First Annual Baja International Film Festival Announces Award
Recipients And Special Guests
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The first
annual Baja International Film
Festival, to be held November 14-17
in Cabo, Mexico, has announced the
inaugural year's award recipients. Awards will be presented to
two-time Academy Award-nominee Edward
Norton, Academy Award-nominee Virginia Madsen, iconic filmmaker and
President of the Directors Guild of America Michael Apted, celebrated actor
Diego Luna, Academy
Award-winner Melissa Leo, acclaimed director Nicolas Echevarria, and Academy
Award-nominee Matt Dillon.
The Awards will be presented during the Baja International Film Festival's Closing
Night Gala on Saturday, November
17th at the state-of-the-art Cabo Convention
Center.
Edward Norton is a
two-time Academy Award-nominated actor and filmmaker. He is also a
committed social and environmental activist who serves on the
Boards of: President Obama's Committee for the Arts and Humanities;
Enterprise Community Partners (affordable housing); Maasai
Wilderness Conservation Trust (conservation and community
development); the Signature Theater Company; the Friends of the
High Line and the Conservation Lands Foundation. He also created
and endowed the Middle East Peacemakers Fund at Yale University. In 2010, he was appointed by UN
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon as the
United Nations Ambassador for Biodiversity. He is the Co-Founder of
CrowdRise, a web-based platform promoting and facilitating
individual activism, peer-to-peer fundraising and innovative
grassroots crowd-funding strategies for non-profits. CrowdRise was
named by Barron's as a "Top 25
Global Philanthropist."
Virginia Madsen is an Academy Award and Golden
Globe-nominated actress, perhaps best known for her scene-stealing
performance in SIDEWAYS, opposite Paul
Giamatti and Thomas Hayden
Church. She is also a documentary film producer; I KNOW A
WOMAN LIKE THAT and FIGHTING GRAVITY. Throughout her career, she
has easily transitioned between film and television, and has
demonstrated a tremendous range in a variety of roles. Virginia Madsen has worked with some of the most
lauded directors in the film industry, including David Lynch (DUNE), Dennis Hopper (THE HOT SPOT), Francis Ford Coppola (THE RAINMAKER) and
Robert Altman (A PRAIRIE HOME
COMPANION).
Michael Apted is one of
Hollywood's leading film
directors, and serves as the current head of the Director's Guild
of America. Among his honors, Mr. Apted was awarded the C.M.G. for
his services to British film and television, and has received over
30 professional awards and nominations for his amazing body of
work. He has directed over 70 film and television projects, and has
directed three different actors to Oscar-winning and
Oscar-nominated performances, including Sissy Spacek in 'Coal Miner's Daughter,'
Jodie Foster in 'Nell,' and
Sigourney Weaver in 'Gorillas in the
Mist.' His stellar directorial work also includes the standout
films 'Blink,' 'The World Is Not Enough,' 'Enigma,' 'Enough,'
'Amazing Grace,' 'Class Action' 'Gorky Park,' 'The Chronicles of
Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,' and his newest film,
'Chasing Mavericks,' starring Gerard
Butler and Jonny Weston.
Diego Luna is not only a
formidable talent in Mexico, but
one of the great actors of his generation. In addition to being a
versatile actor, he has also established himself as a
respected producer and filmmaker. Since childhood, he has moved in
cinematic and theater circles, so his natural ease in front of the
camera and original performances come as no surprise. In many ways,
Diego Luna epitomizes what the
festival itself aspires to: a Mexican talent who has made a
dramatic and lasting impression on the world stage. He has
collaborated with some of the industry's most admired directors,
including Gus Van Sant and
Steven Spielberg. It is a great
honor to celebrate a talent that still has so much to offer to
Mexican cinema, international cinema, and the movie-going
public.
From her mesmerizing Academy Award-nominated performance in
'Frozen River' to her tour-de-force, Academy Award winning
performance in 'The Fighter,' Melissa Leo has starred
in over 25 films, and created some of the most memorable and fully
realized characters on screen. Her rich and riveting work includes
a wide range of deeply nuanced roles, from the role of Rachel in
'The Three Burials of Melquiades
Estrada,' to her captivating and brilliant performance as
Marianne in '21 Grams.' She has been nominated for over 50
industry awards, and won 35, including the Academy Award. She has
created some of the most interesting and varied characters on
screen, and defined what it means to be a versatile
actor.
Nicolas Echevarria is an
acclaimed Mexican film director and cinematographer. He has
directed over 20 films since 1973. His acclaimed 1991 film
"Cabeza de Vaca" played at the
prestigious 41st Berlin
International Film Festival. His films include "Life Kills"
starring Daniel Gimenez Cacho and
Susana Zabaleta, "Los Enemigos"
starring Edgar Alexen and Farnesio
de Bernal, "De La Calle," starring Alejandro Ainsle and Luis de Icaza, and many more.
Matt Dillon has acted in
over 50 films, and is one of America's best known and most
respected actors. His career spans three decades and showcases his
tremendous range and versatility. He has worked with the film
industry's most acclaimed directors, always delivering a nuanced
and multi-faceted performance. He has worked twice with director
Francis Ford Coppola, in the films
'The Outsiders' and 'Rumblefish,' with Garry Marshall in 'The Flamingo Kid,' with
Arthur Penn in 'Target,' with
Gus Van Sant in 'Drugstore Cowboy,'
with James Deardon in 'A Kiss Before
Dying,' with Anthony Minghella in
'Mr. Wonderful,' and with many more of Hollywood's leading directors. His role in the
Farrelly brothers' 'There's Something About Mary' showcased his
incredible comedic skills, and his vast and profound body of work
has made him an icon in American cinema.
The Baja International Film
Festival is also pleased to welcome special guests including
Academy Award-Winner Octavia
Spencer, 4-Time Emmy Winner Allison Janney, Chad Michael Murray, Billy Zane, Gael
Garcia Bernal, Josh
Lucas, Adrian
Grenier, Natalie
Morales, Rachel Leigh
Cook, Kuno Becker,
Mike Judge, Mark
Polish, Maria Conchita
Alonso, Jesse
McCartney, Marisol
Nichols, and writer/director Tate Taylor who will be participating in the
week's festivities.
The Festival will showcase 80 films from 18 countries, including
5 international feature films in competition, 5 Mexican feature
films in competition, 5 international documentaries in competition,
5 Mexican documentaries in competition, 30 international shorts, 13
Mexican shorts, 4 environmental films, as well as Special
Presentation screenings of 7 international feature films, and 6
Mexican feature films. For more information on the official film
schedule and schedule of events, please visit
http://biff.festivalgenius.com/2012/.
The Baja International Film
Festival would like to thank Advisory Board members Lucas Akoskin,
Kuno Becker, Robin Bronk, Scott
Budnick, Rodolfo Lopez
Negrete, Isaac Masri,
Alfonso de Maria y Campos Castello, Jacobo
Turquie, Pablo Azcarraga,
Godfrey Cheshire, Nancy Collet, Kerry
David, Gill Holland,
Lawrence Inglee, Adam Kassen, Mark
Kassen, Alejandro Lebrija,
William Mapother, Edward Norton, Carlos
Reygadas, Roberto Rochin,
John Burk, Mark Goldfarb,
Kevin Greene, Meira Blaustein, and Rob
Williams.
ABOUT THE BAJA INTERNATIONAL
FILM FESTIVAL
The inaugural Baja International Film Festival is co-founded
by Festival President Eduardo Sanchez
Navarro, longtime patron of the arts in Los Cabos, BIFF Festival Directors
Scott Cross and Sean Cross, co-founders of the Colorado Film
Institute and Vail Film Festival, and business leaders and
supporters of the arts Juan
Gallardo, Alfonso Pasquel,
Eduardo Sanchez Navarro Torres,
Rafael Tovar y de Teresa, and
Pablo Sanchez Navarro. Scott and Sean Cross also serve as the
Festival's Artistic Directors alongside Jorge Sanchez Sosa, former director of the
Guadalajara Film Festival.
Nancy Collet, former Director of
Programming at the American Film Institute, serves as Festival
Senior International Films Programmer. The Baja International Film Festival will include
four days of special presentations, competition screenings of
feature films, documentaries, and short films, as well as nightly
galas, panel discussions, filmmaker receptions, and award
ceremonies. The festival is run by a bi-national team of
experienced film and business managers who share a passion for
bringing Mexican and U.S. cultures together through film. The
Baja International Film Festival
is supported by the Mexico Tourism Board and endorsed by the
State of Baja California Sur and
the Los Cabos Tourism Bureau as the Official Festival of Cabo,
Mexico. For more information and
to order tickets please visit:
www.bajainternationalfilmfestival.com or email
info@bajafilmfest.com.
Contacts:
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Andy
Gelb/Stephanie Samson
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Slate
PR
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(310)
461-0111
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andy@slate-pr.com / stephanie@slate-pr.com
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SOURCE Baja International Film
Festival