Cinema of Mexico


Mexican cinema dates to the late nineteenth century during the rule of President Porfirio Díaz. Seeing a demonstration of short films in 1896, Díaz immediately saw the importance of docoumenting his presidency in order to present an ideal image of it. With the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, Mexican and foreign makers of silent films seized the opportunity to document its leaders and events. From 1915 onward, Mexican cinema focused on narrative film.
During the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, Mexico all but dominated the Latin American film industry.
The Guadalajara International Film Festival is the most prestigious Latin American film festival and is held annually In Guadalajara, Mexico. Mexico has twice won the highest honor at the Cannes Film Festival, having won the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film for María Candelaria in 1946 and the Palme d'Or in 1961 for Viridiana, more than any other Latin American nation.
Mexico City is the fourth largest film and television production center in North America, as well as the largest in Latin America.
in 2019, Roma became the first Mexican film and fourth Latin American film winning the Oscar for best foreign language film. Roma also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards.
Emilio "El Indio" Fernández was the model for the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. According to the legend, in 1928 MGM's art director Cedric Gibbons, one of the original Motion Picture Academy members, was tasked with creating the Academy Award trophy. In need of a model for his statuette, Gibbons was introduced by his future wife, actress Dolores del Río, to Fernández. Reportedly, Fernández had to be persuaded to pose nude for what is today known as the "Oscar".

Silent films (1896–1929)

During the Porfiriato 1896-1911

Shortly after the first "moving picture was viewed in 1895 using Thomas Edison's kinetoscope and the invention of the cinematographe projector by Auguste Lumière, Mexicans began queuing in cinemas in the capital to see international one-minute films such as The Card Players, Arrival of a Train, and The Magic Hat. The cinematograph arrived to Mexico seven months after its first projection in France, brought in by Claude Ferdinand Bon Bernard and Gabriel Veyre. Mexico entered production in the silent film industry with several movies, but many of the films up to the 1920s have been lost and were not well documented.
Film in México continued to expand quickly after its arrival in Mexico. On 6 August 1896, President Porfirio Díaz invited Bon Bernard and Veyre to his residence at Chapultepec Castle, and eight days later, the first projection for the press was made in what is now Madero Street. This projection included films by the Lumierè brothers such as L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat, and on 15 August, a projection was made for the general public.
President Díaz recognized the importance of cinema and appeared in many films placing him at the center of action with his cabinet ministers; in a parade; and in the zócalo. In 1906, he is seen in La entrevista de los presidentes Díaz-Taft, the first-ever meeting of a U.S. President with Mexico's, one of the first filmed reportages produced in Mexico. It was filmed by the Alva brothers. The first fiction film to be created in Mexico was based on a recreation of the duel between two deputies, called Duelo a pistola en el bosque de Chapultepec.
, Mexico's first filmmaker.
Mexican cinema continued to become more available across the country, thanks in part to business men such as Guillermo Becerril, Carlos Mongrand and Salvador Toscano. The origins of early Mexican film-making is generally associated with Salvador Toscano Barragán, who introduced the filmed reportage. In 1898 Toscano made the country's first film with a plot, titled Don Juan Tenorio. During the Mexican Revolution, Toscano recorded several clips of the battles, which would become a full-length documentary in 1950 title Memories of a Mexican, assembled by his daughter. Other short films were either created or influenced from French film-makers.
By 1906, 16 movie theaters opened their doors to accommodate the popularity of cinema in Mexico City. Carpas, or tent shows, were popular beginning in 1911 where lower-class citizens would perform picaresque humor and theatrical plays, a place for training for aspiring actors. Politically affiliated films appearing in 1908, often deemed propagandistic by today's terms. Significant battles were filmed and broadcast during the revolution which fueled Mexicans' excitement in cinema. In addition, the first intents to formalize the Mexican cinematic industry were made between 1905 and 1906, with the creation of the first Mexican distributing companies. Some of the most important companies were Empresa Cinematográfica Mexicana, American Amusement Company, Compañía Explotadora de Cinematógrafos and Unión Cinematográfica.

The Mexican Revolution 1910-1917

The popularity that cinema had experienced in the early 20th century continued to grow and by 1911 fourteen new movie houses were built. In this period the documentary techniques were mastered as is evident in the Alva brothers' production entitled Revolución orozquista. The film was shot in the camps of the rebel and federal forces during the battle between General Huerta and the rebel leader Pascual Orozco.
The rise of cinema plateaued due to the lack of distributors and the difficulty to make new material. This in addition to the dangers that the inflammability of film resulted in the closing of many of the Carpas. The cinematic industry was reduced to small companies, with Carlos Mongrand standing out because of films such as Desfiles de tropas en San Luis Potosí, Carnaval de Mérida and Aventuras del sexteto Uranga.
Despite the relative advancement of cinema during this period, the moralistic and paternalist ideology of President Madero led to his campaign to save the lower classes from immorality through censorship. In late September and early October 1911, city council members appointed additional movie house inspectors, whose wages would be paid by the exhibitioners. Furthermore, the head of the Entertainment Commission, proposed the implementation of censorship; however, Victoriano Huerta's coup d'état in the Ten Tragic Days of February 1913 prevented the move to legislate censorship.
Although Huerta's rule was brief, from February 1913 to July 1914, Mexican cinema experienced significant changes within this period such as the further establishment of censorship and a shift away from documentary films to entertainment films. The Alva brothers' production of Aniversario del fallecimineto de la suegra de Enhart is indicative of the change in the aim of Mexican cinematographers. The Alva brothers produced films such as La entrada de Madero a la capital with the use of Indalecio Noriega Colombres's inventions, which allowed for a phonograph to be synchronized with the images projected.
, Mexican silent film actress. La Zanduga was the first Spanish-speaking movie Lupe Velez started in.
In regards to censorship, the Huerta government imposed a moral and political decree of censorship in approximately June 1913. This decree was imposed a few days after convencionista soldiers shot at the screen during a viewing of El aguila y la serpiente. The decree stated that films that showed the following were prohibited: "views representing crimes, if they do not include punishment of the guilty parties, views which directly or indirectly insult an authority or person, morality or good manners, provoke a crime or offence, or in any way disturb the public order."
As a result of the limitations placed on film content as well as the radicalization of the parties involved in the armed conflicts, cameramen and producers began to display their opinion through the films they produced. For instance, favoritism towards the Zapatistas was illustrated in the film Sangre Hermana. Due to the sensational content of this film, it is evident that the producers had no interest in displaying the events in such a way that the audience could come to their own conclusions.

Postrevolutionary film making 1917-29

The cinematic productions of this period were reflective of the Italians style film d'art, which were fiction-based melodramas. The film La Luz was the first film that attempted to adopt this style, even though it was viewed as a plagiarism of Piero Fosco's Il Fuoco. Paranaguá attributes the influence that the Italian had on the Mexican cinema with the similarities between the situations of both countries. Both countries were in a state of chaos and disorder – there was a war in Italy and a revolution in Mexico. Once again censorship was re-established on October 1, 1919. Films which illustrated acts of immortality or induced sympathy for the criminal were prohibited.
In 1917, the former vaudeville star Mimí Derba, founded the Azteca Studios, which produced notable films between 1917 and 1923. The most successful of these was En defensa Propia.
Government budget had to be trimmed as a result of the rebellion and cinematographic departments of the Ministry of Education and Agriculture were cut. By 1924, narrative films were at an all-time low since 1917.
During the 1920s very few movies were produced, given the political climate that was still very unsettled and the resurgence of the American film industry after World War I. Notable Mexican movie stars moved to the United States. Stars such as Ramón Novarro, Dolores del Río and Lupe Vélez, became principal stars of notable Hollywood films in the 1920s and 1930s. Other Mexican stars appeared in numerous movies which were merely Spanish-language versions of Hollywood movies.
In 1994, the Mexican magazine Somos published a list of "The 100 best movies of the cinema of Mexico" in its 100th edition. The oldest film selected was" "El automóvil gris". To make the selection, the magazine invited 25 specialists in Mexican cinematography, among which critics stand out Jorge Ayala Blanco, Nelson Carro and Tomás Pérez Turrent, the historians Eduardo de la Vega Alfaro and Gustavo García Gutiérrez. The top twelve films in order chosen from the best and on are Let's Go with Pancho Villa, Los Olvidados, Godfather Mendoza, Aventurera, A Family Like Many Others, Nazarín, El, The Woman of the Port, The Place Without Limits, Here's the Point, Champion Without a Crown, and Enamorada.

The Golden Age (1930–1960)

In the 1930s, once peace and a degree of political stability were achieved, the film industry took off in Mexico and several movies still experimenting with the new medium were made. Hollywood's attempt at creating Spanish language films for Latin America failed mainly due to the combination of Hispanic actors from different ethnicities exhibiting various accents unfamiliar to the Mexican people. Early Mexican cinematographers were influenced and encouraged by Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein's visit to the country in 1930.
In 1931 the first Mexican talkie movie, an adaptation of the Federico Gamboa's novel Santa, directed by Antonio Moreno and starred by the Mexican-Hollywood star Lupita Tovar, was realized. Until Sergei Eisenstein's ¡Que viva México!, Mexican audiences were exposed to popular melodramas, crude comedies, as well as Spanish-language versions of Hollywood movies.
Eisenstein's visit to Mexico inspired directors like Emilio Fernández and cameraman Gabriel Figueroa, and the number of Mexican-made films increased and improved. During the 1930s the Mexican film industry achieved considerable success with movies like La Mujer del Puerto, Fred Zinnemann's Redes, Janitzio, Dos Monjes, Allá en el Rancho Grande, Vámonos con Pancho Villa from Fernando de Fuentes' Revolution Trilogy and La Zandunga.
started in The Torch, a remake of Enamorada. The film is also known as Bandit General in the United Kingdom.
During the 1940s the full potential of the industry developed. Actors and directors became popular icons and even figures with political influence on diverse spheres of Mexican life. The industry received a boost as a consequence of Hollywood redirecting its efforts towards propagandistic films and European countries focusing on World War II, which left an open field for other industries.
Mexico dominated the film market in Latin America for most of the 1940s without competition from the United States film industry. During World War II movie production in Mexico tripled. The fact that Argentina and Spain had fascist governments made the Mexican movie industry the world's largest producer of Spanish-language films in the 1940. Although the Mexican government was reactionary, it encouraged the production of films that would help articulate a true Mexican identity, in contrast to the view often seen in Hollywood movies.
The Golden Age of Mexican cinema took place during the 1940s and beyond. The most prominent actor during this period was Mario Moreno, better known as Cantinflas. The film Ahí está el detalle in 1940 made Cantinflas a household name and he became known as the "Mexican Charlie Chaplin". His films were ubiquitous in Spain and Latin America and influenced many contemporary actors. Not until the appearance of "Tin-Tan" in the late 1940s did his popularity wane.
Mexican actresses also were a focus in Mexican cinema. Sara García was the "grandmother of Mexico". Her career began with silent films in 1910, moved to theatre, and ultimately the film that made her famous, No basta ser madre in 1937. Dolores del Río, another dramatic actress, became well known after her Hollywood career in the 1930s and for her roles in a couple of films directed by Emilio Fernández.
helped formulate the charro film genre. Negrete was one of the founders, and the most important leaders, of the Mexican Actors Association, succeeding Cantinflas as its chairman.
María Félix and María Candelaria, both films starring prestigious Hollywood actress Dolores del Río. The movies were triumphs for the director and for internationally acclaimed cinematographer, Gabriel Figueroa especially with María Candelaria winning the top prize at the Cannes Festival. Other celebrated Fernández films were La perla, Enamorada, the American-Mexican production The Fugitive, directed with John Ford, Río Escondido, La Malquerida and Pueblerina.
In 1948 there was another "first" for Mexican cinema: The trilogy of Nosotros los Pobres, Ustedes los ricos and Pepe el Toro, starring Mexican icons Pedro Infante and Evita Muñoz and directed by Ismael Rodríguez.
The only other comedian with the same level of popularity as Cantinflas was German Valdez "Tin-Tan". Tin-Tan played a pachuco character appearing with a zoot suit in his films. Unlike Cantinflas, Tin-Tan never played as a pelado, but as a Mexican-American. He employed pachuco slang in many of his movies and frequently used Spanglish, a dialect that many Mexican residents disdained.
In the middle of the 1940s, the Spanish director Juan Orol started the production of films with Cuban and Mexican dancers. This cinematographic genre was named "Rumberas film", and was very popular with the Latin American audiences. The stars of this exotic genre were María Antonieta Pons, Meche Barba, Ninón Sevilla, Amalia Aguilar and Rosa Carmina.
Other relevant films during these years include Espaldas mojadas by Alejandro Galindo, Aventurera a melodrama starred by Ninón Sevilla, Dos tipos de cuidado, El Rebozo de Soledad and Los Olvidados , a story about impoverished children in Mexico City directed by the Mexican of Spanish ascendent director Luis Buñuel, a very important figure in the course of the Mexican Cinema of the 1940s and 1950s. Some of the most important Buñuel's films in his Mexican period are Subida al cielo, Él, Ensayo de un crimen and Nazarín.
The themes during those years, although mostly conventional comedies or dramas, touched all aspects of Mexican society, from the 19th century dictator Porfirio Díaz and his court, to love stories always tainted by drama.

1960s through 1980s

See: Luchador films, Ficheras films and Mexploitation.
with Flor Silvestre in Animas Trujano. The film revolves around a festival of mayordomía in the Mexican Oaxaca state, which revolves around on something like the idea of "king for a day."
During the 1960s and 1970s many cult horror and action movies were produced with professional wrestler El Santo among others.
Luis Buñuel released his last Mexican films: El ángel exterminador and Simón del desierto.
for his career. Known as "El Justiciero del Cine Mexicano"
In the late 1960s and early 1970s the work of notable Mexican young directors flourished: Arturo Ripstein, Luis Alcoriza, Felipe Cazals, Jorge Fons, Paul Leduc, Alejandro Jodorowski, the Chilean Miguel Littin, Jaime Humberto Hermosillo and many others. His films represented Mexico in notable international film festivals.
American directors as John Huston realized some Mexican-set English language films.
What is now Videocine was established in 1979 as Televicine by Emilio Azcarraga Milmo, whose family founded Televisa, with which Videocine is co-owned. The company became the largest producer and distributor of theatrical movies in Mexico and remains such today. By the time of Videocine's establishment, it had become the norm for a Mexican movie to reach its largest post-theatrical audience through television carriage rights with any of the Televisa networks.
The 1961 film The Important Man was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1962. The 1965 film Always Further On won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival. The film was also selected as the Mexican entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 38th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. Some films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Films of the time are the 1960 Macario, 1962 The Pearl of Tlayucan, 1975 Letters from Marusia.

Nuevo Cine Mexicano (New Mexican Cinema)

Mexican cinema suffered through the 1960s and 1970s, until government sponsorship of the industry and the creation of state supported film helped create Nuevo Cine Mexicano in the 1990s. The period spanning the 1990s to the present has been considered as the prime era of the.
is the biggest cineplex chain in Mexico. It is also the largest chain in Latin America and the fourth largest in the world
It first took place with high quality films by Arturo Ripstein, Alfonso Arau, Alfonso Cuarón, and María Novaro. Among the films produced at this time were Solo con tu pareja, Como agua para chocolate , Cronos, El callejón de los milagros, Profundo carmesí, Sexo, pudor y lágrimas , The Other Conquest, and others such as La Misma Luna.
More recent are Amores perros by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Y tu mamá también by Alfonso Cuarón, El crimen del Padre Amaro by Carlos Carrera, Arráncame la vida by Roberto Sneider, Biutiful , , Instructions Not Included, Cantinflas, and the remake of the 1975 Mexican horror film Más Negro que la Noche and also the first 3D film of Mexico.
is the home of three most popular filmmakers in the world: Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Emmanuel Lubezki
hosts Guadalajara International Film Festival and the home of one of the most filmaker in the world, Guillermo del Toro
In the latest years it was noticed the increasing success of a group of Mexicans in Hollywood cinema, specially with directors Alfonso Cuaron, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Guillermo del Toro as well as cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. All three directors had won both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Director and Lubezki won both prizes for Best Cinematography for three consecutive years. The 3 directors have frequently been cited as the "Three Amigos of Cinema", while Lubezki's innovative style of cinematography made critics often call him one of the greatest directors of photography of all time.
For the other side the success of the films Nosotros los Nobles and Instructions Not Included in 2013, gave way to the development of similar projects trying to focus on the use of known Mexican TV stars such as Omar Chaparro, Adal Ramones or Adrian Uribe. The majority of them are romantic comedies focused on telenovela-style stories.
This, however, should not prevent the success of other directors in the development of dramatic films, such as Carlos Reygadas and Alonso Ruizpalacios.
In 2017, Alfonso Cuaron travelled back to Mexico to film his most intimate film, Roma. The film, distributed by Netflix went on critical acclaim and was the second Mexican movie to win the Golden Globe as Best Foreign Language Film, while Cuaron got the Best Director award. Also it becomes the first Mexican movie to be nominated to both Best Film and Best Foreign Language Film in the Academy Awards, while getting a total of 10 nominations including Best Actress for mixtec actress Yalitza Aparicio and Best Supporting Actress for Marina de Tavira.

Mexploitation subgenre

A Mexican cinema subgenre is the Mexploitation subgenre, itself part of the Mexican action films genre. A second sub-genre within this sub-genre is the narco-filme, films about fictional drug cartels battling the police and each others. During 2019, Bancomext announced the financing of up to 50 percent of the film-making costs of many films, including Mexican action films. Mexican action film stars include the Almada brothers, Fernando and Mario Almada, Jorge Rivero, Rosa Gloria Chagoyán, the Dominican Republic-born Andres Garcia, Bernabe Melendrez and Max Hernandez Jr..

Active Mexican cinema personalities

Actors

Academy Award for Best Actress Nominee 2002
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominee 2006
Academy Award for Best Actor Nominee 2011
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Winner 2014
Academy Award for Best Actress Nominee 2018
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominee 2018

Directors

Cinematographers

Actors

1988

Directors

Cinematographers