performance in pioneering Mexican director Fernando de Fuentes’s Doña Bárbara that gave Felix her enduring nickname, “La Doña.” With successful folk recording artist and star of over fifty films Maria Elena Marqués (1926–2008) by Félix’s side, this story of revenge, vindication, and embattled female empowerment created an indelible image of La Doña as, in her own words, “the number one enemy of the Mexican family morals.” DIRECTED BY: Fernando de Fuentes, Miguel M. Delgado. WRITTEN BY: Rómulo Gallegos. WITH: María Félix, Julián Soler, María Elena Marqués, Andrés Soler. 1943. 138 min. Mexico. B&W. Spanish. DCP. Digital copy provided by Filmoteca UNAM. Screening courtesy of Televisa Foundation–Univision Foundation. What kind of woman has a right to a happy ending? ” Amira Ortiz, Female Prototypes in Golden Age Mexican Cinema , 2023 Los olvidados ( The Young and the Damned ) Wed, Jul 10 | 8pm | TMT Made during director Luis Buñuel’s prolific yet still under-appreciated two-decade period in Mexico, Los olvidados proved an exception to the downward trend of Mexico’s film industry that began in the early 1950s. The film won Mexico’s second major prize at Cannes, following in the footsteps of María Candelaria ’s (1944) landmark win. This against- formula juvenile crime drama showcases the power of indigenous actress Estela Inda (1924–1995), recipient of a Silver Ariel for Best Supporting Actress for her most memorable performance as the mother of the film’s young, impressionable protagonist; both characters try their damndest to rise above the crime festering in the slums of Mexico’s capital city. DIRECTED BY: Luis Buñuel. WRITTEN BY: Luis Buñuel, Luis Alcoriza. WITH: Estela Inda, Miguel Inclán, Alfonso Mejía, Roberto Cobo. 1950. 85 min. Mexico. B&W. Spanish. DCP. Digital copy provided by Filmoteca UNAM. Screening courtesy of Televisa Foundation–Univision Foundation.
LLÉVAME EN TUS BRAZOS (TAKE ME IN YOUR ARMS)
Llévame en tus brazos with Víctimas del pecado Wed, Jul 3 | 8pm | TMT
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Llévame en tus brazos ( Take Me in Your Arms ) Lensed by the renowned Gabriel Figueroa, the magnetic Ninón Sevilla (1921–2015)—who also produced, uncredited, alongside brothers Guillermo Calderón and Pedro Calderón—stars as Rita, a young woman in Veracruz who lives for her family and her true love, José (Armando Silvestre). When Rita’s father trades her “services” to the wealthy Don Gregorio (Carlos López Moctezuma) to forgive his gambling debts, José is reluctant to forgive her transgressions. Featuring elaborately staged song- and-dance numbers that showcase Sevilla’s numerous talents, director and co-writer Julio Bracho’s sweeping melodrama favors Rita’s longing above all, allowing Sevilla’s charisma and magnetism to empathetically carry us through the film’s well-earned finale. DIRECTED BY: Julio Bracho. WRITTEN BY: Julio Bracho, José Carbo. WITH: Ninón Sevilla, Carlos López Moctezuma, Armando Silvestre, Andrea Palma. 1954. 92 min. Mexico. B&W. Spanish. DCP. Restoration by Permanencia Voluntaria and Cinema Preservation Alliance with the generous support of the Academy Film Archive, Paso del Norte Community Foundation, and FOCINE. Víctimas del pecado ( Victims of Sin ) Cuban-born Ninón Sevilla lights up the screen in another Emilio “El Indio” Fernández collaboration with venerated director of photography Gabriel Figueroa in her immediate follow-up to Alberto Gout’s rumbera masterpiece, Aventurera (1950). Sevilla stars as dancer and sex worker Violeta, who rescues an abandoned infant and is determined to fiercely protect the child from its father, a pimp with connections to Violeta’s nightclub. A gritty film noir made grimier by Figueroa’s lurking shots of nighttime Mexico City, Sevilla’s zealous performance contradicts the curse of the film’s title, her gravitas morphing Violeta into an unlikely, nuanced hero. DIRECTED/WRITTEN BY: Emilio Fernández. WITH: Ninón Sevilla, Tito Junco, Rodolfo Acosta, Rita Montaner. 1951. 90 min. Mexico. B&W. Spanish, French. DCP. Courtesy of Filmoteca de la UNAM. Doña Bárbara Sun, Jul 7 | 2pm | TMT “Somehow, I seduced the public,” María Félix (1914–2002) proclaims in her autobiography, Todas mis guerras ( All My Wars ), though today it’s hard to believe the legendary actress truly underestimated her own power onscreen. It is precisely her powerful
Salón México Sat, Jul 13 | 2pm | TMT
Argentine-born actress Marga López (1924–2005) stars as Mercedes, a down-on-her-luck dancehall worker in desperate need of the winnings her dishonest dance partner keeps for himself. One of the legendary entries into the películas de cabareteras (dance hall pictures) genre for its exuberant performance scenes and smoky setting, Salón México is at its core a film noir, complete with Gabriel Figueroa’s lingering camera that portends certain doom and stark chiaroscuro lighting. López, who starred in eighty films during Mexico’s Época de oro , went on to have just as prolific a career in telenovelas during her eight decades of life. DIRECTED BY: Emilio Fernández. WRITTEN BY: Mauricio Magdaleno, Emilio Fernández. WITH: Marga López, Miguel Inclán, Rodolfo Acosta, Roberto Cañeo. 1949. 95 min. Mexico. B&W. Spanish. DCP. Courtesy of Cineteca Nacional de México. Screening courtesy of Televisa Foundation–Univision Foundation.
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