WELCOME

Dear fellow filmmakers and cinephiles:

I”m very happy to begin anew the yearly cycle of the Monterrey International Film Festival. It is always with great expectation that we start to give shape and content to a new festival, and this being the seventh time, and seven being my lucky number, has to be the best yet!

Our call for entries is open to all filmmakers world wide attempting to receive by the end of april, a generous sampling of the international film output of 2010 and 2011. This panorama is the basis for what we hope will be a selection of the best international films made by emerging film authors this year. Through the cinematographic dialogue that such a selection promotes, we hope to push international understanding, intercultural collaboration and the creation of new works of film art.

We are very excited about having Canada as our Guest Country this year. Canada is a nation with a great cinematographic background, a healthy film industry and abundant talents. I want to thank the Canadian Embassy in Mexico and the General Consulate in Monterrey for making this collaboration possible, and I”m sure that it will be fruitful and will have important results that will further the collaboration between our countries.

This festival is for all of you, so please make it yours. Follow us on our web page, our blog, Facebook and Twitter, let us know what you think, what you like and what you think could be better. When we began this festival seven years ago, we had a vision of creating a festival that would serve the public and the filmmakers, thank you for coming along on this ride, and thanks for staying on the bus. We”ll do our best to give you the best ride yet.

I want to express our appreciation to CONARTE, CONACULTA and all of our sponsors, each of them make this festival possible.

So mark your datebooks, the gears on the projector (or the pixels, if you will) will be at full speed in Monterrey from August 18 to the 28th. We”ll see you at the movies!

Juan Manuel González
Director
Monterrey International Film Festival

It is an honor for me to present, in the name of the Nuevo León State Government and the Nuevo León Council for Culture and the Arts (CONARTE), the seventh edition of the Monterrey International Film Festival, which will take place from August 18th to the 28th of 2011. Year after year, CONARTE has offered this space of cinematographic delight for the people of our State, facilitating at the same time the interaction between different cultures and international dialogue.

This year, we have the honor to have Canada, a friend and partner to México, as our Guest Country, We forshadow in its participation a great selection of films that will allow us to come closer to Canadian culture and film production, strengthening and deepening the bonds between our nations. Canada has presented great filmmakers to the world, such as Denys Arcand, Atom Egoyan, Guy Maddin, James Cameron, Norman Jewison and Paul Haggis, as well as important actors that have forged international careers, such as Donald and Kiefer Sutherland, Elias Koteas, Jennifer and Meg Tilly, or Keanu Reeves, including contemporary icons for the young generations like Seth Rogen, Ellen Page, Sarah Polley and Ryan Reynolds.
The french-english contribution by Canada to cinema is of great importance to the cultural diversity and richness of our region of the planet. We happily expect great results from this collaboration.

From CONARTE we make a special invitation to all filmmakers from Nuevo León, México, and the rest of the World to participate in the Festival´s call for entries, registering their short or feature films. We also invite the members of the film industry to see the Monterrey IFF as an opportunity to create and strenghthen productive bonds in the realm of film production. And to all the film fans in Mexico and around the World, we open the doors to our film theaters.

Finally, I would like to thank CONACULTA and all of the sponsors for the Monterrey International Film Festival, they all help support this important project for our State. Thus begins the countdown to the Festival…

Lic. Carmen Junco
President
Nuevo León Council for Culture and the Arts

Dear Friends,

It is a great honour for Canada to be chosen as guest country for the 7th Monterrey International Film Festival. Canada and Mexico are strategic partners with close economic, political, social and cultural links. I find the latter one of the most enjoyable aspects of this relationship, and what better way to do it than through cinema, one of my favourite artistic endeavours.

Canada is very proud of its film heritage, and it is a privilege to share it with the Mexican public. Film offers us a unique glimpse of our human condition. As a multicultural country, cinema both reflects our diversity and creates our identity. Just like Mexico, we are committed to supporting this art form. Our industries face many of
the same challenges. In the last few year, Canada and Mexico have started to collaborate more, and I hope that Canada-Mexico co-productions will multiply in the coming years.

I would like to personally thank the Monterrey International Film Festival, as well as the Director, Juan Manuel González, for this opportunity. To everyone involved in the Festival, the organizers and the public, I send my warmest regards with the certainty that this edition of the Festival will be a great success.

Guillermo E. Rishchynski
Canada”s Ambassador to Mexico