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Film Festivals,

The Establishing Shot: London Mexfest 2012 - Film Festival

The inaugural London Mexfest launches this summer, taking place from 17 – 19 August at Rich Mix, East London as part of the Shoreditch Fringe Festival. It will present a three day fiesta of live music, contemporary, award winning films including features, documentaries, sci- fi classics, shorts and animations, alongside exhibitions, food – and wrestling! It’s time to  turn up the heat and  bask in Mexico’s finest cultural gems, without leaving London!


The  jam-packed cultural  event kicks off on  Friday 17th with the world premiere Made in Mexico (Hecho en Mexico), a kaleidoscopic portrait of the music of Mexico, its people and their way of life, by UK filmmaker Duncan Bridgeman (Dir. One Giant Leap), followed by a live concert from Amandititita, the Mexican queen of Anarcumbia, an urban blend of rock, reggae, rap, and traditional  Mexican cumbia. The festival closes with a screening of Daniel and Ana (Daniel y Ana), which follows the kidnapping of a brother and sister and is the first feature from acclaimed director Michel Franco (his second feature, After Lucia, won this year’s Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes).

In between there will be a rare opportunity to view sci-fi classics from Mexico hardly screened before in the UK; a series of talks with Mexican filmmakers, a Sensory Pop Up Studio by Sight of Emotion charity; the first ever UK exhibition of Lucha Libre photographs by Lourdes Grobet and the first ever projection onto the Rich Mix facade by renowned artist Tupac Martir, titled The Gentleman, The Mermaid, Mexican Cinema,
Lottery!

London Mexfest

Film highlights:
• Mexfest takes a special look at Sci-Fi classics from Mexico. These Lofi gems, which were enormously popular in the 50s and 60s, have garnered  a  huge  fan base that includes Tarantino and  Del Toro.

Image: Santo vs. the Martian Invasion

Highlights include a masked wrestler repelling an invasion from Mars in aptly titled, Santo vs. the Martian Invasion (Santo el enmascarado de plata vs. la invasion de los marcianos), The Aztec Mummy vs the Human Robot (La momia Azteca contra el robot humano) and Venusian babes falling for a charro from Chihuahua in  The Ship of Monsters (La nave de los monstruous).

• Feature film highlights include two films by recent director of Miss Bala, Gerardo Naranjo, I’m Gonna Explode (Voy a explotar), which follows two rebellious teenagers and Drama/Mex, which follows two interlaced stories over the course of one day; We are what we are, (Somos lo que hay) directed by  Jorge Michel Grau, a family of cannibals quest for flesh and Déficit directed by Gael Garcia Bernal, following a day in the life of a high-class snob.

Déficit Poster

• Documentary film highlights include award-winning The tiniest place (El lugar más pequeño), by Tatiana Huezo, which follows the struggle of five families to rebuilt their lives in the middle of war, Draught (Cuates de Australia) by acclaimed director Everardo González, captures the exodus, the resistance and survival strategies of a community facing climatic adversity and a myriad of social problems.

• Short film highlights include  Carlos Cuarón’s  The Second Bakery Attack starring Kirsten Dunst and Elisa Miller’s Watching it rain, winner of the Palm D’Or at Cannes and two programmes of vibrant, short animations including  the  Best  Animated  Short  at Morelia International Film Festival, Black Doll (Prita Noire).

Exhibitions:
• For years, acclaimed  photographer Lourdes Grobet has studied Lucha Libre, the spectacular art of Mexican wrestling that  has evolved from a sport to a kind of modern mythology, complete with its very own masked heroes and monsters that have spawned
endless comic books and films charting their legendary exploits…  This weird world is brought to life through an exhibition of  sixteen photographs.

Exhibition inauguration: Friday 17th August (6pm)
Opening Times: Sat 18th - Sun 19th
August (midday - 10pm)
Venue 2, Rich Mix

• Spatial and social perceptions are challenged by visually impaired photographers at the Sensory Pop Up Studio  – Developed by Ojos que Sienten/Sight of Emotion. This studio will offer new audiences a sensory experience that integrates visually impaired and young people from marginalized groups into communal environments with the general public. It aims to  build confidence and encourage creative dialogue and spatial exchange between. This experience will create awareness and change public perceptions towards
disability.

Opening times: Sat 18th
August and Sun19th
August (midday – 6pm)
Venue 2, Rich Mix

• Plus, an installation and façade projection specially commissioned by The Mexican Tourism Board titled “The Gentleman, The Mermaid, Mexican Cinema, Lottery! (El Catrin, La Sirena, Mexican Cinema, Loteria!)”  by acclaimed visual designer Tupac Martir for Satore Studio will also be shown for the first time ever, at Rich Mix. Tupac is best known in the fashion world, working for the likes of Stella McCartney and Vivienne
Westwood.

Projection running times: Fri 17th, Sat 18th and Sun 19th August (sundown – midnight) Facade of the Rich Mix

See the Rich Mix website (www.richmix.org.uk) for the full line up from 24th July.
Ticket prices: £7 adult / £5 conc
Day pass: £15
Exhibitions and music free

London MexFest is part of the Shoreditch Fringe Festival
www.shoreditchfringe.org
www.richmix.org.uk
@LondonMexFest
Facebook.com/LondonMexFest

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THE ESTABLISHING SHOT: LONDON MEXFEST 2012 - FILM FESTIVAL