The Guanajuato International Film Festival comes to a close and to end on a high note, the Closing Ceremony will take place at the Juárez Theater. Before the event you can enjoy the Red Carpet event where celebrities, special guests and festival organizers will walk.
The 21st edition of GIFF was a success in its two locations. We enjoyed the best of cinema from morning to dawn with a selection of 340 films in exhibition, 154 of which competed in the Official Selection.
We also celebrated 100 years of the birth of Ingmar Bergman with the program A Summer with Bergman, which included a conference and screenings of four of his masterpieces. GIFF also commemorated social movements from 1968 with a selection of films that remind us of the importance of this year and put these events in a new light.
Lebanon was the Spotlight Country and Guanajuato was filled with the enthusiasm and richness of their culture. We enjoyed a selection of their classic films, documentaries and contemporary films that reflect an industry at its peak searching to leave its mark internationally. Within this cultural approach, Lebanese filmmaker Ghassan Salhab received the Silver Cross in recognition of his career.
The national tributes included Mexican actor Damián Alcázar, who received a tribute for his career that has always been guided by talent and sensibility. The Women in Film and Television Association recognized the contributions of Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki, recently awarded at Cannes for her film Capharnaum, as well as the notable careers of actress Pilar Pellicer and television producer Carmen Armendáriz.
The Music + Films program made us dance and enjoy their concerts, along with special presentations of documentaries that no doubt increased our capability of enjoying different musical expressions. Besides creating and renovating important creative and working relationships, GIFF offered spaces of reflection with conferences, special presentations for all kinds of audiences, workshops, classes and a wide variety of events that channeled the concerns of fans for an art that is also, among many things, an industry and technology.
This entire kaleidoscope of experiences and emotions are now in the memories of all who lived through GIFF this year. For this and more, the Guanajuato International Film Festival is thankful for the participation of every single one of our guests, organizers, participants and general audience, who made this new edition of GIFF in the beautiful cities of our two Human Heritage cities a success.