Taking TFI to Morelia, Mexico

As our first 2012 submission cycle was drawing to a close two weeks ago, I was scurrying about with several pressing issues in mind: not just TFI’s move to a new office (!), but also our presence in two consecutive film festivals -- the Morelia International Film Festival and the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival. Amidst the flurry of submissions coming in (and the moving boxes slowly stacking up around my cubicle), I readied myself for these two trips abroad. While Morelia was already a familiar place to me (having been introduced to its wonderful festival last year), Jihlava was one that I -- and TFI as a whole -- had never been exposed to. Aware of these contrasts, I relished the opportunity for TFI to cement itself in both locations -- and I embraced the hectic 12-day travel that lay ahead for me (jetlag and all!)

First up: Morelia, Mexico. Unlike TFI's evening cocktail party at the festival last year, we decided to create something more enriching for Latin filmmakers this time around: a Master Class presentation where we could offer insights into our yearly funding structure and show scenes of a Latin Fund work-in-progress. Alba Mora Roca, the director of grantee project Toys, spearheaded the hour-long conversation at the Aula Mater on October 19th -- with me moderating the event.

Aided by Susana Casares (one of the producers of Toys), Alba discussed her evolution as a documentary filmmaker and the many creative roads that she has undertaken. The discussion ranged from her experiences at TFF 2011 and IDFAcademy to the hindrances and benefits of tackling a multimedia/hybrid project, and lastly, how current social issues plaguing Mexico opened up her purview as to how to best tell her story. A Q&A session followed and capped off the event, enabling the audience to ask questions about TFI’s funding resources.

In attendance at the Master Class event were Miguel Mier (COO of Cinepolis, and part of the CANACINE board) who came to support our partnership with them -- and participating filmmakers of the Morelia Labs, a workshop coordinated by Carlos Taibo and Andrea Stavenhagen that takes place during the festival for up-and-coming narrative and doc filmmakers with projects.

The roster of documentaries screened throughout the week also conveyed the festival’s (and the filmmakers’) strong concern for thoughtful storytelling and compelling characterizations. The documentary shorts program provided audiences with an array of unconventional subjects, like Talia Aach’s wonderfully dry, which profiles a married Cuban couple in their late seventies as their talks drift off to matters of aging and death, and David Castanon Medina’s Different Days (Dias Distintos), which depicts a washed-up former boxer’s current life and the personal demons that continue to haunt him.

A couple of feature documentaries also made their presence known in competition, like Tatiana Huezo’s The Tiniest Place (El Lugar Mas Pequeno) -- a haunting look at a Salvadorean village and its inhabitants, still tormented by the horrific memories of their civil war -- and Paulina del Paso’s The Warrior (La Guerrera), a winner of the GUCCI-Ambulante grant (as well as a 2006 TFI/Media Arts Fellowship project) about a resilient yet humble female boxer and her tumultuous journey to being accepted in her profession.

Stemming from the successful Master Class presentation and my interaction with the Morelia Lab participants, the groundwork was definitely laid to continue to support Latin filmmakers in a more tight-knit approach in the years to come!

Next up – the Czech Republic, for TFI’s inaugural visit to the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival!