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Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2015

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2015

Focus On Mexico

A selection of new and classic films from the country. Shorts in the showcase Mirroring Mexico are noted in italics.

Programme

19 films · 9 reviews

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600 Miles (600 Millas)

Review preview for 600 Miles

A brilliant piece of character driven desert noir.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
A federal agent is kidnapped while he is trying to track a weapons cartel.

(Country: Mexico, US; Year: 2015; Director: Gabriel Ripstein; Writer: Gabriel Ripstein, Issa López; Stars: Tim Roth, Kristyan Ferrer, Aurora Herrington-Auerbach, Monica del Carmen, Craig Hensley, Noé Hernández, Harris Kendall, Greg Lutz, Tad Sallee, Julian Sedgwick, Harrison Thomas, Antonella Cassia, Justice Lee, Rick L. Lobato, Ken Lownds)

Full review

UK premiere.

All Of Me (Llévate mis amores)

Review preview for All Of Me

González Villaseñor has given these women a voice of their own and constructed a merited tribute to their determined generosity.

Rebecca Naughten · 4 out of 5
Every day since 1995, a determined group of women have been using all their resources to feed hundreds of migrants passing through La Patrona, a small village in Central Mexico.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2014; Director: Arturo González Villaseñor)

Full review

UK premiere.

Ballad Of The Living Dead

Tale of a frustrated TV salesman.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2014; Director: César Villareal Montemayor; Writer: César Villareal Montemayor)

Mirroring Mexico

The Beginning Of Time (El comienzo del tiempo)

A couple in the 90s struggle to survive after their pensions are suspended.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2014; Director: Bernardo Arellano; Writer: Bernardo Arellano; Stars: Francisco Barreiro, José Sefami)

UK premiere.

Bingo

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2015; Director: Andr̩és Borda ; Writer: Andr̩és Borda )

Mirroring Mexico

Cipriana

Story of a young, bullied girl.

(Country: France, Mexico; Year: 2015; Director: Maruani Landa; Writer: Maruani Landa, Landa Maruani; Stars: Juliana Bao)

Mirroring Mexico

The Dance Of The Memory (La danza del hipocampo)

Review preview for The Dance Of The Memory

Ruvalcaba has crafted an appropriately memorable consideration of memory, its mutability and its importance to the present.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Documentary considers the notion of memory.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2014; Director: Gabriela Domínguez Ruvalcaba; Writer: Carlo Roberto Corea Pacheco, Gabriela Domínguez Ruvalcaba)

Full review

European premiere.

Eldest Brother (Bankilal)

Review preview for Eldest Brother

A gentle ethnographic survey.

Andrew Robertson · 3 out of 5
Documentary about the Tzotsil community in Chiapas.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2014; Director: Maria Doolores, Arias Martinez)

Full review

UK premiere.

I Stay With You (Me quedo contigo)

Review preview for I Stay With You

The film is likely to be branded 'controversial', the biggest pity is that there is very little to say about it beyond that.

Amber Wilkinson · 1.5 out of 5
When a woman travels to Mexico City to be with her boyfriend, she hooks up with some of his friends... but the trip brings more than she bargains for.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2014; Director: Artemio Narro; Writer: Artemio Narro; Stars: Anajosé Aldrete Echevarria, Iván Arana, Beatriz Arjona, Ximena Gonzalez-Rubio, Flor Eduarda Gurrola, Diego Luna, José María de Tavira)

Full review

UK premiere.

The Letter (La Carta)

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2014; Director: Ángeles Cruz)

Mirroring Mexico

Macario

Review preview for Macario

The film feels surprisingly modern but never anachronistically so.

Rebecca Naughten · 4.5 out of 5
A peasant is befriended by 'Death' and given a water that can heal any disease... but his new powers attract unwanted attention.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 1960; Director: Roberto Gavaldón; Writer: B. Traven, Emilio Carballido, Roberto Gavaldón; Stars: Ignacio López Tarso, Pina Pellicer, Enrique Lucero, Mario Alberto Rodríguez, José Gálvez, José Luis Jiménez, Eduardo Fajardo, Consuelo Frank, José Dupeyrón, Celia Tejeda, Pepé Marionetas y sus, Luis Aceves Castañeda, Miguel Arenas, Alfredo Wally Barrón, Queta Carrasco)

Full review

María Candelaria (Xochimilco)

Review preview for María Candelaria

There are several standout compositions among Figueroa's cinematography.

Rebecca Naughten · 3 out of 5
A young woman faces prejudice because her mother was a prostitute.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 1944; Director: Emilio Fernández; Writer: Emilio Fernández, Mauricio Magdaleno; Stars: Dolores del Rio, Pedro Armendáriz, Alberto Galán, Margarita Cortés, Miguel Inclán, Beatriz Ramos, Rafael Icardo, Julio Ahuet, Lupe del Castillo, Lupe Inclán, Salvador Quiroz, Nieves, Elda Loza, Lupe Garnica, Alfonso Jiménez)

Full review

The Obscure Spring (Las oscuras primaveras)

An unhappily married man and a single mother find their lust for one another leads to upheaval.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2014; Director: Ernesto Contreras; Writer: Carlos Contreras; Stars: Cecilia Suárez, Armando Hernández, José María Yazpik, Irene Azuela, Fernando Becerril, Flavio Medina, Margarita Sanz, Marianna Burelli, Paulo Galindo, Emilio Merritt, Lucía Uribe, Enrique Rangel, Hayden Meyenberg, Zaili Sofia Macias)

UK premiere.

Poison For The Fairies

A young girl convinces her classmate that she is a witch... a game which gradually becomes violent.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 1986; Director: Carlos Enrique Taboada; Writer: Carlos Enrique Taboada, Carlos Enrique Taboada; Stars: Ana Patricia Rojo, Elsa María Gutiérrez, Leonor Llausás, Carmen Stein, María Santander, Ernesto Schwartz, Rocío Lazcano, Blanca Lidia Muñoz, Sergio Bustamante, Lilia Aragón, Hilda Pérez Carbajal, Marcela Páez, Araceli de León, Patricia Acevedo, Laura Almela)

Ramona

When a woman announces she is going to die, her neighbours start to give her messages for the dead.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2014; Director: Giovanna Zacarías, Giovanna Zacarías; Writer: Ana Diaz Sesma, Giovanna Zacarías, Giovanna Zacarías; Stars: Columba Domínguez, Gerardo Taracena, Angeles Cruz, Monica del Carmen, Gustavo Terrazas, Xochiquetzal Rodríguez, Mayahuel del Monte)

Mirroring Mexico

A Separate Wind (Viento Aparte)

Review preview for A Separate Wind

Newcomers Cobos and Buzzurro both acquit themselves admirably given that they effectively have to carry the film with no prior experience.

Rebecca Naughten · 3 out of 5
A young brother and sister have to trek across Mexico after their mum suffers a stroke.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2014; Director: Alejandro Gerber Bicecci; Writer: Alejandro Gerber Bicecci; Stars: Mario Balandra, Valentina Buzzurro, Margarita Chavarría, Sebastián Cobos, Desiderio Däxuni, Alberto Lomnitz, Miguel Ángel López, Úrsula Pruneda, Pamela Samaniego, Tomihuatzi Xelhuantzin, Antonio Zúñiga)

Full review

UK premiere.

The Solitude Of Memory (¿Por qué el recuerdo?)

(Country: Mexico, US; Year: 2014; Director: Juan Pablo González; Stars: José Bolaños, Jesús Bolaños)

Mirroring Mexico

Santa Sangre

Review preview for Santa Sangre

Santa Sangre is suffused with rare heart and a sense of aching melancholy, and not a minute of its two hour run time is wasted.

David Graham · 4.5 out of 5
Upon leaving a psychiatric hospital, a young man becomes the arms of his mother, whose own were cut off by his philandering father, as she embarks on a campaign of holy retribution.

(Country: Mexico, Italy; Year: 1989; Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky; Writer: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Roberto Leoni; Stars: Axel Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra, Guy Stockwell, Thelma Tixou, Sabrina Dennison)

Full review

La Tirisia

When two village women become pregnant by the same man, every available choice seems to lead to sorrow.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2014; Director: Jorge Pérez Solano)

UK premiere.