The 64th annual edition of the San Francisco Film Festival, which starts today and runs through Sunday, April 18 is presenting the special spotlight “Cine Mexicano” featuring six films from south of the border plus a special panel discussion with guest filmmakers.
The breadth of storytelling that consistently emerges from Mexican filmmakers, their artistic vision, and their ingenuity in weaving complex narratives have made a deep impression on the Californian film festival. The selected six stunning films celebrate the country’s rich history and current social issues through transformative art.
The six featured titles available to stream nationwide are:
The Spokeswoman / La vocera: Another gripping and illuminating documentary from Luciana Kaplan, here the focus is Maria de Jesús Patricio, the first indigenous woman to run for president of Mexico. Known as Marichuy, her fraught and heartfelt campaign reveals the intricacies of Mexican politics while cementing the critical issues facing the indigenous population into the national discourse. Exploring racism and gender discrimination, Marichuy’s journey is one of inspiration and hope.
Son of Monarchs / Hijo de monarcas: Employing a rich and romantic visual tapestry, this drama by French-Venezuelan director Alexis Gambis tells the story of Mendel (played by Tenoch Huerta), who grew up enchanted by the migrating monarch butterflies in his native Michoacán. Now, he sequences their DNA in New York while trapeze lessons allow him to experience their flight. On a visit back home to Mexico, the young man finds himself weighing matters of culture, love, and family, recognizing how his own life path has followed the migration of the beloved insects he studies.
Cruz: Cruz Sanchez, the proud patriarch of an indigenous Rarámuri clan, flees from his home high in the Mexican Sierras, forced off his tribe’s ancestral land by drug cartels and the violence they bring with them. Filmmaker Teresa Camou Guerrero, meticulously employs intimate interviews with Sanchez kin, striking cinematography, and stunning pen-and-ink animation to create an evocative portrait of a resilient family’s gradual triumph over the horrors of death and injustice.
Dance of the 41 / El baile de los 41: Based on true events, Dance of the 41 is the forbidden love story between a politician and a lawyer that became a society scandal that roiled early 20th-century Mexico. Ignacio, a charming and handsome congressman, marries the beloved indigenous and illegitimate daughter of the president. Outwardly they are the perfect high society couple, but their fairytale is a strained and violent relationship of betrayals. This sumptuous and gorgeous period piece imagines a seminal moment in Mexican culture and lays bare homophobic beliefs that continue today.
Fauna: Luisa and Paco are actors visiting her dysfunctional family when the need for better booze prompts a trip to a nearby bar. When Paco is recognized as an actor from Narcos: Mexico and asked to improvise a scene, the stage is set for Nicolás Pereda to wryly explore issues of representation and performance. A noirish side narrative, taken from the book Luisa’s brother is reading, adds a sly subtext to the main storyline.
Nudo Mixteco: Converging around a Mexican village’s yearly festival, this powerful drama depicts the upheaval created when three people who left return home. María comes to bury her mother but faces her father’s condemnation over her sexuality, Esteban seeks revenge for his wife’s infidelity, and Toña is compelled to address a childhood trauma that is impacting her daughter. With tension and empathy, this debut feature by actor-turned-filmmaker Ángeles Cruz portrays the constraints on women’s lives within a culture of machismo.
Additionally, as an extension of the Festival’s Cine Mexicano spotlight, the San Francisco Film Festival will present the panel ‘Cine Mexicano Filmmakers on Rebellion and Innovation,’ on Tuesday, April 13, 4pm PT. This talk moderated by director Rodrigo Reyes (499) will explore how Mexican filmmakers are pushing the form of storytelling to create rebellious and innovative work. The guest speakers include directors Luciana Kaplan, Alexis Gambis, Nicolás Pereda, Ángeles Cruz, and Teresa Camou.
