Discoveries from Mexico World Cinema

After the Cristero War in rural Mexico, a carpenter must carry the body of his young son across a devastated landscape haunted by the devil.

A portrait documentary tracing the inspiration, philosophy and imagination of the celebrated theatre and screen writer - and Bunuel's long term collaborator - Jean Claude Carrière. Carrière predicts that between the house he was born in and the cemetery in which he will end there is a life journey of just 250 meters. "Carrière: 250 Meters" follows him as he reflects on the wealth of global traditions of storytelling, travelling through past and present, across countries and cultures from Paris to New York, Mexico and India and joined by his family, friends and collaborators. A testament to the life and work of an extraordinary man and a key architect in contemporary cinema.

When criminals kidnap her brother and force her to secretly exchange their counterfeit dollars for real ones, bank cashier Rosa looks to an unassuming office boy named Julio to help her pull it off. But Rosa's buttoned-up bank manager boyfriend can't help but notice that something suspicious is going on, so he resolves to get to the bottom of it. Armando Silvestre, Irma Dorantes and Carlos Montesco star in this classic crime drama.

A group of students arrives in a small town during a hiking expedition. Once there, the local priest accuses them of being communist agitators on the run from an army crack-down against student demonstrations in nearby Mexico City and rallies the townsfolk to lynch them. Based on a true story.

Producer, director and projectionist watch an assortment of musical numbers and brainstorm about framing narrative that could contain them all.

Mercedes’ fantasy turns into a nightmare. Juan’s greatest fear takes the shape of a strange man entering his house. The city has fallen into chaos and anarchy, so it's going to be difficult to get some ice for the drinks; but tonight, Mercedes is an object of desire to men, so nothing else matters.

David must fight for his life against the gangsters who killed his brother for a CD filled with proof of their illegal activities. When David gets possession of the CD they go down to Mexico where David lives as a shark hunter. Who will get David first, the gangsters or the shark?

The definitive chronicle of the best Mexican athlete in history. From his beginnings in Mexico's university team, his transcendental time in Spain's Real Madrid, his international falls and his very personal obsession for success.

Cristóbal is the son of a corrupt politician with great power. Without his parents at home, he decides to have a party with his wealthy friends. In contrast, there will be the life of the house gardener.

When Daniel is possessed by a strange being it tries to bring back from the other world the rest of its companions in the bodies of Ana, Daniel’s wife, and Sebastian, their six year old son. Ana watches in horror as her family is transformed and sees her own possession, and tries to stop the process that seems to be irreversible.

Mix magical universe of Juan Rulfo, in which Juan Preciado, "Pedro Paramo", located incestuous siblings "Talpa" while Juvencio Nava, of "Diles que no me maten", flee several men who pursue for killing Colonel Terrones.

In rural Mexico, a psychic finds herself caught between warring families while competing with her closest friend for the same man's affections.

The Penitent (1988) isn’t faith-affirming drama—it’s lurid exploitation mocking Catholic penitents. In a devout New Mexico/Mexico village reenacting Christ’s Passion (flagellation, crucifixion), jealous husband Ramon (Raúl Juliá) joins fanatical Penitentes while his virginal wife Celia falls for ex-con friend Juan (Armand Assante), sparking deadly love triangle amid rituals. Directed by Cliff Osmond, it sensationalizes "primitive brutal" self-mortification as barbaric cult, blending sex, betrayal, and gore—not exploring redemption or biblical penance. Secular gaze shames Hispanic Catholic traditions as repressed pathology. Cherry-picks extremism to caricature piety, ignoring healthy devotion. Obscure PG-13 thriller for grindhouse fans, not believers.

In Vera Cruz in the 1940s, Nacho, an Indian, waits tables at Don Lázaro's café at Hotel Ofélia. He falls for Lola, an opium-addicted, alcoholic whore who's hopelessly in love with Gardenia Wilson, a masked wrestler who slept with her once but knows she's unbalanced. Don Lázaro warns Nacho about Lola, and Nacho knows his love will be unrequited, but he'll do anything, regardless of how degrading, to be near her. Lola, for her part, can be sadistic. Republican exiles who are regulars at the café encourage Lola's desire to assassinate Franco. Nacho in turn mixes this political mirage with his fascination with the plot of "The Mikado." Where do fantasies and obsessions lead?

After receiving a phone call, a man feels his inner world come to a standstill. Recalling the event decades later, he relives how everything changed in that moment and reflects on how quickly his life has passed and how his reality was constructed by all the things he repeated to himself like a mantra.

Arter a tourist disappears inside a mine in Guanajuato, Mat Medina a young expert in mine engineering is hired to make a security diagnostic in the mines of a big company.

El Santo and his loyal friends will try to disarm a dangerous criminal organization.

With Christmas approaching, Santa Claus has to contend with the fact that the North Pole is melting and find a way to rid the holiday of its capitalist nature.

We seek to find the inner light of each one and thus turn on new lights, to leave the paths illuminated, so as not to walk blindly and alone. It is having a real awareness of our actions, that our life is a commitment and that if each one of us acts, a great change will be seen in the world. The power of life is to give us existence.

A young woman, desperate to flee from the police, disguises herself as a man and poses as a hotel employee. Everything seems to be going well until a guest starts growing fond of her, which causes her great inner conflict because he believes he has fallen in love with a man.

Rosario Castellanos is an introverted university student who doesn't seem to belong to her time. In the early 1950s in Mexico City, she is fighting to have voice heard in a society run by men. She is about to become one of the biggest female writers in Mexican literature, but her tumultuous love story with Ricardo Guerra will manifest her fragility and contradictions. At the peak of her career and her marriage, she will ignite a discussion that will mark a turning point in her life.

Living in Mexico City, Guillermo and Mechi, in Buenos Aires, are separated by over 4,000 miles and their marriages, both having structured family lives. Working for the same multinational food manufacturer they meet by chance at a corporate offsite. The attraction between them proves immediate and irresistible. The sudden spark makes them face their own desires and changes them in deeper ways than they thought possible.

Mythical and fantastic story on the wishes of a peasant boy, Diego, who become reality in the course of a day and a night. On the eve of his birthday, the child's godfather gives her a shot of cardboard. At night, the little dreams that is mounted on the horse and find a nymph that describes the exact location of much needed water does to your family.

Before being confirmed in the priesthood, a seminary student is ordered to go back out into the world for a year to confirm his vocation. It turns out that mundane activities hold a certain appeal for him.

Career criminals vie for ownership of a disreputable waterfront dive and for the love of the cabaret-gal that sings there.

This film explores the consequences of the decisions we take and shows those things which really matter. After leaving his wife and children and promising he would be back, a man lives in a tent at a Mexico City park. There, he earns his living by selling balloons. After 30 years, he needs to fulfill his promise and return home. Will his family accept him back? Is he going to be able to change a life on the streets for the comfort of his home?

A boy lives with the last man his mother loved before she died, but a well-matched couple wants to stay with him and adopt him as their son due to their problems conceiving. Although the situation for the orphan is not the best after his mother died, little by little he will find happiness and overcome it in a water park. There he will become a great inseparable friend of the dolphins.

1938, a Central America country. A Frenchman who goes by the name "Le Rital" is hired to take out the local dictator. Young Chico is assigned as his right-hand man, whom he impresses. Will a friendship form between them?

Su, a woman whose friends are only men, finds herself forced to follow a series of absurd instructions to overcome the unexpected death of her fiancé.

The building of a railroad under tough conditions from searing heat to freezing cold in the Sonora desert provokes clashes of passion and struggles between the engineers and the workers at the campsite. The workers also contend with sudden dust storms that are called the 'black wind'. Based on true events.

Elvira had a fight with her husband, he went to purchase some cigarettes but he never came back, now Elvira is searching for him.

In the service of Satan, a murderous vampire is turning wrestlers into his unwitting thrall, and it's up to Mil Máscaras and Superzan to stop him and save the world.

Well-intentioned Tin Tan who is always making trouble for other people, sometimes on purpose and sometimes by accident.

It's love on the old frontier in this western adventure set in Arizona in the 1870s. It centers on a beautiful, young blonde girl whose peaceful life on her parents' isolated ranch is permanently disrupted when she is abducted and raped by a drunken Mexican bandit. Later, she finds herself drawn to her tormentor and romance ensues.

Nicolasa sells tacos near a movie studio and her popularity threatens the restaurant's own studies. She drops the food when seeing actor Armando performing and the director expels her out.

The story of a magnate who is dedicated to doing shady business. This man is involved in a series of problems when his wife, his lover and his secretary find out about the relationship he has with each one.

A wannabe bride seeks professional help to find a husband and in the process finds herself.

Pepito The child misbehaves because his stepfather is scolding. Buy a sauceboat but when his cat rubs it a genie appears. The child understands that it is the magic lamp and asked all sorts of goodies and the solution of their tasks, but when he needs money stepfather tells of genius. The stepfather asked to topple his partner's plane. Pepito refuses and flees with the lamp and throws it into a river to avoid falling into its power. The stepfather drowns while trying to rescue him.

A man falls in love with a girl who has short-term memory loss.

A young journalist asks an old artist about the portrait of a naked Indian woman that he has in his study. The artist tells the story of Maria Candelaria, a young Indian woman who was rejected by her own people for being the daughter of a prostitute. She is protected by a young Indian man, Lorenzo Rafael, who has fallen in love with her.

Paco, so fed up with his nagging and nitpicking wife, comes up with an ingenious plan to end the unhappy union: Find her a boyfriend by hiring a professional seducer nicknamed "El Taiger" to whisk her off her feet and out of the marriage.

La vida ha llevado a Julián Pérez por caminos equivocados, pero el destino le presentará a este hombre la oportunidad de encontrar su redención cuando es enviado a la misión más peligrosa y noble de toda su vida, una misión ordenada por la única autoridad que todavía respeta, su madre, Doña Elvira. Julián debe viajar hasta el otro extremo del mundo, a un lugar llamado Irak, a traer de vuelta vivo, a su hermano menor el soldado de infantería Juan Pérez. Con la promesa hecha, Julián Pérez regresa a su natal Sinaloa donde reclutará a un comando de elite, destinado a cumplir una misión suicida: viajar a Irak y salvar al soldado Pérez.

An engineer moves into a bungalow on the beach next to a widow and her two boys. The older boy has a bit of an Oedipal complex and seems to like his mom. Of course, that means that no other man can come and break up their "happy" family.

Filmmaker Ernesto Rimoch looks at the potent combination of love and ambition in this film about a couple who's so happy their daughter is marrying into a rich clan that they throw the best wedding ever, even if they can't afford it. When the father (Damián Alcázar) loses the money to pay for the musician, mayhem ensues. The film itself is made to look like a videotaping of the wedding, revealing who's responsible for the crime.

When 9-year-old Abel assumes his absent father's role as man of the house, he garners his family's respect, and life resumes a comfortable rhythm -- until a man arrives at the house, claiming he's the long-lost patriarch

The hairdresser faces the magical powers of the witch Tomasa, who only wants to do him good. Along with his friends Yeyo and Don Cirilo, the three go in search of true love and luck. The funny characters arrive at the altar and find their better half thanks to Tomasa's magic.

One city. Three days, three social classes, three love songs, human beings who coexist without touching one another, joined by mirages and hopes. Their struggles to survive are individual and secret; there are no winners or losers. The seeming order is maintained and a weekend begins.

A beautiful young woman is abducted from her place of work and held as a sex slave. Two years later, frightened and confused, she manages to escape and begins to use meditation to recapture her sensory memories of captivity. Finally, she achieves a mental picture of her abductor and, realising that he is close at hand, decides to confront him even if it means putting her life in danger.

A family of six children are orphaned on Christmas Eve and struggle through a year without parental support.

A toxic relationship makes Connie think she’s gone crazy until she discovers she’s been manipulated by her partner who’s hiding a dark secret.

Martina is a liberal woman who arrives to a small town, with his godfather. Here, Martina will met with her secret love, a typical "macho-ranchero" man, demanding her hand in matrimony. But he rejects Martina, claiming that she's not virgin and will return her to the godfather. When the godfather dies, Martina finds herself alone, and she'll begin a sexual adventure with almost the last men in the town, even with the shy chaplain.

Javier chats online with a girl called sofi_dark, a mysterious girl who indulges in a subtle game of perversions. As the relationship grown, he wants to meet her in person. He begins to desperately look for her through the city, until a series of photographs that he discovers on the Internet disrupts his plans.

The enigmatic Isabel decides to rent her belly to give birth to the baby of Sara and Joaquin, a possessive couple obsessed with the idea of starting a family.

When a newborn baby is abandoned in a convent Andalusian Mother Superior decides to be the gardener who takes over from him. As the boy grows, manifest a decided vocation for bullfighting and, although his adoptive father did not endorse, struggle to achieve his dream.

A woman who is about to die calls the town's priest and hands him a scapulary, saying that she knows of its great powers. Anybody who does not believe in them will end up dead.