Sunday, March 4, 2012

FICG27: Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara


The Inauguration of the 27th Guadalajara International Film Festival was held last night at Auditorio Telmex (a familiar venue), and thanks to a ticket donation made to the consulate, I found myself attending my very first red carpet event!

The week-long gala, held each March in Guadalajara, is considered to be the most prestigious film festival in Latin America.

TJ was able to attend last year's event, and had a blast. Something about sitting right behind Willem Dafoe. The Green Goblin! I was jealous. This year he left the tickets for someone else, wanting to share the wealth. Oddly, there were no takers, so he giddily snagged the tickets at the last minute and we both got to go.

Sadly, there were no Willem Dafoe sightings, but we did lay eyes on cutie Kuno Becker, whom I have never heard of but made the ladies go wild.

A different country is selected as the Festival's "Invited Guest" each year, and this time around the honor fell to the United Kingdom (TJ tells me that Israel took the reins last year).

After a brief awards ceremony in which Mexican actor Gabriel Retes received the Silver Mayahuel award and Cuban-American actor Andy Garcia (Oceans 11, Godfather III, The Untouchables) received the Ibero-American Mayahuel award, British directer Mike Leigh was presented with the Guadalajara International Award.

Brief remarks were made by British Ambassador to Mexico Judith Macgregor, after which Mike Leigh's film, Another Year, played for a full house. The film explores the lives of a happily married couple whose friends and family are experiencing love, loss, loneliness, and emotional despair...sometimes all at once. Throughout the film, the husband and wife prove to be the rock for a myriad of characters who ultimately find no resolution. And why should they? Real life doesn't reach a satisfying conclusion. We all simply struggle through just another year at a time.

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