Director Michel Franco Calls Making Gringo-Style Movies in Mexico a Big Mistake Latin American Herald Tribune
go to original May 17, 2017

Mexican director Michel Franco won the Best Screenplay award at Cannes in 2015 for his film "Chronic" (EFE)

At the premiere of his latest movie at the Cannes Film Festival, a famous Mexican director noted a trend to make gringo-style movies in Mexico, something he rated as a big mistake.

“The best film is the kind where you see things that are very true, and in which not everything is technology and special effects,” Michel Franco told EFE at the debut of his film “April’s Daughter,” adding that despite feeling “comfortable” filming in the United States, he prefers to shoot his movies in Mexico.

The director, who typically makes films that are more dramatic than spectacular, said it was fundamental “not to underestimate the audience and say “Let’s go ahead and make something Hollywood-style, but in Mexico.’”

However, Franco said he wasn’t criticizing US movies, though he asked that people distinguish between “Hollywood and its creative people.”

He hailed the big box-office hauls consistently landed by Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez with commercial productions he makes in his own country “because it all comes together.”

“The fact that those films attract vast audiences helps the ones that I premiere at Cannes attract them as well,” he said.

Read the rest at Latin American Herald Tribune

Related: Gael Garcia Bernal on Mexico’s Plan to Save Its Image with Documentary Films (IndieWire)

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