Hola Mexico Film Festival

Overview

It's a hundred years since the Mexican Revolution. Moustaches, cries of "land and freedom!" and 'sombrero' as a synonym for 'big hat' all flow from that revolutionary era. The Mexico it created is complex, layered and huge. Just like Mexico's movies, which — thanks to this year's Hola Mexico Film Festival — are again being brought to Sydney.

Star of the festival this year is director Carlos Carrera, whose horrific and powerful Backyard highlights the almost daily murders of women in  the border city Juarez. He is touring his new film On Childhood, but will also be doing a Q&A after his blockbuster Catholic expose The Crime of Father Amaro, starring Y Tu Mama Tambien's Gael Garcia Bernal. Bernal also features as one of the ten directors of the centennial Revolucion, while documentary A Day Less is a startlingly frank, sad and funny portrait of an aging couple in Acapulco and their bleak year between annual family visits. Presumed Guilty follows corruption in the Mexican justice system — a film that unwittingly helped to remedy the injustices it covered. And if you want a fiesta to boot, the opening night will accompany Diego Luna's Abel with flamenco from Los Tres Monos and yummy botanas by Guzman y Gomez.

Hola Mexico will run until November 14 at the Dendy Opera Quays and Dendy Newtown.

Image from Revolucion