Winner of the Best Documentary Film at the Morelia Film Festival, the debut feature by Fernando Llanos, tells the story of Antolín Jiménez, who was one of Mexico’s most distinguished charros or horsemen. He fought alongside Pancho Villa, represented the state of Oaxaca in Congress, and was the president of the National Charro Association. In 1942, as rumors spread of a Nazi invasion of Mexico, Jiménez formed and trained a group of 100,000 fighters to repel the attack. Seventy years later, Jimenez’s grandson Llanos brings us the film Matria, tracing the director’s quest to understand more about his mysterious grandfather and the culture of charros in the mid-20th century. Deeply rooted family secrets are unearthed in the process, and what begins as a character profile becomes an entangled story of family lore and a window into the history of modern Mexico.
MATRIA
A film by Fernando Llanos
(Mexico, 2014, HD, 62 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Now streaming on Amazon Prime
Watch the trailer:
