Acclaimed British director Mike Leigh will be among the distinguished guests at Guadalajara’s 27th International Film Festival in March.
Leigh will be representing the United Kingdom, this year’s guest of honor. The British Council unveiled the program for the festival, which runs from March 2 to 10, at a press conference in Mexico City last week.
Among the screenings there will be 32 films representative of contemporary British cinema, revealed Chris Rawlings, director of the British Council in Mexico. They will “focus primarily on reflecting different aspects of British cinema, but they will also represent the diversity of contemporary cinema.”
U.K. Ambassador to Mexico Judith Macgregor said the participation of the United Kingdom in the festival represents “an opportunity to open collaborations in this sector between our two countries.”
Mike Leigh will lead question and answer sessions and comment on some of his films, nine of which will be shown in a retrospective of his work. Leigh, 68, is famed for both writing and directing film, theatre and television throughout a distinguished career.
He won the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival for “Naked” in 1993, and seized the prestigious top prize, the Palme d’Or for “Secrets & Lies” in 1996. More recently, Leigh tackled illegal abortion in 2004’s “Vera Drake” and released his last movie, “Another Year,” in 2010.
This year a new award known as the “Maguey Prize” will be introduced to honor gay-themed cinema. Movies that explore sexual diversity are already celebrated at many of the world’s top film festivals, including Cannes, Sundance, Venice and Berlin. Homage will also be paid to renowned gay English film director Derek Jarman.
The deadline to register movies for the festival is February 16.