GIFF announces its program with the award-winning “Night of Fire”.

Published September 8th, 2021

The film “Night of Fire”, winner of the Honorable Mention at the last edition of the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard selection, the first fiction film by documentary filmmaker Tatiana Huezo, will be one of the highlights of the program of the 24th edition of the Guanajuato International Film Festival (GIFF), which will be held in a hybrid manner between September 17 and 26, with three host cities: León, San Miguel de Allende, and Irapuato.

The opening film will be “Swan song”, by U.S. filmmaker Todd Stephens, on September 18 in León, while “Noche de Fuego” will be the opening film in San Miguel de Allende on September 21. In Irapuato, the opening film will be the also Mexican “Los días francos”, by Ulises Pérez Mancilla.

The festival announced that this year’s tributes will be paid to leading actress María Rojo, who will also give a master conference at the Jardín Principal in San Miguel de Allende, as well as to screenwriter Beatriz Novaro, who will also give a conference. In the sum of both talents, the festival will present the film “Danzón” (1991), by María Novaro.

The most emotional part of the event will be the tribute to Ernesto Herrera, co-founder of the festival, on September 18 at the Teatro Bicentenario in Leon, Herrera’s hometown. There will also be a photographic exhibition that traces the artistic career of the honoree and a special exhibition of the favorite short films of the man who passed away last February due to complications from Covid-19.

What to expect from the program
This year the festival received 3,174 films of which 145 from 52 countries were included in the competition. There will be 188 films screened, including premieres and special screenings. There will be a total of 10 films in competition in the Official Mexican Feature Film Selection, eight in the International Feature Film Selection, and eight more as Documentary Feature. There will also be 18 films in competition for Fiction Short Film and the same number for Animated Short Film.

“We will be presenting 13 conferences in hybrid formats, some will be in streaming, others will be in person, and others in person with online guests,” said Sarah Hoch, director of the festival. She highlighted the master conference “The plot of executive production”, given by Fernando Rovzar and Norberto Barba.

Within the Guanajuato Cultural Forum, in León, the venues will be the Bicentennial Theater, the Museum of Arts and History of Guanajuato, the Mateo Herrera Auditorium, the Studio Theater, and a Cinema Picnic, as well as the Cinemex Plaza Stadium.

In San Miguel de Allende, screenings will be held at the Jardín Principal, the Santa Ana Theater, the Cinematographic Compartment, the Valle de los Senderos Beach and the Cinemex Plaza de la Luciérnaga.

In Irapuato, the City Theater, the City Museum, Irekua Park, and the Cinemex Plaza Jacarandas complex will be available.

In parallel, there will be space for the presentation of 160 films via streaming, of which 25 are feature films from 44 countries and 135 short films.

Mexico’s Official Feature Film Selection:

“Noche de Fuego”, by Tatiana Huezo.

“Los días francos”, by Ulises Pérez Mancilla

“Distrito Olvido”, by Thom Díaz

“Mírame”, by Pavel Cantú

“Guiexhuba”, by Sabrina Muhate

“Los hermosos vencidos”, by Guillermo Magariños

“Malibú”, by Víctor Velázquez

“What’s left on the road”, by Danilo do Carmo and Jakob Krese

“Map of Latin American Dreams”, by Martín Weber

“Fiesta Nacional”, by Augusto De Alba

International Feature Film Official Selection:

“Aya”, by Simon Coulibaly Gillard

“Careless crime”, by Shahram Mokri

“Fucking with nobody”, by Hannaleena Hauru

“Hive”, by Blerta Basholli

“Madalena”, by Madiano Marcheti

“Playground”, by Laura Wandel

“Las motitos”, by Inés María Barrionuevo and María Gabriela Vidal

“Whether the weather is fine”, by Carlo Francisco Manatad