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5.1.09 - 6.29.09
FOLK TALES AND FILM NOIR: ROBERTO GAVALDÓN'S CENTENNIAL Director Roberto Gavaldón has been called "one of the most important directors in Mexican cinema" and "the undisputed master of melodrama." And yet, of all the major directors who worked during Mexican cinema's Golden Age (1936-1956), including Fernando de Fuentes, Emilio Fernandez, Luis Buñuel, Sergei Eisentstein and Gabriel Figueroa, Gavaldón remains the least well-known and the most deserving of rediscovery. Born in 1909 in Jiménez, Chihuahua, Gavaldón entered the Mexican film industry as an assistant director in the early 1930s after a brief stint in Hollywood, where he worked as an extra and a nightclub bouncer, all the while becoming enamored with the movies. Back in Mexico, his experience working on the sets of Juan Orol García, Alberto Gout and Gabriel Sora, among others, instilled in Gavaldón an abiding respect for the rigors and intricacies of the filmmaking craft. When he made his directorial debut in 1944 with La barraca, he seemed to have emerged fully formed as a consummate craftsman in total command of the medium's technical aspects. But Gavaldón was no mere technician. With a baroque fatalism that finds death lurking in every shadow, Gavaldón's architectural compositions reveal the tensions of a culture and country in flux. Across a range of genres, from the noirish psychodrama of La otra (1946) to the rural folk tale of Macario (1960), Gavaldón collaborated with some of the biggest names in Mexican cinema, including Pedro Armendáriz, Dolores del Río and cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa. He is equally well-known as a screenwriter for his adaptations of works by Bruno Traven, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez and Juan Rulfo, as well as his collaboration with Gabriel García Márquez on El gallo del oro (1964).
The Archive is pleased to be able to present this selection of major works by Gavaldón in celebration of his centennial.
Special thanks to: Raquel Cajiga Sánchez, Paulina Del Paso--Mexico City International Contemporary Film Festival, FICCO-Cinemex; Jose Manuel Garcia, Guadalupe Ferrer--La Filmoteca de la UNAM; Televisa; Fundacion Televisa; Cineteca Nacional (Nacional Film Archive); Raul de Anda Serrano; Roberto Gavaldón Arbide; Alejandro Pelayo--Consul for Cultural Affairs, Consulate General of Mexico, Los Angeles.
   Saturday May 2 2009, 7:30PM ( Online Ticket Sales Ended )
ROSAURO CASTRO
(1950, Mexico) Directed by Roberto Gavaldón  Once thought of as a lost film after its negative was reportedly destroyed in a fire in the early 1980s, Rosauro Castro has re-emerged to take its rightful place as a major work in both Gavaldón's oeuvre and Mexican cinema as a whole. Pedro Armendáriz stars as the title character, a strong man, or cacique, who rules over the inhabitants of a rural town with an iron fist. Change is in the air and tragedy in the offing, however, when a federal agent arrives to reassert law and order at the same time a defiant farmer, banished from the town by Castro, returns to find his family. Gavaldón masterfully orchestrates the tensions between the characters and the social institutions they represent--church, government, school, home--until violence explodes in the town's dusty, shadow-washed streets. LA NOCHE AVANZA
(Night Falls)
(1952, Mexico) Directed by Roberto Gavaldón Mexico City's famed jai alai arena, the Frontón México, becomes ground zero for greed and betrayal in this seething film noir starring Armendáriz as Marcos, an arrogant womanizer headed for "The Big Fall." A legend on the jai alai court, Marcos struts from locker room to nightclub to penthouse, pushing around "the weak" and wracking up romantic affairs with a jaw-dropping sense of entitlement. However, when one of his conquests--a young girl from a respectable family--becomes pregnant, Marcos is caught between his ego and a hard place after her debt-ridden brother blackmails him into throwing a match for the mob. From there, twists and turns start piling up at a dizzying rate as Gavaldón drives a stake into the heart of machismo. Based on a story by Luis Spota. Producer: Óscar J. Brooks, Felipe Mier. Screenplay: Jesús Cárdenas, Roberto Gavaldón, José Revueltas. Cinematographer: Jack Draper. Editor: Charles L. Kimball. Cast: Pedro Armendáriz, Anita Blanch, Julio Villareal, Eva Martino, José María Linares-Rivas. Presented in Spanish dialogue with English subtitles. 35mm, B/W, 85 min. Unfortunately, Roberto Gavaldón Arbide will not be able to attend this screening as previously listed. We apologize for any inconvenience. Monday May 4 2009, 7:30PM ( Online Ticket Sales Ended )
LA OTRA
(The Other One)
(1946, Mexico) Directed by Roberto Gavaldón  This twisted film noir stars Dolores del Río in a dual role as rival twins. Maria is a poor manicurist while Magdalena is the recently widowed wife of a millionaire. Always the "bad girl," Maria hatches a murderous plan to take her sister's place,only to discover--upon assuming her sister's identity--that Magdalena wasn't quite the "good girl" she made herself out to be. As a woman tormented by inner demons and grappling with the unimaginable truth of her sister's secrets, del Río turns in a riveting performance on par with Joan Crawford at her melodramatic finest. Assisted by cinematographer Alex Phillips and production designer Gunther Gerszo, Gavaldón transforms the sophisticated spaces of Mexico City's upper classes into a world of baroque shadows and foreboding. La otra was remade by Hollywood in 1964 as the Bette Davis vehicle Dead Ringers. Based on the short story "The Dead Dove" by Rian James. Producer: Mauricio de la Serna, Jack Wagner. Screenplay: Roberto Gavaldón, José Revueltas. Cinematographer: Alex Phillips. Editor: Charles L. Kimball. Cast: Dolores del Río, Agustin Irusta, Victor Junco, José Baviera, Manuel Dondé. Presented in Spanish dialogue with English subtitles. 35mm, B/W, 104 min. THE LITTLEST OUTLAW
(El pequeño proscito)
(1955, Mexico/United States) Directed by Roberto Gavaldón  Gavaldón's only Hollywood-produced film is this charming tale of a boy and his horse made for Walt Disney. Even though he's only ten-years old, or perhaps because of his youth, Pablito recoils at the cruel treatment that his father doles out to the thoroughbred jumping horses he trains for a Mexican General. When Pablito's favorite horse is ordered put to death for its refusal to jump, he rescues it and heads off as a fugitive on a journey across Mexico in search of a safe home for the animal. Along the way, Pablito is befriended by a priest who comes to the boy's aid when the horse, once again, falls into the hands of those who would do it harm. Gavaldón makes the most of the film's picaresque story--and Disney's budget--with beautiful photography of central Mexico's high plateaus with the film's action culminating in the famed bullring of San Miguel Allende where Pablito and the horse are reunited for the film's stirring finale. Based on a story by Larry Lansburgh. Producer: Larry Lansburgh. Screenplay: Bill Walsh. Cinematographer: Alex Phillips. Editor: Carlos Savage. Cast: Pedro Armendáriz, Joseph Calleia, Rodolfo Acosta, Andrés Velásquez, Laila Maley. 35mm, Color, 85 min. Friday May 8 2009, 7:30PM ( Online Ticket Sales Ended )
DÍAS DE OTOÑO
(Autumn Days)
(1963, Mexico) Directed by Roberto Gavaldón Días de otoño was the last in a trilogy of films--that includes Macario (1960) and Rosa Blanca (1961-72)--adapted by Gavaldón from the works of Bruno Traven. Based on Traven's short story "Frustration," this unsettling drama stars Pina Pellicer as Luisa, a provincial young woman newly arrived in Mexico City who finds a job as a cake decorator. For the dreamy Luisa, it proves an appropriate line of work as she comes to display a remarkable talent for embellishing the truth, as well. When her new boss, Albino, begins making advances, Luisa's fantastic imagination takes flight. She invents a boyfriend, an impending marriage and even a false pregnancy. It's a fragile world of delusions that ever-threatens to come crashing down around her as Gavaldón exposes the surface appearances that govern even the most intimate of relationships in Mexico's developing urban middle-class. Based on the short story "Frustration" by Bruno Traven. Producer: Felipe Subervielle. Screenplay: Julio Alejandro, Emilio Carballido. Cinematographer: Gabriel Figueroa. Editor: Gloria Schoemann. Cast: Pina Pellicer, Ignacio Lopez Tarso, Adriana Roel, Luis Lomelí. Presented in Spanish dialogue with English subtitles. 35mm, B/W, 95 min. LA BARRACA
(1945, Mexico) Directed by Roberto Gavaldón  Gavaldón's debut feature proved a phenomenal success on its release in 1946, winning ten Ariel awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor, the first year the awards were given. Based on the novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, the film unfolds in Valencia, Spain where the debt-ridden Barret family is forced from their home and farm by the local landlord. In solidarity with the Barrets, their neighbors refuse to till the empty fields. When a new family, the Batistes, move in, they are met with suspicion that boils over into open hostility and violence. Gavaldón deftly adapts Ibáñez's naturalism to the screen to depict the tragedy of common cause dashed on the rocks of economic necessity. Based on a novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez. Producer: Alfonso Sánchez Tello. Screenplay: Libertad Blasco Ibáñez, Tito Davison, Paulino Masip, Abel Velilla. Cinematographer: Victor Herrera. Editor: Carlos Savage. Cast: Domingo Soler, Anita Blanch, Amparo Morillo, José Baviera. Presented in Spanish dialogue with English subtitles. 16mm, B/W, 103 min. Sunday May 10 2009, 7:00PM* ( Online Ticket Sales Ended )
MACARIO
(1960, Mexico) Directed by Roberto Gavaldón  Nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film, Macario was so effective in its cinematic rendering of magical realism that the story, written by Bruno Traven, was often mistaken for an ancient Mexican folk tale. Set in 18th century colonial Mexico, the film follows Macario, a poor woodsman who vows to his family that he will eat nothing until he can have an entire turkey to himself. Afraid for her husband's well-being, his wife steals a turkey for his feast, which Macario spirits into the forest to consume in solitude. His meal is repeatedly interrupted before the first bite, however, by a series of mysterious and ghostly strangers who ask Macario to share his prize with them. He refuses the first two but strikes a Faustian bargain with the third, who turns out to be Death himself. Like Faust, Macario gains wealth and power, all the while slowly losing control of his destiny until Death comes calling one final time. In the film's stunning climax, the world of the dead, so prevalent in the imagery of Mexico, is hauntingly visualized through Gabriel Figueroa's dramatic photography. Based on the short story "El tercer invitado" by Bruno Traven. Producer: Armando Orine Alba. Screenplay: Roberto Gavaldón, Emilio Carballido. Cinematographer: Gabriel Figueroa. Editor: Gloria Schoemann. Cast: Ignacio López Tarso, Pina Pellicer, Enrique Lucero, José Gálvez. Presented in Spanish dialogue with English subtitles. 35mm, B/W, 90 min. * Please note the early start time. Saturday May 30 2009, 7:30PM ( Online Ticket Sales Ended )
EL GALLO DE ORO
(The Golden Cockerel)
(1964, Mexico) Directed by Roberto Gavaldón  Based on Juan Rulfo's magical realist story of the same name, El gallo de oro recounts the rise and fall of Dionisio Pinzón, a poor town crier who calls the local cock fights and dreams of a grander destiny. Opportunity comes in the form of an injured bird that Dionisio nurses back to health in order to pit it himself in the ring. When the cock starts earning money for Dionisio, it attracts the attention of Don Lorenzo, a powerful landowner, and the two men form a profitable partnership. As success breeds obsession, Lorenzo's mistress Bernarda, a singer known as "la caponera" or "the coop," begins to resent taking a backseat to Lorenzo's business plans and seduces Dionisio out of spite. Passions flare and destinies unravel as Gavaldón employs the world of cock fighting as a metaphor for social organization in Mexican society, where assertions of authority and virility mask a world that actually operates by chance. Friday June 5 2009, 7:30PM ( Online Ticket Sales Ended )
ROSA BLANCA
(The White Rose)
(1961, Mexico) Directed by Roberto Gavaldón  Certain topics in Mexican history have not tolerated criticism and consequently have been considered taboo by filmmakers. Among them is the period during the 1930s when vast tracks of agricultural land were appropriated by powerful oil interests. Based on a story by Bruno Traven, Rosa Blanca broached that issue and was banned in Mexico until 1972 and is still one of the country's most noted cases of censorship, in part because of Gavaldón's status as an established commercial director. The film centers on a proud farmer, Jacinto Yanez, and his battle with an American-owned oil company. When Yanez refuses to sell the rich, fertile land his family has tilled for generations, the company hatches a plot to lure Yanez to Los Angeles where he mysteriously disappears. Once the defiant patriarch is out of the way, the bulldozers start rolling in. The highly romanticized imagery that Gavaldón uses to represent the Yanez farm makes its destruction all the more poignant and pointed as an idealized Mexico gives way to a harsh, modern reality. Based on the novel by Bruno Traven. Producer: Felipe Subervielle. Screenplay: Emilio Carballido, Roberto Gavaldón, Phil Stevenson. Cinematographer: Gabriel Figueroa. Editor: Gloria Schoemann. Cast: Ignacio López Tarso, Christiane Martell, Reinhold Olszewski, Rita Macedo, Begoña Palacios. Presented in Spanish dialogue with English subtitles. 35mm, 100 min. |