Texas Theatre Will Feature Films by Latino Filmmakers as Part of Cine Mexicano Film Series

The Festival de Cine Latino Americano and the Oak Cliff Cultural Center are introducing Cine Mexicano Film Series, a new five-part film series, which will highlight prominent Mexican filmmakers during March at Texas Theatre.

The series kicked off March 2 with Alejandro González Iñárritu’s overlapping and intersecting triptych narrative Amores Perros. On Sunday, there will be a screening of Alfonso Cuarón’s coming-of-age masterpiece Y Tu Mamá También.

Guillermo del Toro’s gothic ghost story The Devil’s Backbone will be screened Saturday, March 23. The series concludes Saturday, March 30 with two of Gregory Nava’s films: Mi Familia, a multi-generational Mexican family drama, and Selena, the biographical musical drama film of the queen of Tejano.

“We're always having conversation of ways that we can enrich the culture with what our mission here and what they [Texas Theatre] try to do,” says Rafael Tamayo, general manager of the Oak Cliff Cultural Center. “Especially, surrounding Mexican cinema. It’s common and definitely growing. Kind of tying it in with the things that we do. We figure that it would be cool to bring some of the conversation that we're having now, because of films like Roma [Cuarón’s latest Oscar-nominated film].”

Tamayo says they have done similar programming series, but this will be the first time they have done a series dedicated to Mexican filmmakers. He says deciding the lineup was difficult because of the large selection of films, but it grew out of a conversation of what the organizer would think would be a good first lineup, even selecting Nava, the only Mexican-American filmmaker, in this list.

“We tried to adapt with the times and really carried the conversation into the other little sidebars that are happening around the foundation in Mexican films, Latino films or Mexican-American films,” Tamayo says.

Tamayo hopes to bring the series yearly, with the intention of not only focusing on Mexican filmmakers but overall Latino filmmakers. He also says the selection of films will be an ongoing conversation.

“We hope so,” Tamayo says. “That’s the intention to keep something like this going. We kind of highlight the conversation to really feature some of these works that are important in cinema in general. But to really home in on the conversation around cultural relevance.”