Cinemateca, August 25–31 
August 22, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

José Luis Pick’n’tip

The Pick

Ashes and Snow

Gregory Colbert’s film captures extraordinary moments of contact between man and animal. 

He spent 13 years filming and photographing elephants, whales, birds and other animals in such places as India, Burma, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Namibia, Egypt, the island of Dominica, Tonga and Antarctica. Ashes and Snow, Colbert’s lifelong project, is a collaboration with animals in their natural habitat as they interact with human beings. His images attempt to remove the boundaries between humans and other species—to reawaken in us an understanding of our shared animal nature.

If you missed the Nomadic Museum exhibition of his work in the main square in Mexico City a few months ago, here is a good chance to see Colbert’s extremely artistic work. After seeing this piece of art you will never again see nature and man the same. Exhilarating and beautifully done, it is a must.

The Tip Important: In order 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. I also want to remind you of our new ticket price: 50 pesos and discount cards buy 12 shows for 450 pesos. Starting Monday, after 11am, buy your tickets in advance for any movie or show of the week. If you have a discount card, collect your pass to secure a seat; don’t take the risk of being locked out. Would you like to receive this info by email? Write to Jose Luis at alephamour@hotmail.com.  Thank you.


The Movies


13 Pueblos en Defensa del Agua, el Aire y la Tierra (13 Pueblos in Defense of the Water, Air and Land, 2007)
Monday, August 25 at 3pm
Spanish, 60 minutes
Awards: Rigoberta Menchú Ethnic Film Festival, Montreal, Canada. Best photography: Tepoztlán Morelos
Director: Francesco Taboada Tabone with Atahualpa Caldera and Fernanda Robinson

Over the last few years, the state of Morelos has being abused by rampant industrial and urban development, threatening its natural resources.

Today the original people living in this land are sick and tired of the levels of pollution and concrete. They have organized into a movement called “13 Pueblos” in defense of the air, land and water. This documentary portrays the struggle of the real Morelenses (habitants of the state of Morelos) trying to stop the building of sanitary landfills and dumps in an attempt to save theirs springs, agricultural and sacred lands, and preserve their culture, language and identity. This film is a warning to all the powerful people and companies, an urgent call to solidarity for all citizens, an example of true love for nature. In the land of Emiliano Zapata, a new revolution is about to start. 



The Last Zapatistas, Forgotten Heroes (Los Últimos Zapatistas, Héroes Olvidados, 2002) 
Tuesday, August 26 at 6:30pm
Mexico, historic documentary, Spanish with English subtitles, 90 minutes
Director: Francesco Taboada Tabone
Cast: Marcelino Anrubio, Audiaz Anzures, Captain Manuel Corona, Matias Cruz Corridista 

In this engrossing piece of living history, director Francesco Taboada Tabone films a group of men (all well into their nineties) who reminisce about their exploits during the 1910 Mexican Revolution. Through enthralling interviews, the film brings to life the testimony of these last 12 surviving revolutionaries of the storied Liberation Army of the South—patriots who fought and bled alongside Gen. Emiliano Zapata.

Pancho Villa: La Revolución no ha Terminado (Pancho Villa: The Revolution Hasn’t Finished, 2006)
Wednesday, August 27 at 6pm
Mexico, Historic documentary, Spanish with English subtitles, 90 min
Director: Francesco Taboada Tabone

In the early hours of March 16, 1916, the troops of Pancho Villa invaded US continental territory when they attacked the village of Columbus, New Mexico.

At the same time a baby was born in Nazas, Durango. He was the son of General Pancho Villa. When his father was murdered by the government in 1923, his mother took him to California and told him, “Never tell anybody who your father was, because your life and mine are in danger.” Eighty-three years later, Ernesto Villa Ramírez came to his father’s land and discovered that General Villa is one of the most respected heroes in his country and a moral guide for millions of peasants throughout Mexico. This story of Pancho Villa is told by those who knew him.



Ashes and Snow
Wednesday, August 27 at 1:30pm 
Thursday, August 28 at 6pm 
Documentary, English, 63 minutes 
Director: Gregory Colbert 

In 2002, Colbert presented the culmination of his singular work, Ashes and Snow, at the Arsenale in Venice, a twelfth-century shipyard. His was the largest solo exhibition ever mounted in Italy and one of the most heavily attended exhibitions in history by a single artist in Europe. In spring 2005, the show opened at Hudson River Park’s Pier 54 in New York City in a structure made of shipping containers, the first-ever Nomadic Museum. (The Lusitania sailed from Pier 54 on its last voyage and Titanic survivors disembarked there from RMS Carpathia.) The exhibition and the museum have since migrated to Santa Monica, California, Tokyo and Mexico City, where it was housed in the largest bamboo structure ever created and the entire Zócalo filled with people on its closing day on April 27, 2008. Ashes and Snow has no final destination and many new species will be added as the project evolves. Each exhibition is simply a port of call.



Global Justice Feature Film
In the Valley of Elah
Thursday, August 28 at 3pm

The final entry in the Center for Global Justice Summer Film Series is In the Valley of Elah, a powerful story that exposes the dehumanization of soldiers as a side-effect of the senseless military invasion of Iraq.

In Monroe, Tennessee, retired military policeman Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) gets a call that his son, just back from 18 months’ fighting in Iraq, is missing from his base. Deerfield drives to Fort Rudd, New Mexico, to search for him. Within a day, the charred and dismembered body of his son is found on the outskirts of town. Deerfield pushes himself into the investigation, marked by jurisdictional antagonism between the Army and local police. Working mostly with a new detective, Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron), Deerfield seems to close in on what happened, but he is not prepared for the dirty truths that come to light. It doesn’t take him long to realize that the young man he is looking for has changed. The film also features Susan Sarandon. Jones garnered an Oscar nomination as Best Actor in 2007 for his performance



Kids Movies: Cartoons
Saturday, August 30 at noon