UA News

The Tucson Cine Mexico 2009 festival begins March 26 and screens classic science fiction and current award-winning films.

Award-winning films, an exclusive sneak preview, special guests and vintage science fiction are key features of the Tucson Cine Mexico 2009 festival being celebrated at the end of March and first week of April.

The University of Arizona's Hanson Film Institute, the Mexican Consulate in Tucson, the Tucson Film Office, the UA Office of Western Hemispheric Programs and Cinema Tropical, of New York, are hosting the six-day event, which is now in its third year.

Films will be screened at the Harkins Theater Spectrum 18 on South Calle Santa Cruz near Interstate 19 and Drexel Road, and at the Grand Cinemas Crossroads 6, located at 4811 E. Grant Road.

"The Hanson Film Institute creates programs that serve students, faculty and the community, and one of our special focuses is on Latin American – in particular Mexican – film. Our vision is to create the premier Mexican film festival in the United States, and Tucson should be the home for that. We have developed ideal partnerships across the University and in the community to make that vision a reality," said Vicky Westover, program director for the UA's Hanson Film Institute and director of Tucson Cine Mexico.

The highlight of the festival is the exclusive sneak preview of the Mexican box office hit "Rudo y Cursi," which reunites actors Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal for the first time since "Y Tu Mamá Tambíen." The screening is being shown in advance of its United States theatrical release by Sony Pictures on the final day of the festival, Saturday April 4 at the Harkins Theater Tucson Spectrum 18 at 7 p.m.

The festival's special guest is producer Frida Torresblanco ("Pan's Labyrinth"). Torresblanco has been named by The Hollywood Reporter as one of the 50 most powerful Latinos in Hollywood. 

"Frida currently heads the filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron's ("Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "Y Tu Mamá Tambíen") production company, which has four new films in varying stages of production," Westover said.

In addition, Westover said, Carlos Gurtierrez, the co-founder/co-director of Cinema Tropical in New York, a non-profit organization that promotes programs and distributes Latin American cinema in the U.S., will introduce many of the festival's films.

The Tucson Cine Mexico 2009 festival begins on Thursday, March 26, at 7 p.m. with a screening of "¿Te Acuerdas de Lake Tahoe?" ("Remember Lake Tahoe?"). The film is a thoughtful, evocative portrayal of death, longing and the static nature of life. The film is the winner of the Cannes 2008 Revelation of the Year Award and winner of the Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlin Film Fest 2008. It will be screened at the Harkins Theater Tucson Spectrum 18.

On Friday, screenings continue starting at the Spectrum 18 Harkins Theater at 7 p.m. with the showing of the multi-award-winning documentary, in its Arizona premiere, "Mi Vida Dentro" ("My Life Inside"), the story of a female Mexican immigrant jailed for murder.

Also on Friday, viewers will be treated to a weekend filled with vintage Mexican sci-fi classics on new 35 mm prints shown for the first time on the big screen with English subtitles. These vintage films are part of "El Futuro Más Acá: The Future South of the Border," a film series featuring some of the most representative Mexican science fiction films made during the '40s through the '60s. The films were curated through Filmoteca de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico and brought to the U.S. by Cinema Tropical.

The weekend screenings of classic sci-fi movies will be shown at the Grand Cinemas Crossroads with Gutierrez of Cinema Tropical introducing the films before each screening. The first film to be screened is the classic "La Nave de los Monstrous" ("The Monsters' Ship") (1959) to be shown Friday, March 27, at 9:30 p.m.

The sci-fi extravaganza continues on Saturday, March 28, at 9:30 p.m. with "El Santo vs. La Invasíon de Los Marcianos" ("El Santo vs. the Martian Invasion") (1966) and ends on Sunday, March 29, at 5 p.m. with the 1965 classic "El Planeta de las Mujeres Invasoras" ("Planet of the Female Invaders").

Other feature-length films making their Arizona premiere during the Mexican film festival include the 2007 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize Winner "Luz Silenciosa" ("Silent Light"), a narrative feature about forbidden love set in a Mennonite community in northern Mexico. It will be shown Saturday, March 28, at 7 p.m. at the Harkins Theater Tucson Spectrum 18.

On Sunday, March 29, at 2 p.m. at the Harkins Theatres Tucson Spectrum 18, Mexican-born southern Arizona director Rudy Joffroy will introduce his documentary film "Los Caidos" ("The Fallen") (2007). The film makes its U.S. theatrical debut and details the aftermath of a mine collapse that killed 63 miners in southern Mexico.

The festival continues the following weekend at Grand Cinemas Crossroads on Friday, April 3, at 7 p.m. with the screening of "Año Uña" ("The Year of the Nail") will also be presented by Torresblanco.