GIFF eyes a Mexicomorphosis

Metamorphosis means change and we live in a country that is in desperate need of one. At the Guanajuato International Film Festival, the Mexicomorphosis section isn’t just a way to honor one of the great works of literature that turns 100 this year, but a space to reflect on our country’s most recent events and find a way to make a change. Can we make that change through cinema? At GIFF we believe we can, which is why we present two conferences on important topics for Mexico.

EXCUSING OR FIGHTING CRIME IN CINEMA

The fight against drugs and organized crime in our country has crossed the borders of reality and sneaked into cinema screens where we find a space for directors to tell stories about Mexico and its people, confronting us with those difficult situations that other media look away from. Cinema seeks to build a path toward consciousness and action. Cinema opens up a space for dialogue on what we are, what hurts us and what we can do as human beings and as a society. To talk about this topic, we have invited a panel of four Mexican filmmakers, all of whom have left their mark by exploring crime in their movies: Amat Escalante (Heli), Carlos Bolado (Colosio, el Asesinato), Gerardo Naranjo (Miss Bala) y Luis Mandoki (La Vida Precoz y Breve de Sabina Rivas).

It will take place in the Auditorium of the University of Guanajuato on Friday July 24^th at 4:00 pm.

AYOTZINAPA- NOT A MOMENT OF SILENCE

The students of the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural School in Ayotzinapa, Tixtla de Guerrero, Guerrero, has become a cause akin to the fight for human rights against the forced disappearance of people, stemming from the disappearance of 43 of them on the 26th and 27th of September 2014 in the city of Iguala. Ever since this unfortunate occurrence, our society has joined for protest in the streets, in the media, but more than anywhere, on social networks demanding answers. Mexica has transformed into different social movements, launched mainly by the light of hope. On this panel we will talk about what Ayotzinapa means for Mexico and what cinema can do for this fight. For this panel, we have invited Epigmenio Ibarra (founder of Argos), Eréndira Ibarra (actress), Carolina Jiménez (Adjunct Director of Amnesty International Latinamerica) Omar García (memeber of the Student Council where the missing students studied)andy Vidulfo Rosales (Human Rights Defendor, Director of the NGO Tlachinollan). It will take place at the Auditorium of the University of Guanajuato on Thursday July 23^rd at 12:00 pm.