Filmmaker Spike Lee to be honored at Expresión en Corto
By Atención staff July 11, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Only one week away, the eleventh edition of the Expresión en Corto International Film Festival, Mexico’s largest competitive film festival and the most prestigious of its kind in Latin America, kicks off on Friday, July 18 in San Miguel.

This year’s international tribute recipient is American filmmaker Spike Lee, who receives his tribute on Thursday, July 24, at 9pm in the Auditorio del Estado in Guanajuato. Few directors have captured the identity of their own personal culture and heritage better than Spike Lee. And no one can deny Mr. Lee’s contribution and legacy to African American film and culture. A week-long retrospective of his work will showcase cinema that broke away from the established conventions and for the first time introduced wide audiences to several previously overlooked identities. These films will include his landmark Do The Right Thing, the incendiary biography Malcolm X, the drama Get on the Bus, the thriller Summer of Sam, the character study 25th Hour, and the two award-winning documentaries 4 Little Girls, recounting the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, and When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, depicting the aftermath of New Orleans in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

Lee, never shying away from controversy, is one of America’s most fascinating and influential directors, both on screen and off. Lee will discuss his early career, successful start as an independent filmmaker, current status as one of Hollywood’s top directors, and his upcoming film Miracle at St. Anna, among other projects, during a Master’s Class to be held on Thursday, July 24, in the Auditorio del Estado at noon.

As always, the festival features a variety of special programs and screenings running parallel to its international competition, tributes and retrospectives. Among the most highly anticipated of these is the “Movies with Mummy” program, which this year has been personally curated by none other than horror master John Carpenter. Carpenter’s program of terror will be screened at Midnight in San Miguel’s Panteon Municipal (Municipal Graveyard) that runs parallel to Salida a Celaya, just past the Hotel Real de Minas. The double feature on July 19 consists of the psychological slash-fest Suspiria (1977) by Italian horror guru Dario Argento and the schlocky and bizarre Forbidden Zone (1980) by Richard Elfman. Sunday’s double feature presents the bloodlust that is Last House On The Left (1972) by Wes Craven and the comedic-slapstick-horror masterpiece Evil Dead 2 (1987) by Sam Raimi. Seating in the graveyard is extremely limited, and the festival recommends you arrive early, as lines start forming down the block at around 10pm.

The Kunsthaus Santa Fe art gallery inaugurates an exhibition curated by Ana Quiroz entitled X-TINCT SPECIES on Saturday, July 19 at 10:30pm. The opening is immediately followed by the traditional screening of Midnight Madness, featuring sexually diverse and erotic film. Some of the highlights of this year’s program, which runs both Saturday July 19 and Sunday July 20 at 11pm, includes programs from the New Delhi-based Nigah Queerfest, the Mumbai-based Vikalp Films For Freedom, Frameline’s selection of LGBT films from India, plus a special selection of shorts that were just too risqué for competition, curated by the festival’s randy programming department!

The festival also recommends that you catch the Bad Girls program, curated by Bronwyn Kidd, the director of Flickerfest, Australia’s best short film festival. It’s a funny and uplifting, laugh-out-loud look at girls behaving badly on the international screen. From naughty grandmothers to sexy sirens these girls certainly don’t fit any stereotypes! Expect miss-behavior!

In the documentary showcase, the festival recommends Between Insanity and Art—The Collection of Dr. Prinzhorn by German director Christian Beetz. This film follows the history of Dr. Prinzhorn’s revolution through his patient’s art, one of the world’s largest collections created by schizophrenic patients, which was as influential in psychiatric theory as it was in the art world of the 1920’s. And in the International Documentary Competition the festival highly recommends Kids+Money, a must-see doc for all parents (and their children) who are beginning to tackle the realities of everyday economics.

Expresión en Corto is a state-sponsored, nonprofit, cultural event that does not charge admission to its screenings. Seating availability is based upon a first-come, first-serve basis. To assure your entry, the festival recommends arriving at least half an hour early for the inauguration and tributes, and fifteen minutes early for most screenings. Next week’s July 18 issue of Atención will feature a special insert dedicated to the San Miguel portion of the film festival. For complete information on events, activities and official festival programming in both cities, please consult the festival’s website: www.expresionencorto.com. 

Cinemateca, July 14–20, 2008 

José Luis Pick’n’tip

Buddy

Do opposites attract and how can they really fall in love? That’s the premise of the romantic comedy It Had to Be You. It’s the story of a wacky actress who’s a “late bloomer” and searching for two miracles—a man to love and success in her career.

This movie may come off as a typical Hollywood boy-meets-girl romantic comedy, but it is so much more than that. Kristoffer and his friends like to pull stunts similar to those of Johnny Knoxville and his “Jackass” friends, all while recording them with his mini-recorder. A stunt goes awry and Kristoffer’s tapes are confiscated by a local TV station. They subsequently offer Kristoffer and his on-camera buddies a segment on a popular network talk show. Upon becoming insta-celebs, the bond Kristoffer shares between his friends is tested when a few truths and secrets are revealed on national television. There’s romance, comedy, drama—maybe even a little heartbreak. Nicolai Cleve Broch will make American audiences swoon. I would love to see this film or subsequent films featuring him break into the mainstream. He could be a real movie-world leading man.

The Tip Important: In order to provide the best viewing experience, the show times for some movies may be adjusted to accommodate their length. Be sure to check the schedule carefully. I also want to remind you of our new ticket price: 50 pesos and discount cards buy 12 shows for 450 pesos. Starting Monday, after 11am, buy your tickets in advance for any movie or show of the week. If you have a discount card, collect your pass to secure a seat; don’t take the risk of being locked out. Would you like to receive this info by email? Write to José Luis at alephamour@hotmail.com.  Thank you.


Nordic Movie Fest


The Movies

Jesus Camp (2006)  Wednesday, July 16 at 5pm English, Political documentary, 84 minutes Directors: Rachel Grady, Heidi Ewing

This riveting Oscar-nominated documentary offers an unfiltered look at a revivalist subculture where devout Christian youngsters are being primed to deliver the fundamentalist community’s religious and political messages. Building an evangelical army of tomorrow, the Kids on Fire summer camp in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, is dedicated to deepening the preteens’ spirituality and sowing the seeds of political activism as they’re exhorted to “take back America for Christ.”

Hunger (Sult, 1966) Friday, July 18 at 5pm Scandinavia, Danish with English subtitles, 112 minutes Director: Henning Carlsen Cast: Per Oscarsson, Gunnel Lindblom, Birgitte Federspiel, Knud Rex, Hans W. Petersen

Per Oscarsson won the Best Actor Award at Cannes for his stunning portrayal of a starving writer in this gripping Danish drama based on a novel by Nobel laureate Knut Hamsun. Struggling to survive in 1890s Norway, Pontus (Oscarsson) believes in himself and refuses to take charity, preferring to scrounge for food on the street. He suffers hallucinations and often talks to his shoes, but he never gives up his hope for future success.

Buddy (2003)
Monday, July 14 at 5pm
Scandinavia, Norwegian with English subtitles, 100 minutes
Director: Morten Tyldum, Cast: Nicolai Cleve Broch, Aksel Hennie, Kim Haugen, Janne Formoe, Pia Tjelta 

Kristoffer Haukeland (Nicolai Cleve Broch), a 24-year-old billboard hanger, never expected his video diary to end up on Norwegian national television. But when his innermost thoughts air on the popular talk show Karsten Tonight—along with footage of him pulling outrageous stunts with his best friend, Geir (Aksel Hennie)—it turns Kristoffer’s already rocky love life with Elisabeth (Janne Formoe) on its head.

Cool & Crazy (2001)  Monday, July 14 at 3pm Scandinavia, Norwegian with English subtitles, 89 minutes Director: Knut Erik Jensen

The men in the village of economically struggling Berlevag, Norway, have three choices: fish, sing or leave. In this documentary, we get an inside look at the men of the Berlevag Male Choir (who range in age from early twenties to the choir’s elder statesman in his mid-nineties), as we follow their rehearsals and performances in their hometown and in Murmansk, Russia.



Kids Movies: Cartoons
Saturday, July 19 at noon

The future of your food

Film Screenings
The Seed UnderGround & The Future of Food
Fri–Sun, July 11–13, 11am & 1pm daily
Cinema Colectiva
5 de Mayo 5, Mineral de Pozos
50-peso donation

Pozos filmmaker Cynthia Buzzard presents selected scenes from her latest documentary project, The Seed UnderGround, which draws from the heroes of San Miguel and Oaxaca who are defending Mexico’s native seeds from extinction.

In association with Vida Verde of San Miguel, The Seed UnderGround joins the growing global movement working against contamination of our food supply by genetically modified organisms.

Shot on location in May and June, the documentary features Jesús León Santos of the Mixteca region of Oaxaca, recipient of the 2008 Goldman Environmental Prize which honors grassroots environmentalists; Valerie Nadeau, owner of Arbol de la Vida, an organic farmer of Ciudad Oaxaca and member of El Pochote, the farmer’s market founded by Oaxaqueño Francisco Toledo; and Amado Ramírez Leyva, owner of Itanoni Restaurant of Ciudad Oaxaca, who specializes in handmade criollo tortillas that shout political clout.

This film makes you hungry for fresh food and fairness. The Seed UnderGround screens with The Future of Food each day of the Pozos ArtWalk. A portion of proceeds benefits Vida Verde of San Miguel.

Cinema Colectiva is Number 3 on the ArtWalk map, one block west of the Jardín Principal and Casa Montana. For ArtWalk transportation reservations, call 01 (442) 293-0091. Blogsite: www.theseedunderground.blogspot.com.