Mexico at the Afi Latin American Film Festival 2019

Now in its 30th year, the AFI Latin American Film Festival is one of North America's largest and long-running showcases of Latin America cinema. With the inclusion of films from Spain and Portugal, the festival celebrates Ibero-American cultural connections during National Hispanic Heritage Month.

This year, Mexico will be represented by the following films:

Special Presentation: THE CHAMBERMAID (LA CAMARISTA)
2019 • In Spanish with English subtitles • Feature debut for Mexican director Lila Avilés

Tue, Sep 17 • 7:15pm | Thu, Sep 19 • 5:15pm
Q + A with producer Tatiana Graullera following both screenings

Theater director Lila Avilés turns the monotonous workday of Eve, a chambermaid at a high-end Mexico City hotel, into a beautifully observed film rich with detail. Set entirely in an alienating hotel environment, this minimalist, yet sumptuous, movie brings to the fore Eve’s hopes, dreams and desires.

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Special Presentation: THE GOOD GIRLS (LAS NIÑAS BIEN)
2018 • Feature film in Spanish with English subtitles • Directed by Mexican filmmaker Alejandra Márquez Abella

Fri, Sep 20, 7:15pm* | Mon, Sep 23 • 5:15pm
*Post-screening reception sponsored by the Mexican Cultural Institute on Sep 20

This meticulously crafted, vibrant social satire from Alejandra Márquez Abella (SEMANA SANTA) examines Mexico’s crumbling upper-middle class during the country’s 1982 debt crisis through the unravelling of one woman’s perfectly-manicured world.

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I’M LEAVING NOW (YA ME VOY)
2018 • Feature film in English & Spanish with English subtitles • Directed by Lindsey Cordero & Armando Croda

Sat, Sep 21 • 12:15pm | Mon, Sept 23 • 7:15pm

After 16 years of living alone, working three jobs and collecting bottles in Brooklyn to send money back home, undocumented immigrant Felipe is ready to return to his family in Mexico, and to meet the son he last saw at eight months old.Shot over the course of two years, this touching and personal document of a worker on the margins is a hopeful exploration of the immigrant experience and a lovely portrait of one man’s determination.

This film wll be preceded by a short film titled “A 3 MINUTE HUG”
In May 2018, the Border Network for Human Rights worked with border patrol to organize an event called #AbrazosNoMuros (#HugsNotWalls), in which families separated by deportations could embrace for three minutes along the border between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso. The incredibly emotional moment was documented in this powerful short.

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TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID (VUELVEN)
2017 • Feature film in Spanish with English subtitles • Directed by Mexican filmmaker Issa López (CASI DIVAS)

Tue, Sep 24 • 7:30pm | Thu, Sep 26 • 9:45pm | Sun, Sep 29 • 9:45pm

Ten-year-old Estrella is followed by the ghost of her mother, who was killed by a local cartel. She joins a gang of children orphaned by Mexico’s drug violence, and when the cartel targets them, supernatural forces come to their aid.

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MIDNIGHT FAMILY
2019 • Feature film in Spanish with English subtitles • Directed by Luke Lorentzen

Sat, Sep 28 • 1:05pm | Wed, Oct 2 • 7:05pm

With nine million residents and only 45 government-provided ambulances, Mexico City’s population must rely on a cutthroat industry of private, for-profit paramedics. This immersive documentary transports you into the Ochoa Family Ambulance—and into the heart of the frenzied action, as the unlicensed EMTs barrel through the streets, chasing their next patient.

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THE GASOLINE THIEVES (HUACHICOLERO)
2019 • Feature film in Spanish with English subtitles • Directed by Mexican filmmaker Edgar Nito

Sat, Sep 28 • 9:20pm

Living with his mother and working as a farmhand, 14-year-old Lalo (Eduardo Banda) believes buying a smartphone for his high-school crush is the only surefire way to her heart. When his mother must use his savings to pay medical bills, Lalo decides to approach the local huachicoleros for help, who quickly enlist his aid in their business of illegally siphoning gas to take advantage of the country’s shortage and re-sell on the black market.

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Special Presentation/US Premiere: CHICUAROTES
2019 • Feature Film in Spanish with English subtitles • Directed by Mexican filmmaker and actor Gael García Bernal

Tue, Oct 1 • 7:15pm

The film centers on the fortunes of Cagalera (Benny Emmanuel) and Moloteco (Gabriel Carbajal)—two inseparable teens from San Gregorio Atlapulco, a Mexico City neighborhood still struggling to rebuild after the 2016 earthquake. Desperate to get out, the pair strive to buy a place in the electrician’s union and earn some serious cash, and decide to take a shot at the opportunity by any means necessary.

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