Santiago de Chile, Aug 24.- Showbusiness figures of Chile lighted up the inauguration of the Santiago International Film Festival (Sanfic 12) with special protagonism of Danny Glover and Paul Schrader.
The ultramodern CorpArtes Theater of this capital was venue to the official opening of the event that will extend until next Sunday, with the main dish of the gala paying tribute to Glover and Schrader.
With the famous actor of Lethal Weapon, Color Purple, Witness in Danger, Mandela and Blindness and the script-writer of Taxi Driver, Wild Bull and Christ's Last Temptation, Sanfic is dressed up in its 12 years of existence.
After the tribute to two prominent Hollywood film makers, Dog eat Dog was screened for the first time in Chile, by the hand of Schrader as director and also actor, in a film with Nicholas Cage and Willem Dafoe in the leading roles.
In the first two dates of the festival, U.S. artistic organization Tribeca Film Institute, through its representatives Molly O'Keefe and Jose Rodriguez, presented the options to connect with financing agents to film directors of the fiction and documentary genres.
Also, since Monday started two days of free movie screenings for students, an experience to be repeated next weekend for families.
Some 100 international and Chilean films, including productions shown and awarded in the Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Sundance festivals will be shown at the event in different segments.
There will be 10 world premieres and 22 Latin American premieres of feature films, divided into the international and Chilean contests.
The acclaimed 'Embrace of the Snake' by Colombian Ciro Guerra, is among the favorites of the venue, together with 'The Long Night' of Francisco Sanctis (Francisco Marquez and Andrea Testa, Argentina) and 'From Afar' (Lorenzo Vigas, Venezuela).
In the segment Masters of Cinema, the desert of the venue will be feature film 'Elle' of Dutch director Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct, Robocop, The Man Without a Shadow) and the performance of French diva Isabelle Huppert.