Edition 2018

“Vive le cinéma!” More than a fragment of a herring or a great battle cry, the phrase “Long live cinema” resounds in our hearts to establish a link between Nuevo León and the international film panorama. Even though, the correct term should be “the emotional panorama”. What is cinema but emotions?

The seventh art makes us part of a collective encounter, of a blind trust in a reality that is projected at 24 frames per second, sometimes more raw and volatile or sometimes beautiful and immortal. The power of cinema has no borders and thanks to the Lumiêre Brothers, the citizens of Nuevo León keep demonstrating it year after year. Therefore we don’t have a claim as valuable as the following: “Vive le cinéma! Nuevo León, je t’aime!”

With the arrival of France, as our Guest Country, we decided to renew our commitment to the exhibit cinema of the highest quality so that the process of catharsis may be reciprocal among the audience of Nuevo León, that this process may be accessible to the little ones and also to the older ones.

The 14th Monterrey International Film Festival had the honor of settling for the duration of eight days in 49 venues where 15,239 attendees in 15 municipalities had the opportunity to be moved by watching 196 films screened throughout 193 projections. Monterrey listened to the stories of 233 directors and was also able to admire part of the cultural and social context of 54 countries.

Once more we seek to establish a connection between the duty of filmmaking and the growing local industry. The reinforcement of the anecdotes narrated through each screen, not only enriches our national cultural heritage but also shapes a new generation of audiences and storytellers. We had the privilege of offering versatile content, which included 33 world premieres.

Thanks to the latter, 120 days of cinematographic activity were fulfilled, the mission of gathering and sharing the best of contemporary cinema in Monterrey was strongly supported throughout the whole process. Therefore in this edition 2018 the tributes were unquestionably given to giants of the global film panorama, the stories of Claire Denis, Pierre-Henri Deleau (both recognized with the International Career Achievement Tribute), Bertha Navarro (Mexican Career Achievement Tribute) and Blanca Guerra (Icon of Mexican Cinema) will remains in the collective imagination of the world due to their outstanding work.

With joy we celebrate the transformation of the Student Short Film Showcase  (MECE)  into an independent section of a national-level competition: KinoStart, which is complemented by KinoStart LAB; a training space for young filmmakers. This effort gave voice to 32 emerging directors.

For the third time in a row, talks and speeches were held at the Northeastern Encounter of Women in Film, which left 203 people reflecting about the journey of our film activity. And also there were an endless number of films and activities that moved the hearts of the audience, such as the competitive film selections, the international film exhibitions, the Film Critic Seminar, Isaac Ezban’s master class in the third edition of the FlashForward program or the talks by our international and national career achievement tributes; among other events.

We can leave aside that the film festival visited 10 municipalities outside the metropolitan area of Monterrey and did various screening in the Centro de Internamiento y Adaptación de Adolescentes Infractores  (CIAAM, Center for Internment and Adaptation of Adolescent Offenders) and the Centro de Readaptación Social (CE.RE.SO., Center for Social Readaptation), and also visited different universities and high schools to reinforce transformation through ideas.

As jurors we counted with the presence of Erick Estrada, founder of Cinegarage, Kenya Márquez, director, producer and screenwriter, and Miguel del Moral, director of CutOut Fest, who judged the International Feature Films in Competition. While Josh Leake, the founder of executive director of the Portland Film Festival, Laurence Garret, independent French filmmaker, and Martin Horyna, programmer of multiple festivals, including Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, formed the Mexican Feature Film Jury.

We also had the participation of Helena Canhoto, actress, producer and Portuguese director, Isidoro Hamui, who is a cultural manager and the director of the Jewish Film Festival in Mexico, and Mariano Rentería Garnica, self-taught director and photographer, as members of the Jury for the Short film Competition. Finally, the jury for the KinoStart competition was composed by the filmmaker Alberto Marcos, the cultural promoter and screenwriter Brittmarie Hidalgo-Fritzinger, and the producer Luna Marán.

The 2018 edition of the Film Festival was possible thanks to the constant support of CONARTE, the Ministry of Culture, Cinépolis, the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL), the Embassy of France in Mexico, Aeroméxico / Delta, Art Kingdom and many other sponsors. Each sponsorship is invaluable to sustain the preparation and execution of the film festival.

Winners

Best Mexican Feature Film
Los débiles directed by Raúl Rico y Eduardo Giralt Brun

Best Mexican Documentary Feature Film
M-1 directed by Luciano Pérez Savoy

Best Nuevo León Feature Film
La distancia directed by Andrea Martínez (Ricardo Andrés)

Mention of the Jury, Directing
Los días más oscuros de nosotras directed by Astrid Rondero

Best International Animation Feature Film
La Casa Lobo directed by Cristóbal León y Joaquín Cocina (Chile)

Best International Documentary Feature Film
Eastern Memories directed by Martti Kaartinen, Niklas Kullström (Finland)

Best International Feature Film
Kiss and Cry directed by Chloé Mahieu y Lila Pinell (France)

Mention of the Jury,  International Feature Film
Sambá directed by Israel Cárdenas y Laura Amelia Guzmán (Dominican Republic)

Mention of the jury, International Narrative Short Film
Kampung Tapir directed by Aw See Wee (Malasia)

Mention of the Jury,  International Animation Short Film
Sirens directed by Julia Tudisco (Hungry)

Mention of the Jury,  Sound Design, Mexican Narrative Short Film
La huella directed by Carlos Alberto Andrade Montemayor

Best International Narrative Short Film
Casting directed by Katarzyna Iskra (Poland)

Best International Animation Short Film
Fox boy directed by Do-Yeon Tak (South Corea)

Best International Documentary Short Film
_galore directed by Bernd Lützeler (India – Germany)

Best Mexican Animation Short Film
Kvazar directed by Alan Girón Palau y Eric Rodríguez Carrillo

Best Mexican Documentary Short Film
Valentón directed by Luis Armando Sosa Gil

Best Mexican Narrative Short Film
Los ausentes directed by José Porfirio Lomas Hervert

Best Nuevo León Short Film
Olor a mercado directed by Luis Petranko

Best International Feature Film — Audience Award
It’s criminal directed by Signe Taylor

Best Mexican Feature Film — Audience Award
Ayotzinapa, el paso de la tortuga directed by Enrique García Meza.

KINOSTART

Best KinoStart Short Film 2018
Reset directed by Rodrigo Martín Jaffe

Mention of the Jury
Te quiero, Alejandra directed by Minerva Elisa Rivera Bolaños

Gallery