There will be no special facilities for the Film Academy from the government

What was reiterated to us was that the only possible ways for the Academy to have resources that come from the Ministry of Culture are the same ones that we have explored up to now, which is through the calls.

Leticia Huijara, president of AMACC.

Last Monday, the coordinating committee of the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AMACC) announced via social networks that it traveled to Tlaxcala to meet with the federal Secretary of Culture, Alejandra Frausto Guerrero, and the general director of the Mexican Institute of Cinematography ( Imcine), Maria Novaro Penaloza.

The foregoing, after the AMACC declared itself in a “serious financial crisis” and announced the suspension of the call for the Ariel awards “until we are sure that we can face all the processes that derive from it.”

About that meeting, the AMACC shared on its social networks: “the Ministry of Culture expressed its commitment to directly cover some processes for the realization of the Ariel ceremony, in case it is possible to carry it out”, but expanded that it will be the The Academy’s commitment to continue seeking the resources that guarantee its financial viability.

Last Tuesday, this newspaper approached the president of the Academy, Leticia Huijara, who participated in the launch of the Inter-institutional Network for Gender Equality in the Audiovisual Community of Mexico City, at the Churubusco Studios, to delve into this conversation.

“The Academy’s position was to open up to dialogue. From there how far we can go or land is still up in the air. Now it is time to meet with all the instances that were proposed to us and that is where we will see what possibilities we have. But what was reiterated to us was that the only possible ways for the Academy to have resources that come from the Ministry of Culture are the same ones that we have explored up to now, which is through the calls, ”he briefly stated.

operational failure

In recent days, Imcine explained that in recent years AMACC has received federal support, although not by direct donation from the Federation Expenditure Budget (PEF) each year, as was customary in past six-year terms, but by the different Imcine calls, as well as other in-kind support that implies savings for the AMACC, such as the loan of La Casa Luis Buñuel, the current headquarters of the Academy.

Likewise, the Imcine affirmed, the Ariel ceremony has been supported with the payment of the 2021 and 2022 statuettes for an amount of 1,164,293 pesos via Imcine and an amount for the same amount via the Cineteca Nacional, without considering the transmission of the ceremony on Channel 22 for free.

Through the Fomento al Cine Mexicano (Focine) program, which started to replace the trusts, Imcine explained that it supported the Rumbo al Ariel 2021 program, promoted by the AMACC, with 583,686 pesos, and in 2022 with 856,696 pesos.

During the second period of 2021, the agency expanded, the Academy applied to receive support from Eficine 189, in the Distribution modality, with the project “Voices and themes of Mexican cinema. An encounter with our reality”, and received an amount of more than one and a half million pesos. But this year the Academy applied for the same support for an amount of 1,727,540 pesos and was considered on the preliminary list of projects subject to authorization, but “it did not apply to the fiscal evaluation because it did not obtain a major contributor.”

The AMACC coordinating committee, during the conference two weeks ago, accepted that in recent years they have used Eficine resources for promotion programs such as Rumbo al Ariel, but indicated that the annual operating cost of the academy , without considering any program or activity, is 3.5 million pesos, and this is one of the points where there is no financial solvency.

According to the Report of Authorized Grantees 2022, the AMACC received for 2021 a total of donations for 4.6 million pesos from private donations, that is, barely one million above the estimate of the annual operating cost.

Livelihood, historical theme

In previous efforts, Huijara specified at the time, there was a budget allocated for the Academy within the PEF, “but three years ago that stopped happening.”

Mónica Lozano, treasurer of the AMACC, explained that “in 1949, when our first film law was created, there was a section in the law that established that there was an obligation of the State to support and sponsor the Academy, but this article disappeared over time (…) during all the presidencies of the Academy, one of the most sensitive issues has been that, its economic sustainability”.

In December 2016, the AMACC, under the presidency of Dolores Heredia, spoke out against the approval of the PEF 2017, which put “the healthy life of our Academy and a group of associations and projects in our community in serious difficulties.” In 2010, its then president, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., declared that it was at risk of closing its stalls due to the lack of public support in which it found itself.

They will seek the formation of a board of trustees

The AMACC announced that it has reformulated its statutes for the creation of a board of trustees that allows a new flow of resources. “There was a first board of trustees during the administration of Diana Bracho. Even the UNAM and some businessmen participated in it. Unfortunately, it ceased to exist with the change of management, among other things because it was not supported by the statutes of the Academy. But now the new statutes allow us to form this board of trustees”, declared Leticia Huijara.

ricardo.quiroga@eleconomista.mx