MexiCannes and Tinseltown: Expresión en Corto not short on success
By Daniel Kandell May 23, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Photo caption:  Standing: Georges Goldenstern and Sarah Hoch; seated (left to right): Nikias Chryssos, Rebecca Daly, Manuel Nieto, Yan Heng and Adrian Sitaru

A partnership between the Cannes Film Festival and Expresión en Corto, Mexico’s largest film festival, was announced May 17 in Cannes, France. Called “MexiCannes,” the summer residency program in the city of Guanajuato will help a dozen young filmmakers advance their careers through a series of master classes and workshops and will afford them the chance to make connections for funding their films. 

Sarah Hoch, head of Expresión en Corto, said that the project was developed to foster a relationship among some of the world’s most promising young filmmakers and give them the opportunity to meet Mexican directors, screenwriters and actors. She added that Mexican cinema currently has a strong international reputation and the time is right for Mexico to support new cinematic talent. 

Mexican filmmaker Francisco Vargas has been chosen to take part in the residency program, and scholarships will be awarded to Mexican filmmakers who have garnered honors at past festivals at Cannes. The film production company Hyde Park, headquartered in India, will grant a scholarship to a film director from that country. 

The director of Cannes Cinéfundation, Georges Goldenstern, said that this endeavor will mark the beginning of a long and prosperous relationship between the two festivals and that the program’s directors and he are eager to travel to Mexico. This year, Expresión en Corto will be held from July 18 to 27 in San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato. 

On April 26, Expresión en Corto was launched in California during the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA). The reception took place at the ArcLight Hollywood theater, the main venue for the IFFLA, located in Hollywood.

In attendance at the cocktail reception were Sarah Hoch, director of Expresión en Corto; Christina Marouda, president of the IFFLA; Arnold Peter, a partner in the entertainment law firm RPRS; Jorge Gamboa, director of the Mexico Tourism Board in Los Angeles; and several Indian, Mexican, American and international producers, directors, writers and actors.

RPRS treated guests from the IFFLA and the Los Angeles film community to a special dinner in honor of Expresión en Corto and the Indian cinema industry at an Indian restaurant called Tantra. San Miguel chef Dilshan, owner of Dila’s, was flown in from San Miguel to prepare a special meal of Mexican/Indian fusion food for the event.

Expresión en Corto has already received more than 1,500 films from 88 countries in its international competition (200 more than last year) and attendance this year is expected to be in excess of 77,000. The festival offers a unique and dynamic platform to celebrate the next generation of filmmakers. The nonprofit festival offers a variety of screenings, workshops for children, conferences and activities at no cost.

For more information, see www.expresionencorto.com and www.indianfilmfestival.org. 

Cinemateca, May 23–31

Together (Tillsammans, 2000)
Monday, May 26 at 5pm
Tuesday, May 27 at 3pm
Scandinavian Comedy, Swedish with English subtitles, 102 minutes
Director: Lukas Moodysson
Cast: Lisa Lindgren, Michael Nyqvist, Emma Samuelsson

In seventies Sweden, abused wife Elisabeth (Lisa Lindgren) leaves her husband (Michael Nyqvist) and takes the couple’s daughter and son to live with her brother Göran (Gustav Hammarsten), who resides in a small house with other communal hippies. The largely leftist group living in the commune shares household chores—and occasionally bedroom arrangements—in this fascinating film about the last gasp of free living and free love in Sweden.



Jean de Florette (1986)
Monday, May 26 at 7pm
Manon of the Spring (1986)
Thursday, May 29 at 5pm
French drama, French with English subtitles, 120 minutes each.
Director: Claude Berri
Cast: Yves Montand, Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil, Elisabeth Depardieu, Margarita Lozano, Ernestine Mazurowna, Armand Meffre, Emmanuelle Béart

Two men (Yves Montand and Daniel Auteuil) scheme to acquire a neighboring farm by preventing a natural spring from flowing, a water source that the new owner, Jean (Gérard Depardieu), needs for his crops. In Manon of the Spring, Jean’s grown daughter (Emmanuelle Beart) goes after the two men with a fierce vengeance worthy of her proud and courageous heritage.



Winner of Best Documentary at the Boston Film Festival
Lost and Found in Mexico
Monday, May 26 at 3pm 
Documentary, English, 53 minutes.
Writer/director/producer: Caren Cross.

Lost and Found in Mexico explores the question: What lies on the other side of the American dream? This quirky documentary explores the lives of Americans who chose to leave their hard-working, successful and fast-paced lives to live in San Miguel, where leisurely conversations take place in the main square, burros walk the streets and people find their hearts engaged in living once again. While many Mexicans are leaving families behind and risking their lives to cross the border to a better life, this film focuses on the Americans who have decided to cross in the other direction—for a simpler life. All proceeds benefit the Mexican kids’ scholarships.



Under the Sun (Under Solen, 1998)
Tuesday, May 27 at 7pm
Friday, May 30 at 5pm
Scandinavian Drama, Swedish with English subtitles, 118 minutes
Director: Colin Nutley
Cast: Rolf Lassgård, Helena Bergstrom, Johan Widerberg

Lonely, middle-aged Swedish farmer Olef (Rolf Lassgard) has only one friend—hired hand Erik (Johan Widerberg). One day, Olef decides to hire a housekeeper—the beautiful and irresistible Ellen (Helena Bergstrom). Almost instantaneously, complications set in as a love triangle develops between the three. Based on the short story “The Little Farm” by H.E. Bates.



Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt, 1927)
Tuesday, May 27 at 5pm
Thursday, May 29 at Noon
Silent film, English subtitles, 72 minutes
Director: Walter Ruttmann

Beginning at dawn and ending at midnight, this innovative documentary chronicles a day in the life of Berlin in the late twenties. Director Walter Ruttman’s “symphony” presents Berliners working hard by day and, later, enjoying the city’s boisterous nightlife. The feature-length montage, created less than 20 years before the Nazi occupation, includes such sequences as a shot of pedestrians on the street followed by a brief clip of a herd of cows.

.