Cine Las Americas is proud to present the series “Mexican Revolution Films of the ’70s,” co-presented with the Harry Ransom Center. This series will run through May 27, as part of the year-round celebrations of the Bicentennial of the Mexican Independence and the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution.
Mexican Revolution Films of the ’70s includes four feature films directed by some of the most talented filmmakers who worked in Mexico during the first half of the 1970s, when film production flourished under the auspices of then president Luis Echeverría, who installed his own brother Rodolfo Echeverría as president of the Film Production Bank, and helped the production of relevant films and allowed a critical view of the Mexican Revolution and other national realities.
The directors included in this series are some of the most accomplished of their time, and their views on the Mexican Revolution helped create a fresh look at Mexico’s recent history, going beyond the romanticism and glorification of popular heroes and characters of the revolution that was typical in the classic Cine de Oro films from the 1940s and ’50s. The directors portray particular chapters and issues that were part of the complex reality of Mexico in the early 20th century, which led to an armed conflict that changed the lives of the Mexican people, and sent ripples across Latin America and the rest of the world.
The screenings take place every Thursday during May at 7 p.m. All films are in Spanish with English subtitles. Admission is free. For more details and directions to the Harry Ransom Center, visit http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/visit/.
This Thursday’s screening, La Casta Divina (1976), is directed by Julián Pastor. The cast includes Ignacio López Tarso, Ana Luisa Peluffo, Pedro Armendáriz, Jr. and Tina Romero. The duration of the movie is 110 minutes and is shown in color.
Synopsis (provided by Cine Las Americas):
La Casta Divina is a chronicle of the “caste wars” that took place in Yucatan during the nineteenth century, where the land and the people were the property of the hacendados (landowners and masters), who considered themselves the “divine race.” While General Salvador Alvarado organized the revolution upraise, the hacendados sponsored Colonel Ortiz Argumedo to defend their autonomy, and Don Wilfrido, one of the hacendados, did not hesitate in sending his own son to fight in the struggle to preserve their riches.
About Director Julián Pastor (from Cine website):
Julián Pastor has worked as a film and television director, actor, set designer, writer, and teacher. He was born in 1943 in Mexico City, the son of Spanish immigrants. He studied drawing, painting and set design, and architecture at the National University of Mexico (UNAM), a career path that he eventually abandoned to devote himself to filmmaking and art. He studied film at the University of Southern California and acting with Seki Sano, Hector Mendoza and Juan José Gurrola, which led to a long career with over 60 films as an actor which continues to this day.
His first film as director was La justicia tiene doce años in 1970. Other significant works include La venida del Rey Olmos (1975), El esperado amor desesperado (1976), La casta divina (1977), Los pequeños privilegios (1978), and Estas ruinas que ves (1979), based on the novel by Jorge Ibargüengoitia.