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A Sound Memoir of Urban Youth: The Book Picnic a Go-Go Is Presented at the Morelia International Film Festival

Brisa Naomi Rojas Laguna

As part of the 24th edition of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), a book launch was held for Picnic a Go-Go, a history of the music of urban youth in Mexican cinema (1956–1969).

The presentation was attended by Abril Alzaga, director of PROCINE; Héctor Orozco, representative of the Televisa Foundation; and the book’s authors and researchers Adriana García, Ernesto Rivera, and Dr. Humberto Rodríguez Rauda, who shared details of this rigorous editorial project with the audience.

During her presentation, Abril Alzaga spoke of how proud PROCINE is to support this type of book, which emerged from their call for research proposals. She noted that the project analyzes a key and largely unexplored period: the emergence of youth culture in the 1950s and 1960s—a historic moment of breaking away from traditional norms—and the transformations in the music industry that accompanied these changes.

The authors explained that the book emerged from a meticulous review of 206 films, exploring how the social phenomenon of youth made its way onto the big screen. It examines the transition from classic Golden Age cinema to the arrival of rock and roll, chronicling the evolution of the music industry.

They explained that the book’s title refers to a song performed by the orchestra of the Mexican composer Pablo Beltrán Ruiz, included on the album Caliente Caliente. The volume traces a detailed journey ranging from the iconic 5 de chocolate y 1 de fresa—a 1968 Mexican film directed by Carlos Velo—to the presence of iconic musicians and composers, whose lyrics endowed these productions with profound documentary and cultural value.

The book highlights the importance of musicians in shaping this cultural imaginary, recognizing that the songs featured in films also allow us to trace the social transformations of their time. It also emphasized how the music of the 1960s was an essential part of these new generations, serving not only as entertainment but also as a marker of cultural identity.

To complement this, as part of the audiovisual material accompanying the book, 5 de chocolate y 1 de fresa was screened. The film serves as a key document that helps highlight and illustrate the central themes analyzed in the book. It portrays Mexico City as the primary space where the young people of the 1960s began to claim urban spaces and their own identity.

The film reflects how the image of youth was constructed during that era, by intertwining the fictional characters’ experiences, the actors’ performances, and the way audiences of the time consumed them.