cont. from front page,

All the events and screenings are free. Movies will be shown at Teatro Ángela Peralta, Teatro Santa Ana, MM Cinemas at La Luciérnaga, Bellas Artes, the Jardín, Kunsthaus Santa Fe Gallery and the Panteón (cemetery) on Salida a Celaya.

India and identity

Hoch said that the festival’s guest country this year is India, a nation whose cinema is notable for depicting its society, culture and traditions.

Deepa Mehta, a controversial Indian-born director and screenwriter living in Canada, will be honored on July 19 at 8pm at the Teatro Ángela Peralta.

Mehta’s trilogy of films, Fire (1996), Earth (1998) and Water (2005), is famous for its insights into Indian culture. During the homage, Earth will be screened. The movie tells the story of the partition of India in 1947 from the vantage point of a young Parsi girl. It was nominated for the 2000 Academy Award for Best Foreign film but was not included among the final five nominees. Deepa Mehta will offer a master class on July 20 at 2pm at the Teatro Ángela Peralta.

“Bollywood” is the popular nickname for lavish movies shot in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) in the Hindi language.

Hoch said, “as part of the ‘identity’ theme Eros International, one of the most important movie studios in India, is presenting their film Om Shanti Om, a journey through the history of Bollywood. It includes a mix of contemporary and ‘golden-age’ actors. It is the most successful Bollywood film of the year, and at the same time a story about Bollywood.” Om Shanti Om will be shown in the Jardín on July 19 at 9pm.

An exhibit on Tibetan culture entitled “Tibet: Identity in Exile” inaugurates at the Museo de la Ciudad, next to the former Presidencia building across from the Jardín. The exhibit compliments the film What Remains of Us, the story of a young Tibetan from the diaspora who enters her homeland for the first time, carrying a clandestine video message from the Dalai Lama to Tibetans inside Tibet. The film will be shown at Teatro Ángela Peralta on July 19 at 4pm.

In Guanajuato, the Indian guest is director Shyam Benegal. His film Ankur will be screened at the State Auditorium (Auditorio del Estado) in Guanajuato on July 25 at 10pm.


The Golden Age’s last exotic dancer

Mexican culture has likewise been interpreted through its cinema; during the Golden Age, the charros, the Mexican macho and the scorned woman were stock figures that for better or for worse, came to represent the Mexican society. Today, the violence and corruption that permeates some Mexican movies, such as Amores Perros, have given the world a tormented and bent view of current Mexican society.

“In the Golden Age, the rumberas (exotic dancers) and pachucos (comic characters such as Germán Vald’s Tin-Tan) were part of the identity of Mexican cinema,” said Hoch. “Our Mexican guest star in San Miguel this year will be Yolanda Montes “Tongolele,” one of the most famous rumberas of that time, and the only surviving one.” Hoch added that Tongolele is being honored during the festival’s inauguration ceremony on July 18 at 8pm. Before the homage, Tongolele, currently 76, accompanied by music and mojigangas, parades through the streets, beginning at 7pm on Umarán, past the Jardín to Relox and Mesones, ending up at the Teatro Ángela Peralta, where the homage commences. She will also award the prize to the winner of the contest “San Miguel se viste de cine” (San Miguel dressed for the movies), which consists of decorating the façades of buildings with movie motifs. According to Hoch, when we went to press, 30 buildings had been registered for the contest.

The 1948 movie Han matado a Tongolele (Someone Has Killed Tongolele), starring Yolanda Montes and directed by Roberto Gavaldón, screens in the Jardín on July 20 at 10pm. “Tongolele” gives a master class on July 19 at 1pm in Bellas Artes, where she speaks about how she jumped from the dance floors to the screen.

Free movies for children

Children are a special part of Expresión en Corto. Hoch announced that all the summer 2008 movies for children are screening for free at MM Cinemas during the five-day festival, including The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (July 19, 1pm) and Spiderwick Chronicles (July 20, 2pm).

Hoch said that there is a workshop for pre-selected children on making short films; the resulting short film will be presented at the festival’s closing ceremony in Guanajuato.

Spike Lee in Guanajuato

Hoch announced that Expresión en Corto’s guest in Guanajuato is director Spike Lee, who through movies such as Malcolm X, has become one of the most important representatives of African-American identity. 4 Little Girls, Lee’s acclaimed first documentary about the bombing that killed four small schoolchildren in a church in Alabama in 1963, screens at Teatro Santa Ana on July 22 at noon.

Malcolm X screens on July 26 at 6pm in the Teatro Principal on calle Hidalgo in Guanajuato.

John Carpenter among the headstones

Movies with Mummy has been one of the most successful parts of Expresión en Corto. Each year, dozens of people stand in line for more than two hours to enter the graveyard on Salida a Celaya to watch horror movies projected at midnight among the graves.

Hoch said that this year Movies with Mummy is dedicated to American director John Carpenter, one of the most important filmmakers in the horror genre. Forbidden Zone and Suspira screen on July 19 at 11:55pm, and Evil Dead 2 and Last House on the Left screen on July 20 at the same hour.


Tips from the festival directors

Hoch and Nina Rodriguez, programming director of the festival, gave Atención their tips about some of their favorite short films that will be shown during the festival. “These are some of the short films that left a good impression on us, but this does not mean they are the best ones, since all of them are excellent,” said Hoch.

One of their favorites is the documentary Between Art and Insanity (Zwischen Wahnsinn und Kunst), from Germany. “It reviews scientifically and historically, the very thin line between insane people who are committed to psychiatric hospitals and great masters of art. It reminded us of San Miguel,” said Hoch (documentary showcase, Tuesday, July 22, Teatro Santa Ana, 6pm).

Kids and Money is another of their favorites. “It is about American culture and the necessity of keeping up appearances, something which has also reached children” (Selección Oficial Documental Corto, Sunday, July 20, Teatro Santa Ana, 4pm).

Nina said that the animated film John and Karen, from the United Kingdom, is one of her favorites.

“John is a polar bear and Karen a female penguin. John apologizes to Karen after a quarrel and they have some tea and biscuits,” said Nina. (Selección Oficial Animación, Saturday, July 19, Bellas Artes, 5pm).

Nina and Sarah also liked On the Line, from Germany, about a department store security guard who is secretly in love with a clerk in the store’s bookshop

(Selección Oficial Cine, Saturday, July 19, 6pm, Teatro Ángela Peralta), and Café Paraíso, from Mexico, about two immigrants who work in the multi-racial kitchen of Café Paraíso (Selección Oficial Ficción Cine, Sunday, July 20, 6pm, Teatro Ángela Peralta).

Mexico: Number one in the Americas for World Heritage sites
By Jesús Ibarra

On Monday, July 14, the local government invited the media to a press conference in Atotonilco, in which the integrants of the local commission who traveled to Québec, Canada, for the designation of San Miguel de Allende and the Shrine of Jesús Nazareno in Atotonilco as World Heritage, were present. The commission was formed by Mayor Jesús Correa; Cristóbal Finkelstein, city secretary; Francisco Peyret, head of the Tourism, Economical Development and International Relations Department; Guillermo González, head of the San Miguel Tourism Council; and Rodolfo Pérez, city councilor. There were also present, Francisco Vidargas, assistant director of the World Heritage Department of INAH; historian Graciela Cruz López; Roberto Burillo, representative of Adopt an Art Work Association; Agustín Espinoza, in charge of the restoration works at the Shrine; and Father Fernando Manrique, parish priest in Atotonilco. During the conference, it was announced that San Miguel de Allende and Atotonilco, were consider together, as one single site, for World Heritage status, and that they are among the 29 World Heritage sites in Mexico, which places the country in the sixth place with more sites with this status, and in the first place in the American Continent. The ceremony for the official designation will take place on December, 2008, when representatives of UNESCO come to San Miguel.

It was also announced about the works which will have to be performed in a short time, as a response to the UNESCO’s recommendations, such as studies on tourist impact, and to continue with the works proposed on the Traffic Congress celebrated in January. To be a World Heritage site will allow San Miguel to manage international, national and state funds with the purpose to preserve the city. 

The story behind our World Heritage status
Atotonilco, the Bethlehem of San Miguel
By Jesús Ibarra

Francisco Vidargas, former head of Bellas Artes and current assistant director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History’s (INAH) World Heritage Department, said that one of the obstacles to San Miguel’s being included on the UNESCO World Heritage list was the lack of understanding on the part of some European delegates about the ties between San Miguel and Atotonilco.

Historian Graciela Cruz López, author of the historical justification documents for San Miguel and Atotonilco, spent more than three years working to compile all the data for the file, including the justification for nominating the two sites together. Cruz scrutinized more than 30 collections of documents and books in libraries in San Miguel, Querétaro, Morelia, Mexico City and Spain, where she did research for three months.

The first section of her work explained the historical background of San Miguel, reported in last week’s Atención. Cruz explained that the second and third sections of her report included the historical background of Atotonilco and the justification for the link between San Miguel and the shrine.

A place of purification

“Father Luis Felipe Neri de Alfaro envisioned the shrine of Jesús Nazareno in Atotonilco as a sacred place for purification. His religious endeavors were born in the Villa of San Miguel el Grande and ended with the shrine of Atotonilco,” said Cruz, who added that the importance of the shrine lies in its historical and religious significance and its standing as an example of neo-Hispanic baroque art.

“Father Alfaro’s project promoted the ideology of his own order, which embraced evangelical mysticism, asceticism and penitence as a strategy to fulfill the tenets of the gospels and effect the salvation of the world.”

According to Cruz, the objective of the last part of her work was to explore the historical, spiritual, symbolic and geographic links between San Miguel and the shrine. First, she pointed out the symbiosis and reciprocity between the two: Atotonilco has depended administratively and religiously on San Miguel through the centuries. “Since the sixteenth century, the Atotonilco site was part of the ‘Alcaldía Mayor’ of San Miguel,” said Cruz. “The landowners in Atotonilco paid tithes to the parish of San Miguel, which belonged to the bishopric of Michoacán. Atotonilco became a parish in itself only 25 years ago. Nowadays, Atotonilco is one of the most important communities in the municipality.”

According to Cruz, the second justification for linking the two sites involved the spiritual project of Father Luis Felipe Neri de Alfaro. “The rationality and dimensions of this spiritual project can only be understood when we analyze the relevance it has had through the years,” said the historian. “The founding of different religious congregations, the religious practices and the pilgrimages initiated by Father Alfaro bind San Miguel in a very close and allegorical way to the Shrine of Jesús Nazareno.” She added that the shrine has remained an important spiritual center because of the devotion and contributions of faithful San Miguel residents and the millions of people from all over Mexico who have journeyed to the shrine during the last 250 years.


Jerusalem–Bethlehem, San Miguel–Atotonilco

According to Cruz, Father Alfaro’s project also drew a symbolic comparison between San Miguel and Atotonilco and Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

“Spatially, the relationship between Mount Calvary in Jerusalem and Bethlehem is the same as the one between the small chapel of El Calvario, at the top of calle San Francisco in San Miguel, and the shrine at Atotonilco,” said Cruz. “They are both a similar distance apart, a little more than two leagues (12.88 kilometers). The road from Bethlehem to Calvary is very similar to the old road from Atotonilco to the Calvario chapel. We found this old road, which used to run from the Villa of San Miguel to the shrine, and we documented it with photographs. It runs parallel to the current road to Dolores, but through the hills. Several original cobblestone paths were discovered along it. We took a satellite photo and using that we visually rebuilt the road with the aid of old maps and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century descriptions of it. We concluded that this was not only a road 
that linked the two sites but also an eighteenth-century route used for the Good Friday processions begun by Father Alfaro, which are still performed today.”

Cruz also noted that paintings on canvas in the shrine’s sacristy further support the Jerusalem-Bethlehem analogy. “One of them represents the city of Jerusalem and the other is of San Miguel. If we put both of them together, Jerusalem on the left and San Miguel on the right, they form one continuous landscape.”

For these various reasons, Cruz concluded that Atotonilco could not have existed without San Miguel, and that is why the two sites had to be considered together for World Heritage status.

Immigration office move still only proposal
By Atención staff

As concern continues to mount over the proposed move of the local immigration offices to Celaya, Atención would like to reiterate that, as we go to press, nothing has been finalized or confirmed. According to Atención, May 30, 2008: “At this stage the move to Celaya is only a proposal. According to Alejandro Salas, the immigration delegate in San Miguel, he is waiting for a response from the local governments of Celaya and San Miguel, both of which have been asked to donate land for building new offices and an immigrant detention center. “Both mayors have been very kind and both are able to give us their support,” he said. Salas also stated that facilitating services to the expat community is a national priority. He confirmed that the national policy is to streamline and facilitate procedures for foreigners seeking to reside or invest in Mexico or to extend their visits. Considering that, if the current office is relocated to Celaya, Salas will attempt to find a space where foreigners can apply for documents 
and submit their paperwork for renewal in San Miguel.

Fire department reaching crisis point

Presentation
History of the Fire Department
José Sanchez
Wed, July 22
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25


The San Miguel fire department (Bomberos) receives a monthly stipend of 33,000 pesos from city hall. Operating costs, for salaried staff, maintenance and spare parts for the trucks and ambulance and equipment, far exceed the stipend. Every year José Sanchez, President of the Fire Department Board, writes 40 to 50 letters to local businesses and individuals seeking financial support to close the widening gap between income and expenses. This year only two individuals responded; their donation was a total of 450 pesos. Sanchez appreciates the donations, yet concern for the future of the department weighs heavily on this man who has dedicated 17 years in Mexico and the US to providing this essential emergency service.

Apart from emergency services, the Bomberos also offer educational programs. More than 25 children meet every Saturday at the fire station for the “cadets” program, similar to the Scouts, and volunteers regularly visit primary schools to give security demonstrations to students.

At the Biblioteca on July 22, Sanchez discusses the history of the fire department in San Miguel with archive photos and stories about the city’s greatest blazes. Come to the Biblioteca to hear about how you can support this important organization.