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The Film ESPALDAS MOJADAS Was Screened as Part of the México Imaginario Section of the 24th FICM

Katia Barragán

As part of the 24th Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), the film Espaldas mojadas (1955), by Mexican director Alejandro Galindo, was presented.

The film follows Rafael Améndola, a Mexican worker who flees justice in his country and decides to cross the border into the United States without documentation with the help of a smuggler. In the United States, he lives in constant anguish, suffers labor exploitation, and discovers the harsh realities of the so-called "American dream."

The film received multiple accolades, including several Ariel Awards for: Best Original Screenplay for Alejandro Galindo, Best Supporting Actor for Eulalio González "Piporro" and Best Supporting Actress for Carolina Barret.

The film is part of the Mexico Imaginario program, a special section of the festival that explores the fascination, stereotypes, and visions that foreign cinema has constructed about Mexico.

Curated by writer Imogen Sara Smith, this year’s program features a selection of classic works that address the migrant experience and the outsider's perspective on the country.

During the presentation, Smith commented that the inclusion of this film represented an exception to the section's criteria, as it is a Mexican production, made with national crew and cast. And rather than presenting a foreign vision of Mexico, the film portrays the experience of a Mexican migrant arriving in the United States—which, in the curator’s words, could be considered an “Imaginary United States” subsection.

Smith also pointed out that this film still shares things with the other works in the series: a history marked by censorship, repression, and even oblivion.

Espaldas mojadas is the penultimate film in the series, which will conclude with a screening of Alambrista! (1977), by American director Robert M. Young.