I started to notice filmmakers sing the praises of Mexico’s Golden Age of Cinema back in the days when I would dissect DVDs for their BTS documentaries and director’s commentary tracks. Filmmakers like Jorge Guttierez, Guillermo del Toro, and Alfonso Cuaron were among the biggest fanboys who’d reminisce and hype this epoch in the history of Mexican cinema. In the last five years or so, the loudest advocate has been film critic Carlos Aguilar. I’ve always admired his adoration for the films from this era as I bookmarked dozens of his tweets and added all of his recommendations to my Letterboxd watchlist. [Check out his writeup over at NYT on this Lincoln Center retrospective.]
I’ve been meaning to dive into these films for a very long time now and earlier this year I was lucky to attend another retrospective from this era already. In February, MoMA had a series on BUÑUEL IN MEXICO and I got to see a few screenings, such as: SUSANA, EL BRUTO, and NAZARÍN. Afterwards, I picked up THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL and VICTIMS OF SIN on Criterion. 2024 has been my year for diving into Mexico’s Golden Age of Cinema and it might not have happened this soon if Tyler Wilson didn’t respond to my cold call email about doing the podcast with me back in January.
SPECTACLE EVERY DAY: MEXICAN POPULAR CINEMA is the traveling retrospective that launched out of last year’s Locarno Film Festival. This is New York’s spin on it. Hosted by Film at Lincoln Center, sponsored by Mubi, with support from Cinema Tropical, and led by FLC programmers Cecilia Barrionuevo and Tyler Wilson who are my guests on this episode of the podcast.
Cecilia was the first female artistic director for the Mar del Plata International Film Festival in Argentina. She’s also curated special programs for MACBA (Museum of Contemporary Art of Buenos Aires) and UNION DOCS in NYC. She’s a member of the Advisory Board for the Film Study Center at Harvard University, and she’s currently the Programmer at Large at FLC.
Tyler has been involved with FLC for several years now as an organizer and a programmer. He has a hand in FLC’s new releases, he played a lead role in the organization’s shorts programming since 2017, and he serves on the selection committee for the New York Film Festival and New Directors/New Films.
Cecilia and Tyler were part of the same team who curated the 2018 film series at FLC, NEIGHBORING SCENES: NEW LATIN AMERICAN CINEMA. This is their first time collaborating together as partners, co-programming the MEXICAN POPULAR CINEMA retrospective.
22 films are being screened from Friday July 26 through Thursday August 8. FLC made a Letterboxd list HERE.
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Credits: Produced by Alec Rodriguez, original artwork by Cristina Montes, original music by Jeremy Bullen.
NEXT ON THE POD — Reactions to JAPAN CUTS 2024!
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