The Tucson Cine Mexico film festival technically started Wednesday night with a lecture by artist and filmmaker María José Cuevas on "Heroines of Sin and Pleasure."
But there is still plenty of time to catch the five films being offered as part of the fest, which will take place at Harkins Tucson Spectrum 18, 5455 S. Calle Santa Cruz, from Friday to Sunday.
A full lineup can be found on the Tucson Cine website.
Otherwise, you can read what Caliente writer Kathleen Allen said about the event below:
Burlesque and murder are on the bill for the 13th annual Tucson Cine Mexico. The five films in the lineup are making their Arizona premiere, and each was selected for and screened at prestigious film festivals.
The goal is to bring movies to Tucson that give a sense of the breadth of films from Mexico, says Vicky Westover, co-director of the festival.
“There’s this rich diversity of filmmaking coming out of Mexico, in genre, style, tone,” she says. “We always want to make sure we present an array of films so that no one can say ‘this is what Mexican filmmaking is.’”
And here’s something you don’t hear very often: The contemporary Mexican film festival is free. All movies are in Spanish with English subtitles and are at Harkins Tucson Spectrum 18, 5455 S. Calle Santa Cruz.
Here’s the lineup:
“Bellas de Noche/Beauties of the Night,” featuring portraits of five of Mexico’s former showgirls. Directed by María José Cuevas, the women talk about how they have tried to reinvent themselves since burlesque’s heyday in the late 1970s and ’80s. Featuring Olga Breeskin, Lyn May, Princesa Yamal, Rossy Mendoza, Wanda Seux. It’s 6:30 p.m. Friday, March 24.
“Un Monstruo de Mil Cabezas/A Monster with a Thousand Heads” is a thriller about a woman who is trying to get the insurance company to approve the care that her husband, who is dying of cancer, needs. The lack of attention from the insurers launches a primal survival instinct in her as she fights to protect her family. Rodrigo Plá directs and the cast includes Jana Raluy, Sebastián Aguirre Boëda, Hugo Albores, Nora Huerta, Daniel Giménez Cacho, and Emilio Echeverría. It’s 9 p.m. Friday, March 24.
“Carmin Tropical” is another thriller, this one about Mabel, a muxe (a transvestite; the story takes place in Oaxaca, where some consider muxe a third gender) who returns to her hometown in search of the person who murdered her best friend. Starring Luis Alberti, Juan Carlos Medellín, José Pescina, Marco Pétriz, and Everardo Trejo, the film is directed by Rigoberto Perezcano. It’s 7 p.m. Saturday, March 25.
“La Calle de la Amargura/Bleak Street” is based on a true story about two down-on-their-luck hookers in need of survival cash. They commit a robbery and in the process accidentally kill two twin mini-luchadores. Directed by Arturo Ripstein, the cast includes Patricia Reyes Spíndola, Nora Velázquez, Sylvia Pasquel, Arcelia Ramírez, and Alejandro Suárez. It’s 9 p.m. Saturday, March 25.
“El Charro de Toluquilla” is a documentary about Jaime García, an HIV-positive mariachi singer who lives “like a chauvinistic vintage Mexican movie character,” according to press materials. José Villalobos Romero directed. It’s 2 p.m. Sunday, March 26.
To reserve your free tickets (it’s first come, first served) and for more information, go to tucsoncinemexico.org
