January 30, 2009, Cinemateca, January 26–February 1, 2009, José Luis Pick’n’tip, Globalization pro and con, By Betsy Bowman, Reel Docs series opens with films and reception, Nature lives in Ecuador

Cinemateca, January 26–February 1, 2009
January 30, 2009 San Miguel de Allende

José Luis Pick’n’tip

Bob Dylan’s I’m Not There

“Definitely not a biopic, I’m Not There, directed by Todd Haynes, is based on the life and fantasies of the most persistent, most mystifying cultural icon of our times: Bob Dylan. It stars Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and Julianne Moore. One of the most controversial films of 2007, it received brilliant reviews but was not widely shown perhaps because of its visual and conceptual complexity.” This movie is a must see.

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 José Luis at alephamour@hotmail.com. Thank you.

The Movies

Salome is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. The opera is famous (at the time of its release, infamous) for its Dance of the Seven Veils. It is now better known for the more shocking final scene (often a concert-piece for dramatic sopranos), where Salome makes necrophilic love to the severed head of John the Baptist.

Next week: Operetta: The Land of Smiles

Winner of Best Documentary in the Boston Film Festival
Lost and Found in Mexico
Wednesday, February 4 at 5pm
Documentary, English, 53 minutes
Writer/director/producer: Caren Cross

Lost and Found in Mexico explores the question: What lies on the other side of the American dream? This quirky documentary explores the lives of Americans who chose to leave their hard-working, successful and fast-paced lives to live in San Miguel, where leisurely conversations take place in the main square, burros walk the streets and people find their hearts engaged in living once again. 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 in the other direction—for a simpler life. Questions and Answers with the filmmaker follow the show. Proceeds benefit the Mexican kids’ scholarships.

I’m Not There (2007)
Tuesday, February 3 at 5pm
Independent drama, English with Spanish subtitles, 135 minutes
Director: Todd Haynes
Cast: Richard Gere, Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Christian Bale
Presentation and Q&A: Ellen Kaye

Six actors portray six personas of music legend Bob Dylan in scenes depicting various stages in the musician’s life. Chronicling Dylan’s rise from unknown folksinger to international icon, the film reveals how he reinvented himself many times. Todd Haynes directs this stylized portrait, the first biography approved by the singer-songwriter. Marcus Carl Franklin, Ben Whishaw, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Richard Gere and Cate Blanchett (in an Oscar-nominated role) star.

Art 21: Art in the Twenty-First Century: Stories
Art & design documentary, English, 60 minutes each
Tuesday, February 3 at 7:45pm
Featured artists: Kara Walker, Kiki Smith, Dodo-Ho Su, Trenton Doyle Hancock
Introduction: Charles Atlas with John Walker
Art 21: Art in the Twenty-First Century: Loss and Desire
Friday, February 6 at 3pm
Featured artists: Collier Shorr, Gabriel Orozco, Janine Antoni
Introduction: Charles Atlas with Jamie Alexander

What inspires a particular artist to create a certain piece? This series explores that question by introducing a wide variety of contemporary artists across the US. Art 21 is one of the few outlets for contemporary art that presents the artists and their work in a way that is both entertaining for the casual viewer and informative for more seasoned art fans. The backgrounds and investigations of the artists are as varied as the materials they use and the subject matter is suitable, and more importantly, digestible for any age group. This is also the perfect series for anyone who has ever avoided the “weird” stuff in the museums out of a lack of information available on the work. None of the segments delves into pedantic artspeak or confusing philosophical musings even when tackling artists who deal with ambiguity and abstract concepts.

The History of Mexico
Thursday, February 5 at 5:30pm
Poetic-visual-chronological narration, English, 60 minutes
Director-producer: Murray Kamelhar
Cast: Cleo Stevens, Gary Whare, Lilia Trapaga, José Luis Mendoza

For the past 10 years, this final version has been presented to full houses at Teatro Santa Ana. Through the voices of the actors and the beautiful visuals, The History of Mexico brings to life the struggles, defeats and victories of its people. The poetry, the art, the color and craft of their culture are also part of their story. A reporter for The New York Times said, “This story should be required viewing by all who enter Mexico.”

Kids Movies: Cartoons
Saturday, February 7 at noon

Globalization pro and con
By Betsy Bowman

Film and discussion
Commanding Heights: New Rules of the Game
Mon, Feb 2, 5pm
Teatro Santa Ana

Panel Discussion
Globalization and the Economic Crisis
Cliff DuRand and Betsy Bowman
Wed, Feb 4, 10:30am
Sala Quetzal

Film and Discussion
Maquilapolis
Thu, Feb 5, 3pm
Teatro Santa Ana

All at Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

The Center for Global Justice’s programs this week focus on the pros and cons of globalization. Globalization has tied the countries of the world more closely together with trade and investment through giant transnational corporations. It has also promoted the financialization of capitalism, with billions of dollars of highly speculative financial transactions taking place daily. Consequently, the financial crisis originating in the mortgage market in the US quickly spread around the world and became a global crisis. A panel of researchers at the Center for Global Justice will discuss how globalization has operated over the last 30 years and the crisis it faces today.

On Monday, the film Commanding Heights: New Rules of the Game traces the history of globalization, its promises of prosperity and its earlier crises. It tells the story of how in the US both Republican and Democratic administrations embraced unfettered globalization over the objections of organized labor. As new technology and ideas drove profound economic change, unforeseen events unfolded. A Mexican economic meltdown sent the Clinton administration scrambling. Internet-linked financial markets, unrestricted capital flows and floating currencies drove levels of speculative investment that dwarf trade in actual goods and services. Fueled by electronic capital and a global workforce ready to adapt, entrepreneurs created multinational corporations with valuations greater than entire national economies. This documentary raises questions about the viability of globalization, but presents it as inevitable.

For the other side, on Thursday the Center for Global Justice will take you to Tijuana to see what globalization has meant for working women there. Maquilapolis tells the story of a border city where it takes an hour of drudgework inside a poisonous factory to earn enough to buy a jug of potable water or about two hours to earn a gallon of milk. Factory workers find bathroom breaks few, toxins many and the pressure—and intimidation—are always on. It is a place where poverty is so deep that workers are expected to be grateful for the high-end US$11 a day they might earn and to give up hope of ever earning more or of ever seeking better working conditions. This daily $11 does not buy them the protection and aid of their local and national governments. Called maquiladoras, these under-taxed and under-regulated factories operated by multinational corporations—usually through local middlemen—pollute residential neighborhoods with seeming impunity.

This powerful and unique film brought American and Mexican-American filmmakers together with Tijuana factory workers and community organizers to tell the story of globalization through the eyes and voices of the workers themselves—overwhelmingly women—who have borne the costs but reaped few of the benefits. The workers did not just testify on camera, they became an integral part of creating their stories on film. Two women in particular, Carmen Durán and Lourdes Luján, armed with cameras for video diaries, chronicle their struggles. The result is not only an informative and disturbing film, but also an evocative and poetic one as it portrays their struggle for social justice.

Reel Docs series opens with films and reception

Reel Docs Film Series
Moja Moja
Fri, Jan 30, 3pm
The Cats of Mirikitani
Fri, Jan 30, 4:30pm
VIP reception
Fri, Jan 30, 6pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
100 pesos

A ticket for this premiere Reel Docs series includes both films and entrance to the reception with margaritas and botanas. All proceeds benefit scholarships and programs for local Mexican children provided at the Biblioteca Pública.

Moja Moja is Swahili for “one step at a time,” and the film documents two women from opposite worlds who unite to better the lives of disabled orphans in Africa. The film follows a project designed to allow an impoverished group of children create their own self-sufficiency and economic freedom, instead of relying on traditional charitable handouts.

Filmmaker Sam Oliver follows the development of this remarkable project that brings together the vision of two strong, likeminded women in their efforts to provide these children with hope, dignity and opportunity.

The Cats of Mirikitani is an intimate exploration of the lingering wounds of war and healing powers of art featuring 85-year-old Japanese–American artist Jimmy Mirikitani, who was born in Sacramento and raised in Hiroshima but by 2001 was living on the streets of New York. When a neighboring filmmaker, Linda Hattendorf, stops to ask about Mirikitanis art, a friendship begins that will change both their lives.

Blending beauty and humor with tragedy and loss, The Cats of Mirikitani is a heart-warming affirmation of humanity that will appeal to all lovers of peace, art and cats.

For more information about these Reel Docs films, the filmmakers and attending the special VIP reception, see www.reeldocs.org.

Nature lives in Ecuador

Bioneers Winter Film Series
Tue, Feb 3, 3–4pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

February films feature environmental activists of different stripes. The first is Dune Lankard, a commercial fisherman in Prince William Sound. A native Athabaskan Eyak from the Copper River Delta of Alaska, Lankard was fishing when the Exxon Valdez spilled its oil cargo. This disaster turned him into an activist and social entrepreneur. Selected by Time magazine as one of the Heroes of the Planet, he is a co-founder of the Red Oil Network (Resisting Environmental Degradation of Indigenous Lands).

The second film features one of my own personal heroes, Thomas Linzey, a Pennsylvania lawyer who got fed up with fighting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), lawsuit by lawsuit. Linzey realized the EPA was not established to protect the environment, but rather to regulate how fast a particular environment could be poisoned. Lawsuits are brought by people whose environment is being poisoned. Linzey and other lawyers formed the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (www.celdf.org) to help rural communities protect themselves from corporations that wanted to dump toxic waste on their farmlands. The legal strategy CELDF developed is brilliantly simple, but dangerous to corporate America. However, Ecuador was ready to give it a try. They invited Linzey to help them with the legal framework necessary to give Nature the rights of a living creature. Last September, Ecuador became the first country that held a constitutional referendum on the rights of Nature. The people voted to give Nature its rights as a living entity! Other countries are now calling on Ecuador to help them do the same.

.