RiverRun Film Fest starts tomorrow with Mexican flavour

This year’s RiverRun International Film Festival – which starts Tomorrow in Winston-Salem — will live up to the “international” part of its title by putting a spotlight on Mexican movies.

Andrew Rodgers, the festival’s director, said that for the 2010 festival, organizers wanted to include a “curated sidebar,” with experts introducing each of the films and discussing their importance.

RiverRun International Film Festival premiere last night

After 12 years, the RiverRun International Film Festival has some traditions, and at least two were rolled out at its premiere last night at the Stevens Center.

First, Peggy Joines, the chairwoman of the board of directors, offered her conversation starter for this year’s festival: If you could be dropped into the middle of a scene in a movie, what would it be?

RiverRun Film Festival spotlights Mexican Cinema

In its 12th year, the 2010 RiverRun International Film Festival opens April 15 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The festival will screen 51 features and over 70 shorts from 33 countries, making it their most internationally diverse festival yet.  “The Extra Man,” directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini and starring Kevin Kline, Paul Dano, Katie Holmes and John C. Reilly, will open the festival on a comedic note, while the the Russian musical feature “Hipsters,” by Valery Todorovsky, will close the 11-day event.

This year’s festival will include a Spotlight on Mexican Cinema, with a showcase of prominent films in the country’s history, including the 1950 Bunuel classic “Los Olvidados”, “Like Water for Chocolate,” “Y Tu Mama Tambien” and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “Amores Perros.”