Cinergía

 

  
Filmography

Mexican Film and Gender

Filmography of Mexican Film and Gender

Complied by Carrie Kobierecki and Sophia A. McClennen

This filmography was created to help teachers, scholars and cinephiles identify Mexican films directed by women and films that directly deal with gender issues.  We have also included a list of useful links and a selected bibliography to consult.

Note: Most of the films listed are feature films, but some documentaries are included.  While extensive, this list is not exhaustive.  Please let us know of any films we have overlooked.  sam50@psu.edu  

Part 1: Films Directed by women

Part 2: Films Directed by Men About Women/Gender

Part 3: Classic Mexican Cinema Dealing with Gender

Part 4: Selected Bibliography of Useful Sources for Studying Gender in Mexican Film

Part 5: Useful Links For Studying Gender in Latin American Cinema

PART 1: Films Directed by Women

Las amantes del señor de la noche (1983) Director: Marcela Fernández Violante. Runtime: 90.  Production companies: Video Search of Miami.

Synopsis: Venusita (Elena de Haro) falls in love with the son of a wealthy family whose mother sends her son off to the United States in order to keep the two apart. Not to be rejected so easily, Venusita visits Saurina the sorceress (Irma Serrano) who comes up with a spell that kills off the merchant and zaps the son back home, but Venusita's problems are far from over. (Summary by Ørnås on http://us.imdb.com/)

El amor de tu vida (1994) Director: Leticia Venzor. 

Synopsis: "El amor de tu vida" (The Love of Your Life) is an agency that, through a computer offers to find the ideal love mate. Marcelo and Eugenia have been married for several years. They will both be fooled and become victims of fraud by the false matchmaker agency. When they discover the truth, Marcelo will try to save his marriage.

Angel de fuego (1991) Director: Dana Rotberg.  Runtime: 95.  Production companies: Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE) [mx], Producciones Metropolis S.A de C.V, Una Productora Mas S.A de C.V.

Synopsis: A tragic urban story about the unfortunate life of a 13-year old circus girl in Mexico City. She is expelled from her job when the official of the circus finds out she is pregnant. She meets a troupe of traveling puppeteers preaching the word of God and joins them, eventually entrusting her son to God.

Anoche soñé contigo (1991) Director: Marysa Sistach.  Runtime: 90.  Production companies: Clasa Films Mundiales [mx] , Producciones Tragaluz [mx].

Synopsis: It's summer break, so Toto (Altomaro) and Quique (Mora) can dream their life away by biking around their neighbourhood and spying on Quique's maid, Chabelita (Aguirre). When Toto's young and attractive cousin Azucena (Perdigon) arrives to spend some days in Toto's home the kid is attracted to her immediately. What Toto doesn't know is that her visit will bring him an experience he would never forget. (Summary written by Maximiliano Maza {mmaza@campus.mty.itesm.mx})

Cananea (1976) Director: Marcela Fernández Violante. 

Synopsis: Story of the revolt at the American owned Cananea mine in the years preceding the Mexican revolution. This revolt led to the eventual nationalization of Mexican mines. Told from both the miner's viewpoint and the American viewpoint as personified by Colonel Green--the mine owner.

El cometa (1998) Directors: Marysa Sistach and José Buil.  Prodcution companies: Alhena Films [fr], Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA) [mx], Fonds Sud [fr], Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE) [mx], Multivideo [es], Producciones Tragaluz [mx], Resonancia Productora, Tabasco Films [mx].

Synopsis: After witnessing the arrest of her father for publishing "subversive" material against the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, Valentina escapes taking a sack of gold coins with her in order to hand it over to rebel Francisco I. Madero, who is in San Antonio, Texas. That is how Valentina begins a long journey as a member of a traveling circus, where she finds love next to Victor, who, fascinated by the cinematographer, films everything that occurs before his eyes, in times of great political turbulence. (written anonymously on ww.us.imdb.com)

El coyote emplumado (1983) Director: María Elena Velasco la India María.  Runtime: 98.  Production Company: Producciones Antonio Matouk [mx].

Dama de noche (1993) Director: Eva López. 

Synopsis: Bruno, an unlucky novelist, comes to the rescue of his forever love, Sofia, who is devastated in Veracruz, without knowing what to do with the body of her boyfriend, who died from a heart attack while making love to her. Bruno proposes to get rid the body, beginning the fall that will irremediably lead him to an impasse: The trap of death.

Danzón (1990) Director: María Novaro.  Runtime:103.  Production companies:  Fondo de Fomento a la Calidad Cinematográfica [mx], Gobierno del Estado de Veracruz [mx], Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE) [mx], Macondo Cine Video, Tabasco Films [mx], Televisión Española (TVE) [es].

Synopsis: Julia (Rojo) is a phone operator in Mexico City who divides her time between her job, her daughter and the danzon: a cuban dance very popular in Mexico and Central America. Every wednesday Julia does the danzon with Carmelo (Rergis) in the old "Salon Colonia". They've danced for years but barely know each other. One night Carmelo disappears without a trace. Feeling lonely and sad, Julia takes a train to Veracruz, where she knows Carmelo has a brother. That sudden trip will change Julia's life forever. (Summary written by Maximiliano Maza {mmaza@campus.mty.itesm.mx})  

Visit the link for this film in the Cinergía MOVIE FILES: Danzón

De todos modos Juan te llamas (1974) Director: Marcela Fernández Violante. Runtime: 90.

Synopsis: This movie deals with the family conflicts of a very macho governmental general which are in turn paired with the fight of the "cristeros" who, besides being religious fanatics, are peasants who fight for their rights.

Diablillos de arrabal (1938) Director: Adela Sequeyro.  Runtime: 80.  Production Company: Producciones Carola [mx]. 

Plot keywords: gang, child, melodrama, neighbor, poverty.

En el pais de no pasa nada (2000) Director: Mari Carmen de Lara.  Runtime: 91.

Synopsis: Elena, a well to do woman, is married to Enrique and lives in a fantasy world. One day, she finds out her husband is cheating on her. That same day, Enrique is kidnapped by his employees who plot a plan to get back at him. Enrique's double life and unfaithfulness, his employees' vengeance and the kidnappers' experience give rise to a fun comedy of manners, infidelity, corruption, and ambition.

Entre Pancho Villa y una mujer desnuda (1995) Directors: Sabina Berman and Isabelle Tardán.  Runtime: 87.  Production companies: Televicine S.A. [mx], Televisa [mx].

Synopsis: Gina (Diana Bracho) is a modern business woman in her late forties, she has a lover named Adrian, who she sees once in a while just to have sex; they are both atracted to the historic figure of Pancho Villa, while he admires his power, she admires his virility. As Gina helps Adrian (who is a journalist) to write a book about Pancho Villa, she discovers the similarity between Villa's relation to women to that of Adrian and hers. She gets sick of only having sex, and when she decides to get married with him and have a baby, he escapes to buy cigarrettes and gets lost for three months. Gina forgets about him and gets a new boyfriend (half the age she is), and when Adrian tries to get her back and she refuses him and humiliates him, the one and only Pancho Villa appears as his machista conscience ready to do anything to get Gina back. (Summary written by Ernesto Sanchez)

Una gallina muy ponedora (1981) Director: Isela Vega.  Runtime: 105.  Production companies: Cinematográfica Fénix [es], Rojo Films.

Golpe de suerte (1991) Director: Marcela Fernández Violante.  

 Intimidad (1989) Director: Dana Rotberg.  Runtime: 100. 

Synopsis: Julio is experiencing a mid-life crisis. He has a novel he cannot finish and his 30 yr. marriage is in a rut. His life is bleak until he finds a hole in the wall that looks into the next apartment. There live a newlywed couple who are having problems, Julio and his neighbor start an affair that then gets out of control.

El jardín de Edén (1991) Director: María Novaro.  Runtime: 104.  Production companies: Fondo de Fomento a la Calidad Cinematográfica [mx], Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE) [mx], Macondo Cine Video, Ministeire des Affaires Exterieurs de France, Ministère de la Culture de la Republique Française [fr], Société générale des industries culturelles - Québec (SOGIC) [ca], Téléfilm Canada [ca], Universidad de Guadalajara [mx], Verseau International.

Synopsis: Looking for a better destiny for their lives, a group of people arrives to Tijuana, in the Mexico-USA borderline. A widow and her children, a chicano woman without a firm identity, a "gringa" writer fascinated with Mexico and her hermit brother, plus a mexican peasant who wants to cross the border are the main characters looking for "the garden of eden". (Summary written by Maximiliano Maza {mmaza@campus.mty.itesm.mx})

La línea paterna (1995) Directors: José Buil and Marysa Sistach.  Runtime: 85.  Production companies: Cineteca Nacional [mx], Dirección de Producción de Cortometraje [mx], Estudios Churubusco Azteca [mx], Filmoteca de la UNAM [mx], Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA) [mx], Fundación MacArthur-Rockefeller, Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE) [mx], Producciones Tragaluz [mx].

Synopsis: Family movies, shot with a 9.5 mm Pathé Baby camera, let us know traditions, customs, joys and sorrows of a Mexican family from the 1920s to the 1950s. (Summary written by Maximiliano Maza {mmaza@campus.mty.itesm.mx})

Lola (1989) Director: María Novaro.  Runtime: 92.  Production companies: Conacite Dos [mx], Cooperativa José Revueltas, Macondo Cine Video, Televisión Española (TVE) [es].

Synopsis: Lola and her five-year old daughter wait for Omar on a lonely Christmas night. He doesn't arrive; a breakup is imminent, and the love-hate relationship deepens. Lola will go on a journey in which she'll learn she's not as weak as she thought.

Lola Casanova (1948) Director: Matilde Landeta.  Runtime: 91.  Production companies: Tacma.

Synopsis: This is an ambitious adaptation of a novel by Francisco Roja Gonazalez, which deals with the Seris Indians, in Sonora, at the beginning of the century, to propose a fresh and patriotic historical movie that concerns racial problems and questions of nationality.

Memorias de un Mexicano (1950) Director: Carmen Toscano. 

Synopsis: This work by Mexican film pioneer Salvador Toscano presents the history of the Mexican Revolution, from the splendor of the Porfiriato to the candidacy of Francisco I. It covers Madero, the civil war, Zapata in the south and Villa in the north, and the formation of revolutionary governments with Obregon and Calles.

México de mis Amores (1978) Director: Nancy Cárdenas.  Runtime: 105.  Production companies: Conacite Uno [mx], PECIME.

Synopsis: Constitutes a homage to those whose presence and/or talent at any level, occupied the dreams of various Mexican generations. It's a journey where each image evoke a feeling which have loosen its strength through time.

Mi Lupe y mi caballo (1942) Director: Eva Limiñana, la duquesa Olga. 

Misterio (1979) Director: Marcela Fernández Violante.  Runtime: 90.  Production company: Conacite Uno [mx].

Synopsis: Based on the novel of "Q Study", by Vicente Lenero, the film tells the story of an actor who is suffering from a split personality episode confusing the character that he plays for a soap opera and his real life.

La mujer de nadie (1937) Director: Adela Perlita Sequeyro.  Runtime: 82.  Production companies: Producciones Carola [mx].

Synopsis: This is the first Mexican film of the sound era directed by a woman. The action takes place in the 19th century. A young woman is banished by her tyrannical stepfather and is taken in by three bohemians. They all fall in love with her, and she must make up her mind which one to love in return.

La negra Angustias (1949) Director: Matilde Landeta.  Production company: TACMA.

Synopsis: These are the adventures of the shepherd Morelos, who becomes a revolutionary chief. This is made by the first professional female movie producer in Mexico, who has created real portraits of real women.

Ni Chana ni Juana (1984) Director: María Elena Velasco.

Ni de aquí ni de allá (1989) Director: María Elena Velasco. 

El niño rarámuri o en el país de los pies ligeros (1981) Director: Marcela Fernández Violante.  Runtime: 85. 

Nocturno a Rosario (1991) Director: Matilde Landeta. 

Synopsis: Tragic and romantic biography of the poet Manuel Acuña.

Nocturno amor que te vas (1987) Director: Marcela Fernández Violante. 

Synopsis: Carmen, a divorced housekeeper, appears to have found "El Chuy", the love of her life. The night after their wedding, he goes to work, but never returns.

Novia que te vea (1992) Director: Guita Schyifter.  Runtime: 114.  Production companies: Fondo de Fomento a la Calidad Cinematográfica [mx], Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE) [mx], Producciones Arte Nuevo.

Synopsis: This is a film about two Jewish girls growing up in Mexico City in the 60s. One is from a Sephardic Jewish background...her relatives came from Turkey to Mexico. They speak Ladino, the language the Jews in Spain spoke when they were kicked out by Columbus' backers Ferdinand and Isabella. She has a big family. The other has only her parents and one uncle...everybody else died in the Holocaust.  This is nicely observed, very funny coming of age film. It was a big hit at the Chicago Latino Film Festival. All my friends that saw it liked it a lot.  I don't think your local Blockbuster has this one, but you can buy it.  The title they used in the US release was "Bride to Be", although there is an older film with that same name.  (Summary by sharkfinsoup, Chicago, IL USA)

Los pasos de Ana (1989) Director: Marysa Sistach.  Runtime: 90.

Synopsis: A divorced mother decides to do in life what she always wanted: To become a movie director. So she sets out to film every single thing that occurs in her everyday life.

Perfume de violetas, nadie te oye (2001)  Director: María Sistach.  Runtime: 90.  Production companies: CCC, Cnca [mx], Filmoteca de la UNAM [mx], Fondo para la Producción Cinematográfica de Calidad [mx], Foprocine [mx], Hubert Bals Fund, Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE) [mx], John Simon Guggenheim, Memorial Fundation, Palmera Films [mx], Producciones Tragaluz [mx].

Synopsis: Cuenta la historia verídica de Yessica y Miriam, adolescentes de la ciudad de México que empiezan una amistad profunda en la secundaria. Las amigas comparten cuadernos, juegos, gustos, maquillajes y perfumes, hasta que Jorge y el Topi, violentos cómplices, secuestran a Yessica. La indiferencia y el egoísmo de los adultos rompen la amistad de las jovencitas y las orillan a la tragedia.

Ronda revolucionaria (1977) Director: Carmen Toscano (and Matilde Landeta). 

El secreto de Romelia (1989) Director: Busi Cortés.  Runtime: 100.  Production company: Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE) [mx].

Synopsis: An elder woman (Romelia), her daughter and her grandchildren take a few days on holidays to visit a small town outside the city. The town makes Romelia melancholy and her daughter wants to find out about the mystery of her unknown father. (Summary written by Michel Rudoy {mdrc@hp9000a1.uam.mx})

Los secretos de la abuela (1928) Director: Cándida Beltrán Rendón. 

Secretos distantes (1994) Director: Gita Schyifter.  Runtime: 105. 

Synopsis: One couple (Carlos & Irene) are having troubles, because he suspects that Irene's hiding something about her past in Russia. To make things worse her ex-husband goes to Mexico and tells Carlos that her other ex-husband also is going to claim her as his property. (Summary written by Ivan Suarez {ivan@data.net.mx})

Serpientes y escaleras (1991) Director: Busi Cortés.

Synopsis: Two young girls used to play Serpents and Ladders. One of them always won, but they are very close friends. When they grow up, the winner is still the lucky one in the game of life, but life can be treacherous... (Summary written by Michel Rudoy {mdrc@hp9000a1.uam.mx})

Que no quede huella (2000) Director: María Novaro.  Runtime: 120.  Production companies: Altavista Films, Tabasco Films [mx], Televisión Española (TVE) [es], Tornasol Films S.A. [es], Vía Digital [es].

Synopsis: Aurelia is a young single mother of two, who, in the best interest of her children, packs up the car and leaves her drug-dealing boyfriend. Along the way she finds Ana, a penniless international art dealer on the run from an obsessed policeman, hitchhiking on the road. These two women who would otherwise not be associated with each other, embark on a journey through Mexico. Their friendship develops from dislike and betrayal to finally finding solidarity in which they reveal their secrets and realize what they have in common: they're both on the run but their inner strength allows them to take destiny into their own hands.

La tigresa (1917) Director: Mimí Derba.  Runtime: 80.  Production company: Azteca Films.

Plot keywords: melodrama.

Trotacalles (1951) Director: Matilde Landeta. 

Synopsis: This is a melodrama about prostitutes based on a text by the writer Luis Spota and flavored with interest feminist touches. It takes place in the poverty-stricken areas of the 50s.

PART 2: Films Directed by Men About Women/Gender

Como agua para chocolate (1992) Director: Alfonso Arau.  Runtime: 105/123[mx].  Production Companies: Arau Films Internacional, Aviacsa, Cinevista, Fonatur, Fondo de Fomento a la Calidad Cinematográfica [mx], Gobierno del Estado de Coahuila, Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE) [mx], Secretaria de Turismo (SECTUR).

Synopsis: This movie is about how life used to be in Mexico. It is a love story between Pedro and Tita, and why they coudn't get married because Tita's mother wanted her oldest daughter to get married first, and have Tita to stay and take care of her. It shows how marriage was imposed on those times, and how a love between two people can change everything. This picture set a new epoch in Mexican movies all over the world. (Summary written by Jose Redon {jredon@mail.internet.com.mx})

Tita and Pedro want to get married, but Tita has to take care of her ageing mother and is not allowed to marry. Pedro ends up marrying Tita's sister, but lets Tita know he only married her sister to be closer to her. When Tita is forced to make the wedding cake, the guests at the wedding are overcome with sadness... Tita has discovered she can do strange things with her cooking. (Summary written by Colin Tinto {cst@imdb.com})

In a forgotten Mexico Tita and Pedro fall in love, but are forbidden to marry. Mama Elena sees Tita's role as her caretaker for life - no youngest daughter has ever married and her daughter will not be the first to break tradition. Tita's heart breaks when her mother instead offers to Pedro her other daughter, and he accepts. Now they live in the same house, and Mama Elena cannot forbid their love as she did their marriage. (Summary written by Eavan Cully)

De noche vienes, Esmeralda (1997) Director: Jaime Humberto Hermosillo.  Runtime: 103.  Production companies: Esmeralda Producciones [mx], Estudios Churubusco Azteca [mx], Fine Line Features [us], Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE) [mx], Monarca Pictures, Resonancia S.A. [mx].

 Synopsis: The story of Esmeralda (Rojo) a charming nurse accused of being an adulteress by Pedro (Laguardia), one of her five husbands. Always smiling, Esmeralda is lead to a police station, where judge Víctor Solorio (Obregón) interrogates her. The old angry man can't believe Esmeralda's claims of being in love with her five husbands. (Summary written by Maximiliano Maza {mmaza@campus.mty.itesm.mx})  

Visit the link for this film in the Cinergía MOVIE FILES: 

De noche vienes, Esmeralda

Doña Herlinda y su hijo (1985) Director: Jaime Humberto Hermosillo .  Runtime: 90.  Production companies: Clasa Films Mundiales [mx].

Synopsis: Rodolfo (Trevino) is a young bachelor doctor who has a love affair with a younger music student, Ramon (Meza). When Rodolfo's mother begins to urge his son to get married, he quickly asks modern and open-mind Olga (Lupercio) to become his wife. Ramon is heart-broken, but Dona Herlinda (del Toro) has the final solution to make everybody happy: She asks Ramon to live with her, near by Rodolfo and Olga. Everybody together forever. (Summary written by Maximiliano Maza {mmaza@campus.mty.itesm.mx}).

Él (1952) Director: Luis Buñuel. Runtime: 100/92.  Production companies: Producciones Tepeyac [mx].

Synopsis: Francisco is rich, rather strict on principles, and still a bachelor. After meeting Gloria by accident, he is suddenly intent on her becoming his wife and courts her until she agrees to marry him. Francisco is a dedicated husband, but little by little his passion starts to exhibit disturbing traits. Nevertheless, Gloria meets with skepticism as she expresses her worries to their acquaintances. Summary written by Eduardo Casais .

Frida (1984) Director: Paul Leduc.  Runtime: 108.  Production company: Clasa Films Mundiales [mx].

Synopses: This film is a chronicle of painter Frida Kahlo, and her encounter with the personalities of her time. Despite being confined to a wheelchair as a result of polio, operations and amputations, she faces and traces some of the most colorful and controversial aspects of Mexican history, during the dominant time of Mexican muralism. (Summary written by L.H. Wong {as9401k56@ntuvax.ntu.ac.sg}). 

The most prominent female painter of Latin America, Frida Kahlo, is agonizing in her Coyoacán home. She evokes memories of her childhood, of the streetcar accident that caused her terrible pain and affliction, her friendship with Trotsky and painter Alfaro Siqueiros, her marriage to Diego Rivera, her miscarriage, her political commitment, her love affairs and the anticipated exhibition of her works. (Summary written by Edgar Soberon-Torchia {cimas@sinfo.net})

El lugar sin límites (1978) Director: Arturo Ripstein.  Runtime: 110.  Production company: Conacite Dos [mx].

Synopsis: Family honor, greed, machismo, homophobia, and the dreams of whores collide in a Mexican town. Rich, elderly Don Alejo is poised to sell the town for a profit, needing only to buy a whorehouse to own all the buildings and close the deal. It is owned by a man and his daughter: Manuelita is gay, aging, afraid; he cross-dresses and entertains as a flamenco dancer; he wants to sell and leave. His daughter wants to stay. The return of Pancho complicates things: he's a hothead Alejo tries to control and he scared Manuelita the year before. Things come to a head as Pancho breaks Alejo's hold on him, then flirts and dances with Manuelita and finds himself at risk of being called a "maricón."  (Summary written by {jhailey@hotmail.com})

Mujeres insumisas (1995) Director: Alberto Isaac.  Runtime: 120.  Production companies: Claudio Producciones, Televicine S.A. [mx], Universidad de Colima, Universidad de Guadalajara [mx].

Synopsis: Tired of being mistreated by their husbands, Ema (Reyes Spindola), Clotilde (Elizarraras) and Chayo (Orozco) leave their past (children and husbands included) and begin an adventure that will take them to a cavernous cabaret in Guadalajara, a love affair with a hot-blooded young drug dealer and, finally, a popular and well decorated mexican restaurant in downtown L.A. In the middle, the three women will find their respective self-esteem and their true reasons for living. (Summary written by Maximiliano Maza {mmaza@campus.mty.itesm.mx}).

Naufragio (1977) Director: Jaime Humberto Hermosillo.  Runtime: 101. 

Synopsis: One woman (Murguía) lives waiting for his son (Alonso) who is a sailor. She hasn't seen him for years although he writes to her a lot. The woman shares the letters and her grief with a co-worker and friend (Rojo). This last woman begins to idealize her friend's son. One day, the mother gets sick and falls into a coma. Her son arrives but she is unconscious. He has a brief but passionate affair with her mother's friend and then disappears, as quickly as he came back from the sea. Summary written by Maximiliano Maza {mmaza@campus.mty.itesm.mx}

La Pasión según Berenice (1976) Director: Jaime Humberto Hermosillo.  Runtime: 107.  Production companies: Conacite Uno [mx], Dasa Films, S. A.

Synopsis: Berenice (Navarro) is a woman with a mysterious past. A scar crosses her face and nightmares of fire and horses fill her lonely nights. She maybe killed her husband but nobody can be sure. In the present, Berenice lives with her godmother (Roldán) a money lender so fragile that she's always resting in her bed. The two women live in an almost perpetual seclusion, except on Sundays when they go to the church and to the movies. One day, the godmother's doctor dies and she asks Berenice to go to his velatory. There they meet Rodrigo (Armendáriz Jr.) the doctor's son, a handsome and free-spirited young man for whom Berenice falls in love. Summary written by Maximiliano Maza {mmaza@campus.mty.itesm.mx}.

La Tarea (1990) Director: Jaime Humberto Hermosillo.  Runtime: 85.  Production companies: Clasa Films Mundiales [mx].  

Synopsis: A film about a woman who has to make a film for homework and decides to film a sexual encounter with her ex-boyfriend. 

PART 3: Classic Mexican Cinema Dealing with Gender

Allá en el Rancho Grande (1949) Director: Fernando de Fuentes.  Runtime: 98.  Production companies: Prodcuuiónes Grovas [mx].

Synopsis: Tensions arise between the landowners and the workers. Starring Tito Guizar; film was also listed as "Cruz."

Cuando los hijos se van (1941) Director: Juan Bustillo Oro.  Runtime: 139.  Production Companies: Grovas-Oro Films [mx].

Synopsis: This film deals with classicism that occurred in Mexican society, demonstrated here in cinematic form.  It also addressed Mexican ideology of the time and mexicanidad.

Flor silvestre (1943) Director: Emilio Fernández.  Runtime: 94.  Production companies: Films Mundiales [mx].

Synopsis: The wealthy family of Jose Luis disinherits him, dismayed by his radical political beliefs during the Mexican revolution and his unconventional marriage to a peasant. When political thugs attempt to kill his family and destroy his home however, her rushes to his family's aid. During his absence, his wife Esperanza and his new son are abducted by criminals. He is forced to confront the kidnappers to free his wife and child.

María Candelaria (1944) Director: Emilio Fernández.  Runtime: 101.  Production companies: Films Mundiales [mx].

Synopsis: Filmed in 1943, this is a classic Mexican tragedy about an outcast indigenous woman who becomes a victim of circumstance. Already ostracized by the villagers in Xochimilco, María Candelaria (played by Dolores del Río) is barely surviving with the help of her fiancé, when she becomes ill with "the fever." Her desperate boyfriend breaks into the local store to get quinine and is subsequently arrested and put in jail. A sophisticated painter (Alberto Galán) who specializes in scenes of Indian life, discovers María Candelaria, who embodies for him the essence of Mexican beauty. María agrees to pose for him in return for his assistance in providing bail. Before the painter finishes his work however, María realizes she cannot continue with the project. Another indigenous woman takes her place (nude) and the painter completes the piece. When the villagers see the painting, they assume the body is María's, and terrible consequences ensue.  

Visit the link for this film in the Cinergía MOVIE FILES: 

Maria Candelaria

Santa (1932) Director: Antonio Moreno.  Runtime: 81.  Production companies: Compañía Nacional Productora de Películas [mx].

Synopsis: Santa (Tovar) is a beautiful and very humble young girl living in Chimalistac, a small and quiet spot south of the 1930's Mexico City. After Santa is cheated by arrogant soldier Marcelino (Reed), she's rejected by her family and friends and expelled of Chimalistac. Santa finds shelter in a whorehouse and becomes a cynic and bitter woman, mistreated by bullfighter "Jarameno" (Martinez Casado) and silently loved by blind pianist Hipolito (Orellana). Summary written by Maximiliano Maza {mmaza@campus.mty.itesm.mx}

Part 4: Selected Bibliography of Useful Sources for Studying Gender in Mexican Film

Berg, Charles Ramírez.  Cinema of Solitude.  Austin, TX.  University of Texas Press, 1992.

This book provides a critical study of Mexican film from 1967-1983.  “The central argument of this book is that since the late 1960s Mexico’s sociopolitical center has not held, leaving its citizens isolated and abandoned; in recent Mexican films this is represented by a parade of characters lost in their solitude” (1-2).

Doane, Mary Ann.  “Women’s Stake: Filming the Female Body.”  Feminism & Film.  Ed. E. Ann Kaplan.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 2000.  86-99.

This article addresses cinematic images of women.  It also addresses why and to whom the topic is important.  “Cinematic images of women have been so consistently oppressive and repressive that the very idea of a feminist filmmaking process seems an impossibility” (86).

  Franco, Jean.  Plotting Women.  New York.  Columbia University Press, 1989.

This book addresses gender and representation in Mexico through the contexts of the religious narrative and works about Mexico itself.  “… the long historical view which makes it possible to understand the different discursive positionings of Woman within a Mexican society whose history has been marked by discontinuity and violence” (xii, introduction).

 

Johnston, Claire.  “Women’s Cinema as Counter-Cinema.”  Feminism & Film.  Ed. E. Ann Kaplan.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 2000.  22-33.

This article examines how the female figure is portrayed in Johnston’s idea of women’s cinema as counter-cinema.  “In order to counter our objectification in the cinema, our collective fantasies must be released: women’s cinema must embody the working through of desire: such an objective demands the use of the entertainment film” (32).

Kaplan, E. Ann.  Women and Film: Both Sides of the Camera.  Great Britain.  T. J. Press Ltd., 1983.

This work illustrates issues about both women in films and women in the industry.  It focuses on classical and contemporary Hollywood cinema and independent feminist film.  “What I have been trying to show here is that while female sexuality has, perhaps inevitably, become enmeshed in the symbolic, this is not totally true for Motherhood.  Female sexuality has been taken over by the male gaze, and, in addition, the domination-submission modes may be an inherent component for of eroticism for both sexes in western capitalist cultures” (205).

Kaplan, E. Ann.  “Is the Gaze Male.”  Feminism & Film.  Ed. E. Ann Kaplan.  New York.  Oxford University Press, 2000.  119-138.

This work addresses how women fall into sex roles in different creative works, including cinema.  “Since the beginning of the recent women’s liberation movement, American feminists have been exploring the representation of female sexuality in the arts- literature, film, painting, and television” (119).

King, John.  Magical Reels.  London/New York.  Verso, 2000.

This book discusses the history of cinema in Latin America.  “As yet, there is no study in English that analyses the different currents in Latin American cinema in the twentieth century.  This work attempts to fill the gap by mapping the main contours of the field of investigation” (1).

López, Ana M.  “Tears and Desire: Women and Melodrama in the “Old” Mexican Cinema.”  Multiple Voices in Feminist Film Criticism.   Carson, Diane et al.  Minneapolis, MN.   Regents of the University of Minnesota, 1994.  254-270.

This essay examines the Mexican Melodrama, with references to genre, narration, ideology, subjectivity, and representation.  “… film melodrama has been one of the most important areas for development of feminist film criticism” (254).

Mayne, Judith.  “Feminist Film Theory and Criticism.”  Multiple Voices in Feminist Film Criticism.   Carson, Diane et al.  Minneapolis, MN.   Regents of the University of Minnesota, 1994.  48-64.

This essay addresses feminist film theory and criticism through 1984.  It also discusses the contradictions between feminist critiques and images in film.  “My aim in this essay… is to examine what I call the ambivalent terrain of feminism and the cinema.  I will argue that the most interesting and challenging work on women and film…addresses the central problem of contradiction” (48).

McClennen, Sophia A. “(De)Signing Women: Mexican Women Directors and Feminist Film”  Revista de Estudios Hispánicos  36: 1 (January 2002): 69-96.

This article gives an overview of the boom in Mexican women directors during the 1990s and their relationship to feminism.  It then analyzes Danzón by Maria Novaro and Angel de fuego by Dana Rotberg. “Even though women are breaking down barriers of gender inequality and moving behind the camera, their films display uneven and inconsistent challenges to gender paradigms.  Work by these directors, in fact, comprises a full spectrum of gender dynamics from sexist to ambivalent to feminist, which suggests that women directors, or designing women, should be de-signed as uncomplicated sources of feminist filmmaking. Investigation into the context of these films’ production demonstrates that there are a number of considerable obstacles, both ideological and material, which trouble a reading of these films as feminist” (69).

Mulvey, Laura.  “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.”  Feminism & Film.  Ed. E. Ann Kaplan.  New York.  Oxford University Press, 2000.  34-47.

This work uses psychoanalysis to discuss the use of women and image in cinema.  It continues on to address stereotypes of women, both those in our subconscious and those used in films.  “This paper intends to use psychoanalysis to discover where and how the fascination of film is reinforced by pre-existing patterns of fascination already at work within the individual subject and the social formations that moulded him” (34).

Rashkin, Elissa J.  Women Filmmakers in Mexico: The Country of Which We Dream.  Austin, TX.  University of Texas Press, 2001. 

This book discusses the struggle faced by early female film directors and the history of feminist film in Mexico.  It then profiles five well-known Mexican female directors and their contributions to cinematic advancement in Mexico.  “…the present text…seeks to address the contributions that women have made through the cinema to projects and processes of cultural reconversion and democratization in a complex historical moment” (25).

Rich, B. Ruby.  “In the Name of Feminist Film Criticism.”  Multiple Voices in Feminist Film Criticism.   Carson, Diane et al.  Minneapolis, MN.   Regents of the University of Minnesota, 1994.  27-47.

This article addresses the history of feminist film criticism, criticism itself, and different classifications of feminist films.  “There is even uncertainty over what name might characterize that intersection of cinema and the women’s movement… I see the lack of proper name here as symptomatic of a crisis in the ability of feminist film criticism thus far to come to terms with the work at hand, to apply a truly feminist criticism to the body of work already produced by women filmmakers” (27).

Part 5: Useful Links For Studying Gender in Latin American Cinema

Women in Latin America/Mexico

Background on Indigenous People

http://www.eserver.org/race/indigenous.html

In English. Posted by unic@peg.apc.org in igc:unic.news.

Machismo in Latin America

http://www.zonalatina.com/Zldata77.htm

In English, by Roland Soong. Machismo and how it developed in society.


Creation of Patriarchy

http://dhushara.tripod.com/book/socio/lerner/lerner.htm

In English. Overview of patriarchy by Lerna Gerder.

Indigenous women

http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/indigens/dpi1717e.htm

In English, by Dian Reed. Indigenous women and how they are able to take control of their destiny

Women’s Involvement in the Mexican Revolution

http://history.acusd.edu/gen/projects/border/page06.html

In English. This page details Mexican women during the revolution.  It centers on individual roles that women played, including on the battlefield itself, as well as their political affiliations.

Feminism in México

http://www.cddc.vt.edu/feminism/mex.html

In English and Spanish, by Kristin Switala . This page is an excellent bibliographical resource that covers economics, history, politics, and general information about feminism in Mexico.

Women in Film

Feminist Film Theory

http://www.let.uu.nl/womens_studies/anneke/filmtheory.html

In English.  Anneke Smelik. Feminism and how it affects film theory and criticism.

Feminism in Hollywood: The Acceptance of the Woman Director

http://www.wcsu.ctstateu.edu/~mccarney/acad/SladeThesis.html

In English.  Becka Slade. A historical study of women directors

Women Make Movies

http://www.wmm.com/

In English.  Women Make Movies, the largest distributor of women's media in North America, is a national non-profit feminist media arts organization whose multicultural programs provide resources for both users and producers of media by women. WMM was established in 1972 to address the under representation and misrepresentation of women in the media.

Latin American/Mexican Film

Latin American Cinema Homepage

http://www.libs.uga.edu/humaniti/ltamcine.html

In English, some links in Spanish. This page provides links to a variety of web sites on Latin American cinema. It includes the Caribbean in their definition of Latin America and cinema includes the formats of both film and video. Coverage also includes U.S. Latino cinema.

Ciberia: Cine hispánico en internet

http://members.tripod.com/JuanNavarro/

In Spanish. En estas páginas encontrarás enlaces a recursos sobre cine hispánico en Internet. 

Cinema in Latin America

http://www.mchanan.dial.pipex.com/latin%20american%20cinema%201.htm

In English.  Michael Chanan . Encyclopedia article addressing Latin American film.

The economic condition of cinema in Latin America.

http://www.mchanan.dial.pipex.com/economic%20conditions%20of%20latin%20american%20cinema.htm

In English, Michael Chanan. The thesis is that of the economic dependency of cinema in Latin America, which indeed has only become more acute.

The Changing Geography of Third Cinema

http://www.mchanan.dial.pipex.com/chanan%20third%20cinema.htm

In English, Michael Chanan. This page helps to define third-world cinema and its changes over time.

New Cinemas of Latin America

 http://www.mchanan.dial.pipex.com/latin%20american%20cinema%202.htm