CINEMA-MEXICO: All That Glitters is Not From Hollywood

MEXICO CITY, Dic 27 (IPS) - The problem common to most movie makers working outside the United states is how to get their films onto local screens when theatre owners, and audiences, seem to prefer the flood of Hollywood productions.

In Mexico, the film industry is making a brave, if small, effort to break the virtual U.S. monopoly. A new cultural centre opened in the capital last week: Cinemania, a theatre featuring the widest range of movies possible - as long as they are not made in Hollywood.

The centre, which has three 50-seat screening rooms, will show film classics, independent productions from the United States, Latin American works, and European films rarely available to Mexican movie fans.

Jorge Sanchez, producer and distibutor in charge of the project, told the press "if action is not taken to improve exhibition and distribution, the Mexican cinema is finished." He is assisted at Cinemania by journalist Jose Woldenberg, writer Alberto Ruy Sanchez, and politician Alejandra Moreno Toscano.

Many noted Mexican film makers attended the opening of Cinemania, including cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa and directors Paul Leduc, Arturo Ripstein and Maria Novaro.

The first movies showen were 'The Path of Life' by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, 'The Dark Side of the Heart' by Argentine Eliseo Subiela, 'The City of Sadness' by Chinese director Hou Hsian-Hsien, and the Cuban film 'Vampires of Havana.'

The centre also boasts a bar and bookstore which carries videos, soundtrack recordings, movie posters, and books on film and the performance arts.

A weekly schedule will be mailed to all who request it and published in dailies and magazines, and ticket prices will be between 10 and 15 pesos (2.50 to 3.75 U.S. dollars).

After most cineclubs went bankrupt in Mexico, Cinemania represents a new option to film fans who have been condemned to watch movies on TV, broken by unwanted commercials.

The traditionally scarce availabilty of options in Mexico City movie houses became even worse two years ago with the closing of the state distibution firm Cotsa, which promoted some local and European films.

And a cinematography law passed last year reduces the obligatory time cinemas must dedicate to show Mexican made films from 50 percent to 30 percent, falling to 10 percent next year. (MORE)

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© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service