Critical window: Cartagena international film festival

The Cartagena International Film Festival — or Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena (FICCI) — was created in 1960 by a group of prominent intellectuals and impresarios from Cartagena. At that time, FICCI was headed by journalist Victor Nieto, who remained director of the festival until his death in 2008.

From this year FICCI has a new artistic director, Monika Wagenberg, who has worked at events including the New York Film Festival and the Miami International Film Festival. One of her immediate goals is to establish Cartagena as the critical window for Colombian cinema. “FICCI must become more than just a local showcase for Colombian cinema — it should be our window to the international market,” she says. “My hope is that the festival becomes the international platform our flourishing industry needs right now. I’m already excited by the response we’ve had from local producers and directors to the changes we’re implementing at FICCI.”

This year’s edition will see screenings of anticipated Colombian titles including Karen Cries In A Bus by Gabriel Rojas Vera, The Colours Of The Mountain by Carlos Cesar Arbelaez and All Your Dead Ones by Carlos Moreno, which appear in the festival’s official dramatic competition.

Elsewhere, the festival’s Colombia al 100% competition will screen around a dozen films. Mexico will be a focus of Cartagena in 2011 and the festival will hold retrospectives on Nicolas Pereda and Olivier Assayas.

Ibero-American competition

A Useful Life (Urug)
Dir: Federico Veiroj

Puzzle (Arg)
Dir: Natalia Smirnoff

It’s Your Fault (Arg)
Dir: Anahi Berneri
 
October (Peru)
Dir: Daniel Vega, Diego Vega
 
Craft (Braz)
Dir: Gustavo Pizzi
 
The Cinema Hold Up (Mex)
Dir: Iria Gomez

Old Cats (Chile)
Dir: Sebastian Silva, Pedro Peirano
 
Post Mortem (Chile)
Dir: Pablo Larrain

Karen Cries In A Bus (Col)
Dir: Gabriel Rojas Vera
 
The Colours Of The Mountain (Col)
Dir: Carlos Cesar Arbelaez
 
All Your Dead Ones (Col)
Dir: Carlos Moreno
 
18 Meals (Sp)
Dir: Jorge Coira

Colombia al 100%

Garcia
Dir: Jose Luis Rugeles
 
The Stoplight Society
Dir: Ruben Mendoza
 
In Coma
Dirs: Henry Rivero, Juan David Restrepo
 
Apaporis
Dir: Antonio Dorado
 
Life Was For Real
Dir: Monica Borda
 
Karen Cries In A Bus
Dir: Gabriel Rojas Vera
 
The Colours Of The Mountain
Dir: Carlos Cesar Arbelaez
 
All Your Dead Ones
Dir: Carlos Moreno
 
Meanders
Dirs: Manuel Ruiz Montealegre, Hector Ulloque Franco
 
Little Voices
Dirs: Jairo Carrillo, Oscar Andrade
 
Pablo’s Hippos
Dirs: Antonio Von Hildebrand, Lawrence Elman