Rayos: Cine en México

The power of the photographic image, evidenced in Luces y Sombras, to reflect a diversity of experience within Mexico inspired the companionable program exploring the country’s moviemaking legacy: Rayos: Cine en México. The wealth of formative films spanning more than a century is too vast to make any comprehensive survey possible, so a selection of handpicked films, each pushing cinematic content and grammar, comprises this consolidated showcase. From an early cinematic experiment in the 1930s that, by shooting on location with a cast of locals in Veracruz, became a precursor to Neorealism (and anticipated the Golden Age of the Mexican film industry), to more recent audiovisual forms of “Shamanic Materialism” by an anonymous collective of cinema-poets, Rayos chronicles both the epic and the intimate to reveal their reciprocal turn. In stark portraits of a family dwelling in austerity in the arid desert of San Luis Potosí, or the veritable theater of streetlife in the teeming capital of Mexico City, labor is the inevitable denominator while a sense of lyricism prevails amid all manner of adversity. Documentary is here employed to dignify its subjects while honoring the complexities of personal and cultural agency. This series of films seeks to crystallize these myriad voices and visions into a generative itinerary – call it realist magic – to be shared as a form of communal engagement and a space for collective reflection.

Rayos: Cine en México Films and Screenings

• Redes—Thursday, October 20, 2022 at 5:30  – 7:30  pm
  Drama | Documentary | 1936 | 1hr 5min
  Directors: Emilio Gómez Muriel and Fred Zinnemann
• El Grito—Saturday, October 22, 2022 at 1 – 3 pm
  Documentary | 1968 | 2hrs
  Director: Leobardo López Aretche
• “Materia y Memoria” Cortometrajes/”Matter and Memory” Shorts Program—Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 5:30 – 7:30 pm
  Sanctus | 1967 | 18min | Director: David Lebrun
  Coyolxauhqui | 2017 | 10min | Directors: Colectivo Los Ingrávidos
  CINEMA’A, o de cómo curar el mal de archivo | 2016 | 13min | Directors: Elena Pardo and Tzutzu Matzin
  Luces del Desierto | 2021 | 30min | Félix Blume
  T R O P I C S | 2018 | 14min | Director: Mathilde Lavenne
• Trópico de Cáncer + Mitote—Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 1 – 3 pm
  Documentary | 2004 | 52min
  Documentary | 2012 | 54min
  Director: Eugenio Polgovsky
• “Ausencias” Cortometrajes/”Absences” Shorts Program—Thursday, December 1, 2022 at 5:30 – 7:30 pm
  Cosas de mi Vida | 1976 | 26min | Director: Chick Strand
  Ausencias | 2015 | 26min | Director: Tatiana Huezo
  Entrevista con la tierra | 2008 | 18min | Director: Nicolás Pereda
• En el Hoyo—Thursday, January 19, 2023 at 5:30 – 7:30 pm
  Documentary | 2006 | 1hr 24min
  Director: Juan Carlos Rulfo
• Calle López—Saturday, January 21, 2023 at 1 – 3 pm
  Documentary | 2013 | 1hr 20min
  Directors: Gerardo Barroso, Lisa Tillinger

See our  events calendar  for more

Rayos: Cine en México is curated by film programmer David Dinnell and independent film critic and educator Jay Kuehner. Text contributions for Rayos courtesy of Jay Kuehner.