A big thank you to Nina Rodríguez, GIFF Director of Programming, who will be attending the 2018 St Kilda Film Festival as this year’s international guest for taking the time to answer some questions.
What was the first movie that you fell in love with?
I grew up in Germany in the 80s and loads of amazing films based on childrens books came out during that time.
One of the first films I remember watching in a cinema was Momo, based on Michael Endes book. Rather than in love I´d say I was scared to death by it – sort of a postapocalyptic take on the concepts of time and money with haunting materialist baby dolls repeating “i´d like more things” over and over again in a robotic voice and armys of grey men constantly smoking…so not sure what exactly I made of it at six-year-old but I certainly got quiet a good idea of the magic of cinema out of the experience.
A lot of my childhood memories also mix with images from the swedish Astrid Lindgren adaptations- not sure if theyre known or were even released in Australia but the Pipi Longstocking series etc are all fantastic productions and I remained a huge fan of swedish cinema ever since.
What is the Guanajuato International Film Festival?
The Guanajuato International Film Festival is an annual massive celebration of all kinds& formats of cinema and other related arts& media. A platform for young, aspiring and experimenting filmmakers in Latinamerica in which our main idea and strength has always been to join forces bringing the industry´s most exerienced experts together with students and new adventurers of the moving image to share their knowledge with our enthusiastic audience of cinefiles in an atmosphere of camraderie while our film selections are also highly competitive.
GIFF was born from the idea ( and need) of “opening up” the concept of what cinema is and who can participate- being inclusive is one of our primary concerns and involves basic things like the fact that all our events and screenings are free of charge and open to all audiences, a lot of them are held in unconventional paces including the most amazing colonial theaers, the municipal graveyards and a lot of outdoor venues as well…. likewise, we were the first festival in Mexico to accept films shot on video for example.
This totally works vice versa- the enthusiastic atmosphere is extremely inspiring for the reknowned filmmakers weve been able to attract ( including Oliver Stone, Danny Boyle, Darren Aronofsky, Bong Joon Ho, Alejandro Gonzales Iñarritu or most recently Peter Weir) and reminds more seasoned professionals of their starting days and the essence of why theyre doing what they do.
How has digital film making changed the Guanajuato International Film Festival?
Funny youre asking that today- we just closed our call for entries and I had this facebook reminder pop up from two years ago- a picture of a pile of postal packages which alrready had gotten smaller by then. I also shared a nostalgic moment with a filmmaker today remembering the screening of his first short on 35mm in one of our colonial theaters with literal tears in our eyes and goosebumps pretty much all due to the format itself. I am totally romantic about film as a medium and wed try to have a few screenings on actual film where possible.
When I started working for festivals, it was VHSs that had to be shipped around the world and actually looked terrible. Loads of format issues had to be overcome since and today of course its amazing that someone from Australia can have an idea, create it on his phone and send me a film he finished hours ago to watch that same minute and it looks brilliant on the screen and I can project it for a large audience minutes later- I have great hopes that this type of facilitated story sharing will have a positive influence on the future.
Also the financial aspect and access to technology gives both the artists and the programmers more freedom as there are constantly new ideas that can be shown in different contexts and while a discussion has been going on forever about the supposed death of cinema and people only watching things on their phone It also makes me feel that the screening as an event has become more special again.
What is the most significant Mexican film that people might not have heard of?
Oh wow, tough one. Generally I´d say its more the huge variety of Mexican films that might be overloooked. And even the biggest classics, like Maria Candelaria or Buñuels Los Olvidados – I dont assume many people in the audience would have seen them? I recently got a chance to watch La formula secreta by Ruben Gamez on a big screen again – its considered a classic but its almost unavailable….
My favourite film from over ten years working at the festival is called WE ARE MARI PEPA about four teenagers in a punk band. Both the storytelling as well as the films production setup are a perfect example of what we want to create a platform for. Not sure you can find the feature but there was a short film version before that we didn’t include in the program screening at St Kilda since its available online already so you should definitely watch it!
What Can festival goes expect from the Guanajuato International Film Festival season?
We picked a variety of styles& genres from the best Mexican shorts of our festivals past editions- so hopefully quiet some surprises 😉
There’s great animations being made in Mexico and we did include a singing skeleton of course. Its also a known fact that some of the best cinematographers are Mexican so be prepared for some breathtaking imagery. We´ll take you on a ride through Mexico City and to a fiesta, naturally.
Guanajuato International Film Festival Program