New Mexican Cinema

Since the end of the nineties, there has been an enormous rise of Mexican cinema in the international film business. Mexican productions such as Y tu mamá también, Amores Perros and Pan's Labyrinth have achieved fame both in Mexico and internationally. The makers of these films, Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth), Alejandro González Iñarritu (Amores Perros) and Alfonso Cuarón (Y tu mamá también) are seen as the trio of jong, promising Mexican directors. In addition, their films facilitated the break-through of Mexican actors such as Gael García Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries, Babel) and Diego Luna. Because of the overwhelming success of these Mexican films , the media has started to cautiously speak of a New Mexican Wave.

At the prestigious Oscar Awards a remarkable amount of Mexican names have been present the past few years, with Babel being nominated for Best Film in 2007 and Iñarittu for Best Director. That same year there were, among others, six Oscar nominations for Pan's Labyrinth, of which the film won three, and Cuarón's Children of Men hauled in three nominations. Likewise there is no lack of Mexican representation at big film festivals such as Cannes and Toronto, and Mexicans films do well in cinemas as well. Indeed, Carlos Reygadas received the jury award in Cannes in 2007 for his film Stellet Licht, the successor to his also successful film Batalla en el Cielo.

Where the production of Mexican films reached a low about fifteen years ago, with only seven films produced in 1997, Mexican film has assumed large proportions since then. Because the Mexican government strongly reduced her role as financier during the nineties, filmmakers were forced to seek private funding. A positive result was that they had more creativity and freedom. They could now incorporate more social criticism in their movies, which was very difficult when their films were financed by the state. These new ways of financing, combined with the rise of new theaters around the same time, caused a new impuls for the Mexican film.

What these New Mexican Films have in common are their direct approaches to reality and political themes, which are often typical for the Mexican society. Cuarón, Iñarittu and Del Toro belong to the first generation of film makers who grew up after NAFTA, the free trade agreement of North America, had taken effect, and the opening up of the closed Mexican economy. In their films the effects of globalisation and the transition to democracy, after the fall of the more than 70-year during absolute reign of the PRI-party in 2001, are shown. For instance in Y tu mamá también the sound is sometimes muted to make place for a voice-over which delivers social-economic criticism of situations that escape Julio en Tenoch in their adolescent ignorance.

Amores Perros is a good example of the trend of urban dramas and shows a realistic portrayal of the urban problems of Mexico-City around the year 2000. By connecting three different, parallel worlds through a car accident, the poignant class differences in Mexico-City are put forward. Pan's Labyrinth on the other hand is an exception to the omnipresense of typically Mexican themes. It takes place in Spain, during the aftermath of the bloody civil war.

Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñarittu and Guillermo del Toro -often called the Tres Amigos- are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a new generation of young, promising Mexican filmmakers. Among the rising talent, we find Fernando Eimbcke (Lake Tahoe, nominated for the Golden Bear in Berlin) and Rodrigo Plá (La Zona). Furthermore the amount of low-budget and independent films has also shown a huge growth in the past years. Smaller films such as Párpados Azules (Ernesto Contreras) and Cochochi (Laura Amelia Guzmás and Israel Cárdenas), produced by the production company started by Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal, show the talent of young, unknown film makers.

Nowadays you can't escape the Mexican film makers, and while it's too early to tell if this New Mexican Cinema will indeed develop, it is clear that right now there is a new generation of Mexican film makers who are not only successful in their own country and the festival circuit, but also often go on to a career in Hollywood.