persson). Here is Bikini: 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWufdlQYD9Y


ABSOLUTELY brilliant and fabulous. Here's the web site from Swedish Ecstasy Film:
http://www.swedishecstasyfilm.com/

I also really enjoyed a Mexican queer short called De Genero Humano. So lucky, it is on Vimeo.
https://vimeo.com/20454649

And another mexican short 5 razones por qué salir del closet con tu madre fue buena (mala) idea
(5 reasons why coming out to your mother was a good/bad idea). All in Spanish, but totally priceless.
https://vimeo.com/36576569


Then I went to the Iberian shorts (Program 5) in Cineforo back in the Centro. A hair raising bus ride later, i was there in time!
STAND OUT FAVORITE OF THE WHOLE FESTIVAL:
Musica para despuis de dormir directed by Nicolás Rojas (Music for after sleep)

It's so so so beautiful..it's not on vimeo or youtube. so here's a link to the description in Spanish.
http://www.quadratinoaxaca.com.mx/noticias/nota,68471/

and the FICG description in English.
https://www.ficg.mx/28/index.php/es/ci/798-musica-para-despues-de-dormir

composed of Mixteca actors, shot in the municipalidad of Tezoatlán, Oaxaca, México..in 35 MM film, it really is such a beautiful dreamlike piece about music, death and rebirth.

THEN.. i went to the very rumored about MEXICAN party..great music, beautiful location. I stayed til 2:30 am and the party was just getting started :-). Salsa, hip hop, cumbia Mexican style..and a few cheezy pop rock songs from the U.S. just to mix it up.






Sunday, March 10, 2013

(ENG) Tuesday March 5 FICG

Today I was preparing for our screening of INtransit V.7: dGen in Tlaquepaque, but I had a chance to go to the expo and see a really great film called El Efecto K: El Montador de Stalin, directed by Valentí Figueres.  Valentí is the director of a production company called Los Sueños de la Hormiga Roja (The dreams of the red ant), a company that produces film and television in Valencia, Spain. The film was done in voiceover, using really beautiful montage to tell the mysterious true life story of a Russian film editor, actor and spy who led a double life in the United States and Russia during the cold war. For those who love the merging of history, fiction, and montage, this film is really nice.
A trailer is here: https://vimeo.com/45841816





Then I headed to Tlaquepaque for the screening of INtransit V.7: dGen, a compilation I had worked on and brought to the film festival, through a collaboration with participants of a course on Genetics & Art offered as part of TRÁNSITOS.  TRÁNSITOS  is a 4 module course in transdisciplinary art research and production. This course was offered by and at the Centro Nacional de las Artes in Mexico City. The screening was hosted by a great art bar called La Mata Tinta.
Setting up for dGen


We got lots of good response and a nice letter to the group responsible for working with me to make the video compilation.



(ENG) Monday March 4, FICG

I started in the morning at the video library at FICG. This houses 600 titles by producers attending the festival..I could have been there all day.
Video Library at FICG


However, in the afternoon I headed to LARVA (Laboratorio de Arte Variedades), a really great art and performance space, and saw some selections from the significant offerings of the Premier Maguey, queer cinema at FICG. Premier Maguey was huge, really a festival in a festival.



I saw Call Me Kuchu, a documentary about GLBT issues in Uganda. It also documented the work of GLBT activist David Kato. It was produced by Malika Zouhall-Worrall and Katherine Fairfax Wright. Katherine was at the screening for a Q and A. A really great film the trailer is here: https://vimeo.com/27391482
A good article by Voice of America is here.
 http://www.voanews.com/content/documentary-looks-into-ugandas-activist-gay-community-141303483/180094.html

I also saw a great fiction film from Chile called Mapa Para Conversar directed by Fernández Constanza. Well wrought film about intergenerational tensions as a woman with a 6 year old son comes out to her mother. Here's the trailer: https://vimeo.com/11899123


Somehow I grabbed food..and also found a great vegetarian mexican cafeteria in the Centro.


(ENG) Saturday March 2, FICG






bus trip from Morelia

I arrived in Guadalajara Saturday afternoon via ETN from Mexico City..

Saturday night was spectacular. I really had a sense of the scale of the Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara (FICG). I went with Franziska Köslin, who is a producer of films. We took the shuttle to the Auditorio Telmex,  a really swanky and huge auditorium in Zapopan. TV Azteca was covering it live and the stars were coming. I felt distinctly underdressed, but fortunately our seats were very high up and far from the nicely dressed.


The highlight of the evening was introducing the honorees:
Ángelina Molina, a stunningly beautiful Spanish actress who is in this year's selection BlancaNieves (Snow White) and who was in Buñuel's  That Obscure Object of Desire

Also Ernesto Gómez Cruz, a well known and prolific Mexican Actor was honored. His filmography is here: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0350884/

Nordic Countries were honored in this year's film selections, and Jan Troell,  of Sweden was selected as the honoree director. He has done both documentary and fiction,.

Finally the film Kon-tiki was screened..it is in Swedish but it had Spanish subtitles. It is one of the most expensive Norwegian films produced and is about the voyage of Thor Heyerdahl and his team who sailed from Peru to Polynesia in 1947.

Monday, March 4, 2013

(ENG) Sunday March 3 FICG

Chiles en Nogada






In the morning, I got some groceries, watched the Via Recreativa open biking in the city, had lunch, and made my way to the expo. I had Chiles en Nogada from a small family restaurant, a fitting way to start out the whole event.



I started at the Expo at Guadalajara. this was "home base", a place I check in every morning to get tickets, pick up info, watch videos in the library, check mailbox.















I more or less figured out my schedule for the week:



Cinépolis, Guadalajara
Today most of my energy was at Cinéopolis. It is in a big mall, and is a multiplex cinema. the sound, image, and presentation of the films was really technically incredible. The only glitch came on the occasional DVD that skipped. I saw the last part of SHORT UP! #3, and all of SHORT UP #4. These are shorts on various topics that have been produced in Mexico. I will post the names of the shorts that I especially liked shortly. The Short Up! program is here:
https://www.ficg.mx/programademano/#/4/

Videos I saw and liked:

Program 3:
Clean is Good
A great mix of animation styles by Carlos Matiella
Carlos also has it on Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/30092511

Super creepy demon child film. Not my favorite but an unforgettable narrative.
Plutón y los planetas by Vonno Ambriz
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/42184622

Program 4: La Casa del Cine

I really enjoyed the seletions from La Casa del Cine
http://lacasadelcine.mx/
These were a series of mini-docs, many taking place in Mexico City.
My favorites were Sobre Ruedas by Alex Noppel, a great mini doc about bicycles and bicycle vendors. Awesome different types of camera shots, gave me some great ideas for documentary. Nice use of split screen.

I also liked Parentésis, well shot mini doc about fruit and vegetable vendors by Mónica Álverez. I also liked Belleza Expuesta (Beauty Exposed) also by Alex Noppel..about women getting beauty treatments in the Merced barrio in Mexico City. Watch the whole thing, it's a pleasure.  https://vimeo.com/49734523