Friday, September 18 2009

MEXICAN CINEMA has emerged as one of the most cutting edge and innovative film industries in recent years.

Carlos Cuaron, who wrote the screenplay for the hugely successful Y Tu Mama Tambien has directed his first feature film, Rudo Y Cursi, which will be screened at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival. In addition, there will be screenings of Silent Light and Battle in Heaven two films by Mexico’s renowned director of cinema, Carlos Reygadas, who will also be in attendance at the festival this year.

The Trinidad and Tobago Film Company is working closely with the Embassy of Mexico to create a filmmaker exchange programme with the Mexican Film Institute.



Y Tu Mamá También

Beto (Diego Luna) and Tato (Gael García Bernal) Verdusco are brothers who work at a banana plantation and also play football for the village team. Nicknamed “Tough” because of his personality and football style, Beto dreams of becoming a professional football player; Tato’s dream is to be a famous singer, and both share the dream of building a house for their mother, Elvira.

They have a change in luck when “Batuta,” a football talent scout, discovers them accidentally. Tato is the first to move to the big city where he becomes the star goal scorer for the prestigious Deportivo Amaranto (Amaranto Club). His baroque playing style earns him the nickname of “Corny”.

Although Beto feels he has been betrayed and left behind, he soon travels to Mexico City to become the goalkeeper for Atlético Nopaleros (Nopaleros Team). At the peak of glory, they forget all animosity, although it does not last long.

At the very real possibility of fulfilling all of their dreams, the siblings must face an innate rivalry as well as their own demons and limitations. Beto is a gambler and allows his addiction to drag him down; Tato is unable to recognise his true talents and squanders every opportunity by pursuing a false idea of celebrity and status. The dream seems to slip through their fingers. And it is at their worst moment that the brothers find forgiveness trying to help each other while casting headlong towards their individual destiny.



Silent Light (Luz Silenciosa)

Silent Light opens with a shot of the heavens, starlight glowing through pinpricks in the canvas of a cloud smeared, inky-black sky. Slowly the camera shifts its gaze down to earth, coming to rest on a vast field, as the rising sun throws a mantle of golden light upon the land.

The film closes with a shot of this field at sunset; crepuscular light bathing the landscape as the camera slowly lifts its gaze back up to the sky. Night descends and the stars return, shining on endlessly in an immutable cosmos.

In-between this beginning and end, the story—that of a man’s love for a woman who is not his wife—unfolds; set among northern Mexico’s tightly knit, deeply religious German Mennonite community, it is given renewed meaning.

Non-professional actors, long takes, an austere mise en scène, breathtaking cinematography, and the heightened use of ambient sound (there is no music soundtrack) create a cinematic experience that is profoundly moving and an example of what great cinema can be.

Awards: Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Maria Pankratz), Best Cinematography (Alexis Zabé), Best Original Screenplay, Ariel Awards, Mexico 2008; Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival 2007; Gold Hugo for Best Film, Chicago International Film Festival 2007; Grand Coral – First Prize, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Sound (Raúl Locatelli), Havana Film Festival 2007;

Best Latin American Film, Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival 2007



Battle in Heaven (Batalla en el cielo)

Marcos and his wife kidnap a baby for ransom money, but it goes wrong when the infant dies. In another world is Ana, the daughter of the general Marcos drives for, who prostitutes herself for pleasure.

Marcos confesses his guilt to her in his troubled search for relief. And then finds himself on his knees amidst the multitude of believers moving slowly towards the Basilica in honour of the Lady of Guadalupe.

Awards: Best Feature Film – 2006 La Muestra Cultural (Festivalissimo); FIPRESCI Best Latino American Film – 2005 Festival do Rio; Best Cinematography – 2005 Festival Elcine de Lima; Critics’ Award – 2005 Festival Elcine de Lima. Nomination: Best Non-European Film – 2006 European Film Academy.