2nd Annual Baja Film Festival Opens in Cabo San Lucas
The second annual Baja International Film Festival opened last night amid much fanfare, with some of the brightest stars of Mexican film and television walking the red carpet at the Pabellón Cultural de La República in Cabo San Lucas.
Crowds lined the entrance of the Cultural Pavilion hoping for glimpses of their favorite actors and actresses—Daniel Giménez Cacho, Ana de la Reguera, José María de Tavira, Alfonso Herrera, Irene Azuela and Hugo Stiglitz were among the many prestigious attendees—and the second edition of Baja’s answer to Cannes and Sundance kicked off in style with a screening of the opening night film, Metegol (Foosball), an animated feature from Academy Award-winning Argentine director Juan José Campanella.
Crowds lined the red carpet at the Pabellón Cultural de La República in Cabo San Lucas, hoping for glimpses of their favorite stars on opening night of the second annual Baja International Film Festival.
Other highlights of last night’s opening ceremonies, overseen by festival director Alonso Aguilar-Castillo, included a special recognition, presented by Ana de la Reguera, for the work of Canadian writer and director Philippe Falardeau, who garnered an Oscar nomination in 2011 for his film Monsieur Lazhar.
At an afternoon press conference, Campanella, who won a coveted Best Foreign Film Oscar for his 2009 drama El Secreto de Sus Ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes), discussed the genesis and journey of his current film, Metegol, which took more than three years to complete.
The presence of the acclaimed Latin American director is a coup for the festival, which will also host special guests Charlie Sheen and iconic British filmmaker Peter Greenaway. Best known for his 1989 film The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Greenaway will appear to discuss his latest project, Eisenstein in Guanajuato.
This year’s Baja International Film Festival will be the site of several highly anticipated screenings, including the world premiers of the films El Charro Misterioso by director José Manuel Cravioto, Volando Bajo by Beto Gómez, Bering: Balance and Resistance by Lourdes Grobet, Natural Philosophy of Love by Sebastián Hiriart, and LuTo by Katina Medina Mora. Mexican premiers will include Fading Gigolo from actor and director John Turturro, the Matthew McConaughey vehicle Dallas Buyers Club, and Only Lovers Left Alive from Jim Jarmusch, acclaimed director of cult favorites such as Down by Law, Mystery Train, and Night on Earth.
The ultimate goal of the festival, which continues through Sunday, November 17, is to build a bridge between the film industries in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Today’s screenings begin at noon in the Cinemex at Puerto Paraiso and conclude this evening with a showing of El Objeto Antes Llamado Disco: La Película, a documentary about the latest album from the Mexican band Café Tacuba that will be shown at 7 p.m. at the Pabellón Cultural de La República. For more information about the movie schedule for the second annual Baja Film Festival, download a program here.