FICCO – Mexico City, 2009

FIPRESCI Prize: "Our Fight"

The Mexico International Contemporary Film Festival (FICCO) celebrated an unusual 6th edition in 2009. The previous management, led by founder Paula Astorga and her team, departed few months before the festival started. Deep disagreements with exhibitor Cinemex — also the owner of the festival — caused the resignation and put the event in a difficult situation, which clearly affected this year's selection of films. The new team, headed by director Raquel Cajiga and programmer Yibran Asuad, made it possible for the festival to continue, but we will have to wait until next year to truly understand their work and contributions to one of Mexico’s most important festivals.
    The FIPRESCI jury focused on the Mexican documentary section and gave the prize to Our Fight (Nuestra Lucha, Mexico, 2008, HDV), directed by Jaime Rogel Román. The film is a spontaneous and straightforward story which succeeds in turning the deeply Mexican reality of anonymous fighters into a reflection of universal, human truth. (Chiara Arroyo Cella)

Festival Internacional de Cine Contemporáneo de la Ciudad de México
Mexico City International Contemporary Film Festival, February 17 — March 1, 2009, www.ficco.com.mx

FIPRESCI Prize: Our Fight (Nuestra lucha, Mexico, 2008, HDV), directed by Jaime Rogel Román. Details

Reports:

Everybody’s Fight. Chiara Arroyo Cella reviews Our Fight. The documentary "tells the story of a group of wrestling aficionados who every weekend become local heroes at a makeshift arena. When the show is over, they take off their masks and go back to their regular lives".
The Real Latin America. Fernando Palumbo explores the Latin American documentary selection at FICCO. The festival "focuses on auterist statements, looking for films that open up other realities and find them no more amazing — and no less fantastic — than our own. Films that guide us through our own history, and the history of our contemporaries in this part of the planet."
A Lost Mexican Master? Joel Poblete explores the Roberto Gavaldón retrospective at FICCO. " Gavaldón may not be a key figure in the panorama of Latin American cinema, but if someone wants to appreciate an important part of the Mexican melodrama legacy, his films can be very illustrative."

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