The 9th annual Festival de Cine Todos Santos will be taking place this year from Thursday, February 23 through Saturday, March 3, in Todos Santos and La Paz, BCS. Opening at the Teatro Manuel Márquez de León, on the plaza, on the 23rd, and will run until the 27th in Todos Santos, before continuing on to La Paz.

María Félix

CINE PARQUE February 19

Prior to the start of the festival will be Cine Parque at the Parque Los Pinos in Todos Santos on Sunday, February 19th at sundown. The entire town will have the opportunity  to enjoy “Enamorada” (Mexico, 1946) a classic film from the Golden Era of Mexican Cinema starring the Mexican diva of all time, María Félix, and Pedro Armendáriz Sr. In one scene, famed cinematographer, Gabriel Figueroa, focuses ever closer on María Félix ending with a shot of just her eyes—an iconic and beautiful image.

La Leccion de Pintura

OPENING NIGHT, February 23

The opening night film will be “La Lección de Pintura”/“The Painting Lesson” 2011 (Chile/Mexico) Director Pablo Perelman.

In 1960 Chile, a peasant son of a single, teenage mother, shows a prodigious talent for painting. He is discovered by a drugstore owner (Daniel Giménez Cacho) and amateur painter, who tries to make an artist out of the boy, like the artists he sees in his art books. Actor Daniel Giménez Cacho brilliant interpretation of this character, said, “it was nice to do a very tender interpretation of someone who creates his own little theater to live in it.”
From the memories of this old man, comes a story about someone who could have been an artistic genius—a story of the lost innocence that ends in 1973 at the time of the Pinochet coup d’état. The film is based on the novel by artist and writer Adolfo Couve and was awarded with the Audience Award at the 2011 Kerala Film Festival in India.

OSCAR COMES TO TODOS SANTOS!
Sunday, February 26

An after film Academy Awards gala party is this year’s fundraiser benefiting the “Youth in Video” Program. The Oscars will be televised at the event at the legendary Hotel California. Join in the Hollywood glamour, great food and drink, with awards for the best Hollywood costume, Oscar bet “Who are the 2012 Oscar winners?” 50/50 raffle and much more. Tickets are 150 pesos pre-sale / 200 pesos (cash only) at the door and are available at El Tecolote Bookstore and the Hotel California in Todos Santos.

For more information, see our Film Festival story. For complete film listings and additional information and program schedule, click on “Events” or visit www.todossantoscinefest.com

By Chloe Johnson

Kev'n Kinney at the First Todos Santos Music Festival, photo: Claude Vogel

Excitement, exhilaration, exhaustion, these three words pretty much some up how we all feel following 3 weeks of the first ever Todos Santos Music Festival.  The festival was the brainchild of Peter Buck of the band REM. What started out as a small idea quickly sprouted into something that was so special we filled the entire town plaza of Todos Santos.  With less than 90 days of planning we actually managed to make this happen.  The final night started with an appearance by Todos Santos’ own Guaycura Band out in the audience.  The amazing audience was treated to a set by local favorites, Flashback.  That set was followed up by Chuck Prophet who started solo acoustic and finished his songs with the backing of Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and Bill Rieflin.  We were then mesmerized by The Elected, a project of Blake Sennett from Rilo Kiley.  Their lush pop tunes very quickly won over the audience.  Of course Peter again stepped in to add some extra flair to the band.  Kev’n Kinney really got the crowd going with his electric brand of Southern Rock.  His set definitely had the audience dancing and singing.

Erick Ochoa of the Palapa Society of Todos Santos, A.C., photo: Lynne Cummings

Then before headliners, The Minus 5, we stopped for a few moments to recognize what this evening was all about, The Palapa Society of Todos Santos, A.C.  Palapa Society President, Erick Ochoa gave a speech thanking everyone for their support and Peter Buck followed that with a speech he gave entirely in Spanish.  Peter explained that the city of Todos Santos was part of his heart and that we were all here so that the children of Todos Santos would be exposed to the same opportunities as Peter’s children.

Peter Buck sign check at the First Todos Santos Music Festival, photo: Claude Vogel

He then signed a ceremonial check representing his contribution to the event.  The local Delgado, Arturo Martínez Villalobos, (mayor) of Todos Santos was on hand as was the minister of tourism for Baja California Sur.  It was an incredible moment for all of us who worked so hard to make this event come together.  Following the pomp and circumstance The Minus 5 put on a blistering set that included an interlude of music by Argentinian rocker Fernando Viciconte.  It is easy to believe

Fernando Viciconte at the First Todos Santos Music Festival, photo: Claude Vogel

that Fernando Viciconte will be remembered here long after this event.  Another highlight of the Minus 5 set was the appearance of local music teacher Tofito and his young band of horn students joining all the musicians on stage for an amazing rendition of Alone Again Tonight by Love.  The local people were all quick to recognize and respond to their beloved “professor” and his students on stage.  The night finally ended with a foot stomping, crowd pleasing sing a long of Kev’n Kinney’s Straight to Hell.  What a way to end the night!  Except, much to our surprise, a local patron offered to make a $10,000 USD donation to the Palapa Society if The Minus 5 would play just one more song.  They were, of course, happy to oblige by breaking out a few more tunes.  It was the perfect end to a beautiful night.

The first ever Todos Santos Music Festival was a HUGE success.  For three weekends in a row we packed the Hotel California and treated both the locals and many friends and tourists who came to join us from all over the world to a rocking good time. Peter Buck played all three weeks starting with the The Baseball Project (Peter Buck, Steve Wynn, Scott McCaughey and Linda Pitmon), Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 (Robyn Hitchcock, Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and Bill Rieflin) and The Minus 5 (Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, John Ramberg and Bill Rieflin). They were joined throughout the three weeks by many of Peter’s musician friends including Mike Mills, Kraig Johnson, Chuck Prophet, Blake Sennett and The Elected, Kev’n Kinney, Fernando Viciconte and Dave Depper. Two of the more memorable evenings for locals were a duet by La Paz teenager, Cosima Rose and Scott McCaughey sing the Decemberists’ Shankill Butchers and the night Profe. Tofito and son joined The Minus 5 for a number.

Crowd in the plaza at the First Todos Santos Music Festival, photo: Claude Vogel

We will be forever grateful for the generosity shown and are pleased to share with you that over $47,000 USD was raised in just 3 weeks, and the donations are still arriving. This never would have happened without the hard work of many people and the generous sponsorship of The Hotel California, Pacifico beer, The Journal del Pacifico and all of the Palapa Society volunteers who volunteered so much of their time to make this event happen.  And of course, we must thank YOU, the audience, who came out night after night to support the musicians as well as an important cause.  The incredible energy and joy experienced by both the musicians and everyone attending came directly from the excitement and enthusiasm of the crowd.  We cannot thank you all enough for being a part of this.  We are looking forward to and are beginning to plan the Todos Santos Music Festival 2013 for next January.  If we pulled off this event in less than 90 days, just imagine what we can plan with one whole year. We sure hope to see all of you here again next year!

To view more of Claude Vogel’s photos of the entire event, visit MexSense.zenfolio.com

Follow the Todos Santos Music Festival 2012 on Facebook.