10 · 30 · 21 The 19th FICM Will Present a Restored Version of La mujer murciélago by René Cardona Share with twitter Share with facebook Share with mail Copy to clipboard The 19th Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) will present among its special screenings a restored version of La mujer murciélago (1968), by director René Cardona, thanks to the invaluable support of Permanencia Voluntaria, Cinema Preservation Alliance, Academy Film Archive, Paso del Norte Foundation and Rio Bravo Fund. La mujer murciélago tells the story about how in Acapulco, an eccentric and beautiful millionaire, skilled in sports and martial arts, decides to fight evil dressed as a bat. She faces a mad scientist who, using cerebrospinal fluid extracted from slain fighters, wants to create a new breed of underwater fighters. Created and directed by director, editor, writer and producer Viviana García Besne, Permanencia Voluntaria is the only independent film archive in Mexico that specializes in the collection and preservation of popular Mexican cinema films, as well as other materials such as posters, documents and promotional items. Located in Tepoztlán, Morelos, the Permanencia Voluntaria archive has preserved, especially ficheras and rumberas movies and several films by El Santo. “Permanencia Voluntaria is both a personal and an academic initiative: Viviana García Besne, the director of the archive, comes from the family that produced films that were considered ‘the worst of Mexico,’ but are now recognized as indispensable cultural expressions of the country. In her film Perdida (2012), García Besne poignantly documented her search for a lost heritage,” academic Paul Julian Smith wrote for Film Quarterly after the archive was damaged on the September 2017 earthquake. La mujer murciélago (1968), by René Cardona, will be screened at the 19th FICM on October 31 at 12:00 p.m. and on November 1 at 1:15 p.m. in room 3 of the Cinépolis Morelia Centro. Entrance to these screenings will be free.
