Acapulco International Film Festival Opens Today

(Acapulco, AN 7 December) The sixth annual Acapulco International Festival of Film will kick off today with opening ceremonies at the San Diego Fort and a press preview of the documentary Vuelve a la Vida (“Come Back to Life”) in the Cinépolis Galerías Diana. The film is a presentation of the Mexican Cinematographic Institute. The documentary will be shown at 11 am for the press, and then later on for the public. The film traces the relationship between fashion model Robin Sidney and an Acapulqueño diver, Hilario Martínez Perro Largo. The public showing will be at Caleta beach, and the director will hold a discussion with the audience.

The film festival will continue through Saturday, December 11. Formal opening ceremonies at Fort San Diego are scheduled for 7:00 pm today, when the “Golden Jaguar” prize will be presented to actress Lorena Velásquez for her career achievements. Then the crowd will have the chance to see Más Allá Del Muro (“Beyond the Wall”), a Mexican film by Luis Eduardo Reyes.

Other films to be shown during the festival are Social Networking by David Fincher, El Turista by Florian Heckel, and Los Ojos de Julia de Guillem Morales (“The Eyes of Julias de Guillem Morales”), produced by Guillermo del Toro. The Festival will also make a special recognition of the career achievements of Mexican actor Fernando Luján. The Mexican Cinematographic Institute will present a second documentary, Un Día Menos (“One Day Less”) by Daniela Ludlow Deloya.

On the academic side, there will be a round table discussion on the preservation of film archives and the legacy of Mexican film. Juan Carlos Rulfo, a prestigious movie director, will offer a class on the subject: “Producing Films on a Small Budget.”