Diego Luna (left) and Gael García Bernal team up again in "Rudo y Cursi," which will be screened April 4 at the Harkins Theatres Tucson Spectrum 18.
A sneak preview of the movie that reunites “Y tu Mama También” stars Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal is part of the Tucson Cine Mexico 2009.
This film festival, running Thursday-Sunday and April 3-4, focuses entirely on the work of Mexican directors. This year’s lineup features a mix of award-winning contemporary films, documentaries and vintage 1950-60s sci-fi films. For the first time, viewers in the U.S. will be able to see these sci-fi classics in new 35mm prints with English subtitles.
Showtimes are 9:30 p.m. March 27-29 at Grand Cinemas Crossroads, 4811 E. Grant Road. Highlighting the festival is the exclusive preview of the Mexican box office hit “Rudo y Cursi,” which reunites actors Luna and García Bernal for the first time since “Y tu Mama Tambíen.” The screening (7 p.m. April 4) will be hosted by the film’s producer Frida Torresblanco at Harkins Theatres Tucson Spectrum 18, 5455 S. Calle Santa Cruz.
The festival kicks off with the screening of “Te acuerdas de Lake Tahoe?/Remember Lake Tahoe?” the winner of the Cannes 2008 Revelation of the Year Award, as well as the Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlin Film Fest 2008. Showtime is 7 p.m. March 26 at Harkins Theater.
All films are in Spanish with English subtitles. Tickets: Film screenings (except “Rudo y Cursi”) $5 general public (no discounts), available at the theatre box offices one hour before show time. “Rudo y Cursi”: $10 general public (no discounts), $25 reserved seats and post screening reception. “Rudo y Cursi” plus reception tickets available through 621-9303. Tucson Cine Mexico 2009 is presented by the University of Arizona’s Hanson Film Institute, the Consulate of Mexico in Tucson, the Tucson Film Office, the UA Western Hemispheric Programs, and Cinema Tropical and sponsored by Cox and Harkins Theaters.
———
THE SCHEDULE
• 7 p.m. Thursday at Harkins Theatres Tucson Spectrum 18, “Te Acuerdas de Lake Tahoe? (Remember Lake Tahoe),” a 2008 film filled with absurdist twists and turns as a teenager searches for someone to help him fix the family car he crashed.
• 7 p.m. Friday, Harkins Theatres, “Mi Vida Dentro” – This is the Arizona premiere of “My Life Inside,” a 2007 documentary about a Mexican woman incarcerated for murder in Texas. Interlacing trial footage, video of the jail where young defendant Rosa Jiménez has spent two years and interviews with Jiménez and her mother and husband, director Lucia Gaja follows a story that’s based in the reverse of our usual assumptions of innocent until proved guilty.
• 9:30 p.m. Friday, Grand Cinemas Crossroads 6, 4811 E. Grant Road, “La Nave de los Monstrous” – Showing on a new 35mm print is this vintage Mexican sci-fi film from 1959. It’s a classic tale of female aliens from Venus landing in Chihuahua looking for love and/or destruction of planet Earth.
• 7 p.m. Saturday, Harkins Theatres, “Luz Silenciosa” – “Silent Light” has won more than 30 international awards, including the 2007 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize. From director Carlos Reygadas (“Japón”), the film puts the viewer inside an isolated Mennonite community in northern Mexico, its intimate relationships revealed against breathtaking cinematography. In multiple languages subtitled in English.
• 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Grand Cinemas Crossroads 6, “El Santo vs. the Martin Invasion” – Yet another sci-fi film in the festival, “El Santo Vs. La Invasión de los Marcianos” is a 1966 film that brings together two blockbuster ideas: martians and lucha libre. Rooted in fears of nuclear testing, the movie finds the three-eyed Martians threatening to destroy Earth lest its people not stop their forays into the nuclear. Only one man can stop them, Santo, the Man in the Silver Mask.
• 2 p.m. Sunday, Harkins Theatres, “Los Caidos” – The documentary’s director, Rudy Joffroy, will attend to discuss his 2007 film. “The Fallen” examines the events – including the misinformation and cover-up – of 2006 and ’07, surrounding the 63 workers buried in a Mexican carbon mine.
• 5 p.m. Sunday, Grand Cinema Crossroads 6, “Planet of the Female Invaders” – An evil alien queen plots to use human transplants to adapt her peoples’ lungs so they can invade Earth. A good-hearted twin sister, an Earthling scientist, a fabulous flying saucer – it’s in there!
• 7 p.m. Friday, April 3, Grand Cinemas Crossroads 6, “Año Uña” – “The Year of the Nail” refers to the ingrown toenail of 14-year-old Diego, and its persistence seems like a fitting metaphor for the pain of adolescence. The coming-of-age tale is filmed like a documentary with nonactors, but also reads like a doc with a narrative. Producer Frida Torresblanco will be at the screening.
• 7 p.m. Saturday, April 4, Harkins Theatres, “Rudo Y Cursi” – The anchor film of the festival offers a sneak peek at this Mexican hit direct from Sundance and before its U.S. theatrical release. From writer-director Carlos Cuarón, the film reunites onscreen Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, who co-starred in “Y tu Mamá También,” which Cuarón wrote. The actors play brothers and rivals who live on a banana ranch. They try to find a way out via soccer, but aren’t the brightest bulbs, which only fuels this comedy. Producer Frida Torresblanco will attend the screening.
———
IF YOU GO
What: Tucson Cine Mexico 2009
When: various times March 26-29 and April 3-4
Where: Harkins Theatres Tucson Spectrum 18, 5455 S. Calle Santa Cruz, and Grand Cinemas Crossroads 6, 4811 E. Grant Road
Price: Screenings are $5 each (except for “Rudo y Cursi,” which is $10 general admission or $25 reserved seats and reception).
Info: 621-9303, clas.arizona.edu/cinemexico