Mexican Cinema: The Gelman Connection

(Back to Current Events)

Part 1: Saturdays, May 27 & June 10

Part 2: Saturday, July 15

7:30 p.m.
Sherwood Auditorium
Museum Of Contemporary Art San Diego
700 Prospect Street
La Jolla

(858) 454.3541

$5 members / students / seniors / military
$7 non-members

Mexican Cinema: The Gelman Connection

This film series should be subtitled "Sexo, Pudor, Lagrimas, y Risa" (Sex, Shame, Tears and Laughter). This would accurately describe the varied themes of the three films we have chosen to screen in celebration of Frida Kahlo, Diego River, and Twentieth-Century Mexican Art: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. It also draws a strong connection to contemporary Mexicanness by paying homage to the title of one of the biggest hits in modern Mexican cinema,"Sexo, Pudor, y Lagrimas" (directed by Antonio Serano, 1998). In Mexican culture, the ideal is to always connect now with then. This celebration of cinema dedicated to producer/collector Jacques Gelman attempts to do just that by giving La Jolla audiences the rare opportunity to revisit three legendary Mexican figures in films that fit perfectly alongside this exhibition about Mexico and her obsession with drama, popular culture, and self.

Part 1: Legendary Women in Mexican Film, Frida and Miroslava
(click here for screening times and film details)

The love affair with all things Mexican has settled into a secure and legitimate position in American culture, moving up from T-shirts, calendars, and earrings, (all with Frida's image of course) to artistic, political, and personal critical examination. From the kitsch upward, this embracing of Mexicanidad is undoubtedly owed to Kahlo's fierce magic. You can't escape her, she won't let you. In this inaugural offering of our series, Ofelia Medina gives one of the all time great performances in Mexican film. She seems to be actually channeling Frida Kahlo as if Shirley Maclaine herself was directing the film. I really did not know I was a Mexican until Frida told me so. Or rather I should say until Paul Leduc's "Frida" (1984) told me so.

While "Frida" is all about the exquisite prison we can build for ourselves, "Miroslava" directed by Alejandro Pelayo in 1993, is about the stark melodrama we encounter when we get released from our personal jail. In Mexico women artists have never been recognized or honored in the manner they deserve and this misogynist amnesia has allowed popular, important artist/actresses to have been all but forgotten. Who was Miroslava? She was Luis Bunuel's muse and Mexico's Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe, and Susan Lucci all rolled into one glorious flame. This screening is a rare and fancy treat for U.S. audiences, I can't wait. Veronica Langer won an Ariel, Mexico's version of the Oscar, for her multi-layered and emotional portrayal. (Click here for screening times and film details.)

Part 2: The Legend of Mexican Film, Cantinflas
(click here for screening times and film details)

Cantinflas. He was the one name wonder before Cher was ever created. He was Mexican film. A popular/populist comedian of the highest and lowest order, Cantinflas should have been a huge international star, and "Around the World in 80 Days," directed by Michael Anderson in 1956, was the film that was supposed to kick off this crossover. He never became that world star but the film, rarely screened today, lives on in everyone's mind even if relatively few have actually ever seen it on the big screen." Around the World in 80 Days" although not produced by Jacques Gelman, Cantinflas' longtime producing partner, is a guilty pleasure and accessible to U.S.audiences in a way that his signature comedies probably wouldn't be. Originally shot in a splendid then-new 65mm process dubbed Todd-AO( this MCA screening will be in a still-splendid 35mm) "Around the World in 80 Days" won the 1957 Academy Award for Best Picture. (Click here for screening times and film details.)

-- Fred Salas, April 2000