Strange but true

Michel Lipkes

He was born in Mexico city on February 25th, 1978.
He studied filmmaking in the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC) in Mexico City where he graduated with honors in film direction in 2006.
His first feature Malaventura had its world premiere in the 2011 Morelia International Film Festival where it won a Jury mention. It was then selected in the section Bright future at the 2012 Rotterdam Film Festival. After this the film was succesfully screened in more than thirty major film festivals and received many excelent reviews as well as stiring up some controversy. It was released theatrically in Mexico city in november 2013.
Malaventura was produced by Axolote cine where he is a co-founder since 2006 along with filmmakers Ruben Imaz, Matias Meyer, Maria Novaro, Gerardo Barroso, Bulmaro Osornio, Leon Felipe Gonzalez and Julio Barcenas. They have produced more than a dozen features that have been screened and awarded at numerous film festivals, all have had mexican theatrical distribution. Axolote cine is a well established and recognized independent production company in the mexican panorama. Within the production company, Michel Lipkes has co-produced Julio Hernandez Cordon ? s ? Las marimbas del infierno ? and associate produced ? Hasta el sol tiene manchas ? (Even the sun has spots) by the same director as well as Raya Martin and Mark Peranson ?s ?La última película ?.
He was also director of programming in Mexico city ? s international contemporary film festival from 2003 to 2008. He colaborated with Richard Peña in 2008 in the retrospective dedicated to mexican filmmaker Roberto Gavaldon in the Film society at Lincoln center in New York city. He also programmed in 2010 FID Marseille a focus titled ? Another history of mexican cinema ? . He has also programmed the Guadalajara international film festival, Talent campus Guadalajara, Centro cultural Tlatelolco, Distrital, Cineteca Nacional and Riviera Maya film festival.
He has taught ?Cinematographic analysis ? clases in Centro de Capacitación Cinematografica, Taller cinematográfico, Oaxaca cine, Campamento audiovisual itinerante, Academia de San Carlos and Universidad de Aguascalientes.

-Malaventura (2011) - first feature
World premiere - Morelia international film festival – Jury mention.?
International premiere - Rotterdam international film festival.?
FICUNAM, Guanajuato international FF, Puebla international FF (Jury mention) in Mexico, Las palmas international FF, Latin american FF in Montreal (Jury mention), Bradford Film Festival and East end film festival in the United kingdom, MUCA in Guatemala, New Horizons in Poland, Latin beat and Anthology film archives in New York city, AFI Silver in Washington DC, Valdivia international FF, Sao Paulo international film festival, Viennale , Lima independiente in Peru, La habana FF amongst others.
Short films: El niño sin piernas no puede bailar (The legless boy cannot dance, 2008 / Best short film AFI Festival, Los Angeles, USA, 2008, Sic transit gloria mundi (2005), Una vaca en mi cabeza (A cow inside my head, 2004), Escupir contra el viento (Spitting against the wind, 2004), El diablo se llevo a mi mujer ( The devil got my woman, 2003), Cielo en la tierra (Heaven on earth, 2002).