March 21 - 25
Presented by the Hanson Film Institute
and Cinema Tropical
Established in Tucson by the UA Hanson Film Institute in 2004, Tucson Cine Mexico (TCM) is the longest-running festival of contemporary Mexican cinema in the United States, and has become a vital platform for the screening of Mexican films in this country. The festival is free and promoted bilingually, and regularly attracts a diverse audience. Since its inception, Tucson Cine Mexico has attracted more than 20,000 festival-goers and has been host to more than 40 filmmakers and industry professionals. In addition to the annual film lineup, which generally features a mix of award-winning contemporary films and documentaries, the festival encourages audience participation and education via post-screening Q&As and filmmaker panels. Tucson Cine Mexico takes place over 4-5 days each March, with occasional special event screenings at other times through the year.
ETIQUETA NO RIGUROSA / NO DRESS CODE REQUIRED
(Cristina Herrera Bórquez, Mexico, 2017, 92 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. Arizona Premiere)
Presented with support from the UA Institute for LGBT Studies.
Q&A with director Cristina Herrera Bórquez.
Director Cristina Herrera Bórquez’s memorable documentary follows an unassuming same-sex couple, Víctor and Fernando, as they fight for the right to be married in their hometown of Mexicali, Baja California. As their struggle gets complicated and their case becomes public—winning them both allies and enemies—they become improbable media cause célèbres. With the filmmaker’s remarkable access to the epic story, No Dress Code Required is a rallying cry for equality, and a testament to the power of ordinary people to become agents of change.
Wednesday, March 21, 6:15pm — Center for Creative Photography
SANTO CONTRA CEREBRO DEL MAL / SANTO VS. THE EVIL BRAIN
(Joselito Rodríguez, Mexico/Cuba, 1961 (original production year), 2017 (restoration), 70 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Starring: Rodolfo Guzmán "El Santo."
In person: Filmmaker/Archivist Viviana Garcia Besné.
Filmed in Cuba in 1961, Santo contre cerebro del mal is the first lucha libre film starring El Santo (Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta), the most iconic of all Mexican luchadores. In this film, the silver-masked hero foils the plot of a mad scientist to create a zombie army by zapping his innocent victims with electric shocks. Cerebro del mal sparked a long series of films – 52 in all – in which El Santo fights supernatural creatures, evil scientists, and various criminals and secret agents. Cut to 2017: the rapidly deteriorating original camera negatives are saved by archivist and filmmaker (and the producer’s granddaughter) Viviana Garcia Besné. Her mission: to rescue, preserve and reinterpret this and other Mexican films that have been despised by critics but loved by audiences. With assistance from director and archivist Nicolas Winding Refn, The Academy Film Archive and Cinema Preservation Alliance, the result is a stunning new digital restoration of this cult favorite. Doors open at 5:45pm for a pre-show celebration with DJ Dirtyverbs and Adam Cooper-Terán of Verbo•bala.
Thursday, March 22, 6:30pm — Fox Tucson Theatre
LOS ADIOSES / THE ETERNAL FEMININE
(Natalia Beristaín, Mexico, 2017, 85 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. Arizona Premiere)
Cast: Karina Gidi, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Tessa Ia, Pedro De Tavira.
Q&A with director Natalia Beristáin.
Boasting outstanding performances by Karina Gidi and Daniel Giménez Cacho, Natalia Beristáin’s second feature film is an unconventional biopic about the late Rosario Castellanos, one of Mexico’s top literary voices of the twentieth century. The film picks up her life in the 1950s when, as an introverted university student in Mexico City, she fights to have her voice heard in a society run by men. Winner of the Audience Award at the 2017 Morelia International Film Festival.
Friday, March 23, 6:30pm — Harkins Tucson Spectrum 18
EL VIGILANTE / THE NIGHTGUARD
(Diego Ros, Mexico, 2016, 75 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. Arizona Premiere)
Q&A with director Diego Ros.
Salvador (Leonardo Alonso) works the night shift as a security guard in a construction site located on the outskirts of Mexico City. One evening, while the rest of the country celebrates a national holiday, Salvador repeatedly tries to leave the site in order to attend an important event, but a series of improbable situations turns the night into a bizarre and exhausting experience. The auspicious debut feature by Diego Ros is “a wonderfully atmospheric, slightly off-kilter piece through which evil gently and troublingly pulsates.” (Jonathan Holland, The Hollywood Reporter).
Friday, March 23, 9pm — Harkins Tucson Spectrum 18
ME GUSTA PERO ME ASUSTA / I LIKE IT, BUT IT SCARES ME
(Beto Gómez, Mexico, 2017, 100 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. U.S. Premiere)
Cast: Minnie West, Alejandro Speitzer, Joaquín Cosío, Silverio Palacios, Hector Kotsifakis.
Q&A with director Beto Gómez.
In this family-friendly box office hit from Mexico, Brayan Rodríguez, the innocent heir to a nouveau rich Sinaloa family, is sent to Mexico City to expand the mysterious family business. In the capital he meets Claudia, a spoiled millennial being pressured by her father to find a job, and their worlds collide. Appearances can be deceiving when hipster culture meets narco aesthetics in this deliciously subversive romantic screwball comedy starring Minnie West and Alejandro Speitzer in their charming feature film debuts, from director Beto Gómez (Saving Private Perez).
Saturday, March 24, 4pm — Harkins Tucson Spectrum 18
TODO LO DEMÁS / EVERYTHING ELSE
(Natalia Almada, Mexico, 2016, 98 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. Arizona Premiere)
Cast: Adriana Barraza.
Accomplished documentarian Natalia Almada (Sundance Documentary Directing Award 2009) makes her fiction debut with Everything Else, starring Academy Award-nominated Adriana Barraza (Amores Perros, Babel). The film follows Doña Flor, a 63-year-old bureaucrat living in Mexico City who has worked in the same government office for 35 years, attending unsentimentally to people from all corners of Mexican society. When she loses the only living creature she cares for, she goes into crisis. With a keen directorial eye, impeccable framing, and inspired by Hannah Arendt’s idea that bureaucracy is one of the worst forms of violence, the story ultimately becomes a mesmerizing contemplation on solitude.
Saturday, March 24, 7pm — Harkins Tucson Spectrum 18
TALK: THE SILENT GIANT - LATIN AMERICA, A MODERN-DAY EPICENTER OF FILM
With Carlos Gutiérrez, Director of Cinema Tropical
It’s been 20 years since the emergence of the ‘New Argentine Cinema,’ which fostered the arrival of a new generation of filmmakers like Lucrecia Martel (La Ciénega), which would drastically change local modes of production and narratives. The Argentine success served as inspiration for many other Latin American countries, creating an impressive artistic outburst, and breaking film production and box office records throughout the region. Yet, aside from a few break-through films like City of God, Y Tu Mamá También and Amores Perros, Latin American cinema remains largely overlooked in the United States. Carlos Gutierrez, co-founding director of Cinema Tropical, the leading presenter of Latin American cinema in the U.S., will discuss the outstanding contemporary cinema coming from Latin America, and share exclusive trailers of upcoming films.
Sunday, March 25, 11:30am — Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block - Lobby
TEMPESTAD
(Tatiana Huezo, Mexico, 2016, 105 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. Arizona Premiere)
Tatiana Huezo’s second documentary feature (after her acclaimed debut The Tiniest Place) recounts the story of two women: Miriam, who was wrongly accused of human trafficking and imprisoned in a jail controlled by a drug cartel, and Adela, a circus performer who has been looking for her kidnapped daughter for over a decade. Through a subjective and emotional journey, and with striking cinematography by Ernesto Pardo (nominated for an American Society of Cinematographers Award for his work on the film), Tempestad conveys the paralyzing power of fear and reflects the impact of the violence and impunity that afflict Mexico. Hailed as “a rich and original piece of work” (IndieWire), Tempestad was Mexico’s official entry to this year’s Oscars. Post-screening discussion with Ana Cornide, Assistant Professor, UA Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
Sunday, March 25, 2pm — Harkins Tucson Spectrum 18
Tucson Cine Mexico’s website www.tucsoncinemexico.org is the source for all festival event details and free tickets.
Screening Information: The 2018 Tucson Cine Mexico screenings and talk will take place across four venues in Tucson including the Center for Creative Photography (1030 N Olive Rd, Tucson 85719), Fox Tucson Theatre, Harkins Tucson Spectrum 18 (5455 S Calle Santa Cruz, Tucson 85706), and the Tucson Museum of Art & Historic Block. Tickets are free and open to all. Advance tickets are now available at www.tucsoncinemexico.org. Note that tickets do not guarantee seats. Seating will be available to ticket holders on a first-come first-served basis. Patrons are encouraged to arrive early to secure seats. Subject to availability, some tickets may be available on the night.
About our sponsors: Tucson Cine Mexico 2018 acknowledges the support of the following sponsors.
Silver: Film Tucson, Topline Entertainment, Rio Nuevo, Arizona Office of Film & Digital Media.
Bronze: La Estrella Bakery, UA College of Fine Arts, UA Department of Spanish & Portuguese, UA Office of Global Initiatives, SplitSeed Productions, Vantage West, Calle Tepa Mexican Street Grill, Guadalajara Original Grill.
WIth support from Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block, UA Institute for LGBT Studies, UA Center for Latin American Studies, UA College of Humanities, UA College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, UA Department of Gender & Women’s Studies, and Ambulante Gira de Documentales.
