Mexican filmmaker gets second place in Cannes competition

The Mexican Marco Aurelio Celis won second place in the Nespresso Talents International Short Film Competition, held within the framework of the Cannes Film Festival.

The short Ruffo was selected from among 15 of 380 works from 40 countries. It was screened in the Nespresso Talents 2019 section of the Cannes Film Festival. For this award, the Tijuana filmmaker was a creditor of 2,500 euros (53,480 Mexican pesos) and an orientation session with film experts.

The Swiss coffee brand Nespresso is the official sponsor of the Cannes Film Festival and it is the third year of this event, which seeks to pay tribute to film creativity.

To compete, the participants had to tell stories about the relationship between food, culture, and identity, through an audiovisual of a maximum of three minutes and in vertical format 9:16, The theme of the Nespresso Talents 2019 was "We are what we eat."

"Through food, we explore the world, we discover diversity, we know nature, we connect with the earth and we teach our children," says the contest.

Ruffo was made by Marco Aurelio Celis from Tijuana with the production of Specola and LABC Entertainment. It is an intimate portrait of the Baja California chef Ruffo Ibarra, owner of the Oryx Capital restaurant, and his relationship with the kitchen.

In the short, Ruffo tells about his culinary experience, since he helped his mother during his childhood and tried to imitate his seasoning. While the image shows the process of preparing some of their dishes, the voice of the chef tells that Tijuana is a city made of migrants and that this is part of their identity.

"Yes your soul feeds the food, but when you join, when you add more people, that is the real energy. Being part of a community, a family, a group, that at the end of the day is what pushes you, what moves you to move forward, "says the chef in the short film.

The first place in the Nespresso Talents International Short Film Competition was for Subak, from New Zealander Joshua Morrice, while the third was won by the Indian short film Seed Mother, by Achyutanand Dwivedi. There is also a Mexican section, whose winners will be announced on June 14.

Cannes Film Festival kicks off with a flavor of Mexico

The Mexican Alejandro González Iñárritu announced the start of the 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival, with the publication of a photograph holding a cinema clapper.

The director presides from today the jury that will award the Palme d'Or on the 25th, for which directors already awarded with the award compete: Tarantino, Malick, as well as the British Ken Loach, the Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, and the French Abdellatif Kechiche.

Under the official poster with the recently deceased French director, Agnès Varda hanging in the Palace of the Festivals, the decoration, and the red carpet is prepared by which a shower of stars will march from today.

The film festival on the French Riviera will begin with two Ibero-American films in the official competition and a significant presence of Mexican filmmakers and actors, such as Alfonso Cuarón, who will step on the stage to talk about the film "El resplandor", of which he will present a restored version.

Within the official selection, in competition for the Palme d'Or is "Dolor y Gloria" of the Spanish Pedro Almodóvar. The most introspective film of the Manchego filmmaker, who portrays a melancholic director played by Antonio Banderas, with Penelope Cruz.

Outside of the competition, the Mexican Gael García Bernal will show his second film titled "Chicuarotes", cataloged by the festival as a "deep immersion in Mexican society." The film is starring Benny Emmanuel and Gabriel Carbajal and features the performances of Daniel Giménez Cacho and Dolores Heredia.

The Twitter account of the contest announced that the Spanish Javier Bardem and the French-French Charlotte Gainsbourg will be in charge of opening the festival, at the Gran Teatro Lumière, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the venue.

Iggy Pop and Tom Waits star in the opening film "Los Muertos no mueren".

The festival kicks off on May 14 with Jim Jarmusch's latest film, zombie extravaganza "The Dead Don't Die", marking the director's ninth time in the competition.

This year's jury will be headed by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and comprised of American actress Elle Fanning, director Kelly Reichardt, Italian director Alice Rohrwacher, Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, actress and director Maimouna N'Diaye, and French directors Enki Bilal and Robin Campillo.

The 21 films competing for the prestigious award, the Palme d'Or are:

1. "Pain and Glory", Pedro Almodovar (Spain)

2. "The Traitor", Marco Bellochio (Italy)

3. "The Wild Goose Lake", Diao Yinan (China)

4. "Parasite", Bong Joon-Ho (Korea)

5. "The Young Ahmed", Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Belgium)

6. "On Mercy!" Arnaud Desplechin (France)

7. "Mektoub, my love: Intermezzo", Abdellatif Kechiche (France/Tunisia)

8. "Atlantics", Mati Diop (France/Senegal)

9. "Matthias and Maxime", Xavier Dolan (Canada)

10. "Little Joe", Jessica Hausner (Austria)

11. "Sorry we missed you", Ken Loach (Britain)

12. "Les Miserables", Ladj Ly (France)

13. "A Hidden Life", Terrence Malick (US)

14. "Bacurau", K. Mendonca Filho and J. Dornelles (Brazil)

15. "The Whistlers", Corneliu Porumboiu (Romania)

16. "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood", Quentin Tarantino (US)

17. "Frankie", Ira Sachs (US)

18. "Portrait of a Lady of Fire", Celine Sciamma (France)

19. "It must be heaven", Palestinian Elia Suleiman

20. "Sibyl", Justine Triet (France)

21. "The Dead Don't Die", Jim Jarmusch (US)