Film Trust Blog

To mark the centenary of the Mexican Revolution, the Cambridge Film Trust invites you to see three striking films at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse in February and March 2010. Rarely screened in the UK, these films form part of ‘Reel Revolution’, a special season revisiting this landmark in modern history through a provocative spectrum of styles.

Screening programme

Saturday 27 February, 3.00pm
FLOR SILVESTRE (CFT PG*)
Director: Emilio Fernández. Starring: Dolores del Río, Pedro Armendáriz, Emilio Fernández. Mexico 1943. 94 mins. Spanish with English subtitles.

The Revolution and its turbulent legacy provides the setting for the tragic love story between the daughter of a peasant family and the son of a wealthy landowner. It is directed by the most celebrated filmmaker (and actor) of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema with the great stylist of black and white imagery, cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, and two iconic actors of the period.

Thursday 4 March, 5.00pm
REED: INSURGENT MEXICO (REED: MEXICO INSURGENTE) (CFT 15*)
Director: Paul Leduc. Starring: Claudio Obregón, Eduardo López Rojas, Ernesto Gómez Cruz. Mexico 1971. 124 mins. Spanish with English subtitles.

A groundbreaking fictionalised biography of American radical, US Communist Party founder and journalist John Reed, who ended up joining the revolutionary troops after being dispatched to report on Pancho Villa. Filmed in evocative sepia tone, this innovative docu-fiction recreates in dramatic detail Reed’s transformation from journalist and spectator to participant and revolutionary.

Introduced by Ignacio Durán, Minister for Cultural Affairs at the Embassy of Mexico in the UK and former Director of the Mexican National Film Institute (IMCINE)

Wednesday 10 March, 5.00pm
I FORGOT, I DON’T REMEMBER (DEL OLVIDO AL NO ME ACUERDO) (CFT 12A*)
Director: Juan Carlos Rulfo. Mexico 1999. 75 mins. Spanish with English subtitles.
Acclaimed testimonial filmmaker Juan Carlos Rulfo attempts to investigate his father, a legendary novelist whose traumatic past surfaced in fictions marked by the violence of the Revolution and its memories. Full of playful touches, this visually poetic tribute soon abandons biography to become a fascinating meditation on the passage of time and the labyrinths of memory in relation to Mexico’s troubled national history.

Contains adult themes.

* Recommended certificates

How to book

You can book online via the Arts Picturehouse website, over the phone on 0871 704 2050 (calls cost 10p per minute from a landline) or in person at the Arts Picturehouse on 38-39 St Andrew’s Street, Cambridge, CB2 3AR.

Free films in Trinity College

These screenings are part of ‘Reel Revolution: Ghosts of the Mexican Revolution in Mexican Cinema’, a special season taking place throughout February and March. Look out for more screenings at the Winstanley Lecture Theatre in Trinity College, free of charge and open to all (no booking required).

For details, visit the University of Cambridge’s Centre of Latin American Studies (CLAS) website. You can also download the Reel Revolution poster (PDF).

‘Reel Revolution’ is part of a special programme of activities celebrating the centenary of the Mexican Revolution curated by Erica Segre, Lecturer in Hispanic Studies at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity College. It includes an interdisciplinary academic symposium and an exhibition at the University Library in March and April. Full details available on the CLAS website.

Special thanks

The season is supported by the Embassy of Mexico in the UK, the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE) and Filmoteca UNAM.