Documentary makes walls speak
By Suzanne Ludekens January 25, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Film Premiere
“Quetzalcóatl, El Sol Eterno”
Documentary DVD
Fri, Jan 25, 3pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública,
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos
DVD 150 pesos

Next week the Biblioteca Pública launches its first professional DVD, a 28-minute documentary on the outstanding mural by San Miguel artist David Leonardo that breathes life into the walls of the Sala Quetzal.

Querétaro producer Dora Guzman filmed “Quetzalcóatl, El Sol Eterno” with commentary in English, Spanish and French. The DVD’s launch coincides with the fifth anniversary of the mural’s completion on February 5, 2003.

If any room in the Biblioteca speaks of the rich culture and history of Mexico, it is the Sala Quetzal. Home to one of the most consulted sections of the library—Latin American Studies, the room is filled with more than 3,000 art and history books, many of which were collected and donated by its founder the late Toni de Gerez. 

Yet it is Leonardo’s unique interpretations of Mexican mythological figures that are the stars of the room. “Walls tattooed with eloquent stories, invisible needs of faith shown with sublime generosity, made visible by art,” wrote Rosa Tinaco of the mural for its inauguration in 2003. “The message, colored with abundance, in a spring of voices, the voices of our ancestors, like a conscience that does not die.”

In an interview Leonardo explained the mural’s name. “Quetzalcóatl is the god in the pre-Hispanic culture of peace, friendship, love, mathematics, astronomy and agriculture who reigned as an entity that regulated the most sublime aspirations of humans, and as a principle of unification in Mesoamerica. In that sense, the mural transcends the frontiers of time like a recreation of the cosmovisión vernacular that is manifest by the uses and customs of the indigenous cultures that the Mexicans defend and share with the world. Our heritage is the destiny of our nation. Our roots feed the spirit of struggle for a future of peace and harmony.”

Come to the Biblioteca Pública and hear the walls of the Sala Quetzal speak at this special screening. A limited number of copies of the documentary will be available for sale at 150 pesos. 

Cinemateca, January 28 to February 3, 2008

José Luis’s Pick’n’tip:

The Pick:

Cuba: Island of Music

In this lively and sensuous documentary, director Gary Keys asks on-camera: how can the supposedly repressed Cuban people have so much freedom in their music.

 “How can they play with such virtuosity? Is everyone a musical genius?” Keys is drawn to the country for the “most danceable music in the world” and the old American cars. Driving through Havana is like being in a time warp—fifties models roam the streets, lined with crumbling colonial buildings, while the young people wear American brand name T-shirts. New York-based musicians Chico O’Farrell (who refuses to discuss Fidel Castro) and Billy Taylor explain the qualities of the island’s music: the emphasis on drums, the contrasting rhythms and its African origins. The observations are far from penetrating. “The dance and music are intertwined,” according to Taylor. Unidentified Cuban women offer, “Music and love are one thing,” and “The music is a stimulant.” Throughout the interviews and music, footage includes scenes of Cuban life from the butcher shop 
to the beach: people, young and old, black and white, dancing to street bands; women in a cigar factory smoking stogies; as well as a private Santeria ceremony (the ASPCA won’t approve). The camera especially lingers on the backsides of the beautiful, voluptuous women. Cuba certainly captures the vitality of the island’s music. With images similar to Buena Vista Social Club, but with far less historical resonance, Cuba is both a travelogue and a celebration.

Refusing to be Enemies: The Zeitouna Story 

The film tells the personal stories of women affected by the creation of Israel, the loss of Palestine, the experience of being Jewish or Arab in the United States. It is very moving, funny at times, but also a wonderful depiction of the dialogue process and the closeness and intimacy it can bring.

The Tip: 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…Nos vemos en el Cine…Would you like to receive this info by email? Write to José Luís at alephamour@hotmail.com.  Thank you.

The Movies:

Cuba: Island of Music
Monday, January 28 at noon
Wednesday, January 30 at 5:30pm
Friday, February 1 at 2pm
Directed by: Gary Keys. Performers: Orquesta Aragon, Los Zafiros, Medico de la Salsa, Chico O'Farrell.
Foreign musical documentary, English, 80 min. 

Gary Keys’s documentary is an odd blend of passionate performance footage and maddeningly shallow analysis of Cuba’s music and politics. Nice moments, like a spliced series of “Guantanamera” renditions, shots of rain on Havana’s crumbling palatial buildings and an eavesdrop on a scorching all-girl student ensemble, never advance a thesis to lend heft to the deep-caption travelogue. Keys is obviously anti-embargo, but he seems more interested in big-upping Havana’s finned classic cars than probing interviewees for insight beyond “music is the mother of rhythm.” Affable jazz pedant Dr. Billy Taylor remedially explains clave. And Keys, after marveling aloud (while driving, eyes on the camera instead of the road) that this “repressive country” has such amazing music (imagine!), observes that Cuba’s rhythms are “the most danceable in the world.” This simplistic ogling squanders the potential power of the salsa, bolero, son, merengue and Afro-Caribbean sonic hybrids it celebrates, stalling the film at harmless, tourist-like appreciation. Village Voice, Film-forward.com by Laura Sinagra.

Short Film Festival Award Winner
“Lost and Found in Mexico”
Monday, January 28 at 5:30pm 
Documentary, English, 53 minutes.
Writer/Director/Producer: Caren Cross

The illusion of the American dream is challenged in this portrait of ex-pats in San Miguel de Allende who discovered that some vital things were missing in their prior lives. While many Mexicans are leaving families behind and risking their lives to cross the border to a better life, this film focuses on the Americans who have decided to cross the border in the other direction—for a simpler life. Happy to live with less, among a people they respect and admire, these ex-professionals and executives explain why they have left family and friends behind to live in a country where crowded malls and BlackBerries have been replaced by books, art and casual conversations. 

Refusing to be Enemies: The Zeitouna Story 
Thursday, January 31 at 1 pm and 5:30pm (limited seating).

The movie profiles the 12 women of an Ann Arbor dialogue group called Zeitouna (“olive tree” in Arabic) and documents their developing relationship over a four-year period. Six of the Zeitouna women are of Arab descent and six are Jewish. Some are native-born and some are immigrants. What they all have in common is their humanity and their desire to bridge the gulf that has developed between their two communities. They chose the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the focus of the group and use the dialogue process as a means of personal transformation leading to socio-political transformation. The film tells the personal stories of women affected by the creation of Israel, the loss of Palestine, the experience of being Jewish or Arab in the United States. It is very moving, funny at times, but also a wonderful depiction of the dialogue process and the closeness and intimacy it can bring.



Kids Movies: Cartoons
Saturday, February 2 at noon

Musical Saturdays:
Madame Butterfly
Saturday, February 2 at 2:30pm, 134 minutes.

Madame Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The opera was based in part on the short story @Madame Butterfly@ (1898) by John Luther Long—which was turned into a play by David Belasco—and also on the novel Madame Chrysanthème (1887) by Pierre Loti.

The first version of the opera premiered February 17, 1904 at La Scala in Milan. It consisted of two acts and was very poorly received despite the presence of such notable singers as soprano Rosina Storchio, tenor Giovanni Zenatello and baritone Giuseppe De Luca in the lead roles. On May 28 of that year, a revised version was released in Brescia. The revision split the disproportionately long second act in two, and included some other minor changes. In its new form Puccini's opera was a huge success; it crossed the Atlantic to the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1907.