A total of 73 films, (50 feature films, 20 short films, 1 web series documentary, 1 virtual reality movie and a medium-length film), in 18 different languages from 35 countries and 70 national and 50 international guests will be part of Costa Rica’s International Film Festival 2017 (CRFIC) an event organized as usual by the Film Center (Centro de Cine) and the Ministry of Culture.

This is the sixth edition of the CRFIC and is scheduled to take place December 7-16 in ten sites located in the provinces of San José, Alajuela and Cartago with the objective of reaching as many people as possible.

This year the festival will be offering 40 screenings for free in areas such as the National Park, the Magaly Movie Theater, the Aduana Theater, among others; they also have an app, “Centro de Cine”, available that will provide information on the different movie schedules and sites, users will be able to purchase tickets online and even cast their vote for each film. The event will honor Finn filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki (1957) with the screening of four of its most recognized films.

“In this sixth edition we will screen movies that while entertaining they also take a position towards reality through emotion and reflection”, explained Raciel del Toro, director of CRFIC 2017. “The Festival is focused on visualizing independent films, that generate a direct dialogue with the audience without establishing distinctions between fiction and documentary, animation and real image capturing techniques; this is how all the different movie modalities and narrative strategies coexist , because we are interested in the stories the movies tell”, she added.

The winner in the category of best Costa Rican feature film will receive an award of 3 million colones. The film selected by the audience as the best film will get a second prize of 1 million colones and the winner in the category of best national short film will also claim 1 million colones. Prizes for a total of 8.5 million colones will be awarded for the three winning Central America productions

The event will also feature workshops, debates and teaching activities.

For information on the schedule, sites, etc. go to http://costaricacinefest.go.cr/programacion

Among the feature films you’ll find:

Men don’t Cry- director Alen Drljevic – Bosnia-Eslovenia / Croacia / Alemania

City of the Sun – director Rati Oneli – Georgia / Estados Unidos / Catar / Países Bajos