Las mejores historias no se inventan: se descubren. La de Nuevo Cine Mexicano es una de esas narrativas que, cuando la conoces a fondo, te resulta imposible mirar hacia otro lado. Nuevo Cine Mexicano is a Mexican film movement started in the early 1990s
El contexto histórico
Nuevo Cine Mexicano (“New Mexican Cinema”) is a Mexican film movement started in the early 1990s. Filmmakers, critics, and scholars consider Nuevo Cine Mexicano a “rebirth” of Mexican cinema because of the production of higher-quality films. This rebirth led to high international praise as well as box-office success, unseen since the golden age of Mexican cinema of the 1930s to 1960s. The quality of Mexican films suffered in the decades following the golden age due in part to Mexican audiences watching more overseas films, especially Hollywood productions. This resulted in the rise of Mexican genres such as Luchador films, sexicomedias and ultimately the low-budget direct-to-video Mexploitation film. Many themes addressed in Nuevo Cine Mexicano include identity, tradition, and socio-political conflicts within Mexico itself. The movement has achieved international success with films such as director Alfonso Cuarón’s Y Tu Mamá También (2001), which was nominated for an Academy Award for
Los hechos clave
Social divisions within Mexico is a reoccurring theme within Nuevo Cine Mexicano, including the films Y Tu Mamá También, El crimen del Padre Amaro (2002), and Amores Perros.
Though the films touch on the “socio-geographic divisions” of Mexico in different ways. In Amores Perros, the economic divisions are portrayed through the differences between the main characters’ homes. El Chivo lives in a “seedy residence” which that is juxtaposed with his daughter’s “respectable home”. With El crimen del padre Amaro (The Crime of Father Amaro) the traditions of the Catholic Church, which remains a prominent influence in Mexico, is questioned when a young priest has sex with a teenager leading to her death from an abortion. Other subjects such as homosexuality and political corruption are briefly touched on in Y Tu Mamá También (And Your Mother Too), helping to set up a background of what Mexico is and is not. The two main male characters in the film differ in their social standings because of t
Dato clave: The phenomenal growth of ‘women’s cinema’, not only meant that there would be an infinite expansion in the list of female names as filmmakers or creators; in reality, it created a daunting cinematic genre by objectifying women as well as displacing them within the film industry.
Lo que revelan las investigaciones
However it has been improving; two of the most popular films El secreto de Romeila (1988) directed by Busi Cortés and Los pasos de Ana (1990) by Marisa Sistach are considered the doors that opened opportunity for women filmmakers in Mexico as well as created a new genre that people were not familiar with, labeled as ‘women’s cinema’. The phenomenal growth of ‘women’s cinema’, not only meant that there would be an infinite expansion in the list of female names as filmmakers or creators; in reality, it created a daunting cinematic genre by objectifying women as well as displacing them within the film industry. According to Patricia Torres San Martín, an honorable film scholar, there is a new theme emerging within the film industry in Mexico which is known as the ‘new female identity’. Yalitza Aparicio debut performance in Roma (2018) makes her the first Indigenous Latin American (Indigenous Mexican) to be nominated in any category at the Academy Awards. Museum won the best script award a
Las implicaciones
European influence Since 2000, some directors have made “independent productions looking for more personal expression”, under a greater influence of European cinema. The most representative films of this trend are the films of Carlos Reygadas (Japón and Battle in Heaven), whose use of non-professional actors was influenced by Italian neorealism. Other films include: Mil nubes de paz cercan el cielo, amor, jamás acabarás de ser amor (A Thousand Clouds of Peace Fence the Sky, Love; Your Being Love Will Never End) and El cielo dividido (Broken Sky), directed by Julián Hernández, and Sangre, directed by Amat Escalante and produced by Jaime Romandía and Reygadas.
Por qué esta historia importa
La historia de Nuevo Cine Mexicano no es solo un relato del pasado. Es un espejo que nos ayuda a entender el México de hoy — sus contradicciones, su resiliencia, sus retos y su potencial. Conocerla es un primer paso hacia una conversación más honesta sobre el país y la sociedad que queremos construir.
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