Film Festival
Expresión en Corto
San Miguel
Fri–Tue, Jul 24–28, 10am–4am
Guanajuato
Wed–Sun, Jul 29–Aug 2, 10am–4am
Free
Tulse Luper VJ Performance
Sat, Aug 1
Alhóndiga de Granaditas
300 pesos advance, 350 pesos at the door

British Invasion: Film frenzy By Emily Hendricks

The Expresión en Corto International Film Festival comes to San Miguel de Allende July 24–28, and this year hosts the United Kingdom as their Spotlight Country. The UK Spotlight program includes films from that region’s top film festivals, institutions, production houses and schools.

Aardman Animation has a well-deserved reputation as a world leader in model animation. The studio has had seven Oscar nominations and has been awarded four. Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer, a featured Aardman film, is one of the most successful music promotional films ever made. Using the technique of pixilation, mixed with highly imaginative animation, the film earned nearly every relevant award in the year of its release. Other featured Aardman films include Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death, The Morph Files, Next, Adam, Angry Kid, Purple and Brown, Whistler, Big Bite, Off the Beat, Still Life, Takeaway and The Pearce Sisters.

The festival’s “British Invasion” program explores the influence and impact of British popular culture on film. A Hard Day’s Night chronicles the rise of Beatlemania, Quadrophenia examines the teenage years and the subculture clash between Mods and Rockers and Gimme Shelter is the landmark documentary about an ill-fated Rolling Stones concert that marked the end of the sixties counter-culture movement. The Man Who Fell to Earth depicts a humanoid alien (David Bowie) stranded on Earth, The Filth and the Fury explores the Sex Pistol’s anti-establishment venom and Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten remembers Strummer and his band The Clash. Control looks into the untimely death of Joy Division’s front man Ian Curtis, 24 Hour Party People examines the bustling Manchester music scene of the late seventies and early eighties, The Posters Came from the Walls features Depeche Mode super-fans from around the world and All Tomorrow’s Parties celebrates the uncompromising spirit of a parallel music universe.

San Miguel opens its graveyards at the stroke of midnight to screen horror films for the “Movies with Mummy” program. This year’s screams will be courtesy of Hammer Films, the legendary British horror film brand, originally launched in 1934 and recently re-launched. The program will feature some classic Hammer Horror titles such as Countess Dracula, Twins of Evil, Hands of the Ripper, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, X: The Unknown, The Quatermass Xperiment and Quatermass 2.

Galería Kunsthaus Santa Fe is converted into a makeshift theater for a celebration of sexual diversity called “Midnight Madness,” which includes underground, gay, lesbian, transgender and erotic films. In The Little Spider Bakery, the elements known from so many classic horror films are combined with the visual and erotic language of French bread in a cyclic story. American Eunuchs dares you to enter the bizarre world of American modern castrati.

The ONEDREAMRUSH 42x42 film showcase brings together internationally renowned filmmakers, artists, futurists and all-around visionaries to produce 42 films on their personal interpretation of what it means to dream. Each film is 42 seconds long, hence the name: 42x42. Films are featured by acclaimed artists such as Kenneth Anger, Asia Argento, Larry Clark, Abel Ferrara, Mike Figgis, James Franco, Harmony Korine, Sean Lennon, David Lynch, Chan Marshall, Jonas Mekas, Grant Morrison, Gaspar Noé, Dee Poon, Carlos Reygadas, Lola Schnabel and Zhang Yuan.

Consult www.expresionencorto.com  for complete listings of official programming, activities, special events, tributes, conferences and workshops.