The past November 7th, was a historic day for Los Cabos, due to receiving a commercial flight from London with 344 passengers at the local International airport.

After almost twelve hours of flight, the TUI Airline, Boeing 787 Dreamliner arrived minutes before two in the afternoon.

Initially, this flight will have a once a week frequency:

"The majority stay for two weeks and so during those two weeks they are used to traveling around, going to outdoor activities abroad," said Rodrigo Esponda of FITURCA.

The travelers received a warm welcome, with mariachi music and Mexican snacks.

After the flights arrival, a press conference was held where the United Kingdom’s Deputy Ambassador for Mexico, Amy Clemitshaw was present, expressing:

"With this direct flight, it’s a great opportunity for the ties between Mexico and my country."

Also present was the State Governor who stressed that with this type of connectivity, a new market for Los Cabos has opened:

"So that Los Cabos could take that new great first step towards a market with which we did not have a direct relationship with..."

For Cabo News Today, Translation Tony Perez

To close this year’s edition, the Los Cabos International Film Festival was honored to conduct an intimate panel “The Academy: 364 days a year”, where David Rubin, recently elected president to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Lorenza Muñoz, executive director of Awards and Relations, talked with festival public about the annual activities of the Academy beyond the Oscars.

 LCIFF  continued with an unprecedented panel, designed to identify and attempt to understand the photographic works, from personal experiences and the transformations through which this key position in film creation Is going through. “Extraordinary looks”, with cinematographers Agnès Godard, Ashley Connor and María Secco.

During the closing ceremony, four very special awards were handed out.

 The tribute to Excellence in Cinematography for Ellen Kuras, the first person to win three times best dramatic photography Award at Sundance, As well as being Governor of the Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts and Science, in her representation, David Rubin, president of the Academy received the recognition on her behalf. The Spotlights Award went to Mexican director Tatiana Huezo and American director Ira Sachs, Both having retrospective showings during the festival. And the International Star Award for Eiza González for her contribution to the visibility of Latin talent in the global film industry.

Also, prizes were awarded to films in the Official Selection. Winning projects of the Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund were:

OFFICIAL SELECTION

Los Cabos Competition Award: THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, by Matthew Rankin. The film's producers received a prize of $ 300,000 MXN in cash.

Cinemex Award - Mexico First: LA PALOMA Y EL LOBO, by Carlos Lenin. The director of the film received, thanks to Cinemex, $ 300,000 MXN in cash

Cinemex Audience Award: Observar las Aves (Observe the Birds), by Andrea Martínez Crowther. By vote of the Los Cabos public film received $ 300,000 MXN in cash.

Art Kingdom Trailer Award: Observar las Aves (Observe the Birds), by Andrea Martínez Crowther. Art Kingdom Showbiz Agency awarded a prize worth $ 760,000 MXN for the realization of a film trailer, from the creative process to the DCP, including the creation of a poster and a social media campaign for eight weeks.

GABRIEL FIGUEROA FILM FUND - FILM IN DEVELOPMENT

CTT Expendables & Rentals Award: Temporada de Huracanes (Hurricane Season), by Elisa Miller. This project will have support In the amount of  $ 1,280,067 MXN in film equipment rental.

Talent on the Road / World Talent House Award: Temporada de Huracanes (Hurricane Season, by Elisa Miller. The team that develops this film won a prize of $ 150,000 MXN.

Piano Award: Todos los Incendios( All the fires), from Mauricio Calderón Rico, received a prize of $ 100,000 MXN for distribution expenses.

Marché du Film Award. Nicole Maynard, producer of Preciosísima Sangre (Precious Blood) , obtained an accreditation for the Producers Network platform of the Marché du Film de Cannes. The prize includes a round flight to attend the event.

GABRIEL FIGUEROA FILM FUND –EPISODIC CONTENTS IN DEVELOPMENT

CTT Exp. & Rentals Award: Masa Madre, of Mercedes Córdova, was worth $ 498,500 in film equipment rental.

Cinecolor México Award TV Trailer: Aventurología, by Ricardo Castro. The team that develops this film won a prize of $ 348,000 MXN in postproduction services for the realization of a trailer.

Promo Award Trailer Art Kingdom: My interior is one of the most beautiful and strange things in the world, by Nicolasa Ruiz. Prize worth $ 97,500 MXN in creative and postproduction services for the realization of a promo trailer.

GABRIEL FIGUEROA FILM FUND - WORK IN PROGRESS

Los Cabos Work in Progress Award: Dioses de México, by Helmut Dosantos. Thisfilm in  post-production received a prize of $ 200,000 MXN in cash.

Chemistry + Disruptive Film & Sound Award: Things We Don't Do, from Bruno Santamaría Razo, received  support for $ 2,340,000 MXN in image and sound postproduction services.

Cinecolor México Award: Flora and Fauna, by Nicolás Pereda, obtained 100 hours of color correction services at the sponsors of this award and the development of a DCP.

3rd CINEMATOGRAPHIC CRITICISM CONTEST:

Winner: Amira Ortiz. The young critic received this recognition granted for the third time by the International Festival of Los Cabos, in collaboration with Sensacine México and Cinegarage.

During the closing gala, Jojo Rabbit, by Taika Waititi, a director very present in the history of the festival, was screened. In the film, Jojo suffers an accident during his training to join the Nazi army and this forces him to rehabilitate at home, where he discovers that his mother is hiding a young Jew. His world is falling apart and not even his imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler, can help him.

Translation by Tony Perez Dillon

During the Los Cabos International Film Festival, one of the honored figures was the outstanding Ira Sachs, American independent filmmaker born in Memphis, Tennessee.

Among his films are The Delta, Forty Shades of Blue, Married Life, Keep the Lights On, Love is Strange, Little Men and receiving its Latin American premier during the festival Frankie, a film staged in the beautiful, historic and magical setting of Sintra, an exclusive coastal city in Portugal.

After 1h 40 minutes of this skillfully shot film, many viewers surely wished to take the first flight to the city of Sintra, near Lisbon, which seems to have emerged from a fairy tale.

It’s in the mid of lush landscape, neighboring mountains and ancient monuments, were we discover the main character: Frankie.

In an exclusive interview with Film Director Ira Sachs who talks about how he was inspired for this work and his cinematic notions.

 R- What was your inspiration for making Frankie movie?

Ira Sachs, Film Director: “You know, in a family facing a crisis and thinking as if it were a group, they have to go forward and each member brings their own story. I was also interested in working with actress Isabelle Huppert who I’ve admired for a long time and so, we had the opportunity to make this film together… ”

Ira Sachs, Film Director: "You are in a room or a room in a room, a domestic space, a natural space, I always see the character as a part of that space, and they’re not alone ..."

He also talked about how he would shoot a scene in any given moment.

Ira Sachs, Film Director: "... now with this location, I would make a shot, a wide angle shot, because the character is part of the space ..."

“… Analyzing a lot of the kind of movies that he’s made, in which people walk and talk…”

Ira Sachs, Film Director: “… because when you film, one day out of 30 in Sintra, Portugal, I was constantly within nature in a humbling way ..”

Ira referred to his visit to Los Cabos.

Ira Sachs, Film Director: “… it's my first time, but since my arrival I am wonderfully excited to be in this city and its excellent people who love cinema to discover new things. I am with my family and we are having a great time! ”

       R- What can you expect from a Festival like this?

Ira Sachs, Film Director: “... I believe that the connection with the public, in the sense that people will be waiting to talk and in particular, because I am presenting three or four films. It is the idea of ​​sharing a wide period of experiences that I have had over 20 years of my life... ”

    R- Finally, how do you plan your filming’s, do you think more about film psychologically or more environmentally?

Ira Sachs, Film Director: “I try to be a storyteller. Stick to history and be as authentic as possible, everything else has to be rebuilt. ”

Translation by Tony Perez Dillon

Actress Yalitza Aparicio and Chilean actress Daniela Vega, talked about the difficulties they have had to face as women in the film industry, either because of their indigenous status or in the case of Daniela her transgender status. This and much more during the second day of activities at the 8^th Los Cabos International Film Festival 2019.

Yalitza Aparicio, Actress: “… In the case of women from the indigenous communities, you have to face very strong machismo, where they tell you, “…you are a woman, your only function is to have children” and no it’s not…. The important thing is you and your happiness. The important thing is what you want. Not what other people want …”

Daniela Vega, Actress: “… it’s not something new, what’s new is the phenomenon of sharing what happens; because indigenous women, transgender women, women who don’t want to have children or women with different corporality, we’ve always existed. What happed is that we were denied the possibility of telling our stories to validate them… ”

During the Festival, 42 films of which 14 are in competition will be shown so the public can enjoy an uncommon and far-reaching variety of quality cinema.

Oscar Uriel, Film Critic: “I’m a true believer in film festivals. I believe they are platforms where you can see who is doing interesting things, especially in the national film section and the emerging films. From here come out many new projects… ”

Augustin León de la Barra, Commentator: "Yes, it’s been growing, I believe that the level and quality the Festival now has, is top notch, first class in comparison to any other Latin American festival ..."

An innovative modality at this festival has been Films on the Beach.

Ana Molinar, Organizing Committee: “It's cinema for everyone in public plazas, both in Cabo San Lucas as in San José del Cabo. And since last year on the beach…”

During the Festival presentations continue by producers and directors opening dialogues with the press and the public.

For Cabo News Today, Translation, Tony Perez