From ‘Huesera’ to ‘Robe of Gems’, ‘Negra’ and ‘Mom’ 10 Mexican Bets on Diversity

10 films highlighting Mexican cinemas that lead to diversity:

“Huesera” (Michel Garza Cervera)

Valeria is pregnant, but something is wrong with the baby. Rosemary’s Baby shadows, but Huesera goes her own way, as Valeria gradually realizes what a horror it really is for her.

Genre and LGBTQ, a double winner in Tribeca, taking home the coveted New Narrative Director, earned by XYZ Films for most global sales. “A terrifying nightmare for the body breaking bones,” he said. diverse. Produced by the Mexican company Napa Films and Machete Films, the latter is behind the Cannes winners “Leap Year” and “La Jaula de Oro”.

“Mother,” (“Mamá,” Xun Sero)

Selected for Canada’s Hot Docs, the Guadalajara Mezcal Award has been given honorable renown, and now Morelia’s doc strand, one of the main titles of the new Chiapas cinema. A portrait of Siro’s mother, yes, but also of a wonderful and resilient woman who defied the traditions of her village, refusing to marry a man who didn’t want her, and raising two children on her own. “The only dependency that women have is economic,” Cero says. His mother breaks that oppression.

“Heart of Mezquite” (“El Corazón de Mezquite,” Ana Laura Calderón)

Lucia, an indigenous group in arid northern Mexico, dreams of becoming a bassist like her father. But tradition forbids women from playing the harp. Meanwhile, her rural community is struggling with debt and corporate takeovers of their land. It held 70 festivals from its world premiere in São Paulo in October 2020 and continues to collect awards, from Russia to Israel, Mexico, the United States, Scotland and Panama.

“Nigra” (Maidhan Tewolde)

Chiapas excels again, as Tewolde explains what it means to be a black Mexican woman in Mexico. Pic tells the story of five women of African descent from southern Mexico, exposing racism, resistance and processes of self-acceptance, strategies to transcend stereotypes, celebrate their identity, and cut short his synopsis. FAV Festival, playing OCOTE, Chiapas Film Showcase and Barrio Film Festival (Feciba).

“Nudo Mixteco,” (Angeles Cruz)

Set in the Oaxaca village of Mixteca, where actress and director Cruz’s first appearance in three stories—of Maria, an outcast lesbian, Esteban, a violent drunk, and Tonya who saves her daughter from sexual abuse—were intertwined in a widespread critique of pervasive machismo. Co-written by Lucia Carrera (“Tamara and the Ladybug,” starring Cruz), one of the biggest winners of the Indigenous film awards recently, it has earned equipment at Cleveland, Las Palmas, San Francisco, Move, St. Paul, and Minneapolis festivals.

“Oliver and the Blessing” (“Oliverio y la Piscina,” Arcadi Palerm-Artis)

Highlighting the breadth of the Mexican film industry, this coming-of-age drama takes place in the white upper-middle class of Mexico as Oliver’s parents announce their divorce. Then his father falls dead at the dinner table. In Oliver’s reaction, he set up camp at the Poolside Cheese Lounge and refused to budge. Written by eminent Mexican writer Giberan Portela (“Gueros,” “La Jaula de Oro,” “The Untamed”), the award-winning film, director and rising star at WorldFest Houston and a Special Jury Prize at Puerto Rico.

“robe jewels” (“Manto de Gemas, Natalia López Gallardo)

One of the biggest Mexican films of a female director of the year, winner of the 2022 Jury Prize in Berlin from longtime editor Natalia López Gallardo (“Jauja”, “Post Tenebras Lux”, “Heli”). Three women collide with a drug gang, sparking tragedy and violence in a film that paints – often psychedelically – the “spiritual wound” of the “circle of bastard,” in the words of López Gallardo. Sold by Visit Films.

“They made us night” (“Nos Hicieron Noche, Antonio Hernandez)”

After Hurricane Dolores in 1974 wiped out their village, Charco Redondo, its residents found a new settlement, San Marquitos. Its foundation grows in oral tradition, nourished by the narrators’ imaginations, into part of a common identity. Set in the Black community of Oaxaca, Guadalajara Fest Fipresci is filmed with a documentary focus on reality and directorial invention in even the most familiar settings. Plus a sensual soundtrack that’s usually reserved for the most ambitious imaginations.

“White Night,” (“Bobo Tzu,” (Tania Jimena, Yolotel Gomez Alvarado, 2022)

In 1982, the Guayabal Esquipulas Zuke volcano was buried. After 37 years, motivated by the visions of a local poet, the residents of Nuevo Guayabal, a village in Chiapas, attempted to discover the Esquipulas. Screened at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival, it is a study of the collective faith, praised for its strong blend of documentaries and fiction, beliefs and overarching production values.

“Vaychiletik” (Juan Javier Perez)

Produced as “Negra” by Daniela Contreras and Nicolas Défossé at Chiapas-based Terra Mostra Films, and directed by Perez, Tsotzel Mayan as Sero, both alumni of Contreras and Défossé’s San Cristóbal de las Casas Documentary Film School. Here, in a taboo-busting move full of humor, Perez turns the camera on to his father, whom the gods have commanded in a dream to be a musician, and lead a band in 42 traditional ceremonies, though the effort becomes a rattle as he’d like to step aside. View World For the first time at the Biarritz Latin American Film Festival in September 2021.