From afar it seems like Baghdad: car bombs, beheadings and corrupt politicians.
Up close, Mexico remains magical and picturesque in parts, feeling oddly safe even in the hardest-fought territories of the drug war.
The 8th annual International Film Festival opened Saturday in the drug-plagued state of Michoacan to its largest turnout ever, drawing the contrast that defines Mexico today.
Only blocks from the site where a 2008 grenade attack killed eight people, hundreds lined the red carpet to squeal at one of Hollywood’s leading men, Oscar-winning Spanish actor Javier Bardem. Unlike the Jonas Brothers in the drug-war-ravaged city of Monterrey, no one canceled – organizers say – for a festival that also features Hollywood blockbuster director Robert Rodriguez and Monty Python funnyman-turned-director Terry Gilliam.
“I’m waiting to see the bad side of Morelia,” Gilliam told reporters Sunday. “Since I’ve been in More lia, I’ve been blown away by the architecture. It’s such a beautiful place.”
Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, whose film “Biutiful” starring Bardem opened the festival, acknowledged to a full auditorium in cocktail attire that his homeland is seeing a difficult time.
He said on Sunday that violence in Mexico appears to be out control. But culture and education are very powerful weapons in the war against it.
“These are very powerful acts of resistance. I think the seed or the root of what we’re experiencing is a lack of education … the lack of opportunity for millions of Mexicans,” the director of “Babel” and “Amores Perros” said.
“So to talk about movies, the festival of Morelia and to support filmmakers and Mexican cinema as way to understand ourselves is a very important weapon … to have places where people can speak, think about the important things we have lost perspective on in the desperation we all confron t.”
The home state of President Felipe Calderon, Michoacan is the first place he sent troops after taking office and announcing a crackdown on organized crime. It’s a state largely controlled by the vicious yet devout La Familia (the Family) cartel, which made its debut by tossing heads onto a disco floor in 2006 in Uruapan, a city just 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the state capital, Morelia.
Politicians are under attack, on the take or both as the Calderon government arrested 35 state public officials last year on charges of ties to La Familia, only to suffer the embarrassment of seeing a judge release all but one for lack of evidence. Michoacan’s sitting congressman, under indictment for aiding La Familia, sneaked into his swearing-in to gain immunity awarded to elected officials in Mexico.
Last week a radio station aired a recorded telephone call allegedly between the lawmaker and the leader of La Familia, Servando Gomez, known as “La Tuta.”
Mean while, people linger in Morelia’s sidewalk cafes and stroll the sandstone archways and cobblestone streets doused in temperature-perfect sunshine. The festival was heavily patrolled by soldiers in 2008 and 2009 after the grenade attack, but none are visible this year.
“Our life is normal,” said resident Salvador Diaz, 32, who took a spin with his motorcycle club Saturday afternoon before escorting his wife to the festival opening. “The people of Michoacan are very hardworking. No, our political and security situation are not adequate, but we’re moving forward.”
The festival has been a chance to show another face of Mexico and another family of Michoacan: Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, grandson of beloved, iron-fisted President Lazaro Cardenas, is vice president of the festival. He inaugurated the renovated Teatro Emperador Caltzontzin in nearby Patzcuaro on Friday night with a showing of the 1948 Mexican classic, “Maclovia,” starring Maria Felix in a story about the virtue s of the indigenous people of Michoacan.
Cardenas called it a special place because on the same date 72 years ago, his grandfather, who was president from 1936 to 1940, opened the theater for the first time.
His father, former presidential candidate and Mexico City Mayor Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, also attended the opening events.
“In some small towns, daily life is ruled by organized crime,” he said. “But that’s not the case in cities like Morelia. With cultural events like this, the atmosphere is calm and comfortable.”
The festival continues to climb the ladder of prestige as it seeks to sit beside Sundance, Toronto and Cannes with 270 entries this year and 500 invited guests, including about 100 foreignors – more than in the past.
Starting three years ago, its prizewinning short films have been eligible to compete for Oscars.
“I think with Telluride in the U.S., this is the best festival in the world,” said Hollywood producer Michael Fitzgera ld, who has been a juror and shown films at the festival, such as “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada” starring Tommy Lee Jones.
He called Mexico’s drug violence “a parallel universe that none of us ever see.”
“I’ve had to convince people in the U.S. who have heard all this nonsense to come here,” Fitzgerald said, “and now they come every year.”
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More