By Yoko Narita The Festival Internacional de Cine En (FICG 26) took place in Guadalajara, Mexico from March 25 to April 1, offering interesting Spanish language cinema and several colorful local events, one of which was evening of fun professional wrestling matches a la Jack Black’s Nacho Libre in a ring in the middle of a tent.  The crowd went wild and Tequila glasses flew. Their main venue was at the very modern and huge Convention Center where movies were screened.  A vast breakfast terrace was the general meeting place to exchange information and conduct interviews.  About 200 films were screened, a majority were in Spanish, and all were subtitled in English.  The crowd was mostly young and enthusiastic, from the nearby University.

There was Diana Bracho, a famous Mexican actress on the red carpet, and our Hollywood friend  Eva Longoria came to support the festival.  Particular focus was on animation, documentary and student films, and there was a retrospective of the noted German director, Werner Herzog. There was even an Israeli cinema sidebar.  One film that was enthusiastically received was Tequilla, Historia Una Pasion, a love story, with Edward Furlong in a supporting role. Director of Difusion Eduardo Castaneda welcomed us and offered a tour of Tequila, some 50 miles north of Guadalajara, where we learned that tequila is made from blue agave.  Agave offsprings ( hijelos) are cut, keeping the mother plant( pinas) and the cone is shredded.  Then they ferment its sweet juice. The Mexican government is very protective about tequila and only allow it to be produced in Jalisco state.