Chico Grande screens at Harkins Spectrum 18 on March 6.
Up until the late 1960s, Mexican cinema had a regular audience and downtown home at La Plaza Theatre, which was razed during the 1970s urban renewal efforts.
For several decades now, screenings of Spanish language films in Tucson were sporadic at best. They were mostly shown at events such as Puro Mexicano: Tucson Film Festival (2005-2008), and Mariachi film festival screenings, among others.
The annual Tucson Cine Mexico film festival, taking place March 2-6, seems to have established a new niche. Bringing together the programming of the traveling film festival “Ambulante” as well as selections from the “Cinema Tropical” festival, this year’s series promises to deliver the best in contemporary Mexican film.
A production of the Hanson Film Institute, with support from the Consulate of Mexico, this year’s festival will present nine feature films, as well as a shorts program, panel discussions and social gatherings.
The festival is free and open to the public, with films showcased at four locations: Harkins Spectrum 18 (5455 S. Calle Santa Cruz), The Fox Tucson Theatre (17 W. Congress St.), The Tucson Museum of Art (140 N. Main Ave.) and the Center for Creative Photography on the UA campus (1030 N. Olive Rd.) All films are in Spanish with English subtitles.
One highlight of the 2011 festival is the special screening of the 2001 Academy Award-nominated Best Foreign Language Film, Amores Perros. The free screening will take place on March 6, 6:30pm, at the Fox Tucson Theatre.
Following the screening is a discussion with the film’s producer Sosa Elizonda.
Carlos A. Gutiérrez, guest programmer for Tucson Cine Mexico and co-founding Director of Cinema Tropical, said, “Amores Perros was basically the film that opened the door for Latin American cinema and particularly Mexican cinema in the U.S. Beyond the fact that it launched the international career of the now-staple names in the world cinema circuit, such as director Alejandro González Iñárritu, actor Gael García Bernal, and screenwriter-cum-director Guillermo Arriaga, it also placed Mexican cinema back on the international map."
Other films in the festival include:
• Norteado/Northless, a feature-length film on border crossing issues.
• Vuelve a la Vida/Back to Life, a documentary that tells the story of famous shark hunter Perro Largo.
• Intimidades de Shakespeare y Victor Hugo/Shakespeare and Victor Hugo’s Intimacies documents a boarding house in Mexico City and the relationship between the filmmaker’s grandmother and a troubled tenant.
This year will also feature a special selection of short films from the Expresion en Corto 2010 film festival, which will be screened at the Tucson Museum of Art on March 3, 8:30pm.
“The Guanajuato International Film Festival, Expresión en Corto, has been around since 1997 and has become one of Mexico’s leading film festivals, along with Morelia and Guadalajara Film Festivals that in turn are vital platforms for the great filmmaking coming out of Mexico these days” said Vicky Westover, director of the Hanson Film Institute and Director of Tucson Cine Mexico.
For more information on Tucson Cine Mexico 2011, visit TucsonCineMexico.org.
