Global Justice Snowbird Film Series,
Jan, 5 2007

The Road to Guantanamo
Thursday, January 11, 3pm, Teatro Santa Ana
Insurgentes 25, 50 pesos

The Road to Guantanamo, winner of the 2006 Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, is the terrifying, first-hand account of three British citizens who were held for two years without charges in the American military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Known as the “Tipton Three,” in reference to their home town in Britain, the three were eventually returned to Britain and released, still having had no formal charges ever made against them at any time during their ordeal.

Part documentary, part dramatization, the film chronicles the sequences of events that led from the trio’s setting out from Tipton for a wedding in Pakistan, to their crossing the Afghanistan border just as the US began its invasion, to their eventual capture by the Northern Alliance and their imprisonment in Camp X-Ray and later at Camp Delta in Guantanamo.

The film has a running time of 75 minutes, and a discussion follows.

Tula, Mirror of the Sky
Film and talk, Tula, Mirror of the Sky
Wednesday, January 10, 5pm, Thursday, January 11, 5:30pm
Teatro Santa Ana, Insurgentes 25, 50 pesos

Based on the archeological site of Tula, Tula, Mirror of the Sky explores the pre-Hispanic view of mirrors. The ancient site itself reflects the cycle of Venus and so condenses in its architecture the central myths of the Toltec vision of the cosmos.

Focusing on the landscape of the site has allowed researchers to “read” the site from the Borgia Codex, a pre-Hispanic pictographic document. The site and the Codex can be put side by side so that it is the Codex itself that guides us through the symbolism and ritual sense of the site. Of central importance to the Codex is the search of the human body as a natural base for transmutation.

The film is based on a book by Alberto Davidoff, who, together with Protula, A.C., has promoted this view of Tula. They have also published an illustrated map and guide of the site that has been approved by the INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History).

The film lasts 45 minutes and is followed by a question-and-answer period.

Cinemateca


José Luis’s Pick and Tips

The pick: 
Seducing Doctor Lewis 
(La Grande Seduction)
Utterly delightful! The outlandish things they do to "lure" this big city doctor to a little economically depressed fishing village are hilarious. The movie has a nice mix of obvious and subtle humor that is very fresh, and the characters are full of quirks. 

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….

Faust (Lekce Faust, 1994)
Tuesday, January 9, 7pm
Wednesday, January 10, 7:30pm
Sci-Fi/ Experimental, English, 97 minutes
Director: Jan Svankmajer
As a nameless Czech Everyman (Petr Cepek) exits a subway station, a stranger hands him a map that ultimately draws the man to his doom. The diagram leads to a nightmarish theater where he takes on the mantle of Faust, unwittingly summons Mephistopheles and losing his soul in the bargain. Director Jan Svankmajer's imaginative film employs stop-motion animation, special effects, Claymation and live action to achieve the movie's surrealistic effect.

Tula, Mirror of the Sky
Short movie premiere and talk
Wednesday, January 10, 5pm, Q & A after
Thursday, January 11, 5:30pm, Q & A after
Documentary, English, 45 minutes
Based in the archeological site of Tula, the movie discusses the pre-Hispanic view of mirrors. The site itself, an ancient planetary, rebuilds the cycle of Venus and so condenses in its architecture the central myths of the Toltec vision of the cosmos. 

Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006)
Thursday, January 11, 7pm
Friday, January 12, 3pm
Documentary, English, 91 minutes
Cast: Martin Sheen, Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks, David Freeman, Colette Divine
Amid ever-increasing gas prices, this documentary delves into the short life of the GM EV1 electric car—once all the rage in the mid-1990s and now fallen by the roadside. How could such an efficient, green-friendly vehicle fail to transform our garages and skies? Through interviews with government officials, former GM employees and concerned celebrities (such as EV1 driver Mel Gibson), Chris Paine (former EV1 owner) seeks to answer the question.

Genesis (2004)
Friday, January 12, 5pm
Monday, January 15, 7pm
Tuesday, January 16, 5pm
Social & Cultural Documentary, English, 81 minutes
Director: Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou
Cast: Sotigui Kouyate
A right-on blend of humor and seriousness, innocence and wisdom results when an African storyteller (Sotigui Kouyate) uses the language of myth and fable to relate the birth of the universe and the appearance of life on Earth—in essence, the story of all of us. Kouyate wends a fascinating tale of time, matter, birth, love and death in which animals are the main players. 

Seducing Doctor Lewis (La Grande Seduction, 2003)
Friday, January 12, 7pm
Thursday, January 18, 5:30pm
Friday, January 19, 5pm
French comedy, French with English subtitles, 108 minutes
Director: Jean-Francois Pouliot
Cast: Raymond Bouchard, Lucie Laurier, Rita Lafontaine, Bruno Blanchet
This comedy follows a small fishing town in Quebec that's facing tough times as the economy continues to take a hit. The townspeople are thrilled when a major company chooses their locale to build a factory; the trouble is, the factory will be built only if the town can convince a full-time doctor to move there. So, a local man (Raymond Bouchard) organizes a no-holds-barred crusade to bring in a big city doctor (David Boutin).

Kids’ cartoons
Saturday, January 13, noon
Free

Musical Saturdays: 
Rossini’s La Cenerentola
Saturday, January 13, 2:30pm
Sung in Italian with English subtitles, 164 minutes

Next week: Otello

Rossini and his librettist, Jacopo Ferretti, dispense with the magic that usually accompanies the Cinderella story. There is no pumpkin, no rats turned into coachmen, no glass slipper and no fairy godmother. Instead, there is Alidoro, a very worldly adviser to Don Ramiro. Alidoro appreciates Cenerentola’s good-natured charm and points Ramiro in her direction. Cenerentola’s stepfather is more stupid than wicked and her stepsisters come across as recognizable human beings rather than pantomime monsters. By taking out the magic and making this a story of ordinary, fallible mortals, Rossini and Feretti have done something rather wonderful and made the story even more magical.