Having the 6,400% growth of a movement that began as a small film show to become the most edgy and internationally recognized Mexican film festival is only held by Sarah Hoch, the founder of the Guanajuato International Film Festival, known by its abbreviation GIFF.
– One of Sarah’s favorite GIFF photos
Photo by Ernesto Herrera
Imagine that some young people, not very young but not very talented, were among the first to submit their short films to the exhibition that began more than two decades ago and that years later they became our great contemporary filmmakers.
Amat Escalante, Ernesto Contreras, Michel Franco and Juan Carlos Rulfo were some of the talents that the festival promoted in its early days in short film form.
It is curious that this was the initial format since at that time there was almost no funding in the film industry: the golden age of cinema, in which almost 400 films were produced a year, was far behind and only a few Mexican films were released in a year.
The economic paralysis encouraged defenders of the seventh art to devise a way to exhibit their works and this is how one of the most surreal and pop culture cinematic stories of a country emerged.
It turns out that MTV had a successful reality show called Road Rules in which a series of young people competed in various locations on a road trip when the producers set their sights on Mexico City-Durango and San Miguel to film and premiere their feature film.
Everything was going well until the film festival that was going to take place in San Miguel was cancelled, so they turned to Sarah to create, yes create, a film festival where they could premiere their feature film!
Time was not wasted and within a period of two months he applied himself so much that he managed to get support from sponsors and voila, there was a festival with 32 feature films in its official selection.
And not only was it a festival that broke paradigms due to its peculiar origins, but it also attracted attention because they accepted digital format for their works. These 35mm film purists almost died of a heart attack from anger.
But like all good pioneers, the GIFF team continued to grow and it is now common for festivals to accept many formats in their deliverables.
The punk spirit of the festival is still alive today and not even the first year of the pandemic prevented it from taking place. Creative inventiveness was used and traditional and conventional cinemas and theatres were replaced by aquacinemas, drive-ins and virtual reality!
Its VR model is quite unique in the world since through digital avatars you could enter the workshops and films of the exhibition as well as receive talks from David Lynch himself.
– No One will ever capture me like you did
Photo by Ernesto Herrera
But not everything is punk or honey on flakes, COVID affected the founders and unfortunately Ernesto Herrera passed away last year so a memorable tribute was paid to him.
Likewise, the festival had financial problems due to the pandemic, but like any good reactionary spirit, it knew how to overcome the issue and there will be nothing, not even the force of nature, that will prevent GIFF from taking place.
There is still one search that GIFF has not given up on: finding the next great filmmaker from San Miguel, since they are still waiting for this young creator. Do you want to join their ranks?
GIFF always welcomes with open arms those who want to take a first step into the world of cinema, so if you were waiting for a sign, this is it.
Hear from Sarah herself how she runs a festival like a rockstar 🤟🏻
GIFF will present its 25th anniversary from July 25-28 in San Miguel de Allende
