México

Cinema of México

The Mexican film industry is the third largest in Latin America, known mostly for its famous three amigos: directors Guillermo del Toro (“Cronos,” “The Devil’s Backbone,” “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “The Shape Of Water”); Alfonso Cuarón (“Y tu mamá también,” “Children Of Men,” “Gravity,” “Roma”); and Alejandro Iniritu (“Amores Perros,” “Babel,” “Biutiful,” “Birdman,” “The Revenant”):  all men of the same generation from Mexico who have managed to successfully break into Hollywood, and continue to bring home awards. 

The first film screening in Mexico occurred in 1896 in Mexico City, exhibiting the Lumière Cinématographe.  About a year after the first screening, locals were filming their own newsreels and actualities.  Around this same time, the first cinema exhibition space was opened in Mexico City, the Salón Rojo.  

Salvador Toscano Barragán was the director of the first narrative film in Mexico, “Don Juan Tenorio” (1898) based on a play from 1844.  He later became one of the filmmakers documenting the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), a war that is considered to be one of the first major world events to be so fully documented on film.

Many filmmakers from around the world came to Mexico to film the revolution, and out of this, came a mix of documentary and fiction films.  And for many decades to follow, Mexican filmmakers have been fascinated with telling stories of the Mexican Revolution.

For instance, the Mexican Revolution hero Pancho Villa starred in Raoul Walsh’s biopic, “The Life of General Villa” (1914), shot on location during the civil war.  

President Porfirio Díaz was perhaps the first head of state to be captured on film, helping to boost his growing celebrity, and he even commissioned films to be made of him horseback riding in Chapultepec Park, doing state duties, and engaging with Thomas Edision.

After the introduction of sound, the first feature-length film made in Mexico was called “Santa” (1932), adapted from a novel by Federico Gamboa.  The soundtrack it featured was a new innovation, created by Joselito and Roberto Rodríguez and referred to as  “The Rodríguez Sound System.”

The 1930’s brought to Mexico some other prominent international filmmakers, including Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, who filmed “Que Viva Mexico” in 1931, a tapestry of Mexican life from the old landscape of the Tehuantepec, to capturing bullfights, and “Day of the Dead” celebrations.

In 1934, “Redes” was made, co-directed by Mexican born Emilio Gómez Muriel and Austrian born Fred Zinnemann.  A drama filmed with documentary elements, using real life fishermen as actors, the film captured the daily struggles and political ideals of men surviving in coastal villages near the Gulf Of Mexico.

Famed Spanish director Luis Buñuel moved to Mexico, and considered it home, making all his films there between 1946 and 1960, notably “Los Olvidados” (also known as “The Young and the Damned”) and “Nazarín” (1958).

“Salt of the Earth” (1954) was also made in Mexico, directed by exile Herbert Biberman, who was blacklisted from Hollywood during the “red scare.”

Mexico’s own cinematic glories flourished during what is known as the Golden Era, from about 1936 to 1959; known for its slapstick comedy, pastoral settings and ranchera music.  

During World War Two, much of the U.S. and European-centric film production curtailed and Mexico swept in to take advantage of this gap in the industry.  Its geographic proximity to Hollywood also helped Mexico to become recognized on an international scale.  It is even said that the Oscar statuette is modeled after Mexican director, Emilio Fernández! 

Mexican actress femme fatale María Félix became a superstar and appeared in such notorious golden era flicks as Doña Bárbara (1943) directed by Fernando de Fuentes and Miguel M. Delgado; “María Candelaria” (1944), and “Enamorada“ (1946) both directed by Emilio Fernández.  During this Golden age, heartthrobs Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete charmed Mexican audiences for years. Both were actor-singers, and the cinema of Mexico helped bring about an awareness to Mariachi music around the world.  Of course mariachi music came first, but the cinema of the ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s celebrated, explored, and even exploited it to the point that mariachi became even bigger than its britches!  Many scholars believe, in fact, that the overriding association with Mexico and mariachi is because of these films and their popularity both in Mexico and abroad! 

The first film school was opened in Mexico in 1963, University Center for Cinematic Studies, but overall, productions declined in the decades following the Golden Era, partially due to economic crises and lack of public or private funding.

However, in the 1970s and ‘80s there were genre films that became popular such as “spaghetti westerns” filmed near the U.S. and Mexican border, melodrama romances, and “wrestling films.”

A state funded film festival rose up in the 1980’s, as well as the Mexican Cinema Institute.

The release of the movie adaptation of “Like Water For Chocolate” directed by Alfonso Arau in 1993, adapted from his wife, Laura Esquivel’s, magical realism novel of the same name, helped to revive the cinema of Mexico.  And by the early 2000s, a new film movement started gaining speed with movies made and popularized, such as “Y tu mamá también” (2001) directed by Alfonso Cuarón, and “The Crime Of Father Amaro” (2002) directed by Carlos Carrera.

In 2019, Alfosno Cuarón made Mexican cinema history with his 2018 film “Roma,” when it was nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Picture AND Best Foreign Film. Cuarón took home the Oscar for Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Film.

The “Three Amigos” directors now have a combined total of 28 Oscars among themselves.