Oliver Stone

Distinguished filmmaker Oliver Stone receives a tribute on the eve of the premiere of his latest movie, Snowden. The third day of the Los Cabos International Film Festival’s activities was defined by American filmmaker Oliver Stone’s presence, who captured the media’s attention by giving a press conference in acknowledgement of the tribute the Festival has bestowed upon him this year, at the luxury hotel The Resort at Pedregal. The conference gave way to a stimulating discussion about Stone’s work as a filmmaker, along with an acknowledgement of his strong presence in the worldwide film industry. Stone has received over half a hundred awards for his works, including three Oscars and various awards from distinctive film festivals such as the festivals in Venice, Karlovy Vary, and Berlin. In the evening, Oliver Stone arrived at the Pabellón Cultural de la República, where the gala of his most recent film Snowden took place. A number of eminent individuals in the Mexican and international film industry walked the red carpet, alongside other notable personalities from different fields, including Amat Escalante, Joey Klein, Sebastián Hiriart, Diego Quemada-Diez, among others. As a preamble to the screening of the polemical film, the Festival Director, Alonso Aguilar Castillo, presented La Ballena de Los Cabos to Oliver Stone as a tribute to his undeniable international transcendence. The film encapsulates the story of Edward Snowden, an employee of the United States’ National Security Agency, and the decisions he took that led him to publicly expose a mass espionage program that was operated by the United States government. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley and Melissa Leo. During the day, Cinemex’s worldwide premiere of Carrion, where director Sebastián Hiriart and star Paulina Dávila were in attendance, stood out, along with the worldwide premiere of William, the new judo master, which was attended by Rodrigo Silva, Omar Guzmán, and star Edward Coward. Other notable movies included The Unatmed, where director Amat Escalante and stars Simone Bucio, Ruth Ramos, Jesús Meza and Edén Villavicencio were in attendance, and the film Operation Avalanche, which was attended by director and star Matt Johnson. The movie theater screening rooms were decked out for the worldwide premiere of Tales of Mexico, an omnibus film encompassing eight different stories that all occur in the same room in Mexico City. The film was presented here in Los Cabos by Alejandro Valle, Carlos Carrera and Natalia Beristain, along with producers Luis Salinas and Edher Campos. There was also a premiere of the film While the wolf’s away, by Joseph Hemsani, which was attended by director and actor Mauricio García Lozano. The Los Cabos Meet-MART continued its industry activities at the Me Cabo Hotel. The second session of the Los Cabos Film Investor Summit, presented by Winston Baker, which occurred in a private room, allowed filmmakers to participate in unique sessions of pitching with notable Hollywood investors and financers. The binational encounter of Mexico-Canada was celebrated, and was presented by the Canada Media Fund and the IMCINE, in a combined effort to bring film and television professionals from both countries closer together. The grand opening of gastronomic hub El Merkado took place at a dinner hosted by the Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund. The six course meal was inspired by the six films that encompass Work-in-Progress, and was supervised by El Merkado’s Armando Montaño, Apostolis Blougouras from Gyaros, Paolo della Corte from Pan di Bacco, Alfonso Cadena from El Merkado’s main restaurants, Jesús Guadalupe Castro Valle from The Office Cantina, and Rodrigo Cabeza from Vaca de Cabo Roast. Download photographs at: http://www.image.net/cabosfilmfestival]]>