Meet judge Fernanda Solórzano

Film critic Fernanda Solórzano. Photo: Courtesy of Sundance.

Fernanda Solórzano, chief film critic for Mexico’s Letras Libres magazine, is part of Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Jury. With two editions, one in Mexico and another in Spain, the magazine started in 1999 and considers itself a “heir to the tradition and spirit of Vuelta magazine, founded by Octavio Paz,” according to its website. In fact, Letras Libres is published by Editorial Vuelta, a publishing house co-founded by the Nobel Prize laureate Paz–which also published Vuelta magazine. Solórzano has been with the Letras Libres since 2001. Previously, the Mexico-based writer was also chief film critic for various other publications in that country, including “Sábado,” a supplement by Unomásuno newspaper, Cambio journal, and “Confabulario,” another supplement of El Universal newspaper. WORLD PERIODICALS, TV Also, Solórzano articles have been published in international publications such as “Atlas du cinéma,” a supplement of the Paris-based journal Cahiers du Cinéma, the British magazine Sight & Sound and Spain’s Caimán Cuadernos de Cine. Television is another platform where Solórzano has worked as a film analyst and critic. Her credits include hosting shows like Filmoteca 40, Confabulario, Encuadre, and Plano Abierto. Currently, she is also working on a Mexican film production dictionary and is a member of the Morelia International Film Festival official selection committee. THE OTHER JUDGES Solórzano is one of three members of the World Cinema Dramatic Jury. Her fellow judges are are Mark Adams, artistic director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, and Thai film director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, a Cannes Film Fest award winner. Recently, Adams was a chief film critic for the film trade paper Screen International and a film critic for the United Kingdom’s Sunday Mirror. Weerasethakul’s “Blissfully Yours” won the Prize Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2002 and eight years later that fest’s coveted Palme d’Or for “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.” –CESAR ARREDONDO