Mexico at Reel Time Film Festival at Gala Hispanic Theater

GALA Hispanic Theater is celebrating its 8^th annual Reel Time Film Festival, this time focusing on films from Mexico, Bolivia and Brazil. You can catch Mexican films Cinderelo, El rey del barrio, and Restos de viento during the festival.

About the Festival

A series of groundbreaking films from the indigenous nations of Bolivia, vibrant contemporary work by young Mexican and Brazilian filmmakers, and a classic from Mexico’s Golden Age. Discussions and O&As with the curator, filmmakers, actors, and film experts will be held after each screening. All films in Spanish or Portuguese with English subtitles.

CINDERELO
In Spanish with English subtitles • Directed by Beto Gómez
Fri, Nov 22 • 7pm
Post-screening Q&A with director Beto Gómez and festival curator Carlos Gutiérrez. Reception courtesy of the Mexican Cultural Institute.

This screwball comedy follows Marlon Flores (Miguel Rodarte), a talented photographer with an amazing ability to highlight anyone’s inner beauty, but not his own. His ugliness attracts the rejection and ridicule of all women, except his assistant Maria, who can see him for who he really is. Tired of constant contempt, he unexpectedly encounters his fairy godfather (Joaquín Cosío), a mysterious man who casts a spell on him, transforming him into an irresistible hunk named Brando (William Levy). The catch? His good looks only take effect at night and disappear at the stroke of midnight. With the help of his best friend Felix, Marlon turns the handsome Brando into the most coveted man in the city. But can you find true love with a double identity?

TICKETS

EL REY DEL BARRIO (THE KING OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD)
In Spanish with English subtitles • Directed by Gilberto Martínez Solares
Sun, Nov 24 • 4pm
Post-screening Q&A with critic Anne Wakefield Hoyt.

In this classic comedy, Mexican icon “Tin Tan” (Germán Valdés) leads a gang of small-time con artists whose crimes include conning wealthy women by acting as musicians. Everything gets complicated when one of the victims (Silvia Pinal) falls in love with him and is hell-bent on marrying him. The persona of Tin Tan was intimately linked to Hollywood through his trademark character of the pachuco. With his zoot suit, swagger, streetwise sensibility, bilingual wordplay and embrace of swing, Tin Tan became the cinematic embodiment of a cultural figure forged between two nations. This movie is considered by many critics to be one of the top five comedies in the Spanish language.

TICKETS

RESTOS DE VIENTO (WIND TRACES)
In Spanish with English subtitles • Directed by Jimena Montemayor Loyo
Sun, Nov 24 • 7pm
Post-screening Q&A with critic Anne Wakefield Hoyt. Champagne toast celebrating the artists and the end of the Festival.

After losing their father and patriarch, a family drifts aimlessly through life. The mother (Dolores Fonzi) struggles with depression and the task of caring for her children. Daughter Ana shuts down while her brother opens himself up to the strange creature that suddenly appears. In this fantasy-laced drama, the family will have to grow and let go of their fears in order to survive.

TICKETS