The Hola Mexico Film Festival is officially off to an inspiring start. The premiere destination for Mexican cinema in Los Angeles kicked off its festival on Friday night with the premiere of the romcom, CASI EL PARAÍSO and it’s been nothing but great cinema experiences ever since.
I was able to catch a few films this past weekend and I can’t wait to tell you about them. Before I get to raving, I want to remind you that the festival runs until the 27th and you can still catch some of the films I’m about to tell you about. GET TICKETS NOW.
Miriam is immersed in the deaf community; she’s the daughter of a deaf mother, teaches sign language and is in a relationship with a deaf woman. Her life is surrounded by the deaf world and still, her world begins to shatter when she finds out that she’s beginning to lose her hearing. A story about grief, unlike anything else we’ve ever seen before, this movie takes you on one of the most heartbreaking rides. The use of sound is an added character and often filled you with the desperation that one must feel when starting to lose their hearing.
Adriana Llabrés’s (Miriam) performance is a masterclass in acting with every decision she made in front of the camera feeling absolutely intentional. She moves through this story in a way that makes you ache for Miriam and though absolutely devastating, you end up being grateful for going along for the ride.
So I walked into the wrong theater and my social anxiety didn’t allow me to walk out after I realized it, and for that I’ll be eternally grateful. It’s a story that’s been told many times before but Alejandro helped navigate many complicated layers that I had never considered before. When Dalia’s husband mysteriously vanishes, her life becomes an exhausting search for answers as she navigates the system that is being sold to us, but so rarely actually works for us. Dalia is not the perfect victim, which is a very important part of this story. Her flaws are messy and Adriana Paz (Dalia) somehow moves through her layers in a manner that still elicits your empathy for Dalia. This movie is brave and speaks for so many people that have woken up on a perfectly normal day and gone to bed with a family member missing without a trace. It’s the stories that Mexicans know all to well and this film is a great homage to what they go through. No one is exempt from judgement in this story, it takes a lense directly into society and makes us question the way we treat victims of missing family members. It’s not an easy story to consume but it is a necessary one to watch.
This documentary is a series of testimonies from women who work cleaning public spaces in Mexico. Director Luciana Kaplan takes on large corporations, as she tries to expose the many ways these women are underpaid and taken advantage of. It’s an ambitious project as it tries to remind us of the humanity of these women while trying to unravel the web of lies that corporations have these women working under because they know they have nothing else they could do for work. It also takes the time to point the finger to the audience and remind us that we are a part of the problem. We walk next to these women in metros, parks and airports while ignoring them every single day. This film begs some empathy from us and after meeting these women, I bet you’ll go out of your way to thank a service worker the next time you’re out and about.
Camp: 1. something that provides sophisticated, knowing amusement, as by virtue of its being artlessly mannered or stylized, self-consciously artificial and extravagant, or teasingly ingenious and sentimental.
Masacre En Teques could easily become a cult classic. Full of body gore, cheesy dialogue and extravagant performances I found this film to be a total blast. When a group of filmmaking students travel to the woods in Teques to film a movie, things get chaotic when one by one they all start getting into bloody trouble. If you are looking for a movie where the characters make every single bad decision, then let me talk you into watching this film. Maybe you’ll hide behind your hand for a lot of the bloody mess but I promise it’ll still find a way to get a couple of laughs out of you.
When Julian, a father of a 9 year-old, makes a split-second decision to protect his brother-in-law, he ends up getting deported when his young daughter is weeks away from a heart transplant. This film reinforces the way our culture instills “family above everything else” into our existence, even when it harms us in life-changing ways and though triggering is still often an integral part of our upbringing. This film highlights the broken immigration system and how it actively works against nuanced situations or gray areas. It’s a frustrating watch, but a reality of many in this world. The story is led by Omar Chaparro(Julian) and though I’ve previously only seen him in comedic films, he makes a star-making dramatic premiere here. A father’s love knows no bounds and this inspiring story reminds us of that.
If you’ve ever uttered the words, “there’s not enough Latino representation in Hollywood”, I need you to get off that couch and attend this film festival. You have until the 27th, I urge you to get out and go be inspired.
0