Fans of classic Mexican cinema have an embarrassment of riches to feast on later this month when the Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) retrospective “Spectacle Every Day: Mexican Popular Cinema” begins. The series, curated and produced in partnership with the Locarno Film Festival and sponsored by MUBI, will feature an eclectic mix of 22 midcentury Mexican films produced from the 1940s through the 1960s.
Running at FLC from July 26-August 8, the series features classic horror movies, film noir, comedies, Westerns, lucha libre superhero movies, and early 3D cinema from one of Mexico’s richest periods of cultural output. Many of the films are either debuting new restorations or, in some cases, screening theatrically in the United States for the first time. The titles were originally screened together as part of a retrospective at the 2023 Locarno Film Festival, which featured 36 Mexican films before trimming its lineup down to 22 entries for the New York remounting.
Highlights include Alejandro Galindo’s “Wetbacks,” Matilde Landeta’s “Streetwalker,” the first Mexican 3D movie “The Sword of Granada,” and Julio Bracho’s “Take Me in Your Arms,” which has been newly restored in 4K.
Per a press release announcing the series, “The 1940s through the 1960s was a period of exceptional creativity in Mexico that ushered in a monumentally prolific era of major filmmakers (among them, Roberto Gavaldón, Emilio Fernández, Julio Bracho, Alejandro Galindo, and Chano Urueta) and screen titans (María Félix, Fernando Soler, Cantinflas, Tin Tan, Ninón Sevilla, El Santo, Pedro Infante, Rebeca Iturbide, David Silva, and more). This series goes well below the surface of the era’s most well-known works to show its vast wealth of innovative filmmaking, and spotlights the rich, at times undersung, but always fascinating period and the exceptionally diverse body of films that enthralled generations of moviegoers and artists alike.”
More information on “Spectacle Every Day: Mexican Popular Cinema,” including the full lineup, can be found here. Watch the trailer for the retrospective, an IndieWire exclusive, below.
