Documentary film, Darkness into Light: Guadalupe, Mother of All Mexico  Saturday, November 25, 7pm, Historical Museum of San Miguel de Allende Cuna de Allende 1, Free

The Friends of the Museum of San Miguel de Allende, A.C., present a showing of the documentary Darkness into Light: Guadalupe, Mother of All Mexico. This memorable and moving account of the role of the Virgin Mary in bringing Christ to the New World focuses on the Mexican people and their spiritual longings, pilgrimages, celebrations, music and miracles. Every year, 10 million people visit the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. It is the most popular shrine of the Virgin Mary in the World. Produced by Pat Collins and Robert S. Cozens, this documentary has been shown in the United States on PBS and other television stations. Dr. Guadalupe Jiménez Codinach, one of Mexico’s most eminent historians, will introduce the showing. The film is in English with Spanish subtitles.

Cinemateca

José Luis’s Pick and Tips

The pick: 

Del Olvido Al No Me Acuerdo (Juan, I Forgot, I Don't Remember )

For the vibrant senior citizens interviewed in the arid landscapes of Jalisco state, the Juan Rulfo (the elder) they knew was not the man who was voted one of the two best Spanish-language writers of the 20th century. His novel, Pedro Páramo, was so influential that one of its sentences was reproduced intact in Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Neither was he the tragic figure whose land–owning family was ruined by the Mexican Revolution, whose father and two uncles were murdered, and whose mother succumbed to a grief- triggered heart attack. For the handful of people who remember Rulfo, he was a trickster, a joker, a bullshit artist, a merry friend, a potential lover. They recall the man in tiny chunks, chunks that never seem to add up to a whole. Compared to their testimony, the fabled blind men's account of the elephant was right on the money.
Then again, perhaps this documentary isn't really about one man, after all. Rulfo junior's loving, infinitely patient treatment of his frequently maddening interview subjects demonstrates great tenderness for what time does to all of us eventually. Coupled with some truly breathtaking footage of the natural world–which, remarkably, eschews the baroque splendors of Guadalajara and the lush mountains of the Sierra Madres as too easily pleasing options–this prismatic testimony creates a jigsaw puzzle that each viewer must reassemble in his or her own head.

The tips

In order to be able to provide the best viewing experience, the show times for some movies may be adjusted to accommodate their length. Be sure to check the schedule carefully. Also, please remember the new ticket price of 50 pesos. Discount cards are 400 pesos for 10 shows. 

On Monday after 4pm buy your tickets for any selection of the week. Don't take the risk of being locked out! Nos vemos en el Cine….

Danny Deckchair (2003)
Tuesday, November 28, 5pm
English with Spanish subtitles, 100 minutes
Director: Jeff Balsmeyer
Cast: Rhys Ifans, Miranda Otto, Justine Clarke, Rhys Muldoon. Loopy Australian truck driver Danny (Rhys Ifans) hatches a novel way to escape his drab life after a fight with his girlfriend: He ties large helium-filled balloons to his deckchair and floats into the sky. A violent thunderstorm sends him hurtling out over the Outback, where he lands (as in The Wizard of Oz) in a small town where no one knows him. Meanwhile, the news media are in a frenzy about Danny's fantastic disappearance.

The Edukators (Die Fetten Jahre Sind Vorbei, 2005)
Tuesday, November 28, 7pm
Monday, December 4, 6:30pm
German with English subtitles, 130 minutes
Director: Hans Weingartner
Cast: Daniel Bruhl, Julia Jentsch, Burghart Klaussner, Stipe Erceg
Friends Jan (Daniel Bruhl) and Peter (Stipe Erceg) use a membership list from the city's yacht club to break into mansions. They don't steal, but instead stack furniture, put artworks in the toilet and stereos in the fridge, then leave a note saying, "Your days of plenty are numbered," signed The Edukators. Director Hans Weingartner grafts all the elements of a thriller onto a fascinating discussion of the need for kids to rebel … peaceably.

Under the Moonlight (Zir-e noor-e maah, 2001)
Wednesday, November 29, 5pm
Friday, December 1, 5pm
Farsi with English subtitles, 100 minutes
Director: Seyyed Reza Mir-Karimi
Cast: Hossein Pour Sattar, Hamed Rajabali, Mehran Rajabi, Ashar Heidari
Seyyed Hassan (Hamed Rajabali), a student devoted to his religious studies, harbors hopes of becoming a cleric. But a run-in with a thief, who steals Seyyed's vestments, leads him into a world that challenges all the teachings he's absorbed over the years. Following the thief, Seyyed enters a world wracked by poverty that is very much at odds with his cloistered existence. 

Del Olvido Al No Me Acuerdo (Juan, I Forgot, I Don't Remember, 1999)
Friday, December 1, 3pm
Spanish with English subtitles, 75 minutes
Director: Juan Carlos Rulfo
Expanded from an acclaimed short subject, Del Olvido Al No Me Acuerdo/Juan, I Forgot, I Don't Remember looks at the life of a great author and the ravages time can wreak upon both the body and mind. Director Juan Carlos Rulfo is the son of noted Mexican writer Juan Rulfo, and here the son speaks with many of his father's friends and contemporaries who also lived in southern Jalisco. However, the years have not been good to many of them, and few are able to clearly remember significant events in Rulfo's life–or their own–as the camera carefully records the wrinkles, grey hair, lost teeth, and other signs that time has left its mark upon their faces. What starts as a tribute to a great artist becomes a meditation on aging and how it is affecting the history of a generation of great Mexican literature.

Kids' movie
Science Fiction Series
Presented by Guillermo Galindo
Saturday, November 25, noon, Free