IN PERSON: DIRECTOR SERGIO ARAU AND ACTRESS YARELI ARIZMENDI 

 

Official Selection, Guadalajara International Film Festival in Los Angeles, 2011 

 

Mexico, 2010, 90 mins. 

Director: Sergio Arau Producer: Rossana Arau & Sergio Arau Screenplay: Sergio Arau, Tihui Arau, Francisco Barrios, Armando Vega Gil Cinematographer: Gerardo Barroso Editor: Sebastian Hofmann, Adrian Salinas Starring Sergio Arau, Yareli Arizmendi, Flavia Atencio 

In Spanish with English subtitles

 

In this inventive mockumentary, director Sergio Arau (A Day Without a Mexican) revisits his old musical group Botellita de Jerez, pioneers of “guacarock” in the 1980s. The band’s blend of blues, cumbia, punk and performance art has proven highly influential (Botellita’s disciples include La Maldita Vecindad and Café Tacuba), and their sharp sense of humor is put to fine use here. A crazy quilt of music, comedy, and Mexican culture, Naco es Chido stitches together actual footage from the band’s heyday and interviews with other music stars with a fictitious storyline about a rediscovered recording that sparks a reunion of the now down-on-their-luck group members. 

 

THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 7 PM 

HARKINS THEATRES 

Presented in Association with Cinema Tropical 

PERDIDA/LOST IN TIME 

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IN PERSON: DIRECTOR VIVIANA GARCIA BESNE & PRODUCER ALISTAIR TEMPS 

 

Official Selection Morelia International Film Festival, 2011 

Official Selection Telluride Film Festival, 2011 

Official Selection New York Documentary Film Festival, 2011 

 

Mexico, 2011, 94 mins. 

Director: Viviana García Besné Producer: Alistair Temps Screenplay: Viviana García Besné Cinematographer: Viviana García Besné Editor: Viviana García Besné 

In Spanish with English subtitles

 

This film traces the unbelievable true story of the Calderón family, which built grand movie palaces in Mexico and the U.S. and employed thousands to produce incomparable, hugely successful, often reprehensible populist-genre films utterly and uniquely Mexican. Told by Viviana García Besné - whose grand-uncle was mogul José Luis Calderón - this personal tale from inside an alternate universe offers glimpses of utterly unknown zaftig saturnine actresses, overweight masked wrestlers, human robots and Aztec mummies… all driven by a shameless but keen commercial impulse. And the cinematic fantasies are mirrored by an even stranger labyrinth of internal sibling strife, film business clashes, Hollywood affairs, bankruptcies and anti-intellectual tirades. It’s a Grey Gardens enquiry into a cinematic dynasty. –Telluride Film Festival 

 

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 5 PM 

HARKINS THEATRES 

 

SHORTS PROGRAM: DIRECTED BY WOMEN 

 

ESTELA 

Official Selection, Morelia International Film Festival, 2011 

Mexico, 2011, 20 mins., Director: Martha Uc 

 

DOS CAFES/TWO COFFEES 

Official Selection, Morelia International Film Festival, 2011 

Mexico, 2010, 12 mins., Director: Talia G. Aach 

 

REINA A SU GUSTO/SUITABLE QUEEN 

Official Selection, Morelia International Film Festival, 2011 

Mexico, 2010, 19 mins., Director: Maya Goded 

 

VER LLOVER/WATCHING IT RAIN 

Winner, Palme d’Or for Best Short Film, Cannes Film Festival, 2007 

Winner, Best Short Film, Morelia International Film Festival, 2006 

Mexico, 2006, 14 mins., Director: Elisa Miller 

 

MATILDE LANDETA 

Official Selection Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival 

Mexico, 1993, 25 mins., Director: Patricia Martínez de Velasco 

 

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 7 PM 

FOX TUCSON THEATRE 

MEXICO’S SUBMISSION TO THE ACADEMY AWARDS FOR BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM 

MISS BALA/MISS BULLET 

 

IN PERSON: CEO CANANA FILMS JULIAN LEVIN AND ACTRESS STEPHANIE SIGMAN 

 

Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival, 2011 

Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival, 2011 

Mexico, 2010, 113 mins. 

Director: Gerardo Naranjo Producer: Gabriel Garcia Bernal, Pablo Cruz, Diego Luna Screenplay: Gerardo Naranjo, Mauricio Katz Cinematographer: Mátyás Erdély Editor: Gerardo Naranjo Starring: Stephanie Sigman, Noe Hernandez, Irene Azuela 

In Spanish with English subtitles

 

…confident, ultra-chic spellbinder... – TIME Magazine 

 

…Gerardo Naranjo’s melodrama is as smart and thrilling as it is tragic. – TIME Magazine

 

Fast and dangerous, Miss Bala is a hair-raising actioner that thrusts a young Mexican girl into the thick of a drug war between local gangsters and U.S. narcs. The setting is Baja California in Mexico…

-The Hollywood Reporter 

 

With a dream of being crowned Miss Baja California, Tijuana teenager Laura skips school with her best friend Suzu and sign for the local beauty pageant. But their day takes a horrifying turn when Laura becomes the only living witness to a massacre committed by a gang of narcos… This is not a conventional drug war movie. The story reveals a girl’s perplexed and terrified perspective on the deadly chaos caused by the narcos’ lawlessness.

- Excerpted, Toronto International Film Festival

 

SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2 PM 

HARKINS THEATRES 

Presented in association with Ambulante Documentary Film Festival 

LA MALETA MEXICANA/THE MEXICAN SUITCASE 

 

IN PERSON: DIRECTOR TRISHA ZIFF 

 

Official Selection, Morelia International Film Festival, 2011 

Official Selection, San Sebastian International Film Festival, 2011 

Official Selection, AFI Latin American Film Festival, 2011 

 

Mexico/Spain, 2011, 86 mins. 

Director: Trisha Ziff Producer: Eamon O’Farrill, Trisha Ziff, Paco Poch Screenplay: Trisha Ziff Cinematographer: Claudio Rocha Editor: Luis Lopez, Paloma Carillo, Bernat Aragonés 

English, Catalan, and Spanish Dialogue with English subtitles

 

The story of three lost boxes, found in a closet in Mexico City in 2007, that disappeared in the chaos of Europe at the beginning of World War II. Contained in the titular suitcase were 4,500 photo negatives, the work of three young European photographers: Robert Capa, David “Chim” Seymour and Gerda Taro. Exiles from different places (Hungary, Poland, Germany), they had become friends in Paris, then traveled to Spain together to fight fascism with their cameras. This fascinating documentary from Trisha Ziff explores not only the historical mystery of how this photographic treasure trove came to be stashed and nearly forgotten - in a modest Mexico City apartment, but also the living history of people affected by the Spanish Civil War: in Spain, the contemporary descendants of the defeated Republicans; in Mexico, the refugee children- now senior citizens -who fled war-torn Spain for the safety of a new home. -AFI Latin American Film Festival 

 

SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 5 PM 

HARKINS THEATRES 

PARAISOS ARTIFICIALES/ARTIFICIAL PARADISES 

 

IN PERSON: DIRECTOR YULENE OLAIZOLA 

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Official Selection, Morelia International Film Festival, 2011 

Official Selection, International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2011 

Winner, Best Cinematography Narrative Award, Tribeca Film Festival, 2011 

 

Mexico/Netherlands/USA, 2011, 83 mins. 

Director: Yulene Olaizola Producer: Maximiliano Cruz, Sandra Gómez, Yulene Olaizola Screenplay: Fernando del Razo, Yulene Olaizola Cinematographer: Lisa Tillinger Editor: Rubén Imaz Starring: Luisa Pardo, Salomón Hernández 

In Spanish with English subtitles

 

Luisa is 25 years old and fighting a heroin addiction. Having escaped the city she finds herself seeking repose in a fading beach resort that rests on the lush seaside hills of Veracruz, Mexico. Inhabitants and conversations are sparse, but Luisa finds a quiet companionship with 50-year-old local Salomon, an alcoholic widower who spends his days smoking marijuana. The film’s breathtaking landscape, captured by talented cinematographer Luisa Tillinger, is a slice of serenity, even though the village’s permanent residents grapple with the reality of paradise’s temporal promises. It is an interesting and apt backdrop for this less-than-ordinary love story between two people battling dependency.

- Excerpted, Tribeca Film Festival

 

SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 7 PM-10 PM 

TUCSON MUSEUM OF ART 

Presented in collaboration with the Tucson Museum of Art

SHORTS PROGRAM: DIRECTED BY WOMEN : MEET THE GUEST PROGRAMMERS AND SOME OF THE DIRECTORS OF FILMS IN THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL 

7 PM-8:30 PM- FILM SCREENINGS 

DOS CAFES/TWO COFFEES 

REINA A SU GUSTO/ SUITABLE QUEEN 

ESTELA 

VER LLOVER/WATCHING IT RAIN 

MATILDE LANDETA

 

8:30 PM-9 PM Discussion with Guests: Carlos Gutierrez, Director of Cinema Tropical; Elena Fortes, Director of Ambulante Film Festival; Viviana Besne, Director (Perdida); Trisha Ziff, Director (The Mexican Suitcase); Yulene Olaizola (Artificial Paradises) 9 PM- 10 PM 

 

RECEPTION EXHIBIT OPEN- FRIDA KAHLO THROUGH THE LENS OF NICKOLAS MURAY

 

SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 8 PM 

HARKINS THEATRES 

ACORAZADO 

 

Winner, Audience Award, Morelia International Film Festival, 2010 

Official Selection, Mar de Plata International Film Festival, 2011

 

Mexico, 2010, 97 mins. 

Director: Álvaro Curiel Producer: Sandra Solares and Juan Uruchurtu Screenplay: Álvaro Curiel Cinematographer: German Lammers Editor: José Manuel Craviotto Starring: Marius Biegai, Camille Natta, and Silverio Palacios 

In Spanish with English Subtitles

 

…Sharp, entertaining, and with a very dark humor… 

 

Silverio Palacios is a fisherman, but lately the only thing he catches is bad luck: his attempt to form a cooperative organization has utterly failed, and with this and other frustrations on his back, he becomes the first Mexican balsero headed to Miami. Following the delirious project of his old friend El Alacrán -and also escaping his unbearable family life- he transforms his old VW taxi cab into The Battleship and, wearing only a pair of brief underpants, cleaves through the ocean with the hope of reaching the shores of the great American dream before the coast guard can catch him. But he didn´t consider the obstacles nature -and his own inexperience- will place on his way in order to change his destination to Cuba, where he´s given a home, a job, and a social security, and where he now must think up a whole new plan.

- Exceprted, Mar de Plata International Film Festival 

 

SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 3 PM 

HARKINS THEATRES 

Presented in association with Ambulante Documentary Film Festival 

El VELADOR/THE NIGHT WATCHMAN 

 

Official Selection Cannes Film Festival, 2011 

Official Selection Morelia International Film Festival, 2011 

Official Selection International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, 2011 

Nominated, Cinema Tropical Awards, Best Documentary and Best Documentary Director 2011 

 

Mexico, 2011, 72 mins. 

Director: Natalia Almada Producer: Natalia Almada Cinematographer: Natalia Almada Editor: Natalia Almada and Julien Devaux 

In Spanish with English subtitles

 

Natalia Almada follows Martin, the night watchman of one of the most ornate cemeteries in northern Mexico, where drug lords and corrupt cops are laid to rest. A documentary spawned from violence, El Velador shows the end result of a chronic societal crisis. But Almada’s approach is poetic, not sociological, filled with striking surreal images of elaborate mausoleums that disrupt the pastoral landscape. As the cemetery, filled with widows tending to their husband’s shrines, constantly expands, the dreamlike quality of Almada’s filmmaking creates a disembodied atmosphere where the poor and living labor day and night for the rich deceased. 

 

SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 6 PM 

HARKINS THEATRES 

STARRING ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE DEMIAN BICHIR (A BETTER LIFE) 

HIDALGO: LA HISTORIA JAMAS CONTADA/ HIDALGO, THE UNTOLD STORY 

 

Silver Ariel Award, Best Original Score 

Silver Ariel Nominated, Best Actor, Best Editing, Best Special Effects, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress 

 

Mexico, 2010, 110 mins. 

Director: Antonio Serrano Producer: Luis Urquiza, Lourdes García

Screenplay: Leo Eduardo Mendoza, Antonio Serrano

Cinematographer: Emiliano Villanueva Editor: Mario Sandoval

Starring: Ana de la Reguera, Demián Bichir, and Miguel Rodarte 

In Spanish with English Subtitles

 

From his jail cell in Chihuahua’s Military Hospital, Hidalgo remembers moments of his life, particularly his time as parish priest in San Felipe Torres Mochas, where he was in close contact with the lower classes and the idea of emancipation first arose, and where he translated and produced Moliere’s play Tartuffe. During this time he falls in love with Josefa Quintana, with whom he has three children, and leaves the priesthood for a time. Starring Demian Bechir (Che, A Better Life, Weeds) and Ana de la Reguera (Nacho Libre, Cowboys and Aliens).