The second edition of the Baja International Film Festival 2013 kicked off on November 13  with the opening night screening of Juan Jose Campanella’s Latin American box office hit.

Monsieur Lazhar director Philippe Falardeau received a special recognition on a night when the red carpet attendees included Guillermo Arriaga, Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Jose Maria de Tavira, Alfonso Herrera, Irene Azuela, Paula Nuñez and Jorge Michel Grau.

Festival director Alonso Aguilar-Castillo welcomed around 2,000 guests as the event kicked off with the animation screening in both auditoriums of the Pabellon Cultural de la Republica.

The festival will run for four days with the goal of bridging the Mexican, US and Canadian film industries.

The programme includes the world premiere of Cafe Tacvba’s new documentary The Object Formerly Known As A Record, El Charro Misterioso by Jose Manuel Cravioto and Beto Gómez’s Volando Bajo.

There are Mexican premieres for Jean-Marc Vallée’s Dallas Buyers Club, Xavier Dolan’s Tom At The Farm, Lukas Moodysson’s We Are The Best! and Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Blackfish, among others.

The official selection is divided into the Los Cabos Competition for films from Mexico, the US and Canada and the Mexico First strand for first and second films by Mexican film-makers. BIFF, in collaboration with its partners, offers $283,350 in prize money.

There will also be prizes for the digital distribution Casete Award, the Bengala-UANL Award for film stories, and the BajaFilmFest-DocsForum Award in support of the best Work In Progress in 8DocsDF.

The industry side of the event features panels, roundtable discussions and meetings. An initiative supported by Work In Progress Mexico and the Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund in partnership with industry leaders will offer support and prizes in cash and kind.

The festival runs from Nvember 13-16.

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