by the El Reportero wire services
Mexican tenor Arturo ChacónAbout 3,580 artists will participate in the 41st International Cervantino Festival starting today in Guanajuato and running until Oct. 27th.
This year, the main themes for the famous celebration, called Fiesta del Espíritu (Celebration of the Spirit), are “The Art of Freedom” and the 200th anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner.
Uruguay and the Mexican state of Puebla are the guests of honor. Hundreds of national and international performances, as well as academic activities are scheduled.
The program includes musical, theater, circus and literary activities, among others.
A number of theaters will host the event, for example, the Juárez Theater, Cervantes Theater, Principal, Templo de la Valenciana, Auditorio, Plaza San Roque and Los Pastitos, among others.
At the inaugural ceremony held in the Juarez Theater, choreographer Gladiola Orozco, co-funder of the former Ballet Teatro del Espacio will be awarded with this year’s festival medal.
Artists from 30 different countries will attend the festival, including the Uruguayan singer-songwriters Rubén Rada and Daniel Viglietti, as well as Ballet del Sodre.
The Mexican tenor Arturo Chacón and the Italian soprano Bárbara Frittoli will perform, while pianists Cyprien Katsaris, Abdiel Vázquez and Edison Quintana will present classics by Verdi and Wagner.
Singer Ricardo Arjona presents tour documentary
Guatemalan singer-songwriter Ricardo Arjona presented his new work “Arjona Metamorfosis en vivo,” a documentary DVD gathering together the best portions of his latest concert tour.
“It’s complicated to compress a year and six months of touring into two hours,” the singer acknowledged, saying that at the beginning it cost a great deal to get this tour under way because of its spectacular stage.
Included on the DVD are parts of concerts in New York, Puerto Rico, Miami, Buenos Aires, Guatemala and Colombia, among others. There are also images of the first concert, in Toluca, Mexico, a city which over the past 12 years has become “a good-luck charm” for Arjona’s tours.
“We began here 12 years ago. Things went very well for us on tour. I’m very superstitious and I said that we should always start in that spot,” he said.
Pedro Almodovar screens Los Amantes Pasajeros at Film Festival in Japan
The 10th edition of Japan’s Latin Beat Film Festival got under way in Tokyo Wednesday with a screening of “Los amantes pasajeros” (I’m So Excited), the latest from acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. Twenty films in all will be shown in Tokyo over the course of a week before a scaled-down version of the event takes to the road for stints in Kyoto and Yokohoma before concluding Nov. 10 in Osaka. Highlights of the Tokyo phase of the festival include Pablo Berger’s “Blancanieves,” Brazilian animated film “Rio 2096” and “NO,” a political drama from Chile.
“It’s like a metaphor: just as in Almodovar’s film, in which the plane travels to Mexico, it’s the time to look toward Latin America. There, interesting things are being done,” Latin Beat organizer Alberto Calero told Efe.
Two of the stars of “Los amantes pasajeros,” Javier Camara and Blanca Suarez, traveled to Tokyo for Wednesday’s screening of the film, which won’t reach Japanese theaters until January. Also on hand for the festival is Spanish director Fernando Trueba, whowill present two of his films, “El artista y la modelo”and “Chico y Rita.”
Since its birth in 2003, Latin Beat – the only festival of its kind in Asia – has enjoyed steady growth in films, sponsors and attendance to become an essential event for Japanese cinephiles.
