10 · 18 · 14 Mexican Detective Film Noir of the Golden Age Series Begins Share with twitter Share with facebook Share with mail Copy to clipboard FICM began the Mexican Detective Film Noir of the Golden Age series with Distinto amanecer/Another Dawn (1943) by renowned Mexican director Julio Bracho. The presentation of the series was led by its organizers Daniela Michel, general director of FICM; Alejandro Pelayo, director of the Cineteca Nacional; Guadalupe Ferrer, general director of the UNAM Film Archive; and Mauricio Maillé, director of Visual Arts of the Fundación Televisa. Guest of Honor Pierre Rissient was also present at the screening. Film noir is a film genre that began in the United States in the 40s and 50s, inspired by detective novels by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, and other authors. The aesthetic movement, that stylizes its plots and scenery to the limit, is characterized by using a night setting where the antihero is involved in a melodrama composed of private detectives, femme fatales, gangsters and lovers on the run. The impact of the genre in Mexico emerged during the Alemán administration (presidential period of Miguel Alemán Valdés), an era in which the race toward modernization and industrialization caused certain social disorders and where the night setting served as an escape valve: ballrooms, cabarets, sleazy hotels, exotic dancers and the mob. In this context, the genre gained enormous strength and merged with Mexican melodrama, resulting in a series of works where cabaret films, detective films, tales of poverty and slums, crime thrillers or espionage and intrigue intertwine; works played by antiheroes consumed by jealousy, distrust and uncertainty, who waited for a ruthless and cruel fate, racing through a maze of memories where the present tangles up with the past, nihilism and disillusionment with society. The series of Mexican Detective Film Noir of the Golden Age, consisting of seven films, is part of a project that seeks to expand the outreach, screening, preservation and digitalization of more works of the genre. In the first presentation of Another Dawn at the 12th FICM, the following statements were made: Guadalupe Ferrer on the importance of the project: “It’s exciting to begin an adventure about a genre that was extended and reached very important elements in Mexico, by mixing with melodrama.” Alejandro Pelayo on the challenge of the restoration: “The hardest part was choosing the films and discovering how, starting from an original nitrate, we would achieve this great digital quality.” Alejandro Pelayo on Another Dawn: “The most interesting thing about Another Dawn is the atmosphere of film noir, the entrance into the genre that was fashionable then: the cabaret films; and personally, it is the first time that a political thriller is handled in Mexican cinema, where a man is pursued by the government.” The following screenings of the series will be presented by one of the invited guests of the 12th FICM: Distinto amanecer / Another Dawn(1943) by Julio Bracho – Saturday, October 18, Cinépolis Centro, Sala 5, 7:15 pm Cuatro contra el mundo by Alejandro Galindo – Saturday, October 18, Cinépolis Centro, Sala 5, 9:15 pm La otra / The Other One(1946) by Roberto Gavaldón – Sunday, October 19, Cinépolis Centro, Sala 5, 12:15 pm La noche avanza / Night Falls(1952) by Roberto Gavaldón – Sunday, October 19, Cinépolis Centro, Sala 5, 4:15 pm La diosa arrodillada/ The Kneeling Goddess (1947) by Roberto Gavaldón – Monday, October 20, Cinépolis Centro, Sala 5, 11:30 am Que dios me perdone/ May God Forgive Me (1948) by Tito Davison – Tuesday, October 21, 11:00 am Cuatro contra el mundo by Alejandro Galindo – Wednesday, October 22, Cinépolis Centro, Sala 5, 13:00 pm En la palma de tu mano / In the Palm of Your Hand(1951) by Roberto Gavaldón – Thursday, October 23, Cinépolis Centro, Sala 5, 11:00 am La noche avanza / Night Falls(1952) by Roberto Gavaldón – Friday, October 24, Cinépolis Centro, Sala 5, 2 pm You can purchase tickets: aquí. Article by Alejandro M. Azpiri (@nosoyalexalejo)
