A complete list of Official Selections for the 2010 Mexico International Film Festival can be found here.

The Human Experience

Calavera Highway

Short Film Block 1 - 12:55 pm

Siren
(Short, 11 Minutes, Hungary)

Welgunzer
(Short, 14 Minutes, USA)
Donald was going to build a time machine. He was going to travel into the future... and murder himself.

Under Ginkgo Trees
(Short, 14 Minutes, Japan )

A moving portrayal of an elderly man’s journey to reconnect with his past in an attempt to make sense of his life. Grieving from the recent loss of his wife, he returns to his former University in search of a time capsule.

Kwame
(Short, 24 Minutes, USA)
A reclusive and emotionally tortured man learns to come to terms with his traumatic past and the feelings of guilt he has over his father’s death as he finds compassion for a troubled young woman struggling with her own demons.

Power Lunch
(Short, 8 Minutes, Canada)

Crude
(Documentary, 104 Minutes, USA)
3:45 pm

Pants on Fire
(Feature, 93 Minutes, USA)
2:10 pm

Short Film Block 2 - 5:30 pm
Ripple
(Short, 18 Minutes, UK)
A black comedy. One small random act of malice forces an ordinary man off the safe road and on to a dark journey that he'll never forget.


Animated American
(Animation, 15 Minutes, USA)
The future is about to collide with the past. Eric, a digital loving executive on a mansion hunting expedition finds himself crossing swords with his realtor, Max, an out of work toon rabbit.


Bella Ciudad
(Music Video, 3 Minutes, USA)
A musical video journey through the latino communities of Los Angeles.


      
7 Dias
(Short, 10 Minutes, Spain)
Roman gets locked in a theater with Beatriz, a perfect stranger. They spend the whole night together and they fall in love. In just seven days, they have found what they were looking for their entire life.

Magritte Moment
(Short, 17 Minutes, USA)
A frustrated painter searching for his muse gets some help from the surreal visions of Rene Magritte.



Split
(Short,15 Minutes)
A track running couple try to keep equal footing on their withering relationship.




Traces of the trade: A Story of the Deep North
(Documentary, 86 Minutes, USA)
6:50 pm
Filmmaker Katrina Browne discovers her New England ancestors were the largest slave traders in US history. Traces of the Trade follows Browne and nine fellow DeWolf descendants as they travel from Rhode Island, to Ghana and Cuba on a trip that brings them face-to-face with the history and legacy of New England's hidden enterprise.

3 Saisons
(Feature, 100 Minutes, Canada)
8:20 pm
Five destinies converge, not only in blood and suffering, but also in hope, love and rebirth. Two couples share one commonality: an unexpected pregnancy. Carmine and Sasha live in a  comfortable world where the arrival of a child should be a time filled with joy. Instead, it blows their house of cards to the ground.

Snow and Ashes
(Feature, 104 min, Canada)
12:00 pm
An armed conflict rages in a region of Eastern Europe. Blaise Dumas, war journalist for Frontline Reporters covers the war. In Quebec, when he erupts from a coma, Blaise discovers that his long time collaborator and photographer has not come back with him. Blaise sets out to remember the events that lead to his friend's disappearance and his own escape from the war zone.

Guerrilla Midwife
(Documentary, 67 min, Indonesia)
1:45 pm        
Guerrilla Midwife Follows Ibu Robin Lim into the trenches of her work. From Bali, where hemorrhage after childbirth is a leading cause of death, into the Tsunami disaster zone in Aceh, where her battle is fought with only one weapon: love. In this culturally mesmerizing, heart-wrenching documentary, you will discover why we must reinvent our protocols for pregnancy and childbirth in order to preserve our Planet’s Humanity.

Short Film Block 3 - 2:55 pm       

This Side Up
(Short, 12 min, USA)
Jack ships himself in a crate to see his girlfriend. In route he makes a stunning discovery. Comedy ensues...



Brandt Brauer Frick – Bop
(Music Video, 9 min, Germany)
The Ensemble Brandt Brauer Frick brings together classical music, house and techno with vibraphone, prepared piano, drums, various percussions, fender rhodes, bass guitar and synthesizers.

Ante Tus Ojos
(Short, 26 min, Spain)
Cesar and Ana are two guys who ask if it's true that when people die, they watch the best moments of their life pass before their very eyes. The characters travel through their memories, choosing the memories they would like to see.

Appalachian Dreams
(Animation, 5 min, USA)
An old dancer retires to bed, but his shoes are just getting started.



The Parade
(Student Film, 12 min, USA)
The Parade is a moder tragedy. Mysteriously locked in a suffocating small room, Zoe and Aris anxiously await the return of their father. As the dizzying tension rises, the siblings search for a much needed distraction from their entrapment.

The Solitary Life of Cranes
(Short, 27 min, UK)
Part city symphony and part visual poem, ‘The Solitary Life of Cranes’ explores the invisible life of a city, its patterns and hidden secrets, seen through the eyes of crane drivers working high above its streets.

Climate Refugees
(Documentary, 89 min, USA)
4:30 pm       
Climate Refugees is a documentary film that uncovers the unbelievable plight of people around the world displaced by climatically induced environmental disasters. The documentary illuminates for the first time the human face of climate change and the collision that civilization now finds itself at between over-population, lack of resources and our changing climate. By traveling the world and interviewing several of the 25 million climate refugees now on the run, along with scholars, politicians, and the like, Climate Refugees brings to light the heart wrenching truth of what is quickly becoming mankind’s greatest challenge.

Short Film Block 4 - 6:00 pm       
 
Roos Djaj (Chicken Heads)
(Student Film, 15 min, USA)
Roos Djaj is the coming of age story that explores the fine line between taking responsibility for ones actions and lying in order to protect oneself.


Dejar A Marcos
(Short, 20 min, Spain)






Capitán
(Short, 6 min, USA)
Junior, an eight year old boy, was raised by his grandmother. When she passed away, Junior didn’t understand how to deal with her loss. Junior uses his imagination to cope and realizes the only way for him to move on, is to set his grandmother free.
Pijamas
(Short, 12 min, Spain)
A police call wakes up Marta’s family in the middle of the night. The grandmother has been found wandering along the streets completely disoriented. Pijamas is a tragic comedy about the loss of memory.


Subconscious
(Short, 5 min, USA)
An awakening transformation as the birth of a butterfly.




The New Tenants
(Short, 20 min, USA)
A prying neighbour, a glassy-eyed drug dealer, and a husband brandishing both a weapon and a vendetta make up the welcome wagon in director Joachim Back's darkly satirical short film, The New Tenants. Set amidst the as-yet-unopened boxes and the hopes for a fresh start of two men on what might just be the worst moving day ever, their new apartment reveals its terrifying history in a film that is by turns funny, frightening, and unexpectedly romantic.

Accordion Kings
(Documentary, 73 min, Colombia)
7:20 pm  
This is a story of the traditional beat at the heart of Latin America's richest music, featuring an exclusive interview with pop star Carlos Vives and behind the scene footage of the legendary Vallenato Festival. In Colombia's northern Magdalena Valley, 'valley music' is the rage and the accordion is king. Now, valley music's rural sentiment, straightforward message, and danceable rhythms have invaded the city, and pop megastars such as Carlos Vives have taken its sounds to millions of fans around the world. Once every 10 years, Colombia's top accordion virtuosi gather in the market town of Valledupar to compete in a fierce musical battle to decide who among them is the undisputed Accordion King.