*Round table discussions and interviews
Round table discussions, interviews for the press, television, radio, the Internet... each day sees artists, personalities from the Franco-Mexican movie scene and the media meeting up at the Acapulco Festival. Some 70 Latin American and French journalists have made the trip to this 6th festival. Each artist present is expected to participate in an average of ten interviews during the festival. A radio as well as a TV studio interview (each with several journalists) have been organized for each film. Round table discussions, bringing together the crews from films selected, are held at the Club Unifrance in the grounds of the Alliance Française, while the radio programs are staged at the Juan Ruiz de Alarcon theater.
Today has scheduled interviews with Claude Miller and the creative crews of "Comment J’ai Tué Mon Père," "C'est La Vie," and "Children's Play" in our photo gallery.
* Aurélien Recoing loves short films: interview
First impressions of the Acapulco Festival:
"I love it! In bringing us all together from different places, Acapulco offers us a new way of looking at our own work and allows us to meet audiences that are unlike any others, very direct. "Children's Play" was screened last night and the Mexican public responded very positively to the film, giving it an ovation. People were afraid, they shouted in the auditorium, an absolutely amazing reaction! I also noticed for "Comment J'ai Tué Mon Père," a genre film, heavier, more complex, people stood up in their seats, they were so taken in by the story. Audiences here can be transported by all kinds of films."
Yesterday, Aurélien Recoing attended a short film screening, where we discovered an actor of feature films as well as a fan (and actor) of shorts!:
"What's great about shorts is that because the programming is mixed, everyone – French and Mexican audiences – can make some connection with both cultures. This is interesting as a kind of "contamination" of one culture by another, an exchange that changes our perspectives. When we screen a French or Mexican feature film, they can attract two different kinds of audiences, it's not necessarily the same people that would go and see a French or a Mexican feature. The alternating programming of these Franco-Mexican shorts sparks a real Franco-Mexican exchange, and that's why I think we should see more of this kind of programming.
"As far as I'm concerned, I love shorts. I've worked on around 12 shorts so far, including 5 this year! That goes to show how much I like them! To me, they enable research to become the subject of the production. Shorts allow you to test things out, to experiment, to throw yourself into roles and characters that can be very diverse, which is what I did last fall, since I made 5 of them. Shorts give you more personal freedom and more creativity in the way you act. On top of this, working on shorts helps you when it comes to features, as much for actors as for directors and technical crews. Everyone gets fully involved, on every level, often making any money out of it, but the personal investment, the solidarity that it generates results in advancing short film production. Young producers, for example, learn about producing, to test out ways of financing
films. I've just finished working on a short by a young director, Zoé Galleron who's fresh out of the FEMIS Film School (from the screenwriting department). We had 12 days for the shoot, with similar conditions to a feature in technical terms and in terms of design, pre-production and production, by Balthazar, who are launching into features now by the way. This opportunity of being involved in the transmission of know-how from older, more experienced people to younger people was a fabulous experience."
And finally, as far as the French selection at this festival is concerned, I especially liked the short film by Eric Lacroix that I felt was very sensitive. This film had the advantage of representing a very powerful moment in life, played by great actors including Annie Girardot, who showed us the sprit of a young girl, that Eric managed to capture in an admirable way. In "Ta Sœur" I found the form and the direction of the film highly successful, even though I was personally less taken in by the story. And lastly, I enjoyed Eric Valette's film, presented here by Olivier Berlemont, for its terrific direction and excellent acting, even if I was a little less comfortable with he story.
We will meet up again with Aurélien Recoing tomorrow, Saturday December 1st, for the official presentation of "Time Out."
*Official Presentation of "Le Vélo De Ghislain Lambert"
Given an ovation by an enthusiastic Mexican audience, director Benoît Poelvoorde arrived at the Juan Ruiz de Alarcon Theater on none other than a bicycle!
* Official Presentation of "Reines D’Un Jour"
After a warmly received screening, fired with laughter and strong reactions from the auditorium, Marion Vernoux and Karin Viard met up with audiences to join in a Questions and Answers session.
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